Berlin City Guide, GERMANY
Airing Date: Jan 30th, 2006
Built in 1961, the Berlin Wall was the single most important symbol of Germany's former division during the Cold War. It was demolished soon after the 1989 revolution. There are only a few places in Berlin where you can still see remains of the wall and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum is a good place to learn all the history. Checkpoint Charlie was the monitoring tower used to control the area around the Berlin Wall. The Museum at Checkpoint Charlie, offers exhibitions documenting the history of the wall and the thousands of attempts to escape. The Checkpoint Charlie museum is one of the three-most visited tourist sites in Berlin.
A unique way to see Berlin is by Trabi, one of the only vehicles available in the former East Germany, now a cult car. While you are enjoying the sights passing by the windows of your personal Trabi, your guide provides you with information about historical facts via radio. You can see places like The Reichstag, the seat of the German Parliament, and one of Berlin's most historical landmarks. It is close to the Brandenburger Tor and before the unification, it was right next to the wall. You can also visit The Victory Column and Friedrichstrasse a vibrant melting point where history, culture, entertainment and fashion meet. Today it is the most legendary shopping street in the east central Berlin!
Potsdamer Platz is an important square and traffic intersection in central Berlin. It was divided when the wall went up. Following re-unification, Potsdamer Platz was re-developed and is now home to The Sony Centre. It has become a must-see for visitors, a top shopping area for Berliners, and probably the number-one spot to go for film fans, with more than 40 screens in three cinemas, a film academy and a film museum.
Another Berlin landmark is the old Nazi era Olympic Stadium. Built in the mid 1930's, Berlin's Olympic Stadium has recently undergone a complete reconstruction and modernisation project which took eighteen months, more than the original stadium took to construct. The FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 will be held in Germany between 9 June and 9 July 2006. Whilst the World Cup is in action, the capacity will be at least 40,000 seats for first round and quarter-final matche, and about 70,000 for the final's matches.
Tropical Island Resort is a unique tropical landscape inside! Inside, you can walk through rain forests, sun bake on sandy white beaches and swim in deep blue seas. Its 360m long, 210m wide and 107m high in the middle, enclosing a total interior space of five million metres cubed. You could slide the Eiffel Tower in on its side or the Statue of Liberty standing up! It's twice as high as the Millennium Dome, and covers a comparable area of ground. The Tropical Island Resort opened on December 19, 2004, a 24 hour-a-day holiday destination with an ever-pleasant 25-28 centigrade climate and a tropical habitat of warm water, exotic plants and palm trees.
Further information
Trabi-safari.de
Trabi Tour - Prices start from $40 a person based on four people or $55 a person based on two people.
Telephone: 0011 1 49 30 27 59 22 73
Website: www.trabi-safari.de
DriveAway Holidays
Car hire - Starts at $44 a day (based on 14 day rental of small car). *Conditions apply.
Telephone: 1300 363 500
Prices correct at 30/1/06
