Berlin, now this is what I would describe as a seriously interesting city

On our only previous visit back in 1981 the wall still had eight years of life in it.
I always recall walking through Checkpoint Charlie  and being heavily frisked by evil  looking East German guards. I also recall Julia, our mate Heinz and yours truly dropping in for lunch at a terrible (and almost deserted)  East Berlin restaurant as we attempted to offload the heap of East German D-marks we were forced to purchase when we crossed into the east sector of the city.
And two more memories. An East German guard sticking the barrel of his machine gun through Heinz's half closed car window as we were moving through the border checkpoint. And the sight of a heavily armed and very agitated East German guard charging up an East Berlin department store escalator as he attempted to grab me as I was taking a photo of the store (apparently that action on my part was a bit of a no no).
Roll onto 2012 and we meet up with Heinz and Birgit for a great weekend.
Berlin is a fantastic city. It's full of life and is the kind of place that has it all.
Arts, sports, fantastic water cruises, amazing looking buildings and a vast variety of night time entertainment. Without a doubt Berlin is "the place" to visit when in Europe with three or four days to kill.
For three full days we were on the go. We stayed at the Radisson Blu in central Berlin. This is a stunning hotel. Check it out on the net. The interior bar area is a sight to behold. Directly above the bar sits a forty foot high fish tank about twenty feet wide. What a sight. This AquaDom is the world's largest cylindrical aquarium and home to many species of tropical fish swimming around in one million litres of sea water.
Highlights. Drinks at the Brandenburg Gate, the sight of a wedding party posing under the gate and in front of a relic of the past, a stretched Tribant converted into a limo, an amazing water cruise on the river Spree, the night bar life, the Jewish memorial, the Dali museum to name a few.
However the outstanding experience had to be the classic open air concert  "Opera Italiana" featuring works by Verdi, Puccini, and Rossini.
The location was the Gendarmenmarkt, a square directly outside the Berlin Concert Hall and  squeezed between the spectacular French and German Domes.
The evening was simply magical. Fantastic performances by the Berlin Philharmonia and all soloists. Sitting in this square listening to great music as the night set in and all surrounding buildings started to light up was.......it was bloody brilliant. Shivers down the spine territory.
It was one of those classical experiences where you felt privileged to being part of something really special.
I should also mention we had a real laugh whilst strolling home from a great restaurant one evening.
Heinz routed us down  Oranienburger Strasse, a very lively part of town and an area wall to wall with bars filled with young party-goers. High class hookers were all over the place strutting their stuff which all added to the flavour of the area. At one point we strolled past the infamous Hotel Arcotel Velvet. The deal with this joint is that a) it's mostly occupied by hookers doing their thing with customers and b) all bedroom windows (which are floor to ceiling) look directly down on any number of bars situated across the street from the Hotel. We are looking at them, whilst they are looking at us looking at them.
What else, this is risqué territory. The deal is that on any evening you can look up at the hotel windows and more often than not some nut bag will have pulled the curtains open to ensure the drinking voyeur hordes down below can cop an eye full of all the cavorting. I loved it, however we had places to go so we couldn't stick around for a drink. In point of fact, we couldn't find a free table so had to settle for a table at a bar fifty metres down the road. Our table was on the footpath, hard up against the parking place of a six foot,thigh-high white leather boot cladded hooker with exceptionally large enhanced breasts. She actually looked like a very sexy cyborg which wasn't a problem for the geeky nerd who hired her five minutes down the track as he obviously wanted an out of world experience and he would have certainly got it. Just as aside,  this guy obviously wasn't  a stayer as the cyborg was back on patrol within ten minutes.
Overall  impression, Berlin has obviously made a big play for young people by way of low rents and modest living costs. There's a certain electric energy to this town and a feeling this is just the beginning and there's more to come. This is a city you could visit for a short period every year and never get bored.