Art/Shop/Eat: Berlin Book

The book I read to research this post was Germany For Dummies by Donald Olson which is a very good book which I bought from Amazon. This book is the 1st and doesn't cover the attractions the author thinks aren't very interesting or that are covered in detail elsewhere. For most people who travel to Germany by air the main hub is Frankfurt am Main but they were expanding Berlin Airport at the time this book was being written so it will probably be one or the other. I have incidentely done posts on Frankfurt am Main & Berlin at if you are on a different website. The 3 most interesting museums in Berlin are quite close to each other and are in Charlottenburg & are the Egyptian Museum with its bust of Nefertiti, the Art Museum with its paintings by the great masters & the Modern Art which specializes in art done in the 20th Century. If you are travelling around quite a lot during your stay consider getting either a Interail pass which covers most of Europe or a German Rail Card which covers Germany. These have to be purchased before your arrival usually from the travel agent. If you are stopping in one city and travelling around the locality you are better off buy a local pass which you can buy at the railway station. In the former East Germany are the great historical cities of Leipzig & Dresden. The author Gotthe lived in Leipzig as a guest of the local nobleman who wanted to surround himself with artistic people. He wrote his most famous book Faust during his stay and the mansion he stopped at is a museum. Munich is Germany's 2nd city and has a brilliant Science & Technology Museum which you need to spend at least half a day at. At Stuttgart is the Mercedes Benz Museum which among its exhibits are tanks used by the 3rd Reich. Cologne houses the biggest Cathedral in Northern Europe and you can go on a cruise down the Rheine. There are also the Black Forest famed for its cuckoo clocks and the German Alps which are snow covered until May. Hamburg is the world's 7th biggest port and it extends for 25 miles along the coast. Heidelburg houses the famed University with many student bars. The German's are famed for their beer and wine and apparently drink more beer per head than any other nation. This is a very interesting book albet a little out of date although I really enjoyed reading it.