There is no denying Berlin's importance in the world today: it is again the capital of Germany -- a new, reunited Germany. It is already, as it was before the first war, a cultural hub for opera, operetta, live theater, and over a dozen world-famous cabarets, as well as one of the world's greatest film centers. With a population of 3.5 million, Berlin is Germany's largest city. By day there is much to see -- the Charlottenburg Palace, the castles of Bellevue and Tegel, the Jagdschloss Grünewald, countless art galleries, museums and the famous Zoological Gardens. At night Berlin is a city of lights, theaters, restaurants and concert halls. What used to be "East Berlin" is an intriguing and exhilarating architectural showcase, a vast outdoor museum par-ading the masterpieces of Prussia's finest monument builders: Schinkel, Knobels-dorff and Semper.

Resilient, exciting and contradictory with a cultural heritage and a political past, Berlin now is fast becoming a leading center of Western Europe and continues to be the gateway to Eastern Europe.