Berlin, the new Berlin, the pan-German Berlin – since 1990 again the capital of Germany – has left very little to remind you of the 28 years of partition, the biggest break in communication between the city’s four and a half million inhabitants in its history. Apart from a few remains, the Wall – a concept in itself – has vanished. Its concrete fragments have disappeared into the glass cabinets of collectors of devotional objects all over the world.

Even the feeling of living in a divided city has faded. Not least because, in Berlin-Mitte, East and West really have mixed and formed something new – which is not necessarily the case in other parts of Berlin as yet. Furthermore, the new Berlin society – government people, lobbyists and the entourage of culture and entertainment who assemble around the Brandenburg Gate – also gravitate towards BerlinMitte. Here, grouped around one of the most beautiful squares in Germany, the Gendarmenmarkt, there is a profusion of beautiful hotels, restaurants, pubs, bars and cultural venues, giving grounds for the hope that Berlin can again become the pulsating heart of a Germany that has grown back together again. Berlin is on the right track.