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The Reichstag building beside the Brandenburg Gate is open from 0800 till 2400 so get up the cupola early for a preview and return late for a flood-lit retrospective. Take the No 100 bus along Unter den Linden, perhaps having the first coffee of the day at the Adlon Hotel before doing so. Get off at Bebelplatz to be surrounded by 19th-century Berlin. Cross the river and stroll left to the museums. Try to cover the Pergamon Museum and the Alte Nationalgalerie before a late lunch. Perhaps just make do with a filling snack from one of the many riverside sausage stands. Walk across the Schlossplatz where the East German parliament building is due for demolition during 2003, finally to be replaced by a rebuilt Royal Palace. Continue to the Gendarmenmarkt to see what rebuilding can do. Hopefully there will be an afternoon concert here in one of the cathedrals, which will provide an appropriate cultural interlude. A revived Friedrichstrasse is close by, ideal for stylish shops which have moved in from the West. Checkpoint Charlie of course no longer exists but it is commemorated on the Friedrichstrasse and, by following the fragment of the Wall still left, it is possible to reach ultra-modern Berlin at the Potsdamer Platz. Shiver for a few minutes as you walk past the excavated SS Headquarters. At the Potsdamer Platz, eat easily and ethnically both indoors and out of doors. A 10-minute walk brings you back to the Reichstag but if your night does not end until the morning, take the bus to Zoo Station where the neon lights and the bustle have always given Berlin its reputation as a 24-hour city.
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