Now when the contest is over I can finally be regular on the magazine. And what can be more than regular if I resume writing on One City - 3 Facts column.

Today I am going to write about the capital of Germany - Berlin. After having studied Germanistik for years I do have a special love for everything German. Except maybe german literature. When I visited Berlin I was lucky. It was a nice weather, I met nice people, I saw everything I planned to see, including the historical places which related to my own country - like a War Memorial in Treptower Park, the key sculpture of which is the 12-m tall statue of a Soviet soldier with a sword holding a saved child.  When you see that you feel emotions you never even thought you can have.

It is tough to  choose just 3 interesting facts about Berlin, because there are so many more than just that. Yes, it is a big centre of culture, politics, media and science. Yes, it has a variety of architecture. And the dialect of berliners is something one should get used to. And as you all know it is famous for Love Parade. And yes, there are still pieces of Berlin Wall left intact. But no, I cannot cover all of the interesting points in just one post. So maybe I will come back and write 3 Facts: Berlin. Part 2.

But for now I will try to focus on 3 Facts only.

3 Facts about Berlin

1. Museum Island

The ensemble on the Museum Island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is situated in the northern part of the Spree Island. There are several museums on the island, hence the name. All of them have wonderful collections of masterpieces and are itself the reflection of art if you  see the architecture of buildings. It is a definite must-see in Berlin.

And if you are really into museums, here is the list of all Berlin’s museums.

2. Berlin zoo is the most visited in Europe.

Every year about 3 million people visit Berlin Zoo. It opened in 1844 and was the first zoo in Germany. In 2007 the number of visitors was 3.2 million which was probably the year with the most number of visitors till now. The administration of the zoo should thank for that one of the most popular  and globally known animal - polar bear Knut. He was born on 5th December 2006 in captivity in Berliner Zoo. His mother rejected him at birth,  and he was  raised by zookeepers. He was the first polar bear cub to survive past infancy at the Berlin Zoo in more than thirty years. On 23rd March 2007, Knut was presented to the public for the first time and was instant hit there. Millions of people visited the zoo that year just to see the little one. It is interesting that the Berlin Zoo registered Knut as a trademark in late March 2007 and earned a lot of money with that smart act. There were songs, books, TV shows and even a movie featuring the famous polar bear.

On the picture you can see Knut on his debut day at the Zoo.

*Picture from Wikipedia, author Jensk369 (copyright licence CC-BY-CA)

3. Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe or english translation - Department Store of the West)

Wikipedia says that KaDeWe is the biggest department store in Continental Europe and still has an old world charm, with very helpful and friendly staff. And you know what? It is really so. And it is also the second biggest in Europe altogether after Harrods in London.

The store is  more than 100 years old  and has 7 floors, 2 of them  - the 6th and the 7th are completely devoted to FOOD. How good is that? The 6th floor offers a variety of food items whereas the 7th floor is a winter garden with a restaurant. Sounds good, don’t you think?

No need to say that there are a lot of visitors there daily. If we trust online sources, that is 40 - 50000 people every day.

Original photo by Jochen Jansen, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0

That is it, 3 facts about Berlin. I hope you enjoyed the post. And as always I remind you that you can suggest the city for One City - 3 Facts column on The Colors Magazine. Just leave a comment and I will write about the city next time.