One great advantage of unification is that, for the first time since the 1930's, the area around Berlin and the newly designated Land of Brandenburg can easily be visited.
Visitors are finally able to appreciate the qualities that mark the city as a whole.
Its particular charm lies in its spaciousness, its trees and greenery, its racy atmosphere, and the ease with which you can reach the lakes and forests within its perimeter. Until November 1989, the western areas of Berlin formed the distinct and artificially created city of West Berlin, a pocket of western capitalism kept alive by interested parties in the center of soviet-occupied territory. Today, western Berlin appears to be the disjointed backbone of the city - somehow half built. The points of interest are somber, the Reichstag, looming symbol of the war years, the scant remains of the Wall, facet of its aftermath, and several museums which do a good job of making sense of twentieth-century German history. About one third of western Berlin is either forest or park.