all you needed to ask was... good bookshop? and no one would have thought twice about your post!

The SlowTravel site is excellent. I've highlighted a report about walking in Berlin.

And because this a reader's site.....;-)
Have you read Anna Funder's book, Stasiland, Stories From Behind the Berlin Wall?

Have a great trip.

Here is a link that might be useful: Four Walking Days in Berlin

And also check the website Tripadvisor.com. I've had great luck with their forums when planning trips. People tell it like it is, so to speak.

Oh my!
Did I forget to add and where could I find a good bookshop with books in English? Ha!
Thank you so much, Mummsie and Ginny, and I guess, cc...
Hope to be back in about three weeks...if you know what I mean...yi, yi, yi...

Mollie, I haven't been to Berlin since the wall came down! Nevertheless it probably still holds true that Berlin is as representative of Germany as New York is of the USA i.e. not very ;-)

Whatever else you do, you will have to promenade down Unter den Linden, even though most of the Linden (lime trees) have been replaced by lampposts and traffic lights; and you should visit the zoo unless you really don't like animals. I'd be interested to hear what you enjoyed best, as I'm hoping to go to Berlin sometime soon(ish). I'll be taking in the Bauhaus museum and some ballet, but haven't planned beyond that.

My cuz was at the World Cup. He wrote: "We loved Berlin where we spent a week. The east side is really happening. Sorta looks like parts of Brooklyn. The nicer parts."

That's all I have.

Try Fodors.com and go to the Travel Talk section. The Fodorites are most helpful--the best travel forum I know.

Thank you for all the ideas. Still a little nervous about the flights...
I've been to Germany before, but not Berlin. Will revisit Salzburg and Munich and part of the Romantic Road and Strasbourg too, I hope.
We're going to that area of Europe to visit family, but *I much prefer Britain*!!!!!
Thanks again! I *knew* you would help!

I just re-read "The Spy Who Came in from the Cold". Forty years on, it is still a gripping book and perfectly captures the Cold War atmosphere--partly set in a divided Berlin. Definitely a must-read for Berlin, tho not a gentle book.

mollie, my d-in-l has just returned from a trip to Berlin staying with friends in the old 'East Germany' a few miles out of the city. I'll email any info I can glean from her.

Hello all,
I tried everything recommended and found they were great sites. I'm copying/writing down info to take!!!
I have read "Spy who came...." and loved it. Also love the movie with Richard Burton...do you?
A little nervous, but excited.
Thanks everyone....great folks here.

Here's another travel forum for the list: the Lonely Planet travel forums, the Thorn Tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: Thorn Tree