A visit to modern Berlin.

The holidays are over, and as I predicted, business was wonderful. I, as did many others, spent the season quietly. I often travel during that time, but I went earlier in the year this time. I visited my favorite haunts: London and Paris. Neither city ever lets me down. And one other: Berlin. Berlin, the once divided; the Berlin of reconstruction, capital of all Germany.

In early times, before the country of Germany existed, Berlin was not the capital of Prussia, it was the holy city. After the Prussians were routed from their own country, those who took over kept the name "Prussia" and the city, "Berlin", as its capital. Those are the only truly Prussian words in the German language. The ancient Prussian language closely resembles Latvian, which is where many Prussians emigrated. The last person to speak real Prussian died in the 1870's.

Berlin became a world capital when Germany was united under the Prussian Hohenzollerns in the late 19th century. Since then, its fate, of course, has been determined by the fate of Germany. Now, after fifty years of defeat and division, Berlin and her country are rising, like the phoenix, from the ashes.

It was snowing when we arrived. Although I'm not a snow-bunny, the snow was appropriate - it added to the feeling of freshness, excitement, and the "new" which seems to permeate this ancient locale.

We stayed in what had been East Berlin, now a sea of cranes. Building is every-where, but building with care. The old, elegant facades of the past have been retained, while backstage, everything is newer than new. All is in a growing mode; there is a vitality, a sense of competition, and urgency: East vs. West. For the past fifty years, West Berlin has enjoyed all the advantages of its association with Western Europe. East Berlin wants all that West Berlin has, and right now. This is of course impossible. One cannot recreate a half century of rebirth and coming of age overnight. Economically, it doesn't work. No matter, the East is trying.

The shopping center of the East is Friedrichstrasse. On Friedrichstrasse, there is a Quartier 206 Department Store - the merchandise has got to be the best. 206 is not only competing with the locals, but with New York, Paris, and everywhere that's truly chic: rare designer fashions, custom furniture, art books, antique jewelry, perfumes from around the world, and silver and glassware.

Nearby is Galeries Lafayette from Paris, a post-modern store where the architecture is as eye-catching as the fashions by Christian Lacroix and Yves Saint Laurent. There are two glass cones which penetrate the five floors of the building. The food department carries all sorts of delicious delicacies from France.

Another is the KulturKauthaus - the cultural super store. Its architecture was planned to showcase everything from books to videos to CDs, of which it is said to have at least 100,000 for sale. There is a reading room, a concert podium, a gallery and a movie theater.

Also along Friedrichstrasse and neighboring streets, one finds shops and boutiques such as Escada, Strenesse, and Gucci. There are wonderful restaurants, theaters, and museums in the area as well.

In the West, the shopping is on Teuentzienstrasse and Kurfurstendamm, or Ku'damm for short. Ku'damm is Berlin's central shopping street. There, the EuropaCenter, which is also a business complex, has more than 100 shops.

On Teuentzienstrasse is Kaufhaus des Westens - KaDeWe for short. It is the biggest and best known department store in Europe. It has a shopping area of at least 60,000 square meters. Thirty-five percent of its business is done in the last three months of the year, when as many as 200,000 people visit and shop in the store on the long Saturdays before Christmas. Weekday average, most of the year, is 60,000. Needless to say, if you can't find it at KaDeWe, you can't find it.

A newcomer to the West is Potsdamer Platz Arkaden, with stores and shops of style.

Berlin is more an international city than national. I was told that it was the gateway to the East. I had known that throughout history, it always was. But, to paraphrase O'Henry, I think today it has become "Baghdad on the Spree".