Getting Oriented

In eastern Germany, almost halfway between Paris and Moscow, Berlin is laid out on an epic scale and, with nearly 3.5 million residents, is Germany's largest city. When the city-state of Berlin was incorporated in 1920, it swallowed towns and villages far beyond the downtown area around the two main rivers, the Spree and the Havel. Each of its boroughs has distinctive characteristics. Charlottenburg, Schöneberg, and Kreuzberg are popular areas in the west, and to the east, Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichshain are favored residential and nightlife neighborhoods. Modern urban commercial centers such as Potsdamer Platz and Leipziger Platz still feel like odd insertions between the historically developed quarters surrounding them.