Long weekend in Berlin: Heavy history, electric energy and the city's sexiest hotel

My visit to Berlin is nothing short of astonishing, writes Jillian Bolger

Hope and history rhyme in Berlin.

I remember the night as clear as anything: November 9, 1989 sitting watching TV as the Berlin Wall was breached and destroyed under cover of night. I was glued to the screen, a 16-year-old studying both German and history for my Leaving Cert and astonished at the drama unfolding. The ultimate symbol of the Cold War, cutting off Allied-occupied West Berlin from East Berlin and East Germany, the impenetrable 12 foot barrier had divided the city politically, socially and economically since 1961.

One of the most significant global events of my teenage life, the Fall of the Berlin Wall began a fascination with Berlin, a city of Eastern socialism and Western affluence, and I grew up wondering what it would be like to visit such a fragmented place.