Reborn Berlin Refuses to Bury Its Dark History; Jon Griffin Visits Germany's Cosmopolitan and Vibrant Capital - a Rival for London and Paris

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The great cities of the world are, by their distinctive nature, a pretty exclusive bunch. It's an entirely subjective choice, of course, but certain names spring automatically to mind...

London, no question. Ditto New York and maybe Chicago... Paris and Rome undoubtedly... and to that rarefied list I would add Berlin.

The German capital may not boast Big Ben, the Champs Elysee, Times Square or the Colosseum, but its relatively recent history is perhaps as dramatic as any other location on the planet.

If you stroll around this city of 3.5 million people for an hour or so, you can't fail to reflect on events that shaped the course of history in Europe just a few decades ago. Berlin boasts an aura quite unlike any other spot on earth - and is quite possibly the ultimate example of a city's ability to reinvent itself after staring ruin and tragedy in the face.

It's now more than 20 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany - and nearly 70 years since the Red Army's march on Hitler's nerve centre …