In this tour even the regulars of the German Parliament building and the aficionados of its glass dome will be surprised at discovering the surrounding area: a web of bridges, underground passages, bold architecture and art installations.

This grand project of urban planning, aiming at providing unified Germany with a new administrative center, started in the 1990s under the title “the Ribbon of the Federation.” Located at the edge of the Tiergarten where the River Spree bends gracefully behind the Parliament, this area is strewn with large landscape pieces like the “pregnant oyster” (House of World Culture) and the Marie-Elisabeth-Lüders-Haus with its stunning open façade.

Here we will spot Angela Merkel’s office (and if we are lucky the chancellor herself), we will find out why the only Embassy in the area is the Swiss one, and understand the reason why old pictures of the city show the Victory Column standing just in front of the Parliament.

We will walk along the riverbank which marked the border between East and West Berlin and hear the stories of those who tried to swim across that border, without success. We will stop by the white crosses along the river, visit “the Parliament of Trees”, and agree with the late Berlin architect Werner Düttmann that “Berlin is many cities” indeed.