Berlin - Germany -

Berlin is the capital of Germany and its population reaches 3.5 million people, so it's Germany's largest city. It is considered as the second most populous city and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union. It is in the northeast Germany and in the banks of River Spree. Furthermore, it is the centre of the Berlin-Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, with 4.5 million residents from over 180 nations. Approximately one third of the city's area is covered by forests, parks, gardens, rivers and lakes.

The "Deutscher Bundestag" is the elected representation of the German people. Technically speaking half of the 598 seats in the Bundestag are rationed by means of the parties’ state lists, which is the second vote. The other half are by the direct election of candidates in the 299 constituencies, which is the first vote. This partition changes nothing with regard to the key role of the parties in the electoral system. Only those candidates who belong to a party have any chance of success. The party whose members of the Bundestag is meant to reflect the allocation of votes. In order to prevent complications in the configuration of majorities by the presence of small parties a five-percent threshold is designed to stop their represented in the Bundestag.

The "Bradenburger Tor", in the centre of Berlin, was the main gate of the town, although now it is the main symbol of Berlin. Exactly, it is in the "Pariser Platz" and it connects the "Pariser Platz" with the boulevard "Unter den Linden". Its height reaches 26m and its length and width 65,5 m and 11m. And also its style is neoclassical.

The "Berlin Cathedral" is a church which is one of the symbols of Berlin. It was inaugurated in 1895 but destroyed in 1943 after being bombarded. After the second world war the debris were removed and the front tower stayed, whose base is now the memory hall, where its history is showed.

The Museum Island, or else "Museuminsel" is the northern part of the island Spreeinsel which is in the river Spree and it is very popular for the 5 museums it hosts. The museums are the:

• Altes Museum
• Neues Museum
• Alte Nationalgalerie
• Bode-Museum (or else Kaiser-Friedrich-Museum before 1904)
• Pergamonmuseum
  
  
  
  

  An event is held in Berlin, which is called "The Berlin Festival of Lights", it is an event that takes place annually in October. For one-two weeks, well-known sights like Brandenburg Gate, Fernsehturm, Berlin Cathedral or Berlin Victory Column are scenes of illumination and Light art. It started in 2004 and last year it celebrated its 10 year anniversary.