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Guten tag from Berlin! We’re picking up where we left off last week, which was at the Tegel Airport. If you’re interested in discovering this fascinating and relatively inexpensive city, then grab your walking shoes and don’t forget your camera! But if you’re looking for something a little closer to home, then join Margot Black on a family-friendly vacation on Catalina Island, where she takes in the first annual Flying Fish Festival. Plus, we’ve got stories on tuning your car to get better gas mileage and part one of an airline fees survival guide, which you’re not going to want to miss.

CALIFORNIA FIRES
Before we head to Germany, we'd like to let everyone know that the state of California is very much open for business. Despite the images you may have seen on TV, the whole state is not burning up so if you have plans to visit ... don't cancel them. Our friends at Visit California and the Post Ranch Inn have informed us that Big Sur is safe in every way and the hotels have reopened (NOTE: Post Ranch opens on Friday, July 18). For those of you who don't have plans to come to California, it's a great time to jump in the car or buy a plane ticket and take advantage of some amazing deals. Pssst! Log on to JohnnyJet.com, like I just did. I was able to purchase a last-minute ticket on Delta, to travel from New York City to L.A. for $160! The key to finding deals like this is to be flexible with your departure dates, times and even airports. Instead of leaving on a Friday, I left on a Saturday. For more information on fire updates, visit: visitcalifornia.com.

AIRPORT TO HOTEL
I really had no idea what to expect from Berlin. I had never been there and didn't know much about it other than the fact that it was divided during the Cold War. Walking off the plane into the Tegel Airport Terminal, I was surprised by how small and old it was. But I later learned that it will be shut down in 2011 (along with Berlin's two other airports) to make room for the Berlin-Brandenburg International Airport, which is being built now. When I walked outside, the sun was still beaming high in the sky and it was 5:30pm. (It doesn't get dark until around 10pm in the summer.) Getting a taxi was shockingly challenging. I thought the Germans were orderly people but here it was every man for himself. Maybe it was due to the heat; it was 85 degrees and everybody wanted to get into one of the cool, air-conditioned Mercedes. After a few attempts, I finally secured a ride for an elderly couple and then jumped in one myself. The drive to my downtown hotel took just 20 minutes and cost 15€ ($24 USD) without tip. I thought that was relatively cheap for Europe.

EXCHANGE RATE
Like in any foreign city, the first thing I do when I arrive is hit the ATM and withdraw some money. You'll get the best exchange rate possible this way, as well as when you use credit cards for purchases. In fact, I rarely ever go to a currency exchange booth (I've only gone once in the past seven years) as they rip customers off. At press time, the exchange rate for the euro was not a bargain: 1€ equaled $1.58. That hurts but luckily, Berlin is regarded as one of Europe's most inexpensive cities.

BERLIN: AN AFFORDABLE CITY
For example, the latest available statistics show that the average price for a four- to five-star property in Berlin was 138€ in 2007. By comparison: London was 345€, Paris was 329€ and Rome clocked in at 203€. A three-star property costs an average of 67€ a night. For budget travelers, rates can go as low as 10€ per night and there are about 30 hostels with 14,000 beds. In total, Berlin has 93,000 available hotel beds in 615 hotels and guesthouses so there's no shortage of rooms. I'm sure these low prices factor in the fact that Berlin is the European Union's third most-visited tourist destination! Source: The Berlin Tourism Marketing website.



BERLIN BASICS
Berlin is located in northeastern Germany, 44 miles from the Polish border. There are sixteen states in Germany and Berlin is not only one of them, but it's also the capital. During the Cold War, the capital was moved to Bonn but in 1990, Berlin regained its status. Today, Berlin has twelve boroughs with a city population of 3.4 million. It's Germany's largest city and the most diverse as the metropolitan area is home to 5 million people from over 180 nations. People from Turkey comprise the largest foreign nationality group (113,779), followed by people from Poland (44,400), Serbia (23,370), Russia (14,615), Italy (14,446), United States (13,761), France (12,611), Vietnam (12,165), Croatia (11,029), Bosnia and Herzegovina (10,576), United Kingdom (9,797), Greece (9,749), Austria (8,813), Ukraine (8,709), Lebanon (7,691), Spain (6,637), the People's Republic of China (6,013), Bulgaria (6,621) and Thailand (5,878). I was surprised to learn that 60% of the population don't belong to a religious group. Twenty-three per cent (757,000) are Protestant, 9% Roman Catholic, 6% Muslim and just 0.4% (12,000) Jewish.

JEWISH MUSEUM
Before 1933, Berlin's Jewish community was over 170,000. I don't need to go into the history there because we all know what that bastard Hitler and his Nazi party did. An incredible place to learn about Jewish life in Germany from the Middle Ages on, especially the period during the reign of the Third Reich, is at the Jewish Museum. The newest wing is a remarkable high-concept building that opened in 2001. It's connected to the baroque Old Building. It's shaped like the Star of David and contains architectural "voids" to symbolize the Holocaust. If it weren't for the red dots on the ground, leading from one exhibit to another and eventually out the door, I would have gotten lost. Actually, finding the museum wasn't that easy as I walked from the train station and the signage wasn't that clear. But I must be one of the few to get lost since over 4 million people have visited the museum to date. My one regret besides not taking the elevator to the top (man, the stairs to begin the maze-like tour wiped me out), was not paying the extra 2€ for the audio tour. Judisches Museum is open daily from: 10am to 8pm, Mondays from 10am to 10pm. Closed: 9/30+10/1, 10/9, 12/24. Cost: 5€.

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