For more information:
http://gettingaroundgermany.home.att.net/bahn.htm

Berlin was the capital from 1871 until 1945… Berlin again was voted the capital of Germany in 1990 after the reunification of Germany.
For more info:
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=19ba862tkbbq4?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Berlin&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a&linktext=Berlin
And:
http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=19ba862tkbbq4?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Berlin&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc07a&linktext=Berlin

We went to Potsdamer Platz, which is a brand new financial and business district. It had been the site of the Berlin Wall, where the Russians had cleared a path a half mile wide.
For more information:http://www.aviewoncities.com/berlin/potsdamerplatz.htm

West Berlin was like an island of freedom in the middle of the East. The Russians began the Berlin blockade in 1948.  They cut off all supplies to the city of West Berlin assuming that eventually the free section of the city would agree to communist rule by the Russians.  However, the western allied nations developed their own plan, the Berlin Airlift. 
For more information:
http://www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study_collections/berlin_airlift/large/docs.php 
And:http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/history/postwwii/ba.htm

The painting is by Lorenzo Chiara and is entitled “180 degrees Berlin.”  It was on display in downtown Berlin in summer, 2005, just a few months prior to my visit. For more information:
http://www.lorenzochiara.com/index.htm  then click on “News” to see the painting

But I stuck to my plan to visit just Neuschwanstein, since my main goal had been to see the Alps, and here they were.
For more information:http://www.neuschwanstein.de/english/index.htm