Outer Berlin

In the city's outlying areas there are palaces, lakes, and museums set in lush greenery. Central to the former West Berlin but now a western district of the united city, Charlottenburg was once an independent and wealthy city, which became part of Berlin only in 1920. Here, the baroque Charlottenburg Palace and, across the street, a collection of Picassos in the Museum Berggruen can be found. The southwest part of Berlin holds the vast Grunewald (green forest), which borders the Havel River and Lake Wannsee. In good weather Berliners come out in force, swimming, sailing their boats, tramping through the woods, and riding horseback. A starting point for cruises plying the water is opposite the Wannsee stop on the S-bahn. The Wannsee Station is also the transfer point for buses to the Wannsee beach to the north; Bus 216 to Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island); and Bus 114 to the lakeside villa where the Holocaust was first planned. From Wannsee, Potsdam, the city of summer palaces, is just another three stops on the S-bahn.