I decided to splash out and book a room at a five-star hotel - the glamorous Kempinski Bristol. As this weekend represented a chance to sleep in as late as I wanted, watch my favourite shows on TV without disturbance and order room service to my heart's delight, I wanted a special hotel. Located on Kurfürstendamm avenue in the city centre, the Kempinski Bristol is perfectly placed for a weekend of strolling and sightseeing.

Arriving on Friday afternoon, I resisted the temptation to head for the shops I had glimpsed from the taxi. Instead, I settled for the hotel's indoor swimming pool. After a few strenuous laps and a few minutes nap, I was out on the street, ready to go window-shopping.

Kurfürstendamm commonly referred to as Ku'damm is the city's liveliest and best-known shopping street. Despite the upmarket and cosmopolitan feel, you can still find great bargains in the stores lining this avenue and its many side streets. Those that tempted me were the Königliche Porzellan Manufaktur (KPM) store with its delicate handmade, hand-painted porcelain, the Budapester Schuhe store for handmade shoes and brogues and designer Jill Sander's flagship outlet.

Close by, in Tauentzienstrasse, is Berlin's classiest and most famous store, Kaufhaus des Westens (or KaDeWe). It is the largest department store in Europe, surpassing even London's Harrods. Open until 8pm, it's quite a place with seven floors of fine goods, deli counters, champagne bars and even a winter garden on its top two floors. Handily, it also offers repair services, so bring along your umbrellas, leather coats and furs for an update.

After a long night's sleep, I planned my day's sightseeing over breakfast in bed. Top of my list of things to see was the Brandenburg Gate. It's very impressive and, like virtually every other tourist, I posed for an obligatory photograph with the gate in the background.

Then I headed for another architectural landmark, the Reichstag. The seat of parliament, this historic building was transformed by British architect Sir Norman Foster. Its new glass and steel dome signifies the transparency of government. Walking inside it, watching the proceedings down below, is an incredible experience – and you end up with a great view of a city in transition.

Nowhere is this transition more evident than in Potsdamer Platz. In the 1930's, this square was the busiest in Europe. Then came the Wall and it lay desolate and unused for decades. The breaking down of the Wall gave the city the rare opportunity to redesign its city centre. The result is a thriving new precinct with avant garde malls, hotels and office blocks designed by some of the world's leading architects such as Renzo Piano, Chrisoph Kolbecker and Helmut Jahn.

You will either love it or hate it - but you certainly can't ignore it. Although the angular, odd-looking buildings take some getting used to, there is no doubt that it has become the heart of the city. Day and night it is packed with shoppers, workers and revellers. Some of the country's leading companies have based their offices here. The best place to see it all is from the Panorama-Point, at the top of the Kollhof building, reached by what is claimed to be the fastest lift in Europe.

After lunch I headed for the Berlin Wall Museum (Mauermuseum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie), which is located next to the site where the famous border-crossing once stood. Exhibits in this small building evoke the tragic events connected with the Wall and you can see some of the instruments of escape used by East Germans, including chairlifts, false passports, hot-air balloons, and even a minisub. Photos document the construction of the wall, the establishment of escape tunnels, and the post-war history of both parts of Berlin from 1945 until today. Of the wall itself, precious little remains. What wasn't salvaged by souvenir hunters was demolished by developers.

As I made my way back to the hotel, I stopped in at one of the pavement cafes in the old East Berlin area of Friedrichshain, which is now one of the trendiest areas of the city. There I ran into an old school friend, now living in Berlin . She insisted on taking me out for dinner. “We're going to the park,” she said. We ended up at a beer garden cum restaurant in the fabulous Tiergarten park. The Cafe am neuem See is situated alongside the lake and is the perfect spot to relax and people-watch. She wanted me to go off nightclubbing with her, (apparently Blu in the Potsdamer Platz is one of the hottest clubs in town), but I begged off, remembering that I had come to Berlin for a rest.

On Sunday after a very late breakfast, I had one more place to visit, the Jewish Museum. Architect Daniel Libeskind based his very controversial design on a shattered Star of David, and the resultant publicity has turned it into one of Berlin 's most-visited buildings. Using photographs, artworks, memorabilia and even empty rooms you can't enter, the museum tells the moving story of Jewish-German history. It was interesting to discover how closely the histories of the two groups are bound together, but it is the startling architecture that ultimately lingers in the memory.