SO you don't have tickets for football's World Cup but want to be part of the excitement. Well, there will be plenty of it in Berlin city-wide. In addition to hosting the final on July 9, five other matches are also set for Berlin on June 13, 15, 20, 23 and 30.

Live broadcasting of all the action will be shown via giant screens for free public viewing at major locations around the city. There, fans will be in the company of like-minded football enthusiasts and welcomed to a long list of events for "Fan Fest 2006 FIFA World Cup".

Even as you read this, a big Countdown Clock near the Brandenburg Gate is ticking off minutes to the big day. There hasn't been a level of sports excitement like this here since 1974 when Germany won the World Cup. We were flying Chicago to Munich just after that victory and the plane was full of celebrating fans connecting there en route from the Mexico City finals.

The list of entertainment possibilities sent to this journalist from Berlin Tourism is enough to keep sports fans at full gallop around the clock. Certainly, no one will go hungry. All sorts of special catering facilities are planned along with the already existing abundance of atmospheric restaurants for which Berlin is noted.

Plans include sporting activities, markets, stage performances, cultural events, even a special band formed to march around town livening the scene with oompah.

Even in a city with more than 85,000 hotel beds, accommodations are understandably scarce. But a recent mailing arrived detailing availability of motor homes to solve that problem. They claim to have vehicles fans can rent to also reach other game sites . . . Hamburg, Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Dortmund, Cologne, Kaiserlautern, Frankfurt, Stuttgart, Munich, Nuremburg and Leipzig, as well as Berlin; www.World Cup Motorhomes.com.

The Berlin Olympiastadium (Olympic Stadium) has been undergoing four years of modernisation at a cost of 240 million euros. Originally built for the 1936 Olympic Games, it now accommodates 74,000 spectators. Two hundred and fifty thousand visitors have already toured it just for a preview look.

But most likely if you've not yet made plans, you'll prefer to watch from the comfort of home and postpone your visit until crowds have left. However, since Berlin is noted as a lively capital with a full menu of avant-garde entertainment and restaurants, plus a wealth of sightseeing attractions, visitors flock there. So there's really no "off season".

Choosing among hotels will be a difficult decision. Most major brands are here, some very ultra- modern. But German classics deserve attention. First time there I found the traditional Kempinski very special. Where else did one encounter an afternoon tea dance daily at five?

Schlosshotel in Grunewald on Brahmsstrasse is a five-star property retaining its feel as a country estate, very traditionally elegant.

Hotel on Los Angeles Platz had a unique penthouse suite with glass windows resistant to RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades, which by the way were still widely available during our third visit . . . more about that later). Staff members who pointed out its protection told us that site was popular with government officials. The hotel is quietly located south of Tiergartenstrasse and near ruins of Kaiser Wilhelm Cathedral.

If your first stop is Checkpoint Charlie, the next should be the Pergammon Museum, which holds the city's most spectacular treasure. The famed Pergammon altar, which dates to 180 BC, was taken from that ancient Hellenic city in western Turkey in 1878. It is only one of a breath-taking collection filling that treasure house.

Located on Museumsinsel (Museum Island ? now a UNESCO Site), that small slice of land contains one of the world's most extraordinary collections of museums. It all happened thanks to Frederich Wilhelm III, who decreed that royal art collections should be accessible to the public.

Pergammon is only one of them . . . there are Altes Museum (Old Museum), Bode Museum, Old National Gallery, and Neues Museum (New Museum). These were all badly damaged in World War Two and afterwards part of East Germany, where they further declined. But restoration work continues.

No matter how much fashions change, Queen Nefertiti remains Berlin's "Beauty Queen". Her famed bust is on display in the Egyptian Museum, now part of the Museum Island. You won't want to miss it.

Berlin has always been noted for its colourful outdoor flea markets, often source of unique finds. But nothing can match the frenetic fire sale mood and merchandise sold on the east side of the Brandenburg Gate just after the wall went down. It became an irresistible lure for locals and visitors alike, drawn to it like a magnet.

Unfortunately, some of the weapons sold there remain very serious threats today. It wasn't only officers' fur hats, war medals, uniforms, binoculars, spy ware and ceremonial swords and daggers being offered . . . but heavy-duty grenade launchers, AK-47 Kalashnikovs, and other things to send chills down spines of peace-seeking nations.

Russia still had between 200,000 and 300,000 troops stationed in East Germany not scheduled to return home for a few years after the wall went down. We drove through muddy "streets" of a depressingly desolate Red Army camp at Potsdam that looked like the worst imaginable Third World slum.

Interestingly, their army camp was now in the West, although under terms of the treaty, it temporarily was sovereign to them. Conditions were desperate. Some staff were hauling off anything that could be smuggled out. As conscripts, they were paid a measly $30 monthly and many had no intention of returning to Russia.

What a scene. Only months into the chaos of the wall coming down, it was like something from the Wild West. Turkish residents acted as intermediary salesmen for the merchandise, offering an unbelievable collection of medals, including the much-prized Order of Lenin for slightly more than melt down value of its gold and platinum contents.

An AK-47 Kalashnikov was going for $25 if you were a stranger, only $20 if you knew someone. RPGs with launcher and two rocket-propelled grenades cost $125 if you didn't know someone, $100 if you made the right connection.

Many ended up on both sides of the Balkan war, bringing $275 to $395, something we later traced on an assignment into Croatia during that war. (Yes, it was one of those adventures that definitely got too close to the action.)

Those weapons were easily accessible to anyone who attended that wild, open-air bazaar in those early years until the Russians left for good. Police were on the scene trying to exert some sort of control, but many had Stasi background and contributed to the sense of tension.

A man would sidle up to you offering something special hidden in the trunk of his car parked in an inconspicuous location. It would turn out to be forbidden Nazi war medals and other Hitler-era contraband displaying swastikas. Absolutely .

whole scene was like something from a wartime spy novel . . . and indeed it was. It continued into our next trip. By then desperate Russians were also robbing banks. Things were so bad that people in the know told us if you wanted plutonium, it could be acquired in small amounts.

Today "souvenir"-type reminders of Russian occupation still show up at local flea markets. But be careful, much of it is counterfeit, not authentic. But do ask your hotel to recommend the best of their area's market because they are always interesting.

To learn more about this tempestuous period in Berlin's history, consider visiting the Allied Museum located in the former US Army "Outpost" movie theatre. It covers the role of Britain, the US and France in the post-war period and what life was like for Western Allies in Berlin. Admission is free, open daily 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. except Wednesdays. Another place that will help visitors understand the complicated history of this historic city is the Museum of Berlin. It covers 800 years of history from its founding up to the present. Where else can one expect to visit an original radiation-proof bunker underneath the Kurfustendamm? www.story-of-berlin.de.

Berlin has such a many-faceted personality which leaves visitors with varied impressions. Actress Jodie Foster is a frequent visitor there and, like this writer, finds its Mitte sector the most intriguing, probably because it retained more of its significant vintage public buildings despite war damage. She shared her opinions and enthusiasm for the city in a recent interview promoting her film , partially filmed there on location.

"I have to say it's the most exciting city in Europe," she proclaimed enthusiastically.

In many ways her visits there almost parallel ours. Her first, travelling with her mother as a youngster, involved crossing into the East at Checkpoint Charlie and viewing the wall. An encore visit occurred just after the wall went down and a building boom began in a great frenzy of activity.

There's much to that city that will be unexpected. One is the fact it's surrounded by lakes and boat tours take visitors exploring along some unexpected waterways.

Two museums of special note are located on such a lake. One is at a site where a chilling meeting occurred, changing the course of German history; the other is at a reopened villa recalling life of an earlier era. We'll visit them next week.

: More Berlin surprises