The town of BRANDENBURG is about 40km west of Berlin. Despite Albrecht der Bär founding the city, and building the cathedral some 850 years ago, things have been downhill since then. The Nazis switched the traditional industries over to military purposes, which assured that the city was flattened in WWII. And then the Commies continued the decline by filling it with polluting heavy industry. Potsdam has stolen it's spotlight since die Wende, but not in soccer. Two local clubs maintain a fierce rivalry, BSV Brandenburg and BSC Süd 05.

The small town of RATHENOW is about 50 miles west of Berlin. Nothing really to see here, although you could probably find a decent brewski somewhere before heading over to check out the local club, Optik Rathenow .

Head east from Berlin for some 70 miles on the E8, and you come to the city of FRANKFURT AN DER ODER. You'll probably wish you were on the Main river instead. There's basically nothing to see here, although I guess if you're a smoker, you can get cheap cigarettes by crossing the border into Poland. The local soccer club is FFC Viktoria Frankfurt. Some 20 miles south is the town of EISENHÜTTENSTADT. There is also nothing worth seeing,but the soccer is better, with Eisenhüttenstädtischer FC Stahl rivaling Mönchengladbach for the least liked team by non-German soccer reporters and folks trying to align the columns when typing the tables.

A good 100 miles southwest of Berlin, is one of the top attractions of Brandenburg, the Spreewald, which is full of rivers, streams, canals etc. Sort of like a mini-Venice without all the pollution. And since it covers some 1000 square kilometers, all paths leading to the Piazza San Marco aren't full of zillions of tourists. A nice place to relax and ride a gondola, and not have to listen to "O sole mio". Sooner or later you will be forced to try one of the famed Spreegurken, which is the local pickle. This is also the traditional home of Germany's own Slavic minority, the Sorbs. (ha! and you thought all Germany's minorities were recent Turkish imports!). The Sorbs have been living in this area for at least a thousand years, and have managed to maintain at least some of their language and culture. (The Sorbs, i.e. die Sorben are also known as Wendisch).