Kurfürstendamm
This 2.2 mile shopping boulevard and its side streets offer a colorful variety that make strolling down it a pleasure: department stores and restaurants, boutiques and cafés, luxury hotels and theatres, fascinating museums and art galleries, luxury goods and junk. Originally a bridle path leading to the hunting lodge of the Kurfürst (Elector) in Grunewald, it developed into a magnificent boulevard lined with stately town palaces. Not even the loss of historical buildings during World War II robbed it of its unique flair. The ruined neo-Romanesque steeple of the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church was left standing beside a new octagonal building by Emil Eiermann as a memorial to peace and reconciliation.
The Kaufhaus des Westens (KaDeWe), a large department store built on Wittenbergplatz around 1900, has preserved its reputation as a consumer’s paradise. Its huge food department, in particular, enjoys cult status.