You'll have a hard time finding another city in Europe whose recent history has been more influenced by the United States than Berlin.
In the German capital near the Brandenburg Gate -- right where the Wall used to divide this town into communist Eastern and capitalist Western sides -- the U.S.
Embassy recently set up a plaque commemorating Ronald Reagan's 1987 speech where the 40th president called on then Soviet leader Mikhael Gorbachev to, "tear down this wall."
Just a ten minute drive away you reach the former Checkpoint Charlie, the scene of a major standoff between American and Russian tanks in 1961 that brought the world close to nuclear war.
And just another ten minutes away you find the city hall of the district of Schöneberg, where John F. Kennedy held his famous speech in 1963, pledging allegiance with this city on the front line of the Cold War and finishing with the famous words, "Ich bin ein Berliner."
My own history is reflected in this special relationship Berlin has with the U.S. as well. In the late 1970's and early 1980's my father worked as the East Berlin correspondent for West German TV.
I went through the Berlin Wall every morning from East to West to get to kindergarten. In 1982 we moved to Washington D.C, where America embraced us immediately and we embraced American culture. Today, my family and I live in Berlin.
