Berlin, Germany
Prostitution
Prostitution is a legal business in Germany. Due to the World Cup politicians and the media made a big fuss about it. Berlin has no major red-light district like Hamburg or Amsterdam but mostly apartments or brothels spread through out the city (don’t expect to see them down in the street). The proximity to Eastern Europe and the bad economical situation in Berlin have lead to a big increase in the number of prostitutes. Advertisements are in the tabloids, some newspapers and Internet. Human trafficking and illegal immigrants are a major problem, therefore police raids are fairly common to close down illegal places.
Get out
* Sachsenhausen is a quiet suburb housing the remains of one of the Nazi concentration camps on German soil.
* Escape to Köpenick and other wooded areas scattered around the city on the weekend.
* Potsdam is the capital of the surrounding federal state of Brandenburg and not far away west of Berlin and makes a perfect day trip. You can get there with the S-Bahn S1 (C zone) or Regional-Bahn RE1 to the end station Potsdam Hauptbahnhof. Especially the park of Sanssouci with its famous castles is worth a visit.
* The Raststaette Grunewald at the S-bahn station Nikolassee is a good spot for hitching if you’re heading south or west.
* The Müritz lake region to the north is a national park.
* Frankfurt (Oder) on the Polish border is within easy reach.
* The beautiful Baltic seashore (e.g., Usedom or Wolin) is near enough for a day trip by train.
* Szczecin in Poland is about two and a half hours by train.
* To the south, Dresden is about two hours by train.
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