Berlin, 14 December 2010 Snow-covered and festively illuminated Berlin presents itself at its best ten days before Christmas. Strolling through the German capital extraordinary mementoes can be discovered in many stores. Berlin visitors will not only find wonderful souvenirs but also many creative gift ideas. A little bit of the capital can hence be festively wrapped and placed directly under the Christmas tree.

Sights you can bake yourself are for instance available at "bob boxoffberlin" in Berlin-Mitte. If you do not want to wait until you are back home to bake the Brandenburg Gate and the TV Tower with the corresponding cookie cutters, you can alternatively buy ready-baked biscuits in the store. The gift boxes also contain architectural information on the different buildings. www.boxoffberlin.de

A Berlin flipbook from the "Berliner Luft" store allows you to travel back in time or into the future. Before your eyes the Palace of the Republic turns into the planned city castle. If you want to be more creative, you can buy sheets to craft the Brandenburg Gate yourself. www.berlinerluft.org

Fans of the little eastern traffic light man (Ampelmann) can choose from a whole collection of red and green decorated smaller and larger items in the four Berlin Ampelmann shops. Even the Christmas tree can be decorated with Ampelmann ornaments. And the gifts under it become real eye-catchers if they are wrapped in golden gift paper with Ampelmann motifs. www.ampelmann.de

Snow globes with the Brandenburg Gate by M.A.X. 2001 are a must for Christmas. They are available, amongst other things, in the BERLIN Tourist Infos at the ALEXA and the Brandenburg Gate. Special tip: the vouchers which can be exclusively obtained in all BERLIN Tourist Infos. The donees can then decide for themselves whether they want to exchange the voucher for city tours, boat trips or event tickets. Next year Berliners and visitors to the city can in particular look forward to Udo Lindenberg’s Musical "Behind the Horizon" and the exhibition highlight "Renaissance Faces“ at the Bode Museum. www.visitBerlin.de

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