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By Root 2500 0

days the former government quarter has reinvented itself as the home for UN and other international and federal institutions. The airy and modern Plenary Hall, where the Bundestag (German parliament) used to convene, now hosts international conferences. Nearby, the high-rise nicknamed Langer Eugen (Tall Eugen), where members of parliament kept their offices, is now a UN campus. Officially retaining their former purposes are the stately Villa Hammerschmidt, still a secondary official residence of the federal president, and the neoclassical Palais Schaumburg, now serving as the chancellor’s Bonn office.

A handy way to explore the district is by following the Weg der Demokratie (Path of Democracy; www.wegderdemokratie.de), a self-guided walking tour taking in 18 key historic sites. It starts at the Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Explanatory panelling in English is provided.

MUSEUMSMEILE

Bonn’s Museum Mile, one of the country’s finest museum clusters, sits opposite the government quarter, on the western side of the B9. Across from the Villa Hammerschmidt, the Museum Koenig ( 912 20; www.zfmk.de; Adenauerallee 160; adult/concession €3/1.50; 10am-6pm Tue, Thu-Sun, 10am-9pm Wed) is a natural history museum but it’s hardly your usual dead-animal zoo. The ‘Savannah’ exhibit re-creates an entire habitat with theatrical flourishes: elephants drinking at a watering hole, a jaguar holed up with its kill and vultures surveying the scene from above. Other highlights include a talking baobab tree in the ‘Rainforest’, a colossal sea elephant in the ‘Arctic’ and a condor with a 3m wingspan in the ‘World of Birds’.

The Haus der Geschichte der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Forum of Contemporary German History; 916 50; www.hdg.de; Willy-Brandt-Allee 14; admission free; 9am-7pm Tue-Sun) presents a highly engaging and intelligent romp through recent German history, starting when the final bullet was fired in WWII. Walk through the fuselage of a Berlin Airlift ‘Rosinenbomber’, watch classic clips in a 1950s movie theatre, examine Erich Honecker’s arrest warrant, stand in front of a piece of the Berlin Wall or see John F Kennedy’s famous ‘Ich bin ein Berliner’ speech.

Further south are two stellar art museums. Beyond its breathtaking foyer, the Kunst-museum Bonn ( 776 260; www.kunstmuseum-bonn.de; Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 2; adult/concession/family €5/2.50/10; 11am-6pm Tue, Thu-Sun, 11am-9pm Wed) presents 20th-century works, especially by August Macke and other Rhenish expressionists, as well as such avant-gardists as Beuys, Baselitz and Kiefer.

Next door, the Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany; 917 1200; www.bundeskunsthalle.de; Friedrich-Ebert-Allee 4; adult/concession/family per exhibit €8/5/14, all exhibits €14/9/24.50; 10am-9pm Tue & Wed, 10am-7pm Thu-Sun) is another striking space that brings in blockbuster exhibits from around the world. It’s easily recognised by the three sky-blue cones jutting from the rooftop garden and the 16 columns representing the states of Germany.

Did you know that the air bag, the computer tomograph and MP3 technology were invented in Germany? You will, after visiting the Deutsches Museum Bonn ( 302 255; www.deutsches-museum-bonn.de; Ahrstrasse 45; adult/child €4/2.50; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun), about 2km further south. This subsidiary of the Munich mother ship Click here highlights German technology since WWII with plenty of buttons to push and knobs to pull.

NORDSTADT

Nordstadt, which is also referred to as Northern Altstadt, is a former working-class quarter whose web of narrow streets has grown pockets of hipness. Cafes, restaurants, boutiques and galleries have sprouted along Breite Strasse, Heerstrasse and the connecting side streets. The quarter is prettiest in spring when the cherry trees are in bloom.

The expressionist painter August Macke (1887–1914) lived in this neighbourhood in the three years before his untimely death on the battlefields in WWI. His neoclassical home is now the August-Macke-Haus