Bonn was the capital of the former West Germany (or Bundesrepublik in German) between1949 and 1990. It is the nineteenth largest (according to Wikipedia) city in Germany which says much about why it was chosen to be the new capital following World War Two; Konrad Adenauer, the post-war chancellor of the Bundesrepublik, was a local lad and he pushed for Bonn to become capital over Frankfurt, a city which was in a much better position to take on the role. Frankfurt already had many suitable buildings and a good infrastructure but Bonn won the day in spite of the added costs involved.

Following World War Two, Germany was divided into four zones; this was done to satisfy the Allies who each had various claims on the territory and wished to protect their individual interests and the other reason was that it was believed that Germany needed to be prevented from becoming too powerful again in the future. Although Berlin was also divided, it was seen as imperative that Berlin should be erased from German consciousness as symbolic of what had gone on before and the newly installed West German government agreed that Bonn would be an acceptable capital since it had no connections with the country's controversial past.

Bonn was essentially a small town some 20 kilometres south of Cologne. It had little in the way of large buildings necessary to house government institutions but over the decades it became a shining example of a modern and orderly German city with an excellent public transport system and notable architecture, providing its citizens with good housing, open spaces and varied cultural pursuits.

Bonn is undoubtedly the "small town in Germany" described by John Le Carre; in fact some Germans joked and called it the "Bundesdorf" - the Federal village and Bonn certainly does feel quite small and insular. However, Bonn is not short of things to do and could easily have kept us occupied for several days; alas, we had only one day to cram in as much as possible.

The first thing you should do on arrival is head to the Tourist Information Office near Munsterplatz and buy a Bonn Regio Card; they start at 9 Euro for an adult for 24 hours and can be bought for 24, 48 or 72 hours; family cards are particularly good value and the assistant who served us kept pointing this out - maybe he wanted us to go out onto the street and collar a couple of kids to come sightseeing with us!

As well as free entry to virtually all the museums and galleries in Bonn and

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