JODIE FOSTER loves Berlin for its museums and architecture. But that doesn't mean she can't enjoy a brat and a beer on the subway.
Not a single head turns when Jodie Foster blasts into the outdoor café at the Farmers Market in Los Angeles. No eyebrows rise when she sits down at a table in the middle of a packed alfresco dining patio, and I pull out a tape recorder for our interview. Not one eye stares as she begins taking me through an hour-long journey into one of her favorite cities: Berlin. It seems strange that one of the most famous actresses of her generation could blend into a midday lunch crowd, with not one person, not to mention paparazzi, taking notice.

But, then again, maybe it's not so strange at all. Foster has always disappeared into her characters, from her Oscar-winning turns in The Silence of the Lambs and The Accused to this month's airborne psychological drama, Flightplan. On this sunny day, she could just be another young LA woman with energy to burn, all of her considerable life force focused on the city that has become such a passion that, she says, she has in her bedroom "a very famous photograph of the Russians planting a flag on the Reichstag when they took over Berlin."

Foster recently returned to Berlin to film parts of Flightplan after numerous visits in the past. "I have to say it is actually the most exciting city in Europe," she says. "I'm a big fan of Paris, and I've spent a lot of time in Rome, but Berlin's got something going on. It's this new excitement about the future and possibility. I love the city - I could blab on about it forever." And with that, she's taking me through Berlin without taking a breath, oblivious to the oblivious world around her.

How much has Berlin changed since your first visit?