The fashion blog is not the only space where we can learn lessons in style and savoir vivre. Increasingly we see many posts on interior design, where the coolest people open the doors to their homes to scrutiny.

Thanks to the Web 2.0 generation and the rise of fashion blogs, individual style has become a way to communicate and express your personality to the world. The fashion blog is not the only space where we can learn lessons in style and savoir vivre. Increasingly we see many posts on interior design, where the coolest people open the doors to their homes to scrutiny.

One of the forerunners of this trend is the photographer Todd Selby, whose photoblog www.toddselby.com gets about 35,000 hits a day. Without doubt, one of the most successful blogs, but, why should it succeed? The interior stories, in fact, are nothing new. For many years, magazines like Hello, Vogue and Elle did stories on the homes of the rich and famous, which oftentimes only served to feed our morbid envy and curiosity, to know what it looks like when a person successfully exposes their purchasing power. However with blogs like theselby.com and interior posts that has surfaced lately, the aim is a bit different.

Todd Selby, for example, does not knock on the door of Isabel Pantoja or Madonna, and instead he focuses on the hip urban elite, who lead a lifestyle that many of us aspire to: designers, artists, indie singers, writers, stylists. These people are like you and me, don´t necessarily make more money than us, but have somehow managed to turn their lives into a work of art and managed to make their homes a show of good taste and ingenuity.  We are hooked, because the blog shows that you don´t need a lot of money to have a cool pad, just creativity.  Or maybe we are just hooked, because it makes it look so easy to have a  stylish, unique house, if only we put our thinking caps on. Rent apartments in Berlin for some inspiration.  Here you’ll find the most picturesque homes and lives, and spend a couple of dreamy days…



The “Kochhaus” in Berlin is a very special place. It is a site for food and design lovers,  set up as a live, interactive cookbook. The interior of the store reveals the sophistication of the place, as well as the commitment its founders have to create a space where anyone can feel comfortable and at ease.

Inspired by their enthusiasm for cooking good food and enjoying fine wine beer and spirits in the German capital, they decided to create a place where you can find all the ingredients, drinks and utensils needed to create an exquisite dish,  organized by meals. The creators had the ingenious idea to open this concept store.

It not only  helps shoppers and potential chefs create such classic recipes such as Coq au Vin and risotto, but it also encourages them to experiment with new dishes like Thai Tom Kha Gai soup, or a good Indian curry. For those with less experience in the kitchen, there are comprehensive guides that will tell us step by step how to cook these delicious dishes. And last but not least, we need not undertake the exhausting search  to the most remote areas of the city to gather the necessary ingredients to make exotic or gourmet recipes. The magic of  Kochhaus is that you can find everything there. From meats, fish, vegetables, specialty oils and herbs and exotic species, the store unfolds before us, and an assortment of fresh and appealing foods  may tempt you to try and cook everything all at once.

For kitchen novices who want to learn the basics of culinary arts, the Kochhaus offers cooking classes every Friday. You can inscribe through  their website: http://www.kochhaus.de/. The only thing you need is to rent apartments in Berlin, and go to explore new flavors in the Kochhaus.

Kochhaus, Akazienstraße 1, 10823 Berlin Schöneberg.



You enter the doors of an old abandoned building; you can hear the throbbing techno music pound in your ear and you feel that the dance moves are not far away. This night club is a huge building with  three floors of non-stop beats and electronic music.

The dance floor is 18 meters high and there’s space for around 1500 people. Panorama bar is a mega club but doesn’t act like one. The club has no sponsors and it’s hidden in an unmarked driveway. They have no guest list (unlike most clubs ), no VIP rooms, and also they don’t allow cameras. Isn’t that pretty strange? Anyway, the idea is to create a safe and comfortable place for everyone. Guest list or not, they have some incredible line-ups and shows bands like The Gossip, Grime, DJ Skream, and many more.

We must not forget about the DJs, the most important thing at this club, just to name a few,  luminaries like Luciano, Khan and Sammy Dee have graced the club with their sets. The people who usually go to these parties are pretty hardcore party animals; this is definitely not for the faint of heart as this is an industrial club where you’ll find the hardest hardcore of Berlin.

But you can find some luck if you go upstairs in the Panorama bar where things are a bit more civilized… but not so much. Artist like Koljah, Stephan Hill, Boo Williams, Oliver Deutschmann, and many more will spin this fall. And DON´T forget to rent apartments in Berlin, because you’ll certainly need a place to rest after a visit to this club.

For many people, after having a long lasting relationship, forgetting a great love is incredibly complicated. Many can’t get over it, or are depressed for months afterwards

In fact, many, months or years after this separation has happened, certain smells or certain songs may trigger painful memories. Now a study revealed that there is a neural circuit which makes memories incorporated in a strong emotional context more intense.

Neurobiology helps a little bit to explain why it is so difficult to forget a great love. Antoine Bechara, a neurobiologist known throughout the world, said that being alone for a while or immediately starting a new relationship will not cause the brain to stop running through those painful memories of the past.

What is the process so that a memory is so ingrained in the human brain? In the brain there are different structures. One called the hippocampus, through which declarative memory (the memory that tells you what day it is, what you ate or what faces you saw) is channelled and the amygdala (keeps emotional memory). For declarative memory to pass through the hippocampus and the brain, it has to have an emotional context.

When the amygdala recognizes emotional context it sends neurotransmitters to the hippocampus, at which point it incorporates a memory. On many occasions people remember situations experienced with a former partner head s for a long time. This is because the amygdala is doing its job, of replaying emotional long-term memories as an involuntary emotional response to shock.

This is not the case with short relationships because more information is saved in a long relationship in the amygdale, meaning there are simply more memories which can haunt you in everyday life. The solution to these painful memories? Time, since eventually, brain connections facilitate the review of critical situations and emotions, and decrease the amount of neurotransmitters that are in the area of neuronal exchange. This, colloquially speaking, means that you will eventually begin to forget. That is why the best thing to do is take a vacation, rent apartments in Berlin and make some new memories.

The Berlin art gallery Camera Work features an exhibition of works resulting a collaboration of Tina Berning and Michelangelo Di Battista. Berning and Di Battista met in 2007 when working at a photo shoot for the Italian Vogue. Soon they realized the great potential of a creative collaboration and decided to work together.

Their works break the boundaries between fashion, photography, drawing and painting. From September 4 until October 30, 2010 the gallery Camera Work in Berlin presents their works in an exhibition titled “FACE/project.” Now in their first very own exhibition more than 30 pieces will be on display. Both having worked in fashion before they are combining their skills to create something in their work that goes beyond mere beauty. Di Battista’s various portraits of women such as Claudia Schiffer, Julia Stegner and Amber Valetta are combined with Berning’s applications, comments, and paintings and redefine feminine beauty.

Together Berning and Di Battista create a new subjective, critical but still tender view on women. The creative layer that Berning adds to Di Battista’s photography gives the images a new level of complexity. The last two decades Michelangelo de Battista has worked with dedication and passion to constantly add to his vision. His works have been published in various internationally reknowned publications.

Tina Berning’s illustration is in high demand all over the world. She is known for her versatility and her uncompromising art sensibility. She strongly influences images in design and advertising. The gallery is named after Alfred Steglitz’ magazine Camera Work which focus was vintage photography. It’s opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday from 11 to 18h. What’s left now is renting apartments in Berlin to visit this unique exhibition which is open until the 30th of October this year. For more information please visit: http://www.camerawork.de/ CAMERA WORK AG Kantstraße 149 10623 Berlin

Just as the rebirth of Carmenere and its second heyday has come as a surprise to wine lovers all around the world, the success of the German workhorse of the wine world, Riesling, is gradually making ripples and winning fans.  This vine was brought to South America of the world by the early German settlers and today is produced, and I must say, some of the results are stunning.  Wherever it’s grown, Riesling is for many (myself included) the Queen of white wine.

In South America, the most successful cultivars come form the Cono Sur region, the cold south central terrain of Chile, specifically in the Maule region. Thanks to their innovative technology and dedication, Chilean Riesling from 2005 was rated very highly by the most prestigious wine magazines, winning more than 90 points, and finding approval with the most discerning European palates.

However it’s clear that the reigning kings of Riesling production of are the Germans, mainly in the Rhine Valley and also the French, in the Alsace valley.  It’s always amusing to see how global food ways bring home their prodigal children, and I was pleasantly surprised to be offered a Chilean Riesling alongside its German peers while on a recent trip on a German airline. But beware! The mark-up on these trendy new world imports and their highly-rated German counterparts can be quite high, sometimes 4 or 5 times what it should be depending on where you buy them.  If you want to taste the best German wines, I recommend taking a trip to Germany where you can enjoy the wonderful Riesling and its South American cousins in a variety of wine cellars and restaurants, at good prices. Your taste buds will thank you

If you love wine and want to taste the best in the world, rent apartments in Berlin, and take advantage of your stay to travel to the valleys where Riesling is grown. This is without doubt a superb way to experience the best of German wine.