Society has changed tremendously over the years and and has now nothing to do with the time of our grandparents and great grandparents. Whereas 80 years ago everybody thought that the women would become pregnant after having looked deeply into a man’s eyes, nowadays everyone, young or adult, are real experts regarding sex, and they enjoy total sexual freedom. What before meant a commitment for the rest of your life, has today turned into a one-night stand. So, commitment or a one-night stand, what do you prefer?

It seems that the one-night stands are in fashion. If you are single and you want to have some fun, you just have go to a pub or nightclub and meet somebody. More and more people go out to party with the goal of having sex. We can define today’s world as an ephemeral culture: everybody does what they want. This is the lifestyle we have adopted. Most people are very informal and focus on the fun. Even the appearance of potential candidates is an increasingly minor role. Conventional appointments are replaced by one-night stands, because they are more much easier than traditional dating: you don’t bring flowers or talk about your hobbies, or spend much money on a romantic dinner. When both parties feel a good vibe and agree to a one night stand, ¡E voilà!

Another curiosity is how different languages denominate the concept of “sex without commitment”. The different terms in each language can tell us a lot about every society’s views about sex without commitment. If we start with the passionate Italians we will see that they are very open-minded people as they use the expression “botta e via ” (in and out). English people are a bit more reserved and talk about the famous one-night-stand. The Germans seem to be even more conservative and they have no particular word and therefore take advantage of the English expression. If we commit infidelity, the Polish speak about moralniak ( “moral hangover”), the German’s say Seitensprung (“jump to other side”), the French about a coup d’un soir or a sex plan and the British dramatize it a bit with the words walk of shame. Anyway, we can see that every culture and every country has its own way of naming these trends in sexual attitudes.

It doesn’t matter if you prefer a commitment or a one-night stand, in Berlin you can get what you want. To have a perfect and cheap accommodation rent apartments in Berlin and remember what Woody Allen once said: “Sex without love is an empty experience, but, as empty experiences go, it’s one of the best“.

A trip to the unsichtbar in Berlin

In 2002, a pretty unsusual restaurant opened its doors in Berlin: if you like to experiment and challenge your sensations, this restaurant is for you!
It would be hard to talk about the decoration, because it is plunged into the most complete darkness!
Guided by blind servers, you will dine in the dark; watches, cell phones, all bright objects are strictly prohibited. I can guarantee you an unforgettable experience!

The restaurant “unsichtbar” is managed by an association of blind people and wants to give the customers the opportunity to enter the world of the blind while rediscovering the use of their senses. In order to focus on taste only, you can even order a surprise menu, dishes will be chosen for you, and you will have to guess what you are eating! (you can specify your preferences meat, fish, etc..)

You will be surprised by your palate and will discover unknown sensations. Are you afraid of spilling wine on yourself? Don’t worry, during the three hours of this outside the ordinary experience at the unsicht-bar a waiter will be standing at your side and in case of problems you can count on him! And if you need to go anywhere, he will kindly help you. Anyway, and it is quite surprising, people do not spill their drinks, nor stain their clothes more than usual. Another fun fact: people start to speak louder in the dark because their perception is distorted, so don’t be surprised if the waiter asks you to speak a little bit more softly.

Upon arriving you will pass several rooms closed by black curtains, guided by the waiters; they will take you around each room so you can gradually accustom yourself to the darkness. Because they are blind, they have no problem in finding their way: blindness, instead of being a disability, becomes an asset at this restaurant. You will understand better their daily lives, and roles will be reversed for a few short hours. And you’d better be nice to the waiter if you ever want to find your way out of the unsicht-bar!

We advise you to experiment this restaurant dining with 4 to 6 persons; you’ll rediscover the art of conversation and for sure you will have a good laugh! You can also arrange a real blind date if you don’t want to be fooled by appearances!

Are you ready to experiment something new? Fly to Berlin to rediscover your taste buds with the unsichtbar, rent our great Apartments in Berlin, you won’t regret it!

The German capital is one of the greenest cities in Europe with no less than 2500 public green spaces. If you love nature and cities where you can breath, Berlin is the city you’ve always dreamed of!

Berlin is known all over the world for its numerous parks where you can stroll after or before visiting the museums. Berliners love their parks, and are often found walking, jogging, or cycling. Take the “Tiergarten“, the green lung of the city: you will be amazed in the summer to see all the Berliners gathering for barbecues and sunbathing. The park also features a romantic lake, and Berlin’s biggest beer garden – the ‘Café am Neuen See’.
You will find parks in all the districts of the city like the ‘Volkspark Friedrichshain’, the Japanese Garden in the Marzahn or the garden Britz.

In the south-west of Berlin, you will be able to walk in the forest of ‘Grünewald’ which will prompt you to take long walks or bike rides while enjoying the fresh air on a warm summer evening. You may also prefer the beautiful park of Charlottenburg Palace.

Berlin has many lakes found only a 30 to 40 minute ride on the S-bahn train from the centre, and are ideal for sunbathing and swimming in the summer, or for a boat trip on the lakes ‘Wannsee’ or ‘Müggelsee’. But if you like cold weather, you will be able to skate on the ‘Schlachtensee’ and ‘Krumme Lanke’ lakes. In winter it is also possible to go sledging and skiing in the forests and parks of Berlin!

Berlin will surprise you with its huge Botanical Garden (Botanischer Garten) which has around 22,000 species of plants spread out over several greenhouses nearby and a model farm with its animals at the Ecomuseum Dahlem.

Berlin is the ideal city to get around by bicycle: with spacious and abundant bike lanes cycling in Berlin is safe. Lots of Berliners have embraced it as a way of transportation, and as a consequence its wide streets are never congested. Between every two rides you could go and relax in the famous ‘Biertgartens’, some sort of small outdoor cafés typical of Berlin, often bordered by a river (the Spree or the Havel) where you could almost forget that you are in a city of 3.4 million people!

Do you need a break? Don’t wait any longer and book a fantastic apartment in Berlin! Come and enjoy the trendiest European capital and its oasis of greenery!

The ITB Berlin (International Tourism Exchange Berlin), the world’s largest travel exhibition, will be held at Messe Berlin from 11th to 15th March. This year it will focus on “business travel in times of crisis”. For five days the whole world will meet at ITB Berlin: people who want to find the perfect destination and people working in the travel industry. Turkey is co-hosting this year’s ITB Berlin Convention.

Business travel has become as important as leisure travel and now it has become a fruitful pillar of the travel industry. For this reason, ITB Berlin focuses on the newest sector trends, its concepts and corporation possibilities. Another dominant feature of the 2009 ITB Berlin is “the European Capital of Culture RUHR 2010”. ITB Berlin’s director declared that ‘despite the difficult global economic situation, in 2009 demand still exceeds supply’, which will probably be noticed in the fair’s participation.
ITB Berlín 2009 will present a whole range of travel deals: tour operators, destinations, booking systems, communication & information systems providers, hotels and any thing a company or traveller could need. So it represents the perfect platform for companies and institutions of the whole travel world.
It will focus on all kinds of tourist segments: trends and events, cultural tourism, youth travel, economy accommodation, ECO tourism, experience adventure and expeditions, training & employment in tourism, travel technology, wellness, cruises and reservations..

Year after year, the ITB Fair in Berlin has gained prestige along with visitors. This edition will beat its attendance record with 11,000 exhibiting companies and organisations from around 180 different countries. It attracts nearly 125,000 visitors every year. This edition of ITB will house 35 exhibitors just for hotel fittings, sales promotion & advertising, organisational materials and services.
ITB Berlin is the perfect forum for conducting business and guarantees high-quality customer contacts. It also tries to produce links between markets and societies, companies and travellers and research and science.

There are many reasons for not missing ITB Berlin 2009, whether you have a travel company or not: during five days all the private visitors will discover new tourism trends and they will be able to get inspiration for their holidays. For the professionals, this fair gives the opportunity to promote itself because the organisation undertakes the corporate social responsibility as an overarching concept for sustainable corporate development in tourism.

Rent Apartments in Berlin to spend these days in the city of Berlin. It is surely the best option for a pleasant stay in the German capital. Enjoy the fair!

Ostalgie: discover the life of the past

If you think that you already know Berlin, because you have visited a lot of times the German capital, then I´m sure that you can tell me what is the vita-cola, ampelmännchen oder Trabant. Ah, no, you can´t? Well, the fact is that you are completely wrong. Come on, come to Berlin and enter in the world of Ostalgie!

The 9th of november the Germans celebrate the 20th birthday of the Fall of the Berlin Wall and so as well the German reunification. This day is a very important incident in Germanys history of which a lot of Germans of the ancient East are thinking about very emotionally. However, the yearning for the life in the German Democratic Republic, that means especially for its products, is growing. During the last years there was established a new kind of trend, the so called Ostalgie. It is a portmanteau of the German words Ost (east) and Nostalgie (nostalgia). In the media, press, television, radio and in a lot of magazines you can find reports and documentaries about the life in the GDR. Switch on the TV, watch the programme called “Ostalgie Show” and let you travel back to the world of old East Germany. Although the Germans are very proud to live in a reunified nation, there still exist some cultural differences between the East and the West which mark the German society.

You won´t need much time to find shops where you can buy products of the Ossis. In the German capital is a huge amount of shops where you can buy besides the typical GDR Tschirts, authentic products from the period betwenn 1949 and 1990: the famous Spreewaldgurken (cucumber), the coffee brand Mocca Fix Gold, original uniforms of the ancient National People´s Army, the big Russian fur caps, one of the oldest cleaning agent Ata-Scheuermittel, and even you can buy the orginal shopping paper bags “Gut eingekauft”. All of these products enjoy a huge acceptation in the reunified Germany. As you can see, the offer of East articles is very expanded, starting with food, over clothes and household articles, withing books, CDs or movies: Berlin has everything!

If you want to discover the cosmopolitan city in a different way, why don´t you do a Trabbi-Tour? The Trabant, also known as Trabbi, is a very cheap car which was the most common vehicle in the GDR. The people couldn´t choose between a lot of automobile models, and the Trabbi was the cheapest one. For buying a Trabbi, they had to be registered in a list and sometimes the people had to wait for 10 years…or they just went to the black market. Nowadays, the Trabbi is very worshiped and Berlin gives you the posibility to rent this historical car to discover the German capital and its spectaculars monuments.

For getting to know every single important detail in your trip through the ancient East of Germany, why don´t you visit the DDR-Museum? It’s an interactive museum in the Berlin district of Mitte where you can discover through the different expositions the life of the Ossis (denomination for the habitants of the GDR). It is divided into 17 thematic expositions, like for example, the products, the STASI (Ministry for State Security), education, frontier, culture, trips and holidays etc. Moreover it’s a museum where you can act and touch, that means, you can walk through the original kitchen, open the cupboard of the bedroom and take some clothes or you can take a seat in a Trabbi: in this museum you have the feeling of being in a real original flat of the GDR.

If you still aren’t convinced about visiting Berlin, sit back and relax on the couch and watch the famous movies Good bye, Lenin! or Sonnenalle, films which show you the way of life in the GDR. You surely won’t wait any longer to book your flight to the German capital. And to relax a little bit from your trip through the East of Germany, why don´t you rent one of these comfortable apartments in Berlin?

Berlin is a cosmopolitan and multicultural city and as such, every year (since 1951) it celebrates one of the most important film festivals in the world: The Berlin International Film Festival, this year being its 59th edition.

Read the full post here at: The Berlinale 2009