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	<title>Berlin Travel Guide</title>
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		<title>Last Minute Holiday Reservation</title>
		<link>http://www.berlin-now.org/last-minute-holiday-reservation</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:20:33 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.berlin-now.org/?p=33</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sometimes you are confused of finding the best place to visit in your holiday.  Because you are too long in deciding it you can loose the ticket or run out of  hotel reservation. In fact, this is not only your holiday and hundred of  people are also want to go for a [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">Sometimes you are confused of finding the best place to visit in your holiday.  Because you are too long in deciding it you can loose the ticket or run out of  hotel reservation. In fact, this is not only your holiday and hundred of  people are also want to go for a holiday.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Although it happens to you, it doesn’t mean that you can’t go for a holiday. What  you need is connecting to the internet and visit LateDeals Co Uk. From this  site, you will find several <a href="http://www.latedeals.co.uk/" target="_blank">last minute holidays</a> especially for those who are too late in deciding the place for a holiday.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Don’t under estimate the list of <a href="http://www.latedeals.co.uk/" target="_blank">late holidays</a> that available there because you can still get some interesting deals concerning with unforgettable holiday. You can still going to the beach or visiting  several countries such as Sousse, Paphos, and Portugal. One reason that makes you late to decide the place to visit is because you  want to choose the place that suitable with your money. Of course you can choose  the latest holiday that affordable with your money. In short, this is a  solution for you who want to go for a holiday but you have limited money. Just  choose your favorite place, make the online deal, and you are ready for the  holiday.</p>
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		<title>Balls in Berlin</title>
		<link>http://www.berlin-now.org/balls-in-berlin</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:36:42 +0000</pubDate>
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				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Balls in Berlin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[shop]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.berlin-now.org/?p=31</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[When a shop is called Balls and describes its business as men’s lingerie, it’s not out of the question to have visions of fetish latex body suits and silky male thongs. Especially when this particular boutique is in the Mitte district of Berlin, a trendy shopping neighborhood not known for its modesty.
But in fact, Balls [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">When a shop is called Balls and describes its business as men’s lingerie, it’s not out of the question to have visions of fetish latex body suits and silky male thongs. Especially when this particular boutique is in the Mitte district of Berlin, a trendy shopping neighborhood not known for its modesty.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But in fact, Balls is a polished little shop no bigger than a rich man’s walk-in closet, and a place with surprising discretion. “We have a really wild and crazy name, but we sell mainly conservative underwear,” explained the owner and designer Claudia Kleinert.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Balls, open for just under two years, is the male offshoot of its next-door neighbor, Blush, a women’s lingerie store also founded by Ms. Kleinert, who in the past worked for Puma, designing club wear in Germany and, in New York, for the designer Adrienne Vittadini. “On the weekends we have a lot of couples coming by, so it became really obvious that I should offer something for the men coming with<span id="more-31"></span> their girlfriends,” she explained.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">On the far wall of Balls hang a variety of European-style briefs in a rainbow of colors: bright pink and green ones from Jockey (16.90 euros, or about $22.50 at $1.33 to the euro); bright whites from the luxury lines Zimmerli (32.90 euros) and Hanro of Switzerland (35.90 euros); and short silk boxers in colors like navy and emerald designed by Ms. Kleinert for the in-house Balls label (29.90 euros). A recent addition to the shop is the Berlin-based brand Papenberg, a distinctly fashion-forward choice for Balls. “It’s a new label from Berlin,” said Ms. Kleinert. “It’s very big now with the gay crowd.”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The house-label silk robes (149.90 euros) and Church’s bedroom slippers (139.90 euros) are decidedly elegant, but, according to Ms. Kleinert, not as popular as the dopp kit from the German company F. Hammann (119.90 euros), with a closure that can be used as both a shoe horn and bottle opener. “It sells out all the time,” she said.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Balls, Rosa-Luxemburg-Strasse 22; (49-30) 2809-3580; www.balls-berlin.de.</p>
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		<title>Berlin’s Hidden Restaurants</title>
		<link>http://www.berlin-now.org/berlin%e2%80%99s-hidden-restaurants</link>
		<comments>http://www.berlin-now.org/berlin%e2%80%99s-hidden-restaurants#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:33:13 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Berlin’s Restaurants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hidden Restaurants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Restaurants]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.berlin-now.org/?p=28</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[“THE secret restaurant is on the 3rd floor,” warned the e-mail confirmation. “Just follow the smell of food — and we will be waiting for you there with a drink!”
Situated on a quiet residential street in Berlin’s bohemian neighborhood of Kreuzberg, the restaurant was actually in someone’s living room, decorated with fresh flowers and colorful [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">“THE secret restaurant is on the 3rd floor,” warned the e-mail confirmation. “Just follow the smell of food — and we will be waiting for you there with a drink!”</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Situated on a quiet residential street in Berlin’s bohemian neighborhood of Kreuzberg, the restaurant was actually in someone’s living room, decorated with fresh flowers and colorful artwork.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The eight guests — including a couple from Finland, two young women from Ireland and two radio journalists from Berlin — had never met before. Nor had they met the host, Maria, who calls herself the Shy Chef. (Like other underground restaurateurs who operate without a license, she did not give her full name for fear of being shut down.)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Maria has been inviting<span id="more-28"></span> strangers into her home for dinner since March, as a kind of guerrilla-style restaurant. Patrons that night enjoyed a six-course meal that included a vodka-marinated salmon, a fine selection of wines and the warm company of fellow guests.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">It felt like a dinner party given by an eclectic and extroverted new friend, except that those present scored invitations online (at theshychef.wordpress.com) and chipped in 50 euros each ($72.50 at $1.45 to the euro).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Hidden restaurants seem to be flourishing in Berlin, a city that prizes its secret corners and artsy subcultures. Among the pioneers was the Rodeo Club (Ballhaus Ost, Pappelallee 15; www.rodeo-club.net), a speakeasy-style restaurant that began in 2004.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Started by two Germans, Florian, an actor, and Marc, an animation artist, both now 34, it is based on the idea of creating a lively supper club that even a starving artist could afford.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Held Thursdays in a dilapidated old ballroom in the former East Berlin, a recent dinner drew about 45 diners, mostly Berliners in their mid-20s to 30s, who feasted on a three-course meal that included roast rabbit with dumplings and red cabbage. A D.J. played electronic pop and, between courses, patrons took part in a Ping-Pong tournament.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">While the Rodeo Club remains informal and affordable (dinner is 12 euros and membership is open to anyone), the speakeasy format is starting to spread to more commercial settings.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">A couple of years ago, two partners in the Rodeo Club split off and opened a competing Rodeo Restaurant in the Altes Postfuhramt (or old Royal Post Office), an ornate terra-cotta landmark built in 1875 in Mitte (Auguststrasse 5a ; 49-16-3162-0168; www.rodeo-berlin.de).</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">To get there, patrons must go through an unmarked courtyard that still bears scars from World War II, before going upstairs to the Dome Hall — a gilded room with a coffered ceiling, arched windows and rows of white-tablecloth tables. Dinner, which starts at 29.50 euros, recently included suckling pig with turnips and a strawberry and rhubarb parfait.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Afterward, the tables were cleared and a D.J. played hip-hop and dance music to a festive crowd.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Finding Cookies Cream (Behrenstrasse 55; 49-30-2749-2940; www.cookiescream.com) is also tricky. This upscale restaurant is tucked at the end of a garbage-filled alleyway behind the Westin Grand Hotel, upstairs from a club called Cookies.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">With help from Michael Kempf, chef at the Michelin-starred Facil, the menu offers creative vegetarian dishes like pumpkin-lime soup with chutney. The three-course meal is also a great value at 28 euros.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But perhaps the most exclusive of these underground restaurants is the Kochklub, held around an open kitchen in the V.I.P. room at Bar Tausend (Schiffbauerdamm 11; www.tausendberlin.com; for reservations, info@tausend-berlin.de), a fashionable nightclub behind a nondescript steel door.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Held on Wednesdays, the Kochklub is the brainchild of the avant-garde caterers and food artists Foodpol. A recent four-course dinner (38 euros) included veal brain with white asparagus emulsion; hot asparagus ice cream with summer truffle; pork with white asparagus and Hollandaise; and a white asparagus panna cotta with strawberries.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Kochklub is on summer hiatus but will return in the fall. “We wanted to keep everyone hungry for more,” said Telse Bus, one of the organizers.</p>
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		<title>Hotels in Berlin for Under $150</title>
		<link>http://www.berlin-now.org/hotels-in-berlin-for-under-150</link>
		<comments>http://www.berlin-now.org/hotels-in-berlin-for-under-150#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Mon, 18 Jan 2010 02:30:49 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hotels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hotels in Berlin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hotels Under $150]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.berlin-now.org/?p=25</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[High style meets low cost in some of the German capital’s most intriguing budget hotels, including several in the neighborhoods of former East Berlin.
1) Westin Grand, Berlin
Friedrichstrasse 158-164
(49-30) 20270
aktuelles.westin.de/berlin_en
96 euros
The Westin is smack in the center of former East Berlin and an easy walk to the major museums, Alexanderplatz, Brandenburg Gate. Rooms are good size, [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">High style meets low cost in some of the German capital’s most intriguing budget hotels, including several in the neighborhoods of former East Berlin.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">1) Westin Grand, Berlin<br />
Friedrichstrasse 158-164<br />
(49-30) 20270<br />
aktuelles.westin.de/berlin_en<br />
96 euros</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Westin is smack in<span id="more-25"></span> the center of former East Berlin and an easy walk to the major museums, Alexanderplatz, Brandenburg Gate. Rooms are good size, quiet and at a $150 rate, including their diverse breakfast, which otherwise goes for an outrageous 25 euros per person, this 4/5-star hotel was good value. — Artnuvo</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">2) Ku’Damm 101<br />
Kurfürstendamm 101<br />
(49-30) 520-0550<br />
www.kudamm101.com<br />
92 euros</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">3) art’otel berlin-mitte<br />
Wallstrasse 70-73<br />
(49-30) 240-620<br />
U.S. reservations, (800) 791-9161<br />
www.artotels.com<br />
92 euros</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">4) Circus Hotel<br />
Rosenthaler Platz 1<br />
(49-30) 2000-3939<br />
www.circus-berlin.de<br />
78 euros</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">The Circus Hotel is a hip 60-room hotel in an area that seems to be up and coming. Prices start at about 70 euros and include breakfast. Wi-Fi is free and you can rent a Segway to tour the neighborhood. Across the street is their hostel version, packed with young people from around the world. — VividTurtle</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">5) Hotel Transit<br />
Hagelberger Strasse 53-54<br />
(49-30) 789-0470<br />
www.hotel-transit.de<br />
72 euros</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I highly recommend Hotel Transit. The nearest U-Bahn is Mehringdamm, about two blocks away. The building doesn’t look like much on the outside, but there is a beautiful courtyard tucked away inside that many of the rooms look out to. The rooms (doubles/triples) are simply but elegantly decorated, and best of all, it is technically a “hostel” so it is very reasonably priced! — lmzhang</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">6) Hotel Gates Berlin City West<br />
Knesebeckstrasse 8-9<br />
(49-30) 311-060<br />
www.hotel-gates.com<br />
85 euros</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">7) Arte Luise Künsthotel<br />
Luisenstrasse 19<br />
(49-30) 284-480<br />
www.luise-berlin.com<br />
99 euros</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">I stayed at the Arte Luise Künsthotel on a recent visit and paid about 50 euros per night for a very basic single room. The hotel staff is wonderful and each guest room has been designed by a different artist (hence the name of the hotel). And the location couldn’t be better — in Mitte, steps away from many “touristy” sites, but not far by foot or train to many off-the-beaten-path locations. — Adrian</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"> <img src='http://www.berlin-now.org/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_cool.gif' alt='8)' class='wp-smiley' /> Holiday Inn Berlin City Center East<br />
Prenzlauer Allee 169<br />
(49-30) 446-610<br />
www.hi-berlin.com<br />
64 euros</p>
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		<title>Hotels Blossoming in Berlin</title>
		<link>http://www.berlin-now.org/hotels-blossoming-in-berlin</link>
		<comments>http://www.berlin-now.org/hotels-blossoming-in-berlin#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 26 Dec 2009 04:32:57 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>admin</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Articles]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[berlin]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hotels]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Hotels Blossoming]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.berlin-now.org/?p=23</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[CASA CAMPER, a 51-room hotel in the Mitte district of Berlin, was fully booked when it opened on Sept. 15. The hotel, run by the Spanish urban clothing label Camper, drew a youthful clientele that included fashionable Europeans in party mode and Monocle magazine-toting business travelers who would never stay at a prosaic hotel.
Not far [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p style="text-align: justify;">CASA CAMPER, a 51-room hotel in the Mitte district of Berlin, was fully booked when it opened on Sept. 15. The hotel, run by the Spanish urban clothing label Camper, drew a youthful clientele that included fashionable Europeans in party mode and Monocle magazine-toting business travelers who would never stay at a prosaic hotel.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Not far away is the Hotel Amano (Augustrasse 43; 49-30-809-4150; www.hotel-amano.com), a modern, 163-room hotel that blends into the street’s mix of Communist-era buildings. It has an attractive staff in tailored uniforms; a sleek lobby with brushed copper, slate floors and brown velvet upholstery; and doubles starting at 75 euros (about $115 at $1.53 to the euro).<span id="more-23"></span></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">And with the new, 60-room Circus Hotel (Rosenthaler Strasse 1; 49-30-2000-3939; www.circus-berlin.de; doubles from 78 euros) just two blocks away, this pocket of Berlin has, seemingly overnight, become a new hotel district. It’s not the only one.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Following a long drought, a flood of new hotels is opening in Berlin, energized by the city’s reputation as a world capital of the emerging creative class. When the Berlin Wall came down 20 years ago, visitors to the former East Berlin found little else but grim hotels with barebones amenities and rude service. By the early 1990s, the state-run hotels had collapsed, with a very few surviving as private ventures. But mostly the hotel industry in eastern Berlin had to start anew.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Developers moved in and the results are finally bearing fruit. It began, most notably, with the opening of the luxurious Hotel Adlon Kempinski in 1997, near the Brandenburg Gate, rebuilt to its pre-World War II glory. In 2006, the chic Lux 11 opened as one of the city’s first design hotels. Now there are half a dozen fashionable hotels dotted throughout the city, many just opened in the past two years.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Most are in the Mitte district, like Casa Camper (Weinmeisterstrasse 1; 49-30-2000-3410; www.casacamper.com), where doubles are about 200 euros a night, and its central location will very likely bring a steady flow of foodies to its soon-to-open restaurant, Dos Pallilos, run by Albert Raurich, who once worked at El Bulli. “Our mission is to make tourists feel like locals,” said Alexander Schneider, Camper’s general manager.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But hotels are also opening along the bourgeois boulevards of Charlottenburg, in the former West Berlin. The 42-room Aspria Hotel (Karlsruher Strasse 20; 49-30-8906-8880; www.aspria-hotel.com) opens this month on a leafy side street just minutes away from boutiques like Gucci and Salvatore Ferragamo. The rooms, which start at 109 euros for a double, are nicely appointed with funky Jetsons-style built-ins. The main draw, however, is the 14,000-square-meter gym and spa that includes a hamam, a “salt inhalation room” and a spacious rooftop terrace with restaurant.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But perhaps the most intriguing hotels are cropping up nontouristy neighborhoods. One that has generated considerable buzz in the blogosphere is the 119-room Hotel Michelberger (Warschauer Strasse 39/40; 49-30-2977-8590; www.michelbergerhotel.com), which opened along an industrial stretch of Friedrichshain, next to a U-Bahn and S-Bahn station in eastern Berlin.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">With doubles as low as 65 euros, the Michelberger might be the city’s most stylish budget option, offering a kind of urban, D.I.Y. aesthetic that reflects the city’s manic and youthful energy. While it’s far from the tourist centers, the hotel is stumbling distance from nightclubs like Berghain, a vast, hedonistic dance club in a former Nazi-era building, and Watergate, a Spree-side disco with a spectacular LED lighting system.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">“This is the part of Berlin you come to if you want to experience something authentic,” said Tom Michelberger, an owner of the hotel. “This isn’t a place just for tourists, it’s where real Berliners live and spend their time. It’s very alternative and rock ’n’ roll.”</p>
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