We got it when Berlitz wanted to team up with a hotel to teach us French in Montreal. But going to Germany to learn French? There's something missing in the logic there.

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt, assume they've done some market research and discovered there are travelers who want to stay in Berlin but learn French.

If you belong to that particular market segment then you need to know that the deal is at the Hotel Concorde, a five-star hotel which does, at least, belong to a Paris-based group of hotels, giving the whole French speaking thing just a scrap of credibility.

For those of you who want a more traditional hotel in Berlin rather than a trippy experience like the Propeller Island City Lodge, consider the Regent Berlin. It sounds regal and it looks it too.

With one of those fancy-looking chandelier and marble lobbies, you can guess it's going to be a bit pricey and considering the fact that accommodation prices in Berlin are usually really reasonable, a starting rate of €315 (US$490) for the basic "superior guest room" is quite a lot.

Is it worth it? The location at the Gendarmenmarkt is pretty classic Berlin, and you can walk to many of the best spots of the city. Service is nearly always impeccable and the

In the beer-drinking heart of south-east Germany, the Mandarin Oriental Munich is proving popular with travelers since its renovations finished recently (although personally we're a bit puzzled by the new furniture in this picture).

Right now it's rating as #3 out of some 350 hotels on the TripAdvisor ratings so are hunch that it's a good spot to stay is definitely shared; on top of that, their website boasts that a Travel + Leisure poll put them in the Top 10 of the world's best hotels.

The location is great, right near the Marienplatz which is where Munich ticks. The hotel has everything, even a Michelin-starred restaurant, and the rest of Munich is right at your

Our inbox just brought word of a recently opened hotel/hostel/lounge in Hamburg, Germany, and we must say that staying in a hostal has never looked like so much fun.

The place is called Superbude, a name we find ourselves partial to for no other reason than that it reminds us of the hilarious "Superbad." Rooms, priced from about $90, come with up to four beds and are spread across six different colored floors. Guests get to choose whether they want to stay on the brown, grey, red, pink, green or blue level.

Amenities include in-room TVs, a Wii sports room, an in-house "private cinema," Skype cordless phone rentals and a Kitchen Club, comprised of three fridges

Bids to save Berlin's historic Tempelhof airport have failed. The Cold War-era "hub of the Berlin Airlift" was built in 1923 and could accommodate 1.5 million passengers annually at complete capacity. Only 350,000 used the airport last year. [CNN]

There's a new way to fly in Germany. As of April 27, the Zeppelin NT (the NT stands for New Technology) will take flight offering scenic views of the Germany landscape from 1,000 feet up. Prices won't be cheap, in part because the Zeppelin NT is the length of a Boeing 747 but will only seat 12. [Urban Daddy]

When looking for a part of town to drown your sorrows because, oh, I don't know. . . your website cash cow was sold and you're probably out of a job, for example, there is but one neighborhood in Berlin where you can get as hammered, unruly, and stupid as you like and still completely blend in with the locals. Friedrichshain, Berlin's punk paradise — where the pierced, the leather-clad, the dreadlocked, and their pit bulls can drunkenly frolic all day and night, and on the city's dime no less, without anyone so much as raising an eyebrow. It is here, in beautiful Stalinist F-hain, where your newfound unemployment won't just be accepted, it will be encouraged and even celebrated by your bleary-eyed arbeitslose brethren. So jump on the sozialhilfe bandwagon and let's take a tour of F-hain's best bars. Cheers!

Astro Bar
Simon-Dach-Strasse 40, 10245
This bar has a retro 80s trash aesthetic that makes you want to don all your silver lame at once and model your makeup after Melanie Griffith in Working Girl. The sound is more or less retro as well, and the seats are cozy, the lighting is minimal, and smoking is still completely permitted. Probably the best bar among the Simon-Dach Strasse clusterfuck.

Babette/ KMA36
Karl-Marx-Allee 36, 10178
The "Glass Cube" on Karl-Marx-Allee is among F-hain's finest drinking establishments. Ultra-modern and almost totally isolated down the street from what may be the most hideous construction site on this fair continent, Babette is like a glass beacon of light, albeit flashing disco light. Best in the winter, when the entire facade gets fogged up from the clientele. (photo)

Bar 25
Holzmarktstrasse 25
Apparently this is the final year that Bar 25 will be in service, with massive development projects planned for this section of the Spree's formerly idyllic banks. There is absolutely no better place in Berlin to drink Cuba Libres while dangling from a swing over the river under a disco bulb attached to a weeping willow. Definitely hang out here on May 1st: it may your last chance. (photo)

Cafe Soylent
Gabriel-Max-Strasse 3, 10245
This bar's interior was completely overhauled by the stencilist master behind m-city, whose urban landscapes channel the disorienting perspectives and incredibly intense angles of M.C. Escher. There are also homemade cakes, foosball, and free wireless, as well as rotating exhibitions from other well-known street artists.

Hops and Barley
Wuehlischstrasse 22, 10245
Hops and Barley is part brewery, part bar, and part vegetarian/vegan snack shop with a wonderful interior of antique ceramic tiles decorated in the art nouveau style. It brews its own pilsners and dark beers and also serve cider on tap. There's also a game room planned for the back of the space, although the renovation for this won't be done until next month.

Sanatorium 23
Frankfurter Allee 23, 10247
Sanatorium is best described as a cross between a naughty nurse's office and a Japanese tea room. The entire bar is decorated in red, black, and white, with leather beds separated by translucent drapes, low hanging Japanese lanterns, and artwork by local urban stylists. The bar prides itself on its vodka concoctions, late night electro DJ sets, and a apartment upstairs that groups of up to six can rent out per night. There's also free wireless, and smoking is permitted. (photo)

Schneeweiss
Simplonstrasse 16, 10245
This restaurant feels like New York: its interior is utterly sleek and beautifully designed, with hardwood floors, modern lighting, and an overall aesthetic that reflects its name, which translates to Snow White. In the back there's a smoking lounge that's as wonderfully rich in dark tones as the front of the house is in its glittering shades of white. It's the best bar to romantically reminisce about Manhattan. (photo)

"On Wednesday, Germans [marked] their own contribution to the history of beer, the Reinheitsgebot, or purity law, which strictly regulated the price and ingredients of beer at the start of the 16th century. . . . The vast majority of German breweries — there are around 1,300 of them — say they adhere to the original Reinheitsgebot. This helps with marketing, but it tends to be not quite true: Breweries now use yeast, an ingredient not found in beer production prior to Louis Pasteur's 19th century discovery of the function of microorganisms in the process of fermentation." (a4gpa/flickr)

Street performers are a bizarre breed, and they're usually not very innovative. It's rare to find one that really stands out from the pack of sidewalk crooners playing cheesy folk songs, or those creepy people who paint themselves silver and pose as a statute. The German street performer pictured above does stand out. And you can see the secret to his midair suspension after the jump. [via]

Since we're blogging about whatever strikes our fancy today, I thought I'd take this time discuss one of my all-time favorite topics— beautiful women! Some of my favorite sources for sexy lady eye candy are the international editions of Playboy Magazine. Hugh Hefner's porno empire has spread throughout the world, and presently there are at least 25 international versions of the magazine. Each of these global remixes of Playboy has their charms. The Russian edition features hardcore chicks with tattoos and rippling muscles who look like they could survive a stint in a bleak Stalinist factory or kick the shit out of you in a bread line. Brazilian Playboy features naturally curvy, implant-free cuties. The best part of Brazilian Playboy is something called "Coelhinhas," which seems to involve regular girls sending in naked pictures of themselves to the magazine. To be quite honest, I'm not exactly sure what "Coelhinhas" are, I just know that whatever it is, I like it a lot. Anyways, I digress. All of the international Playboys are pretty great, but today I want to talk about the best one of them all: Playboy Germany.

Playboy Germany is excellent for oh so many reasons. First, if you've ever been to the Rhineland, you know that German TV shows and magazines are constantly showing naked breasts. Germany has a much different attitude toward public nudity than we do here in the States, which means that their porno mags are able to get celebs to strip down. For example, this month's issue features a topless pictorial with Fiona Erdmann, a 19-year-old former contestant from Germany's Next Top Model. As you might imagine, being a fashion model and all, Erdmann is smoking hot. She's like an even hotter version of young Carla Bruni. You'd never see teenage supermodel-caliber naked pictures in an American porn magazine.

Erdmann's photos are also an example of the second thing that makes German Playboy so fantastic— the kink factor! We all know that Germans have a rep for the freaky sex stuff, and this kinkiness spills over into their softcore pornography. In her shots Erdmann is wearing dominatrix-worthy spiky stilettoes and some shiny rubberized panties. Hot stuff! In the past when I've fantasized about German women, I've imagined sexy Oktoberfest action with x-rated takes on St. Pauli Girl style blond, pigtailed, and lederhosen-clad beer hall ladies, but Fiona Erdmann and Playboy Germany have definitely opened my eyes to the wonderful world of raven-haired Teutonic lasses in skimpy S&M gear. Danke schoen my darling. Danke schoen.