May Day is quite the event in Berlin. Legends have it that witches gather, cackle and revel on Walpurgisnacht, the night from 30 April 30th to May 1st. In Berlin, the first of May was an important East German holiday, and it's still International Worker's Day, a celebration of labour movements and left-wing Meir …

The Berlin Marathon gets a lot of press, but its upstart little sibling, the half marathon, is just as speedy and just as popular (well, the race fills up fast). Accreditation begins in just a few days! It may be -18 degrees outside right now, but soon you'll be running down Berlin streets in shorts on a (hopefully cool yet not-too-cool, overcast, but not rainy) April day. The starting gun Meir …

Berlin hosts the world's leading travel show, the ITB, with over 11,000 exhibitors from more than 180 countries and regions, and 170,000 visitors! We love to host travel-industry folk at the Miniloft apartments. It's always interesting to hear stories from those who work in tourism, and so exciting to think about the millions of possible vacations in Meir …

For more than 75 years, the International Green Week (IGW, Internationale Grüne Woche) has put the world's food, agricultural, and horticultural industries on display in Berlin. While wandering through Messe Berlin, visitors can literally eat their way around the world, sampling foods and luxury items, fresh produce, beer, wine and spirits, meat and sausages, teas, seafood, spices, herbs... Meir …

Bread and Butter, the fashion tradeshow for designers, brands and labels, is back this winter at Berlin's Tempelhof airport. With over 600 brands represented, it's the European trade show for street fashion! Miniloft apartments are the perfect location for Bread and Butter guests: you can live in happening Mitte, while the show is easily accessible with the U6 subway Meir …

The international design festival DMY is back at Tempelhof airport, for five days of cool design from all over the world. There's a nordic flair this year with a focus on Finland (think Marimekko). Browse the exhibitors' stalls, pick up some snazzy design gifts, or test out the newest materials and technologies and attend one of various workshops at the MakerLab Meir …

The third phase of ticket sales for the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup starts January 20th. The Cup will take place this summer in Germany, with games all over the country and the opening game on June 26th at Berlin's Olympic Meir …

The Berlinale 2011 begins in one month. January is basically hibernation time in Berlin - I've noticed that our present guests here at Minilofts have borrowed some DVDs and are cosying up in their apartments. (But in a way it's also a great month to visit Berlin - no lines at the Pergamon Museum or the Reichstag, long, relaxed dinners in warm candle-lit restaurants, Metropolis accompanied by a Meir …

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Only three weeks until the start of the Berlin Film Festival! Tickets are already on sale for the revamped version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis on February 12 in the Friedrichstadtpalast and for the Culinary Cinema events from February 14 to 19 (film, food and wine, in the lovely Martin Gropius Meir …

The Berlin Film Festival is back, lighting up February with glitz, glamour and 10 days of exciting new films. Meir …

Berlin is arm aber sexy ("poor but sexy," our mayor's most famous quote), but also working hard to become a fashion Meir …