We’re laying low for the rest of our trip here in northern Germany, just enjoying the warm weather, hanging out with family and doing lots of shopping. I can definitely say I won’t be needing to go clothes shopping for a awhile as we’ve been spoiling ourselves plenty.

Thanks to Lars’ profession, we’ve spent a lot of time in different nightclubs in the US and around the world during our travels. T-O 12 is a nightclub that was recently built in Stuttgart, Germany’s notorious “party mile, Theodor Heuss-Strasse. I’d love to visit this club on a future trip simply for the thought, detail and style that went into the sleek design.

Like the street, the club is also named after the late Theodor Heuss, a fun-loving, dashing man and the first person elected for a full term as the President of the Federal Republic of Germany. Clubbers call the joint either Theo (T O sounds just like Theo in German) or Theo Zwölf (=Theo 12 in German).

To create the three-story club, the owners hired two Stuttgart-based firms: Architecture and communications firm Ippolito Fleiz Group, and graphic designers i-d buero. The result is a sleekly mysterious, pitch-dark space with white furnishings and massive black-and-white murals. The all-black walls, ceilings and floors together with the huge mirrors and tiny light spots produce an effect that is vertigo–inducing and fun.

source

Lastly, for your listening pleasure, the latest mix for download by Lars Behrenroth from his show Deeper Shades of House. This mix is one of my personal favorites.

download DSOH #203

Subscribe to the DSoH Podcast

Our stay with Lars’ family in Cuxhaven has been nothing but relaxation and chill times thus far. Well, isn’t that what vacation is supposed to be? Eating well, sleeping a lot, hanging out with family and sleeping more. Tomorrow we are planning to rent a car and check out some nearby cities and a huge annual art fair.

Here is my 1st attempt at editing a video for YouTube in iMovie HD on my new MacBook. It’s composed of 3 short videos and some stills I took with my digital camera from our time in Hamburg. Nothing too exciting, as I’m still a novice at this and just learning.

After reading a bunch of online tutorials on what the best compression technique is for videos to upload to YouTube, I came across a simple and straightforward method on this awesome blog : Will Video for Food to use with iMovie. Kevin Nalts writes: “Since I use iMovie, I simply select “Share: CD-ROM” and transform a potentially 30 GB iMovie file into a small (10-20) MB .mov file that seems to upload well. Also note that there’s software out there that has automated YouTube features, such as VirtualDub (for Windows users). These programs are great time-savers if you’re a hardcore YouTuber, and they should be considered.”

Also from CrunchGear, courtesy of Matt Hickey, here are some key factors to ensure you get the best optimization of your videos for YouTube:

We are sitting on a train on our way to Cuxhaven right now after spending four funtabulous days in Hamburg. This was the first time we stayed at a hotel in Hamburg, thanks to the promoter who booked Lars. We had a very comfortable and luxurious stay at the Marriott, smack in the middle of the city. I flew in on Wednesday, one day before Lars, and on Thursday I spent the majority of my day walking around, checking out the sights and did plenty of shopping. It was perfect because I knew before Lars arrives I should get the majority of my shopping and browsing done as I surely know, like most guys, how much he despises these outings. The weather in Hamburg really could not have been any more beautiful. It makes a huge difference being in Europe in the summer.

When Lars arrived on Thursday evening after a not so perfect flight schedule, he was extremely jetlagged and poor thing had all the symptoms of a cold. We met up with Constantin, his old roommate, and had dinner together at an outdoor cafe and then called it an early night.The next morning we were up at 6am..and not knowing what to do with ourselves we went for a nice swim at the indoor pool and chilled in the jacuzzi of our hotel. Lars still wasn’t feeling too well so we took it easy for the majority of the day, knowing that the we had a big night ahead of us.

… oh yeah .. another post that will have our Google ads go crazy for German Hotels and Restaurants, rentals and whatnot. Kat’s already sitting on a plane (using miles can be a true pain in the ass esp. when you try to fly peak time in the summer; she had to leave a day early and come back 2days earlier than me) and I’m scheduled to take off tomorrow.

It’s been a tiring few days to get everything ready and prepared but it will be worth every minute. Besides one gig I’m playing at the China Lounge in Hamburg with my man Halo from Citydeep Rec. (more of my DJ-Gigs here), this will be a vacation for us. We get to hang out with my family, go to the beach in my hometown of Cuxhaven and do a few road trips here and there.. we’ll keep you updated.

Ok, enough of this .. the last show I had to pre produce for XM Radio is just done and I need some food.
More posts coming from Germany …

It’s Sunday evening and we arrived back tonight from our trip to Berlin and Leipzig. We stayed at René’s apartment in Berlin and we slept on his bunkbed while he stayed at his girlfriend’s place. There was a huge snow storm on Friday afternoon so we kept our sightseeing to a minimum. Friday evening we joined René and his girlfriend and a few others for dinner at Johannes’ place. He and his girlfriend have a really cute and modern loft-style apartment in the city. One of the nicer flats I’ve seen in Germany. It’s amazing how inexpensive it is to live in Berlin. After dinner we all walked over to the Ruder Club where Lars, Johannes, René and Stephane DJ’d. The music and sound were great…I really loved hearing Johannes play at the end of the night…he’s an amazing DJ and I think he should definitely get booked to play in the US. Hopefuly one day soon.
Saturday we took the train to Leipzig and Frankman picked us up at the train station.

Lars and I are currently traveling in Germany and will be here till February 13th. We arrived here in Cuxhaven late Monday night after a hellish long trip that included a 7 hour layover in London. Argh!!! Tuesday was Lars’ grandfather’s 90th birthday party which was held at a traditional German restaurant and included about 80 friends and relatives, including the mayor of Cuxhaven. How awesome to have been present for the occasion and be there to celebrate with Opa and the family.

We are leaving in about half an hour to catch a train to Berlin where Lars is DJ’ing tomorrow night. And then off to Leipzig where we stay till Sunday. More on all this later, including photos from our trip…. bye for now…