Posts about Heritage

A Fiaker carriage in Vienna: as typical of the city as its many coffee houses.

Austria: The science of coffee-brewing in Vienna

9.03.2015

Coffee is not just an invigorating brew but rather a scientific field of expertise worth being explored. Barista Schools popping up the world over bear witness to the cognition that a cup of coffee is not something to be prepared in one’s stride. It is a challenge which has to be given care and devotion at least as deep as is granted to the meticulously performed Asian Tea Ceremony.

Here in Vienna, each type of coffee is honoured with its individual cryptical name. The least one can do for a treasure accidentally left by the Ottomans after their siege of Vienna in 1683. Apart from war and devastation, they had brought along with them a culinary novelty: Viennese citizens discovered a number of bags filled with precious coffee beans in an abandoned Turkish camp after the battle was over. Jerzy Franciszek Kulczycki, a Polish-Lithuanian nobleman, had taken hold of the bags and opened Vienna’s first coffeehouse in the same year. www.wien.info/en/shopping-wining-dining/coffeehouses/in-the-old-city

Read article

Grilled sausages: Herman ze German restaurants are London's sausage dorado.

German Voorst-appeal entices ze Londoners

5.11.2014

No Carbs, Fräulein?

It is an undeniable fact: The common sausage is not a stunner to look at – nor does it photograph well. No matter the species, a regular Wurst’s mere shape and colour are giving food stylists a hard time: There is absolutely no way to let it shine. Yet, once thrown on to the grill and noisily sizzling, its distinct aroma promptly exerts its wondrous magnetism and lures entranced workers and bankers, housewives and business women, young, old or canine straight into places such as Herman ze German’s. London’s cosmopolitan denizens, its native population and tourists alike seem to succumb to the multiple stimuli exuded by the authentic German sausage … if the verifiable afflux accounts for anything. The Bratwurst (pork & veal), Bockwurst (smoked pork) or the Chilli Beef Wurst (pork & beef) on the menu all are eligible for ennoblement, thus crowned the sausage of sausages: the legendary Currywurst.

Read article

The Cliffs of Moher - Ireland's most spectacular scenery

Virtual excursions in Ireland

13.10.2014

Forty Shades of Green on Google Street View

Not only the number of meeting variants is constantly growing, their degree of creativity increases as well. Ranging from the regular office get-together to the classical congress, popular in-between solutions like BarCamps, Open Spaces, casual World Cafés, Brownbag Sessions and whatnot, have been sprouting in mushroom-like fashion, only to be accompanied – or replaced – by the next unconventional novelty at the wink of an eye. But what if there isn’t time for an exchange face-to-face and/or the cost for it is unwarranted? In that case, one might want to opt for a virtual meeting instead. And, for the sake of the concept’s purity: Why not enhance it with a stressless, equally virtual „fringe programme“? An „excursion“ to the Cliffs of Moher on Ireland’s west coast could be a rewarding experience.

Read article

A Teddy Bear in Shanghai's popular district Tianzifang

TED Talk. Jon Mooallem: The strange Story of the Teddy Bear …

2.06.2014

… and why a beast’s image changed from ferocious to cuddly

Independent of one another, Morris Michtom in the USA and Richard Steiff in Germany hatched the same idea at the same time: In 1902/1903 they simultaneously created a plaything that was later to become an iconic item even for collectors. Chances of their copying one another’s intellectual property were slim, as transatlantic communication at the beginning of the twentieth century proved to be less than speedy. The soft, cute and cuddly toy „Teddy Bear“ victoriously found its way into virtually every nursery the world over and has lost nothing of its popularity since. It is comforting, arouses deep sympathy, is usually loved until threadbare and if at all, thrown away only with a heart bleeding forever after.

Read article

London: Westminster at night.

Westminster: Convened at Church lately?

6.05.2014

To avoid confusion: the header image depicts the famed Houses of Parliament, per se the epitome of London for many, since long before its swingin’ times… next to perhaps Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, The London Eye, The Tower Bridge or the V&A museum. Just to name a few. And then there is Westminster Abbey, exclusive site of coronations since 1066, Lady Diana’s emotional funeral ceremony or glamorous royal weddings (like Queen Elizabeth’s with Prince Philip or William’s with Kate), all broadcast world-wide to a community held in the lasting grip of a magic royal spell. So, the premises ought to be familiar.
Right next door, the Church House Conference Centre may have witnessed events different from those mentioned before – but its own history lacks nothing in drama.

Read article