Posts about Venues

New York City in winter

6.11.2015

“There are endless reasons to love New York City in every season, but something special happens when the snow falls – from Lunar New Year celebrations in Flushing and the tree lighting in Rockefeller Center, to watching the Polar Bear Club brave the frigid waters on Coney Island. People from around the world feel the pull of New York City…,” raves Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Yet, it can get pretty chilly in New York City in winter and even a metropolis of this caliber is confronted with receding visitation numbers especially during the months of January, February and March, a typically slower period of travel. In order to counteract this trend and to stimulate and expand winter arrivals to its five boroughs, NYC has unleashed the large-scale promotional campaign unlock nyc. To make the destination more affordable for global travellers, NYC entices its future clientele with hotel room discounts of 22 per cent on average plus attractive dining and theatre deals during the first term of the year.

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The World Obesity Federation initiates the Healthy Venue Award

12.10.2015

„The obesity crisis is one of the biggest challenges of our time and it is more important than ever that there is strong and unified global action to tackle it“. In the United States alone there are an estimated 225 million visitors to conventions, conferences, congresses, exhibitions, incentives or corporate meetings. Even if these events are organised around health issues: sadly, they often are unwholesome affairs caused by an unwise choice of food types. Aggravated by a lack of physical activities to compensate the caloric intake, subtle weight-gain is sowing the seeds for obesity-related diseases. In order to promote and secure health and well-being within conference venues, the Healthy Venues Award was conceived as part of World Obesity Federation’s Action Initiative. The organisation represents professional members of the scientific, medical and research communities from over 50 regional and national obesity associations, whose mission it is to reduce, prevent and treat obesity on a global scale.

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19th century drawing: ladies in the gym. The German Gymnasium: A successful structural modification at King's Cross.

London: The German Gymnasium at King’s Cross

7.10.2015

For the conscientiously-thinking German of the past centuries, keeping physically fit was equal to a national duty to be fulfilled – like going to church on Holy Sundays. Not a chance of ever playing truant. The constant surveillance by a rigorously watchful society saw to these rules not being neglected. Meanwhile in Germany, like in any place else in the world, people who work out regularly on a voluntary basis have become rarer and those zigzagging between sporadic exertion and hard-core couch-potatoing a sad majority.

German discipline was worthwhile being exported to ensure that far-away expats would not forget to stay in shape. And this is how the German Gymnasium at King’s Cross came to be. The money for „the first purpose-built gymnasium in the United Kingdom“, opened in 1865, was raised entirely by the German Gymnastics Society and the German community in London. 6,000 pounds well invested. Even women were allowed to use the facility: a freedom otherwise alien to ladies of that era.

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Bacteria cultures in a petri dish: (Lack of) Hygiene at airports and aboard aeroplanes.

Germs: Invisible intruders infesting airports and aircraft

10.09.2015

Under the microscope, microorganisms offer a fascinating picture. Bacteria, viruses, fungi or protozoa come in pretty, bright colours and interesting shapes: green balls with or red ones without handsome spikes, orange spirals, blue spheres, yellow rods, violet blotches or grey furry polka-dots. Luckily, the majority of bacteria are considered harmless to helpful. Other lifeforms invade our immune system and cause tremendous havoc in our bodies. Against some, no approved and/or effective pharmaceuticals are available on the market as of yet.

The more populated or frequented a place is, the more germ-infested it becomes. Being of the travelling kind and a member of the cosmopolitan crowd: Have you ever wondered about the degree of cleanliness while at an airport or aboard an aeroplane? If you have, what comes next won’t be surprising news to you. If you haven’t, you better brace yourselves. Travelmath, an online trip calculator, conducted a study on the hygiene on site and sent out a microbiologist to take samples from five airports and four flights – with disconcerting results. Albeit, the most unappetising surface is not the lavatory’s door handle, as is often anticipated. Here’s the hit list of the ugliest bacteria spins:

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The terrace of Esma Sultan Palace in Istanbul.

An architectural legacy: Esma Sultan in Istanbul

18.05.2015

The shell of a historic structure on the European coast of the Bosporus is lauded as one of Istanbul’s most exceptional venues and the distinguished guest or performers’ list includes Deep Purple, Alan Parsons, Boy George, Chris de Burgh, Elia Kazan, George Benson, actor Kevin Spacey … to name a few. But what is the mystery behind this astonishing building and its eponym?

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