Students visited the birthplace of great composers
July 14, the students of the International Union of Youth Summer Programs took a trip to Vienna for new impressions and unusual discoveries. Vienna gave us the composers Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss and Mozart. The last one have mentioned that Vienna is the best city for him!
What else do you know about Vienna? On the tour, students learned that this is the culinary homeland of schnitzel, strudel and, of course, Viennese coffee! Interesting, the first person who taught Europeans to drink coffee was a Ukrainian. The first coffee shop “Under the blue bottle” was visited by residents of Vienna only in the 17th century, when it was opened by the Ukrainian Yury Kulchitsky – a merchant, diplomat and intelligence officer.
Kulchitsky received bags of coffee as a trophy from the Turkish camp, which was captured by the Austrians. Residents of Vienna did not recognize what lies in a few hundred bags and gave it to Kulchitsky without any hesitation. Later it was Kulchitsky who taught them how to make and drink coffee. Unfortunately at first Europeans did not welcome the bitter coffee taste, so Kulchitsky had to dress up in Turkish costumes and offer coffee to everyone he met with a discount. However, until sugar and milk were added to the drink, no one wanted to drink it. So during the experiment, the famous “Viennese coffee” or “melange” was born, when he added a little bit of sugar and milk. Kulchitsky also started a trend for coffee lovers to buy a “kipfel” – a bagel, resembling a French croissant, but made from pastry.
Students also had the opportunity to taste the famous drink after walking through the Maria Theresa Square, where the Museum of Art History and the Museum of Natural History are located, visited St. Stephen’s Cathedral on Shtenfansplatz Square, and also looked at the South Tower of the Cathedral. The students went to eat in one of the cozy Viennese restaurants or stroll through the souvenir shops at their free time.
We hope that after this trip they have a lot of pleasant impressions! Below you can view the photo report “A trip to Vienna for new impressions” – do not forget that some of the photos from students’ trips regularly appear on our Instagram profile.