A few hours to go till one year has past since my first TeaTrade blogpost. A year that went by extremely fast with many blogposts left unwritten and many left for the time to come.
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That should not be too hard to improve. đ
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The Dutch, the English, the French, the Portuguese, the Spanish and from a certain time onwards the Americans all traded with China over sea in the 18th century. I probably missed a few of the smaller traders. The one I missed on purpose is the one this post is about: Austria. Yes, that country closed in by other countries and having only access to a lake and not to a sea or an ocean. So how could they have a blooming trade with China?
Another day, another walk. Tea in flask and of we go.
Hamburg from the Binnenalster
Besides the river Elbe Hamburg also has two lakes to make the city a bit watery. The Binnenalster and the AuĂenalster are artificial lakes around which the city expanded.
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There are many famous people I would love to have tea with. Plato, the Doctor in all his incarnations and with Amy, Sherlock Holmes, even though I would probably be pointed out things about myself that I do not want to know, Newton with Apple pie, Lipton to show him what his legacy has become, Thomas Sullivan to show him the nightmare he caused, Virginia Woolf to get a stream of thoughts, Kaldi to teach him that tea is better than coffee and that he should not listen to his goats, O.B. Bommel if you understand what I mean, Shifu to give him a moments rest from teaching Po, Peter Parker to see if caffeine really has that effect on spiderwebs, Neil Armstrong on the Moon, Victor Hugo to relieve the Miserables and of course many, many, many more.
As I said before in a previous post: What better way to unwind from a great but energy consuming gathering than a long walk. So tea in flask and out I went. From my hotel I just have to cross the street to reach the fields of LadugÄrdsgÀrde so that is where I start.
GĂ€rdet and an excercise field in front. As good a place to start as any.
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After announcements, discussion and commercials I had to try the hype: Tea with bubbles, also called Bubbletea. It had arrived in Germany and the store with the megalomania letter that tries to sell what Americans call food added it to their so called food selection. And because I was in Germany for a few days I had to try.
And here we were again, for me the 16th time. In a place full of winners, losers and mostly people that are both. But who cares about winning or losing? It is all about the games on the Internationale Spieltage SPIEL in Essen, Germany that take place each October. Considering this was the fourth time last year that I was in Germany another record is broken brrrr.
Messe Essen
Soon this time of festivities ends and people look back at the year. Seeing it as a success, a loss or just as is. A lot has happened this year both good and not so good. I was lucky that bad did not make it this year to my door (as far as I know). As usual the world did not end at least two times. The abuse of the calender that the Mayans stopped using before they knew that there was something Spanish, Dutch or a horse is over.
As this season of festivities ends and we are full of Christmas, Sinterklaas and Halloween and before our limbs are blown of by fireworks lets look back at a festivity that took place a little earlier this year.
Entrance to China Town The Hague
The conference was over, I moved closer to the city center and what better way to recover from a few very intense days of listening, sitting and learning a lot than a good walk. So after pinning some points on the map out I go. Into the city that a few others here at TeaTra.de know so well.
But important things first. The hotel I stayed at during the conference was good, but did not have something in the room to boil water. Considering I could get tea at the conference or ask the reception this was a nuisance but not a great problem. However when I noticed that my new hotel did not have one in the room either and it was 4 floors down with high, old and not quite straight stairs to the reception it was more than a nuisance. So out I went. And just in time I found a new friend at Saturn before being kicked out.
Meet my new friend and lifesaver from Saturn and his family.
After the I don’t know how many reference to Tea a Magazine I decided that I was interested in trying it. Hmmm, international postage is almost twice the price of a subscription in the US. Could take a digital subscription, but I don’t like reading on my PC. There goes nothing above the smell of paper besides my cup of tea. Well, nature proofs me wrong on that point from time to time, but that would spoil a reference.
So, is there a place nearby where they sell it? According to the website there are only 2 places outside the U.S. and Canada. One is in Shanghai. Would be nice to go there but it is not around the corner. The other one is in Copenhagen. Much closer, but a ticket is still more than a subscription and their postage is still more than the price of the magazine.
But wait, on my trip to Stockholm I will have a 2.5 hour window in Copenhagen. Where are they from the station? 600m and 1km walking distance according to Google maps. That should be doable. And they have a tearoom, so I might be able to get a refill of my flask there.
But first my trip to Hamburg. Oh, someone from Copenhagen at the conference. Lets ask him where to spend my 2.5 hours when I’m there. Ah, Tivoli park, city hall and that area, just on the other site of Central station.
Dilemma, go left to refill-station Tante T or right to an interesting part of Copenhagen.