Vienna coffee house conversations to connect travelers and residents

Café Museum- one of the Vienna venues

Monthly Vienna Coffeehouse Conversations will be held in English and will bring visitors and Viennese together in 1:1 conversations in traditional cafes

Masterminded by Oxford University historian Theodore Zeldin, Conversation Meals are designed to encourage meaningful encounters between strangers.

A menu of questions will help participants share their views on travel, friendship, compassion, inspiration and more.

"The Vienna Coffeehouse Conversations enable travellers to re-invent the world-famous and UNESCO-recognised Vienna coffeehouse culture, echoing a time when Sigmund Freud, Gustav Klimt and Stefan Zweig met acquaintances in cafes to exchange ideas and debate~." explains co-organiser Barbara Grüll-Cação from Vienna Austria travel site Vienna Unwrapped.

The topics for conversation are arranged across a three-course Viennese meal and coffee. The two locations, Café Museum and Café am Heumarkt, represent the best of bohemian, literary, contemporary Vienna.

The city has a rich tradition of lively, late-night discussion, which the Coffeehouse Conversations will add to. The food reflects the Habsburg era sweep of central Europe, with influences from Italy right up into Poland. Eugene Quinn, of Viennese cultural event group space and place, sees this as an opportunity to go deeper than on a typical city visit.

"We staged two sold-out events for locals in April, and decided to liven things up by introducing international participants. We invite people from around the world to come and get to know more about Vienna, and make a new friend." Said Barbara

"At the end of each event, there is a get-together for all invitees, to encourage some international friendship."

Theodore Zeldin's Conversation Meals have taken place as part of street festivals, in art galleries from London to Singapore, and at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Vienna Coffeehouse Conversations: Event Calendar 2013 Saturday, 9th March, Café Museum Friday, 12th April, Café am Heumarkt Saturday, 11th May, Café Museum Friday, 14th June, Café am Heumarkt Saturday, 13th July, Café Museum Saturday, 10th August, Café Museum. Events take place from 6.50pm to 9pm. Registration for Travellers http://www.vienna-unwrapped.com/vienna-coffeehouse-conversations.html

Valere Tjolle

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