Webbspun Ideas: Hamburg

Friday, March 28, 2008

My yacht is better than your yacht

IN a shipyard in Germany, Blohm & Voss workers are building a mammoth yacht called the Eclipse.

Like many things in the secretive world of superyachts, its exact length is hard to pin down. So is the name of its owner, and the cost of building it.

But according to the Web site of The Yacht Report, one of several publications that track yachting with the same intensity that gossip magazines cover Hollywood hunks, the Eclipse is 531.5 feet long.

That’s six and a half feet longer than the Dubai, an 11,600-ton behemoth that now holds the record as the world’s largest yacht. Its owner is the ruler of Dubai, Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum.

The extra length on the Eclipse isn’t an accident. Supersized yachts are the latest examples of one-upmanship among billionaires, many of whom already own a private jet, a Rolls-Royce or two, and multiple mansions.

Despite fear of an economic recession and unrelenting job pressures among those who remain yachtless, there’s still a lot of money floating around the world. And as the superrich get richer, the size of yachts grows bigger and bigger, too.

“When a yacht is over 328 feet, it’s so big that you lose the intimacy,” says Tork Buckley, editor of The Yacht Report. “On the other hand, you’ve got bragging rights. No question, that’s a very strong part of the motivation.”

Read the entire article in the New York Times.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

St. Michael's in Hamburg, Germany

Henry was my tour guide and I got him in the corner of this picture. He was so kind to show me around and give me stories from history and more. Find him at TexDesign.

Wanna Share a Drink?

Sharing a Drink with Barack

This drink was enjoyed at a wonderful restaurant that I will tell you more about later. It was in Hamburg, Germany and the owner gave us each a drink of this before we left as a gift. It was sublime.

Barack ['buh-rutsk] is a type of Hungarian brandy (Pálinka) made of (or flavored with) apricots. The word barack is a collective term for both apricot (in Hungarian sárgabarack, lit. "yellow-peach") and peach (in Hungarian őszibarack, lit. "autumn-peach").