Long, long ago on my honeymoon, we did the grand tour--6 countries, 8 cities in 8 weeks.* I actually learned a lot on the trip, since it was my first time to Europe proper (visiting family in Ireland is not the same thing), and beside I was just barely of age (18! a child bride).
In Vienna at the Schoembaum (? I can't even remember how to say it, so spelling is joke) castle we were told the story of the wonderful victory of the Viennese against the infidels, how the bakers had discovered the sneak attach at 4 am or some other ungodly hour and raise the alarm. the crescent roll was a commemorative--each day the Viennese could once again devour their enemies. ( the crescent and the star being the symbol of Islam) It was fitting that the symbol to be devoured was a bread, since it was the bakers who raised the alarm.
When we got to Italy, Sienna, at the cathedral, we saw beautiful fresco's illustrating the victory, in the music room. the year was somewhere about 1500-- but it could have been earlier--(or later) the romantic parts of the story stuck in my mind, not the details.
Over time, its blurred, I now find it hard to think of Muslims as "infidels" --even with some of the religious problems that still exist in Muslim countries-- I can't think of anything that the Muslims have done, that are worse than the Spanish inquisition-- and suspect that the inquisitions ranks as one the worst things ever done in the name of religion.
And as for the crescent roll becoming a croissant, well the there was intermarriage between royal courts, and food moved too.
*London (2 weeks), Amsterdam, Vienna, Florence, Rome, Paris and Dublin, and 3 days in Cork. 6 days in each other city. A day trip to Sienna. Since then I have been back to Ireland, and to London, and off to Tokyo, but not back to the European mainland. I have gotten to see a bit of US, (but my only time in Kentucky was spent at the Nashville airport-- but your home state is on my to-do list Jackie!)
