It's often said that the Americans know how to 'do Christmas' and there's a lot of truth to that. The Austrians however, really go to town for Christmas and it wasn't to long until we found ourselves enjoying a Christmas market. In recent years, German style Christmas markets have been all the rage in the UK. So much so that two years ago, there was a lot of concern in Germany that they didn't have enough stall holders to fill their markets as most were heading to the UK. In Vienna however, there are markets everywhere. Food and drink go hand in hand with traditional gifts, Christmas decorations and plenty of music to boot.
Christmas punch is the first thing you'll find and every market has a stall that will offer you a hot cup of punch, Glühwein or just a hot chocolate (with optional rum of course). These stalls litter Vienna and you'll find many of them run by the Rotary club or other charitable foundations. You buy your drink of choice, which comes in a lovely Christmas mug that you can keep, or return for your deposit back.
From drink to food, or more correctly, sugar. Sweet treats are everywhere and delicious. From Giant gingerbread hearts with iced slogans to the deliciously deadly 'Krapfen' or giant doughnut, or even the huge shortbread delights, giant pretzels and slabs of strudel, if you like sugar, come and get it. For something more savoury, try the various Wursts in bread or my favourite, some gulash soup, served in a whole hollowed out loaf of bread.
If food and drink aren't your thing , then you'lol enjoy the various gifts and things on offer. Here though, it depends on what 'type' of market you visit. The first Christmas market we visited was set around St. Stephan's cathedral in the centre of Vienna. It was filled with tradional style gifts, like wooden toys, hand made leather bound journals (I small fetish of mine), beautiful Christmas decorations from Salzburg, Vienna and the Tirol and so much more.
In contrast, the huge market at the Rathaus was very commercial, with everything from perfumes to watches, music to skiing holidays in sale. Somehow the first market felt so much better.
The trip also featured a few visits to some new sights, like the beautiful State hall library and the revolving restaurant near the United Nations, the Danube tower. The trip was only spoiled slightly when on the last day, our lift broke down, meaning we had to carry our luggage from the 6th floor (the 8th for Lynda as she hadn't managed to get in to the lift in the first place. Then the lockers at Wien Mitte were out of order, meaning we had nowhere to put our luggage and explore the city on the last day. Still the trip was worth it and it provided us an opportunity to meet an estate agent, ready for next year. More on that in the new year, for now, merry Christmas, Frohe Weihnachten, and a happy new year to everyone.
