Vienna

Because we spent actual Christmas in South Africa, we decided to take a weekend trip to somewhere really Christmasy in December so we didn't miss out completely.  We decided to go to Vienna - partly because we'd heard it was beautiful, but mostly because Vienna is famous for its Christkindlmarkt - Christmas street markets that are held the entire Advent season and originated in Austria and Germany.  So what better place to experience the real deal than Vienna?

The first day we walked around the city - I love seeing the architecture of each new European city.  They are all so different from each other in their own way.  Vienna has lots of mint green and kind of a pale salmon color on the buildings:

Vienna does an amazing job with its Christmas lights - here is a main street in the middle of town with giant twinkle light chandeliers strung between the buildings:

My grandmother and mother have displayed these for Christmas my whole life - they are candle pyramids that spin with the heat of the candles when lit.  I don't have one yet, I should have purchased one in Vienna but I was afraid I would break it on the plane ride home!  We were on Easy Jet, they are not known for treating their customers (or their baggage) with care.  

Hot mugs of Gluhwien - delicious mulled wine!  It was so yummy, we got mugs every day.

I loved these goodies - the pope and the devil together!  I saw these little devil faces everywhere and my friend Magdalene has family in Austria so she found out what the deal was.  Apparently Dec. 5 is Krampustag - Krampus is kind of a devil.  He accompanies Saint Nicholas and punishes bad children.  When Krampus finds a particularly bad child, he stuffs the child in his sack and carries him or her away to his lair, presumably to devour them for his Christmas dinner!  How cheerful and merry!  

More yummy Christmas treats:

The Christmas chandeliers all lit up:

St. Stephen's cathedral - consecrated in 1147:

Inside the cathedral:

This picture is deceptive about the light in the church, I had my camera set to let in more light so I could capture the inside of the cathedral, but in real life it was much darker.  They had no electric lights on, the whole thing was lit by candles and the sun had already set a good bit so it was nice and gothic feeling inside!  

More Christmas decorations:

A procession carrying the Virgin Mary (I assume, I don't know that for sure).  There were about 150 people and they were all singing hymns:

I have blogged about my love of French macarons before.  I adore them.  If there's any way to ruin them, McDonald's has figured it out. 

The lobby of our hotel:

Out at a Christmas market:

This building was straight out of a fairy tale:

The grounds at the Belvedere museum where Gustav Klimt's painting "The Kiss" is kept:

I have blogged about the disappointment of seeing the Mona Lisa in person, not because of its size, but because you can't get close enough to it to truly appreciate such a work of art.  I had the opposite reaction to The Kiss, the colors are AMAZING in person.  Truly breathtaking.  Especially the golds and how he used gold leaf.  I could have looked at this one for hours.  

Outside Schonbrunn Palace:

The inside of Schonbrunn was disappointing (I thought), but the grounds were spectacular:

At the back of the grounds on top of a hill stands the Gloriette, a structure designed to glorify Habsburg power:  

Halfway up the hill:

Halfway up the hill off the main path:

Looking down at the city from the Gloriette:

The cafe inside the Gloriette:

Schonbrunn at night:

This is in the airport on our way home to London - that glass cage is a tiny enclosed space especially for crazy smokers who need another cigarette before getting on a plane.  Doesn't that look miserable?  It reminds me of that tube thing you have to use at the drive through of a bank!