The thoughts and experiences of a Student preparing for their Year Abroad.

Saturday, 11 April 2009

A bit of this... a bit of that... Christmas!

Better late than never ;) Only 4 months out...

The Gingerbread House - it took 20 hours to make and they kept it there for the whole 6 weeks... mind you Vienna was so cold they didn't really need a fridge...

Looking back towards the State Theatre

The biggest Advent Calendar in the world - there are 23 windows lining the front of City Hall and the 24 window is in the clock tower. They unveil another Advent every day; the pictures are from the University of Modern Art.

The ultimate Christmas Tree Lights!

View from the State Theatre towards the City Hall

Large Advent wreath!

So! These are obviously photos of the world famous Christmas Market in Vienna. It is as beautiful as it looks - even more so when it snows. I unfortunately left to come home for Christmas before the heavy snow set in but it was magical anyway.

Very kitsch, but magical all the same.

There is nothing like standing watching the lights glitter whilst drinking mulled wine and chomping your way through Maroni (chestnuts) or Lebkuchen. And it is an excellent place to buy unsusual presents - beeswax candles, ceramics, beautiful decorations, music, hats, gloves, scarves etc etc. Naturally there were a few shops which spoilt the effect somewhat - neon, flashing kids guitars, dolls of all kinds, flashing santas hats and so on. I'm not slating the fact that they were selling these things, just WHERE they were selling them.

More photos to follow...

2 comments:

SeBlog said...

Hey

Nice blog and photos. I'm Austrian myself but I live in Sydney now. Really miss the Christmas Market and the whole general Christmas feeling that goes along with the season.

It's just not the same down here when it's 35 degrees Celsius outside and daylight till 10pm haha.

Hope things have improved since your 'Culture Shock' post. I really emphasise with you on the bureaucratic system; it's a nightmare!

All the best with your studies,

Seb

loveinvienna said...

Thank you on all accounts Seb! I am much happier here now :) I'm not sure I could deal with a hot Christmas... would be very odd! I hope things are going well down under - another place I would dearly like to visit when I have the time and the money. :)

Liv xxx