Celebrating Christmas Early...in Vienna!
 

Greetings from the former imperial capital of the Habsburg Empire - Vienna, Austria! Our group of four travelers is off again and this time we're returning to one of our favorite European cities.

We've been to the Old Continent on several occasions but only here for our second time in the late fall / early winter. Our Vienna trip has been in the works for several months. We were drawn by our desires to come back yet again (this is our third visit) as well as another opportunity to soak up the Christmas markets that we enjoyed so much in Budapest last November. All our previous trips to Europe have been during the summertime.

We call Vienna home for eight nights. Our goals are to revisit some of our old favorite places, sample a few new sights, take in a musical performance or two, but most importantly, to do some Christmas market hopping. We will also take some day trips outside of Vienna during our visit here.

I welcome you to come along and hope you enjoy.

Herzlich Willkommen to my adopted hometown! I'm sure you have done your Christmas market research thoroughly, though, in case you missed it, there are two newish markets in the last couple of years (Stephansplatz, Mahlerstraße) in Vienna, and a self-proclaimed, "highest and most exquisite" Christmas market atop the Ritz-Carlton.

Outside of Vienna, the Melker Advent Village is open this weekend, as is the market at Stift Gottweig, which offers an incredible setting, as well.

Looking forward to your impressions. :)

I'm joining in too. our experience of Vienna is limited to few very rainy days a few summers ago, so I'm keen to see what it's like in Winter, even if it ha to be vicariously.

Thanks as ever for your detailed input, four4; local knowledge is invaluable and you are always so generous with it.

While running errands today, I walked past Palais Niederösterreich and noted the banner for their market this weekend, Friday and Saturday. We'll be away for the long weekend (American Thanksgiving school holiday) enjoying the markets in Salzburg and Wolfgangsee, so I hadn't paid much attention to special markets going on in Vienna.

The market at Palais Niederösterreich is exceptional; gorgeous rooms filled with all sorts of specialty items from that province.

annhig, :) Always happy to help others see more than the usual here.

it sounds lovely, Four4. I'm going to Exeter on Thursday and Friday where they have a Christmas market but it's full of very tawdry stuff.

Very interested in this trip report. My daughter is considering a semester in Vienna next fall and if she goes, I'm toying with the idea of flying up at the end of her semester so we can travel around for a bit before returning home for Christmas.

Looking forward to your report.

Grüß Gott. We're well into our visit to this beautiful city and are having a grand time so far. I've been lagging in my report, but will get some installments up in the next day or so.

Fourfortravel, thank you so much for the warm welcome and also for the wonderful tips and advice you are giving me and have given me as I planned this trip. I've already visited and enjoyed both the markets at Stephansplatz and at Mahlerstrasse; didn't know they were newer ones, especially the one around the Cathedral. We took advantage of the sunny day yesterday to go to Melk and tour the abbey; didn't experience the market but can report that the setup seemed complete. Appreciate the information about Palais Niederösterreich and will be sure to check it out.

Ann, good to see you here too and have a lovely visit to Exeter. I've only visited Europe during the summer too - until last year. Having the fortune of experiencing Vienna both in summer and in winter, I can say that it is well worth the journey this time of year.

Chepar, happy to oblige. This place is magic.

We're on a train heading to Bratislava for the day as I write this installment of my report.

Crossing the Pond

We used a combination of airline miles and cash for this trip to Vienna: miles on the outbound and cash on the inbound. Using our United Mileage Plus miles we booked on a flight traveling from Washington Dulles to Vienna via Munich. The first leg, from Dulles to Munich, was on a Lufthansa A330. We traveled on economy class, which was comfortable. It is very similar to the British Airways B777 product that we used on another trip a few months ago, except the 2 x 2 configuration on the 330 was preferable. The entertainment was decent although the food could be much better. The staff was warm and friendly.

Arriving in Munich, we were processed through immigration quickly. It left us with enough time to grab lunch and also do a little bit of browsing at the airport shops before our 45-minute flight to Vienna. I thought the coffee stations at the airport was a nice touch that we haven't found anywhere else.

On Viennese Soil

Our flight touched down in Vienna at around 4:30 in the afternoon. From here it was about a 30-plus minute ride on the S-Bahn to our hotel, the Imperial Riding School Renaissance Hotel located a block away from the Rennweg station.

We checked into our hotel, freshened up, had a light dinner at the lobby restaurant, and then it was off to bed.

Up next: our first full day in the city...

thanks trip planner. I'm going to Exeter to work, sadly, so I'm not expecting to get a lot of time to shop. [though Thursday may be late-night shopping!!!!]

Glad that you are having such a good time - I'm jealous.

Ann, I hear you although I hope you can sneak in some fun too.


The Imperial Core

Vienna is one of Europe’s grandest cities. The monuments may seem out of its place in nowadays Austria, but they are befitting one of the largest, multicultural empires of the Continent. Speaking of empire, we began our third visit to the Austrian capital sticking close to the inner heart of the city. We strolled Vienna’s streets and revisited several of the major sights found within the Ringstrasse, which encircles its historic downtown. There were three big-ticket items on our list for today: Hofburg Palace, the Albertina Museum, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral with its Christmas market.

From our hotel, we headed to the Rennweg S-Bahn station a block away from our hotel and purchased weekly tickets to use on the city’s public transportation system. We then hopped on tram number 71 to the State Opera House, from where we began our full-day walking and sightseeing tour. We walked past the Opera House, alongside the Hotel Sacher (home of the yummy Sacher torte, although too early to indulge), and headed straight for the Albertina Museum.

The Alberta Museum is part of the massive Hofburg complex that occupies central Vienna and currently houses an art collection that includes numerous Impressionist paintings and works by Picasso. In addition to these treasures, we came here to see the wonderful exhibition on Edvard Munch.

We also visited the nearby Imperial Crypt, the burial place of the Habsburg rulers who put their mark on this city and one of Europe’s most important powers.

From the Crypt we wandered over to the main section of Hofburg Palace at Michaelerplatz. To our surprise, there was a Christmas market in front of the palace; I did not come across any information about this market in any of the research I gathered for this trip. The Hofburg Christmas market is a medium-sized market with about 30 stalls selling food and mulled wine as well as arts and crafts. This seemed to be a higher-end market in terms of some of the wares on offer. With an obligatory mug of hot mulled wine in hand, I wandered about the stalls. We picked up a couple of nice items including a music box carousel with the horse figurines made of crystal, something we hope to enjoy for a long time. We were not hungry after a big breakfast at the hotel, but there were sausages, potatoes, and a few other items on sale. What seemed strange – to us at least – was the deposit collected for the mug to hold mulled wine that could be returned later on for a refund.

We spent the next couple of hours roaming about Hofburg Palace, visiting the imperial state apartments and the silver collection. There are numerous offerings at the Hofburg Palace, but we did not want to spend the entire day there.

Demel, a renown Viennese chocolate shop, is a few hundred yards away from Hofburg Palace and we couldn’t resist a mid-afternoon treat. We sat at the café for a good hour or so enjoying our delicious cakes and mugs of hot chocolate. I savored a delightful truffle torte while others had equally appealing tortes and strudels. Pure heaven!

After Demel, we headed down the pedestrian Graben towards St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Other than the usual brand-name clothing stores that don’t interest us much, there are restaurants and an ornate monument expressing divine intervention for deliverance from a medieval plague. There were a couple of stands selling mulled wine and punches along the street.

We did a quick look of St. Stephen’s but didn’t linger as it was mobbed by tourists. We did take a hike up the south tower for a panoramic view of the city. One can go up both the north and the south towers. The north tower is accessed by an elevator and the south tower by 300-plus stairs; we wanted the exercise. We chose to go up at dusk and were treated to the city coming aglow. After about 20 minutes up there, the Christmas market down below called us. Unlike other markets we’ve visited, this market seemed to feature more crafts than food, although all we needed were some warm nuts to go with our wine. The market also seemed to have been here for ages; I was surprised to learn from Fourfortravel that this is recent. We made our way around the market in leisurely fashion and managed to grab a few ornaments.

From here we also made our way down Kartnerstrasse, a major shopping drag, although most of the stores were closed as it was a Sunday. Our destination was the Christmas market on Mahlerstrasse across the street from the Opera House that we came across unexpectedly this morning. The market is small with about 15 or so stalls, but offered a decent selection of wares. We weren’t here very long, as our stomachs were signaling the dinner hour to us.

We chose Salm Brau between our hotel and the center city for our evening meal. The restaurant is a huge place known for its ribs and wiener schnitzel. There were many people there when we arrived around 9:00 and we didn’t have a reservation, but the wait was only 10 or so minutes. It wasn’t hard to decide. We went straight for the wiener schnitzel, which was paired with boiled potatoes and cranberry sauce. Yum!

Filled and happy, we returned to our hotel having felt very happy and accomplished. We set up expecting to visit one Christmas market today – at St. Stephen’s – and wound up with three.

Tripplanner001, we're really enjoying your TR! We spent a few days in Vienna in early September, our second visit. It is a wonderful city! We'll await further installments.

Glad you're enjoying Vienna. I loved the Munch exhibit, too; it is well curated. Regarding your Wiener Schnitzel dinner, I'm guessing you had prieselbeern sauce, the smaller European cousin to American cranberries and with a similar taste?

Looking forward to more. :)

Salm Brau is also noted for being one of the few (perhaps only?) breweries in Vienna. (Don't know if the beer is any good.) I stayed at the Imperial Riding School, and finding good restaurants in the vicinity was a challenge, and Salm Brau was one of the more cheerful experiences within walking distance. Some places we wanted to try but were booked the nights we wanted them were Winkler's Zum Posthorn (a 5 minute walk) and Joseph's Bäckerei Patisserie Bistro (in Landstraßer Hauptstraße, a 15 minute walk). Cafe Schwarzenberg on the Kartner ring is almost a 20 minute walk, but we thought they did many of the most basic Viennese classics -- soups and goulash, etc -- quite well (and trendier food less well) and the atmosphere is pleasant, often with live music in the evenings. Never needs a reservation.

Tomarkot, thank you for coming along for the ride with me. I hope my report will help you relive some of your memories of this fine city.

Fourfortravel, yes on the cranberry sauce. Hope you're enjoying your long weekend getaway.

Dominik, we actually visited the Karlskirche and Spittelberg markets today. They may be our favorites so far on this trip along with the one in Bratislava's main square.

Sandralist, I agree with you on the lack of dining options near the hotel. What it makes up for is its proximity to an S-Bahn station and tram lines.

Without further ado, here's the next installment of my report:

Reliving the Past

We spent most of our second day in Vienna revisiting some of the sights we’ve enjoyed during our past visits. On today’s agenda were Schonbrunn Palace, Naschmarkt, the Prater ferris wheel, and, of course, more Christmas markets.

From our hotel we traveled by tram to the Opera House, from where we caught line 4 of the U-Bahn straight to Schonbrunn. The journey itself was quick and the palace is a short walk from the train station. Schonbrunn is the site of the Habsburg’s summer palace whereas they called the Hofburg Palace in downtown Vienna home during the winter. Schonbrunn is smaller in size compared to Hofburg Palace although it is located on extensive grounds that rival its French counterpart at Versailles. We toured the 40 rooms of the palace opened to the public, lingering in a couple of our favorites, before taking a stroll through the gardens and up the hill to the Gloriette. While Schonbrunn’s grounds are not as interesting as it was in the summer during our prior visit (we still enjoyed the visit very much), the lack of floral displays was compensated by the Christmas market located just outside the main entrance to the palace.

Schonbrunn is home to a Christmas market of 70-plus stalls selling everything from food and beverages to ornaments and crafts. We spent a good 90 minutes at the market browsing the ware on offer and making more purchases than we planned on. We bought numerous ornaments, both glass and wooden. We also had sample some snacks and picked up some more wine and punsch. Our favorite was a bacon and leek spaetzle dish on offer.

My preference for Schonbrunn over Hofburg Palace remained unchanged after this visit. Winter or summer, Schonbrunn felt more relaxed and fun to me. The size of the palace itself is more manageable and the outdoor experiences make the difference for me.

Following a four-hour visit to Schonbrunn, we hopped back on the line 4 U-Bahn. Our next stop was Naschmarkt, home to a large open-air market selling fruit, vegetables, produce, spices, and everyday necessities. There are also everyday goods and cheap souvenirs for sale. Food stalls and a handful of restaurants can be found here as well. We spent most of our time here browsing and grabbing some quick bites for lunch.

From here it was on to Prater amusement park with its famous ferris wheel. We can here to take another ride of the wheel, but we also wanted to see the Christmas market. We didn’t find much that interested us at the market, but the ferris wheel ride and the memories of old that it brought back was well worth the visit.

By now it was about 5 and we returned to the city center for a tram tour of the Ringstrasse. We strung together our tour with tram lines 1 and 2, enjoying the monuments lit up at night.

We concluded our tram tour at the Rathaus or City Hall, home of probably the largest Christmas market found in Vienna. While we were aware of some of the warnings about the Rathaus market, including the poor quality of its wares and that it mostly attracts tourists, we nonetheless wanted to take a look for ourselves. The Rathaus Christmas market was very busy the evening we visited. It brimmed with visitors, mostly tourists. However we enjoyed the carnival-like atmosphere and were impressed by the sheer monstrosity of the market. The holiday lights were worth seeing. We also noticed that the mood was more festive here compared to some of the other markets we visited; perhaps it was due to the outright number of people who visited. We ate dinner at Rathaus market; the bratwurst was good but the cookies and cakes on sale were even better. We also picked up some items, mostly as cheap souvenirs to give friends and colleagues.

From here it was a quick tram ride back to our hotel, a hot shower, and bed. We took advantage of the sunny weather on the next day and took a day trip to the Wachau Valley, visiting Melk and Krems.

The Wachau Valley

We've been blessed by the weather so far during our trip to Vienna, and Tuesday was no different. Furthermore the sun came out to play on this day. Sure we were in the 30s (Fahrenheit) but coming from the States (having lived in Chicago no less) we're not bother by the cold temperatures.

We took advantage of the nice day to visit the Wachau Valley. Our destinations were Melk for its magnificent abbey and the Danube town of Krems.

From our hotel we went to Vienna's Westbahnhof train station. Since there were four of us we did well with the Einfach Raus train ticket which would offer us all day travel. The direct journey from Vienna to Melk took a little more than an hour. We arrived in Melk shortly after 10, timed to participate in the 11 guided tour of the abbey (there are no self-guided tours in winter).

Exiting the train the Melk abbey was in full view. We headed up the hill and through the town's main thoroughfare to a flight of stairs leading up to the 900-year-old Benedictine abbey. There were a couple of tour groups at the abbey on excursion from the river cruises. We were jointed in our group by just one other couple, also from the United States. The tour took us from the courtyard of the abbey through the museum, onto the balcony overlooking the town and the Danube River, the library, and the main church. The church dripped in gold, marble, and greatly detailed works of art. The library reminded me of the library at Trinity College where the Book of Kells is kept. This is definitely one of the most impressive religious sanctuaries I've ever visited and well worth the trip.

We also browsed some of the shops along the town's main drag a bit before heading back to the train station. We saw the stalls for the Christmas market (about a dozen of it) opposite the town church on the main street being put up but the market wasn't open when we were there.

Back on the train we made our way to the riverside town of Krems an der Danube by way of St. Polten. We would have loved to have made the journey by riverboat but this was not an option given the time of year. The total journey from Melk to Krems took about 90 minutes.

We really didn't come to Krems with an agenda. Instead we wanted to visit a small town and enjoy the atmosphere along with what the town had to offer. Krems' old town is small and very walkable. We spent a couple of hours simply wandering about.

By about 5 we headed back to Vienna. We went back to the area around St. Stephen's Cathedral. We chose Trattoria Santo Stefano, an Italian place off Graben, for dinner. The food - pizza, pasta, meat, and salad dishes - was all very good. The meal was topped off by a nice lemon sorbet with prosecco, a nice cap. We walked off some of our calories at the nearby Stephansplatz Christmas market, although we probably put more on than lost with some of the snacks.

Bratislava

We decided to take another day trip on Wednesday, this time to Bratislava, the capital city of neighboring Slovakia.

The journey by train from Vienna to Bratislava was quick and uneventful. We were deposited at the main train station in Bratislava a little more than an hour later.

For Bratislava we used Rick Steves' recommended walking tour of the old town, which worked out well.

We started from the train station and walked to the old town, passing by the presidential palace on the way. It was about 20 minutes between the train station and the entrance to the old town at St. Michael's Gate.

The old town is compact and easy to explore on foot. The neighborhood oozes with charm. It also felt very cozy, especially with all the Christmas decorations. We really enjoyed wandering around and spent a good half day browsing the Christmas market in the main square, visiting the city museum, and climbing up the city hall tower for wonderful views of Bratislava. The main Christmas market is large, spanning the square and spilling into the surrounding streets and courtyards. The food on offer reminds me of the markets in Budapest that we visited last year: sausages, grilled meats, potato pancakes, soups, etc.

From the main square we continued over to the Slovak National Theater and the Christmas market along Hviezdoslavovo namaste between the theater and the Danube River. There were also dancers in Slovak costume on hand to perform to marketgoers. We made our way to the end of Hviezdoslavovo namaste and over the St. Michael's Church for a quick peek inside before moving on to Bratislava Castle. There is a museum inside the castle that we didn't visit; instead we took a nice afternoon walk around the castle grounds, over the SNP bridge (the one with the flying saucer on top) spanning the Danube River, and along the riverbank on the opposite side.

Following our walk we made our way back to the SNP bridge and stopped at the Au Park shopping center two minutes away from the bridge.

From the mall we took a city bus back to the other side and headed to the Lido Grill and Fish Restaurant on Rybarska brana just steps away from the Slovak National Theater. We had a very good dinner at Lido. We ordered a couple of Slovak specialities, a green salad, and a dish each of grilled seafood and grilled meat, all to be shared. The fish was very good and so were the meats. The staff at the restaurant was also very nice and attentive. I highly recommend a visit.

We took a walk back to the main square Christmas market before heading back to the train station. This is one of the best Christmas markets we've visited so far, and the evening atmosphere along with the lights made it even more magical.

I must admit that I did not come to Bratislava with high expectations. We thought we would at least come check out the Christmas markets, sightsee a bit, and then head back to Vienna to enjoy another evening there. Instead we wound up staying all day and caught the next-to-last train back just before 9.

Bratislava feels more like a large village than it does a capital city of an European country. It's a good place to wander and get lost among its narrow cobblestone streets. We could have easily spent a couple of nights here just to soak up what the city had to offer.

Up next: a day exploring more of Vienna including Belvedere Palace, the Secession, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum...and of course, more Christmas markets!

Tripplanner001, we're continuing to follow along with your adventures and will stay tuned for your next installments.

As noted in our TR, in light of our travel snafu, we postponed our day trip to the Wachau Valley area for a future visit. Glad you were able to enjoy it, especially considering the season.

We're getting ready to spend this upcoming week-end enjoying the wonderful holiday festivities of NYC. We heard they have caramel martinis at the Christmas market in Bryant Park, so that will entice us to visit it. Nothing like the Christmas markets in Europe, though!

Yes, TP, I'm here too and glad you made it to Bratislava. We spent a night there once - Ryanair having deposited us at its airport which it laughingly called "Vienna" - and liked it a lot. the next day we got the hydrofoil service [summer only I think] up the Danube to Vienna, which was an interesting way to travel from one capital city to another.

Melk and Krems are other places that we enjoyed visiting on that trip despite the awful floods that beset us on the way, which meant that we missed the drive down the Wachau valley.

Another time!

We actually enjoyed the Christmas market in front of the City Hall last year. Perhaps it was because we were tourists. You think?

Tomarkot, have a wonderful weekend in New York. It's my hometown although I don't remember Christmas markets in Manhattan growing up. The Wachau Valley was on our list of possibilities, as were other things weather dependent; we lucked out.

Ann, hope you get back here sometime soon. I'm aware of the ferries between the cities but I believe they only run in the spring and summer. We would have loved to travel between the two capitals by boat.

Dukey1, I hear you. We enjoyed the Rathaus market too, but we came in with the expectations that it would be made for tourists. The lights and the "winter wonderland" atmosphere were grand. We found the crafts to be better elsewhere, especially at the Karlskirche market and the one in front of Hofburg Palace.

And now we're off to enjoy our last full day here in Vienna. Will try to get another installment up this weekend. If not, it will be sometime in the coming days.

tripplanner001, I'm still tuning in from our Salzkammergut Adventmarkt holiday, as well.

We really like Bratislava, too, though we are in the minority opinion among at least our American friends here. Most of them only see the shopping malls on Sundays (when Austria is closed), though, and don't give much attention to the city proper. The "large village" is a nice escape from expensive Vienna; we head across the border every couple of months for a festival or museum exhibit, or even dinner if we're so inspired.

Safe travels back to DC, our former hometown.

have you been to the Opera in Bratislava, Four4? there was nothing on, sadly, the one night we were there, but it has a very good reputation.

Fourfortravel, thank you. Hope your holiday is going smoothly.

Friends, it looks like I won't be getting something else up tonight as we have an early morning flight. I may do some writing on the plane and post another installment tomorrow. This trip has been everything we expected and more. Thanks to several of you for answering my questions as I was planning and made it happen.

What a wonderful and timely report. We leave Dec. 8 for 7 days in Vienna. Can't wait to see those markets. Thanks for all the useful info.

Julie, you're welcome.

Just returned home but didn't want to keep my friends here from waiting long. Here goes:

An Artful Day

We spent much of the day on Thursday admiring some of the art that calls Vienna home. We started off at Belvedere Palace, an one-stop ride on the S-Bahn from our hotel. Occupied by Prince Eugene of Savoy, the Belvedere is comprised of two palaces, an upper and a lower, that is connected by fountains and gardens. We began at Upper Belvedere Palace, admiring the baroque architecture of the building as well as the art of display. From there we visited the Christmas market in front of the palace before wandering through the gardens to the Lower Belvedere Palace. The two palaces hosts a large collection of works by Gustav Klimt along with a good variety of religious art.

After a full morning at the complex we walked along Rennweg and made our way to Karlskirche with its Christmas market. Unlike other markets the Karlskirche market seemed to be visited by more locals than tourists and concentrated on arts and crafts. We made some purchases here of ornaments as well as woodcarvings. The church was also well worth a peek. Even though the front facade is under scaffolding the access to the dome more than made up for it. Due to the restoration there was a temporary elevator installed that allowed visitors to get up close to the frescoes that adorn the beautiful church; what a treat!

From Karlskirche we hopped on a tram to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, where we spent a good three hours of our afternoon admiring the European art found on the first floor. My favorites were the rooms filled with works from Caravaggio and Brueghel, especially the David and Goliath and the Tower of Babel respectively. We barely had any time touring the rest of the museum other than a quick glance at the Egyptian collection. We could easily spend several days here.

Just outside the art museum at Maria Theresa Platz is a lively Christmas market. We enjoyed our time browsing before moving on to the small market at MuseumQuartier (there were not much there other than a few stalls / lounges serving alcohol) and the Spittelberg markets. Spilling out across several streets we absolutely loved this Christmas market. It has much more of a neighborhood feel and I appreciated the variety of goods, from food to crafts, on offer.

The Spittelberg neighborhood is home to several restaurants that appealed to us. We chose to dine at Glacis Beisl for the evening. The food was very good. The pumpkin soup was delicious and my wiener schnitzel was perfect. The beef goulash was good too. When we come back to Vienna next, we would love to stay in this area of the city.

More to come soon...

tripplanner001, what was your impression of the Baroque Baroque exhibit at Belvedere?

annhig, admittedly we are not really into opera, and so we haven't tried all that hard to take in a performance in Bratislava (or in Vienna). We also do not smoke and are not into skiing, either, and joke that it's surprising we haven't been asked to leave Austria. :)

Franked, are you here to provide good information or is that just a guise for your advertising of apartment-hotels-Europe?

annhig, admittedly we are not really into opera, and so we haven't tried all that hard to take in a performance in Bratislava (or in Vienna). We also do not smoke and are not into skiing, either, and joke that it's surprising we haven't been asked to leave Austria. >>

good grief, Four4, what do you find to do there then?

it's funny, when we used to live near London, people were always asking what plays and shows we'd seen and now we live in Cornwall they expect us to have been to all the beauty spots. of course we don't have time, like you, we're too busy living!

annhig, you are funny! If there is one ex-pat myth that should forever be dispelled, it is that (most of us) are not bon bon-eating slackers. We, too, are busy with school and work and volunteer activities, not to mention obligatory lunches and dinners and whatnot. The ex-pat life is not entirely one dinner party followed by a coffee morning and embassy lunch, either. Most days, regardless of whatever else is on the calendar, I still have to head to the markets and collect provisions to put supper on the table! I am just thankful that in my previous life I was a research scientist, and can map my days systematically!

This coming weekend, for example, our school is hosting the regional Speech & Debate tournament, and we are housing four teenage boys for three nights in support of the competition. That means a full weekend of cooking and chauffeuring very hungry lads. Mere non-expat mortals could never manage the challenge. ;)

The ex-pat life is not entirely one dinner party followed by a coffee morning and embassy lunch, either.>>

oh, four4 - I'm disappointed. I had visions of embassy jollies followed by ad lib lotus-eating not to say Heurige-crawling.

pass the bonbons please.

LOL. If only expat life is as glamorous as they make it out to be on television.

Fourfortravel, the Baroque Baroque exhibit was interesting. The centerpiece is a series of five towers that emit a different color light in the marble hall. The lights cast the features of the room in a different perspective. The colored lights also mixed with the sunlight coming in through the windows to create new perspectives. While the lights were the new element in the room, the artists really focused us on the room's detailed features.

"LOL. If only expat life is as glamorous as they make it out to be on television."

Amen to that! Although I wouldn't change our years in Europe for anything (and we're now permanent residents in Switzerland, when does one officially cross the bridge from expat to immigrant?), work, taxes, housecleaning, all the day-to-day tasks of life continue.

Thank you for the trip report! We've just booked another week in Vienna for next June, staying again at the K&K Maria Theresia, which has become our fav hotel in the city. We love the Spittelberg location.

What were your favorite restaurants and cafes on this trip? We went to Kussmaul several times in March, but are always happy to hear about new discoveries. (however, we don't like Demel, especially after seeing the "paddock" they set up to contain the tourist hordes)

Thank you for the wonderful trip report. I really appreciated all of the details. It's a little early for me to be planning the possible trip next year, but I'll be sure to refer back to it as the time gets closer.

Tripplanner001, thanks again for you wonderful TR! "Vienna is one of Europe's grandest cities". After our Sept. visit, we agree!

In our visit to NYC this weekend, we have plans to visit the Neue Galerie where Gustav Klimt's painting "Woman in Gold" (subject of the recent movie) is on display. If you haven't seen the movie, you might find it of interest.

Of course, our main goals in visiting the Big Apple are to enjoy the wonderful Christmas atmosphere/decorations and take in a few plays.

Glad you had such a great trip!

WeisserTee, you're welcome. Our favorite restaurants would have to be Salm Brau and Gigerl Stadtheuriger.

Chepar, you're welcome. I hope to get the last 2 or 3 installments up before week's end.

Tomarkot, thanks for the tip about the film.

A Day in Gyor

For our next-to-last day we headed back out of the city, this time on an excursion to the Hungarian city of Gyor. We chose Gyor for the opening day of its Christmas market. We also enjoyed our time in Budapest last November and wanted to see another part of Hungary.

The trip began again at Vienna's Hauptbahnhof. We took an EuroCity train bound for Budapest, which stopped in Gyor along the way. The journey was a little more than one hour.

Gyor is a compact little city with a very walkable old town center. The city center is somewhat known for its beautiful Baroque architecture.

Our day in the city began with a visit to the City Hall building directly across the street from the main train station. In front of the building is a nice Christmas market selling the usual holiday items along with clothes and some handbags. From here we made our way down another street of Christmas market stalls before hitting the main town square.

The focus of the town square is the city's basilica church with a beautiful baroque interior. There is also a nice Christmas market in the square selling ornaments and different crafts. Some of the items reminded me of the market at Karlskirche. Also on offer were a couple of stalls selling the marzipan we enjoyed in Budapest; yum!

From the main square we wandered further north towards the bishops tower. Along the way were numerous shops and stores complete with the wrought iron signs hanging above the streets indicating the trade or good the shop specialized in.

The bishops tower is well worth a visit on any trip to Gyor. I really enjoyed the museum in the tower's underground chambers. It told a very moving story about the chambers having served as a shelter for people during the Soviet capture of the town and tower during the end of World War II and ensuing slaughter of those there. In addition to the underground museum is a lookout tower that offers wonderful views of the city.

We also took a stroll along the river and visited a nearby synagogue. We spent the remainder of our time in Gyor revisiting some of the Christmas markets from earlier in the day as not all the stalls were open when we first browsed.

Up next: our final day in Vienna

what a nice idea, TP, to visit a small hungarian town. WE like doing trips like that too as IMO you get a much better idea of a country than you do if you spend your entire time in capital cities with all their tourists. Nothing against them, but you rarely get a proper idea of a country that way.

tripplanner001, thank you for the Györ Christmas market report. Believe it or not, that is one market we have yet to visit! I'm afraid it won't happen this year, either, as the calendar is full through the holidays.

Ann, usually when we visit a country we like to see a major city, a smaller town or two, and also get outdoors, especially on longer trips. In addition to getting a proper sense of a place it also gives us the variety we crave.

Fourfortravel, you're welcome. Perhaps next year. The way the markets are laid out in Gyor is that you have setups in the main squares and plazas and those markets are connected by stalls along the major pedestrian thoroughfares that connect them. The result is that you can wander through a big part of town just by strolling the markets.

Saturday in Vienna

This was our last day in Vienna and we wanted to spend it in a leisurely way, wandering about the capital city's beautiful streets and visiting a few more Christmas markets.

We began at St. Stephen's Cathedral and walked around some of the back streets between the cathedral and the Danube Canal. We didn't really have a specific destination in mind other than to see another part of the city. It was a quiet morning and we felt like we had the streets to ourselves. We stopped along the way to admire some buildings and monuments and walked into a couple of churches.

We wandered for about three hours before heading to our first Christmas market of the day, at Am Hof square, where we settled down for lunch. We enjoyed some delicious sausages and spaetzle.

From Am Hof we wanted over to the nearby Freyung market. Most of the time was spent browsing the wares on offer. I did pick up a couple of last-minute buys here.

Our visit to the markets continued at Palais Niederosterreich, thanks to the tip from Fourfortravel. The former government building for Lower Austria hosted a very cozy and intimate Christmas market. In the courtyard were stalls selling mostly food and beverages while the interior of the building hosted vendors selling everything from Christmas ornaments to local wines, meats, and cheese. It had the air of a farmers market that we frequent here in the States mixed with the revelrie of the Christmas markets outdoors, and in an ornate setting no less. One room off the gorgeous main hall was converted into a Viennese coffee house. We sat here, enjoyed a couple of cups, and listened to a live band play for quite a bit; it was a perfect way to spend a late afternoon.

From Palais Niederosterreich we wandered down to Hofburg Palace for another stroll on the palace grounds before settling for an earlier-than-usual dinner at Gigerl Stadtheuriger. This is our third trip to Vienna and we still haven't managed to visit a heuriger. Given that it is past the season and the early nightfall we didn't venture out to one on this trip. We did though want to sample some of the fare on offer, and found out about Gigerl during our research for this trip. Located steps away from Kartnerstrasse, Gigerl had an informal and rustic atmosphere. The four of us opted for the sampler option on the menu, which was perfect. We had the opportunity to sample a few delicious appetizers followed by a main course potpourri of wiener schnitzel, chicken, roasted pork, potatoes, vegetables, and sauerkraut. The meal was topped off by two different types of streudel, sweet cheese and apple, drizzled with warm vanilla custard sauce. The wines were also very good.

We went back to our hotel after dinner and packed for our journey home the next day. We flew British Airways on revenue economy class tickets, connecting via London Heathrow. The flight from Vienna to London was uneventful except that there wasn't a place for us to land. This caused us to get into London more than 30 minutes late and a scramble to make our connection to DC. Fortunately BA decided to hold the plane for us although it meant we delayed everyone else's journey by 30 minutes. The ride to DC was very comfortable, on an A380. Immigration at Dulles was quick, using one of the new kiosks. However we had to stand in line for about 45 minutes getting through the customs line, given that this was the Sunday after Thanksgiving when everyone seemed to be returning and there were about seven or eight international flights landing.


Capping Off

Our trip to Vienna was everything that we hoped it to be and a little more. We knew we would enjoy the city from our prior visits. The holiday air lent the Austrian capital something of an additional magic. And the Christmas markets - our primary draw - failed to disappoint. We were very fortunate to have experienced several markets and have taken away something different from each. Special thanks again to Fourfortravel for the advice and tips before and during our trip. And thanks to the rest of my Fodorite friends for sharing your own experiences and for following along. May the holiday season bring you much joy and happiness.

Lovely finish, tripplanner. Glad that you liked the market at Palais Niederösterreich; it is one of my favorites. Overall, which market was your favorite?

A wonderful holiday season to you, as well.