Christmas Magic in Vienna!

When we were asked by our friends, the Blackburns, to take a trip to Vienna with them, we said "Heck Yeah!" At first we thought about bringing our babysitter, Justyna, to Vienna with us so we could go out during nap time and bedtime to explore, but that thought only lasted a hot minute.  We then came to our senses and realized that it would be much easier to leave the kiddos at home with Justyna, while we took our first kid free vaca since moving!!! We knew that we needed the break, as we have A LOT of family time here - which is amazing and great and lovely - but two toddlers can be wearing and we knew that it would be great for everyone in our family to recharge!

The best part about the trip is that we did absolutely ZERO planning! Robin and Blaine are trip planning extraordinaires and planned the entire weekend. We were happy to be along for the ride! The main focus of the trip - Christmas markets.

A Christmas market is a street market that is generally held in a town square or pedestrian zones with open air stands that sell food, drink and seasonal items.  It is also known as Christkindlmarkt, Marché de Noël, Christkindlesmarkt, Christkindlmarket and Weihnachtsmarkt.  The Christmas market is associated with the celebration of Christmas during the four weeks of Advent that originated in Germany, Austria, South Tyrol in Northern Italy and eastern French regions of Alsace, Lorraine and Savoy.  The Vienna "December market" dates back to 1294. How amazing that we could add this experience to our Joehlski Adventure!

Vienna - about an 8 hour drive or a 1 hour flight from Warsaw.

On the bus out to the plane!

We stayed at the Hotel Marc Aurel - our room was a shoebox, but we were only there to sleep, so it worked for us!

As we arrived before the Blackburns, we had a little time to venture out on our own.  First stop was to Pick Wick's for lunch! Our server's English was amazing, so we inquired and found out he had lived in Las Vegas for 7 years.  It is so interesting chatting it up and learning others' stories!

First beer in Vienna!

Friday night itinerary - Christmas markets that were further out from our hotel. We headed to the metro to get a 48 hour pass for the weekend.

Our first market was the Christmas market at Schonbrunn Palace - this was my favorite Christmas market! It was set up in the middle of the palace's open square area, in a big circle.  It was great to go in on one side and make a big loop! Blaine and Robin advised us of their plan - if you like it, buy it - as you don't know if you will find it again.  I am so glad we listened as we bought a lot the first night, and didn't see most of the items again at the other markets.

Ordering our first punsch! 

Baby Jesus - all sizes available! :)

Below are a bunch of pictures of the various stands - just beautiful!!!

Student choir from a high school in Georgia

The food was amazing and such a wide variety - pastries, mac and cheese, sausage, cheese, potatoes, and roasted nuts.

Caleb with his pretzel shaped krapfen - very similar to a donut.

 

Mac and cheese - plain, with red sauce and ham with leeks!

 

On to our second Christmas market - Maria-Theresien Platz!

Back on the metro!

At each market, you got a mug with your punsch or mulled wine and paid a deposit for the mug.  You could either get your deposit back by brining your mug to any stand OR you could keep your mug.  These boots were just too cute not to keep! The kids will love them!

Amazing spiral pastry from Prague - Trdelnik!

Vienna is where the original Viennese snow globe was created!

Blaine and Robin Blackburn enjoying some goodness from boots!

Saturday morning we took our first food tour! Again, we were told by the Blackburns where to go and the time to meet, and we just showed up! Amazing! :) We met the tour guide and his girlfriend at 10am and were served ham, beef tongue and kabanosy from the the last remaining independent butcher in the first district (the main district in Vienna).  I was hesitant to try the beef tongue, but it was actually really good - tasted like roast beef.  I just couldn't think about what I was eating. ;)

This was the butcher shop.  We were served the meat at the start of our tour as the butcher was
closing early and it was a small location.

The original butcher shop sign.

We then headed to a bakery and tried various breads - delicious! This bakery has been open since 1536 and has it's oven located in the basement.

On Friday night, we saw many devil/evil figurines and faces on suckers and candy and didn't know the meaning behind it.  We learned on the food tour that the figure's name is Krampus.  Krampus is half-goat, half-demon figure, from Austro-Bavarian Alpine folklore.  Krampus punishes children, during the holiday season, who have misbehaved (while Saint Nicholas rewards the well behaved children).  The punishments include being left coal or rotten bundles of branches, struck with the branches, or even put in a bag and taken.  Yikes! Maybe these tales would help our kiddos shape up! Ha! Beckett is SO scared to get coal and I think we have only talked about it once or twice.

Below is a pastry of the horned Krampus.

Then we headed to a beautiful restaurant, Melker Stiftskeller, under the streets of Vienna, to do some wine tasting! The pictures below do not do it justice.

We then zigzagged back through the town to a chocolate shop - Xocolat! Yes please!

Saint Nicholas and Krampus

The next stop on our food tour, a sausage stand, was quite busy - our food guides thought we would wait about a half hour - so we headed to Leberkas-Pepi instead.  This restaurant was also packed! The yummy dish that we were served - Leberkas.  Leberkas consists of corned beef, pork, bacon and onions.  The ingredients are finely ground and then backed in a bread pan - very similar to a bologna.  It was delicious!!!

We then were off to taste some vinegar in a store that was located in a street market area.  It was also packed!

Example of a food vendor.

A drop was added to our fist for each flavor. 

Next up - cheese! Yum!

Our last stop was coffee and dessert at Cafe Sperl!

Recipe for their famous cake, right in the menu.

Group shot with our food tour guides, Lukas and Laura!

Here is a great story! When my sister found out that her high school friends, Jeff and Christy VanOverbeke, would be in Vienna the same weekend as we were, she sent me a message and told me to keep an eye out for them.  Low and behold, we ran into them at a small market on a random side street! Jason, who was in my class, passed by me with his brother and I couldn't believe it.  We stopped and chatted and met Jason's wife, Holli.  SMALL WORLD!!! We of course had to take a pic of all of us to send to my sis. :)

**Please excuse the puffiness in Andy and my faces - wowsa! That is what we get for drinking lots of mulled wine, punsch and lots of rich foods that we aren't used to eating!

More pictures of Spittlberg market -

After stopping at the hotel to drop off some bags, we headed out again to Rathausplatz Christmas market.  This is by far the largest market in Vienna, but with that came a lot of more commercial type items that we could buy at locals stores.  We pushed our way down one side of the market - SO many people - and we decided to leave. :)  The lights were beautiful though!

Double fisting it to be able to handle the crowds!

Blaine, Robin, Caleb, Grayson, Andy and I

Final two markets - Freyung and Am Hof, both cute little markets, but by this time, we had walked over 6 miles and had been on our feet all day, so we were in and out quickly.

I was done! Ha!

All of the streets around our hotel and the markets were beautifully decorated with lights!

The Blackburns headed back to the hotel and Andy and I grabbed dinner at a Germany/Austrian restaurant called Kern Beisl.

Beef goulash with potatoes

The mugs we collected from the markets.

Our flight departed at 1pm on Sunday, so we had the morning to explore.  Sadly, most shops in Vienna are closed on Sundays, so we did a lot of window shopping.

St. Stephen's Cathedral - medieval place of worship

Hofburg Palace

Beautiful window displays at a local bakery!

Another shot of Hofburg Palace.  The President of Austria resides in this palace.

As we walked passed this clock, there was a small crowd looking up towards it.  It was a beautiful clock (we later found out it is the Ankeruhr Vienna Clock) that moves each minute.  We were standing there at 5 minutes to 10am, so you can see below the IX about to be at the end and the X is coming out.  At 10am, a bell sounded 10 chimes.  It was fun to watch! Apparently at noon, the characters of the clock dance.

Below are some more pictures of beautiful Austrian buildings!

These were our fun purchases - less some items that we got as gifts!

As you can see below, the kids had a great weekend with Justyna!

The trip to Vienna was magical! If you ever have the chance to get to a European Christmas market, please do so. Next year we plan to head to Germany for their Christmas markets!