WOW, time flies when you are ignoring your blog! Now that I feel like posting again, I figure I should finish our story of Christmas trip 2011.
When we mentioned to folks that we were headed to Vienna for Christmas we were warned that the town shuts down for Christmas. After seeing how Bratislava closes up, we were a bit concerned as we boarded the bus for Vienna. However, we were pleasantly surprised to find quite a vibrant Christmastime in Vienna. We found a great list of the
Christmas Markets with the opening/closing times and Underground stops nearby. The tourist information also included restaurants and entertainment that was open after Dec 24. While we did miss many of the Christmas Markets, we could see the bigger markets like Rathauspark, Schonbrunn, and Praterstern. These gave us a great view of different styles of markets.
 |
| Rathauspark Christmas Market 2011 |
Rathauspark is the market that turns up most in pictures from tourists and is probably the largest and most commercial. All of the food is huge: giant donuts and pretzels the size of your head, huge sausages, and candy galore. It took some doing, but we also found the booth with the best punch (best being strongest!). Good thing we had all that food!
 |
| Schonbrunn 2011 |
|
Schonbrunn is the more traditional market with fewer Christmas lights, more bows of greenery and a beautiful palace and grounds to tour. It was a cold day with a clear blue sky and the grounds were breathtaking even is the dormant state. We didn't go into the palace, instead choosing to walk around the grounds. The punch was good and the baked potatoes with tons of toppings helped nourish us for the walks.
 |
| Praterstern 2011 |
|
Finally, Praterstern is an amusement park and the market is in the entrance of the park. We were able to ride the enclosed car Ferris Wheel revealed a beautiful panoramic view of Vienna. We were getting a bit worn out on Christmas Markets by this time, but it was fun to tour the museum to the Ferris Wheel that is at the base of the ride.
In terms of restaurants, there was quite a lot of choice. We were very lucky to eat at
Der Kuckuk with no reservations. I had tried to email the restaurant Christmas morning, but there was no reservation when we went to the restaurant that night. Luckily they squeezed us in at the overflow table toward the front of the restaurant. The meal was amazing and the cozy, wine-cellar shaped restaurant was overflowing with good cheer. Overall, our trip to Vienna in 2011 was amazing and marked the city in our minds as a place for a return visit.
