Wonderful Wien (Vienna)

A couple of years ago, Hallmark released a holiday movie called Christmas in Vienna.  Now, my sister and I are quite aware that it would not have been filmed in Vienna during the Christmas season.  Nonetheless, it peaked our interest in visiting Austria's capital to check out the Christkindlmarkts there.  So, in planning this trip, we allowed for some extra days in that city.

Thursday morning, we caught a train from Munich to Vienna.  The journey took about 4 hours and we passed through some very beautiful countryside which including glimpses of the Alps in the distance.  We arrived around 2 pm in rainy weather and just took a taxi to our hotel.  The Hotel Post Wien where we are staying is a 3 star older hotel and a big change from the 4 start where we were staying in Munchen.  However, it is very conveniently located and our rooms are large and have most of what we need - no English channels on the TV but good WiFi and an all important elevator!

Once we were settled in, we walked to Stephansplatz where Domkirche St. Stephan is located.  There is a Christmas market located there which we wanted to check out.  It seemed a bit more upscale in terms of its construction (no wood huts) and some of the goods being sold.  Also, we found out there is going to be an Advent Concert in the cathedral on Friday and Saturday evenings so we decided to buy tickets for Saturday.  They weren't cheap (45 euros) but when does one have the opportunity to hear an Advent concert in a beautiful cathedral in Vienna - unless you live here, of course!

There are at least 15 Christmas markets in Vienna and it is recommended that you visit some of them at night because of their illuminations.  During breakfast on our first morning, we plotted out a plan to see as many of them as we could.  So Friday, our first stop was Michaelersplatz, then it was a short walk to Altwiener Christkindlmarkt and Ab Hof another one.  The last one seemed to mostly feature food and drink, even a Champagne stall!

We had found out there was an organ concert at 1:30 pm in Peterskirche so that is where we headed next.  The program interested my sister as she had not heard some of the pieces played on an organ before.  In addition, it suited me as it was secular music.

I recorded a small portion of the concert (no photo) to give you an idea of what it sounded like.  My sister was impressed.

After a rest at our hotel, we braved going out again and this time it was to one of the bigger markets at Rathausplatz.  There is both a market and an illuminated park to see.  It was beautiful but very crowded.  We only lasted an hour before getting pushed around and bumped into got to us and we left.  Even the tram was crammed full leaving the place!  It was delightful to find a quiet little Greek restaurant near our hotel to have dinner.  It has been quite a day - and we have two more here!