We have been going to some of the Christmas markets the past week. The weather has been beautiful most days, so we thought we should enjoy the markets as much as possible before the weather gets cold!
We went to the Rathaus market on the night it opened and it was CRAZY. It is a really crowded market at night, and we now know to take the kids earlier in the day. But we found the kiddy rides and met up with my friend Rene, and her kids, Grace and Ethan. It was fun to see all the kids ride the train together. Oliver loved that there were buttons and a steering wheel to play with.
Rene and I hanging out and watching the kids ride the train.
Random picture, but I was looking at it and I never realized how much I talk with my hands… Wow, I must have been really excited about something.
Elora waiting for her turn to ride the carousel!
The kids were sad that they didn’t get to ride the train again. Here they all are watching it go around again!
We bought a vanilla cream filled doughnut, which Oliver was all too happy to finish up once we got home!
We bought this bucket of cotten candy at one of the markets, and the kids kept wanting to bring it with us whenever we left the house. Works for me, kept them from asking us to buy another bucket! Oliver was just as happy to hold the bucket as he was to eat the candy!
This is the market at Maria Theresian platz, where the natural history and art museums are. I love this market. The food is really good, and the setting is beautiful.
This stand sold lots of yummy looking gourmet chocolate. I think I will be coming back here!
I love looking at all the Christmas ornaments!
Elora is so fun to take to markets. She wants to see every single stand and look at everything. And as usual, is full of questions. This year she has started picking out items she wants to save her money for.
As for the food! These are nougat knoedeln. They have chocolate hazelnut filling inside a dumpling, that is covered with sweetened bread crumbs. I have been making these at home, but they taste the best at the markets.
There are always stands with chocolate covered fruit, so we decided to try some. The kids just wanted to eat the chocolate and leave the fruit…
Kasespaetzle! Spaetzle are a homemade noodle, and these are cooked in a big cast iron skillet with cheese and onions. A little too many onions for me in this batch, but still pretty tasty.
The girl who works in this marrionette booth is so sweet. She always plays with the kids when they come look at the booth. Elora loved all the puppets, and was very excited to watch them dancing.
And of course, more food. These are fried bread that are filled with either sauerkraut or jam and sugar. Of course we went for jam and sugar.
Elora was “sitting in the shade to cool off”. It really wasn’t hot, but that is what she said…
Elora and Teddy taking a break.
Chris trying his very first Leberkase. It is meat and cheese all processed together and made into a loaf looking thing… then it is sliced. Reminds me of spam actually…
Here is a loaf of Leberkase. I don’t think meat and cheese have any right to look so much like bread. Strange food, but very popular here.
The students have been protesting here. Something about needing more money? Better education? We are not so sure, can’t translate the german banner so it makes sense… but we were impressed with the huge banners they made…
This is at the Karlsplatz market. The kids were super excited to see the animals. Elora was feeding the ponies, but when Oliver went to pet one, it bit his finger. It was pretty ugly. While wandering around looking for a bandaid, we found a super nice paramedic who cleaned and bandaged Oliver’s finger, and brave little Oliver who had been crying stemmed his tears and just sniffed and looked solemn while being bandaged up.
The kids wanted to see the goats and sheep, but they were hiding. The sign is telling people not to feed the animals… very important to follow the instructions on the sign. (There was no sign near the ponies though…)
To help Oliver cheer up, we went to the park, and I loved this pic of Elora when Chris was bringing her Teddy over to play. She looks so excited to see him!
Nothing like a bucket of cotten candy to cheer up the kids. Oliver carried this bucket around the remainder of the time at the market. He is harder to take to markets, not so interested in the stands. He just wants to run and run and run… When he ran all the way to the U-bahn station twice, we figured he was trying to tell us that it was time to go.
In the last picture if you look at the building next to Karlskirche….the last window at the top would be Simon's office. Next time you will have to wave!!