We have tried to spend a lot of time going to Christmas markets this year, since it is supposed to be our last Vienna Christmas (sigh…) So here are some pics from various markets we have gone to in the past couple weeks.
At the Schonbrunn market. This one is my favorite in Vienna, because the Schonbrunn palace is so beautiful, they play classical music, and the market is in a wide open area that is not scary to let children run around in!
Elora adores the markets. She loves to look at all the Christmas ornaments and toy booths especially, and is constantly telling us, “but I am being very careful!” when we tell her not to touch the items for sale.
Giant marille (apricot) filled doughnut, fresh out of the fryer. Yum.
At the Karlsplatz market there is an area in front of the church with hay and farm animals. This is the place where Ollie got bit by a horse, so I wasn’t sure how he would react to coming back, but he was excited to see the animals as usual.
Elora was excited to see lots of kids building forts with the hay, and decided to help out.
On the bridge leading to the hay play area.
I don’t buy much at the markets, especially the ones in Vienna, because they are very expensive, but there are some beautiful items. This booth has hand carved wood items for sale.
More hand carved wood figures. They make beautiful nativities too.
I love all the handpainted glass ornaments! Someday when I don’t have kids who play with the Christmas tree…
I love this! Pasta with ham, tomatoes, peppers. And they have a bowl of what looks like cheese, but guess what? It’s fresh horseradish. Came as a big surprise the first time I tasted it.
My friends Jason and Krista recently moved back to the states. We went to the Schonbrunn market just before they left. Here they are picking out some items for their nativity.
Krista and I in front of the palace. We miss them so much, but luckily they live in Utah, so we should see them next year!
Jen came down to try and meet us and say bye to Krista, but got a little lost and arrived just after Krista and Jason had to leave! But we enjoyed looking around the market some more.
Chris and I went to the Freyung market, which has really nice traditional Austrian items and bought some new pewter ornaments, the only ones I will splurge on!
The kids checking out the toy selection! I love the markets. They were especially nice this year because we didn’t have real winter weather until the second week of December, so we got to enjoy some of them without having to wear snow suits to keep warm! Tomorrow we decided to head off to Nuremburg to see the biggest Christmas market in Europe, and then stop in Munich and a couple other of the German markets on the way home. We’ll have lots more market pics when we get back in a couple days!
you look so young!! that life must be good for you.
it will be a big change when you return to glendale.
(i always have trouble posting comments.)
k.