Our first full day in Vienna, we walked from Karlsplatz up Kaertnerstrasse to Stefansdom, then to the Hofburg and Mariatheresienplatz, which is between the Art History and Natural History museums. That was our first Christmas market of the trip. This was a cute, smaller market, with plenty of the requisite Punsch and some handmade toys and ornaments. Later that day, we headed back into the city center to visit a museum, Odin fell asleep in his stroller and missed the Schatzkammer (treasure chamber) at the Hofburg (palace).
After dinner, we visited the Christmas market at the Rathaus. Before returning to Vienna, this had been my only Christmas market and I remembered lots of cute stalls with handmade toys, ornaments and candies. I'd overheard several times that this market wasn't worth visiting as it is was very "touristy". Turns out that they were right about it not really being worth visiting, but touristy seemed to translate more to kitschy. Every third booth was a Punsch stand (not so bad in itself), but all the craft booths were the same kind of stuff you could find at a flea market or festival anywhere in the world and was not at all unique to Vienna. It was crowded, so we just made one quick trip through the market and returned to our apartment. The lights are very pretty, but it was hard to see much around the crowds.
On Friday, we went to Schonbrunn, another Habsburg palace a bit further out in Vienna. We took a tour through the palace, but after Odin had a meltdown in one of the galleries, and we were trapped from getting out by tourist group, we decided to go outside to the Christmas market.
I think this was the only Christmas market where we actually bought anything. They had several stands with handmade items, and we picked up a paper mache Santa for Chad's parents and an ornament with the Little Prince for Odin, and shared a glass of Gluhwein (mulled wine). Tasty and warming, especially since this was one of the chillier and rainier days we were there.
On Saturday, we met up with my friend Niki again, and he took us to a Christmas market in Cobenzl, in the hills just outside of Vienna (this is where the Heuriger are, so I finally got to see what it looked like up there, at least). While it took awhile to get out there, it was great to take the bus through the towns in the hills and up into the Wienerwald. There would have been a great view of Vienna in the valley if it hadn't been so cloudy (I don't think we ever saw the sun while we were in Vienna). This was a very family oriented Christmas market, with a mini farm/petting zoo, where Odin got to see sheep, goats, chickens, pigs, rabbits, geese and turkeys, and we got to get all kinds of mud on our shoes. The market stands were mostly food, and while I now wish we had picked up a bottle of schnapps, it's too late for that now.
They had an ice rink set up behind the restaurant, so while we watched the families skate and Chad ate another sausage, Odin found a new girlfriend! He was very happy until she left. Fortunately he has a short memory and was able to move on quickly.
Our final Christmas market was one I'd overheard someone on the streetcar recommending, in Spittelberg, one of the neighborhoods near the center of Vienna. This was a very cute market that went up and down several streets of the neighborhood, and sometimes even took shortcuts through local shops and apartment courtyards. Odin was getting a little fussy while we were there, but we got him a pretzel and Schinkenbrot (ham bread) and that made him happier. Turns out he also like Kartoffelpuffer (potato pancakes - who knew they made such great street food!). This market had a nice mix of local crafts, food, Punsch and some of the same stuff you can get at any street festival, but because it wound its way through the neighborhood, it had a very cozy feel to it.
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