Wien…A “Fine” City

We had a great holiday trip to Europe last year, notably to Rome for Christmas, Amsterdam for NYE, and Istanbul in between. I knew it was going to be hard to top that trip, but I figured visiting the Christmas markets in Eastern Europe could be a great holiday experience. So, Vienna was our first stop.

We arrived in Vienna in the late afternoon on Monday, December 22. After making our way to our hotel near Stephansplatz in the city center, our first priority was getting food (which trumped the shower at that point – it’s always a toss up between those two priorities when we come off an international flight). We walked over to the square and discovered our first Christmas market (of many to come!) in front of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Lots of folks were milling around enjoying their gluhwein (mulled wine) and other hot drinks. We discovered throughout our market tour that each market had its own set of mugs that drinks were served in with a refundable deposit required. We weren’t quite ready to indulge in that yet, but we found quite possibly the best bratwurst from one of the market stands that I have had! This was a great start to our time in Vienna!

With the holidays, many places that we wanted to visit had closures or abbreviated hours, so we had to plan our time strategically. Most of the Christmas markets closed on Tuesday, December 23, so that was one of our main priorities for this day. We started our day though with a visit to the Hofburg Palace, the home of the Habsburgs emperors (except in the summer at least). We visited the Imperial Porcelain and Silver Collection, Sisi Museum, and Imperial Apartments. We had a great (free) audioguide that actually made this fairly interesting (to me – Kurt usually loves this kind of stuff regardless). There is actually a lot more to see and do in the Hofburg complex, such as the Spanish Riding School, which features the famous Lipizzaner stallions, and the Treasury, which features the Crown Jewels. But, we were trying to accomplish a lot in our limited time in Vienna, so that was all that we really had time for today.

The inner courtyard of the Palace complex

After stumbling across another Christmas market that we would have to come back to later, we made our way over to the Vienna State Opera House for a guided tour. We got to view the auditorium, the intermission rooms, and the backstage area. We had considered going to an opera while we are visiting, but the only showing was for Rigoletto, which we saw earlier this year at the Sydney Opera House.

Next it was time for a sweet treat at Café Sacher, located behind the Opera House and home of the “Original” Sacher-Torte. While it was yummy and a traditional Viennese experience, I don’t really think it was worth the wait to get in.

Darkness settles in at this time of year between 4-5pm, so we were ready to take in the full Christmas market experience with lights lit up everywhere. We visited several markets, all with a different vibe. First up was the market at Karlsplatz, which had a fun atmosphere (just check out the picture of the unique carousel!) and lots of amazing crafts. Next it was time for the regal experience of the Christmas Village at Belvedere Palace. It was a beautiful setting, especially all lit up at night! After that lengthy journey out of the Ringstrasse (central ring road) area, we made our way over to the Pink Christmas market at Naschmarkt. This one took some doing to find (again out away from the center to the end of the market) and ended up being a small market sponsored by the gay community. Here we each had sausage for dinner and our first taste of mulled wine (it took some getting used to initially). Then, we made a quick stop at Winter – Museumsquartier, which was a small group of modern silver drinking tents set among the interior courtyard of the museums that seemed to be popular with the hipsters. We rushed over to the Old Viennese Christmas Market just before it closed – there were carolers singing as we arrived. We had enough time to get over to Wiener Adventzauber for a photo op in front of City Hall, but saved visiting the market for the next day.

On Wednesday, December 24, we started our Christmas Eve experience in Vienna with a trip to St. Stephen’s Cathedral. After exploring the inside, we decided to take the hike up the 343 steps around a spiral staircase to the South Tower for “panoramic” views of the city. We emerged from the staircase and entered into a small guardhouse about halfway up the tower. Our views of the city were limited through small barred windows, which was not exactly what I expected. Then, we made an impromptu stop at nearby St. Peter’s Church to check out the interior.

Next up was a visit to Berggasse 19, home to Sigmund Freud (before he was forced to leave Austria by the Nazis)! We had visited the Sigmund Freud Museum in London a few years ago, so I have already seen “the couch.” But, this was still a nice opportunity for me to see his office where he established his practice. Unfortunately, the museum didn’t offer a visit to his apartments next door, but it was still an overall good experience.

This mirror hung here in his office and was a gift from his daughter, Anna

We stumbled across this park named after Freud as we were leaving

With our main sightseeing done, we were ready to enjoy Christmas Eve in Vienna. We visited the Christmas markets at Maria Theresien-Platz (where I didn’t see what all the fuss is about with cronuts) and back at Rathausplatz. I had been eyeing all of the wine mugs from each market and finally found the one I wanted to keep, a red heart-shaped version featuring City Hall. After making my purchase, we popped into City Hall for a Christmas Carol event then headed back to St. Stephen’s Cathedral for a service that featured music by Mozart. The Church was packed, but we managed to make our way in and position ourselves in a good spot. Kurt headed back out later that evening for Midnight Mass at St. Stephen’s and it was truly a packed house for that as well.

And, with that, our time in Vienna was done. While everything here was “fine” and completely met expectations, nothing really blew me away (except maybe that brat our first night!). Obviously there’s still more to do here, including visiting the museums. But, I don’t necessarily see the hype about the city (especially when it’s not the season for Christmas markets).