"yes, it's more than a little twee in places, but how can this festival ever be anything but? a few glasses of orange-peel-scented grog and you start to appreciate the work that goes into those little gingerbread houses with their snowy roofs and tiles made out of sweeties; the heart-shaped cookies and oranges stuffed with cloves; the extraordinary array of glass baubles and musical boxes. this is also where you come for paper plates of sharp shredded cabbage and slender sausages, twists of bread dough and slices of spice cake, paper bags of chestnuts fresh from the roaster, baked potatoes and mugs of steaming wine.
vienna, it would see, is made for christmas.." - observer.co.uk, nigel slater
it was a blessed christmas day!
our christmas day morning was spent playing with baby's gift from oma and opa - a train set!
how could we not take advantage of a beautiful, sunny day? it was a very ideal day to go walking around...the schonbrunn palace!
this grand baroque palace housed empress maria theresa and her family in the 18th century.napoleon also stayed there for his austrian campaigns.
the christmas market outside the palace was still in full swing!
you do know we have to have our fill of gluhwein, doncha? yes, the sun was smiling down on us, but jeez, it was still bloody cold!
we did not go inside the palace anymore. we learned early on as parents traveling with a kid in tow - don't expect a pre-schooler to happily participate in organized tours!
unless you want to calm a screaming and very bored toddler.good luck with that.heh.
so we just happily strolled around the palace.
oh look - a giant, REAL, christmas tree! pardon me for gushing about real christmas trees.i grew up in a tropical country where the closest thing we could get to a real pine or fir tree was to buy the PVC one.yes, the one made in china.
but oh, let me gush more about christmas markets!
such a delight, these christmas markets.sigh.i'm missing them already.
next...the palace gardens!
**
on a sidenote - what is awesome and brilliant?
this one is.
http://youtu.be/A_hw1xcfylI
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