things i'm grateful for:

"it is difficult not to warm to a city that smells of baked apples.strands of white fairy lights hang across the narrow streets like falling snow caught in lamplight.the bells of stephansdom chime deeply, and every now and then there is the ghostly clatter of horses' hooves on cobbles.the shop windows, when they are not full of curiously sinister antique dolls, are glistening with caskets of sugar plums and chocolate fir cones.vienna, icily cold and smeling of sweet spice, is like walking into a christmas card" - observer.co.uk, nigel slater

and what a christmas card it was! vienna certainly delivered in its promise of christmas glory.


after a semi-dramatic rush to the supermarket to get our supplies for the next days, we took a breather in the afternoon and only took off again at night to go to a (free!) christmas concert at the town hall.

one of the inner courtyards of the rathaus.

amazing concert!

it was christmas eve - i was with my husband and child, listening to angelic voices singing christmas songs in a beautiful, historical building.

my heart was simply bursting with gratitude and happiness.

this was one christmas eve i will definitely never ever forget.thank you, mr t, for giving way to a delusional wife with childhood christmas dreams.

beautiful hallway.

after the concert we dropped by the christmas market by the town hall again.it was full of christmas revellers.

i'm so sorry if i kept on gushing, but my god, the place was really magical.

apart from tokyo and tuscany, no other place had ever left me in so much awe. in vienna, i truly, truly felt so blessed to call this wonderful world home.

vienna - you are christmas magic.



mr t lovingly prepared a german-inspired christmas eve dinner for his hungry brood.what a delight!

it was exactly the christmas eve dinner that i was hoping for.i am not your fancy-dinner kind of gal.give me any homemade food, and i am yours forever.

and oh yeah.a tub of hello kitty strawberry ice cream and bailey's cake just made our dinner fabulous.

it was our christmas.it was simply perfect.it was great.

christmas day...next!