things i'm grateful for: christmas 2011

so i would never have imagined that this narrow street led to a full-grown christmas market! the stalls spread through narrow streets and backyards of spittelberg, with all the works! brilliant!

and somebody was also lurking!

things i'm grateful for: christmas 2011

" there is some amicable jostling among the duffel coats to get to the front of the queue (it is not easy to fight in mittens), all of us eager to get our hands on a piece of the stallholder's hot toast with its waves of molten cheese. there are few moments more perfect than the one that finds you biting into blistering cheese on toast while snowflakes fall on your eyelashes." - observer.co.uk, nigel slater

we reached the neue burg wing of the hofburg.

this palace has housed one of the most powerful empires in europe, the habsburgs, starting in 1279 to 1918.

things i'm grateful for: christmas 2011

"vienna manages to retain the feel of an advent calendar, complete with a dusting of glitter.the christmas markets, of which half are dotted around the city, are heavy with the fragrance of freshly cut pine trees and freshly baked ginger biscuits." - observer.co.uk, nigel slater

this day was definitely a christmas market day. we started off with a simple breakfast

and trekked to the mother of all christmas markets.i mean, this must be the biggest christmas market ever!

things i'm grateful for: christmas 2011

i have a mental bucket list.i never really put this list into writing.i really do not know why as this is one of the main things that the secret is advocating, right? one of these days i will make that list, says the procrastinator in me and the universe will be happy and grant me all my dreams and wishes, says the believer in me.oh yes it will, adds the eternal optimist in me.schizo much? hahaha.

but i know for sure that i've always wanted to spend christmas in vienna.

why?

things i'm grateful for: road trip! (starnberg-austria-switzerland)

finally, it was the day to start our road trip from munich all the way to tuscany in italy!

but first, we met up with good couples friends c and j, m and i, in starnberg, an upmarket town near munich.

we went to this lovely restaurant for a breakfast buffet.