From Geoff...
Last
Christmas we were by ourselves, marooned in the public transport free
zone of London. And it didn't even snow. So this Christmas we headed
over to Vienna and spent a few days with my parents who had just done a
long river cruise down the Rhine and Danube. Good times!
Hopes
of a white Christmas were not high based on the forecast, and so it
panned out- it snowed on the day before we arrived but not again. There
was a lovely covering of snow when we arrived though, which stuck around
for a couple of days and gave a slightly exotic feel to the trip.
Vienna
itself was very pretty but seemed to be in hibernation for the end of
the year. Whether it was just the wrong time of year or the cold, there
really was not much to do outside of the christmas markets- unless you
had bought tickets to the Opera or the numerous classical music
performances months in advance. So Christmas markets it was! And a beautiful church or two.
The
markets at the Schonbrunn Palace were clearly the best- well curated
with a good mix of food and vendors selling their often homemade
Christmas wares and with a wander in the chilly gardens afterwards, an
excellent way to spend Christmas Day. A lot of the other markets weren't
that great and more similar to the rubbish ones in England- identikit
food and stalls selling mass-produced crap or non-festive things. What's
the point! My parents said the best markets were found in the small
southern German towns that they had been through already- beggars cant
be choosers I guess.
Also
at Schonbrunn is the excellent Strudel Show- a show that goes for about
15 minutes, on the hour, with a well-practised pastry chef going
quickly through how to make a proper apfelstrudel. Alternating between
English and Deutsche, he flung the pastry around, made appropriately
lame jokes (twice!) and filled the air with the delicious scents of
butter, cinnamon and baked apple. The strudel itself was amazing.
So
to sum up Vienna, it was great to see my parents again after 18 months,
Vienna is pretty but sleepy, and Schonbrunn Palace is delightful. And
the dream of a White Christmas remains unfulfilled.
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