Christmas in Vienna, Part 1
So festive and lovely
This was our third Christmas outside of the US, the first being in 2022 in Cancun and then last year in Kuala Lumpur. As November was approaching, we (and I mean me) still hadn’t locked in our plans for the holiday break. We had talked about Vienna but, I was still burned out on planning from our nomadic travel, so I kept procrastinating. But after some threats prodding, I finally sat down and made reservations. S’s stipulation was that she wanted to see at least one new place, so I booked Vienna through Christmas and then Budapest for New Year’s.
While many people plan trips to hop between the various Christkindlmarkts across Europe (seeing as many as they can), that wasn’t something we were up for. We’ve learned that we don’t fast travel well, so seeing two places in 2.5 weeks was enough. However, we did maximize the markets within Vienna, seeing 5 or 6 different ones (and several more than once).
The girls and I arrived in Vienna ahead of C, who stayed behind in Tirana a few days for an appointment. We arrived pretty late at night due to a delayed flight and, when our Uber dropped us off at the street corner, we were a little uncertain of the area. We stayed farther out from the city center this time; it was the only way to find a place that didn’t cost the moon. In the daylight we could see that it was fine. In fact, it was 1.5 blocks from a Billa Plus (full-sized grocery store like any you might find in the US or UK) and that made me SO happy! The accommodation was also well situated between several different tram lines, so getting around the city was fairly easy; it just took a bit of time.
On our first full day we went to the Christmas market at Rathausplatz, which is the big one in front of city hall. Though we visited before dark (when all the lights came on), we loved it and agreed that we would go back. The advantage of going before evening and during the week is that it wasn’t crowded. But we could tell it would be even more festive at night. (Indeed, it was! It oozed Christmas spirit and was our favorite of all the markets we eventually saw.)
N had been pleading to go to the art store that we visited in October, so we took the tram + bus to get there. It’s a bit out of the way, but it is fabulous. The girls were in heaven and picked out a variety of supplies that I told them was part of their Christmas present. (S chose acrylic paints and N chose colored pencils and a new sketchbook.) We needed food after that, so we took the bus to the Naschmarkt and ended up at a place with traditional Austrian food. I ordered a beer and both of the girls wanted to try it. Their reactions were priceless. [Click to see video short.]
While we were there, Feliz Navidad came on and it made me chuckle to hear it in Austria. Not five minutes later a couple walked in and asked at the bar if they could get tequila, which seemed appropriate for the moment, but the bartender looked at them like they were crazy and said no. It made me chuckle.
As we were wrapping up dinner, I got a message from a worldschooling family I had connected with who was at the beginning of their journey and wanted to meet up at the Art Advent Christmas market right by where we were eating. Perfect! I paid the bill, we gathered our things, and walked over. The path took us right by our previous AirBNB (from our October trip) and we lamented how far out we were staying this time. Oh well!
We had a good time walking around the market with the other family and talking about our adventures. The girls even talked to their boys some, which was shocking. S said she felt comfortable since she had experience worldschooling. Go figure! (She’s often super shy with new people.)
In the ensuing days before C joined us, we tootled around the city and shopped. We also made it back to the Christkindlmarkt at Rathausplatz to go ice skating after dark. This was after a botched attempt to go ice skating at a different rink across town, which yielded disappointment and complaints about walking—yay, holiday spirit! Then getting our tickets and skates was a bit of an ordeal. I got confused and didn’t handle things well; N got super frustrated. Ho ho ho, Merry Christmas!
We did end up having fun, and the rink was the most unique one we’ve ever skated on, as it wasn’t a standard oval; rather, it was custom poured around the trees and had various areas and paths you could take. The surroundings were stunningly beautiful. Unfortunately, the rink wasn’t completely flat and there were a couple of areas with a noticeable downward slope that were also partially melting. Overall the ice was pretty rutted and, while they did Zamboni it as we were skating (which meant part of it was off limits), it didn’t seem to help much.
Not surprisingly, there were both people quite adept at skating who were wizzing around everyone else and people who had no idea how to skate or stop who kept falling and causing pileups. We managed to navigate the chaos decently until N fell and landed in a melted part and soaked her frontside with water, including her gloves. Still, we made the most of it and finished off our time at the market with bratwurst, which are served not in hot dog buns like in the US, but in bread pockets that are sort of like a sleeping bag for your bratwurst that open only at one end. They were pretty delicious, although there were so many people smoking and vaping around us that it detracted a bit from the experience.
We became quite adept at taking public transit, including running to catch trams so we didn’t have to stand in the cold waiting for the next one. The girls hated when I made them run for one, but it only happened a few times. Sometimes we got unlucky and were like sardines in a can, packed in with the holiday crowds. They were not fans of that. One night I lost track of where we were and we overshot our destination by a stop. Whoops!
But all in all public transit in Vienna is a breeze. It’s like Norway, in that there are no turnstiles; you just enter and exit stations on the honor system. And on trams you either buy your ticket (or pass, in our case) via the Wien Mobile app or the ticket machine on board. Tickets and passes allow you to ride on any form of public transit: U-bahn (underground train), tram (above ground train, like Muni in SF), and bus; they’re interchangeable. (If you buy a single ticket, you just have to be sure to validate it.) We rarely had our passes checked, but best to make sure you pay your fare.
One night we went to St. Stephens Cathedral to hear a choral performance. I bought cheap seats, so I knew our view would be terrible, but the architecture was absolutely stunning and made up for it. The girls wanted to return to do a tour, but we never did, so we’ll have to tick that off on a future visit. (Yes, we’ll be back; we really like Vienna.)
