Merry Christmas!

We wish you all happy holidays!

If you follow us on Instagram, you will know, that a little over a week ago, Sophie went to Linz. On Sunday, however, she went to Vienna to visit a friend whom she first met when she was in Hawaii last year. Vienna is such a magical city, especially during the holidays. Since there is so much to see there, they had a pretty busy day exploring all kinds of Christmas markets and sights.

My cousin Julia and I arrived in Vienna at about 11:30 by train. Since we were starving, the first thing we did was finding a place to have lunch. Both of us fancied some Asian food, so we opted for a nice bowl of Ramen and a cup of Jasmine tee at a small restaurant next to the infamous St. Stephan’s Cathedral. This is also where we met my friend an hour later.

The first sight we decided to visit was the Belvedere. It consists of two Baroque palaces: The Upper and the Lower Belvedere. It was built in the 18thcentury. The Belvedere is set in an incredibly beautiful park in the centre of Vienna. Today, it has become a museum and is home to many great exhibitions of paintings and sculptures by world famous artists such as Gustav Klimt. We first explored the really nice and cosy Christmas market at the Upper Belvedere and later strolled through the park down to the Lower Belvedere. From there, we took the tram to get to the State Opera. Because it was such a cold and windy day, we decided to have some afternoon tea in the traditional Viennese coffee house “Gerstner”. We ate some delicious cakes, had some cups of coffee and chai latte, and contemplated on where to go next.

We decided to take the underground to Schönbrunn Palace next. You might have heard of this incredible palace before. Its construction started as early as the 16thcentury. The palace is surrounded by a huge garden and home to many beautiful statues, fountains, and the Gloriette, which is an extremely large pavilion on top of the small hill of the Schönbrunn garden. The Schönbrunn castle is best known for being the home of Sissi, the Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I.

When we got to the palace, it was already dark outside, which made it even more beautiful and magical. Right in front of the palace, there was a huge Christmas market. We had some mulled wine and a punch and enjoyed the festive mood and Christmas spirit. We initially also wanted to visit the palace’s park, but we didn’t know it closes at 17:30, so unfortunately, we were too late for that.

The last market we visited was probably the most impressive one. It was in front of the old Vienna City Hall and it was huge. There were fairy lights and Christmas trees everywhere. There even was a huge area where you could go ice skating! We were completely overwhelmed by all of the little stands that offered food and drinks and we couldn’t stop feeling so excited for Christmas. Since it was getting really late by then, we took the tram back to St. Stephan’s Cathedral, driving past many more impressive buildings and architecture. From there, we went back to the station and took the train back home to Linz.