christmas lights

these were taken on saturday afternoon just as it was getting dark. i love the big chandeliers!

as i mentioned, we visited the crazy busy market at rathausplatz on saturday but we also visited the market known as adventmarkt am hof. am hof is an old square in the 1st district. this market was much less crowded, there were some nice stalls selling handcrafted goods and more contemporary artworks, and we drank glühmost. yay!

(i love snow globes).

christmas market number 6 - the BIG one!

as you may have seen from the blog, i've given myself a little challenge to see how many of the 12 main viennese christmas markets i can visit this year. on saturday with our friends from england it was market number 6 for me when we braved the crowds at the wiener christkindlmarkt at rathausplatz.

this is the most well known and largest market and therefore it is the most touristy. it was so ridiculously crowded on saturday afternoon i couldn't wait to get out of there. the problem is, once you've entered its rather hard to get out again because the crowd is so thick you just get taken with it. it was too busy to even get a mug of glühmost or glühwein (which in my opinion is the only reason to visit the markets in the first place!). i think i'll leave this one to the tourists....

on the plus side we did purchase an amazing hazelnut bretzel (which is a huge bread type pretzel thingy. i know all the technical words!).

snowflakes

the random snowflake mobile i made on friday!

we had a lovely weekend with jamie and angie. it was so nice to see them and show them vienna. we ate lots and drank lots and i've now visited 2 more christmas markets! (including the one at rathausplatz. but never again).

kev has flown back to zagreb this morning and i've woken up with a headache and sore throat. not impressed. i need to go christmas shopping but i can't seem to get the motivation to get out of bed. not really feeling myself today.

happy friday

i took a little trip to ikea on tuesday afternoon. it was fun. i always end up with random things i probably don't need when i visit ikea (but i think its the same for everyone?). i couldn't resist the little xmas tree and heart pot and the cute mini cake stand... not really sure what i'll put on it? maybe i'll fill it with ferrero rocher! yum. and i couldn't go to ikea without having a 50 cent hotdog! (my diet has been so bad recently. going on a health kick in january).

its starting to feel a little more like christmas around here. i've put up some paper chains which i made yesterday and i'm going to start cutting out some paper snowflakes when i've finished writing this... but no big christmas tree yet. i've been waiting to find them on sale but i've been told that tree sellers will spring up everywhere next week. fingers crossed there will be one within walking distance. i don't really fancy getting on the U-bahn or tram with a tree.

our friends angie & jamie are visiting this weekend. in fact they will be in the air now! i'm looking forward to showing them vienna and seeing how drunk we can get jamie on austrian beer! (it is his birthday today).

right, i'm off to make snowflakes and drink my beer. happy weekend!

anniversary dinner

for our meal on monday evening i decided to make some recipes from the book indian food made easy by anjum anand. we had chicken with peppercorns and shredded ginger, simple pilaff and pomegranate raita. the chicken tasted SO good i couldn't actually believe i'd cooked it myself! bad lighting for photos but it gives you an idea. totally yummy meal and kev was very impressed!

new purchases

kev bought me a duffle coat for christmas (i've wanted one for years) and due to the severe weather conditions lately he allowed me to wear it early. yay! so it came to prague. i LOVE it (even though i probably look about 10 years old in it!).

and kev bought a new hat in prague to keep him warm. in tottenham hotspurs colours of course! cute.

more prague

these pictures were all taken on sunday. we only had a few hours before our train back to vienna but we still managed to see lots including the area which was one of europe's most important jewish communities (until most of it was destroyed in the 19th century). there remain six synagogues, a cemetery and the jewish town hall. there is also a national jewish museum which houses more than 40,000 works of art and 100,000 documents. the queue to go inside the museum was HUGE! i really want to go back to prague already. there is so much more to explore.

prague christmas market

by day

by night

the market looked so beautiful lit up at night! kev and i couldn't believe how many people there were despite the freezing conditions. we just kinda walked around the edge avoiding the people and then headed to a back street restaurant/bar for a dark beer!