Olives

Lots of nuts and snacks

Vegetables

Fish

Fish

Tom arranged for a 2 hour \240tour of the Christmas markets with a guide. Bridgett was very informative and took us to 4 different markets. She also showed us other interesting things along the way.

St Stephen’s Cathedral

Inside St Steven’s

Churches don’t decorate the trees until Christmas Eve

Elaine had some hot cider at the \240Kiwanis booth

Christ child market

Traditional sweets

Town hall market

Famous Snow globes made in Vienna

Town hall market

After our tour Tom had made reservations at a restaurant near the hotel. It was very good and we got several different Austrian dishes to share that were recommended by our waiter. They were all excellent. We realized later that everything we ordered was vegetarian.

After lunch, Tom went back to the room to rest and I decided I wanted to go and walk through a church and market near our hotel.

St Charles Cathedral

View of market and Vienna

Tom made reservations at a traditional Viennese Pub for dinner. It was good we had reservations because they were turning people away.

Wienerschnitzel

We definitely made up for our meatless dinner last night!

We went to a wonderful Strauss and Mozart concert after dinner.

It was snowing when we left the hotel

We had planned to go to Bratislava,Slovakia today. Tom had arranged train tickets, a tour of the city and dinner. In looking at the weather forecast, it looked like it was going to be a \240miserable day with snow,freezing rain, and rain all day. \240Tom had gotten the “cancel for any reason” insurance on our tour, so we made the decision to cancel the trip. \240It was a little disappointing, but we thought it would be for the best since we would have been miserable walking around in the rain.

Tom came up with an alternate plan for the day. We used public transportation and went to a military museum.

It looked beautiful until it turned to a cold rain.

The military museum

The museum had information about all the different wars Austria has been involved in from the 15th century through world war 1. It was pretty interesting, especially the more recent ones.

The car the Arch Duke was in when assassinated

The uniform worn by the Arch Duke when he was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914

Goldegg Cafe a traditional Viennese restaurant

My sandwich with chicken, red cabbage and yogurt. It was good but way too big!

After lunch we walked to the Belvedere, a former palace, now an art museum. We didn’t go in because it was too crowded, but there was a Christmas market in front of it.

Belvedere Christmas market

This is what the radar looked like all day. Bratislava was getting a lot of freezing rain and snow

We decided to just stay at the hotel and went to the club room for dinner.

First we walked from the train station to a Christmas market. It was pretty smalll but I got some hot punch in a mug to keep. Each market sells punch with a different Christmas mug. You pay a deposit and can either keep the mug or get your deposit back. So far I’ve collected 4 of them.

Christmas market

We walked through Mirabel gardens

Salzburg Cathedral

Tom made sure to have reservations for lunch. Many stores and restaurants are closed today since it is a Sunday and Christmas Eve. We ate at a restaurant on the 6th floor of a hotel that had great views of the alps, although it was pretty cloudy.

After lunch we walked through more Christmas markets on our way to the fortress. \240

We rode the funicular to the top of the fortress. There were great views of Salzburg.

Funicular

Ready for the concert

View out the window

View at night from fortress

We walked around looking at the views before going to dinner. Not much was open but Tom made reservations at a Japanese restaurant and it was packed.

Tom with our Christmas mug

Ornaments

Roasting chestnuts

More ornaments

Elaine looking at ornaments

Lots of meat for sale

Tom made reservations for dinnner at a Greek restaurant that was open. From there we walked to a Mozart and Strauss concert at Hofburg Palace. It was very good.

The palace at night

Opera House

The performers

After the opera, we walked to a last market near Hofburg Palace. After awhile we started seeing the same things at the markets. It was pretty crowded.

Street performer

Last Christmas market

Our collection of Christmas mugs from the different markets

Inside a church

Nativity Scene

The main shopping areas around Vienna were jam packed, and hardly any stores were open today. It is a public holiday. It is so different from the US in that if there were that many people, stores would definitely be open.

International Atomic Energy Agency building, where Tom’s dad made a lot of trips in the 1970s and 80s

We ate a late lunch at an old Viennese restaurant called Griechenbeisl that has been around since 1447. Over the years it has been visited by Beethoven,Mozart,Schubert,Wagner,Strauss. More recently Mark Twain and Johnny Cash have also signed the walls.

The room we ate in

We stayed at the Vienna Marriott all on points. It was very crowded during this time of year.

View from our room at night. It’s an historic building that was made into a very expensive hotel.

We left Vienna this morning. Tom had upgraded our seats to business class on Austrian Airlines. I may never be able to sit n coach again! \240It was amazing!

We were given an extensive menu by the chef and fed several courses after taking off. About 2 hours before landing we were fed again. The quality of the food and service was the best we’ve ever had!

The chef serving food

Pasta main course

Fruit for dessert

Panini

A great ending to a wonderful trip! Thanks to Tom for call his hard work planning all the details. He always does such a good job! \240