Final Vienna Posts: Schönbrunn Palace & Weihnachtsmärkte

In a sort of absurd turn of fate, it wasn't until Catherine was in Vienna that I got to Schönbrunn, one of the principle attractions of the city. Schönbrunn, the summer residence of the Habsburg family, pales in size, though not in beauty, only to the Hofburg, their winter residence. On the one hand, because of the gardens, grounds, ease of getting there, and pleasantness, it might have been better to visit earlier around late summer or early fall. On the other hand, the beauty of Schönbrunn prepared for Christmas with an immense Christmas tree and a Christmas market that, while not as large as others, had a wonderful quaintness to it.

Don't think for a moment the inside didn't compare...

That's not to say that the inside of the palace wasn't also gorgeous and informative. We learned a lot about Sisi, since it was her favorite residence. The palace, with over one thousand rooms, certainly wasn't somewhere we could tour in its entirety. The parts we went through, however, were impressive. Being built more uniformly, it made more sense than the massive complex of the Hofburg. I won't go into too much detail, in part because it has faded some and in part because touring a place like this is an experience hard to put down in words. I will say, however, that I continued to look for word-working pieces. One is included here. Finally, though the massive Christmas tree was done up outside, they also included one in the interior, which was a nice touch.

Very cute!

Another big focus, both once Catherine and I left Schönbrunn and also when we were elsewhere in the city, was the plethora of Christmas markets, known in the singular as Weihnachtsmarkt (also known as Christkindlmarkt). Catherine and I were cold, but the roasted chestnuts outside of Schönbrunn were delicious. It was the first time I'd ever had them, and what an introduction it was. Also, after that little snack, we had freshly made chocolate strawberries with dark chocolate. The chocolate was delicious, the strawberries were fresh and sweet, and the whole experience was heavenly. Having all of this happen at the foot of one of the most impressive yet elegantly beautiful palaces in the world, could not have been more magical. I love my Christmas traditions at home with my family, but I wouldn't have minded making this a part of my Christmas every year!
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It isn't just Schönbrunn that gets so decorated for the season, however. The entire first district of Vienna was quite festive and the city has somewhere around twenty Weihnactmärkte scattered around at major landmarks, as the pictures above demonstrate. My german class actually went to one market together and the teacher bought us all a mug of hot chocolate made from freshly melted chocolate of various flavors. It was quite delicious and, while it didn't compare quite to the fresh mint peppermint hot chocolate in Venice, it was maybe the second best I've had in my life and definitely top five. It was fun to go with my German class. We were definitely expected to order in German! The picture of the market below shows what a typical one of the markets might look like. Some of the more famous markets are much bigger with more avenues through which visitors can walk, but most of them are smaller affairs. The great thing is that, while there is definite similarity between the goods and some commercialism going on, the items are largely still high quality goods produced in small batches. Anything you buy therefore is a fairly unique treasure.

The largest and perhaps most famous market is the one outside the Vienna Rathaus. Above is a view from across the street. showing the front of the market and the Rathaus itself. What the photo fails to capture, however, is that there were several avenues through the shops, and they go all the way up to the foot of the Rathaus. My feet easily got sore walking through there multiple times. The first time I went with Catherine and she bought a wonderful ornament for her family. Later, I returned and bought wooden placards for my parents. My mom's simply said how I loved her as a mother, my Dad's was for the workshop, saying it was a "state approved" workshop. I also picked up a glass ball ornament that has the Staatsoper in snow painted on it (though I never actually saw it in snow) to keep in the tradition of my family having ornaments from where we travel. As Catherine and I left the market the first time around we saw these lovely, very cute snowmen lights, and I had to take a picture of them since my family loves snowmen (especially my mom)!

Hi!