Christkindlmarkt tour

The Christkindlmarkt originated in Germany and Austria and is an open-air street market where vendors sell gifts and other holiday-oriented items during the Advent season. Last night, Georg and I decided to browse at a few of the markets around town.
The first one we attended was at the Rathaus (city hall). This is the largest one in Vienna, and draws huge crowds of people. It was really beautiful there...the Rathaus was dramatically lit, there were colorful lanterns hanging from all the trees, and winter evergreens hung from the overhangs of the many Christkindlmarkt booths.



As you can see, it was extremely crowded. The Rathaus Christkindlmarkt is probably the most beautiful and dramatic, but it is packed with tourists.

Here are some little Christmas treats for sale at one of the booths.
At another booth, people in plush pink jumpsuits were selling handmade stuffed animals.
Afterwards, we headed to the Altwiener Christkindlmarkt, which was a little less crowded. We had a mug of Gluehwein (hot, spiced wine) and looked at all the different booths there.

I liked this one with all the hanging sausages!
Next, we walked downtown, where there are some very pretty lights.
This pair of men's pants was actually for sale in one of the store windows I saw.
Here are the downtown street lights...every major shopping street has these streetlights, and each its own pattern. The ones downtown near Stephansdom are the most elaborate.
Lots of tourists were taking horse-drawn carriage rides.
Here's another market we stopped by for a moment.
Near the MuseumsQuartier, we came across this strange pig-like sculpture that we thought was a giant elk from far away.
I think it was actually...maybe...a pig with diarrhea?
Here's our street, Mariahilferstrasse. As you can see, it has street lights, but they aren't quite as grand as the ones right downtown.
Our last stop was a Christkindlmarkt right off Mariahilferstrasse. Here I enjoyed a mug of Eierpunsch, which is similar to spiked eggnog, but not as sweet or thick. I have always liked the flavor of eggnog but have found it too heavy, so I really liked the Eierpunsch. The holiday drinks usually come in real mugs, for which you pay a 2 euro deposit. You get the deposit back after you return the mug, or you can keep the mug and not get your deposit back. It's much better than a styrofoam cup.

Well, so Christmas is in full swing here. I want to get into some holiday baking sometime soon. I am thinking about making Louisville Bourbon Balls if I can get my hands on some bourbon. With the rest of the bottle of bourbon maybe I will make myself a Manhattan. I miss bourbon, it is not really a big thing here so they don't make many drinks with it.

Here is an interesting tidbit about holiday baking here: there are no chocolate chips for sale. Apparently Austrians just never make chocolate chip cookies. I am shocked--I always thought chocolate chip cookies were universal. So when you go to make your holiday chocolate chip cookies, you have to settle for chocolate chunks that you chop yourself. I think that is weird--in the US you can get like 100 different kinds of chocolate chips, like white chocolate-Reeses peanut butter swirl chips! On the bright side, I have learned that if you stir marzipan (almond paste) into your chocolate chip cookie dough, your cookies will stay really moist and will have an amazing almond flavor. Try it.