Advent, Advent ....

This weekend the traditional "Adventzeit" will start. Children will say:

"Advent, Advent, ein Lichtlein brennt, 

erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier,

dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür."

(Advent, Advent, a candle burns, 

first one, then two, then three, then four,

and then the Christkind has arrived)

Advent is the time before Christmas when Christian people are in expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of Christmas. "Adventus" comes from the Latin and means "coming".

It is also the time when traffic jams are starting to build up, often mixed with weather chaos and huge queues in front of the cashiers. And the time, christmas lighting is turned on and mulled wine is drunken excessively.

And time of the "Adentkranz".
This is a green spruce wreath decorated with 4 candles and some christmasy schnick-schnack.
Either you buy a ready made wreath or you buy pine bundles and with lots of patience you manage to get a wreath, pin in the candles and use your creativity to match nice items for decoration. It will take at least an hour to finally have the wreath ready.

The story goes that the evangelic priest Johann Hinrich Wichern had a wooden wreath with 24 candles, 4 big ones for the 4 sundays and 20 "normal" ones.
Each day one more candle was lit so that finally on the 24th there were 24 candles enlighting the church. Each day the light was brighter and prepared everyone for the coming of Christ as the "Light of the World".

Nowadays it's a big business for the flower shops and each year prices increase and quality decreases.
So, if you dont want to spent 50 euro, the better, you make a DIY wreath.

Austrian families will have had lit up the first candle this sunday. And each next sunday the light will become brighter, with the increased number of candles burning. So, wherever you go in Vienna, watch out for the green wreaths.

Unfortunately you will not find it in bluedanube apartment as we decided to put safety over tradition. Tradition also has it that many of the wreaths start small fires .....

Here is my hand-made DIY wreath, done with lots of love, patience and passion.

Schoenbrunn Christmas Market

If you want to combine one of Viennas top locations with romantic Christmas feelings, the Schoenbrunn Christmas market is the perfect place to go. Located in front of the palace, the advent village is providing an unforgettable atmosphere. It feels more relaxed and less crowded than other markets in Vienna. This year, when the market celebrates its 20th birthday, around 80 exhibitors are offering anything from local hand crafted artifacts to fancy Christmas tree decorations, made of various materials like wood, glass, stone, and pottery. No need to leave hungry or thirsty as you can enjoy a lot of specialties like fine Austrian wines as well as punches, mulled wine and tea specialties, including non-alcoholic and sugar-free varieties. Gingerbread and Christmas biscuits go well with these fine drinks, but if you are not so much into sweets, also soups and stews, baked potatoes, raclette, pasta and different kinds of sausages are available.

Every evening local and international choirs and gospel groups will perform traditional Christmas music in front of the palace under the giant Christmas tree.

Children will enjoy the market as well with interactive games, Cookie-baking at the Imperial Bakery or the “Schloss Schoenbrunn Experience” in the Children’s Museum.

Once Christmas is over, the market will be transformed into a New Year’s Market which will open on December 28^th to January 1^st.

Directions for visitors staying at bluedanube apartments: U1 to Karlsplatz and the U4 to Schoenbrunn. Approx 20 minutes.

Christmas Market Schoenbrunn

November 23^rd to December 26th, open daily from 10am to 9pm,  
December 24th 10am to 4pm
December 25^th and 26^th 10am to 7pm

New Year’s Market Schoenbrunn

December 27^th to January 1^st, open daily from 10am to 7pm

Further Information can be found at www.weihnachtsmarkt.co.at

Christmas - Just Around the Corner

While most of our guests have returned home from their well deserved autumn break, preparations are running already for the various Christmas markets in Vienna. The most popular market is the one in front of the city hall. It will open in only few days from now, on November 16^th, and then it will be again Magic of Advent in Vienna…

The Magic of Advent in Vienna will be celebrating its 27th anniversary this year. Locals and visitors to the city love the market and decorations on Vienna’s Rathausplatz (City Hall Square).

The Magic of Advent in Vienna is a favorite place to meet, with many visitors returning several times each season. Young families, teens and tourists are particularly enchanted by the yuletide atmosphere on City Hall Square. It comes as no surprise that the Magic of Advent in Vienna is known as Europe’s most child-friendly Christmas market.

The amazing lighting concept will ensure that the Magic of Advent in Vienna makes a still more dazzling impression this year. Still more glittering lamps will enhance the festive atmosphere, drawing visitors away for a gentle stroll apart from the hubbub of the main market. A tour of the beautifully decorated Rathauspark – where the famous Heart Tree, festooned with 280 glowing hearts, awaits – has written the opening chapter to many a love story over the years. And perhaps you will meet the Vienna Christ Child on its walk around the park, or listen when it reads a Christmas story in front of the crib.
By the way, there is this tradition that one of the Austrian provinces presents the Christmas tree as a gift thus demonstrating their close connection to the capital city. This year the tree comes from Styria. The spruce tree from Bruck/Mur is 30 m high and about 100 years old. And therefore the local brass orchestra from Bruck/Mur will entertain all visitors at the opening ceremony on November 16th, from 4.30 pm.

There is a packed program of arts and crafts for kids and teens at the Christmas workshop. During the six weeks of the Magic of Advent, youngsters are hard at work painting, shaping, turning, sawing, stenciling, applying glitter, threading beads, sticking, firing, decorating and packing as they create a total of around 70,000 presents for their parents and grandparents. Over the years the Christmas workshops have featured virtually every imaginable art and craft. Some of the creative spirits who tried their hand at arts and crafts in the workshops back in the 1980s are now returning as adults, and can’t wait for their own children’s first cookies and artwork.

The vibrant and colorful Christmas market, offering a vast array of Christmas handicrafts, tree decorations and other yuletide gift ideas, is the centerpiece of the Magic of Advent in Vienna.

Evocative Advent aromas, festive concerts, a tall tree blazing with countless Christmas lights against the backdrop of City Hall, and the enchantingly decorated Rathauspark are just some of the highlights that give the Magic of Advent in Vienna its unique appeal.

This year the official opening will take place on November 16 and run until 6 p.m. on December 24, when Christmas really is just around the corner. 

Christmas in Vienna - NOW!

Christmas in Vienna is waiting for you! 

 Book now to celebrate and indulge in Gluewein and Punsch! 

We have availability from 21st to 26th Dec 

for 4pax - €745 5nights!

 

St Nicholas & Krampus ..... dating back to the Habsburger

 Archduchess Marie Christine: The distribution of the gifts on the Feast of St Nicholas, gouache, 1762
© Schloß Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H. /Schloss Schönbrunn Kultur- und Betriebsges.m.b.H.

On 6 December the Feast of St Nicholas, the most important of the church festivals in the period leading up to Christmas, is celebrated in Central Europe

One of the oldest traditional customs, it has always been a festivity for children. In Austria, St Nicholas is accompanied by the diabolical figure of Krampus: the saint is benevolent and brings gifts for the children, while the role of the Krampus is to punish childish misdemeanours. Thus gift-giving was not originally associated with Christmas itself, which was a purely ecclesiastical feast; Christmas as a family festivity at which children received gifts is an invention of the Biedermeier era.

St Nicholas’s Day was celebrated in all social classes, including the imperial family: at Court gifts were distributed in the evening of the 5 December, and on 6 December the imperial family attended mass at the Convent of St Nicholas on Vienna’s Singerstrasse, later dissolved by Joseph II.

There exists a well-known depiction of this custom executed by Archduchess Marie Christine, a daughter of Maria Theresa, in 1762. Set in a small family living room, it shows a number of the empress’s children discovering gifts in their shoes under the fond gaze of their parents. This scene has often been adduced as evidence indicating that the Habsburgs led an almost bourgeois life within the inner circle of the family. However, recent research has demonstrated that Marie Christine based her depiction on Netherlandish models, copying them down to the smallest detail. As the furnishings of the room and the way in which the figures are depicted have absolutely nothing in common with ceremonial life at Court, it is now assumed that this scene is a kind of playful attempt to depict the ideal of middle-class family life that was just starting to emerge in the age of Enlightenment. It can be compared to the pastorals of the Rococo era, where the nobility fled the rigid world of court ceremonial for the ostensible idyll of rustic life.

The scene contains a number of details that are still associated with the Feast of St Nicholas. The children’s shoes are filled with sweetmeats and toys; while one of the girls is enjoying her new doll and the little boy in the centre is laying into the sweets, the older boy only has a birch in his shoe, an unwelcome gift from the Krampus …

Learn more and log on to The Habsburger (where this informative article is copied from)

Christmas Markets open this weekend

http://www.wien.info/en/shopping-wining-dining/markets/christmas-markets

Only hours to go! This weekend the first Christmas Markets in Vienna will be opened!

The weather prepares for it too, it'y very typical for November currently: grey, a bit foggy, slightly wet! And the temps will lower accordingly within hours!

So wrap yourself in a heavy coat, get warm boots and start your stroll to try out the wonderful Gluhwein and Punsch!

Prost!

Schoenbrunn Palace - best in winter time!

Hurry up!

The first bookings for November and December are coming in right now!
To secure a comfy accomodation with good heating, easy access to public transport and ideally walking distance to the best gluehwein spots - BOOK NOW!

Don't forget - after summer, wintertime is the best time to visit Schoenbrunn Palace!

Happy remaining summer!!!

New Year Trail in Vienna

Now, that one party is over, Christmas, we can prepare for the next big thing!
New Year's Eve! "Silvester" as the locals say!

If you spend that night in Vienna you should take a walk into the city centre, as this is one  huge stage.
Thousands of visitors are attracted every year to the trail with entertainment and food starting already around 2pm.

If you're keen on dancing, you can brush up your dancing skills guided by an expert, who will ensure, that you are able to waltz into the new Year.

A whole bunch of stages offer music of different styles and performances all over the city centre. Everywhere food stalls with traditional Viennese and international delicacies.

Until midnight everyone lingers around, drinking, dancing and singing ..... waiting only for the countdown to go. And then: 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ..... New Year is here! The chimes of the Pummerin, the old bell in St. Stephens Cathedral, will sound, surrounded by fireworks all over the town.

The party goes on on the street until 2am and then lots of bars are still open to party until early morning.

If you want to continue with the tradition, somehow you must stay fit, as at 11am the New Year's Concert on New Year's day is an absolute must .... we'll report on that tomorrow!

Vienna at it's Best - 4 days before Christmas

It's so wonderful to be in Vienna right now!

The smell of Punsch and Gluehwein in front of Schoenbrunn Palace, crisp air, christmas music wherever you go, a huffle and shuffle and loads of delicious food.

Wherever you go you'll find stunning lights, like here in Rotenturmstrasse, "Redtowerstreet"

or when you walk from St. Stephens Cathedral towards the Graben.

And as a small christmas present: here's a very special sightseeing recommendation:

visit the Strudelhofstiege. With snow and in the evening it's so romantic, you don't wanna leave!

It's maybe the most famous Art Nouveau building of Vienna. Don't miss it out these days!

The first Fensterl is opened

As promised:

here is my way of Advent Calender!