Exploring and getting in Christmas spirit

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Geo: 48.2179, 16.3829

This morning, after a bit of a lie in, we headed off into the city centre. Luckily it's not too far of a walk so off we trotted. Our first port of call was the Stradpark - this was a pretty little park with a pond. We walk through this park and continued the walk on the ring road, until we reached the Karlsplatz. Which housed the first little Christmas market, but we arrived too early and it was still closed. However, there was a beautiful church which was so beautiful and well crafted. Continuing on we passed an opera house which once again was a beautiful grand building.
There we arrived at Theresien-platz which in between two gorgeous buildings was the next little Christmas market, this one was open so we browsed the little wooden stores and enjoyed the Christmas cheer. The buildings either side were a museum and a theatre. We then cut up past the neue berg building which was so pretty. ( I am running out of adjectives to describe them). By this point the cold was starting to dampen spirits so we tracked down a local Starbucks for a festive coffee to thaw us out.

This then lead us out into the main city centre, with a lot of shops. We wandered through the streets until we got to Stephansplatz which housed a beautiful cathedral surrounded by a Christmas market, this was once again lots of little wooden huts selling a variety of tempting goodies.

We then zigzagged through the streets until we reached the main Christmas market. This was a big square which was surrounded by the parliament building, university and city hall/museum. There was a lot of stalls all selling little nicnaks and various drinks and food. We were finally tempted and got a bratwurst. This was very tasty indeed! We then wondered over to the ice skating rink and watched the skaters both pro and amateur skating the track that was laid out.

After this we were needing a light refreshment and some warmth so headed to a little cafe for beer and hot punch. We then spent some time wandering the streets and various Christmas markets in the city centre admiring all the buildings that were now lit up in the night sky. We then stopped for a bit of dinner in a pizzeria. We then wanted to see the main Christmas market all lit up at night and this was not a disappointment - it was absolutely breathtaking. Especially the city hall with a giant Christmas tree in front of it. We bought some desert of a kratz( I think ) which was huge doughnut filled with chocolate and topped with chocolate - very tasty and we ate this while watching the ice skating again.

We then wondered through the streets until we reached TGI Fridays where we stopped for a few cocktails before heading back to the hotel for some well earned rest.

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Photos

Christmas market
Christmas markets