christmas for a month and a half

It seems that, since there isn't a Thanksgiving holiday in Austria to keep people busy, they just head right into Chirstmas after Halloween's over.



Last night, some of my students and I went to the Christmas Market at the Rathaus (town hall building), which just opened this weekend. Before long, the city will be covered with smaller versions of the market we visited. Rows of little wooden houses decorated with pine branches and lights sell everything Christmas and Austria related: ornaments, roasted chestnuts, nativity scenes, a traditional mulled wine (really good...served hot in mugs), gingerbread, homemade candles, pretzels the size of frisbees, etc.. Vienna's known for its Christmas season, and now I'm beginning to understand why.







The Rathaus is all gussied up for the Holidays, and each window along the top of the building is covered by a number (1-24) to make a giant Advent calendar. I'm not sure what will be behind the windows, but I'll be sure to document it for you.


The 24th window is the big one in the middle...must be some sort of grand finale.

We were completely giddy when we left (80% because of the atmosphere and 20% because of the wine), and I have no doubt I'll be frequenting this and other Christmas markets until they close down on Christmas eve. Am off to the grocery store to shop for a salmon and lentil dish I'll be cooking for Jane and Bill tonight. Terry has my favorite cookbooks (Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa series), so I've been borrowing them and using the photocopier in our library to stock up on new recipes. Earlier today I counted all the outgoing linens for our linen service, walked Terry's dogs, and took a student to the doctor for what turned out to be a case of strep throat. Good day. Thank you Christmas markets and Barefoot Contessa.