Christmas in Vienna

I think for most Americans abroad, there are two days in particular that make it difficult to be away from home: Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Thanksgiving is always filled with family, food, and, for my family, decorating for Christmas, which is one of my favorite past times. My first Thanksgiving away from home was when I studied in Spain, but my program tried to make it special with a fancy dinner that attempted to be like an American Thanksgiving with everyone in our study abroad group getting together to spend the evening together. This year was my second away, and I honestly didn’t do anything except draw a hand turkey! I missed putting up the Christmas decorations, and I really craved some turkey, cranberry sauce, and apple crisp, but I managed.

Christmas, however, I knew would be more difficult. Especially as this was my first Christmas not spent with family.

We left Munich very, very early on Christmas Eve in order to get to Vienna a bit before noon. Once there, we had to hit the ground running, as we figured that basically everything would be closing in a couple of hours on the 24th through the 26th (they celebrate Boxing Day here).

First, though, we wanted to find our hostel to ease our backs from our backpacks, which was very much easier said than done. The directions were horrific but we found it after wandering an hour and asking who knows how many people for directions. As we were wandering, I got this sinking feeling in my stomach, noticing that the Christmas market stalls along the streets where we were were completely shut down and being packed away.

Thankfully, after setting our things down, we made it to the Rathaus, where there was a most romantic market set up, backdropped with the huge and gorgeous gothic Rathaus (city hall). The market itself was bustling with tourists and locals alike, sipping glühwein and tasting Christmas treats.

There was so much to see and eat, but we wandered through the market for a bit, knowing that we’d come back later that night in order to sample all the more treats and maybe do a little shopping.

Just a couple of hours into our first day in Vienna, the sun was already setting (one of the biggest downsides to traveling in the winter…it gets dark at 4pm!). We wandered the streets and found a cute little church to look around in before warming up (another MAJOR downside to traveling in the winter…I never want to be outside!) at the hostel and wishing our respective families a Merry Christmas before venturing out again.

There was supposed to be a big Christmas tree lighting in front of the Rathaus followed by Christmas carols starting at 7pm. We got there a bit early only to be supremely disappointed that not only was the Christmas tree already lit up, but that there was no singing and all of the Christmas market stalls were already being packed up and taken down. If that didn’t damper our Christmas spirit, I don’t know what would!

There was so much food left to sample! And so many shops that needed further exploration! (I was in search of a music box which I never had the chance to get…)

Instead, we walked around, looking at the Christmas lights that were thankfully still up.

Unfortunately, an especially hard part about traveling on Christmas is that everything shuts down. I was so looking forward to some amazing Viennese food, like apple strudels, Sacher torte, and Wiener schnitzel. Sadly, most of the restaurants that we came across were either closed or had a “special menu” for Christmas that included 6-courses, cost 100+ euros, and required reservations.

No thanks.

We decided to go to midnight mass at Stephansdom (the cathedral) which was a beautiful service despite being insanely packed and neither of us really understanding anything except a word here or a phrase there.

My tip: If you plan to go to the mass, plan to go early. Then go even earlier. We got there at 10:15 and there were already between 100-200 people waiting in line for the doors to open (at 11). If you want to sit, get there no later than 10:30.

Despite a bad start to our Christmas Day (cold, wind, rain, and terrible homesickness on my part), our Christmas Day in Vienna turned out lovely. We walked around the city, taking in most of the major sites from the outside and actually came across two Christmas markets that were still open!

The first one that we found was in the Museumsquartier which was, on my personal Christmas market scale, average. I’m sure very charming for many, but to me, it felt empty.

Not to mention it was fairly empty (for Christmas market standards…especially on Christmas).

The other Christmas market was situated right in front of the Schönbrunn Palace which was so gorgeous and is actually a UNESCO World Heritage Site along with its garden (which I am certain is magical come spring or summer).

This actually turned out to be one of my favorite Christmas markets that I have been to. The handicrafts and decorations were all handmade and the food was to die for. Plus it was Christmas and it lifted my spirits after encountering some disappointments earlier on Christmas Eve/Day. 

I know that there are a lot of people that regularly spend Christmas away from home and think nothing of it. But for me, coming from a family that loves getting together to spend Christmas with all of the traditions that we have, it was hard to spend my first Christmas away from home. At the same time, it was a good experience. Especially in such a beautiful city such as Vienna. I can thank my friend for sharing the day and memory with, as it would have been a lot more depressing without her!

Here’s to my insane picture abilities. Either looking in the wrong spot or having my eyes closed in 50% of all photos.

Not even exaggerating.

(And technically that’s from Munich on Christmas Eve’s eve, but who’s really counting?)

Munich, round 3: Beer halls and Christmas markets edition

I’ve made it to December 23rd now, which was just the beginning of my Christmas break.

Early in the morning, I set out from Bremen on an ICE train crossing the country to get to Munich in just about 5.5 hours (just for reference, driving would have taken 7 hours and a bus would have taken 14…)

I got into town right around 13:00 and got to my hostel where I saw Heidi, a friend that I had made while studying in Spain two years ago and that I haven’t seen since Spain two years ago.

After a few minutes of catching up, we went across the street to the Augustiner beer hall which, for a Tuesday afternoon, was packed. Unfortunately, there was no singing like I found during Oktoberfest. We enjoyed half liters of their lager and some get-your-hands-dirty grub. I got a pork knuckle, not knowing neither why I got it nor how to eat it in a slightly proper way, so I just hacked away at it.

After an hour or two in there, we went back across the street to check into our hostel room, snatched ourselves the bottom bunks, and were off to walk into the city center, enjoying the beautiful weather outside, especially because this would be the warmest day of our trip.

Again, from my previous two trips to Munich (here and here), I have spent a fair share of time wandering around the old town, but I didn’t see everything, of course. Plus, it was fun to walk around the area with a friend.

We looked through the Christmas market in Marienplatz as well as found ourselves a Medieval Christmas market not too far away, where everyone dressed in old-time clothes and sold old-time things.

After filling our stomachs at the markets, we walked through the Hofbrau beer hall but didn’t find anywhere to sit (it’s a Tuesday still, but it was Christmas week, so I guess it made sense that it was packed). It would have been fun, though, considering that there was an oompah band playing.

Instead, we found ourselves in a Paulaner pub, another one of the “big six” breweries in Munich (the ones that have tents at Oktoberfest), in order to sample a half liter of their lager.

Afterwards, we walked around a bit and called it an early night because we had to be up by 5 the next morning to catch our bus to Vienna.

Even though this was my third time going around Munich, I am determined to go back, as I have barely scratched the surface of what there is to do in this amazing (and to my surprise, not really that big) city. Like certain things that would be more enjoyable in warmer weather (parks.).

‘Til next October perhaps…

Munich, round 2

I’ve been through Munich far more times than I have been to Munich. And this weekend (December 6-8) was going to be no different until I got Monday off, so I then decided to take advantage of being in Munich and actually see it a bit this time.

The first thing I did in the morning was actually to take a free walking tour. I’ve done a couple of these, and I always think that they are great. As the tour guides work for tips, you know that they are going to try their best and work to get the best tips possible. Granted, you don’t have to give tips, but that is generally frowned upon. And, depending on the group you are taking the tour with, coins can be frowned upon too (I had a 50 and coins, so I gave coins and could definitely sense the judgment of others on this particular tour). But the tour itself was great. I won’t go into everything that we saw and talked about, but I’ll give you a rundown of the highlights.

We started in Marienplatz, which I had actually seen back in October, but I never saw the glockenspiel. The tour (almost as if it were planned!) had us there to see it go. It tells two stories with the top “show” being about Germany defeating Austria and the second being the dancing of the beer-barrel makers – there’s a term for that, but it has completely escaped me.

While in Marienplatz, I also learned that the Old Town Hall is actually newer than the New Town Hall due to the old one being destroyed in WWII. The new one looks ancient, but it’s only about 100 years old, which is still old, but it looks older.

We then went to Munich’s cathedral, which was built with the help of the devil.

*Story time*

Once upon a time, the cathedral of Munich was being built and the devil’s taxi (wind) stopped in front of the cathedral. He gets out and steps inside. He sees that it is nearly windowless, and this pleases him, thus getting him to call the architect over and saying something like, “if you promise to not add another window to this church, you will get it built in record time.” Miraculously, every morning, more work appears to have occurred than what they left with the previous night, thus letting them complete the church in record time. When the devil returns to see the fruit of his work, he steps a bit further inside, only to notice that light was shining through all of the windows into the church. The architect goes to say that he did not add another window to the church, just as promised, but the devil didn’t see them before. It is when you are in the place of God that you see the light. Before, he just stood in the entryway. This infuriates him, so he stomps his foot down (must have been wearing shoes that day) and leaves. It is said that even on the stillest days in Munich, you can still feel the devil’s taxi riding by/around the cathedral.

As you may have guessed, much of the cathedral was destroyed in WWII. What you may not have known was that the Catholic Church promised to hold and keep safe several artifacts important to the Jewish people of Munich, which they did. After the war, the Jewish people were so grateful that they helped to fund the restoration of the church.

 Now doesn’t that just please your heart?

It did for me at least.

Next stop was the Royal Residence/Home of King Ludwig I and some other guys.

 Now you thought that story time was over for today? Wrong you are!

*Story time, part II*

When King Ludwig I got married, the town had a huge celebration. The next year, the farmers and others of Munich were really wishing to have a huge celebration that year like the last. Without a royal wedding to celebrate, they ended up having a harvest festival. The years went on, they kept celebrating the harvest. A few more years went on and BAM! You have yourself Oktoberfest.

Now that’s the short version of the story, but now you know that when you are polishing off your stein at Oktoberfest, you are prost-ing King Ludwig I, because without him, well, let’s just not think about the horror!

We then went into a bit more of the darker, more recent history of Munich. We walked where Hitler first led a failed revolution (this was when he was arrested and put in jail for a very short time). We also walked this golden line of a memorial for the people who died going against Hitler.

We saw a church whose façade was completely covered in scaffolding, but it is aside this monument that has two lion statues. The lion looking right to the church has a closed mouth, meaning that you need not debate the church. The lion looking left, to a governmental building has an open mouth, meaning that you should debate in politics.

Did you know that Verona is Munich’s sister city. What else is more symbolic of Verona than Romeo and Juliet? And even more so, the statue of Juliet outside of Juliet’s balcony. So, if you need a little bit of help with your love life, you can rub Juliet or give her a flower.

We ended the tour at the farmers’ market, right by the Maypole. Every town has one, and every 7 years you are supposed to hide it. If someone from a neighboring town finds it, they can take it, bring it to their town, and then blackmail the town they stole it from until they get what they want.

What do they want?

BEER! (How did you know?!)

Looking at the tall thing, I have zero clue how someone could up and steal the thing. Especially without being caught…

I did take a bit of time to look through the Christmas market, which is located principally in Marienplatz and the shopping street leading up to it. The market was good but honestly, coming from Nuremberg the day before, there was no chance of it living up to the one in Nuremberg. As much as I don’t like to compare cities, it just could not compare. I mean, Munich is so big compared to Nuremberg but its market was so small relatively.

Dachau

Right outside of Munich is Dachau Concentration Camp. Although we didn’t have more than a couple of hours to visit this site, it was still haunting and sobering, nonetheless.

I’m going to state this right out.

This post is not glamorous.

It may upset some people, but visiting the site is upsetting and the tragedy is real and recent.

 I had a difficult time figuring out how to put this experience into words. I ended up trying to state the experience without emotion, because I know that everyone reacts differently, but I can’t help that I had feelings toward my visit to Dachau.

This is the first concentration camp that I have ever visited, so I didn’t really know what to expect, but there was one really chilling detail that a couple of us talked about.

You see, Dachau is first and foremost a town.

Then came the concentration camp.

You could literally see apartment buildings while touring the grounds. I cannot imagine living in an apartment where you can look out daily and see the location of where so many people were imprisoned and/or killed. We half-heartedly said that the real estate values for those apartment/homes are probably low.

Maybe that’s just because that’s coming from an outsider…The rest of the world has moved on?

In my mind, Dachau and Auschwitz and all of the other concentration camps from that terrible point in history are left in the 40’s.

Maybe it’s just too soon.

I don’t think too many people cry when they visit the Colosseum yet that was an extremely gruesome place.

With time, life moves on. Maybe in a couple of generations Dachau will be like the Colosseum or the Tower of London or many other places throughout Europe and the rest of the world.

Apart from that, which was one of the first things I noticed, it was as depressing of a tour as you would expect it to be.

As I mentioned, I don’t really have words for it.

We walked across the train tracks of where the prisoners were brought into the camp.

Then through the gate labeled “Arbeit macht frei” (Work makes you free)

The special prisoner quarters were located at one end. This was where people who could potentially be useful or where well known/outspoken opponents to the Nazis were held.

We then went across the roll-call square to where the barracks were located. The camp was built to hold 6,000 or so in the beginning, but by the end, it had nearly 35,000 prisoners.

Only the first 2 barracks are still standing, while the other rows upon rows were torn down by the end of the war. This took us a second to figure out as we didn’t initially see the plots of the torn down buildings behind the ones in front, so we had no idea how 30,000+ prisoners could fit in such an area (granted, it was still heavily overpopulated).

At the far end of the campgrounds are several large memorials for a number of different religions.

Take a left outside of the grounds to a couple of more memorials and the crematorium. This part was obviously the most difficult to stomach.

As you enter, there is an area to de-robing and being informed of your shower/brausebad.

Following through the door, you enter into the gas chamber.

And from there, the bodies go to the ovens.

The room on the other side of the ovens is where the prisoners who died/were killed by other means were prepared for cremation.

Right outside the crematorium, there is this path that takes you through a forest. What seemed to me like a lovely walk through the forest was actually the last steps of too many because it led to the shooting range (the stone says “Execution range with blood ditch”).

Again, I think that it is still too soon.

I say that, but actually, I don’t think so.

We don’t want to become desensitized to this atrocious part of history. Maybe hundreds of years down the line, this will be seen like the Colosseum.

Maybe not.

I do know that several people couldn’t handle the short amount of time that we spent in the concentration camp and left earlier than planned as it was just too overwhelming.

All we can do is pray that nothing like this will ever happen again.

 

Munich

I am going to attempt to catch you all up on my travels thus far. I’m quite a bit behind as I’ve mentioned previously, but I am determined to keep this blog (and you guys) up to date on where I’ve been and what I’ve seen.

So, as I wrote before, I flew into Munich for Oktoberfest.

I didn’t get to see all of Munich as I would like – thus warranting a future return visit – but I did get to see a few sites apart from the festival.

Mainly, I spent my time in Munich in and around Marienplatz (aka Munich’s central plaza). You hop out of the S-bahn station and right there you are faced with the gorgeous New Town Hall.

And then you look back and see the Old Town Hall.

And THEN, you take a step or twenty back and you see both together!

The area is wonderful to walk around in, but to my surprise, all the shops were already closing by 5 or 6 in the evening. So, I just walked around the area, finding some interesting architecture.

Here’s to scaffolding. Everywhere in Europe. Always.

This is my only picture of the Frauenkirche – Munich’s cathedral – where the scaffolding (on the other tower) was not super obvious.

But on a more positive note of Europe, one of my favorite things here is that all the windows have hanging flower baskets beneath them. It’s so precious, making even a relatively uninteresting building gorgeous.

I really didn’t get to see much of the town, but I did really like it for more than just Oktoberfest! I’ll be back soon! (If not just for next year’s Oktoberfest 😉 )