Wednesday, November 30, 2016: Christmas Traditions in Austria & Germany: A Feast for the Senses

Our next adventure starts today.  For the first time in memory we are taking an organized tour.  We typically have eschewed regimented, overly scheduled tours/cruises in favor of independent travel.  We decided to do Christmas markets in Europe and struggled a bit in figuring out where/how/etc. when we discovered a tour by Road Scholar that seemed to be what we wanted and more.  Road Scholar is the new name for Elderhostel, of which you may have heard.  We checked with a friend who vouched for them so we signed up.


We are doing "Christmas Traditions in Austria & Germany: A Feast for the Senses": https://www.roadscholar.org/find-an-adventure/17164/christmas-traditions-in-austria-and-germany-a-feast-for-the-senses.  We are doing Christmas markets in Vienna, Salzburg and Munich as well as touring cultural sites in those cities, and attending brief lectures and special concerts.

Our rough itinerary:



Today and tomorrow is travel day (yes, it is singular to us) from Minneapolis to Vienna so there won't be another blog update until Thursday evening (at the earliest).

In the meantime, enjoy the Christkindlmarkt webcam in Vienna:
https://www.wien.info/en/special/webcam.

Bonus:  In the SkyClub in Minneapolis before boarding our flight to Amsterdam


and Beverly photobombing a picture of our traveling companions, Chris & Chick Lane, on the plane preparing for our eight hour flight.




Comments

  1. BillDecember 1, 2016 at 6:56 AM

    Looking forward to the scenery, etc. Think of me as you are tasting German beer.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bill BauerDecember 1, 2016 at 10:51 AM

    Of course ... when we get to Germany. While in Austria, wine is still king.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Seljalandsfoss, Skógafoss, Dyrholaey, Arnardrangur, Reynisfjara, Vik I Myrdahl

Image
It has been a big day.  Lots of driving and lots of stops.  A couple of waterfalls both very different from the earlier waterfalls.  Churches and more churches.  I hope that you don't get tired of churches.  And the black sand of the southern coast. As I'm driving to our first waterfall, I spot a church out in the country.  I stop.  It is Braeoratungukirkja.  Seljalandsfoss is a really cool waterfall.  It is a 220 foot monster. As you get closer it is even more impressive. But the really cool thing is that you can walk behind the waterfall.  The spray from the waterfall is impressive.  You will get soaked.  Guide books warn about ruining camera equipment.  So the Nikon goes back into the car and I don full rain gear.  There is no way that I'm not doing this.  You may laugh but my iPhone 12 Pro is submersible for 30 minutes and it has wide angle.  This is what it looks like. Skógafoss is 200 feet high and 80 feet wide.  Guidebooks warn that the hard part of photographing her
Read more

Reykjavik, a photography walk

Image
I'm out for a walk around Reykjavik on this, my penultimate day in Iceland.  Perhaps to make up for Iceland's long and dark winters, houses of Reykjavik are painted lively colors.  It is not Nyhavn but it is very pretty.  I pass a children's playground which I also find colorful and pretty. I have noticed that Icelandic houses usually have absolutely no landscaping.  Not much grows in this latitude.  This house in Reykjavik is an exception. Reykjavik has a park with a lake, also with landscaping. The park has sculptures I guessed that this one was called "blockhead".  I was wrong.  It is called "unknown bureaucrat". I'm thinking that this is either Lancelot or Elaine (you have to be from Iowa State). Reykjavik City Hall has been built out into the lake which was controversial at the time. After a break at Te & Kaffi, the Icelandic version of Starbucks, ... I am off to the National Museum of Iceland ... which has many exhibits on the history of Ic
Read more

Iceland Here I am

Image
It is not necessarily easy traveling this close to the pandemic edge.  I jumped at the chance to book this trip in mid-March when Iceland announced it was re-opening to vaccinated Americans without quarantine.  I had a difficult time booking and keeping hotel reservations as hotels kept closing.  I didn't understand why until yesterday when I discovered that after Iceland re-opened, they quickly closed again, then re-opened in April and the rules are still changing.  It was like playing whack-a-mole to find an open hotel.  But I am ecstatic about being able to be here.  Today's blog is more about traveling and less about Icelandic photos.  They will come.  Be patient. Delta has one flight a day to Reykjavik and it is from JFK.  Delta has only one flight a day from MSP to JFK to make the connection and that flight leaves MSP in mid-morning.  So I am off early Tuesday morning when my driver arrives. I find myself elated as I walk into the SkyClub at MSP.  I have never been so hap
Read more