"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind.
To cherish peace and goodwill, to be plenteous in mercy,
is to have the real spirit of Christmas." - Calvin Coolidge
The Christmas lights in Mariahilferstraße, Vienna's biggest shopping street, haven't changed in quite a while... Today will be a very busy day in all shopping streets and centers as it's the last day with normal opening hours before Christmas. In Austria the shops are closed on Sundays and on Christmas Eve they will close in the early afternoon.
If you don't like kitschy Christmas Markets, you can enjoy the "Winter at the MQW": in pavilions in the inner courtyard of the MuseumsQuartier Wien you can savour punch specialities while listening to a diverse mix of music provided by DJs, or you do some ice curling or pilot remote-controlled cars on a a race track. There are also video projections on the facade of the Leopold Museum.
It's time to get into the Christmas spirit! We could do that by singing the Christmas carol "Silent Night" (German: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht")... It was composed 200 years ago by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in a small town in Salzburg, Austria. The carol has been translated into about 140 languages and was declared intangible cultural heritage by the UNESCO in 2011. The song has been recorded by a large number of singers, the version sung by Bing Crosby allegedly is the third best-selling single of all-time. The window display of a confectionary in the city center shows a sweet version of the parish church where the carol was first sung in 1818.
"Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us." - David Cameron
"Christmas waves a magic wand over this world,
and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." - Norman Vincent Peale
Today is the first Sunday of Advent which means that every good Austrian lights the first candle of the Advent wreath. Every Sunday until Christmas we light another candle so that on the last Sunday before Christmas (which we celebrate on the evening of December 24) all four candles are lit.
There are Christmas tree decorations to everybody's taste...
This Christmas tree is completely made of sledges! It was created by the Budapest-based creative studio Hello Wood. The first version of the installation was built in 2013 at the Palace of Arts in Budapest. After its success in Hungary, the sledge tree was invited several times to the UK and Switzerland and arrived to Vienna just in time for the Advent season. It's currently a special attraction at the Christmas market in front of the Upper Belvedere.
That's how the Christmas lights on Kärtnerstrasse look like at dawn...
There are a lot of Christmas Markets to visit in Vienna. They attract not only the Viennese but also a lot of tourists from abroad. Yesterday I passed by the market in front of St. Charles' Church in the 4th district. Please click here for more information on the Christmas Markets.
"Christmas gives us the opportunity to pause and reflect on the important things around us -
a time when we look back on the year that has passed and prepare for the year ahead." - David Cameron
The Christmas lights of a hotel in the city center.
It's time to show you the Christmas illuminations in Vienna... A friend of mine who doesn't like modern architecture recently told me that the Haas Haus looks quite nice with its Christmas lights.
Festively lit trees on Ringstraße...
Today is Saint Nicholas Day: During the night Saint Nicholas filled the boots of the children who were good, polite and helpful during the last year with gifts and sweets. He is accompanied by Krampus, a demon-like creature who warns and punishes bad children by putting a tree branch in their boots.
We use to say that Advent is the quietest time of the year, but in actual fact it is a rather stressful period: you have to buy Christmas presents, the public transport and the shops are crowded, you have to finish all your work before the holidays, you have to go to Christmas markets, there are Christmas parties and Christmas appointments with friends... I'm trying to avoid all this pre-Christmas "madness" as much as possible and enjoy a real wounderful time... We'll see how I do...
We don't only have Advent wreaths for the "countdown" for Christmas, but also Advent Calendars. These calendars have 24 "windows", each of them reveals an image or a small gift (a toy, a chocolate item...). The first "window" was opened on December 1st, the last will be opened on December 24th. I discovered this sweet Advent Calendar in the window of a confectionary in the city center.
Time is flying! Today is already the first day of Advent, casually speaking the countdown for Christmas. In Austria we traditionally buy an Advent wreath and light one candle on the first Sunday of Advent, two on the second and so on, until the last Sunday before Christmas all four candles are lit. When I was a child, I was always very excited when the next candle was lit. Today I'm no longer excited, but I still like this tradition.
