I’m dreaming of a white Christmas – in Vienna

If you had the choice, means and inclination, where in the world would you choose to spend Christmas Day?

A couple of years back Lynne and I were on a European river cruise, operated by Scenic Cruises and Tours, travelling from Amsterdam to Budapest, followed by an extension to Prague.

The itinerary meant that we would be spending Christmas Day in Vienna. We were woken by a phone call at 4.15am on the big day, from our two youngest grandchildren back in Australia (someone forgot or decided not to mention the time difference) to tell us about their gifts and to wish us a Happy Christmas. Regardless of the hour, it was great to share their excitement, and good to know we hadn’t been forgotten. We managed a couple more hours’ sleep before crawling out of bed for breakfast. We then rang various family members to pass on our Christmas wishes.

Scenic was running a shuttle-bus service to three locations within the city of Vienna. We decided on an early lunch of roast duck, vegetables and Christmas pudding. Following lunch, we hopped on a shuttle heading to the furthest location, Thereseinplatz, in the museum district, where there was a Christmas market selling a vast range of Christmas trinkets, crafts, products and food. We spent time wandering through the market gob-smacked, not only by the range and variety of items on sale, but by the atmosphere, colour, pageantry and Christmas spirit. Then, with the help of a map, we strolled through Vienna at our own pace, heading in the direction of another of the shuttle drop-off/pick-up points on the other side of town (Schwedenplatz).

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Being Christmas Day, most of the shops and tourist attractions were closed and the city was not busy, which benefited our cause and made the journey simpler and more enjoyable. We wandered the streets looking in shop windows, admiring historic buildings, the occasional statue and glorious churches. After a stop for coffee and strudel, we embarked on the obligatory horse-drawn carriage ride, which was quite a thrill. The Christmas decorations, the people and the atmosphere of this beautiful city all made for a fascinating and very, very enjoyable stroll. We both loved Vienna, there is something big, but extremely beautiful about it.

We managed to get lost only once – we blame the quality of the map for causing us to zig when we should have zagged – but a very nice English-speaking local pointed us in the right direction. We made it to the pick-up point, then on the way back to the boat we stopped near the Giant Wheel (Leopoldstadt), the location of the second of three Christmas markets in Vienna (Prater), to pick up others from our tour. All in all, a most enjoyable five-hour Christmas Day experience in Vienna.

Christmas dinner was special, as were all meals throughout the cruise. We shared the meal with a group of Canadians we had befriended and had a most enjoyable dinner full of stories and laughter.

After dinner the crew presented a variety show that was most entertaining. It was intriguing to see people, whom we had seen each day carrying out their various roles, in a completely different environment and persona, all of which rounded off a memorable Christmas Day.

Footnote

As Western Australians born and bred, the concept of a white Christmas was burned into our imaginations through the scenes depicted on Christmas cards. These images left many Australians with the desire to experience, at least once in their life, a white Christmas. Having this vision in mind was one of the reasons we chose the European river cruise over the Christmas period. When previously consulting about the place most likely to experience snow at Christmas, the consensus was Vienna. So, the fact that the river cruise we had chosen placed us in Vienna for Christmas Day, provided added expectations. However temperature in the Austrian capital on the day we were there was 13 degrees, one of the warmest Christmas Days for many years. Not a flake of snow in sight. Bah humbug.

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