This, That, and Vienna...

So, lots has been going on! I'll give you a few of the highlights! Enjoy :D

We hosted Thanksgiving again this year for all of the students at Sidonie's school here in HH. We knew it would be bigger this year due to word of mouth from two years ago.

We had lots of very yummy food! Sidonie and I made lots of Southern American specialties (we thought about making some Jamaican as well, but thought we'd keep it simple for them! - We had our own Jamaican evening the next week! ;) In addition, we asked everyone to bring a drink or a dessert, and the other two Americans brought some Mac and Cheese, Green Bean Casserole, and Sweet Potato Souffle!

We had a great time and ended up with 25 people for Thanksgiving! We had several people come up and tell us how thankful they were to have been invited to their very first Thanksgiving! We continued my family's tradition of going around the group to say what each one is thankful for. Tears ensued, as is also the tradition!

After Thanksgiving, we started preparing for our upcoming auditions - in VIENNA! We both had an open call for the major production company of Austria, and I had a call for another musical that Sid had already auditioned for in a different city. Vienna is beautiful, and I think if we were to ever live in Austria, I could handle living there!

We got there in perfect time for the Weihnachtsmärkte (Christmas markets!!!) This one is called the Viennese Christ Child Market.


It's one of the biggest and most famous in Vienna, and is located in front of the beautiful Rathaus (City Hall.)


One of our favorite stands there is a book stand (we are our mothers' children!) They have many, many children's books about Christmas and about the reason we celebrate. One book was by Max Lucado and was about a little puppet and how he discovered that no matter what other people thought or said about him, he was special and beautiful to the one who made him. Made us cry! Moms, you have to visit at Christmas and we'll take you both to Vienna!


There were also many stands with amazingly beautiful Christmas ornaments which are nearly all hand painted.


A blanket of snow had fallen just before we got to Vienna, and it just made the markets all the more special. This blanket of snow makes me think of Disney at Christmas (of course, their blankets of "snow" are really synthetic fibers, but it looks the same, right?)


You can't tell exactly, but the tree behind us had red, heart-shaped lanterns hanging all throughout it. :)


There is another very famous Weihnachtsmarkt in front of Schloß Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Castle!) That's right, it's a Christmas Market in the courtyard of a castle. Absolutely beautiful!



You can see the gates behind us here.



We met our friend and Sidonie's colleague from Buddy last year, Pia, there! She's Swiss, but was also in Vienna for the audition, so we got to see her! Woohoo!


The Castle Christmas Market really had some wonderfully beautiful hand made Christmas gifts. One could have spent a fortune there! Here's a stand with decorations out of real flowers and leaves, that will hold their color for at least 3 years. They said they would still be beautiful after that, but that they could only guarantee the vibrancy of color for three years. Wow!


A couple pictures of the Castle as the sun was setting (at 4PM!)


There's a VERY large Christmas Tree in front of the castle, as you can see!


We also saw a musical while we were in Vienna. We were so excited that we got to see it for only 5 Euros!!! We got Standing Room tickets, and had a thoroughly good time!


The next day, after the auditions were over, we had a bit of time to see more of the city. We went to the Wiener Naschmarkt (the Viennese Farmer's Market.) This was BY FAR the biggest farmer's market I'd ever seen, and they had a huge variety of things, for example this selection of fresh herbs and spices!


Here are Sidonie and our friend Dave, our host in Vienna, and also one of Sidonie's colleagues from Buddy last year, walking though the Naschmarkt.


Don't those veggies just look scrumptious?!!!



I saw this basket and thought of you Ma! Too bad I didn't know what you were working on at the moment!



Another tradition of the Christmas Markets is Glühwein (glow wine.) Sidonie, Dave (also a vegetarian and health-conscious person) and I found an organic stand with many different varieties of glow wines. We all got different varieties!


I maintain that my white glow wine was the best choice! Mmmm!



Dave also showed us an English/American import store around the corner from his house!


They had MANY, MANY things that made us go: "awww...I remember when I saw this on the shelf..."


We didn't buy anything, but it made us wonder why there's not a store like that here in HH...hmmm, maybe we'll open one! ;)


We had enjoyed the Christmas Market at the Castle so much that we decided to go back and visit it with Dave!



We took a short cut through beautiful Vienna on the way!



These were all hand-painted! If I thought I could have gotten one home without it breaking...


I decided to take pictures instead!


Dave also took us to the back of the castle where there are beautiful gardens and a maze and all sorts of pretty things - which were all covered in snow. :D



That evening we met Sidonie's director, Steffi, from Buddy (who lives in Vienna) for tea. We met her near the Stephansdom (Spephan's Cathedreal.) It was a foggy day, but it just made it all the more ehtereal!


There was a very long parade of folks holding candles and singing a song (in Latin.) Not sure what this parade was about, but surely something to do with advent...!



Beautiful Christmas lights in the shopping streets of Vienna!


Wow!


And, finally, the beautiful snow on the ground outside the apartment of our voice teacher. We're cat sitting for her at the moment, and I do mean at this very moment, as she's taking a week trip to Turkey! The kitties: Pippin and Rosie say hello!

Hugs From Hamburg!