Drew, Matt and Peg enjoying some delicious mulled wine at the Rathausplatz Christkindlmarkte (Christmas Markets), just one of the many many traditional Christmas markets around the area. There were heaps of different flavours of mulled wine (and trust me, we tried them all). Our favourites were amaretto and the traditional gluhwein. You bought a mug from one of the stalls at the markets for 3 euros and then could get it refilled anywhere for 2 euros.
Nikki and Peg enjoying some absolutely delicious chocolate dipped strawberry skewers and mulled wine. A recipe for yum! (There are pretty hearts and other decorations in the trees in the background. It was so beautiful!)
So yummy...
There were lots of romantic horse drawn carriages parading around the city...leaving lots of not so romantic horse poo everywhere. Many of the horses wore "nappies" which basically collected anything they chose to excrete.
Christmas Eve with Matt and Nikki at a great Viennese pub. We got there at a respectable 5pm and began our pint session, dinner ensued and so did several more pints ...just to get in to the traditional Austrian Christmas mood. This pub was full of homeless tourists like ourselves and was the It place for Christmas Eve. The ladies and gents loos however were quite misleading. Apparently the Austrians enjoy confusing tourists...
Ice skating at an outdoor rink on Christmas Day! This is at the beginning of our session. We got way better! We didn't even fall over once!!! Just call us Torvill and Dean...
See, we are so good.
Drew, Peg and Nikki looking like pros. (Our hotel in the background).
Us at the front of the Schonbrunn Palace Christmas Markets on Christmas Day. Unfortunately it was raining and extremely cold. What were we to do but have more mulled wine??!!
From our hotel room of the ice skating rink. This view enabled us to judge when it was quietest, and therefore the best time for us to attempt it. There was still no-one there quite as ice-challenged as us. But, I repeat, we didn't fall over.
Peg enjoying more mulled wine and some delicious traditional jacket potato with sour cream, herbs, bacon and cheese extravaganzas!! The Viennese do good lunches. This was at Freyung Christmas Markets.
The main shopping street of Vienna.
Stephansplatz Cathedral. Story goes that one of the steeples isn't finished and the guy who was building it several hundred years ago fell in love with the daughter of the guy who wanted it built, but he wasn't allowed to marry her until he finished it. He sold his soul to the devil in return for the swift building of it, but unfortunately he plunged to his death prior to completion. No more work has been done since.
Our beautifully decorated Christmas Lamp Tree! With our gorgeous Austrian decorations and some little pressies as well! (They may have been wrapped in shopping bags and tied with the ribbon that we used to identify our luggage...).
Us enjoying Christmas Dinner and some "Chrissie Drinkies". Actually, several drinkies... we had quite a feast that night!!!
Snow on Boxing Day!!! Yay!
A snowy boulevarde in Vienna. So beautiful when it's fresh snow...so gross when it's slushy dirty snow.
Us out the front of the Perzy Snow Globe factory. The place that invented the snow globe. Unfortunately, after over 2 hours of searching the not so desirable areas of Vienna in the snow, we discovered that they were closed. But after this mammoth effort we had to take a photo to prove we actually went there. So here 'tis.
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!
Our first snowman!!!
So much snow!
There was much trudging to be done. Lucky Peg had big boots on!
This is what Harvey, our car, would look like if we brought him to Austria. I think he likes Australia better.
Right. As you can probably tell from this photo, we hadn't had much sleep. Almost missed bus to Bratsilava airport to leave Vienna, due to us not being able to say any more German than "Sprechen zi Englisch". Plane scheduled to take off at 8pm, herded to gate after some "minor delays" around 9:30pm, boarded at 11:00, only good thing about this entire journey is the fact we got front row seats on this Bogan Air flight! Yay! Except that we then had to wait on the tarmac for another hour ...with the door open for some reason. Snow was falling into our laps and our jackets were stored away. Took off at midnight, landed London around 2am, delay with luggage til around 2:30am, delay with bus back to London city which meant standing in literally -10 degrees til 4:30am. Got to London at 6am. This photo is on the bus at 11am on the way to Frances' place in Whitstable. Essentially, 36hours no sleep. Horrendo'!
View through to our ensuite from our room. Our brave luggage that has been trundled through airports, up and down tube station stairs and on and off buses, can be seen in foreground. 
Looking into our room from the door. Nice, big room for us to fill up. It is a bit of a shock to go from having a 2 bedroom unit to ourselves to sharing with someone, however because we are such fantastic people, we have no problem getting on with our flatmate.
Our loungeroom. Not much to report here. Our flatmate just got a TV licence, so now we can watch sub-rate TV legally.
Strawberry wine bought from the Schonbrunn Palace christmas markets. We are saving it for a special occasion. Other strawberry related trinkets adorn our window sill.
Birthday girl Peg surrounded by gifts- most of them thanks to Camille, who organised for a gourmet hamper to be delivered on the day! Luckily, birthday calories don't count!
Portobello Road Markets- famous markets in Notting Hill. Many tourists. Damn those tourists. The place is so packed with people, can't imagine what it would be like in summer. You can get practically anything here. We bought coathangers. Purple ones.
Looking down the FORTY SIX STAIRS to our penthouse apartment. Why the top? It's the best!
