First time abroad is always a remarkable experience. Well, if you are over four or five, or I don’t know how memory evolves. Ages ago I was in Vienna during wintertime way under my teens and a few things got so entrenched in my brain I can see and feel them right now when I close my eyes.
My first ever Christmas market on Maria-Theresa-Square. I wouldn’t even know why we traveled there but it sure was fantastic.
The square in the evenings is filled with people, locals and foreigners walking hand in hand, sipping mulled wine or punch. Beautifully handcrafted goods are for sale in dozens of wooden huts decorated with hundreds of light bulbs shining like it was daytime. I was allowed to get a sip from the hot wine. That taste and the carols and the lights and the snow under my feet altogether was a once-in-a-lifetime moment. Harmony.
We walked all around the market and I could never get enough watching every single handcrafted plate and mug and wooden toy. I wanted to touch them, I longed to hold every piece in my hands so they would only shine for me afterwards. I was explicitly told not to take off my gloves but they were so tediously grey I was ashamed wearing them in the middle of this carnival of colours. I hid my hands in my pockets so that no one can notice my monochrome little being.
Each and every year the ambience of the market is the same. And year after year you want to go back. If only for a mere few hours. Vienna is a wonderful city with an army of sights and feasts 365 days a year. Has a river, neat buildings, sumptuous atmosphere and hip tiny streets. The proper hideaway for one, two or a family. I most certainly will return there one day. Do you also have a special place or town you yearn to go back? I think all of us do.
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