Vienna waits for you...

It’s Christmas and time again for that honored tradition of visiting the European homeland for the holidays and, most importantly, the Christmas markets. Our base this year was Vienna and we discovered a cozy and welcoming gasthof in the Vienna woods called Almsturbel in Pressbaum (ww.pension-almstueberl.at/de/).














On our first day we received a blanketing of snow, about three inches, which remained throughout our visit as temperatures never passed above -1 degrees celsius. We visited several markets in Vienna, the most impressive being that outside the Rathaus in the western old town.














We had the chance to visit several other beautiful Austrian villages and towns including Linz, Durnstein, Melk and its great abbey, and Stein. At Durnstein, in the picture below, Richard the Lionheart was held captive by a local Austiran prince for several years. The castle is now a ruin and reached by a steep mountainside path. This and other sights along the Danube were simply amazing.