It means nothing to me...

Hello people of the internet,

Pardon the Ultravox reference in the title, I'm aware that probably only people the age of my parents will understand it, so apologies younguns.

If you follow my social media you'll know that this week I went to 'Christmas glamour central'- Vienna, and I must say, it didn't disappoint. Before I went, from online searches that included the standard 'top 10 things to do in Vienna', I expected a gorgeous, snowy city scene where no building isn't covered in golden lights, and that's pretty much what I got, (minus the snow, which kind of sucked). With every street corner furnished with a Christmas tree it was the perfect December holiday destination.

My boyfriend, Matthew, and I landed an amazing hotel almost right in the centre called Ruby Lissi. 'Ruby' hotels are a small chain of which Ruby Lissi is the newest member having opened in March this year (note- their Instagram is incredibly aesthetically pleasing: @rubyhotels). It was very stylish and I was thoroughly impressed with the service, and what's more, we got a room upgrade!

On the first day we walked to the Palmenhaus, a butterfly house, part of which has been converted into a restaurant. Although I was expecting it to be much more grand I very much enjoyed the Toffee-Vanilla strudel we shared- a first for us both, and we must have cleaned the plate in 2 minutes max. From there we strolled to the Art Advent Christmas Market on Karlsplatz. It was much smaller than the other Christmas markets we went to but, being in front of Karlskirche (Charles' church), it was just as beautiful. We had lammcurrywurst in an attempt to try some authentic Austrian cuisine, but it was effectively sausage covered in curry sauce with naan bread... and it was INCREDIBLE. 

On the second day, we went to the Sky Bar for breakfast. Despite the view not being as glorious as it's shown on the internet and the staff getting Matthew's order wrong, it was a nice morning. The signature smoothies were lovely and my vanilla waffle was very tasty. Then we begin a lengthy trek to Schronbrunn Palace for the Christmas market. Vienna isn't a massive city, we didn't have to catch a bus or a taxi once, but Schronbrunn Palace was the furthest we ventured and finally we gave in a got the underground back to our hotel. The walk may have been long but we were much too preoccupied to notice. We took a slight detour through the Museum Quarters and passed a few small markets where I got some Glüwein (mulled wine). In Vienna, every Christmas Market has a signature mug in which all drinks are served and you get to keep and collect them. We ended up with 6! There were so many beautiful squares, often with a church, as we walked through the city. Eventually, almost at sunset (about 3:30pm), we arrived. We had a hot chocolate and some goulash soup in a bread bowl. I managed to eat it without making a complete mess but it was a different story for Matthew. After a wander around the stalls we went to the front of the palace which was gorgeous with the setting sun gleaming onto it. In the distance we could also see the Schronbrunn Palace Gloriette but we had had enough walking to see it up close so we called it a day.

Day 3- we had a very lazy morning. We didn't actually leave the hotel until about 3pm. We spent a while getting scrubbed up and walked 2 minutes across the Wein river to an 18 story building and got a lift to the top floor where there's a bar called Das Loft. The view was breathtaking. All the walls were glass so you could see the whole of Vienna, the cathedral being the main focal point. I made sure we went just before sunset so we could watch it from the best seats, and it was just stunning. We sipped cocktails for hours and chatted until we headed to a restaurant called Motto am Fluss, right on the river. The meal was amazing, Matthew couldn't stop going on about the Venison he had. Absolutely full to the brim, we waddled home and went straight to bed.

The last day was my favourite, despite having used most of our money the night before! We went to the Rathaus Christmas Market, specifically for the ice skating. Though very pricy (after this we had €7 to survive for the rest of the day), and after a very wobbly start (I blame the skates...) I had such a great time on the ice. Instead of an ice rink they just iced the paths that would usually be there in the park. I filmed Matthew a lot hoping he would fall over and I would get a hilarious video but unfortunately he happens to have impeccable balance. The Rathaus and the markets were lit beautifully when evening fell, and besides having to stop at Spar to buy our dinner, it was a magical walk back.

It was a very short holiday but in my opinion it was just long enough. I would have loved to watch a concert, which Vienna is famous for, and I'm sure there are many more things we would have done if we had more money and if we strayed from the typical tourist activities, but I was very happy with our little escape.