It's almost Christmas!

We're getting very, very excited over here! Today we took the girls into Vienna to see the animals at the Karlskirche Christmas Market and then the big tree. Well, we didn't get to the big tree, because it was COLD! It actually wasn't all that cold temperature-wise, it hovered right around 32 all day, but it was a very damp 32, so it just went right through my clothes. I even had tights under my jeans, but no help. Brrr.

The Christmas fair was cute. A Christmas fair is much like an American craft fair, except instead of tents the merchants have quaint little wooden... well they almost look like tiny little one-room cottages. And of course, there's more beer. The Austrians (and Germans I hear) adore their Christmas markets, but to tell you the truth, I just don't get it. They're all there hanging out and drinking hot punch (alcoholic) and spending $3.00 a pop to put their kids on a 2-minute carousel, all looking merry and bright, but I just feel kind of ...meh... about it all.

I did, however, love the animals at this market. They had hairy pigs! Full on curly fur pigs! They were a riot. A stinking riot.

This one had an itchy butt and kept scratching it against things. Pigs! It was too cold for me to take photos, so you're stuck with Nick's handiwork today.

Then we popped into Karlskirche, balked at paying 16 Euros to get in, considered coming back for 6:00 mass if we were still in Vienna, and ended up at an indoor play spot at this museum right there.

Karlskirche. Looks lovely from the outside, maybe we'll see the inside some day!

What fun the museum play spot was! They had a little cafe too, so we warmed up with some hot cocoa, coffee, and tea, had a piece of apple strudel, and then played. There were only a few mats for physical play, but they had a ton of games. So we played Uno, this other card came I'd never seen before, and some other stuff. Good times.

Finally it was dark, so we went to see the lights. At this point we were aware of the chill, but were figuring we'd head towards the Rathaus and see how far we got. Not far enough! Fortunately, the city has lights up all over the pedestrian district, so that was enough. We got some McDonalds and headed home.

Austrians open presents on Christmas Eve, so it's almost time. Yippee!