Christmas Market!! People laughing, talking, DRINKING and having a merry old time

One thing that is incredibly charming about Austria at Christmas time are their Christmas markets. In the city of Graz, where my husband is from, they have a lovely market in the city center with a tree, carrousel and many stands with crafts and food and drink. Even if you’re not Christian this place is still fun to visit, because it’s more about having a good time and social interaction then about religion itself. Although a predominantly Catholic country, Austria is suffering from the same syndrome as many European countries, atheism. Although they still celebrate the holidays you see less and less participation in the Church and the actual religious side of the holiday, and more and more of a carrying on of traditions. That being said, they annually put out an ice sculpture of the nativity scene:

Light show on the ice sculpture! In California this would melt in a day if left outside.

The Christmas Market is one of those traditions. It’s great fun to freeze your bum off and sip on punch, wine and chocolate drinks spiked with schnopps. A lot of people leave the markets quite toasted themselves

I loved this market, it is such a nice tradition. More geared towards spending time with others then simply shopping your brains out. One of my previous posts from when I was in Austria gives more detail about snow, Christmas markets and silly Christmas songs