Everybody loves Christmas (Markets)

Christmas in Vienna has become a brand in city tourism. People flock to the Austrian capital from literally everywhere to get into Christmas spirit central which apparently is not located near the North Pole but rather smack in the middle of Europe.

And where do you best experience that yuletide feeling? That question has everyone pointing to Christmas markets. And there are loads of them in Vienna. A veritable industry has sprung up around these folksy collections of rustic huts. But what is the attraction of these markets? CzechAut has sent out its staff to investigate!

Our first stop was the Christmas Market on Maria-Theresien-Platz which is situated near  Museumsquartier.

photos: Melania Hudakova

You can find plenty of stands here which offer traditional Christmas food and drinks like hot punch with or without alcohol, pretzels and sweets like hot chocolate with cream. The visitors had smiles on their faces and they were going from one stand to another. Except from food stalls, there were also some which were selling hand made goods such as Christmas decorations and similar items. We even bumped into a booth selling traditional Czech cake-on-a-stick. 

CzechAut: So where are you from?

Trdelnik people: Our stand, where we offer the traditional czech ,,Trdelnik´´ is from Brno.

CzechAut: How long have you been selling here?

Trdelnik people: It´s our first year here.

CzechAut: How do you like this Vienna´s Christmas market? What are your impressions?

Trdelnik people: It goes… But we expect more people coming in here after the first advent.

We found the atmosphere really amazing and we got into the Christmas mood very quickly.

Next stop: The highlight of all Vienna Christmas markets is the one on Rathaus square, at least judging from the masses of visitors.  Every year it hosts more than 3 Millions of tourists from all around the world. Visitors don’t have to worry about not finding anything to buy because there are more than 150 booths, which offer lots of good stuff such as food, hot drinks and small cute Christmas gifts. You can also find totally unnecessary things like fake perfumes, too. If you come over you have to try the typical hot Christmas punch and the sweet doughnuts ­(„Krapfen“)  We asked a tourist from California what they liked best. 

Tourist: “There’s like a lot of things to see, such as different types of booths and also the area. Is that a church?”

CzechAut: “Well, actually it’s a city hall.”

Tourist: “Yea, well, like the structure is really nice and that really tall Christmas tree.“ 

One of the most traditional Christmas markets in terms of the souvenirs and things they are selling, is the "Altwiener Christkindlmarkt" which has been on the Freyung since 1989. But the Freyung was already a market place many years before that. This Christmas market also has a 46 meter long picture of Bethlehem with Jesus and Mary in the middle. The sellers of this market run little shops and workshops with handmade products like kitchen utensils made out olive wood as well as signs and toys from an original wood carver.

Within all those shops was also a little stage for charity projects used for Christmas plays and charities  and for those who might get thirsty or even hungry there is a stall with an old Czech sweet called "Livance" which is known to be the grandmother of pancakes as well as having a place to buy many different sorts of punch, a mostly alcoholic Christmas drink. 

Our staff met a couple from Houston, Texas, and asked them about their thoughts, why people keep visiting the Austrian Christmas markets and whether they have something like this in Houston?

"-...yeah, but it’s just a four days, it’s called Nutcracker market, but it’s nothing like this, it’s not outdoor."

she told us due to her visit and her mothers visit a year ago. They also agreed that being on a Christmas market is a nice experience."Well, I think it sort of depends, where are you from, I mean, Houston is really hot, REALLY HOT, so we don’t get to experience a weather like this, so it’s kinda nice to come here." 

So now we know why tourists´enjoy those markets but what about the natives? The answer is: punch (and mulled wine). For Viennese it´s that time of the year when you meet your friends and get loaded on sweet, hot alcohol and regret it the next day. 

Finally! Kofola in Vienna!

Darling readers!

A while back we did a desperate search for our favourite cola drink - Kofola. Alas, it was nowhere to be found in the VIE. The last deli selling it had taken it out of stock months before, so it was back to bothering your friends and family in SK and CZ to bring our beloved elixir by the bottle.

But there has come the day when we can all rejoice and drink our caffeine soda while sitting down in a really nice place too. Vit Dvorak, dentist and chef, has opened his lovely coffee bar called GARAGE 01 in a former garage (what else?) underneath the light rail tracks on Radetzkyplatz in the heart of the 3rd district.

He and his staff serve up a fusion of Czech and South American food. 
You heard right: Czechozuelan! And that is also the name of his signature drink: Kofola and rum!

image: Garage 01

https://www.facebook.com/garage01

http://www.garage01.com/garage01/

How well do you know your city? Vienna vs. Bratislava, Part 4



Vienna, Bratislava

As you know our blog is based on comparing living in Austria, Slovakia and Czech. The other day we went to Bratislava to look for places that could be easily mistaken for Viennese – and trust me, though the two cities have a completely different vibe and atmosphere, we did find some that even a local could hardly tell apart from the Viennese ones.  

To test how much you know your city we made a little quiz about it. Every week we will give you two pictures to compare.

The winner gets a return ticket to BA!

Click HERE for the quiz!

Look what we found on Youtube #trashflash #questionabletalents

It's time for some funny videos - this time from Slovak and Czech “talents” – enjoy!

- Dominika Myslivcova is a girl from Czech Republic. The opinions about her are rather varied. She is a self-proclaimed Czech “Barbie Girl”. She became “famous” because she started writing a blog about herself. You can check it out here.

This is one of my favourite videos of hers: she explains how can you paint your boobs so they appear to be bigger
I just had a laughing fit… I really recommend this video if you are  looking for something funny … czech it aut !!

One more Prague girl: Nicky - Rich BoyI hope you will understand what she is singing
I’ve heard that she’s just an actor but anyway, it’s just so funny!Here another video by her is 'help for Petr Necas'

Mark Christensen is an American who lives in Slovakia. He is an English teacher at a Gymnasium (grammar school) in Myjava and he wrote a Song (with unusual lyrics) for his students. It´s very funny and nearly all Slovak youths know him. You can listen to it here.

This is a Valentin´s day song by Mark Christensen in both languages

One of the greatest Czech funny video makers are two men, they are called Viral brothers, and you can find them on YouTube. They make videos about stupid things people say, but also they make parodies of other famous videos. They are really witty.

They also have English subtitles in their videos, so even if you don’t speak Czech, you will understand.

I definitely recommend you to watch some of their videos. You will laugh your butt off!

Some of our favs are 'Sh*t mothers say' and 'Shit moms don't say'.

Write us what you think about them!  J

Blogging workshop

We had a visit from students from a bilingual secondary school that maybe will attend our school next year as freshmen. We decided to tell them about our blog and explain how we work. Then they had to write a short (4 sentences) blog article to experience blogging.
The topic was 'Czech and Slovak TV series we miss (or don't miss) in Austria'. "Particka" (meaning team), a talkshow similar to the American "Whose Line Is It Anyway"?, seems to have the biggest fanbase and is followed by "Panelak", another funny Slovak show. Few of our visitors also decided to write about some foreing shows they watched back in SK/CZ.

Talkshows

‘When I’m in the Czech Republic I only watch Particka, because the others are all boring or the same as in Austria. I like Particka, because it’s funny and not as boring as the other shows.  I only watch it when I’m in Czech Republic. I don’t know how you can watch it; Probably via Satellite.’
Bára

‘When I lived in Slovakia, I usually only watched Particka because all the other TV shows were boring for me. It was actually one of my most favourite shows. I like it because it´s funny, and quite interesting. You can probably watch it over the internet website or via satellite.’ '
Jakub

‘I've been living in Austria for less than four months and I need to say that I really miss this TV show. It is based on the improvisation of four actors. It´s so much fun to watch it! They got to act like some film star and others guess his name or they just play a scene, for example interviewing some biologist while one of them shows everything for the deaf-mute people in sign language.’
Sandro

Mission Kofola

Kofola for dummies

Coca cola and Pepsi are well known throughout the world. We drink them with our French fries at McDonalds, at the cinema while eating popcorn, at our way to school in the morning when we are in need of some energy or just for the taste. And I’m not even mentioning the rivalry between team Pepsi and team Coca Cola. But what about team Kofola?

Kofola looks and tastes a lot like Coca Cola and Pepsi, so, what’s so special about it?

I would describe the taste as a bit more sweet and honey-like, maybe even spicy and less sparkling. Surprisingly – at least for me – it contains less sugar and a little more caffeine than coca cola. I personally see it (please don’t kill me for saying this) as a cheaper version of the other two and I don’t think it’s as refreshing as they are. On the other hand there are lots of serious Kofola addicts as you will later see in the post.