Vienna on the weekend

Heading to Vienna on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night at Advent Market in front of Vienna City Hall. There were more crazy looking people than should be allowed in one space. Very crowded.

City Center of Vienna on Saturday night.

Sunday afternoon at another market, much more enjoyable even though it was raining.

Hot chocolate always brings a smile to your face.

Enjoying the market!

Thank you Coca Cola for making this possible.

Dinner at Huth Beisl Sunday evening. Brat with sweet potato fries.

Wiener Schnitzel, potato salad and green tea.

http://www.germanfoodguide.com/schnitzel.cfm

At the Holiday Market in Old Town

Video from the Holiday Market in Old Town Bratislava on Saturday night. It was very cold.




http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstation/WXDailyHistory.asp?ID=IBRATISL5&month=12&day=4&year=2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhPaWIeULKk

Holiday Buzz

Saturday morning, blue skies, it's gonna be cold today.

Blowing snow last night and the last snow flakes from the system. That's our car, a Skoda Fabia. Diesel with a five speed manual transmission. Built on the Volkwagon Golf chassis. Sneh means snow.

Heading back from the Billa market with breakfast, it only got colder as the day went on. We spent Saturday afternoon at IKEA looking for a bathroom storage rack. It's really no different than any other shopping center, the bright lights and people mindlessly walking around in search of something to make themselves happy.

PwC building during much warmer days in May.

Monday morning, the south side of the building.

Look at the temperature, really a heat wave on Monday. Heading to Old Town for lunch at the Holiday Markets.

Look at all those onions, chicken and pork cutlets, sausages and bread grilling. Ciganska kuracie coming up. Those are green and red peppers on the left.

I found a holiday beer at Billa on Monday. Zlaty Bazant Bock, it looks and tastes like a Moose Drool.

Kyiv, Ukraine for the holiday

There was no Thanksgiving in Europe, but there were enough Americans around to celebrate with turkey and trimmings for dinner. There was a charity function, put on for The Children of Chernobyl, at the hotel we stayed at on Thursday night. We had dinner with some friends, Laura and Salus. Chernobyl is a little more than 100 miles north of Kyiv on the border with Belarus.





St. Michael's Golden Domed Monastery

In the square in front of the monastery.

Funicular

Looking toward the Pechersk Lavra/Kiev Monastery of the Caves.

Rememberence day for Holodomor, 27 November 2010. There is a Metro stop at this location that is the deepest in Europe. Arsenalna Station 105.5 meter down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arsenalna_(Kiev_Metro)

We rode the subway to Dnipro, the wrong direction, switched trains and went to Khreshchatyk station back toward our hotel.



Monument to Victims Holodomor, Kiev

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor

Orthodox church at Pechersk Lavra

Everybody likes a happy elf with a barrel of beer!

VW Touareg, chrome on black wheels on Khreshchatyk Avenue. This large central avenue is closed on Sundays for citizens to walk and shop.

Near European Square on Khreshchatyk Avenue.

Take your pick of exotic flavors of Lays chips: salami, crab, green onion, sour cream and onion and pepper I think.

Getting ready to board the plane back to Bratislava, SK we stopped and took a picture with Kris. Boryspil International Airport.