Sunday and Spittelberg

So, as I discovered last time I was here, Sundays in Vienna are very quiet.  Almost all shops are closed and most people go to church, then spend the day home with family.   However, I did find that an exception to that is Christmas markets.

The plan for the day was to sleep in, do some laundry, and head out to the big market on the town square.  Did most of that.  I got up a bit late, puttered about, finished the laundry and completed my blog posts for Salzburg.  I didn't head out until almost 5 and found out that the big market closes down at 7.  So, I decided to retry Spittelberg (which I had passed earlier in the week before it opened), which closes at 9 on Sundays.

Set off with Google maps and headed into neighborhoods I'd never visited before.  I ended up there before the map said I would, probably because it's very spread out.  Unlike most other markets, this one is not located in a square, but down the little side streets and alleys of the neighborhood of Spittelberg.

I wandered about a bit, checking out the layout and the food choices, of which there were quite a few.  Of course, there were some of the same vendors but there were also a lot of pretty cool ones I hadn't seen before.  

This one looked pretty local.  Lots of sausages and cheese and good stuff.

And, of course, lebkuchen and other treats!

I decided to get the first gluwein of the night and found another quiet bench in a corner.   It faced an art gallery, so this was my view...

A ghostly figure facing toward the festivities...LOL.

Finished that and wanted more, but knew I hadn't had much to eat that day.  Set off to re-find the potato pancake stand I had seen earlier.  Luckily, the line had gone down, so I got myself a hot, fried treat right out of the oil.   There was a vat of garlic butter set out with a pastry brush that everyone was using to paint their pancake.  I did as well and it was yummy. 

I now felt that I could safely drink some more, so found another vendor.  He was running short on change and saw that I had a ton, so we counted out 6 euro 90 cents in mostly 10 and 20 cent coins.  He was happy and I was happy to have the weight gone.

Set off with my new mug and drank in the atmosphere.  There was a Santa wandering around and a violinist playing carols. 

I need to get a new Moravian star.  They're everywhere here, so I need to find one in a store to buy.   I did end up buying a pair of silver earrings shaped like flowers.  

I then decided I needed more food and remembered seeing something that looked REALLY good, so I set off on a quest until I found it

Hot noodles were put into a huge bowl made out of a half wheel of parmesan and stirred around to make a cheesy sauce.  Then slapped into a bowl, where they could be topped with the ingredient of your choice (I chose mushrooms) and sprinkled with more parmesan.  It was delish...but a lot of food and I could not finish it all.  

After that, I decided it was time to go home 

I left the same way I came...

Now I'm back at the room, having tea and cookies...planning my next market visit tomorrow.