vienna calling

it was mid-november, and i had one weekend left on my eurail pass. i wanted to make it out to eastern europe at least once, so here was my chance to try again for budapest. (okay, really i was thinking, oooh i can go to vienna again while supposedly trying to get a taste for eastern europe by visiting budapest.)

no surprise: it was great! i ran around visiting a bunch of things i missed last time: a veg restaurant, a little museum, mr. hundertwasser's buildings (not impressed), a main shopping drag, a new coffeeshop. but the highlight was that it was the opening weekend of their christmas market! so much fun -- i ended up going to ones in germany, switzerland, and austria before the year was up. they're terribly kitsch-y and sometimes bizarre, just my thing! for example, there will inevitably be several booths selling enormous gingerbread hearts that people wear as huge pendants around their necks. i love it when people are weird in inoffensive ways. and the best part is this yummy mulled wine that i couldn't get enough of all winter. hee hee!