Merry Christmas To All!
Travel Queen shares . . .
Raised in a family that celebrates Christmas to the fullest, to me the holidays have always meant time spent with relatives, baking cookies, building snowmen, and searching for perfect gifts. The season was unusual, then, the year I celebrated Christmas in Europe - without any family.
Back in 1993, I spent part of my senior year of college studying in France. When the semester ended, my friend Annmarie and I traveled around the continent for a couple of weeks, giving ourselves just a taste of what each country had to offer. We visited Anne Frank's home in Amsterdam, nibbled on chocolates in Belgium, and listened to music on the Charles Bridge in Prague before heading to Austria, where we were to spend Christmas with our friends Sam and David.
As a special gift, all of our parents had paid for us to spend Christmas Eve at a nice hotel in Vienna and to have Christmas dinner in its dining room, helping to alleviate any homesickness we were sure to feel.We met at the hotel, thrilled to enjoy a bit of luxury after weeks of sleeping in hostel bunk beds. A Christmas Eve arrival left us time to enjoy a traditional Austrian Christmas market, where we sipped on "gluhwein" and munched on gingerbread. That evening, Sam and David presented us with a memorable Christmas gift - the recitation of a hilarious holiday poem they'd written especially for us. We all settled in for a long winter's nap.
When we awoke on Christmas morning, we went to a special mass where the Vienna Boys' Choir was performing. We'd written months ahead of time for tickets, and the glorious rendition of "Stille Nacht" alone made it worth our effort. Unfortunately, back at the hotel we learned that Christmas dinner had been cancelled, as every other guest was joining friends or family for the holiday. Our hearts sunk, as we found ourselves alone, non-German-speaking, and hungry on Christmas day in Vienna, where virtually every establishment in town was closed for the holiday.
Where was Santa's magic when we really needed it?
After traipsing through the streets of Vienna for nearly an hour, we found a tavern that was open for business. There was no turkey on the menu, but we were so relieved just to find somewhere to eat that Vienna sausage hit the spot, even for Christmas dinner. The man behind the bar let us use the telephone to call home and talk with our families, and we each managed to shed only a few tears as we relayed our holiday saga.
That night, we headed to the Vienna Opera House and obtained Standing Room Only tickets for "The Marriage of Figaro." Warmed by each other's company, we laughed about how that Christmas started beautifully, took a turn for the worse, but ended up being a memorable holiday and the most unique we'd probably ever spend.
Happy holidays to all, and may they be filled with many wonderful memories!
Submitted by Hillary Easom (a.k.a. Travel Queen)
www.queenpower.com/queens.html
Raised in a family that celebrates Christmas to the fullest, to me the holidays have always meant time spent with relatives, baking cookies, building snowmen, and searching for perfect gifts. The season was unusual, then, the year I celebrated Christmas in Europe - without any family.
Back in 1993, I spent part of my senior year of college studying in France. When the semester ended, my friend Annmarie and I traveled around the continent for a couple of weeks, giving ourselves just a taste of what each country had to offer. We visited Anne Frank's home in Amsterdam, nibbled on chocolates in Belgium, and listened to music on the Charles Bridge in Prague before heading to Austria, where we were to spend Christmas with our friends Sam and David.
As a special gift, all of our parents had paid for us to spend Christmas Eve at a nice hotel in Vienna and to have Christmas dinner in its dining room, helping to alleviate any homesickness we were sure to feel.We met at the hotel, thrilled to enjoy a bit of luxury after weeks of sleeping in hostel bunk beds. A Christmas Eve arrival left us time to enjoy a traditional Austrian Christmas market, where we sipped on "gluhwein" and munched on gingerbread. That evening, Sam and David presented us with a memorable Christmas gift - the recitation of a hilarious holiday poem they'd written especially for us. We all settled in for a long winter's nap.
When we awoke on Christmas morning, we went to a special mass where the Vienna Boys' Choir was performing. We'd written months ahead of time for tickets, and the glorious rendition of "Stille Nacht" alone made it worth our effort. Unfortunately, back at the hotel we learned that Christmas dinner had been cancelled, as every other guest was joining friends or family for the holiday. Our hearts sunk, as we found ourselves alone, non-German-speaking, and hungry on Christmas day in Vienna, where virtually every establishment in town was closed for the holiday.
Where was Santa's magic when we really needed it?
After traipsing through the streets of Vienna for nearly an hour, we found a tavern that was open for business. There was no turkey on the menu, but we were so relieved just to find somewhere to eat that Vienna sausage hit the spot, even for Christmas dinner. The man behind the bar let us use the telephone to call home and talk with our families, and we each managed to shed only a few tears as we relayed our holiday saga.
That night, we headed to the Vienna Opera House and obtained Standing Room Only tickets for "The Marriage of Figaro." Warmed by each other's company, we laughed about how that Christmas started beautifully, took a turn for the worse, but ended up being a memorable holiday and the most unique we'd probably ever spend.
Happy holidays to all, and may they be filled with many wonderful memories!
Submitted by Hillary Easom (a.k.a. Travel Queen)
www.queenpower.com/queens.html
posted by Allyn Evans at 2:39 PM
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