Christmas Market Tour #6: Schloss Neugebäude

One weekend in December there is the artisan’s Christmas market at Schloss Neugebäude out in the 11th by Simmering. It is actually not that hard to get to, it’s a short bus ride away from the end of the U3 line. Last weekend I brought my friend there to see what it was all about.
The Rennaisance castle makes for a very nice atmosphere, but at first sight we were rather puzzled that this could be called the artisan’s market… we didn’t see any crafts anywhere! In fact, all we saw were some punsch stands, food places, and one guy making wooden ornaments on the spot. Peculiar!
The explanation was that most of the castle cannot be seen from the outside. We went down under the big tower, and found huge halls filled with christmas ornaments, crafts, pieces of art… a whole lot of stuff! Some of it was more impressive than other stuff.
I wasn’t sure how happy the people were for me to be snapping pictures, so I tried to keep my distance.
I now know what to do with my old light bulbs!! What an amazing idea. I’ll be making hot air balloons for the tree… when I get enough light bulbs to make it worthwhile. 🙂
This was my absolute favourite stand. Glass art – so pretty!! I asked if I was allowed to take this picture. The artist(s?) doesn’t have a shop (sadly!) but can be found online, on http://www.cybilldesigns.blogspot.co.at.
I did fail on the Perchtenlauf though. There were way too many people! I had no idea such hordes of people would congregate for the perchtenlauf… but it’s apparently a super popular event in Vienna. So, this was the best shot I got of the Krampus. Oh well, there’s always next year. 🙂

I thought the market had a lot of stuff that could be nice if you’re looking for a Christmas present. There’s not much in the way of food and drink though, and the lines are really long around the Perchtenlauf, but I thought it was worth it!