New Year's Charm

It is a tradition in Austria to exchange New Year's Eve charms.  We have a growing collection of all sorts of "good luck" items... pigs, lady bugs, 4 leaf clovers, horse shoes, bags of money and chimney sweeps.  Right before New Year's, little tents selling charms and fireworks appear everywhere. 

There are pig hats...

 Pig breads from the bakery...

But this year we noticed a new guy on the street... making custom horse-shoes.  Got to admire an artist (this isn't made in China!) so this is what my son got this year with his name pounded into the metal.  He LOVES it!

We also got a cactus(es), but that is for another blog post!
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We have been keeping busy avoiding most of the crowds in the city during the holiday crush.  This isn't a "normal" tram, but a little antique one that they run around during the holidays decorated.  Isn't it cute!

The weather has been overcast and drizzly, but we still go out (umbrellas in hand).  Unfortunately, although it was slightly cloudy for the fireworks - the cloud was RIGHT over the clock which is where they set the fireworks off from.  We saw many, many "personal" fireworks - really enough fireworks for a small town anyway, but it was too bad that the big city fireworks went into the cloud.

If we climb ALL these stairs - it isn't so crowded up there and there are actually birds and nature.  Yes!  Ohhh but my aching calf muscles!  You can take an elevator or a tram up, but we have been doing the stairs - every other day, the time we did it 2 days in a row I was wiped out.

I know I posted a photo of this on a previous post, but I think this little house is so unique - it was used to store ammo - back in the day.  Many of the buildings up on this hill are from the mid 1500's so there is lots of history - worth climbing up the stairs for!

And we often go out in the early evening because the lights are so pretty.  I always have a flashlight in my coat pocket, but we still try to get back down the stairs before it gets really dark.  We had to hurry down the night I took these photos!

That big building with the Christmas tree in front of it is City Hall.  Under the tree is the Christkindle market (before Christmas) - it is a series of little huts, all decorated, that sell things like cookies, ornaments, gluwine, rum punch, hot chocolate, etc.  One booth is just a display of light candles that is really pretty.  I put some photos on a previous post and someone asked me about it, so I thought I would write a bit more here.  

I love these guys - they are in the city every December and I always give them some change and say thanks!  The trumpet player also sings.   It hasn't been too cold this year, but some years it is really cold and they are still out there - entertaining away.  Makes things extra festive.

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So - from me to you... Happy New Year!