Swarovski Christmas Tree in Innsbruck, Austria

There is a Swarovski Factory/showroom in Innsbruck and this year they have a Christmas Tree in one of the market areas.  I didn't get to see it at night- but, apparently it is lit up and really sparkles then.

It is placed over an opening of the 'food area' and you can look up into the tree.  

This is as close to standing in the center that I could get-- people were in the way.

Some of the items for sale.

I have always taken photos of old bikes that I have found in my travels.  Here's one with a decorated basket that I saw parked in Bolzano, Italy.

EEKKK... It's Thursday already... WHERE DID my winter break go? It's almost half over already!

I've been on the go since school was out last Friday at 3:10pm.   I spent Saturday 'cleaning' for house guests that would arrive on Monday.

On Sunday, I got on the train for a 4 1/2 hour trip to Innsbruck, Austria to meet my friends driving down from Germany (from where I used to live).  We shopping/looked around at the Christmas Market and spent the night.

On Monday, we drove towards Italy and my house- with a stop at the Christmas Market in Bolzano, Italy.

On Tuesday, (Christmas Eve) there was lots of cooking, watching of 2 movies, and eating.

On Wednesday, (Christmas Day and yesterday) I cooked breakfast, we watched a movie (true store that I didn't know about-- a town only about 15 miles from where I went to University in southern Oklahoma- the movie was based on a town in Texas- (Sherman) across the state line.  My friends left after a lunch of sandwiches made out of the left-over ham.  They are out touring Italy. Door on a Church in Innsbruck.  More of the carvings on the door. The door was also very thick. Lots of marble in the church.   Here is the beautiful floor design right in front of the altar.   That's different colors of marble. I am going to take the day off today.   I need a break-- from work and I'm going to just clean up the kitchen, put away anything still out from having company, knit, and watch maybe a whole movie?   Tomorrow, I'll do some errands, get my hair cut (if I can remember what time I am supposed to be there- I made the appointment a little over a month ago.) and start in doing some of the many 'things' that I want to get taken care of while I am off work.

Merry Christmas to all...

Innsbruck, Austria walking along the street to the hotel. 

A storefront display.

The star was in front of a department store.

I took to the train to Innsbruck, Austria to meet my friends from Germany who were driving down from Germany to my house for a few days.   We went to the Christmas Market, had dinner at a place that someone on the train (who lived in Innsbruck) recommended to me.   The food was pretty good.

We spent the night and then drove down towards my part of Italy with a stop in Bolzano, Italy.   This is where the Christmas Market was that I went to last weekend.  We had a good lunch after looking around and shopping in the Market.    Then, on to my house.  It was fun to have company during Christmas and made it more special.  I made some good food to eat- which I enjoyed too- since, I got to have a variety of foods because others were there eating the food. 

I also got some awesome Christmas gifts from my friends.  I'll have to take a photo and post the photos.

I hope you all have had a great and fun holiday.

More photos from the Innsbruck, Austria Christmas Market 2013 in the Old Town area.

I got this at the Innsbruck, Austria Christmas Market.   This was the 'dessert' version.   It has a berry filling inside-- (it's a red berry found/grown in Germany/Austria and maybe in other locations-- but, it's sort of tart and the berries are tiny in size).   I really did like these berries when I'd get served them with a meal in Germany.  They also sold another type with a hunk of sauerkraut served in the middle.  

And, yes... I often take photos of the water cover lids in foreign lands.  This one has a tiny crown.  At least, I see a 'Crown' but maybe others see a stylized "W"????

I don't smoke (never have) but, it is interesting to see the different brands being sold--  notice the Chesterfield?   Do they still sell that in the states?  I have a DVD of some old TV shows and some of them have OLD COMMERCIALS on them... and I remembered the Chesterfield commercials.   It seemed so odd now that it has been YEARS since smoking ads have been allowed on American TV.  Notice the huge warning sticker/labels?   The one on Philip Morris with the gold top says:  Smokers die earlier.   Most of these are American brands.  There are some other interesting brand names sometimes.

This store sold all sorts of light globes with unique designs on them.

I tend to take photos of bikes that I find in my travels.  

Handmade wooden combs.

You still can't see the huge mountain due to the overcast sky and cloud cover.  However, this is the river that was next to the Christmas market that you had to cross the street to get to that was in yesterday's photos.

Looking towards the area that had the Christmas Market-- it would be at the bottom left of the photo.  Unseen in this photo, of course.  :D

Last Weekend... I finally DID SOMETHING FUN!!!

I went to the Christmas Market (on base military bus trip) in Innsbruck, Austria.  I got there early so I could snag a seat- so, I could sit w/ my right knee in the aisle.   It was a 4 hour bus ride with one brief stop.  The market was very small compared to all the wonderful Christmas Markets in Germany.  I did ask a couple of times... 'if the market' continued/etc.   In case, I had missed it by a couple of streets or something.  I hadn't.   It was in the old part of the city.   Some of the buildings had dates of the 1400's on them.   We were right at the base of the Alps.  Snow was everywhere... but, not in the actual 'walking around in the market area'... that had been melted by all the people walking around at the market/etc.   In case Innsbruck sounds 'slightly familiar' to you... it was where the FIRST WINTER OLYMPICS was held!   They still have/use the ski jump.  It was lit up when we left about 4:30-5:00pm that day. There were some beautiful buildings in the Old Town area of Innsbruck. This building is called the:  GOLDEN ROOF (I'll show another photo of it - from further down the street so that you can see the golden roof.)   There was a Swarovski 'showroom' factory and a couple of shops selling the crystal.  I did not look inside.  On somethings, I figure that it's best to 'NOT even know about it'... then, you don't want something that you:  don't need and certainly can't afford.   I do have quite a few of the 'loose swarovski' beads from when I used to make beaded jewelry. Isn't this a nice street scene?  It was very overcast the day we were there for part of the day-- so you can't see how tall the mountains are behind these buildings.  What you see is just the lower level of the mountains.  We are right at the base of them. This is the bell tower for the church.   See how the tower top looks like a 'crown?'  You'll see that sometimes in Italy too.  You can tell that it is 'sunnier' in this photo. This is another market area and you had to cross the street to get to it.   There is a river here too.   I'll have to add those photos in another blog posting.   However, in this market is where I bought some amazing 100% wool alpaca socks (from Germany).   The old town area is a very condensed area - so, the Christmas market was spread out in different areas. Santa was here too!  I have seen this 'Santa' in another market in Germany.  I recognized him.   See that thing on the cart?  It's an organ and he plays songs... like an organ grinder with a monkey would have.   That's where I've seen him before... with a MONKEY!!!    (No, I really have... ) This area of the market was near an old theater... do you see the figure on the roof? They had several of these all around in this area.   Some I did recognize as 'fairy tale' stories- but, some I wasn't familiar with them.   This is a food area of the market.   They had some wonderful things that I'd gotten before at other markets in Germany/etc.   Lots of the older buildings have original metal hanging signs from the 1200's-1600's.   Some of the signs don't even have words on them-- but, they would let you know what the original business was from the images in the signs.  You still see signs like this in Austria and Germany especially.  It's from the days... when NOT EVERYONE knew how to read! Here is how street signs are done in the old parts of the town.   You look for ceramic numbers on the building corners in Italy too.  A lot of businesses put out lots of nice holiday displays in front of their shops (not always with items that they sell inside too.)  I've seen this in many places in Europe.   This place was a 'glass blowing' business.  I loved the Santas.   Alas, I did not go inside and check on the prices either.  I do see some ornaments hanging in the window that I do wish I had gone inside to see what the prices were.   Darn. Here's one of the old signs... no name of the business... just the number of the building.   Isn't the metal work beautiful?  I'm so glad that no one decided to 'modernize' things and get rid of these amazing old signs that you still see around.   If you look up.. you will see them anyway. See the "GOLDEN ROOF" now?   That's the center piazza area.  (not sure what it is called in Austria... but, piazza is what it is called in Italy.)   The market area can be seen w/ the green roof stalls that you can barely see to the left.   Speck=  Ham   Which would mean that this was a 'butcher's shop' at one time.  BY the way, it still was selling SPECK.  *However, look at the other old sign (for the shop next door).. what do you think that business was at one time?   Another beautiful building.  This is all painted on the building. This is the building across the street from the GOLDEN DOOR.   Sure looks official, doesn't it?