Markets and Ice Dreams

The focus this week shifted from sightseeing to socialising.

Not surprisingly I ended up pretty sick and had a few nights off to recover before Copenhagen tomorrow. We managed to make it to the Naschmarkt, a huge line of food and second hand stalls. Walking down the strip was a massive self esteem boost as every store keeper thought we were all fascinating and beautiful creatures who needed to try every kind of fudge, cheese, and felafel ever created. 

Despite all the samples we decided we really ought to find somewhere warm to thaw out, so we found a place offering huge bowls of laksa and other Asian treats. 

After the markets a few of us headed to Stephansplatz in the city centre to climb to the top of the cathedral tower. The view is pretty spectacular and the climb made us feel less guilty about the second nougat sample.

When the sun set we headed to the Rathaus (town hall) for a spot of iceskating. There are two huge rinks connected by a winding ice path through the trees of an enormous park, all lit by fairy lights. In the same way everything becomes more beautiful in French, everything is a little scarier in German. A fairly pretty sentence in English (Viennese Ice Dream) becomes half funny half scary (Wiener Eistraum). It also seemed really grim when sections were no longer available ("dream path closed").