December 2019

A few days ago, Ms. Khoon gave her long-term Partner in life, Mr Christian Zeidler, the "YES" word! The sun did not only shine outside on that day, it was literally radiating from the faces of our newlyweds!

Heartfelt congratulations from the entire Hotel AUSTRIA Team

.... (hopefully) not only for "the Christmas Child" or "Santa Claus".
On the first Sunday of Advent, our unique Hotel AUSTRIA - ADVENT WREATH will once again dominate our breakfast room!

Ms VEHIDA, Ms HIMLER and Mr RICHARD were once again very busy creating our very special Advent Wreath, in time for the first Advent Sunday! With a diameter of TWO (!) metres around the fountain in our breakfast room, you will find none like it in all of Vienna.

Have you already sniffed the FRAGRANCE of the green fir branches?

The first candle is already lit!
Let yourself be enchanted by the pre-Christmas season and our Advent Wreath...
 

As a start - Mr SASA spent many hours on the ladder to install our LIGHT CHAIN left and right from the HOTEL ENTRANCE.

A few days later, Ms KHOON put up beautiful CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS throughout the house!

And then - our ladies sat down together, for hours on end in order to bake DELICIOUS CHRISTMAS COOKIES!

Ms HIMLER, Ms VEHIDA, Ms SLAVICA, Ms KHOON, , Ms SONJA, Ms LUISA, Ms ESTHER, Ms MARICEL and Mr RICHARD!

On the 24th of December, EVERY ONE of our GUESTS will receive  a plate full of HOME-MADE Hotel AUSTRIA CHRISTMAS COOKIES!! 

At the change of year, the whole of Vienna is given over to partying and dancing. The New Year’s Eve Trail in the Old City is the highlight. A great ambience can be enjoyed as much at a gala dinner or festive ball as it can at a concert, the opera, in a hip club or a sophisticated bar.

Superb exhibitions and a dazzling array of events, concerts, operas, operettas and the hit musical "Cats" promise a New Year's Eve program brimming with excitement throughout the day and night.
On December 31, Vienna's old city center transforms into a giant party zone: From 2 p.m. in the afternoon to 2 a.m. the following morning, top entertainment is guaranteed by the New Year's Eve Trail in the city center, at City Hall Square and in the Prater. Along the New Year's Eve Trail, dozens of gastronomes serve you punch and culinary treats. Numerous areas provided entertainment with show programs, waltzes, operetta, rock, pop, DJ lines and hit music. The classical area on Graben is a popular fixture. Vienna's dance schools offer crash waltz dancing courses here during the afternoon and transform Graben into an idyllic open-air ballroom. A large firework display will be held on City Hall Square and in the Prater at midnight.

A unique New Year's atmosphere can also be enjoyed on a boat trip along the Danube, at the New Year’s Eve Ball at the Hofburg Vienna (Imperial Palace) and at New Year galas held in City Hall and the city's leading hotels. The "Majestic Imperator", a luxurious imperial, invites everyone to go on an exclusive ride into the new year, while "Die Fledermaus" by Johann Strauss is performed in time-honored tradition at the Vienna State Opera and also broadcast live on the outdoor screen.

New Year's Day in Vienna will be greeted in classic fashion with a morning "hangover cure" brunch - featuring a live broadcast of the Vienna Philharmonic's New Year's Concert on a big screen - in front of City Hall (from 11 a.m., repeated at 2 p.m.)
More details on the New Year's Eve Trail:

www.wienersilvesterpfad.at

Things get hot in the MuseumsQuartier - even on the coldest of winter days. This is thanks to the special punch creations, live concerts, DJ sounds and all sorts of action in November and December.

The MuseumsQuartier in Vienna is a popular meeting place, not just in summer. For "Winter at MQ", the courtyard turns into an atmospheric winter location. Unusual punch specialties to warm up with are poured in walk-in design objects called MQbis. The installed winter canopy not only protects against rain and snow but is also illuminated with artistic projections. The trees also radiate in an artistic light. Remote-controlled cars race around in the pond of the MuseumsQuartier in the "Winter Race". Competitions can also be held on two curling lanes and in micro-extreme bowling, a mix of bowling, billiards and golf.

The program on "Live Monday" includes cultural offerings ranging from the Diary Slam to stand-up comedy. During "Winter at MQ", DJs provide warming sounds with a varied mix of music on Tuesday and Wednesday. The "MQ Hofmusik" opens its doors to the "Punschkonzert" every Thursday. At the opening on November 7, the bands "At Pavillon" and "Kerosin95" play live in the MQ courtyard from 7.30 pm.

If you're looking for Christmas gifts, you'll find what you're looking for at the WinterWAMP design market on the MQ forecourt. Different designers present their products here on a weekly basis in December. And from November 29 to December 1, there's the chance to browse for gifts in the WeihnachtsQuartier, where designers offer interiors, ceramics, glass, fashion, jewelry and accessories for sale.

Winter at MQ, November 7 - December 23, 2019
Mo-Fr 4.00 pm - 11.00 pm, Sa, Su & hols. 1.00 pm - 11.00 pm
www.mqw.at/winter, Free admission

Enjoy the Christmas season high above the hustle and bustle with a view of the festively illuminated city - the Christmas punch terraces in Vienna make it possible.

At the highest Christmas market Vienna, in the Atmosphere Rooftop Bar on the roof of the Ritz-Carlton Vienna, visitors can look forward to a breathtaking view over the roofs of the city from November 15. Apart from warming punch, a variety of culinary treats and cocktails are served in the little cabins on the roof terrace, while the cozy chalet is the place to head to warm up.

Palais Coburg opens its doors to its atmospheric winter days again on November 22. In the heart of the city, but in an elevated position on the bastion, enjoy hot punch and eggnog, marshmallows toasted over the fire, potato pancakes, hot dogs and sweet treats for a quick snack, all in front of the backdrop of the festively illuminated palace. Extra warmth is provided by snuggly blankets and pleasant lounge music.

Despite the cold temperatures, guests' hearts are warmed on the punch terrace in the Klyo by the Danube Canal. Mulled wine, sausages and toasted almonds are served here from November 15 with a view of the Danube Canal.

The punch deck on the pool boat, which also lies on the Danube Canal, also offers a great view of Vienna's illuminated skyline. Mulled wine, cider, fried potatoes and much more can be enjoyed here under the open sky. A visit to the punch deck can also be perfectly combined with a round of curling on the pool boat.

The strong ties between the Ephrussi family and Vienna can be traced and seen in a special exhibition in the Jewish Museum Vienna from the beginning of November.

It was one of perhaps the most influential families in Europe. The Ephrussi banking clan continues to turn heads and draw attention to itself. The family, which originally came from Russia, found their new home in the up-and-coming Vienna of the 19th century. Their ancestors came from Odessa to Vienna, where they continued to expand their own empire in the heart of the Austrian Empire.

Even today, Palais Ephrussi, at Universitätsring 14, bears witness to the family’s great success and wealth. The late 19th century, or “Gründerzeit”, palace was designed and built by none other than Theophil Hansen in forms of Renaissance Revival architecture. The prestigious structure on the Ringstrasse boulevard was a mix of palace and revenue house, because the family even had their own rental apartments built above the obligatory ‘beletage’.

The misfortune began with Austria's annexation to the German Reich. Dispossessed, driven into exile and penniless, the Ephrussis became world citizens. Their travels took them from Austria to France, Britain, Spain, the US, Mexico and even to Japan. Family members can currently be found scattered around the entire world.

Edmund de Waal, himself a descendant of the Ephrussis, first told of the rise of the banking family, its expulsion by the National Socialists, and the search for his own roots for the first time in 2011 in his bestseller "The Hare with Amber Eyes". 

The Jewish Museum Vienna now goes on the search for clues with de Waal's estate and lets the exhibits tell their very own story about the people they were once collected by. At the heart of the exhibition is the family archive, which de Waal donated to the Jewish Museum in 2018. Also on display, of course, are the 157 netsukes (small Japanese carvings, mostly of root wood or ivory), which were loaned to the museum by the family. 
 
The Ephrussis. Travel in Time. November 6, 2019 - March 8, 2020
www.jmw.at

Fascinating, unembellished, impressive and quirky: in its new exhibition "Street. Life. Photography", the Kunst Haus Wien shows icons of street photography and contemporary positions from across seven decades.

Cardiff, late at night. Four party-goers take a short break. The night takes its toll. They eat fast food in a bus stop. Nothing special, really. Yet no matter how unremarkable as this scene appears, in the moment that the photographer presses the shutter release, an artwork of everyday life is created. With his very special sense of the moment, Maciej Dakowicz shows how an ordinary shopping street transforms into a stage for the bizarre every weekend in his series "Cardiff After Dark". One of a total of 35 photographic positions.  

It is precisely these encounters and moments of street photography that let us look deep. Sometimes so deep that the boundaries between voyeurism, documentary photography and art become blurred. But this debate is nothing new to street photography. Indeed, it is fully aware of its responsibility. So how far can you go? Where does art begin, where does it end? What makes an unimportant street scene an artwork? Precisely these moments, which often last only a fraction of a second but are captured by a photographer for eternity, can now be seen at the Kunst Haus Wien. The predominant motive, which lends this genre its name, is the street. It is muse and stage combined.

Cities and their streets have also always been a big source of inspiration for big names such as  Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, and Wolfgang Tillmanns. At the Kunst Haus Wien, these icons of street photography meet young, contemporary artists such as Mohamed Bourouissa, Harri Pälviranta or the Austrian artist Alex Dietrich. They lead the visitor through the exhibition in five kaleidoscopic chapters (Street Life, Crashes, Public Transfer, Anonymity, and Alienation). In addition to small-format camera and large-format camera, black and white photography meets color photography – analog meets digital. More than 200 works shows the upheavals and aesthetic developments of this exciting genre – from the 1930s to the present day.

Street. Life. Photography, September 11, 2019 – February 16, 2020
www.kunsthauswien.com