More Fogginess.

I’m referring to the drive this morning,  not my ability to think.  Just thought I’d point that out.

I had this bright idea to try and take a picture of the back end of this one particular truck that we were following for what seemed like forever in the fog this morning,  but I was kinda busy.   It’s usually not such a great idea to take your eyes off the road for two very long in those circumstances.  I had visions of any number of things leaping out in front of us,  from deer to bears, (yup, they got ‘em)  not to mention the half wits who nose out just a wee bit too far into the traffic to see what’s coming.  Which is why I didn’t actually mind following the truck,  since he was booting it along anyway,  and I figured he’d mow down anything in his path,  saving us the trouble.

 

So there wasn’t going to be any pictures at all really,  until I got back into Vienna,  after dropping T.C. off at her office out in Strebersdorf,  when I noticed they were bringing in the honkin’ big Christmas tree that they put up in front of the Rathaus each year.    This year’s tree is 29 metres high and roughly 80 years old, and tips the scales at around five tons.  This is a tradition that’s been going on since 1959,  and this year the tree is from the province of Burgenland. 

Of course,  I missed the action,  since I was dawdling here at home,  but decided to nip down there in the afternoon to take a few pictures.    So in the meanwhile,  I ripped this one off from from the net:

If you’re feeling particularly courageous,  and depending on your internet speed,  one of the news outlets did post a video of the whole thing.  There’s an annoying ad at the beginning of course,  as with the case of most of these sites,  but it’s about half way down the page here.

And yes,  the announcer will be speaking German.   Don’t freak out.

 

I took a few pics of my own though,  when I got there this afternoon:

This is the back of the Rathaus. 

 

We’d call that “city hall”  by the way,  but you should have been taking notes all along.  I shouldn’t need to explain these things,  or should I?

Is it just me,  of does it look a little tired at the bottom there?

Maybe those branches will sort themselves out,  or they’ll truss them up somehow.

 

So,  this is where the circus was a few weeks back.  They’ve moved on to Salzburg.  It’ll be a different kind of “circus” in a couple weeks,  once all the huts for the Christmas Market open up.

 

This sign gave me a chuckle.  There was one sign across from it saying “Enter at your own risk”,  but this one said it was “verboten”.   And parents,  keep a hold of your children! 

Ever wanted to put some really huge balls on that tree in your yard?

You just need to rent one of these suckers.

 

 

I thought I was taking a picture of the tree from another angle with this one,  but your guess is as good as mine:

No idea about the little hut in that photo above,  but these guys (below) were putting the roof on theirs with the help of a fork lift.

 

 

When I was coming in this morning,  the tree was on the flatbed way down there in front of the Votivkirche,  so my guess is that these guys had to wait for the tree to pass before getting started on putting their huts together.  Probably explains why they were still at it at three p.m. today.

 

 

Well, that’s it for the dog and pony show for today kids.

 

They say the tree will be all decorated by November 12th,  when the mayor and the representative from where the tree was cut down will light the thing up.   That will be the first day of the Christmas Market as well. 

 

 

And even though I’m never overly keen on hanging around with ALL THOSE PEOPLE,  we’ll be sure and check out the Christmas Market at some point and I’ll add even more photos.  

Stay tuned!  I know you can just hardly wait. 

Try not to roll your eyes.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

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