Hairgrove's in Hungary: Christmas Eve in Vienna

On Christmas Eve we decided to go to the Natural History Museum in Vienna. It houses a massive collection of different species from the ancient, to the bizarre, to the cute. We decided to enjoy the museum because it gave us a break from walking around in the cold--plus we're just nerds.

After the museum we had a late lunch of crepes just outside the museum in the Christmas market. Then we decided to walk around downtown, but unfortunately everything was starting to close up for Christmas Eve festivities. Also, it started to snow again so we headed back to the hotel for warmth.

Later that evening we enjoyed a dinner at a Japanese restaurant then went to Christmas Eve service at Saint Stephen's Cathedral in downtown Vienna. We thought it would be a beautiful and peaceful moment to experience a Christmas Eve service (especially one conducted in mostly German). However, getting to the service part would be a challenge!

We arrived to at the Cathedral at 10:15 p.m. because we were told service started at 10:30 p.m. There were already people starting to line up in front of the door. We stood there in the cold, wind and rain thinking any moment now they would open the doors. Any moment came almost an hour later. You see in Europe I think you arrive early for church like you do for a rock concert. There was a crush of people behind us by the time they decided to open the doors. I have never been trampled in a crowd (I usually avoid 'Black Friday' shopping for this very reason), but this was as close as I have ever come to being run over by one.

Once the doors opened you would have thought that the Beatles were inside or at the very least Jesus! "And they say religion is dead," I said to Ben as we were getting pushed into the Cathedral. People raced for seats near the front and everyone immediately started taking pictures. When the crowd had settled down and the actual service began things were more peaceful. Most of the tourists who were there just to take pictures left after the first 10 minutes. Even when people did start clearing out there were still people standing. Every seat was taken, multiple languages could be heard at once and every nationality was most likely represented. When the service concluded with 'Silent Night' (sung in German of course) I couldn't help, but sing in English. Every voice in there sang in their native tongue, but the song remained the same--with the same hope. And when we all sang, "All is calm all is bright" it was truer than ever.