My friend, Chantal, recently did a post on her favorite European Christmas markets. It reminded me of the one in Chicago's Daley Plaza, which is always really nice. I used to love to stop for a bag of roasted almonds on my way to the train station, and walk by the window displays at Marshall Field's.
Geneva's Christmas Market, however, is surprisingly and profoundly lame. I don't have any pictures of Chicago's with me. But I do have some of Vienna's, which I recently visited on business. Here's a head-to-head comparison.
Christmas decorations on Geneva's main pedestrian mall...
Christmas decorations on Vienna's main pedestrian mall...
Advantage: Vienna.
Vienna had at least three Christmas markets, and I've only found one in Geneva. So I'll compare Geneva's with Vienna's lamest one.
The lamest Christmas market in Vienna was in the Museum Quarter. It featured a three-man brass band playing "Hark! The Hearal Angels Sing," booths full of wood-carved ornaments, and chocolate-dipped pretzels.
The Christmas market in Geneva is on the way to the train station. It features 80% African tribal tsotchkes, and smells so much like burning incense I have flashbacks from the University of Utah student center.
Advantage: Vienna.
Don't get me wrong, being within site of Mont Blanc is a fantastic setting for the holidays. I'm just not convinced the Genevoix do their markets right. Maybe they're just too tired after Escalade.
1 comment:
Somehow, you can't compare Swiss markets to others in Europe because the advantage is always "others in Europe." I don't know why.
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