December Picks
Along with Vienna’s legendary Christmas markets, winter celebrations in the city’s Museum Quarter have become an established tradition. Winter im MQ (Museumsplatz 1; leopoldmuseum.org) is being held this year from mid-November until December 23, during which time the whole quarter is transformed into an outdoor holiday venue. Concerts and other performances are held, while cafés and designer shops operate in specially constructed “ice” pavilions. With the onset of darkness, surreal light shows directed by well-known artists are screened on the walls of the city’s most prestigious museums.
The courtyard of one museum has been transformed into the Snow Queen’s labyrinth, while the ZOOM Children’s Museum offers various activities for kids. Meanwhile, their parents can step into the Leopold Museum and see the exhibition A Visual Memory of “Viennese Society”: Franz Xaver Setzer’s Portrait Photographs from December 18 to January 12. Here visitors can view magnificent black-and-white portraits of some of Vienna’s most illustrious cultural personalities from the 1920s and 1930s, including opera singers, actors, artists, composers and writers.
An ideal hotel for promoting a slightly elated and off-the-wall mood is the new 25hours Hotel Wien (Lerchenfelder Straße 1-3; 25hours-hotels.com/wien), which stands right next to the Museum Quarter. It is the latest branch of the expanding German 25hours hotels chain, with an interior décor that could be described as stylish and casual. The inspiration for this hotel stems from the golden age of the circus during the early 20th century. The walls of hotel rooms have been illustrated by Olaf Hajek, one of Germany’s best-known cartoonists. Therefore, don’t be surprised to see a female tightrope walker doing a juggling act on the wall behind your pillow, or to find her dress as a design object on the towel rack in the bathroom.The hotel is located in an edifice from the 1970s that formerly housed a youth hostel. It also has a nice bar with a view of the famous Ringstraße.
Those who want to celebrate the Christmas holidays in style might consider the nearby Sans Souci Wien (Burggasse 2; sanssouci-wien.com), aglamorous 63-room luxury hotel whose interior was created in cooperation with yoo – a hotel and apartment design company managed by Philippe Starck. Along with an incredibly comfortable bed, the rooms elegantly incorporate all kinds of playful Stark design objects; a mirror is transformed into a TV set and pillows double as faces. However, one of the hotel’s greatest assets is its spa. After a tiring day of shopping in the city, a refreshing dip in the 25-metre pool is just next to divine.
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