Jaunted - Tag: Christmas Travel

New York: Travel Snapshot: Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

pbb — 2007-11-12T16:00:02-05:00

As long as you can't go see a Broadway show, you might as well celebrate Christmas creep by going to see this year's tree at Rockefeller Center. The Norway spruce from Connecticut settled into place on November 9.

We went to scope the scene on Saturday, while crews worked on the scaffolding around the 84-foot-tall tree. The lighting ceremony is scheduled for November 28.

Have your own travel snaps? Drop 'em in the Jaunted Flickr Pool, and we'll highlight the best.

Related Stories:
· SeaTac: Not Bringing Back The Trees [Jaunted]
· New York City coverage [Jaunted]
· Jaunted Photo Pool [Flickr]

Vienna: Jolly St. Nicht

amandak — 2006-11-30T09:34:43-05:00

Christmas is fast approaching and one of the best parts of the season is drinking Gluehwein at a German Christmas market or snapping up handicraft bargains in Prague's huge markets. But if you head to Vienna's Christmas markets this year, it won't be a Santa Claus handicraft that ends up in your suitcase.

That's right--there've been mumblings for years and this year it's official: Santa's been banned in parts of Austria and Germany. If you want to be a stall holder at the biggest Christmas markets in Vienna, in front of the town hall, then you must agree not to sell or promote the image of Santa in any way. A pretty strict sounding town hall spokesman said:

Santa is an English language creation, people who want to see him should go to America where I am sure Coca Cola will be happy to oblige.

Ouch. We know full-of-atmosphere Christmas markets in central European countries are something special, but will we still take our valuable tourist cash there after this? Next they'll be banning reindeer because they're from Scandinavia or snowmen because they're always male.

Related Stories:
· Anti-Santa Campaign [Ananova]
· St Nick a No-Ho-Ho [Washington Times]

Belfast: Will Meats of the World Return to Belfast?

djk — 2006-11-14T09:52:58-05:00

Christmas is just around the corner, and that means the season for Christmas festivals and Christmas markets has begun. In Belfast, it's time to get ready for the Christmas Continental Market, which takes place on the grounds of City Hall from November 22-December 19.

The market has a cousin, the Spring Continental Market, at which we encountered the above vendor last May, flipping all sorts of weird burgers under the banner "Meats of the World." We were told they'd be back for Christmas...but things like that can change. The Continental Markets draw meat purveyors from all over Europe, and in addition to Meats of the World burgers, you're likely to find things like moosemeat from Sweden being sold this season. The ever-popular Dutch waffle stand is confirmed to reappear.

The Market is divided into "villages," such as German, Irish and European, which have their own related food stands, crafts, and gifts. It's open pretty late for such an event--until 8 pm, Monday through Thursday, and 10 pm on Fridays and Saturdays.

Next Up: Finland Gives Santa a Blog

djk — 2006-10-06T09:36:50-05:00

Not only does the Finnish Tourist Board want you to spend Christmas in Finland, but they also won't stop until you submit yourself to Santa and place your beating heart in his hands. While we're all for the magic of believing in Santa--he's real, it is not like 5-year olds are cruising tourism web sites in search of the big man's official web site. Yet the Finns are taking Santa's existence very very seriously:

Why does the real Santa Claus live in Finland? You can meet him on any day of the year, without any charge, only in Finland. Santa Claus' own animal, the reindeer, lives in Finland.

Good to know!

Santa Claus, Lady Santa and the elves have time to relax in summer. This is when a lucky wanderer can see them angling or picking berries on the fells of Lapland. Sometimes Santa Claus has time for his favourite hobby, gold panning. He and his companions also go to the sauna and dare sometimes to dive into ice-cold lakewater after the intense heat of the sauna.

Santa digs the sauna? You don't say. We wonder if he ever visits New York. There's a fabulous gym in midtown we'd like to recommend to him.

The welfare of all animals is close to Santa's heart, not only that of his own reindeer. For instance, in the zoological park in Ranua, Christmas is always celebrated by the animals, too, and all the arctic animals of the zoo participate in the festivities from the lemmings to the lynxes. The bears, though, hibernate during the Yuletide season and cannot unfortunately take part in the Christmas party.

Does that mean Santa takes to his lemmings like Hollywood starlets to their yorkies? Someone get US Weekly on line 2; we smell a photo op.

Lest that not be enough for you, the Board also wants you to know that Santa has an internet television channel and private reindeer-herding territories in Lapland. Come on now...all that, and he doesn't have a blog yet?

[Photo: bcostin]

Related Stories:
· Finland and Santa Claus [VisitFinland.com]