Lighting Of Vienna Town Hall Christmas Tree Marks Start Of Yuletide Season In Austrian Capital

A flip of the switch, some oohs and ahhs from a crowd of onlookers, and a giant decorated Christmas tree went up in lights on Vienna’s town hall square as the Yuletide season got rolling in Austria’s capital on Saturday evening.

Mulled wine was poured, frosted gingerbread cookies dangled from the roofs of vendors’ stalls, kiddies rode a carousel and a brass band tooted out Johann Strauss II’s “The Blue Danube” waltz as the holiday merriment set in.

Vienna Mayor Michael Ludwig joined the ceremonial illumination of the 30-meter (about 100-foot) spruce that bedecked the square in front of town hall, which also was bathed in light.

This year Vienna upped the ante by decorating the tree with 2,000 LED lights and 1,000 Christmas baubles at the market, which drew 3.3 million visitors last year.

The Christmas market was one of more than a dozen in Vienna: Another at Schoenbrunn Castle drew 50,000 visitors at its opening last weekend, part of a tradition notably in German-speaking countries like Austria.

Most of the Christmas markets in Vienna will be open until Dec. 26, though the ones in front of the town hall and Schoenbrunn will stay open until Jan. 6 next year.

AP

Travelore News: Police Deploy To Sensitive Sites In Vienna, Warning Of Islamist Attack

Vienna police stepped up armed patrols at sensitive sites in the Austrian capital including churches on Wednesday after the country's domestic intelligence agency received information suggesting an Islamist attack was being planned.

The city's police took the rare step of warning the public on social media that there would be a heightened presence of armed police, including special forces, in the city.

Vienna is among the safest capitals in the world and militant attacks are rare. The first deadly attack in a generation took place in 2020 when a jihadist gunman killed four people in a shooting rampage before being shot dead by police.

"Our intelligence services have reason to believe that an assault with an Islamistic motive is planned to be carried out in Vienna," Vienna police said in English on Twitter.

"As precautionary measure... points of interest have been put under increased guard by regular & special operation police forces," the police said, adding that it was not possible to say how long the special measures would last.

The tourist-filled streets of central Vienna were busy as usual after the police warning. The increased police presence at the city's St Stephen's Cathedral was barely noticeable.

More than three hours after its tweets alerting the public to the possible threat, the police sent just one update to clarify that an initial reference to a risk of an attack against churches in fact meant not only Christian churches but various religions' places of worship and other buildings.

The police did not elaborate but said the special measures remained in place.