Flying home for Christmas.

First things first: Happy Christmas and Happy New Year! I've got a bit of a backlog of blog posts which I intend to post over the next couple of days. I guess that's the Christmas effect. Let's get started by rewinding a couple of weeks to a post I wrote while sitting in Hannover airport on 22 December, waiting for my flight back to wonderful England.

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I love Germany but I couldn't be more excited about flying home. The thought of being able to order tea without having to specify which type and then getting confused looks when I asked for milk to put in it is ridiculously exciting. I want to pay for things with money which has the Queen on it. And I want to walk down a street and understand what people are saying just by hearing them talk, rather than having to properly listen.

In honesty, my final week in Germany before going home for Christmas was not the wonderful, Christmassy spectacular I had envisioned. I tried to go exploring but every Weihnachtsmarkt was full of people wandering around with their family and friends. Very few people go alone. I have come to the conclusion that Glühwein tastes better when accompanied by conversation. I did have one mega travel day, visiting Braunschweig, Hannover and Hildesheim. Braunschweig was worth re-visiting, and is definitely growing on me as a place. I think it is just the station and walk from the station to the town centre that gives a rubbish first impression! I obviously had a wander in the Christmas market, then went to a couple of bakeries to buy some things to take home: Zimtsterne, Baumkuchen, Marzipan Makronen, etc.

Braunschweig // Hannover // Hildesheim

The next stop was Hannover Weihnachtsmarkt, which as it turns out also has a forest. Not as good as Goslar but a forest nevertheless... Hannover had multiple markets including a Finnish mountain village themed market and what I can only describe as a medieval pirate market. As I understood, a pirate ship ran aground in Hannover (because Germany is known for its extensive coastline) so there were pirates walking round the medieval market. By walking I mean following the pirate leader who was on stilts, shouting, fighting and generally being swash-buckling. Confused doesn't cover it. Only in Germany?! 

I am finishing my Weihnachtsmärkte posts with a brief guide to the food and drink of the Christmas markets. This is only a guide to the things that I tried, there are plenty of others to choose from!

So I've made it to the Christmas holidays. I have been walking round with a permanent smile all day and arrived at the airport so early that check in didn't open for an hour. And being Hannover airport it only took me five minutes to get through security. But it doesn't matter, in two hours I'll be in England.