the first of many christmas markets

The train from Groningen to Hamburg was much easier than the last trip. The ticket lady gave us, what we like to call an itinerary, so we knew exactly where to go and when to change trains…go figure?

Our change-over was at Bremen, the second largest city in Northern Germany.  Annika and Ben told us it was worth a visit so we decided to get some lunch and take a later train to Hamburg. We found this huge  Christmas market in the heart of town hall with all these tasty Christmas smells and festively decorated stalls. Little did we know that we just found what is considered as one of the best Christmas markets in Germany!

Mai was particularly excited to come to Bremen as her Mum used to read the Town Musicians of Bremen to her as a child. Like a true Japanese tourist, she insisted I take a photo of her in front of every character statue.  We ate our first of many authentic German sausages, which was sooooo good and we stopped to get hot chocolate on our way back to the train station. Hot chocolate is amazeballs (yes, that is a word) in Europe, especially when you’re cold!

We booked a few nights at the Generator Hostel in Hamburg, which was great ; right near Central Station, clean, good beds and lots of charging facilities (this one we’ll recommend). We arrived fairly late and were, as always, looking forward a good night’s rest!