Europe by rail and ferry – getting Christmassy in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and EstoniaJun 04 '03 Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line This review is extracted from my travel diary but hopefully will give you a feel for these places and what you can get up to in a fortnight in Europe! All the train journeys and hotels on this trip I pre-booked with www.freedomrail.com and they were excellent. Koln (Cologne), Germany Started our trip (myself and a friend) on the Eurostar from London to Brussels. Changed at Brussels for our train to Koln which was very smart and comfy. Pulled into Koln station and suddenly found ourselves in a manic shopping centre, Christmas décor and hot dog sellers everywhere. Walked outside to find it was drizzly and the huge Dom looking gothic, surreal and spooky with it’s towers disappearing into the misty sky. On the way to our hotel drove past one of the Christmas markets – lots of wooden huts with lights everywhere. I thought a beer hall sounded fun and so we headed for the tram stop - just spotted the ticket machine when the tram pulled up. We got on with no tickets then panicked about the large fines you could get in Europe so we got off at the next stop! Happened to be the Christmas market busy selling all sorts of stuff – cuckoo clocks, ornaments, puppets, lots of chocolate, waffles and sweet stuff. We just had some tasty Gluhwein – like mulled wine – to warm ourselves. We found St Peters Bierhaus and went in. It was however full of drunken German men on long bench tables and it didn’t seem like they’d have a table for two - we walked out again! Passed people in flashing Santa hats and others dressed as nuns singing and eventually settled for a restaurant down by the river - ordered sausages and white beer of course. Later down the main shopping street we found an auction of pictures and rugs – not something you often see late at night in a shop. Took a walk the next day and found Koln to be old and ugly mixed in together. Visited the busy Chocolate Museum – we learned lots about the history of the cocoa bean (the info was in English too). Walked through a mini rainforest, and then the highlight was the floor with all the machinery in operation where you could see the chocolate in its different stages from beans through to little wrapped individual chocs which were getting bagged up by ladies. At the end of the room there was a chocolate fountain where a lady was dipping wafers in and handing them out! The next floor up had moulds and also a conveyor belt of truffles. The chocolate balls would get dipped in some white stuff then a machine would ‘ruffle’ them up so they became all spiky-surfaced. The top floor was more about chocolate as medicine and its erotic nature! We walked along the river up towards the Dom past the Old Town with all the coloured houses. We went inside the Dom and some special service was going on but it was fine to stand at the back. Admired the stained glass and very high ceiling. We felt too exhausted to walk up the tower (509 steps!). The markets in Koln are great to wander round as they are so Christmassy but gift wise there’s a lot of breakable stuff so not ideal for buying when you’re inter-railing. The main shopping street goes on and on and on and then turns into another shopping street and lots of department stores and precincts – basically shopping heaven (or hell depending on your viewpoint). Hamburg, Germany It was a 4 hour train ride to Hamburg. Immediately liked this spacious city with grand buildings around. It was also not raining and the sun was out although it was noticeably colder. We had only 24hrs to see Hamburg and started off with a lovely walk along by the lakes. We found a huge market next to the attractive City Hall. The market was buzzing, similar to the Koln ones but with more life – stilt walkers and dancing. We walked across quite a few bridges (Hamburg has canals running through it) to see some old but renovated merchant warehouse buildings. We then walked down to the river Elbe and the port. We couldn’t see a thing across the river just a thick mist and ghostly looking ships. We walked past the Reeperbahn, which was a much bigger main road than I expected. The neon lights were going but no one really was around. Then we got a surprise as we rounded a corner and saw a huge ferris wheel with crazy flashing lights. It was The Dom - an enormous fairground well known in Northern Germany. The lights everywhere just made it so colourful and exciting. We found a medieval section where we sat in a large tent by a lovely fire, listening to some mellow music and sipping gluhwein while strange people wandered around in costume. The fairground also had an enormous roller coaster that looked terrifying. We’d exhausted the fair so had no choice but to head for the Reeperbahn and find a non-seedy bar. It was still early and it seemed that the characters hanging around were druggy types so it didn’t feel 100% safe. We found the ‘London Pub’! This was at about 6.30pm; little did we know then that we wouldn’t leave this pub until about 11pm. When we did leave the prostitutes were now on the streets – only shock was they were very practically dressed in trainers and skiwear. A couple more bars and then a friend we’d made decided we were ready for really seedy and we were taken to the ‘Golden Glove’. He wasn’t joking when he said it was were the dregs of Hamburg come – there were some very odd people in there indeed. Rolled back into the hotel about 5am – reckon we did well. Copenhagen, Denmark This journey to Copenhagen was going to be 4.5 hours. What we didn’t realise was that our train was going to go onto a ferry! We literally rode into the car deck of this enormous ferry and then we had to get off and go up on deck. It was surreal walking out onto the ferry which was already on the move – slick operation. Pulled into Copenhagen (back on the train). The friend we were staying with took us for a stroll and we saw all the main shopping areas, squares and impressive old buildings (there was not much bombing in Denmark). The next day we visited Christiania. This place is a ‘free town’, a bit separate to main Copenhagen. It has the weirder types living there. The main street is full of stalls all openly selling hash. It was an interesting place – everyone a bit hippy-like cycling around on these strange bikes. Lots of painted houses (well kind of graffiti painted) and everything a bit more (well a lot more) messy than you see in the centre of Copenhagen. We then took a walk to the famous ‘Little Mermaid’. She is sitting on a rock just off the shoreline – quite bizarre that it is such an attraction. We saw the Royal Palace Mansions set round a sort of cobbled courtyard and watched the changing of the guards. Next was Nyhavn – a maritime area with a cobbled road next to the canal with lots of old boats and old pubs. We found a cosy pub to drink the wonderfully warming Gluhwein (or Glogg). The other option is Christmas beer – a special beer produced by Carlsberg (Danish) for Christmas time. The main square near Nyhavn is impressive with huge old buildings lit up – quite a display. You have to pay to get into the Tivoli Gardens but it is worth it. It was like a Christmas market but with occasional pens of animals and buildings covered in coloured lights. We wandered through an indoor display of mechanical elves doing various activities. It was all so Chrismassy but somehow avoided being too OTT. The sheer electricity involved in lighting up absolutely everything must be substantial. There’s very little of Copenhagen that is ugly, lots of cobbled squares and old buildings – a very pleasant city to just stroll around. Great for shopping – I found a really up-market Christmas pound shop – the perfect place for the Danes to fill a basket with cheap Christmas tack and stocking fillers. Eating is very good too. Stockholm, Sweden Then it was time to move on to the next country so back to the train station. There is a bridge across the sea to Sweden – it was odd seeing the sea out each side. The track then drops into a tunnel for the last bit to Sweden. We were then tearing through snow covered pine forest and seeing quaint Swedish houses and lots of lakes. Our first night we headed to ‘The Dubliner’ – an Irish bar in the guidebook. We thought we might meet some English/Irish people who could advise us about Stockholm. Found it and several bouncers ready to take our coats and hang them up – quite sensible really. Turned into a drunken night – recommend this bar for meeting people. The old town – Gamla Stan – is great – you basically walk down this main shopping street and suddenly you cross a bridge and enter a medieval world. You are wandering along cobbled streets with tall houses to either side. The main street is pretty narrow with tiny alleys off to each side. Although it was very busy with people it held all its charm. Stockholm has water everywhere and we found an island with a big church and a good view across the water to the houses on the hills. It was all very impressive stuff. Our mission was actually to find the Royal Palace – we kept thinking we’d located it and then realising we had the wrong palatial looking building as there are quite a few! Next day was a sightseeing bus. We sat in the top with our headphones. The trip was about 1.5 hours and took is all around the city, taking in several islands. The commentary was pretty interesting and the tour made us appreciate all Stockholm offers. We then swapped onto the boat tour that was 50 mins up a canal and round an island. There are quite a lot of parks near the city and one island is just a huge park with museums, a funfair and some big mansions. Helsinki, Finland Then it was to the ferry terminal to get our Viking ferry. Our cabin had a window and pull-down beds, even a radio. Apart from the size of the room it was hotel standard. I went up on deck to see off Stockholm, by now already pretty lights in the distance. We had a look at what was going on, there seemed to be plenty of drinking and eating establishments. We reserved a table for the Viking buffet – traditional Scandinavian food. Started with a beer in the pub and then cocktails in the ‘fun club’. The food at the buffet was heavenly – meatballs and all sorts of mash. I was really feeling the movement of the boat – a strange sensation and not that pleasant. There was a show going on we watched but then seemed to just keep bumping into annoying men (be warned) and had to escape to a dark corner in the nightclub but later we had great fun dancing to some live music despite the boat swaying. Went up on deck and saw the sun rise as we approached Helsinki. It was very surreal as it felt we were looking at model villages on snowy islands – made you realise how enormous our boat must be. We caught a little old tram into town, passing some pretty impressive buildings en route. Went to see the Cathedral and Senate Square. The Cathedral is white and was glowing against the blue sky. It really is a wonderful building – we went inside and it is done out very simply. Tramped around in the snow and then to a café for hot chocolate opposite the Cathedral, now pink in the sunset. Found an indoor food market where everything looked really tasty. That night we had Finnish Gloggi (it was blue?) in the ‘Mother’ bar and then visited yet another Irish bar. The sightseeing bus the next day was packed (I thought we were the only mad tourists here at this time of year!). We had a very interesting tour with a couple of stops - to see a monument in a nice snowy park and a church dug into rocks with a copper dome roof – a bizarre but a clever idea. We saw iced up water and the beach and jetty where they wash rugs (!) and some big turrety houses. We then went to the Ladies Christmas Market - it was like a Women’s Institute event! There were hundreds of stalls all selling handmade stuff. That night it was a bar called ‘Soda’ which had a bizarre queuing system which meant standing in the cold for a while. I think it’s safe to say it’s easy to find a good night out in Helsinki. Tallinn, Estonia We got to the ferry terminal for our day trip to Tallinn in Estonia and found the bar was busy with loads of people on the beers (at 9.30 am?). A pretty big catamaran boat got us to Estonia in an hour and a half. As soon as we were out of the terminal we realised that it was a really cold day. We decided to do a sightseeing trip by minibus with a very chatty guide. We started off in a really ugly part of town but soon saw what were once really impressive houses but in serious need of maintenance – a real sign of Estonia’s history under Russia (Estonia only got independence in 1991). Two colourful palaces in a park had been restored beautifully so they are working on it. We also saw the festival grounds – a huge domed stage where concerts are held. We then went to the Old Town which is very exciting with the city wall still there complete with look-out towers – all very medieval. The rest of the tour was on foot and our guide took us into an old Lutheran church with lots of coat of arms hanging up everywhere from Russian nobility. She then took us to a couple of good view points but it was simply too cold and by the time we were looking inside the impressive Russian church I had to take my shoe off and try to massage my toes back to life. The old town was really very attractive, quite different to Stockholm – I think my general impression was the roads were wider and the buildings more pink! As soon as the tour ended we headed for a medieval restaurant the woman had mentioned. It was a great choice, a real medieval feel with earthenware crockery. We started with some potent gloggi and then our starters arrived with lots of unidentifiable food but it was all gorgeous - all you need in a cold climate is a warm alcoholic drink and scrummy food in a good atmosphere. Flew back to London the next day with EasyJet having had a great trip and definitely in the Christmas mood!  |
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