Hamburg.

The city of Xmas markets.

Still battling my cold, I'm off by train to Hamburg. A conductor collects me from 2nd class as evidently my ticket is 1st but they're both so elegant, you wouldn't know. Only difference is the free water, tea and coffee. Hamburg train station is a Xmas wonderland and in walking distance to Hotel Alt Nurnberg where I'm welcomed by a lovely old lady who calls someone older than me to take my bags up the three flights of stairs. She refuses to let me help, she can probably hear me huffing and puffing as she sprints up, bags in hand.

I take off to find the famous Xmas market but on my way to the main one, I go past two others! This city is Xmas market heaven!. The biggest one is full of wooden stalls, all beautifully decorated. There are chocolate, cake, cheese, you name it, they have it stalls. The food looks amazing, carbs, carbs and more carbs. I end up having potato pancakes with camembert and cranberry sauce which is so good. I eat in an area made of Xmas trees with a beautiful old enamel stove and a sled, oh and a stuffed elk. And then I discover the Gluwein and eggnog bars! You can buy the beautifully decorated mugs and so begins my collection.

Slightly inebriated after a gluwein and later an eggnog, I am transfixed by a fairyland cottage full of Xmas decorations that are exquisite. After that I visit the town hall or the Rathaus with it's huge Xmas tree and stunning sculptures and then I find another market on the Alster lake. This place is amazing!

Dinner is at Schiffer Borse restaurant, a former meeting place for maritime traders where shipping deals have been celebrated since the 1300's. It's stunning inside, painted woodwork everywhere. I have fish and chips, salad and Riesling. Arriving home, the owner gives me mineral water, fruit and a special little Xmas cake in cellophane tied up with a bow.

Breakfast looks beautiful but is expensive so I have the fruit and cake I was offered last night and then go to Roncalli Grand Cafe. It takes two coffees, one bad, one good to get me moving but I'm determined to see more of this beautiful city. The sun is out today so I go the bridge where Instagrammers go for an obligatory selfie and then down to the oldest street in Hamburg which again is full of Xmas paraphernalia and nothing seems to get stolen! There's an outdoor Xmas tree full of beautiful ornaments - outside! Unbelievable.

Then I'm back to the market for champignons, onions, some rich mustardy sour cream sauce and rye bread with a punch made of rum and amaretto and another Xmas mug for 3 euros. I then wander past more stalls where they are roasting big slabs of salmon, wood smoked over open fires. On the way home, I find another market and have a Quarkballe which is served hot. These are made of quark cheese, fried and dipped in sugar served with different sauces. I have mine with a dark, rich chocolate sauce. Because it's so cold, you feel like it's almost your duty to consume alcohol and carbs all times of the day.

That night I have dinner with one of my fellow students from the Italian school. She serves a beautiful three course meal and we talk of life here and in Italy. She has girls living with her as well to supplement her income and she's a graphic artist so we have a bit in common.

And so ends my sojourn in Hamburg. What an elegant, interesting city. The last photo sums up Hamburg natives for me as they embrace Xmas.

Odense

Place of fairytales.

The cold is brittle here but I'm loving wearing coats, hats, gloves, layering. My cold has followed me on the bus to Odense, birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson. My hotel is lovely, a big airy room not far from the centre. I walk into the town and find the quirky, shabby chic style Cafe Fleuri and absorb the seasonal decorations. My hot chocolate comes with a little bowl of dried fruits, apple and a chocolate. Everything is so artfully arranged. It is Hygge, the Danish quality of cosiness that engenders a feeling of contentment and well being. (Dictionary meaning) And maybe it emerges in colder climes, where winters are long and days are short but I'm loving it and I stay awhile in this beautiful place.

Then I'm off on an exploration. This is Hans Christian Anderson territory so there's statues and plaques underfoot. It's also a Tudor style town, architectural-wise and full of colour, saffron, rust reds, soft pinks, delineated in black and chocolate brown.

At lunchtime, I find a homely cafe and feast on a salad of goat's cheese, honey vinaigrette and caramelised walnuts with a Glog wine, heavily laden with nuts and raisins. I'm warming to this spicy drink.

Then I make my way to the Hans Christian Anderson Christmas market. They really know how to do Christmas markets here. It's fairyland. Kids are running around, the stalls are beautiful. I wander down the narrow, car-less streets amongst the 1600's houses, decorated with beautiful Christmas wreaths. People and kids are dressed in old fashioned costumes, it feels so easy to believe you have stepped back in time. I find a stall selling beautiful chocolates and buy a white chocolate coated marzipan, studded with crystallised violet.

I have lunch at Den Gamle Kro, an Inn that has been operating since 1670. Honestly, the Danes are so friendly and I feel totally looked after as they suggest I have a traditional dish of Danish blue cheese which they bring to the table in a wooden barrel and pour cognac over it and leave it sit for a while before coming back to mix it in. Then they scoop spoonfuls out and it's eaten with caramelised nuts and rye bread fried in butter whilst sipping on a Xmas flavoured beer, fragrant with spices.

Denmark is supposed to be the happiest country in Europe and I can feel it in the air. Families are lunching pre-Xmas, everyone laughing, ruddy cheeks from the cold and the quantities of the Xmas beer being consumed.

When I leave the restaurant, it's raining slightly as I wander down to the river and see the sculpture in metal of the paper boat, one of H C Anderson's fairytales, The Steadfast Tin Soldier. There are many sculptures throughout the town relating to his fairytales, The Wild Swan, Thumbelina emerging from a flower. I find them as I search for a chemist for Vit C and nasal spray as my cold just keeps on keeping on. It's dark early and everything is lit up and magical. Tomorrow I'm on my way again but Odense has been captivating.

Breakfast is amazing, thick, creamy yoghurt and berries. Crispy thin bacon, blue vein camembert studded with hazelnuts and the rich, wholegrain breads with a myriad of jams made with whole fruits. Fortified, I'm off on the Hans C Anderson trail, sculptures from his fairytales appear around the city and there's a museum, the cottage where he might have been born, (they're not quite sure), to the river where his mother might have washed his clothes. It's a sad tale really, his mother became an alcoholic, he never married having fallen for the famous singer, Jenny Lind and another girl who was promised to someone else. But he was highly creative and his fairytales have lived on.

Copenhagen.

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen.

Snow, beautiful snow as I wait at the airport for my flight at dawn. My hotel is expensive, my room tiny and so cold that I later that night I have to ask for an extra quilt. Denmark is expensive but sophisticated and beautiful. The song keeps coming to mind:' Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen, Friendly old girl of a town...salty old queen of the sea.' As I make my way past beautiful shops, interesting cafes, down to the harbour. I can smell the salt of the North Sea and I feel myself slipping back in time; it's like a movie set.

I come across the main harbour where there's a Xmas market strung along the waterway. I sit at one of the cute little cafes alongside and indulge in a Glog wine and a huge salad. They bring me a blanket and I settle in to people watch and rest. Coming down with a cold so as night descends I head back to the hotel and shiver in my cold room. Maybe they're tough here in Denmark, saunas and cold showers probably. I'll have to toughen up.

The next day, I go to an Instagram hotspot, Kondistori Glace, six generations have supplied pastries here since 1870. It's stayed traditional and the service is wonderful. I have coffee with a jug of cream on the side and a marzipan jam tart with orange flavoured icing. The window displays are of Xmas cakes and beautifully decorated marzipan tarts that I buy as presents. Xmas is such a thing of joy here, of beauty and abundance. Maybe because of the cold winters they celebrate in such extravagant style.

I wander deeper into the old centre to find the stunning tiled square where more Xmas market stalls huddle. The shops are gorgeous. I go to see the Xmas table settings in The Royal Copenhagen porcelain store that are sea-themed this year and stunning.

Then I lunch at Nordern, a stunning art deco building. Upstairs you can look out at the square for the best view. The food is fantastic. I have a parsley root and onion quiche and it's served with three different salads. Cauliflower, fig and salted hazelnut; cabbage, sultana and fetta; pomegranate with baked parsnip, carrot and jerusalem artichoke puree.

Fortified, I walk through the old centre to look at the amazing Xmas decorations strung throughout the city.The markets are brimming with beautiful homemade gifts, sweets, Glog bars, the meringue chocolate covered sweets and Viking manned stalls of carved wooden objects. Then I have to go home to my freezing room to nurture my cold.

Later I dine again close to the hotel and I watch in amusement at an older couple who spend the evening on their phones, not a word spoken. How the world has changed! And as I write this in Covid times, how it has changed that I had a cold and thought nothing of it and that I could wander mask free in a crowd and not worry.