The holidays were definitely a lot different this year, but they turned out to be a lot of fun. I went to my last class on Thursday, and then made sure to clean up the apartment a bit on Friday. I woke up very early on Saturday morning (about an hour after jumping in bed after another Celtic’s win), in order to catch the 6:30-ish train from the Braunschweig train station to the Hannover central station. From there, after a bit of searching, I caught another train to the Hannover airport, where I found my way to the correct gate within 20 minutes of my family’s arrival. I was great to see them all again! We dragged all of the luggage (no easy task!!!!!!) to the S-Bahn stop, and caught a train back to the Hannover station, followed by the Braunschweig main station. From there, we were able to quickly hop on a crowded tram to the center of the city, to the Deutsches Haus Hotel. We got our rooms, unloaded our luggage, and headed out to force them to resist the urge to sleep.
First, I brought my mom, dad, and Rachel back to my apartment to show them around. We had a few drinks….my dad got his first taste of German beer….and we opened up each other’s Christmas presents, so they all wouldn’t have to make the trip with us. We headed back towards the center of town, and for Rachel’s sake, quickly visited the Schloss….Braunschweig’s huge mall that is inside a renovated palace. Since they were all so tired between the flight and the 6 hour time difference, we ate at Alex’s before it got too late. It was pretty funny watching them struggle to say “BBQ Burger” in what they thought was a German accent! From there, we headed to bed a bit early, so that they could catch up on sleep.
We woke up relatively late the next morning, and went outside to the Weihnachtsmarkt….the Christmas Market….to get half meter bratwursts for lunch. They were delicious, and surprisingly, even Rachel tried and liked them. My mom tried the popular Gluhwein, but was not a fan. After lunch, we walked through the rest of the market, looking at all of the booths and stalls in the Burgplatz. We saw the Rathaus, the Dom St. Blasii, the Burg Dankwarderode, and the Braunschweiger Löwe. We actually went into the Dom expecting to be able to look around, and ended up walking right into a mass! From there, we walked around the city center to the outside ice skating rink, then went and checked out the Altstadtmarkt, including St. Martini-Kirche, the Altstadtrathaus, the Gewandhaus, and the Marienbrunnen, as well as a couple other churches. Later on in the afternoon, we met a friend and his family from Long Island, as well as a friend from Braunschweig, at the Christmas market. We all went to a great German pub for dinner, and had our fill of Franziskaner and schnitzel, before returning to the market for some Eiyer Punsch before the night was over. We headed back to the hotel and packed up, knowing we’d have to be up early the next morning, to catch our train to Berlin.
First, I brought my mom, dad, and Rachel back to my apartment to show them around. We had a few drinks….my dad got his first taste of German beer….and we opened up each other’s Christmas presents, so they all wouldn’t have to make the trip with us. We headed back towards the center of town, and for Rachel’s sake, quickly visited the Schloss….Braunschweig’s huge mall that is inside a renovated palace. Since they were all so tired between the flight and the 6 hour time difference, we ate at Alex’s before it got too late. It was pretty funny watching them struggle to say “BBQ Burger” in what they thought was a German accent! From there, we headed to bed a bit early, so that they could catch up on sleep.
We woke up relatively late the next morning, and went outside to the Weihnachtsmarkt….the Christmas Market….to get half meter bratwursts for lunch. They were delicious, and surprisingly, even Rachel tried and liked them. My mom tried the popular Gluhwein, but was not a fan. After lunch, we walked through the rest of the market, looking at all of the booths and stalls in the Burgplatz. We saw the Rathaus, the Dom St. Blasii, the Burg Dankwarderode, and the Braunschweiger Löwe. We actually went into the Dom expecting to be able to look around, and ended up walking right into a mass! From there, we walked around the city center to the outside ice skating rink, then went and checked out the Altstadtmarkt, including St. Martini-Kirche, the Altstadtrathaus, the Gewandhaus, and the Marienbrunnen, as well as a couple other churches. Later on in the afternoon, we met a friend and his family from Long Island, as well as a friend from Braunschweig, at the Christmas market. We all went to a great German pub for dinner, and had our fill of Franziskaner and schnitzel, before returning to the market for some Eiyer Punsch before the night was over. We headed back to the hotel and packed up, knowing we’d have to be up early the next morning, to catch our train to Berlin.
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