Preview of my trip

I’ve been spending lots of my free time searching around and planning my winter trip. I know I know, winter isn’t particularly the best time in the year to stomp around Europe. However, with the early bird ticket for winter, hell yaa. On the other hand, I thought, it would be nice to spend Christmas in Eastern Europe. It should be much more interesting than spending Christmas in Hong Kong, or even US. Anyway, I now have a much clearer picture of what I’ll be doing in each town. If you happened to come across this blog, you’re welcomed to leave me any suggestions.

It’s starting to become a habit of mine. Taking a non-direct flight, and make a at least 10-hours layover at the airport. Last time I did it was at the AMS-Amsterdam, took a 12 hours layover to see the Keukenhof garden and Leiden before heading to Rome. This time, I’ll be transferring at HEL-Helsinki. I never had the thought of visiting Helsinki, especially in December. But this is Christmas time, perfectly appropriate to see the home country of the Santa. Oh, I gotta send a Christmas card back home and sign it off as Santa.

The followings are what I’m expecting from my December trip!

1. Helsinki
My plan in Helsinki is to see the hallmark there (the church with the green dome), kick start my European Christmas Market trip at the square/park, and fill my stomach at the old market hall. I’m feeling the soup kitchen there, as I think after walking around in the cold, a hot soup would be like heaven. Too bad I won’t have time for a sauna, but that’s for another time.

2. Vienna
I remember the last time when I walked out the Centraal station in Amsterdam, I looked to the left and saw an old church/building under a beautiful lightings. For a second, I thought I could be in Vienna. But this time, it’ll be for real! Beautiful palaces and art are filling up my itinerary, I’m very excited to get the chance to stand in front of a Klimt painting, or pretend to be a princess standing inside the Schonbrunn. Also filling up my schedule are the Viennese desserts and coffee. I’m not sure if I’d love the schnitzel, but I guess I should give it a chance… I always thought Chritmas in Vienna sounds very romantic, we’ll see. It’s going to be full of art, culture and food.

3.Prague
For some reason, I expect Prague to be very different from the rest of my trip. I think it’s going to be very Eastern European, and more of a medieval feel…. Apart from the Prague castle and the lesser town, I think what I’ll be doing here will be less of a attraction hopping trip. More of a strolling around and take in the medieval eastern european vibe. I’m also looking forward to see the church decorated in bones, and the Mucha museum.

4. Dresden
This wasn’t in the plan, but it is on my way from Prague to Berlin. Plus, I read the Dresden got a good Christmas Market there. I think it could be nice to visit this famously once destroyed city. There’s something about visiting a historically significant site, even there’s not too much around to see. I’ll also see the green vault, and compare to what I saw in Vienna I guess……

5. Berlin
This is pretty much the whole reason of my trip. I’ve been always wanting to visit Berlin. But it’s so out of the way from other European Cities I visited previously. So I told myself, next time I’m going to Europe, I have to see this city for its design scene. There’s something so nice about German design. Clean lines, minimal, functional with a good quality. Everyone kinda told me it’s not that interesting to see the wall, but I surely think it’s a must-do on my list. Again, it’s historically significant. (I even been to the Omaha Beach in France, so how can I miss this wall?) Culinary wise, I’m hoping to try different bits of everything. A bit of German, plus a lot of ethnical food. I’m going to be in Berlin over Dec 24 and 25, So I surely will get a nice christmas dinner over there. But so far, the place I’m interested is an Italian Restaurant…. it feels a bit wrong to spend Christmas in Berlin, eating Italian food……

6. Copenhagen
A bus will take me to Copenhagen overnight. Not going to stay here long, as it’s hell expensive there. I can hardly find a decent hostel in my budget. so at the end, I decided what the hell, I’ll shorten my stay into two nights, and splurge a little on accommodation. Not an extremely fancy place, but will be a nice change from hostels. I was thinking of a visit to the home of Hamlet, or a day trip to Sweden. However, it seems there will be enough to keep me busy in Copenhagen alone. Palaces and some art with shopping trips in between. But what gets my heart pumping is the food there. I’ve heard so much about Copenhagen’s food revolutionary.All the fresh fish and sandwiches seems very delicious on my screen.

Obstables:
1. Can’t afford a meal at Noma in Copenhagen
2. Hard to find any reasonably priced restaurants that intrigue me in Prague.
3. A bit hard to plan what to do in Berlin as it’s the week of Christmas.
4. Not sure if I can handle visiting all those Christmas Market.
5. Can’t get over point #1