Stade; Friday, 19 December, 2025

I had a half days leave so after finishing work at lunchtime I headed over to the airport with one of the most seamless journeys I’ve had all year, the train connections working perfectly and a 490 bus to Terminal 5 arriving at the bus stop at Feltham station the same moment I did.

A smooth journey through the airport and onto the flight and then a generally smooth flight over to Hamburg, landing a good 10 minutes early and being the first person into the immigration hall meant that, despite the European Entry Exit System (EES) machines playing up, though before the flight was originally scheduled to arrive.

I made a train at the airport station with about a minute to spare and at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof arrived on the platform at the exact moment the train to Stade was pulling in, meaning I was a good 45 minutes ahead of where I thought I would be by the time I arrived in the city.

It was a short walk across town to my hotel for the weekend and, because I’d made such good time, after checking in and dropping off my luggage I was able to head out and explore the Christmas Markets. The main market in the Horse Market (Pferdemarkt) was due to close at 21:00 and I wasn’t originally due to arrive until about then so it meant I had enough time to look around and participate in some glühwein and bratwurst consumption.

From the Pferdemarkt I walked the short distance through the centre of the city to the Fish Market where the other part of the city’s Christmas Market is held and had a long wander around here, before going off for an explore of the city around this area, mostly along the Schwinge river that runs through the centre of the city and formed the old Harbour in the times of this being a major Hanseatic Trading City.

I spent quite a bit of time wandering around the Schwinge area of the city before I decided that it was time to head back to the hotel and get some rest.