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In a State of the State speech that largely ignored any talk of the big, fat budget black hole that threatens to swallow the California dream, Gov. Gavin Newsom instead laid out a vision of the Golden State that centers on inclusivity and kindness to combat Trump’s reign of darkness and expulsion.

In a week dominated by news of immigration authorities killing a Minnesota mother; acknowledgment that “American First” really means running Venezuela for years to come; and the U.S. pulling even further out of global alliances, Newsom offered a soothing and unifying vision of what a Democratic America could look like.

Because, of course, far more than a tally of where we are as a state, the speech served as a likely road map of what a run for president would sound like if (or when) Newsom officially enters the race. In that vein, he drove home a commitment to both continuing to fight against the current administration, but also a promise to go beyond opposition with values and goals for a post-Trump world, if voters choose to manifest such a thing.

It was a clear volley against Republicans’ love of using California as the ultimate example of failed Democratic policies, and instead positioning it as a model.

“This state, this people, this experiment in democracy, belongs not to the past, but to the future,” Newsom told the packed Legislative chamber Thursday. “Expanding civil rights for all, opening doors for more people to pursue their dreams. A dream that’s not exclusive, not to any one race, not to any one religion, or class. Standing up for traditional virtues — compassion, courage, and commitment to something larger than our own self-interest — and asserting that no one, particularly the president of the United States, stands above the law.”

Perhaps the most interesting part of Thursday’s address was the beginning — when Newsom went entirely off script for the first few minutes, ribbing the Republican contingent for being forced to listen to nearly an hourlong speech, then seeming to sincerely thank even his detractors for their part in making California the state it is.

“I just want to express gratitude every single person in this chamber, every single person that shaped who we are today and what the state represents,” Newsom said, even calling out Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, one of his most vociferous foes, who released a questionable AI-generated “parody” video of Newsom in response to the speech.

It was in his off-the-cuff remarks where Newsom gave the clearest glimpse of what he might look like as a candidate — confident, at ease, speaking to both parties in a respectful way that the current president, who has labeled Democrats as enemies, refuses to do. Of course, he’d likely do all that during a campaign while continuing his lowbrow online jabbing, since the online world remains a parallel reality where anything goes.

But in person, at least, he was clearly going for classy over coarse. And gone is the jargon-heavy Newsom of past campaigns, or the guarded Newsom who tried to keep his personal life personal. His years of podcasts seem to have paid off, giving him a warmer, conversational persona that was noticeably absent in earlier years, and which is well-suited to a moment of national turmoil.

Don’t get me wrong — Newsom may or may not be the best pick for Democrats and voters in general. That’s up to you. I just showed up to this dog-and-pony show to get a close-up look at the horse’s teeth before he hits the track. And I’ve got to say, whether Newsom ends up successful or not in an Oval Office run, he’s a ready contender.

Beyond lofty sentiments, there was a sprinkling of actual facts and policies. Around AI, he hinted at greater regulation, especially around protecting children.

“Are we doing enough?” he asked, to a few shouts of “No,” from the crowd. This should be no surprise since his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, has made oversight of artificial intelligence a priority in her own work.

Other concrete policy callouts included California’s commitment to increasing the number of people covered by health insurance, even as the federal government seeks to shove folks off Medicaid. In that same wellness bucket, he touted a commitment to getting processed foods out of school cafeterias and launching more medications under the state’s own generic drug label, including an $11 insulin pen launched last week.

On affordability, he found common ground with a proposal Trump put out this week as well — banning big investors from buying up single family homes. Although in California this is less of a problem than in some major housing markets, every house owned by a big investor is one not owned by a first-time buyer. Newsom called on the Legislature to work on a way to curtail those big buyers.

He also hit on our high minimum wage, especially for certain industries such as fast food ($20 an hour) and healthcare ($25 an hour), compared with states where the federal minimum wage still holds sway at just more than $7 an hour.

And on one of his most vulnerable points, homelessness, where Republicans and Trump in particular have attacked California, he announced that unsheltered homelessness decreased by 9% across the state in 2025 — though the data backing that was not immediately available. He also said that thousands of new mental health beds, through billions in funding from Proposition 1 in 2024, are beginning to come online and have the potential to fundamentally change access to mental health care in the state in coming years. This July, a second phase of Proposition 1 will bring in $1 billion annually to fund county mental health care.

Newsom will release his budget proposal on Friday, with much less fanfare. That’s because the state is facing a huge deficit, which will require tough conversations and likely cuts. Those are conversations about the hard work of governing, ones that Newsom likely doesn’t want to publicize. But Thursday was about positioning, not governing.

“In California, we are not silent,” Newsom said. “We are not hunkering down. We are not retreating. We are a beacon.”

It may not be a groundbreaking stand to have a candidate that understands politics isn’t always a battle of good and evil, but instead a negotiation of viewpoints. It’s surely a message other Democrats will embrace, one as basic as it is inspiring in these days of rage and pain.

But Newsom is staking that territory early, and did it with an assurance that he explained in a recent Atlantic profile.

He’d rather be strong and wrong than weak and right — but strong and righteous is as American as it gets.

CABLE cars aren’t just for ski holidays – this urban one has just opened an hour from the UK and it’s open for tourists.

The next time you’re in the French capital, skip the Metro and hop on this cable car instead.

A new cable car has opened in Paris and it’s the longest in Europe.

It’s called Câble C1 or the Paris Téléphérique and is 4.5km, or 2.79miles long.

The line has 105 gondolas which hold up to 10 people and it was expected to transport 11,000 people per day. 

The cable car isn’t actually a tourist attraction and instead was built as an alternative for the Metro.

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The line will predominantly be used by residents. All you need to ride the cable car is a bus ticket or travel pass that you’d also be using on the metro, and it will only cost around €2 (£1.74).

The purpose of the cable car is to connect poorly served southeastern suburbs like Créteil and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.

The journey from Créteil to Villeneuve-Saint-Georges by road takes 40sminutes-– the cable car can do it in 18.

It will fly over four municipalities in the Paris region; Créteil, Limeil-Brévannes, Valenton, and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges.

This is the seventh urban cable car to open in France, it cost a whopping €138million (around £120.8 million) to build.

While this might seem a lot – it’s much less than a new Metro line would have cost to build.

There’s a cable car and caves combo at the heart of the UK that offers an almost similar experience to being in the Alps.

The Heights of Abraham in the Derbyshire Dales installed the UK’s first ever alpine-style cable car 40 years ago to get visitors up to its hilltop park.

You’ll find underground tours, play areas and woodland wanders for you and your family to enjoy.

The unique transport system cuts out the need to scramble up the steep hillside and has even inspired the likes of the London Eye and the cable car at Alton Towers.

The trip to the top takes you over trees, rock formations and the river, with incredible views of the town of Matlock Bath below you and rolling countryside stretching as far as the eye can see. 

But the cable car voyage is only the start of a day out with a difference deep in the Derbyshire Dales. 

Plus, check out the 1,024-year-old medieval town with terrifying cable car attraction that’s three hours from the UK.

And check out the cheap European city Brits often overlook – with Only Fools and Horses pub and new cable car attraction.

When musician Cary Brothers found out that the Hotel Cafe was shutting down, he felt like he’d been told his parents were selling his childhood home.

The beloved music venue, which kick-started the careers of then-little-known singer-songwriters Adele, Sara Bareilles and Damien Rice, is closing its doors in early 2026, its co-founders Marko Shafer and Max Mamikunian announced in November. For those like Brothers, who considered the Hotel Cafe a second home, the news of the closure was a heavy blow.

Luckily for them, Shafer and Mamikunian plan to open a new location in the nearby Lumina Hollywood tower in early 2027. Brothers said it provides consolation, but not complete comfort.

“Yeah, they’re buying a great new house, but it’s not our house,” he said.

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Elected the “mayor of the Hotel Cafe,” Brothers discovered the Hollywood haunt before it even had a liquor license. In those days, the cafe had a BYOB policy and sold buckets of ice for visitors to chill the alcohol they brought in with them, and jazz legends pouring out of local bars after last call capped off their nights with a 3 a.m. jam session in the Hotel Cafe’s piano room (or smoking room, depending on whom you ask).

Every penny they made went back into the venue, Shafer said.

Brothers has always likened the Hotel Cafe in that era to “‘Cheers’ with guitars,” where he could show up any night and a dozen of his closest friends would be there. Eagles songwriter Jack Tempchin used to say it was the closest thing to the front bar at the Troubadour in the ’70s.

“Nobody became the Eagles, sure, but the spirit was the same,” Brothers said.

Dave Navarro, left, and Billy Corgan perform with Spirits in the Sky at the Hotel Cafe in 2009. The venue was a launching pad for many prominent singer-songwriters in the late 2000s and early 2010s.

(Tiffany Rose / WireImage via Getty Images)

Beginnings on Cahuenga Boulevard

The owners attribute much of Hotel Cafe’s success to good timing.

At the turn of the century, Mamikunian said, “Word on the street in Los Angeles was, it’s an industry town and music venues don’t work here.”

Mamikunian, on the other hand, believed the city was teeming with raw talent, but there was no place for it to develop. Judging by the laundry list of musicians who flocked to the Hotel Cafe in those early years, his hunch was spot-on.

“We hit it right when it needed to happen,” he said.

For independent artist Kevin Garrett, the Hotel Cafe was a “gym” where he could flex his creative muscles and experiment with his sound, judgment-free. For local folk singer Lucy Clearwater, it was her sign that moving to L.A. was the right decision for her career.

And for Ingrid Michaelson, the spot was ahead of its time in championing female artists. When the Hotel Cafe asked Michaelson to headline its 2008 all-female tour, she thought, “When does that ever happen, except for Lilith Fair?”

In Michaelson’s native New York, there were a handful of venues that cradled early-career musicians: the Living Room, the Bitter End, Kenny’s Castaways.

“But in L.A., there really was just the Hotel Cafe,” Michaelson, behind such 2000s hits as “The Way I Am” and “You and I,” said. “So it was this distilling of all the singer-songwriters in L.A., kind of coming through this one port.”

Patrons enter the Hotel Cafe through a back alleyway along Cahuenga Boulevard.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Through the musical generations

In its 25 years of operation, the Hotel Cafe has seen several generations of musicians shuffle through the space, Shafer said. Production manager Gia Hughes calls them the “graduating classes.”

In Brothers’ days, it was Joshua Radin, Bareilles, Meiko and other late 2000s singer-songwriters whose music regularly landed on shows like “Grey’s Anatomy” — or in Brothers’ case, the indie cult classic “Garden State,” directed by and starring fellow Northwestern alum Zach Braff.

Next came residencies from breakouts Johnnyswim and JP Saxe, and later, folksters Clearwater and her close confidant Rett Madison. Clearwater said that during her tenure, she would often join her fellow performers onstage to sing backing vocals or play a violin solo.

“Every four years it’s like a different kind of community that comes about,” Hughes said. “And it’s different, but it’s also not.”

It’s why Shafer and Mamikunian aren’t worried about losing the magic they created on Cahuenga. In their eyes, it was never confined to the space itself.

“I remember when we first talked about expanding the Hotel Cafe and everybody said, ‘Don’t do it. You’re going to ruin what you have,’” Shafer said, referencing the venue’s 2004 acquisition of additional space next door. (They expanded again in 2016 with their Second Stage annex, about half the capacity of the main stage.)

“When we did it, it changed the room so much for the better, and gave us access to bigger artists but still didn’t lose the intimacy,” he said about the expansion.

Shafer and Mamikunian thought they’d outgrown the Cahuenga space and had long been pondering a move. This year, the logistics lined up, Mamikunian said.

“It wasn’t anything dramatic,” he said. It was just time.

Hughes called the move “an opportunity to pursue a space that can check a lot more boxes for us, for the long term”: more parking, increased room capacity, greater accessibility.

L.A. singer-songwriter Maris performs in the Second Stage performance room at the Hotel Cafe.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

A new beginning around the corner

Zoning clearances are still pending for the new location in Lumina Hollywood on Sunset Boulevard, a high-rise apartment building set to be upgraded by Morguard Corp. And although the new venue is slated for a 2027 opening, the timeline depends on an upcoming zoning hearing, expected in March or April, Mamikunian said.

But Shafer and Mamikunian opted to announce the closure while details were still being worked out rather than wait and risk information leaking to the public. Plus, this way, both artists and patrons have time to say their goodbyes.

After Clearwater heard the news, she rushed to a “Monday Monday” weekly showcase and immediately felt like she’d been transported back to 2017, when she spent four-plus nights a week at the joint.

“So many of my old friends from that time — some of [whom] I had fallen out of touch with — I saw all of them there,” the Bay Area-bred folk singer said. “You could feel everybody loving it so much.”

The singer said she couldn’t help but wonder whether things would have panned out differently had people shown out like that before Shafer and Mamikunian made their choice. But sipping red wine in the green room that night, she felt lucky just to be there.

“It’s the wood, it’s the bar, the backstage chairs, the little lanterns,” she said. “I’m just going to miss what it looks and smells like, but the people, that’s never gonna go away.”

The Hotel Cafe hosted its annual holiday showcase on Dec. 19, with proceeds benefiting the Recording Academy’s nonprofit arm, MusiCares.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Farewell for now

Earlier this month, the Hotel Cafe hosted its last-ever holiday event at the Cahuenga location. Hughes, with the help of her interior designer sister, Nina Hughes, spent hours that day decking the halls with carnival lights and ribbons galore.

Even before the night’s performances began, attendees were clinking glasses and giving lingering hugs — the kind befitting the last day of summer camp.

“It’s going to be a love fest,” Hughes predicted.

As heartfelt as that night’s musicians were in their speeches, bartender Dan Shapiro said waxing sentimental onstage has been the norm for weeks.

“People are always doing eulogies to the place,” Shapiro said with a chuckle. As he surveyed the lineup posted at the bar, he said he’d put his money on performer Lily Kershaw shedding a few tears. Fellow bartender Dave Greve concurred.

Against the odds, Kershaw didn’t cry as she led the crowd through a rendition of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young’s “Our House” a few hours later. Subsequent performers stayed on theme with songs composed of resonant lyrics like “So long stranger / I like to think I know you best” and “Hold on tight / don’t let go.”

As Brothers crooned his own tribute, he closed his eyes, as though praying.

“It’s never gonna be what it was, but it’ll be something new and different, and I’m really excited to see what that is,” Lucy Clearwater said about the Hotel Cafe’s relocation to Sunset Boulevard.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

James Babson, a longtime doorman at the Hotel Cafe, said its staff and attendees alike have always been reverent toward performers. For some, he said, the listening experience is “spiritual.”

“Maybe they’re not churchgoers, so they have this sense of community and transcendence, where that song touches them on this level, which takes them somewhere else,” he said.

Peter Malek felt it the first time he stepped inside the Hotel Cafe 20 years ago. Hooked on that feeling, he started visiting the venue several times a week. Sometimes, he never even made it inside, content to chat with Babson for hours at the door; other evenings he spent in the staff offices, cramming for his medical school exams.

According to Malek’s last tally, he’s been to the Hotel Cafe 1,333 times. Although he was saddened when he heard the news of the relocation — several months before almost everyone else found out — he said he isn’t expecting Shafer and Mamikunian to replicate what they built at the Cahuenga site.

Instead, Malek said, he’s left “happy that he witnessed it.”

The Hotel Cafe was packed with regulars and first-time attendees at its farewell holiday performance in December.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

All night at the Hotel Cafe’s holiday party, attendees wondered whether penultimate performer Dan Wilson, of the pop-rock band Semisonic, would play “the song.” No one had to name it.

When Wilson finally sang the magic words, “Closing time, open all the doors / And let you out into the world,” the room erupted into cheers.

It was the closest Brothers came to crying, but he held it in. There would be time for that later.

The Trump administration made work requirements for low-income people receiving government assistance a priority in 2025.

The departments of Health and Human Services, Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development have worked to usher in stricter employment conditions to receive healthcare, food aid and rental assistance benefits funded by the federal government.

The idea is that public assistance discourages optimal participation in the labor market and that imposing work requirements not only leads to self-sufficiency, but also benefits the broader economy.

“It strengthens families and communities as it gives new life to start-ups and growing businesses,” the Cabinet secretaries wrote in a New York Times essay in May about work requirements.

Yet many economists say there is no clear evidence such mandates have that effect. There’s concern these new policies that make benefits contingent on work could ultimately come at a cost in other ways, from hindering existing employment to heavy administrative burdens or simply proving unpopular politically.

Here is a look at how work requirements could affect the millions of people who rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Medicaid and HUD-subsidized housing:

SNAP

What President Trumprefers to as his “Big Beautiful Bill” in July expanded the USDA’s work requirements policy for SNAP recipients who are able-bodied adults without dependents.

Previously, adults older than 54, as well as parents with children under age 18, at home were exempted from SNAP’s 80-hours monthly work requirement. Now, adults up to age 64 and parents of children between the age of 14 and 17 have to prove they’re working, volunteering or job training if they are on SNAP for more than three months.

The new law also cuts exemptions for people who are homeless, veterans and young people who have aged out of foster care. There are also significant restrictions on waivers for states and regions based on how high the local unemployment rates are.

The Pew Research Center, citing the most recent census survey data from 2023, notes 61% of adult SNAP recipients had not been employed that year, and that the national average benefit as of May was $188.45 per person or $350.89 per household.

Ismael Cid Martinez, an economist at the Economic Policy Institute, said the people who qualify for SNAP are likely working low-wage jobs that tend to be less stable because they are more tied to the nation’s macroeconomics. That means when the economy weakens, it’s the low-wage workers whose hours are cut and jobs are eliminated, which in turn heightens their need for government support. Restricting such benefits could threaten their ability to get back to work altogether, Martinez said.

“These are some of the matters that tie in together to explain the economy and [how] the labor market is connected to these benefits,” Martinez said. “None of us really show up into an economy on our own.”

Angela Rachidi, a researcher at the conservative think tank American Enterprise Institute, said she expects the poverty rate to decline as a result of the work requirements but even that wouldn’t ultimately affect the labor force.

“[E]ven if every nonworking SNAP adult subject to a work requirement started working, it would not impact the labor market much,” Rachidi said by email.

Medicaid

Trump’s big bill over the summer also created new requirements, starting in 2027, for low-income 19- to 64-year-olds enrolled in Medicaid through the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion or through a waiver program to complete 80 hours of work, job training, education or volunteering per month. There are several exemptions, including for those who are caregivers, have disabilities, have recently left prison or jail or are pregnant or postpartum.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has predicted that millions of people will lose healthcare because of the requirements.

Nationally, most people on Medicaid already work. The majority of experts on a Cornell Health Policy Center panel said that new national requirements won’t lead to large increases in employment rates among working adults on Medicaid, and that many working people would lose healthcare because of administrative difficulties proving they work.

Georgia is currently the only state with a Medicaid program that imposes work requirements, which Gov. Brian Kemp created instead of expanding Medicaid. The program, called Georgia Pathways, has come under fire for enrolling far fewer people than expected and creating large administrative costs.

Critics say many working people struggle to enroll and log their hours online, with some getting kicked out of coverage at times because of administrative errors.

And research released recently from the United Kingdom-based research group BMJ comparing Georgia with other states that did not expand Medicaid found Georgia Pathways did not increase employment during the first 15 months, nor did it improve access to Medicaid.

Kemp’s office blames high administrative costs and startup challenges on delays because of legal battles with former President Biden’s administration. A spokesperson said 19,383 Georgians have received coverage since the program began.

HUD

HUD in July also proposed a rule change that would allow public housing authorities across the country to institute work requirements, as well as time limits.

In a leaked draft of that rule change, HUD spells out how housing authorities can choose to opt in and voluntarily implement work requirements of up to 40 hours a week for people getting rental assistance, including adult tenants in public housing and Section 8 voucher-holders.

HUD also identified two states — Arkansas and Wisconsin — where it could trigger implementation based on existing state laws if and when the HUD rule change is approved. The proposal remains in regulatory review and would be subject to a public comment period.

HUD spokesman Matthew Maley declined to comment on the leaked documents, which broadly define the age of work-eligible people being up to age 61, with exemptions for people with disabilities and those who are in school or are pregnant. Primary caregivers of disabled people and children under 6 years old are also exempted.

HUD’s proposed rule change also notes that it is only defining the upper limits of the policy, allowing flexibility for local agencies to further define their individual programs with additional exemptions.

In a review of how housing authorities have tested work requirements over time, researchers at New York University found few successful examples, noting only one case where there were modest increases in employment — in Charlotte, N.C. — as compared to seven other regions where work requirements were changed or discontinued “because they were deemed punitive or hard to administer.”

Ho and Kramon write for the Associated Press.

OFFICIALS have called for the new EES system to be urgently reviewed with some passengers facing three-hour queues at passport control.

The new Entry/Exit system is set to be up and running by April 10, 2026 for non-EU citizens entering the Schengen area – but there has been a concerns due to huge delays at the border.

The new EES system started rolling out from October 12, 2025, in order to replace manual passport stamping with digital checks for non-EU travelers.

It was designed to eventually reduce airport wait times by automating border checks with biometrics.

But reports have recorded waiting times of up to three hours – and many travellers have taken to social media too.

On December 18, one person said about Lanzarote on X: “Landed at 14.30, over 2 hours later still at airport. This new EEs just is working. Hundreds of people in queue then they stamp passports. Ridiculous”.

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On the same day, The Portugal Post reported three-hour queues in the arrivals hall at Lisbon’s Humberto Delgado Airport due to a glitch with the EES system.

It even added that “officials are now weighing whether to switch the system off altogether during Christmas”.

Earlier in the month, one traveller said: “The new EU Entry/Exit System is off to a great start at Prague Airport, with a 3+ hour queue wrapped around the entire terminal right now.”

The Airports Council International (ACI) in Brussels is calling for an urgent review of the entry-exit system (EES).

ACI has said that the capturing of biometric data from third-country nationals entering the Schengen area has resulted in border control processing times at airports increasing by up to 70 per cent.

It added that this has impacted the passenger experience especially in airports across France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

The ACI has said that multiple factors have resulted in delays which include regular EES outages.

It reported persistent EES configuration problems, “including the partial deployment or unavailability of self‑service kiosks used by travelers for registration and biometric data capture”.

There is continued unavailability of Automated Border Control (ABC) gates for EES processing at many airports, and the unavailability of an effective pre-registration app.

Another factor is an insufficient amount of border guards at airports.

Olivier Jankovec, Director General of ACI EUROPE warned: “Significant discomfort is already being inflicted upon travelers, and airport operations impacted with the current threshold for registering third country nationals set at only 10 per cent.”

Currently, one in 10 travellers has to go through the digital registration.

But by January 9, 2026, the percentage is due to be raised to 35 per cent.

Mr Jankovec has warned that unless the issues are resolved this “will inevitably result in much more severe congestion and systemic disruption for airports and airlines. This will possibly involve serious safety hazards”.

He added: “We fully understand and support the importance of the EES and remain fully committed to its implementation.

“But the EES cannot be about mayhem for travelers and chaos at our airports. If the current operational issues cannot be addressed and the system stabilised by early January, we will need swift action from the European Commission and Schengen Member States to allow additional flexibility in its roll‑out.”

For more on EES checks, here’s everything you need to know about them from a travel expert.

Plus, here’s all the worst travel chaos predicted for the UK over the Christmas period.

Amsterdam’s iconic Christmas market serves glühwein, raclette and festive treats just one hour from the UK – it needs to be on your radar this winter.

There’s only so much time to soak up the Christmas spirit before the big day, and despite work and life becoming more hectic than usual, I managed to swap the hustle and bustle of London for Amsterdam. It was my first trip back to the Dutch capital in a decade, with my arrival coinciding with the start of one of the city’s most iconic Christmas markets, reports the Express.

Christmas markets in the UK can be hit or miss, and I must admit, the ones I’ve visited over the years have never quite matched those on the continent. The first time I realised our markets didn’t measure up was just a few years ago when I visited Vienna, which can only be described as Christmas on steroids.

The largest Christmas market in Amsterdam springs up in the shadow of the Rijksmuseum on Museumplein, where you can blend the festive spirit with a visit to some of the city’s most renowned museums and galleries.

We arrived on its opening day, and even though we visited in the evening, we managed to dodge the wall-to-wall crowds. This was something I never experienced in Vienna, and on this occasion, I was extremely grateful for it.

Entry to the market is free, but you’ll have to fork out €16 for the joy of skating on its ice rink. Much like other European markets, Amsterdam’s was adorned with wooden chalets offering everything from knick-knacks to treats, piping hot cups of glühwein and food from all around the world.

There was even a cabin flying the Union Jack selling fudge. Who would have thought that British fudge was such a hit overseas?

No visit to a Christmas market would be complete without trying some of the local specialities. A Dutch wurst is a robust cured pork sausage typically served with stamppot, a blend of mashed potatoes and kale. However, it seemed we had arrived too late. No wursts for us.

So we settled for the next best thing: barbeque jumbo sausages served on toasted slices of bread with pickled onions and gherkins, topped with crispy onions and mayo. This isn’t your average sausage sandwich. Trying to tackle every bite is a mouthful, overflowing with chunks of smoky sausage and crumbly onions.

It was evidently a popular choice, with crowds gathering around the open flame grill right in the heart of the action, with sausages sizzling and emitting a tantalising aroma. A barbeque might not be what you expect in the depths of winter, but blimey, was it needed.

Sadly, the warmth emanating from the grill wasn’t enough to heat our bones while we waited, so two cups of glühwein were called for. Glühwein is traditional German mulled wine, delicately spiced with cinnamon, cloves, star anise.

I’m not entirely certain what the secret is, but somehow the Germans manage to perfectly balance the red wine and spices in a way that all the mulled wine I’ve sampled at UK Christmas markets always seem far too acidic. Glühwein is the ideal beverage to warm you to your core, particularly in a freezing city in December, even if the city is renowned for its beer.

When our sausages finally turned up, they were heaped with pickled onions and gherkins. Much like a Scandi open sandwich, it was bursting with diverse flavours, so unlike any festive fare you’d find back home.

You received an entire jumbo sausage on one slice of bread, quartered to actually fit into your mouth. The smoky pork was wonderfully offset by the sharp tang from the pickles, with a different texture provided by crispy onions. This isn’t your typical Christmas market grub, but it was delightful to sample some local specialities.

However, no Christmas is complete without a generous helping of cheese. A classic choice at European Christmas markets is bubbling, ooey, gooey raclette.

We opted for the traditional pairing of raclette and potatoes. What could be more perfect? The humble new potato smothered in smoky melted cheese.

The cheesy spuds were served with some more crispy onions and a fresh coleslaw. Now this is what Christmas is truly about. I would devour a bucketful of raclette if they’d offered one.

Sausages, glühwein and raclette: the holy trinity of Christmas market food.

Even though it was late at night and the crowds were thinning, there was still a buzz among the youngsters and families huddled around the electric heaters trying to stay warm, sipping from steaming cups, welcoming the festive season. Compared to Vienna, Amsterdam’s markets offer a more tranquil start to the Christmas season.

Is this the best Christmas market I’ve ever visited? Probably not, but I’m always fascinated to see how other countries embrace the festive season.

Amsterdam is one of those cities where you can spend hours just wandering around, and we certainly did plenty of that. You can meander from spot to spot with ease, particularly if navigating foreign public transport baffles you. That being said, Amsterdam’s public transport runs like clockwork.

From the moment you step out of Amsterdam Centraal, you can sense the Christmas spirit in the air. I returned to the city for the first time in ten years, and up until this point, I hadn’t felt all that festive.

Amsterdam served as a stepping stone into Christmas for me before I head back to Vienna again for round two of Christmas on steroids. If there’s anywhere you should flee to in December, it’s Amsterdam. It’s only a train journey away.

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