Having lived away from home for many years myself, I know oh so well what Hesse is describing: I too get very emotional every time I step out of an airplane onto German ground and a great sensation runs through me when I hear the first German words. It’s a feeling of belonging, of being reunited, of being home again… It sends shivers down my spine and puts a smile on my face. And if you think I am being cheesy, then you should hear what going back to Germany did to Hesse: 
Hesse must have enjoyed a rather idyllic and scenic journey and in fact, in German his poem is called “Germany - A Winter Fairy Tale”. I don’t know about you, but I picture a horse carriage, passengers wrapped in warm blankets, romantic little villages, views on snowy mountains and frozen lakes… In reality, the poem is actually rather critical and Hesse expresses his dissatisfaction with German society and politics. Despite the lovely title, the poem was quickly banned by the German government.
On my recent visit to Germany, I felt a bit like Herman Hesse: I boarded the plane in great anticipation of going home and being reunited with my family. I was excited about listening to German music, reading German papers, eating German food. I was looking forward to walks in the snow, mulled wine on Christmas markets and evenings spent cuddling in front of German TV with my sisters. But I soon realised that my dream of a fairy tale holiday was unlikely to become reality…
I am not going to bore you with (what seems to be) the first time that Germany had snow, but here is a short list of my lowlights, which transformed “walking in a winter wonderland” to “travelling in a public transport hell”
• Joburg to Frankfurt – flight delayed by two hours, shaky conditions, major turbulence
• Frankfurt to Cologne – long delays since the high speed trains were only operating at 60% the speed (no one foresaw the oh so unlikely event of snow in Germany…)
• Cologne to Alt-Ötting – train delayed, two connecting ones missed and my family had to take a taxi for the last leg of the journey
• Cologne to Brussels - train broken down and all passengers requested to wait for the next one
• Brussels to London (fortunately not me) – problems of the EuroStar leading to a fifteen hour delay
• Cologne to Salzburg – with all passengers on board, the plane waited four hours for a de icer
• Cologne airport to home – train delayed, another train broken down; all passengers asked to use alternative forms of transport. The only alternative being one bus running every twenty minutes – all passengers from one train squeezed onto one bus…
And this is just a Best Off.
So even though Germany was the winter wonderland of everyone’s “White Christmas” fantasies and fairy tales, I am more likely to do it like Hesse: mention the beauty briefly and then express my anger.
Anger about politicians who did not manage to anticipate cold conditions and snow in Germany. Anger about train announcements claiming that a train was only “10 minutes delayed, we apologise for any inconvenience” when it was actually going to be cancelled. Anger that airports did not manage to do maintenance on their de-icers in summer, but waited for winter to do repairs. Anger that officials pretended that none of the problems were their fault because they could not have expected this - after all, it’s the first time Germany had snow – ever!
So rather than Hesse, I think I should quote Heinrich Heine’s:
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