On the luckiest day of the year – Friday, 13 October – twenty-one Year 10 and 11 pupils demonstrated their commitment to their study of IGCSE German by boarding a coach at 3 o’clock in the morning in order to enjoy a luxury coach journey to Kampf-Bornhofen in the heart of the Rheinland.
Our four-day adventure began in the beautiful Hotel Wagner in the side of a mountain, on the banks of the River Rhein, which we felt was almost exclusively ours! We were treated to tasty 3-course meals which welcomed us each evening after each of our fun-packed days! These included an historical walking tour of Koblenz with its links to the French and the Prussians, before a much anticipated exploration of the German culinary delights of the town such as Spaghettieis and Currywurst; an evening of bowling and mocktails (!); a short train ride to Schloss Drachenburg – the ‘Dragon’s Castle’ – the glorious stately home, where the legendary Siegfried killed the dragon and bathed in his blood to make him invincible; the speediest climb of the 533 steps of the Köln Cathedral (one group managed it in 6 minutes!) and finally the visit to the Lindt chocolate museum and the chocolately delights of the chocolate shop on site!
On our last evening we pitted our wits against each other in a quiz which tested us on our geographical, historical, classical and grammatical knowledge of everything we had learnt on our trip – everything from the origins of the spitting Schängel Fountain to why cocoa pods grow on the trunks of trees…!
Thanks must go to Mrs Colquhoun and Ms LaRoe whose support and supervision of our young people on this trip was unfailing.
In the words of the pupils themselves: it was “eine tolle Klassenfahrt, die so viel Spaβ gemacht hat!”
Categories: Senior School