During the Christmas holiday the German department took a group of Third Form German pupils on a tour of Germany that combined all aspects of German culture.
On the first morning we went to Wolfsburg, ‘die Autostadt’ where Volkswagen makes its cars. Everyone was amazed by the size and scale of the factory. The tour around the Autostadt started with an exhibition about the different stages of car manufacturing, which was very interesting. After this we went to the pavilions of all the Volkswagen owned brands where we had a chance to sit in all the cars. The most amazing part was the car towers where new cars are stored before being picked up by the buyers.
The second part of the tour was around the factory itself on a very fun bendy bus. Everyone in the factory was hard at work doing their own tasks on each car.
After all this excitement we travelled back to Hanover for the ‘Hanover is cool’ tour, which ended near the magnificent town hall of Hanover. Following this we all had time in the Christmas market to buy some traditional food.
The next day we were all ready for a new adventure on the tram system. The teachers gave us tasks to talk to people in German to find out different things about German culture. Between us we found out a lot about the Germans and Hanover that we didn’t know before.
The second half of the day involved travelling to Hamelin where we had an amazing tour around the old city lead by the Pied Piper himself. We wound in and out of all the narrow alleyways and lanes of Hameln while the Piper played tunes and danced. After the tour we went to the Christmas market to have hot chocolate and waffles, and buy presents.
On Sunday we had the opportunity to go to a very beautiful castle in Bückeburg. The tour of the castle, home to the Prince of Schaumburg’s family, was amazing. We had the chance to see the decorations and the huge halls that were 500 years old. For the second half of the day we watched a horse show hosted by the castle owners. The horses danced and did tricks to music, telling the stories of famous fairy tales.
On the final day we all spent time shopping in the Hannover Christmas market. Everyone bought traditional German souvenirs for their families and completed their research packs.
Our final meal in Germany was at an old brewery where we all had schnitzel or currywurst. Another hour in the market ended our trip to Germany, before we got on the train back to the airport.
William Stairs (L)
