Over Half Term, 12 Upper 4 pupils, accompanied by Will Croston and Abbie Dean, flew to Germany for the annual Hamburg trip, which always promises an intensive initiation into the German way of life and a great deal of fun, as well as a valuable educational experience.
As in previous years, the group stayed in the Deutsche Seemannsmission in the City Centre, which provided an ideal base to explore the city and its world-famous port. Having not yet learnt a great deal of German, the pupils gained a positive first-hand experience of Germany and were given many opportunities to try out their language skills, including writing the traditional postcard to the Head. The pupils coped well with buying food (they were issued with money to buy their lunches), souvenirs, stamps and gifts as well as being willing to try a variety of new foods including a wide range of sausages and the generous German breakfast. The sausage stall-holders and the staff in the post office were, as usual, very patient as they dealt with all our individual orders and they were impressed by the good behaviour of Norwich School pupils.
With almost three full days in the city and were able to include all the major sights, and the traffic-free city centre provided a safe area to let small groups go shopping for short periods, allowing pupils to search out some bargains notably in the Karstadt department store. On the first night we went swimming and on the second night, we took the group to the Miniaturwelt in the warehouse district of Hamburg which they all found absolutely fascinating.
Feeling adventurous, we also descended deep under river Elbe to see the 19th century tunnel with lifts for horse and carriage, still operating today. We also found out more about Hamburg's trading past and present and toured the port for a closer look at the dry docks, container terminals and loading bays. In addition, the children completed the Hamburg Treasure Hunt securing some great selfies in front of various tourist attractions en route! We even found time to visit a local Gymnasium where we spent some time with some local pupils and did some joint activities.
Norwich School pupils are delightful to take away, being enthusiastic, polite and well-behaved. All of the group were open to new experiences and took a keen interest in their surroundings, ensuring they got a great deal out of the trip.
