This year, 20 U4 boys and girls accompanied by Will Croston, Christine Cardoit and Anne Kaeschel flew to Hamburg to mark the return of the Hamburg trip after two years of Covid cancellations. It was the 26th such trip.
As usual, we stayed in the Deutsche Seemannsmission right in the City Centre which provided an ideal base to explore the city and its world-famous port. Having not learnt a great deal of German, the U4 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 remarked on the good behaviour of Norwich School pupils.
The journey was easy and we made the journey from the airport to Hamburg city centre on the U-Bahn. Accommodation at the Seemannsmission hostel was all in order with double and triple rooms and plenty of food.
We had almost three full days in the city and were able to include all the major sights, thanks to cheap group tickets for the very efficient public transport system, which meant that we could cover a fair distance quickly. The traffic-free city centre provided a safe area to let small groups go shopping for short periods and the pupils enjoyed finding some bargains notably in the Karstadt department store. On the first night we took the group to the Miniaturwelt in the warehouse district of Hamburg which they all found absolutely fascinating. A further highlight of the trip was the second evening which we spent ten pin bowling and allowed them to bond well as a group.
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. This seemed to go down well and there were some good selfies in front of various tourist attractions! We also enjoyed visiting a local Gymnasium where we spent some time with some local pupils and did some joint activities.
Our pupils were a delightful group to take away, enthusiastic, polite and well-behaved. To sum up, all of the pupils were very open to new experiences and took a keen interest in their surroundings and all got a great deal out of the trip. The trip to Hamburg is an intensive initiation into the German way of life, a great deal of fun as well as a valuable educational experience.
