Guten Abend!
We started our day off with a lovely leisurely cruise down the river Rhein. We boarded in Boppard and a short hour and ten minutes later, we disembarked in Sankt Goar. Along the way we saw a number of chocolate box little towns that are typical of this region. Up above them were castles precariously perched on the hills and between them were orderly rows of vines, busy growing grapes in preparation for the harvest in September/October.
From there we hit the road to Rüdesheim am Rhein and spent some time exploring the picturesque cobblestoned streets and its souvenir shops. More importantly though, there was ice cream.
Many of us of course made time for a quick drop in at the all year round Christmas shop!
Next stop: Rüdesheimer Mechanisches Musik Museum, where we were entertained by instruments of bygone days and a couple of students even had a go at playing them!
A quick stop back at the hotel for pizza and, yes, more ice cream (well, it is 30 degrees here after all!) and we were back on the road to Koblenz, where our students spent the evening impressing us with their bowling skills.
We are currently heading back to the hotel- fingers crossed they get plenty of sleep ahead of the excitement of Phantasialand tomorrow!
Students had lots of time in small groups, so there isn’t much we can say really- I’m choosing to assume that the fact that they forgot to take lots of pictures means they were too busy having fun on the rides! Nevertheless, here are some of the photos we have managed to collect! 
After a day full of excitement, we had a quiet evening packing and getting ready for our return journey. Finally, our students from 9 Paton wanted to send a special message to a special someone. “We miss you, Miss!”
We saw a number of castles, nestled in the hills overlooking the river, as well as several picturesque little towns. 
About an hour and half later, we disembarked in yet another pretty little town named St Goar, where we met up with Dan the driver and continued on to the oldest city in Germany, Trier. 
Now, Trier was conquered by the Romans in the first century and there are plenty of remnants of that era left to see. We started off by travelling through the town and making our way up a long, steep and windy hill (in the coach thank goodness!) and eventually, we reached one of the best viewing points, where our tour guides gave us some more information on the city formerly known as Augusta Treverorum. 
We then headed back down into the city and to the Kaiserthermen, one of the old Roman baths. Construction was started in the 4th century, but was never quite finished. Fortunately, enough remains to get a feel for what it might have been like. One of our students was very surprised to find the colosseum in Trier, as they honestly thought it was in Italy! Completely understandable confusion, given the similarity in style in the construction surrounding the baths… Bisma, on the other hand, was somewhat disgusted to discover that we walked through what was once the sewers of the baths! 
From there we travelled on to the bishop’s palace, the Kurfurstliches Palais. This was built for one of the bishops of Trier and is surrounded by beautifully landscaped French gardens. 
Next we visited two churches: the Protestant church, another Roman building that has evolved along the years and is now a very modern, open church, and the Roman Catholic cathedral, with its lovely gothic cloisters. Here we learned that the rivalry between the two faiths was so strong, that the bishop of Tier had the tallest tower of the cathedral extended in height, so as to be taller than that of the Protestant church! In fact, if you look closely, you’ll notice that the top windows are in a different style to rest of the building- that is why! 
Finally we made our way to the old market square, with its beautiful, traditional buildings. 
Here the students were given some time to roam around the pedestrian shopping area. Unfortunately, just as we were due to meet up, the heavens opened and we were caught in a most unexpected downpour. It was a quick dash back to the coach! This evening was quite low key with a simple quiz night. We learned some interesting facts about the teachers at Chadwell Heath. Your turn to figure this one out…Who coached David Beckham in badminton when he was 12 years old? A) Mr Bull B) Miss Chesters C) Mr Elia
After a leisurely continental breakfast, the students prepared their own packed lunches and off we went. The students were tasked with purchasing a post card, stamp and a pen. We were very impressed by their efforts to speak in German in the shops! Postcards – written in German obviously! – will be speeding their way across to some of their favourite teachers, form tutors and indeed to their classmates. Today they were also given their diaries- affectionately known as their green booklets- in which they record (in German, nutürlich) what they have done the previous day, their impressions, what German they have used, etc… Again, there were some real efforts made in this! Cologne boasts an impressive cathedral dating back to 1248, and is located on the river Rhein. We had a guided tour of the area around the cathedral, and some students even had a look around inside it.
We walked to the train station, along the river bank and through the old part of town. 
We were introduced to two important Kölsch folklore figures- Tünnes and Schäl- who represent the two sides of the city. Rubbing Tünnes’ nose is said to bring you luck, while touching Schäl’s hand should bring you fortune. Fingers crossed there is some truth in this! 
We all had a bit of free time before heading back to the coach. A surprising number of students returned with exciting new trainers, a good number had bought souvenirs its and gifts. We teachers just headed for an Eiscafé and had done delightful spaghetti and tagliatelle ice cream instead- different priorities! 
Dinner was a rather speedy affair due to traffic conditions getting back from Cologne. Then off we went again, this time for a spot if bowling in Koblenz. We’re pretty sure Harris is secretly a UK bowling champion as he thrashed the competition, ending about a million points ahead of anyone else! Okay, slight exaggeration, but that boy has some serious bowling skills! 
The bowling alley were very accommodating and even put on the all-important England v Colombia match, not that they were paying much attention to it! On arrival back at the hotel, we delayed bedtime for those who wanted to gunshot watching the match – fortunately it went our way and everyone went to bed feeling pretty pleased! 
Chadwell Heath Academy MFL Trips 