Bremen - Museum, Strassenmusikanten und Weihnachtsmärkte

We departed in the dark from Münster for the hansaetic trading city of Bremen in the company of Mr Meyer, long-time friend of Kingswood School. Again our Elpers coach was very comfortable and many pupils caught up on some shut eye, while others chatted and chilled out to music. Ear wigging the conversations taking place at the back of the coach it is clear that the pupils have really enjoyed their stays and established some good friendships. Historically a good number of pupils have come back again to stay with the same families as they move into Year 11 and beyond. Those who have been before this time, have felt they have understood more and spoken much more German, which is encouraging to hear.  I hope a good number of the Year 10 pupils will want to come again and encourage more peers to come next year. Certainly for those who have continued to study German in the Sixth Form involvement in the exchange has been pivotal.  Language teachers gain their greatest pleasure from seeing the pupils applying their skills and being bold in a different language.

We spent an hour at the Natural History Museum in Bremen which focused on trade for which the city has been very famous since the Middle Ages and the connections the city has built with other trading posts around the world. We then moseyed into the Altstadt as you will see from the photos below where various Christmas markets were in full swing. Our rendez-vous point (Treffpunkt) was the old Town Hall and the famous bronze statue which pays homage to the Brothers Grimm story of the Street Musicians (a donkey, dog, cat & cockerel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Musicians_of_Bremen

Während des Austausches habe ich siebenmal Currywurst gegessen!

We hope to be in Bath by 11:30 pm tomorrow night and look forward to seeing you all. If the plans change at all, we will contact you en route.  

As a final blog comment, I would like to add: the pupils this year have been excellent company throughout and Miss Brandstätter, whom I would also like to thank most sincerely, have really enjoyed spending time with them and seeing them fly solo 'auf Deutsch'.  Schiller parentswho have hosted have spoken very highly of their Bath guests.

Frohe Weihnachten und einen guten Rutsch ins Neujahr!