… and it never rains in sunny …
London …
Already on the first morning of our
trip to London, on 30th September 2011, we were greeted by sunshine
in this European city and this wonderful weather should last until
the end of our journey, on 4th October 2011.
With our English teacher, Mrs.
Hohenfeld, and Mrs. Petzold we travelled to this magnificent
metropolis in order to explore it. London, often called the centre of
the world, will be one of the topics being relevant for our final
exams in English.
Already in advance we had prepared this
journey during the lessons by creating brochures dealing with
different London neighborhoods. Furthermore we did not only get
information about the old history of London, like for example the
Elizabethan and the Victorian Era, but also about the relatively
young history, for example the London Bombings in 2005.
To ensure that we could successfully
continue our work on London after our stay, we even got two tasks
which we should handle with during our stay and which would make our
visit even more interesting: First of all we were supposed to
interview a real Londoner and then we were expected to ask for novels
about London in a book shop – novels we might want to read in
class.
After having read “Macbeth” by
William Shakespeare and after having dealt with his Globe Theatre in
our English lessons, we finally had the chance to see the impressing
building already on our first morning in London. What we found most
impressing was the guided tour by an actor, who apart from giving us
details about the theatre’s construction and its history told us
about Shakespeare’s reasons for writing his famous plays (“only
money is honey”).
Afterwards we started a tour through
London, visiting nearly all the typical tourist attractions, walking
along the Thames, admiring The Houses of Parliament, Big Ben and
finally Buckingham Palace.
The next morning we took the Tube to
romantic Little Venice and from there we walked to Abbey Road, a
street having become famous because of the Beatles. After having
explored Camden Lock Market, we took a little break in Hyde Park
before we headed directly to the Lady Diana Memorial and the Royal
Albert Hall, hosting every year’s world famous “Last Night of the
Proms”.
In the evening, we visited the Tate
Gallery of Modern Art, the world’s biggest museum of modern art,
which presents works by important artists such as Vincent van Gogh,
Paul Gauguin, Pablo Picasso, Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol and Joseph
Beuys. The exhibition is divided into four levels: States of Flux,
Idea and Object, Poetry and Dream and Matter and Gestures.
Finally, we enjoyed the charm of a big
city at night by a trip to Piccadilly Circus in the West End enjoying
wonderful views from the top of a red double-decker-bus.
The trip to a more or less poor part of
London, the East End, on Sunday morning, was completely different
from what we had seen before. The atmosphere charcaterinzing Brick
Lane made us doubt that we were still in the same city as at the days
before, as after all we were used to the neat houses of Kensington
where our hostel was. In an impressive way we learned why London can
be called a city of extremes.
Two hours later we were happy about
wonderful views from the top of the Monument of the Great Fire of
London and even got a certificate for climbing up the 311 stairs.
After a visit of the legendary Tower of
London and a meal at the Dickens Inn restaurant in St Katherine’s
Docks, we paid attention to some speeches at Speakers Corner in Hyde
Park, and although the speeches were unfortunately more about
religion than about politics this was an incredible experience.
In the evening the Ghost Walk, which we
had booked with The Original London Walks before, and even though
only few of us were really scared, the stories and legends which were
told by our guide who lead us through the narrow streets of the city
at night, were all very exciting and informative.
The next day we went to Covent Garden,
Soho and Carnaby Street, which was very disappointing as it didn´t
remind us of the Sixties and Swinging London in any way.
Quickly- as always- we hurried to the
Houses of Parliament, where the Lords had their first meeting again
after their recess, so that we were really lucky to get the chance to
listen to them at exactly this special moment.
We passed the evening in Her Majesty´s
Theatre, where we watched the musical Phantom of the Opera at the
place of its debut performance whereas the majority of the class
listened to an evensong in Westminster Abbey.
On the day of departure we were given
the opportunity to do some more sightseeing or to just go shopping.
So some of us went to Oxford Street, the most famous mile for
shopping in London, or to Hamleys, one of the world´s largest toy
shops or even to Harrods, the most famous department store of London.
Some even took the Dockland Light Railway into the Docklands, which
used to be the biggest harbour site of the world.
All in all, the class trip was surely
an experience which one can remember with delight even after a long
time, especially as it was our last class trip and therefore a very
special highlight in our student´s life.
That´s why we want to thank Mrs.
Hohenfeld, who prepared this journey with us, and Mrs. Petzold, for
offering the opportunity to go on this trip and also for making it –
due to their enthusiasm and energy - a very special one for all of
us.
Svenja Staas, 13s
21.11.2011
Fotos: © Sabine Hohenfeld
Links:
Englisch -
Übersicht