Abiturfahrt 2019 nach London

On the 8th of September 2019 twenty-five of our year group went onto our journey to London.

After a long bus ride through the night, we took a ferry to England and arrived at our first stop in the afternoon: the incredibly interesting Cathedral in Canterbury, which was so interesting, that I don’t remember anything that the guide, aka Mrs. Kastner, told us there.

In the evening we reached our hostel, but soon the first problem arose. Ten of us crammed into one bedroom was a little bit too much for some of us. It remains a mystery whether Mr. Renner and Mr. Gilch were able to use the tiny beds or if they had to sleep on the ground.

On the next day, despite our lack of sleep, we were able to participate in a sight-seeing tour with our guide Tim. The bus drove us through London’s heavy traffic and stopped directly in front of the sights. Some highlights include the guys who sold toilet paper with Trump’s face on it while screaming “make toilet paper great again“. After the tour most of us decided to go to Camden Market, as we wanted to support the British economy with our pounds. Two people of our group preferred to expand their knowledge of high art by visiting Tate Modern, one of the most famous museums of contemporary art. They were lucky enough to get a private tour with their guide, Mr. Renner. We spent the evening with good food, cute street musicians and of course some excellent theaters and musicals. In order to get back to the hostel together, we chose the Magic Mike Live show theater as a meeting point, which developed into our persistent meeting point.

Wednesday required physical and intellectual top-class performance. We visited St. Paul’s Cathedral, one of the most important churches in England. As it is quite boring to just look at the church, most of us decided to prove our stamina and climbed the 365 stairs to the top. We had a hard time doing so, but in the end, we were rewarded with a beautiful view over London. In the afternoon we went to the British Museum. Still tired of our climbing performance, we kind of managed to admire the different exhibits. Afterwards we split: one group headed to the Natural History Museum, whereas the other one visited the Science Museum where we tested scientific principles, such as sliding down a slide. Physics being fun for once.

On the next day we drove to Oxford to have a tour around one of the old colleges. Tim also showed us some other sights of the lovely city. After that our bus took us to Stratford upon Avon, the hometown of Shakespeare, where we visited the house of Shakespeare’s daughter. Back in London we went on a walk through China Town and after desperately failing to get into an English pub, we took the subway back to our hostel.

Our last day started with a stroll through London, which ended at the famous Buckingham Palace. Unfortunately, we weren’t the only people who had the great idea to watch the change of the Royal Guards. In the afternoon we had a lot of spare time and some last pounds we wanted to spend, mostly at Primark. But of course, we could not leave without investing into the essentials of life, toilet paper with Trump’s face on it. After some intense shopping, we surprisingly did not meet at the Magic Mike Live show, but at our hostel, to start the long drive back home. All in all, a trip we will never forget and some of us will definitely come back sooner or later.

Ilona Feldmann, Q12