Our visit to England

We started our trip to England on 12th April 2010. Our destination was Bournemouth, which is situated at the coast in the south of England.We left Seubersdorf at 11.30 pm in a double-decker bus. Mrs Lottner, Mrs Roderer, Mrs Helmschmidt and Mr Eigenstetter came along with us. After a night of trying to sleep on the bus we arrived in Calais 10 am. At the border from France to England our passports were checked and we were asked if we had something to declare. The passage from Calais to Dover by ferry took about two hours.

Our first stop in England was in Canterbury. Canterbury’s skyline is dominated by the Cathedral, the oldest one in England. Canterbury is seat of the Archbishop of the Anglican Communion. After our visit to the historical city centre we left Canterbury and had a very relaxed journey to Bournemouth. The weather was great at that day and the weather forecast told us that it will stay friendly.

At 7 pm we met our host families. It was a very exciting moment: Are they friendly? Will they understand our English? Will we understand their English (slang)? …

All in all it was a very exciting day first day in England and we all were looking forward to Monday. On our first full day in England we made a trip to the New Forest National Park. The New Forest was originally woodland, but the areas turned into heathland with lots of wild ponies and other wild animals. We walked along the Beaulieu River to the Motor Museum in Beaulieu where we could see about 250 oldtimers. In the afternoon we went to Bournemouth. First we made a walk at the beach, then we went shopping. But the time was too short to have a look at all the nice shopsin the city centre.

The next day we visited Stonehenge and Bath. Stonehenge is probably the most important prehistoric monument in Britain. The first Stonehenge was built around 3100 BC. The final stage took place soon after 1500 BC. We were deeply impressed by the stone circles. “Fantastic” is the only way to describe it. Stonehenge is on a hill, so it was very cold and windy there. Later on we went to Bath. Bath is a World Heritage City like Regensburg. A tourist guide showed us the most important sights of the city: the Royal Crescent, the Roman Baths, … All in all it was a very interesting trip because we saw a lot of historical buildings and we had more free time than on the previous trips, besides that we had a lot of fun together.

On Wednesday we made a trip to the Isle of Wight. First we made a walk from Freshwater Bay to the Needles. On our way we had a fantastic view over the white cliffs and the green hills of the island. In the afternoon we were at the beach. The weather was great again as it has been for the whole week! In the evening we returned to our host families. It was our last evening in Bournemouth.

On our last day in England we went to London. London is an absolutely exciting city. We saw a lot of important sights: Madame Tussaud´s, Big Ben, Tower, Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Covent Garden, China Town, … In the evening we visited the musical “Sister Act”. After the musical we made a bus tour through London by night.

Our visit to England offered a great chance to improve our English knowledge and to experience history and tradition, miles of beautiful countryside and dramatic landscapes.

(Margareta Eichenseer, Steffi Bauer, M8a)