German Language Tour

Tag Dreizehn (Day Thirteen)

Hallo Ihr lieben,

by Charlotte Roberts

Despite already being in Berlin for nearly two weeks, there is still so much left to see and explore. Every day has held new adventures but it is nice to have some consistency’s throughout the trip, one of them being the breakfast selections

It had been mentioned earlier in the week that a trip to church was required, so this morning a few of us left to attend St Marienkirche’s 10:30 Sunday service Dressed in varying standards of Sunday best, we navigated the train stations with ease, proving that practice does eventually make perfect While I think many of us had a limited understanding of the full service, we still enjoyed trying to keep up with all the songs and prayers. The highlight for me was definitely listening to the choir, children no older than 13, sing with the huge organ in the church The organ was said to be over 300 years old and even had a song performed in the church in honour of its 300th jubilee The church itself was stunning with soaring white ceilings and statues and paintings dotted throughout.

Being a Sunday, there are very few shops open due to German traditions so we took this opportunity to have a slow day, which was helpful to get through some washing and rest up for the full week planned ahead.

The afternoon activities were open for ideas and all the Cathedral College kids decided to go back to the Tiergarten for the rest of the day. We first stopped at an open area where there was live music and enjoyed a bratwurst mit brotchen. While it was no Bunnings snag it was still very delicious. We then left to visit the victory column which was located in the Center of the gardens It was made to commemorate Germany's victories against Denmark, Austria and France during the late 1800s It was an incredible structure with a huge gold statue on top and an intricate mosaic around the middle. There was also a chance to go to the top of the building. The only way up however was to climb the stairs in the middle, many, many stairs The view from the top though proved enduring the climb worthwhile, with a postcard-like outlook onto Berlin

Tonight’s dinner was bolognaise which was ‘sehr lecker’. After, Frau Beck had another tongue twister for us, in German of course, which almost put the English ones to shame All groups got through relatively well, however, our R rolling wasn’t quite up to German standards

With another day done and dusted the date of departure is coming around far too quickly for my liking, the week ahead however is sure to be packed to the brim to make the most of our time in Germany

Tschüss