On a frosty Thursday evening in the middle of December, thirty-two hardy souls packed themselves into a coach in the school park. Ahead of them lay an arduous trip across four countries with only their\u00a0portable technology\u00a0and a tube or two of Pringles for company. This was the annual Christmas market trip and, having just completed their GCSE mocks, Year 11 were looking forward to some well-earned R&R in the beautiful setting of the city of Cologne.<\/p>\n
Not long after dawn broke we were making our way over the border into Germany and soon we could see the spire of the K\u00f6lner Dom (Cologne cathedral). The trip consisted of a whistle-stop visit of many of the main sights of Cologne including the Dom (briefly the tallest building in the world at the end of the 19th<\/sup> century) and the Schildergasse (Germany\u2019s busiest shopping street). Feeling festive we visited a number of the city\u2019s Christmas markets including der Markt am K<\/em>\u00f6lner Dom<\/em> (the cathedral market), der Markt der Engel <\/em>(angel market) and the K<\/em>\u00f6lner Hafen Weihnachtsmarkt <\/em>(Cologne harbour Christmas market). With weary legs we nonetheless eagerly sampled the delights of the Schokolademuseum <\/em>(chocolate museum) before finally boarding our coach and returning home.<\/p>\n Tired but still smiling, Year 11 arrived home early on Saturday morning where a small crowd of parents were waiting to meet them in\u00a0the car park. A big thank you goes to Ms Romanato and Ms Brown for giving up their time for the trip as well as Year 11 themselves who behaved impeccably despite being tired and cold.<\/p>\n Mr Wright<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On a frosty Thursday evening in the middle of December, thirty-two hardy souls packed themselves into a coach in the school park. Ahead of them lay an arduous trip across four countries with only their\u00a0portable technology\u00a0and a tube or two of Pringles for company. This was the annual Christmas market trip and, having just completed their GCSE mocks, Year 11 were looking forward to some well-earned R&R in the beautiful setting of the city of Cologne. Not long after dawn…<\/p>\n