11 March 2022
Loreto Rhineland Tour – report by Emma O’ Leary (5th year student)
Following postponement due to Covid and in the midst of storm Eunice, at 2am on Friday, 18 February, 36 sleep deprived students, accompanied by Ms. Kinsella, Ms. Pheasey and Ms. Howlin, filed onto a bus to begin our Rhineland tour. At 4:30am with tired eyes and disjointed German grammar in our heads we grabbed breakfast at Dublin Airport before embarking on our (thankfully) smooth flight to Frankfurt.
By 10am we had finally arrived at the place we had only ever seen before in our Deutsch Komplett; we had made it to Germany! Once landed in Frankfurt we boarded the tour bus that would become our home for the next four days, and from then on, we began our non-stop, action-packed tour of the land of poets and thinkers, das Land der Dichter und Denker.
Our first stop was Marksburg Castle, an impressive fortress built in the 1100s and one of only two of the forty castles between Bingen am Rhine and Koblenz that have never been destroyed. Our lovely tour-guide Michaela supplied us with interesting history and many dramatic pauses throughout her tour of the fortress.
From there we continued to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress State Museum Koblenz, another fortress that interestingly never came under siege, and we enjoyed interactive guided tours from talented actors who transported us to the history of the Ehrenbreitstein.
After an exciting long day, we were more than happy to reach Hotel Scholz to check in for the night. With friendly staff and a tasty buffet, we made ourselves at home and after dinner everybody spent some down time in our new rooms before getting some rest for the remainder of the tour.
A favourite of most students on the tour, day two was spent walking the streets of Cologne, or Köln. We were all blown away by Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) as it stands at an imposing 157 metres tall. We learned how Cologne got its name and of the fun, mischievous nature of the natives of the city in our guided walking tour, before getting a chance to visit the cathedral itself.
During our free time to grab lunch and do some shopping, we got a chance to experience many traditional German dishes, practice ordering in German and even ran into our former language assistant Louisa. After that it was time to say goodbye to the city of Karneval and head to the Cologne Chocolate Museum, where we witnessed the production of delicious Lindt chocolate and even got to sample some ourselves! Once again, it was back to the hotel for dinner, free time and to visit our favourite receptionist, Francis.
Day three saw us in Heidelberg, where we began the day with a philosopher’s walk in which we learned about the great history surrounding the place, including Heidelberg University, Germany oldest and most prestigious university. As shops close in Germany on a Sunday, this time we only ate lunch before continuing our tour to Heidelberg Castle, an impressive feat of architecture steeped in history and filled with Renaissance structures. Following this entertaining day, we returned to our hotel for the final time on our tour.
Our final memories of Germany consist of Frankfurt, as we were led through the impressive city by a tour guide with an even more impressive moustache. Whilst walking through the picturesque town we even visited the house of German writer Goethe’s aunt. For our last lunch we were given great recommendations on what kind of traditional Frankfurter sausages to try, then there was spare time for last minute souvenir spending before we hopped on the bus to the airport to say our final tchüss to the Rhineland. After a small delay, we arrived back in Dublin at around 11pm, making our way back to the school for around 1am, where we all headed home with plenty of souvenirs and incredible memories of the Germany tour 2022.
Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves, and the students would like to extend a massive vielen dank to both the school and the teachers involved for creating this memorable experience. Es war so spaß!
School activities on Social Media
Please follow us on Twitter/Instagram/Facebook to read about and see pictures of school activities this week:
- TY teams participating in the Money Smart Bank of Ireland Quiz – sincere thanks to Ms. Smyth for facilitating this event.
- The enthusiastic participation of so many students and staff in this year’s Multicultural Festival – music, traditional costumes, stands, food-sampling, guest speakers. Great credit is due to Ms. M. Jordan and her volunteers for organising all events.
- Retreats for 2nd year students facilitated by Scripture Union in the school this week.
- Events to mark International Women’s Day.
- The placing of beautiful bunches of daffodils in public areas and offices during the week to add a real feeling of Spring and renewal to our school community. Well done and thanks to Betty, Kellie and Carol!
- A great day out for 1st year students at Castlecomer Discovery Park. Similar trips will be held for 2nd and 3rd year groups over the next few weeks.
- Our collection for the Irish Red Cross in support of the people of Ukraine which has now reached €6,812.
