30 years of "Freundschaft"

Such beautiful weather I have never known in March! This past week I have been in Germany on a school exchange with our partner school where we were celebrating 30 years since the exchange began.  What a lovely week it has been! I had the pleasure of sitting in the afternoon sunshine in Speyer, eating ice cream, watching the world go by and chatting in German with colleagues old and new. Senella next to me here, a new colleague, Fritz, the founding father of the exchange 30 years ago and Christina, the exchange organiser

I got to stay with my dear friends Sue and Stefan and their lovely family. On Sunday we went to Heidelberg with them and climbed all 314 steps up to the castle, for a breathtaking view of the town and the river Neckar. Sue is a talented artist and former pupil of my school, who was taught German by my former head of department, Margaret.

Margaret, who retired 4 years ago, accompanied us on the trip. She is still as young at heart as ever, which is well illustrated by this photograph here. 

New experiences for me this time around included visiting Speyer and touring Mainz on the Gutenberg express.

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