The school tour to Germany, Netherlands and Belguim took place over the May bank holiday weekend from Thursday 30th of April until Sunday 3rd of May. At 2:00am on Thursday morning sixth students were accompanied by the following staff Iain Wickham, Aileen Walsh, Bridin Kelly, Aine Sheeran, Nathan Byrne and Peter Rowley. Over the four days the travelling party got to see some wonderful sights and engaged in a wide variety of activities.
Day 1: Departed Dublin airport at 6:50am and arrived in Dusseldorf airport where travelled to Cologne by coach. The main attraction in Cologne was the Catholic cathedral. It is a renowned monument of Gothic architecture and was declared a World Heritage site in 1996. After this was the guided tour of Cologne and the travelling party made there way along the beautiful river front to the Chocolate Museum. Today the Koln Chocolate Museum is an independent, one-of-a-kind museum providing insight into a variety of aspects of the past and present of chocolate and cocoa in an exciting way. At the end of the day we all made our way to Meininger Hotel in Koln West for a well earned rest.
Day 2: Following breakfast we all headed to Pahastasia Land for an exciting day full of activity. The weather was beautiful 25 degrees celcius which added greatly to the enjoyable day. Phnatasia Land is know for its high theming detail. It is regularly voted one of the world's best theme parks. Among its thrill rides is Taron, the world's second fastest multi-launch coaster; Black Mamba, a Bolliger & Mabillard inverted coaster; and a themed Mine Train roller coaster called Colorado Adventure, which runs between some of the mountains in the park's Wild West section.
Day 3: On day three we made our way to the picturesque town of Valkenburg, in Netherlands and everyone engaged in a wide variety of fun activities. There was Laser tag and this is the only place in the Netherlands where you can play this exciting game in an underground tunnel system. There was also Bounce adventure net course. This consisted of several nets at various heights. We travelled to the the top on cable cars and the toboggan run was located near Wilhelmia Tower. Everyone got to experience two tracks one 375 and the other 325 meters long with beautiful views of Valkenburg. It was then time for lunch and in the afternoon it was a train journey to the Municipal Caves where some of the attractions included: the public nuclear fallout shelter from the time of the Cold War, huge champagne bottles and a very long sculpture gallery made by students of Sint Joost. At the end of the day it was time to head to Brussels for the final part of the tour.
Day 4: On Sunday we all visited the European Parliament and got a tour of the building where students could access a wide variety of information relating to the European Union. From here we went to the Grand-Place or Grote Markt which is the central square in Brussels. It is surrounded by opulent Baroque guildhalls of the former Guilds of Brussels and two larger edifices; the city's Flamboyant Town Hall, and the neo-Gothic King's House. Following some free time for dining and shopping it was then on to Brussels airport for the flight home.
Everyone arrived back safely to Enniscorthy Community College shortly after midnight tired after four days of high intensity activity but after a thoroughly enjoyable trip with many wonderful memories. All students represented the school in an excellent manner and were very respectful for the duration of the trip. A special thanks to all the teachers who assisted in the smooth running of the tour. Plans are already taking place for our next trip which will be to Paris in May 2027.