Great fun in Germany

It’s been a busy couple of weeks and I’m only now finding a chance to write about it! On Tues 17th April, I flew out to Frankfurt in Germany… (This narrative will be highly illustrated by photos)

I was fascinated by the shadow of my plane on the clouds below, in a rainbow halo…

I was staying in Bad Vilbel, outside Frankfurt, for two nights while I visited the Europäische Schule RheinMain. On my first evening, I went for a little wander in the local area.

There was a lovely little pedestrianised area (right by the library!) with mini-fountains

And there was also a canal with a beautiful sunset!

The view the next morning was very lovely

And so on to the Europäische Schule, where I talked to three large groups of students, from 8 to 14, under the banner SPRING CONCERT, which unfortunately had a sticking problem, and so by the end of the day, it said PRING CONC RT which I found ridiculously funny…

The younger pupils were all familiar with Electrigirl and had made some wonderful fan posters!

That evening, the lovely librarians Renate and Ute took me out for a yummy dinner, and then I fell into bed! The next morning I caught the ICE train from Frankfurt to Berlin.

It was twenty minutes late!! I was astonished.

On arrival in Berlin, the librarian of the Berlin International School took me on a walking tour of the city.

and a very moving monument to the Murdered Jews of Berlin, which looks like grey tombs from the surface…

but as you walk between them, the ground dips and you’re suddenly in catacombs. Very eerie and thought-provoking

It was also quite moving to stand next to a piece of the Berlin Wall. What a strange time of history that was for the city

Of course it was also very important to have an ice cream after all that culture. This was pistachio and dark chocolate and was DELICIOUS

The next day I had a fantastic time at the Berlin International School, giving a talk and a workshop and also being interviewed by school journalists.

There was a superb display in the library of my books! With a specially made lemon tree!

I also loved the fact that all the kids at this school had indoor shoes to change into…and slippers were allowed!! I think ALL schools should do this!

After a full day at the school, I went to Berlin airport and caught my flight home. Whilst trying to decide what kind of sandwich to have for my dinner, this caught my eye…

All went smoothly (despite some organisational hiccups before the trip!) and I’d like to say a big thank you to Renate and the BIS librarian for looking after me and providing me with such brilliant students 🙂

Vielen Dank!

You can read more about my events on the Europäische Schule site here – and here are some comments from the students attending!

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Jo Cotterill

Writer for children and young adults