On board the ferry at Dover.
After the last early start of the six day holiday, we arrived in at the port for our 9am ferry crossing. The sea resembled a smooth pond and the sky was blue, and as the White Cliffs disappeared over the horizon, I waited to feel a pang of regret at leaving England! No pang of any description arrived, only a feeling of freedom, that I was going back to my lovely flat in Timmerlah, near in Braunschweig. I eventually got home at 11pm, completely kaput!
My fellow singers felt more sadness than me at leaving, as they loved the small houses and villages in the green and pleasant landscape of Southern England.
Bye bye England.
The crossing was a dream, and as England disappeared I went up front to watch Calais arriving on the other side. I had completely forgotten how narrow are the Straits of Dover.
Arriving in Calais after the 1:5 hour cruise.
Yet another Wurst and coffee stop in Antwerp.
The journey from Calais to Braunschweig is 438 miles by motorway, a long journey, but we stopped every two hours for the driver to take a break. The German coach had its own little kitchen, so hot Wurst wrapped in bread was available at 2E a time, and a coffee at 1E.
Monika and I started organising this trip in the summer of 2016, and after a lot of work on both sides of the English Channel, the visit went without a hitch. Thanks go the the City Council in Braunschweig and to the Mayor and Mayoress in Bath, and also to their office staff in Bath Guildhall. Thanks also to the Bath/Braunschweig Twinning Association, and the Deutsch/English Society in Braunschweig, who both assisted with the arrangements.
Most of all thanks to all the singers and friends who made the visit a memorable occasion. I am particularly happy to say that no singer was lost in Bath! My biggest fear was playing "hunt for lost singers" in Bath´s congested streets and visitor attractions on a hot afternoon.
A lovely trip, which maybe we can repeat in another year or so.
The End!
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