Jo
urney to York and back*
From Herne to Bruges:
A most relaxing bus travel, no problems at all. We had a breakfast break, in which I was, kind of, late.
Bruges: An amazing and old city: there are a lot of old beautiful buildings with impressive architecture and a very interesting lifestyle. It reminds me of Venice with its many channels. At one point of its history it was the greatest commercial city of the world, as important as New York or London today. It is the city one would choose to live in as soon as one retires.
From Bruges to Hull:
First we had a short travel to the port. Then we embarked our ship “MS Pride of Bruges” and started the passage. My own experience with the boat trip was fine, but some of my colleagues complained about the size and conditions of the cabinets, while others didn´t carry the sea experience very well. In the morning of the next day we were in Hull, England.
From Hull to York:
After taking care of the standard paperwork for entering the UK, we took our previous bus (which came together with the ship) and started our travel to York. Again, it was a nice tour. We passed through beautiful landscapes and had the opportunity to see an old traditional English village through the windows of our bus. Mr Konopka gave us a short description of the lifestyle in traditional schools in England as well as a description of English Cathedrals.
York:
Upon arriving in York, we passed through the most important places of the city: the city Walls, the city Cathedral, the baptism place of Guy Fawkes, and the old streets of the old city. In each of those places we received a short history description of the correspondent place. After the main course we were set free from our guides with the condition that we would meet again at 16:45, British time. I made a single tour through the city and spend the afternoon proving British cuisine at Ye Olde Starre Inn, a typical and traditional old English Pub in York. Afterwards, I looked in vain for the National Railway Museum, and asked three persons for it, all three weren´t from York. Besides this, I still had the opportunity to test a traditional tea time in the most traditional tea house of York: Betty´s. In the meantime I took a lot of photos from the city and was impressed by the politeness of its people. It´s a nice and small city, with more than 2000 years of history and an overwhelming culture.
From York to Hull:
Another relaxing bus travel followed, at least in my opinion. After some time we were on our second ship: “MS Pride of Hull”, which was the biggest ferry in the world until some years ago. After the typical formalities we embarked our ship.
From Hull to Rotterdam:
On this ship, the rooms were a little bit bigger and fancier; we had a pub/discotheque (in which some classmates spent a very pleasant time), a restaurant and a bistro. The weather was becoming gentler than before. On the next day I had an English breakfast and we arrived in Rotterdam an hour later than what was previously expected.
From Rotterdam to Herne:
Another typical bus trip led us through the Netherlands. Unfortunately we didn´t have time to visit Rotterdam, but I enjoyed it anyway. At 14:00 (approximately), we were in Herne, and afterwards, I went home and slept for 16 hours, with little breaks.
* According to the life and experience of Rainer Schiefenhövel (KAFU)