Twin Towns.

Our village, an ex mining one is twinned with an ex mining village in Central Germany, near to Wuppertal. The visits have been exchanged over the last 28 years, I have been on 25 of them.

It is a great experience, as you stay in private houses. There are two schools of thought on this, 1) you should stay with a different family every year, and 2) if you are fortunate enough to "gel" with your host family you go back to them year after year. We have done the latter. Our families got on so well right from the start. We were "children of the war", my feeling was that the Germans had spoilt my childhood, we soon relised that they felt exactly the same way about us.
It was decided there and then, we should make up for lost time.

The pattern of the visits is, that we travel by coach, using North Sea Ferries from Hull, to either Rotterdam or Zeebrugge in the earlier days. (Later on we used the Channel Tunnel or the Dover/Calais crossing, but that makes it a longer, harder journey.) You have the weekend to get to know your family, then, for the next three days you make visits to places of interest, while the Host family goes to work. After the evening meal is when the real "Twin town Party machine" swings into action, for some, it is wild, riotous parties, others it is visitis to Pubs and Restaurant, others may simply have a quiet drink and go to bed.

Next morning on the bus, there is much talk of who did what and where, and to whom!
When we first started, we had a group within a group, of seven English families and seven Germany families, we were always the ones with the biggest hangovers, having been at the parties that finished latest - four hours sleep was a bonus. "You can sleep next week" was always the cry.

This last visit, there was only my husband and I representing the seven English familes, we did meet up with four of the seven German ones. It was a much quieter affair - one bottle of Chanpagne between four of us! There was more on offer, but we declined. "I don't believe it!" a trip to Germany and turning down alchol! Must be getting old.

We did have a great trip, visiting Venlo in Holland for a meal break on the way and on the way back. What a lovely shopping centre it has. Our Monday trip was the longest, down to the Rhine at Leutesdorf for wine tasting and a meal, followed by an hour and a halfs boat trip down the Rhine and back. Got a peep at Koblensck, and where the Mosel runs into the Rhine.

Tuesdays' trip was the the Regional Government centre. We visited the Chamber, toured the building. We were privillaged to be shown their "Catastrophe Room", where a major accident or emergancy would be coordinated. We were able to see the control room for their Fire and Rescue Services. They get 2000 hoax calls a year from mobile phones, three came in while we were watching.
We also got to visit a Brewery and taste its' product, served with brown bread and smoked bacon, which we wouldn't put together here, but it was very tasty. Very interesting day.

Wednesdays trip, our last, was to visit Essen to the Axel Springer Printing Works (Das Bild and Der Welt.) This didn't sound very promising, but it really was super, I am glad that our visit was on a quiet day, as the machinery was big and noisy. We saw the automated fork lift robots trundelling round, they were a bit scary because the could come up behind so quietly, we were told they had sensors and would not actually bump into you, but it made me nervous. We had a super lunch in their Canteen (Schnitzle and chips.) Our afternoon was taking up with shopping in their latest precinct. On our last day we always take flowers for our Hostess, the bus takes on a festive air for the return to our families, for a last meal and packing for the journey home.

Happily the weather was better for our Ferry crossing home, the sea was flat. So it is all over - until April 09, when the German families visit our village.

All in All, this is the best experience in my life, so many visits to so many places, so many people to meet, and in their own homes, gives you a perpective of a country, that otherwise we would never have known.