Past Visits

To give you a flavour of what happens on visits, here are a few reports from members which have appeared in recent newsletters.

Wokingham to Erftstadt for Karneval Feb 2007

Wokingham to Erftstadt Civic visit June 2007

Willkommen in Erftstadt: 17^th-20^th February 2007

Well what a welcome it was!! ‘Our’ first twinning visit to our sister town, full of colour, pomp, ceremony and Karneval music.

We travelled from Gatwick to arrive at Cologne/Bonn airport around mid-day met by Helga Focken acting as our guide and then on by train via Koln, where we started to get a taste of the Karneval atmosphere.

The party from Wokingham were given a very warm reception in the celebration of 30 years of twinning, to the festivities for the culmination of the Karneval which had, for the Karneval Princess started in November, with a rest break for Christmas!

The colours and fancy dress variety in the ballroom ranged from bright red town criers to multicoloured clowns and dancing mice. WTTA dressed up to the occasion, with costumes ranging from a holy nun, witch, cowgirl, tramp, graduate, love-hearts, Venetian masks and of course the police to keep law and order. The pictures tell a thousand words however they do not capture the warmth and kindness extended by all the Karneval goers and the total meaning of what this season means. All of course aided by the occasional drink or two.

Sunday was spent individually with the hosts with the opportunity to get to know each other a little better as well as attend the Liblar Karneval Procession.

Unfortunately the weather was colder than predicted by about 8 degrees lower at around 4 degrees C so this cooled the festivities until the procession arrived where the cries of “Karamela” started to rise from the crowd and then to our surprise the people on the floats started to propel sweets abundantly into the baying crowd and the scramble for the off loaded goodies. At this point it becomes a matter of who can collect the most in this near dangerous occupation in particular due to the ferocity of the flight of such substances of bars nay boxes of chocolates and biscuits, they may be sweet but sure can cause a little discomfort.

The following day RosenMontag, we congregated to meet for a visit by coach to Ahrweiler a picturesque village nestling in a valley in the Rhine wine growing region guided by Thomas and a chance for another Procession.

Arhweiler is on the site of a Roman Settlement and is bounded by a 15th Century wall that adds to the quaintness of the whole village. Our excursion started with a walk around the outskirts of the wall and through one of the four old gates that are situated at each cardinal point. From here we travelled along the main street towards the market place passing a mixture of both old and new shops, bars and restaurants decorated with balloons, pennants and other regalia.

The procession was another explosion of colour and music accentuated by passing down one of the narrow streets. A small yellow bucket was dropped from a window above to collect gifts from the passing parade and winched slowly back up to its expectant owner.

Our last day,Tuesday, was spent in Bruhl and thanks to LiseLotte Engmann, started at the Max-Ernst Museum of Art with a guided tour in English of the two-floor building. Though not every one’s “cup of tea” as the contents were not classical more surreal impressionistic expressionist using mediums from bronze, collage photographs, clay, oil and pen, I believe may of stimulated some thought from everyone, which I suppose is the objective of the subject.

To round the day’s trip we then walked to the Bruhl Schloss (Castle) an impressive stately home with French styled gardens, not quite in bloom. Sabine Boebe then gave us an insight to the history, style of the castle and the grounds and the association with Queen Victoria and is still used for State visits.

We completed our day with a quick trip to the shops and lunch and made ready for our return. Saying our goodbyes to our hosts we departed with Jens-Uwe Gehrman who hosted us to the airport.

We will all take many fond memories of this visit and the new places we have seen with new friends that we have made.

Thank you to all our hosts in Erftstadt for their hospitality and hearty welcome. Prost!

Gill Howorth

Wokingham to Viry-Chatillon May 2007

The party to visit Viry set off on the Spring Bank Holiday weekend to travel via the Channel Tunnel. Smoothly into France we reached St Omer for a lunch break. The town square was occupied by the Saturday market but as if by magic it all disappeared at 1 pm.

Continuing on our journey we reached the périphèrique to find most of the cars in Paris on it. Nevertheless we reached Viry on time to be greeted by Madame Herluc of the Council and Ewa Hospod the President of the Viry Association. A reception was held in the Salon of the Presidents of France.

Sunday saw us back onto the coach for the trip to The Chateau of Pierrefonds where we had a guided tour after climbing up to the castle. After lunch at leisure we visited the site of the signing of the 1918 armistice in the forest of Compiegne. In the town we saw a figurine museum mainly depicting various military battles.

In the evening we made our way to a restaurant by the Seine for the main visit meal. There was also some entertainment which included some aspiring pop groups from our party. I understand that no recording contracts have been forthcoming!

Saturday was spent with hosts and visits were made to various locations, including Paris. On Tuesday morning we left Viry at 8 am and made very good time to Arras where we had a lunch stop. Then it was off to the shuttle and we arrived back in Wokingham in the early evening.

A showery day in Paris – May 2007

On the Monday Christine and Philippe did not work so were able to show us some of Paris. With Brenda and Mike, and friends, Mimi and Gaby, we set off in a convoy of two cars and parked underground near St Jacques at the rear of the Louvre. We strolled along Rue de Rivoli, past the shrouded Tour St Jacques, towards L’Hotel de Ville to see the various environmental gardens.

It had threatened to rain during our walk but soon after arriving at the gardens the heavens opened and it rained cats and dogs. Umbrellas popped up like flowers over the crowds of visitors. We dashed across the road to BHV for shelter. Our clothes dripped the excess rain all the way up the escalator to the 5^th floor. Here we were able to eat lunch with a wonderful view over the wet rooftops to Pantheon, the Church of St Etienne and the Ile de la Cite. Those little trolleys for the four trays were so useful for a family trying to find a table.

Our next move was out of BHV to Ligne 1 towards Etoile (oops! …..I forget the name has changed to someone famous). The rubber wheels whispered along the concrete track instead of the familiar clackety-clack of the Tube in London. Arriving at Palais de Luxembourg/Concorde we found the rain was still falling. We had to pick our way around the puddles to the Musee de l’Orangerie. Christine was wise to book the tickets in advance of our visit so we bypassed the queue. Inside we saw Les Nympheads in the round and other more normal sized paintings. It was a stunning display. Our octet split up to see the exhibits alone and met again at 4:30. The sun was shining now but there were thick clouds on the horizon. Philippe took a dramatic photo of our group with a backdrop of heavy black rain clouds. Under the threatening sky we decided to retreat to the Café in the Jardins des Tuileries for a coffee until the rain cleared. Mike had fun building a House of Menus whilst we waited for our order. Even when we get older we are all children at heart.

Later, along more of the Rue de Rivoli we saw some opulent visitors at Le Mercure and then it was on to the tourist traps. Some of these offer surprisingly good value - 13 postcards for 1 Euro, this must be the best price in Paris! The sun returned and we walked by the Pyrimid in the Louvre, enjoying the fountains and just being in Paris on a warm May afternoon. We mingled with the hords of other tourists; for there were scant few French people around. Finally we reached the subterraneon car park, found the cars and wended our way back to the suburbs. During the drive I reflected on the fact that I did not have to run the gauntlet of the traffic on the Peripherique driving my own car and I was happy. We spenbt a really enjoyable time in Paris. We had to dodge the showers but saw so may different aspects of life on a holiday weekend thanks to Christine, Philippe, Mimi and Gaby.

Civic visit to Erftstadt

A civic party led by the Mayor of Wokingham, Councillor Brian Willis and the Mayoress left for Erftstadt on Friday 1^st June to take part in celebrations to mark 30 years of twinning between the two towns. An informal dinner and get together with the hosts was held that evening.

On Saturday the group attended an environmental presentation by Erftstadt which illustrated some of the measures being taken locally to preserve the local habitat and dealt with such changes as the introduction of solar panels on housing and the erection of wind farms. This was followed by a walk around the environmental centre and a buffet lunch.

In the afternoon a coach was provided to take the party to Bad Munstereifel to view the town which is situated in a wooded area of the Eifel.

A formal reception was held in the evening at which Ernst-Dieter Bosche, the Burgermeister of Erftstadt and The Mayor of Wokingham both spoke about the importance of twinning and the friendship between the two towns. A theme common to both speeches was that there is a need to engage the youth of both towns in order that the principles of twinning can be carried through to future generations. Both the Mayor and the Burgermeister noted that the friendship had extended over a period of 30 years. The Mayor presented the Burgermeister with an item of glassware and a silver letter opener.

On Sunday the group were entertained at an art exhibition by members of a local youth musical ensemble. In the afternoon there was a visit to the Max Ernst Museum in the nearby town of Bruhl to view the exhibition of paintings and sculptures by the artist who was born in the town.

An informal farewell meal was held on Sunday evening prior to a departure to Wokingham on Monday morning.