Day Trip to Schwerin

Andrew Rose

We were five days into our exchange visit with the Heinrich-Heine Gymnasium when the UCS group of twelve and Mr Underwood, set off to Hamburg's Hauptbahnhof in order to catch the train to Schwerin.
It was a crisp October's morning, so the urge to get out of Hamburg and explore a different city was an exciting prospect. We had a whole train carriage to ourselves, which was just as well, because most of us had acquired a slight gambling obsession during our stay and if we wanted to lose our money to each other, we at least wanted to do it in the privacy of our group!
An eventful hour later, we arrived in Schwerin. You could see almost immediately that is was a beautiful and charming city with a very interesting history. We was easy to spot the developments in the city since the fall of the wall and the contrasts were very surprising.
There were some old, yet perfectly preserved historical landmarks that we toured, like the Cathedral, which we went right to the top of to get a splendid view of the city. If you have a strong phobia of heights, it's strongly recommended that you don't go to the top (especially with Mr Underwood!).
After visiting the former grand ducal palace and many other places, our stomach's were making noises, so we decided to take refuge in the massive new shopping centre that had sprung up since 1989. This meant more cards and the biggest ice-creams any of us had ever seen!
Having eaten and bought a few gifts, it was time to look round Schwerin for one last time before making the journey back. It was a fun day out and a thoroughly enjoyable German exchange. The whole group had a wonderful time. We learned lots of German and gained an insight into their culture and how they live.