Year Eleven trip to Berlin

The Year 11 trip to Berlin took place in February. For the first time, 24 boys stayed in Ostel, an East German themed hostel created in a block of Communist flats in the heart of the German capital. The so-called Young Pioneer apartments came complete with genuine 1980s communist kitsch wallpaper and photos of Erich Honecker.

The two-day trip was packed with sightseeing. The boys barely had time to deposit their luggage before heading out into the night for an introduction to the former border crossing at Friedrichstraβe station and a walk down Unter den Linden to see the illuminated Brandenburg Gate. The hearty salami and sausage breakfast on Saturday morning set them up for a morning tour of the preserved Wall and death strip at Bernauerstraβe. This year's addition was an authentic border watch tower, which had been bought on eBay to recreate the Wall as it was. Lunch on Alexanderplatz was followed by a Hertha Berlin football match at the Olympiastadion and an evening trip to the top of the Reichstag.

On Sunday,  the group walked along the longest remaining stretch of the Wall (East Side Gallery), visited the Story of Berlin museum and the preserved nuclear bunker in West Berlin, before returning home via Checkpoint Charlie.