The Fairy Tale Road with the Pied Piper!

Published on isbi School News dated Tuesday 14th of January 2014

Just before Christmas, eighteen Oundle School pupils, all of whom are studying German, embarked on a trip to Hamelin in Germany, the famous home of the Pied Piper.

Trip organiser and German teacher, Charlotte Thompson commented, 'The purpose of the trip was to visit places along the Fairy Tale Road in Germany which are said to have inspired the Brothers' Grimm Fairy Tales more than 200 years ago. We were based in the small, medieval town of Hamelin and every day we had the chance to visit the Christmas market to buy some delicious food and gifts to bring back home. Pupils enjoyed trying out their German at the market to buy food and presents, particularly when it came to competitions.'

On the first day, the group visited the interactive Fairy Tale Museum in Hamelin and enjoyed the mechanical puppet show version of the Pied Piper. The following day was a visit to the historical castle B�ckeburg where the family of the Counts of Holstein-Schaumburg lived for over 700 years. Here they had a guided tour viewing the many different rooms where there were amazing objects to see and they also visited their royal stables.

Pupils, Phurin Rintanalert (14) and Hayden Frith (14), for whom the guided tour of Hamelin by the Pied Piper was the highlight of the trip, commented, 'He kept everyone entertained and amused with his colourful costume, wonderful piping and humorous tales.'

After a warming hot chocolate, the group then ventured to the much bigger city of Hannover for some serious shopping at the Christmas market and sight-seeing.

On the third day, the group had a coach trip to the start of the Fairy Tale road to Kassel, the town where the Grimm brothers grew up. Here they visited the Brothers' Grimm Museum, where they had a special exhibition all about Fairy Tales and their influence all over the world. On the way, they also stopped at Rapunzel's and Sleeping Beauty's castles and took some great photos!

Charlotte concluded, 'The trip was a very good experience linguistically and culturally. It's still a mystery to everyone why the Germans only drink fizzy water and love nothing better than singing along to George Michael at Christmas but overall Christmas time in Germany is definitely to be recommended.'