Written by Lizzie, Lili, Amy and Eleanor
At 10:11, our German class headed off to London on the train, not deterred by Storm Eunice’s efforts to keep us in Oxford and happily munching some bretzels which Frau Liebrecht had kindly given us. After arriving at Marylebone, we took the tube (U-Bahn) to Charing Cross, walking through Trafalgar Square to the National Gallery.
Having learned about art and architecture in Year 12, being able to go to London to see the new Dürer exhibition was an exciting opportunity. Walking around the Dürer exhibition, we studied his fascinating sketches, paintings, sculptures, woodcuts, engravings and stained glass, whilst also learning about his creative journey with helpful audio guides. We enjoyed using our pre-existing knowledge of German Renaissance art from the Kunst und Architektur (Art and Architecture) section of our A Level course, as well as finding links to our other subjects – for example, seeing a number of paintings of Adam and Eve that we had looked at as part of study of Paradise Lost in English Literature.
We were lucky enough to have sunny weather in Trafalgar Square! So, having obviously bought some postcards, we ate our lunch on the steps of the gallery and then headed to Foyles bookshop, searching through the German section of Brecht, Durrenmatt and even translated Harry Potter. We ended the trip on a very sweet note as we headed to Fischer’s, an Austrian café, where we had some delicious cakes and coffee and felt as if we had just stepped into Vienna itself. This concluded a fabulous day of speaking German and soaking up the atmosphere of London.
On the train journey home, we were all exhausted, each reading one of our purchases from Foyles. Thank you very much to Frau Liebrecht and Dr Chorley for organising such a fun trip!