On Monday 31st March, we arrived at school at 4am! Then we boarded the coach to travel to dover before catching the ferry. When we saw the coach, we couldn’t believe our eyes! The coach had lights and tables and was very VIP! 

After arriving in Calais, we then got back on the coach and drove to our first location: Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, we ate at a restaurant called Hotchpot and had the delicious traditional Dutch dish: Stampot. This dish was made of mashed potato containing vegetables and also had meat on the side.

On day 2, we made our way to the Rijksmuseum, where we saw lots of Dutch art. We even saw  some paintings created by Vincent Van Gogh himself!

We then went to the Anne Frank museum. We had been reading Anne Frank’s diary before we went on the trip so it was a very surreal experience. 

After reading her story it was interesting to see where it all happened and learn some extra facts about Anne and her family. 

After visiting the Anne Frank Museum, we had the opportunity to buy some souvenirs for our family and friends back home!

We then had a lovely canal boat ride through the river Amstel where we got to see the wonderful sights of Amsterdam whilst hearing facts and history about the amazing city. 

On Wednesday, we packed up our things and departed our hotel to make our way to the next destination. We boarded the coach and soon arrived at the ‘Wings of Liberation’ Museum.

Antonella: Here we had a tour guide show us different fighter planes and equipment used in the war. We even got to see some of the real planes!

For dinner we had delicious spaghetti bolognese and ice cream in a really fancy Hotel. I think it was the best meal of the whole trip.

On Thursday we packed up again! We were off to our third and final destination. We stopped off at Essex Farm Cemetery where we saw the graves of the British soldiers who fought in the war and then we went to a German Cemetery too. We finished the day visiting the Hooge Crater museum.

We then went to Menin Gate for the special memorial ceremony that happens everyday at 8pm. Four of us had the special responsibility of offering the wreath that we had made in this ceremony. This was a very special role that we will remember forever.

The whole experience was very moving and we had time to reflect on all the people that had lost their lives in all the wars all over the world.

On Friday, we packed up to leave the hotel and made our way to the beach. We had so much fun playing with the sand and splashing in the water!

We also wrote postcards to our family back at home to let them know about what activities we had been doing and how much fun we were having!