We went to Berlin at October half term for five days. We stayed in a youth hostel in Ostkreuz with a train station nearby (and a Dunkin Donuts!)

On the first day, we went to the Reichstag (the German parliament) which was very interesting and we had an audio tour as we went up to the Dome of the Reichstag and we saw so many things - the view of Berlin at night was amazing. In the evening, after we had checked into the youth hostel, we had to get our stuff ready and make our beds.

On the second day, we took a train to The Brandenburg Gate and saw the Hotel Avalon where Michael Jackson held his baby out of the window! We also saw the memorial to the Jews who Hitler had killed in the Holocaust, a moving experience. We also saw Checkpoint Charlie and went to the museum which was very interesting and there was a tour guide who told us how he escaped through the border from West Germany to East Germany, with his friend in the boot of his tiny car. Then we went to the museum about the Berlin Wall. On the way home we had a stop and Mrs Denton very kindly got us all an ice cream. We also stopped at a bakery and bought cookies and drinks.

On the third day we went to the Stasi prison where we listened to a tour guide explain what it was like in the prison and that 40 of her colleagues were also prisoners there. They were imprisoned for either crossing the border or helping others to cross the border, or having political ideas that the state disagreed with. We went to the Kaiser Wilhelm church which commemorates the horrors of WWII and also the Berlin Story where we really enjoyed looking at the graffiti on the Berlin Wall. In the evening we went to the IMAX cinema to see Johnny English which we really enjoyed and thankfully it was in English! The tubs of popcorn were massive and very expensive!

The next day we went to see the Eastside Gallery which is part of The Berlin Wall that was not destroyed. It was very long and our legs were tired as we had been doing a lot of walking. Then we went up to the top of the Television Tower for a foggy view and then we took the train to visit the Olympic Stadium which Hitler had built for the 1936 Olympic Games. We had a tour guide who explained about all the rooms in the stadium and there was one room which was prayer room which players used before games. The walls were gold and shiny and we weren’t allowed to touch them as the walls would crumble (but it was very tempting!) In the evening we went bowling and we didn’t realise how competitive Mrs Barker, Mr Roach and Mrs Denton were!

On our last day, we went to another war memorial in the rain and then we took a boat trip and passed many historical monuments.  Thankfully the boat had a glass roof which was closed so we warmed up. Then we went back to the youth hostel to collect our bags from the storage area and took the bus to the airport.

We arrived back at Heathrow late that evening after a fabulous time away. Thank you to all the teachers for organising a great trip and putting up with us!