On Thursday, September 8th, the grade 3 students arrived at school with their bags packed all ready for camp. We took the train from Oberwinterthur to Stein am Rhein where we changed to another train to Kreuzlingenhafen. Upon arrival, in Kreuzlingen, which is right next to the German city of Konstanz on the Lake of Constance, we had a 20 minute hike to the Youth Hostel where we stayed. The youth hostel, with its high-ceilings and sunny rooms, was formerly a manor house, the Hörnliberg Villa, and was renovated true to style in 2003. It lies in the middle of a park on the shores of the lake. We checked in and made our beds. Then we organized our daypacks to start our adventures.
The adventures began with a trip to the park where we first ate a picnic lunch and then had time to explore and play on the playground. It was a wonderful, large playground with many different types of equipment to play on. It was a great deal of fun for everyone. The students worked cooperatively and interacted with each other to make the playground experience a fun one.
The next step of the journey was a visit to the Rosenegg Museum where we were given a guided tour of an old house in the style of the 17th century. The students explored each room in pairs to locate and identify the things that would not have been found there during that time period. They were very good at locating these elements of the rooms and explaining why they didn’t belong. The guide also explained many of the olden day tools and objects that were not easily identifiable. It was a great experience and tied in nicely with our Family Histories unit of inquiry.
From here we continued the walk along a trail that led us to a walkway alongside the train tracks high above the houses. It was a little scary, but very cool! We eventually came to the Bernrain Chocolate Factory. Here we were treated to a sample of chocolate and we had the opportunity to buy some chocolate. A sweet tasty visit!
We arrived back at the youth hostel feeling quite tired after all the day’s adventures, but we weren’t finished yet! We had some quiet time in our rooms to write in our camp logbooks about our activities.
Finally it was time for dinner. A few of us had to help set the table and then we got to eat. Once everyone was finished eating, a few of us had to help with the clean-up and doing the dishes.
After dinner, we went on a night walk with our flashlights. We ended up at the beach near the lake where we worked very cooperatively and made rock sculptures, walls and a bridge into the water. While we were doing this we got to enjoy a beautiful sunset. It was a nice walk, but eventually it was time to head back to the hostel and get ready for bed. We were allowed to read quietly in our beds using our flashlights to read by.
In the morning we awoke early. Several of us went to help set the tables for breakfast before the others joined us for a delicious breakfast to gain energy for the day’s activities. After breakfast most of us went to get ready and pack while some helped with the clean-up and did the dishes.
Once we were all ready we stored our big packs in the lounge and took our daypacks for the day trip. Our first stop was the animal park where we got to feed the animals. It was very nice to feed the goats, sheep, donkeys and ducks.
The journey continued to the lookout tower which had a great view over the Lake of Constance. It also overlooked a preserved animal area where they keep Highland Cows. We had a great view of the area and even saw a zeppelin. The tower was quite high up in the air and a little scary!
Once we were all down from the tower we walked to the border between Switzerland and Germany. By the sign marking the border we could actually stand with one foot on the Swiss side of the border and one foot on the German side. There were many art sculptures here representing different elements such as air, moon, stars, the universe, etc.
Then it was time to head back to the youth hostel where we collected our packed lunches and had a picnic lunch outside in the garden of the hostel. There was plenty of food and lots of trading of cookies, as there were several varieties provided.
Finally, our time at camp is over and we must journey back to school. We gather all our packs and walk to the train station. The ride home was relatively quiet, as we are all very tired after such a busy and exciting camp! We are all very excited to see our parents and be home again!
