On the Friday morning we had a guided tour of the town led by our dear friend Ernst. It was raining, as you will see from the raincoats and umbrellas, but that did not dampen our enthusiasm to renew old friendships.
September 2005 marked 10 years since the first party visited Barby. So on the aniversary week end a group of St.Michael's adults visited Barby to celebrate the first 10 years of the link.
We arrived in the late evening on Thursday 15th August in Barby and went home with our individual hosts for supper, a few drinks and then bed
On the Friday morning we had a guided tour of the town led by our dear friend Ernst. It was raining, as you will see from the raincoats and umbrellas, but that did not dampen our enthusiasm to renew old friendships.
Our tour finished at the Town Hall where we had morning tea with the Town Mayor. Here we are seen on the steps of the Town Hall with the Mayor, who is far right on the top step.
The afternoon was spent with our host families before returning to the Church House in the evening for a meal and a presentation by Klaus recalling the last 10years of visits.
Here are a few images of the evening.
After which we all went back to our hosts homes and by all accounts continued the celebrating.
On Saturday we all went on a trip to Lipzieg for a coach tour of the town and a visit to the St.Thomas church for a choral concert.
Here we are at the 'Ice Cream' stop.
The evening was spent with our hosts and in some cases other hosts homes with more memories.
We all went to church on Sunday morning where Barry Gilbert, Vicar of Stourport, preached in German and Ernst preached in English. As both communities understood the sermons they are both to be congratulated.
After church we all went to the local restaurant for Sausages and Soup.
The restaurant is attached to the local community hall where we are seen eating.
Then we were treated to a boat ride on the Elbe from Magdeburg around the local water transport system which connects the river Elbe to the national canal system.
As well as interesting scenery and history to occupy us the celebrating continued in the cabin.
After a last evening meal with our hosts at home we went back to the Church House for a goodbye party for in the morning, Monday, we were off early to Berlin on our journey back to Stourport.
We have much to remember from the last 10 years and hopefully much to look forward to in the future. The planning is already in hand for the next visit of our youth to Barby and we are expecting a visit of Adults to us in 2007.
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