L’Oratoire Trip: Year 8 2007
We set off from the Oratory at about one. Everyone was very excited about the trip in the buses on the way to the ferry. However the wind was up and the sea was very rough with a lot of people feeling seasick during the six hour ferry trip. Mr Williams (gap) became a loner because he was the only one in the whole Bourne Ultimatum cinema. Once we reached French soil we were very tired. Mr Anderson thought it would be good to put on some Irish River dance music which he danced along to, but it made us fall asleep. We wouldn’t be asleep for long because some of us were woken at six thirty to go into town and do the breakfast run.
After breakfast we were told we were going to have a dorm competition. For the dorm competition we had to make sure our rooms were tidy, we would have to buy the bread in the morning, general cleaning duties and a competition to prepare lunch. We were set the challenge to see who could cook the best lunch out of raw foods in twenty minutes with a budget of twenty five Euros. After visiting the market in Aunay-sur-Odon, we went to the supermarket to get the ingredients but the competition had already heated up with rival dorms having a go at each other. It turned out to be quite close. Alex’s group had made a whipped cream soup that looked like poison. The girls bent the rules by making spaghetti carbonara which was ten minutes late. The eventual winner was Tom’s dorm and that put them in the lead in the dorm competition.
That afternoon we went to Longues to look at the German gun posts, one of which had been hit by a shell and had collapsed into the ground. George managed to get Paloma’s coat, which she was wearing, muddy and Paloma went crazy chasing George all over the place before getting too tired to continue.
After the guns, we went to the museum in Arromanches to see the artificial harbour. Afterwards, it was starting to get dark so we headed up a hill to see a restored tank. The journey back was an interesting one. Mr Anderson had picked the slower bus and was struggling to keep up with Mr Vincent’s bus. So in the end the inevitable happened. Mr Anderson took a wrong turn. Instead of going back to the house, he headed for the port. Mr Vincent then set up a search party just as we arrived at the place where we were going to eat . Luckily Mr Vincent was just passing, so we were able to go and have our dinner.
At midday on our second full day in France, after we had been to church, we went off to lunch. Mr Vincent went a different way to us and found a restaurant for steak and chips. We went to the museum. We had a sandwich and muffins!We then all met up and went round the museum which was a timeline leading up to the second world war. Again we had a quiz on the museum so there was no relaxing for us. Then it went on to show a video on the battle of Britain and some posters from the time. We then went and looked at how the portable harbour, which transported tanks, supplies and men to France, was constructed and then how the Allies seized the upper hand. Then we watched a video about D-Day itself and when each town fell. It was amazing to see how quickly each town fell and overall, how quickly France fell. Finally we learnt about the atomic bombs and we discussed what a nuclear war could do to the planet. Mr Anderson didn’t get lost on the way back as it was the same restaurant we ate at the night before.
Bayeux Cathedral
Our last full day was probably the most fun. We went to Bayeux to first go to a cathedral and look in the catacombs. The church’s size was overwhelming. Just the doors were massive compared to many other cathedrals. The catacombs were very dark with a lot of floor and wall paintings. It looked very old but was only built after the French revolution on top of the old one which had been destroyed.
Then we went to the Tapestry itself. There were models of what daily life would have been like for the daily soldiers and then there was the tapestry. The end bit had been cut out of it so there were only fifty eight scenes. We had a radio sort of thing that told us what was happening in each scene. It was quite incredible how well preserved it had been for all the years that it had been on show for.
Then we went to the Tapestry itself. There were models of what daily life would have been like for the daily soldiers and then there was the tapestry. The end bit had been cut out of it so there were only fifty eight scenes. We had a radio sort of thing that told us what was happening in each scene. It was quite incredible how well preserved it had been for all the years that it had been on show for.
Holding a goat!
Our final stop of the trip was at a goat farm. We went into where the goats were held and stroked them. We then let one out and we kneeled down so that the goat could run over our backs. Then Alex was taught how to milk the goat. Instead of milking it he used it as a weapon and sprayed us all with milk. Charlotte Wilson and Freddie Gordon got to milk the goat then drink its milk. We then went into the farmer’s cafe area and tried some of his cheese. Some of us bought the cheese to take back to England.
That evening Edward Hiscox’s dorm celebrated his birthday by cooking spaghetti Bolognese with an apple tart for dessert. Then some of us stayed up to do the washing-up. We were thoroughly exhausted and we were praying it wouldn’t be rough on the way back.
Thankfully it wasn’t rough. The quiz between two teams from our school ended up in Mr Vincent claiming he had got the last answer right when, according to the quizmaster, he had not. As a result his team lost. He then looked the answer up on the internet to see if he was right. He was.
It was a fantastic trip which everyone enjoyed and it was a great break from work for us. I would like to thank Mr Vincent, Mr Anderson, Madame Cordillet and Mr Williams for taking us on this trip which was a great learning experience for all of us.
By Charlie Baker 8N
