11/5/23
We spent the day in Luxemburg, Perl-Schengen and Konz – a program full of interesting and important information – and finished with a visit to the best pizzeria in this region, Da Paolino, in Konz.
This morning we were joined by a special guide, former teacher Mr. Blumental. He spent a whole morning with us in Perl-Schengen, where he told us about the history and current importance of the Schengen Agreement. We visited interesting monuments such as the small Eiffel Tower, or joined hands and stars symbolizing the EU countries.
Have you ever wondered what it’s like to cross the borders of three countries within fifteen minutes? Well, the students and teachers participating in our Erasmus+ project got to walk from Germany straight to France and then to Luxembourg at the intersection of the borders at Schengen. It was an exciting experience, especially because I personally immediately started sending photos to my friends once we crossed the border with France, bragging that I was there while they sat at school.
Once we were in Luxembourg, we walked to the European Museum in the small town of Schengen. The museum is known for the grey, intricately designed stars placed on three slopes standing in front of the building, representing each country that is a part of the Schengen Agreement. We got to know about the already mentioned treaty, which was signed in 1985 by Germany, Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands with the rest of the EU countries joining in later. This agreement abolishes checks at borders between countries within the EU. We also talked about the symbols on each star that stood for either Germany, Spain or the Czech Republic and, having taken a gorgeous group photo with our three national flags, we went to take a look inside the museum. Everyone found something to do and after we finished our short tour of the museum, we walked to a nearby bus stop and took a bus straight to Luxembourg’s capital.
Since 2020, all public transport in Luxemburg is free, to encourage people to use trams, buses and trains instead of their cars. We walked around in the old town, and we visited the house of the Duke of Luxemburg.
We were then allowed to make small groups and have some free time in the city center, which is amazing. Me and some friends went to the shopping mall by bus, which is called „Auchan“, in Kirchberg, which is the most modern and richest part of the city. It has many skyscrapers and offices, and headquarters of banks.
We just had 2 hours at the city and so after 30 minutes we needed to go back to the group by tram.
We took the train back from the main train station in Luxemburg, „gare central“, to Konz at 5pm.
Having taken the train back to Konz, we were all thrilled to go to a pizzeria called Da Paolino for dinner. Despite the longer wait some of us had to endure for our pizzas, the students and the teachers alike had a great time and it made a perfect end to a wonderful day.
„Von der Europäischen Union finanziert. Die geäußerten Ansichten und Meinungen entsprechen jedoch ausschließlich denen des Autors bzw. der Autoren und spiegeln nicht zwingend die der Europäischen Union oder der Europäischen Exekutivagentur für Bildung und Kultur (EACEA) wider. Weder die Europäische Union noch die EACEA können dafür verantwortlich gemacht werden.„
