Hockley Heights Gazette

Happy New Year from Mitchell! For our end of first term holiday as you probably know the Pecks went to Germany. We had a couple of problems getting there though. First of all it was very foggy on the day we chose to leave so it took 2 hours and 50 minutes to get from Wickford to Heathrow airport. Which is about an hour and 20 minutes longer than it should be! Next when we got through the airport customs our flight was delayed for about two hours! Then when we got to the airport in Munich (München in German) we took about 40 minutes to get through customs and find our rental car. Finally Dad made his trademark decision by choosing a place in the middle of nowhere to stay! Finally after taking the 3 hour trek we eventually arrived in Scheidegg. As soon as we stepped out of the airport we felt a rush of cold air (very refreshing after spending 3 hours in air ports and flying together!) When we reached Scheidegg at half past 4 local time we greeted a very cold looking man named Karl who was our host for our time in Germany, all of us were amazed about this man's commitment. All the way to Karl's house (very nice) from the airport I couldn't help but notice how nice Germany looks just after it has snowed. That morning after a very needed sleep Jackson and I ran straight outside after putting on our 6 layers of clothes and that's not an exaggeration! After say ten minutes of playing in the snow as all brothers should Karl's wife Traudel let us borrow two sleds. Jackson and I didn't ask questions (mainly because she only spoke German) and went straight to a hill covered in snow and started using the sleds. We got the hang of it fairly well, well at least we thought so, a local took pity on us foreigners and gave us a few pointers on how to use the sleds properly. It really helped a lot, this made Jackson and I feel rather silly. The next day was Christmas, I was so excited as it was my first white Christmas! Unfortunately it wasn't the whole thing because we didn't have presents with us because we had a fake Christmas beforehand so we don't have to bring excess weight. But I wasn't upset because being in Germany was one of the best presents I have ever received. Most of Christmas day I spent on the snow field sledding with Jackson (really fun) then came home for a traditional Christmas meal of spaghetti bolognese. On Boxing day I got yet another present, skiing lessons! The progress of learning to ski was slow but steady, I felt like the turtle from the story! It felt really good when I went down a hill backwards on skis (don't worry I was supposed to be doing that) that really made me want to do skiing the next day. But the next day was also very good as we went to a castle (as always) but I enjoy castles. The scenery available from the castle (called something German) was so amazing I was stunned! It was a combination of snow capped mountains, forestry, a frozen lake and tiny villages. To my delight the next day was skiing YAY which meant an early start (not to my delight) the skiing was very good and we moved onto the bigger hill which meant I took a couple of tumbles. But no pain, no gain. After skiing we went on a road trip and drove through three different countries, Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein. They all looked very similar to me but there you go. The funny thing about Liechtenstein is that when we went up a mountain to reach a castle (not open to the public) we could see a quarter of the country just there! The next day was a restful day (Yes just what I've been waiting for) I could help notice that over the last couple of days my mum and dad have been drinking the huge bottles of German beer as if they were glasses of water. This worried me when I realised how much driving we had been doing, but at least they had been drinking after dinner. After a good day spent sledding the whole family went to go see some Russian Choir singers in the local Cathedral who were extraordinary. Their Russian singing voices were so strong I was sure that they were shaking the Cathedral. I'm sure that their songs had a lot of deep meaning but sadly I couldn't understand one word of Russian. I slept very well after that spectacular performance but Jackson kept on snoring! You get used to it after a couple of days of it though. I feel for all those who have to sleep with someone who snores every night. Since we've been in Germany it hasn't snowed but just to be difficult it snows the day we leave because dad has to drive a lot on this particular day! When we left Scheidegg we didn't go straight to the airport, we went to Dachau concentration camp. I don't want to talk to much about it but it was definitely an experience. Then we went to the airport to go back to England. Over all I would recommend Germany to anyone who wants a place to go on holiday!