Year 8 Trip To Le Touquet - 2007

Day 1

The coach left school at 7:30am and everyone was very keen to get there.
During the trip, Mr Crane played French music to us, and we had to vote on our 'top ten French tunes'. When we arrived at the Eurotunnel station there was a long wait, because of all the English rugby fans who were trying to get to France early for the World cup match. The driver in front of us drove onto the Eurotrain in a black Lamborghini!
The trip through the tunnel only lasted for 35 minutes because we travelled  at an amazing 154 mph!
We arrived in Calais at 17.05pm and had to remember to drive  on the right hand side of the road !
The journey to our hotel lasted for one hour:  en route we saw in the distance the Town Hall of Calais and some quaint French houses.
The hotel is called the 'Hippotel'* which is named after the horse race track which is front of it: from our balcony we could see the horses in the stables.
. *the word hippo comes from the Greek for horse.
We went to our rooms to freshen up, unpacked and then went down to the dining room for a spectacular three course meal. Finally, after a tiring day I just managed to write my diary before falling asleep.

Day 2

Today, after waking up at 'sept heures' we had an amazing 'petit déjeuner' made up of freshly baked 'croissants' and  'chocolat chauds'. We then made up a packed lunch and left for the Beussent chocolate factory.
It was brilliant - we learned how chocolates are made in tiny moulds. I bought some chocolates in the factory shop for my mum. After that we had our lunch and went to the 'Moulin de Maintenay' - a thousand year old mill where they still grind flour and make their own bread in a wood fired oven. We even got to make our own baguettes, after being told all about the history of the mill and how bread is made. When the bread came out of the oven, you could smell how fresh it was: it was warm and absolutely delicious ! We learned the French for the ingredients too: 'la farine' - flour, 'l'eau' - water, 'le sel' - salt, 'le levain' - yeast.
We went for a ramble in the lovely French countryside and then ate our lunch in the hot sun by a cool stream.
Before going back to our hotel, we called in at the very smart coastal resort called 'Le Touquet' where we did some shopping. I didn't buy anything interesting: I'm saving my money for the hypermarket on Monday.
In the evening some of us watched the World Cup rugby on television, whilst the rest played bar billiards or 'le baby foot'.