Scotland and England
Aikido Classes in the UK

At the end of my internship in Amiens, France, in January/February 1993 I was planning to go to Edinburgh again for another weekend class with the Reading University Aikido Club (similar to the course we had attended one year before). On Friday, 19th February, I took a train to Dover/Folkestone where I was met by Michael and Rosemary. After a few days in Hastings I took a train to Reading on Tuesday the 23rd where I stayed with a friend from the aikido club. On the 24th I went to Edinburgh by car with some of the aikido folks. On Thursday we visited the Firth of Forth and the centre of Edinburgh where we climbed Scott's Monument. We spent a few days practising aikido and we also went on a five-hill walk in the Scottish Mountains which was horrible because I didn't bring a good coat and shoes for a hike on the muddy hills. On Monday we returned to Reading and I stayed with my friend again. The following day I went back to Hastings where I spent another night and on Wednesday the 3rd I took a train to Dover, then the jetfoil to Oostend and another train back home.

In the summer of 1993 I bought an interrail ticket to go to Italy first to visit some friends. Then I went to the UK for aikido summer school in the north of England and a trip to Scotland. On Saturday, 31st July, my friend Corinna and I took a train to Oostend. During the 4-hour journey on the night ferry we had to sleep on the floor because all seats were already taken. Upon arrival in Dover we had to wait a while for the first train to leave for London. We crossed London on the Underground and took a train to Durham where we met some of my aikido friends from Reading. Durham with its cathedral towering above the town is definitely worth a visit.

From 2nd till 7th August we attended Aikido Summer School and we stayed in student rooms at the university's College of Hild & St. Bede. On the last evening we had an Elizabethan Banquet at Lumely Castle which was good fun. On Sunday the 8th Corinna and I took a train to Arbroath to visit my penpal Kate in Auchmithie, Scotland, who I had met once before. On the 9th we visited Perth, Scotland's former capital city, and on Thursday the 10th we travelled down to Whitchurch in Shropshire  to meet my penpal Elayne who I also met the year before. On the 11th we visited Nantwich and we went for a walk around Bickerton Hill. On Saturday, 12th August, my birthday, we took a train to Hastings where we stayed with Michael and Rosemary. The weather was great. On the 14th Corinna and I went to London and walked around Oxford Street and Soho. From there we went back to Germany where we arrived in the morning of the 15th.

Three years later I joined another Aikido Summer School. On Sunday, 4th August 1996, at 11:00 a.m. I took a BA flight to Manchester and from there a train to Durham (£26.90). Besides the training sessions we went to the swimming pool and to the cinema. Once we had dinner at an Italian restaurant and we had a beachwear party on the final night. On Sunday the 11th at midday I took a train (£27 Supersaver) to Edinburgh for my return flight at 17:10. I got there in ample time and strolled around some of the shops. But I had overlooked that the streets would be closed due to a parade taking place that day. But I needed to cross the street to catch the airport bus! Suddenly there were crowds of people and I was starting to panic that I wouldn't make it. With my big bag I squeezed my way through the crowds as best as I could until I found an opening where people where allowed to cross the street from time to time! So finally I had made it and I got back home in time for my birthday the next day!