Twinning visit to Isny October 28th to November 1st 2019
We have just made our biennial trip to Isny which was a great success. Thirty people were due to travel which is the largest group for sometime. This included 5 new Twinners. At the last minute two people were unable to come due to health/family issues.
We were very lucky this year to once again travel from Bristol to Basel with Easyjet at a very keen ticket price. (£76.27 return + £31 for hold luggage) which was made possible through the generosity of our hosts who were prepared to send a coach to meet us at Basel for the 3 and a half hour trip to Isny. The flight times were excellent with no early starts or late arrivals.
On arrival we were offered snacks on the coach before making a stop at Birnau on Lake Constance, the site of a famous church and monastery, and where we were fed wonderful cakes and coffee in the attached restaurant. We then continued on to Isny and a short reception in the Town Hall before going home with our host families.
The first full day was spent locally with a trip to Dethleffs caravan factory in the morning (starting with coffee and pretzels in the staff canteen). Dethleffs is the largest local industry and we were shown around the impressive production line. Several of us had our eyes on different motor homes by the time we left. We then all had a delicious Thai lunch together in a local school facility cooked by Bo Loose who is one of the German Twinners. In the afternoon there was a guided tour of the town for new Twinners and others had a guided walk on the nearby Rotmoos nature reserve.
The following day we were treated to a full day coach trip to the mountains. We had to imagine some of the peaks that were undoubtedly soaring above us, due to heavy rain and overcast skies. But we didn’t let this dampen our spirits as we packed into the small lift that took us up to the top of the ski jump in Oberstdorf. For some of us just standing at the top of the jump imagining launching ourselves into the air, was enough of a thrill, but others put on virtual reality headsets and made the jump themselves!. We then drove on to the Breitachklamm gorge and walked up the spectacular narrow gorge. At an afternoon coffee stop in Sulzberg, Austria, we were again served enormous slices of cake and it didn’t feel long after that, that we stopped at a traditional restaurant/brewery for another meal all together before a late return to Isny.
Our last day was spent with our host families and we enjoyed a wide range of activities before all meeting up for a final dinner. This was another very convivial evening where we were entertained by a local dance group in their national costumes and by a trio of Alpenhorn players. There were speeches from the local mayor and Twinners on both sides and we presented our gift of Xmas aprons and decorations for their December Xmas market stall which was very well received.
Our few days had passed very quickly and the next day we were off by 9am for our return trip to the airport. From talking to our group on the return journey it seemed that the trip had been a great success. The new Twinners had gelled with their host families, we had all been made very welcome and they had organised a full programme for us which made the time pass very quickly. People commented on how they had enjoyed spending more time with the whole group as we had a communal meal at some stage each day. The only thing that would have made the trip even better would have been less rain as it rained at some stage every day.