A weekend of friendship, jollity, food, beer and storms – the Quadrilateral Weekend is an annual event, where members of the Rotary Clubs of Maidenhead, Tivoli, Saint Cloud and Bonn meet together on a rotational basis. This year it was the turn of Bonn, and a group of 16 members and their wives travelled to Germany to take part from 2nd to 5th June.
On the first evening on Thursday we met in the ‘Stiefel’ pub in the centre of Bonn to renew friendships and enjoy a local beer or two. On Friday, lunch was a normal Rotary meeting in the Hotel Königshof, with a thought-provoking talk given by Lothar Rühl on the Future of European Integration and Security. In the evening we had dinner with host families, accompanied by thunder, lightning and torrential rain. This weather was to become the pattern for the next few days.
On the first evening on Thursday we met in the ‘Stiefel’ pub in the centre of Bonn to renew friendships and enjoy a local beer or two. On Friday, lunch was a normal Rotary meeting in the Hotel Königshof, with a thought-provoking talk given by Lothar Rühl on the Future of European Integration and Security. In the evening we had dinner with host families, accompanied by thunder, lightning and torrential rain. This weather was to become the pattern for the next few days.
A boat trip up the Rhine on Saturday morning brought the group to Königswinter, where we rode to the top of the Drachenfels on a historic rack railway – the Drachenfelsbahn. The surrounding hills and the River Rhine were partially obscured by mist. We walked halfway down the hill through woodland to a Gothic castle, Drachensburg, built in the 19th Century, where we had lunch before returning to the boat. Some of the group walked all the way down, but back came the thunder and heavy rain, leaving several of us completely soaked.
In the evening we had the traditional Gala Dinner, held this time in the Godesburg, on the opposite bank of the Rhine from Drachensburg. There had been serious flash floods in the area and in the countryside near Bonn earlier in the afternoon, and many roads and properties were affected.
On the final day we gathered in another picturesque moated castle, Burg Adendorf, owned by one of the club members. It too had been affected by the flooding. Water had poured off local fields into the moat, which had overflowed and caused damage to properties in the village, with villagers needing to be rescued. The castle cellars had flooded for the first time in 700 years. However, all was cleared up and we had a lovely final morning, with musical entertainment and a delicious buffet prepared by the ladies of the club.
On the final day we gathered in another picturesque moated castle, Burg Adendorf, owned by one of the club members. It too had been affected by the flooding. Water had poured off local fields into the moat, which had overflowed and caused damage to properties in the village, with villagers needing to be rescued. The castle cellars had flooded for the first time in 700 years. However, all was cleared up and we had a lovely final morning, with musical entertainment and a delicious buffet prepared by the ladies of the club.
After goodbyes were said, a coach returned us to Cologne-Bonn Airport for our return flights. Ominously the clouds built up again and, after our luggage was loaded, our flight was cancelled due to the weather. 10 hours after arriving at the airport, at 2 am, we eventually got to a hotel in Cologne for the night before going through the whole process again the following day – this time with fortunately only one hour delay. Not a very good end to what had been a wonderful weekend. |