MARBURG TRIP MARCH 2025
The town of Northampton is “twinned” with towns in Europe – Marburg in Germany and Poitiers in France. Some time ago I was contacted by a lady called Christa Stoffregen who is involved with the “twinning” activities in Marburg.
She connected me with the chair of Marburg Bridge Club Joachim Fleing who was keen to see if we would like to play some matches together online on RealBridge. We were very happy to do so, and we have played with them on a Tuesday evening every few months for about a year.
In addition, Joachim invited us to visit and join in with their tournament they were organising in Marburg to celebrate 70 years of the club’s existence. Four of us travelled to Marburg over the weekend of March 15th and joined in with their celebrations – me, Richard Gibson, Mel Viljoen and Marna Johansen
Joachim and his deputy Manfred Pfeiff took Richard Gibson and me out to dinner on Friday evening after we had arrived. Joachim had also organised a guided tour of Marburg on the Sunday morning hosted by an English-speaking guide.
There was a reception, speeches, an excellent buffet lunch, a bridge tournament, and after game buffet and drinks. There were 25 tables with Richard and me coming third and Mel and Marna coming fifth.
We had travelled in two pairs – Richard and me via Heathrow to Frankfurt airport then two trains to Marburg, which is just over an hour’s train ride north of Frankfurt. It was pretty much hassle-free – or at least as hassle-free as plane travel can be, but everything worked more or less on time.
Mel and Marna took the train – a night out in London, followed by the Eurostar to Brussels and then a through train to Frankfurt via Cologne and the regional train to Marburg.
The trip to Brussels and back was full of surprises.
On the way out the train to Frankfurt stopped in Cologne and they had to get off and join another train, which was totally full. One of the trains had been cancelled. Marna tells me that Mel threatened to kill her but a couple of glasses of wine sorted that out.
Mel and Marna stayed on to play with Marburg again on Monday evening and came second. They then had a day in Frankfurt on the way home (joining in with Marburg’s online game on Tuesday evening). Their planned train to Brussels was then cancelled causing Mel to have to run to catch an alternative – another threat of murder ensued.
They made it home – but shows that the UK is not the only part of Europe to suffer from difficult travelling experiences.
Richard Tickle, Chair
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