INTERNATIONAL
VISITS
York Rotary enjoys close relationships with other Rotarians across Europe, and beyond.
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We arrange biennial visits to Europe, or host our European friends in York.
Fellowship Visit in Nuremberg May 2025
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Our most recent international fellowship weekend with our friends from Erlangen Rotary Club, Germany took place in Nuremberg on
May 22-25 2025 (see below)
Archive - prior year visits
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2011 - York download
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2012 - Erlangen download
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2013 - Limoges download
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2014 - Stratford download
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2015 - Leipzig download
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2016 - Clermont-Ferrand download
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2018 - York download
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2022 - Erlangen download
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2023 - York download
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2025 - Nuremberg See this page
International Partner Clubs Visit of York to Nuremberg May 22-25 2025
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The York Club has been twinned with Erlangen since 1984 with meetings taking place in each of the countries in turn on a bi-annual basis, creating many long standing friendships. A party of 10 from York visited Nuremberg to meet up with our friends from Erlangen
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The weekend comprised two full days of visits and excellent fellowship
Here are recollections of the weekend.........
Thursday May 22nd
The group representing York Rotary were met at the Cloud One hotel in Nuremberg and taken to Alte K uche a beer kellar a short distantance from the hotel for a welcome dinner.
The dinner was a lovely occasion, we rekindled friendships and made new friendships during the evening. The table seat names were lovely turned lids used as covers on beers steins, each of the covers had been turned by Erlangen President ? and were inscribed with our names. After dinner President Gerhart gave a welcome speech and President Mike responded in German.
Friday May 23rd
The day started by a transfer to Nuremberg castle viewing point where the view across the city was very impressive. From there we went on walking tours around the city with local guides. One group was challenged with more steps as we toured a house that is currently under restoration. We were also taken to see
Bornhouse Albrecht Dürer, Historical City Hall, Sebalduskirche, Nuremberg Down Town prior to having lunch near the Opera. Nuremberg is a lovely city of buildings that have been sensitively rebuilt following the 95% destruction of the city by the end of the second world war, a fantastic achievement.
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After lunch we enjoyed a an exclusive behind the scenes tour of the Opera House & State theatre where we went back stage, we toured the front of house areas, then we visited the costume stores along with the costume, wig and mask workshops. We were very interested to hear about the history of the building.
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The Opera house is a very large business employing approximately 600 people. There are approximately 650 performances per year and the period required from inception to bringing an opera or ballet to production is approximately two years.
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The day finished with dinner at the „Heilig-Geist-Spital“ , a restaurant that spans over the the river Pegnitz. After dinner we enjoyed a sing song which has become a welcome part of the international exchange visits.
Saturday May 24th
We had an early start and travelled via coach from Nuremberg via Erlangen to the lovely village of Volkach. In arrival we were met by the village mayor who told us about the village and the other 10 villages that he is responsible for and the budgets that he controls. We then went on tours around the town looking at the lovely buildings, visiting St Bartholomew church and then Schelfenhaus a historic merchant's building.
From Volkach we went a short distance by bus to a local wine estate with very impressive views. We had a tour of the vinyard and in parallel with that we sampled to Frankonian wines. We had an explanation of viticulture in the area, we then went back to the winery where we enjoyed a buffet lunch of local meats, cheeses and sausages, as well as sampling for more local wines. We travelled back to Nuremberg by coach during which most people made the most of an opportunity for a quick sleep!
After a short rest we were taken to „Alte Post“ in Kraftshof for the gala dinner. Kraftshof is a lovely rural village located between Nuremberg and Erlangen and before dinner we had chance to look around the local church. After an excellent meal and fellowship we had speeches from our two presidents and Wilfried who headed the Erlangen organising team. During his speech President Mike invited members of Erlangen Rotary to visit York in May or June 2027. The singing finished with Auld Lang Syne, this was of course led by Frank Paterson, a great enthusiast for singing.
Sunday May 25th
The visit concluded with a farewell breakfast at the Cloud One hotel. After saying good by we all headed of on our travels back to the UK, one travelling by train, two by car, six flying back via Schiphol to Leeds and one flying back to Stanstead. Interestingly Frank Paterson's train journey via Frankfurt and Brussels to Sta Pancras and then back to York all went to plan and took 10.5 hours, virtually the same door to door time as the journey back via Schiphol, but Frank had the added pleasure of views on the way.
Reflections of the weekend:
It was clear from all those participating that they had greatly enjoyed the weekend of fellowship. As always happens with visits of this nature it was very well organised and we were all very well entertained and looked after. We were also lucky enough to see things that we would not normally be able to see. We thank the Erlangen organising team for organising an excellent weekend. The friendship and camaraderie of the weekend were excellent. Both York and Erlangen Rotary clubs agree that visits of this nature are very important and greatly help promote international friendship.
York Rotary now look forward to Erlangen visiting York in May or June 2027in the meantime we will keep in regular contact via Zoom meetings and events.
Auf Wiedersehen until 2027
