"Maahhh," resounds from a good 20 children’s throats on the old main bridge – and the passers-by turn their heads in amazement. Andrea mc wright-lapp stands in the midst of the crowd of children and laughs. Her first children’s tour of kitzingen is off to a good start. The little ones are enthusiastic.
The tourist information office in kitzingen offers around 300 guided tours every year. From the "krauter kusst wein fuhrung" to the court council reception to the tasting tour. There are special tours for the smallest guests. Andrea mc wright-lapp has prepared herself particularly intensively for this task.
The trained educator is german-american and has lived in lower franconia for about 50 years, half of them in kitzingen. She is very fond of wurzburg – and kitzingen as well. "When you stand on one of the old main bridges and see the backdrops of the city, it’s just beautiful," she says.
"The personal stories and anecdotes are best received by all guests." Andrea mc wright, guest driver kitzingen
For the past two years, she has been passing on her enthusiasm to the tourists who moor in kitzingen on their hotel ships. It is predestined for the tours in english language. She took an overview of the historical data from a script that the tourist information office gave her. "But the pure dates quickly become boring for the guests," says the guest guide. So she went along with her colleagues again and again and exchanged information with them. "Everyone does it a little differently," she says. "But the personal stories and anecdotes have gone down best with all the guests."
She has one hour for the adult tours in english, one and a half for the german-speaking tours. Not much time. From the bridge we go to the town hall, then to the falter tower and then to the old cemetery, where the "dracula grave" and its history are always well received. For the small guests she has thought up a somewhat modified and above all child-friendly tour. The show starts with an improvised play on the old main bridge.
Andrea mc wright-lapp pulls two crowns, a scarf and a muzzle one after the other out of her coat pocket. "Do you see the schwanberg?" She asks the preschool children from st. Michael in sthashausen, who have booked a guided tour with their teachers this morning. "From there hadeloga once entrusted her scarf to the wind."A child willingly plays the wind and brings the scarf to the schafer kitz. Dessen’s "sheep" blokk with enthusiasm – and already all the children are right in the middle of the history of the town’s development. "It’s fun for me to involve the little ones," explains the trained educator, and sets off with the children in the direction of the town hall.
"Don’t run, don’t sleep," is the motto along the fubgangeruber trails. Caution is advised when walking through the streets of the city. In front of the town hall andrea mc wright-lapp demonstrates vividly how in the middle ages the long and coarse and thus also the price of a good was measured. She holds her scarf to her elle and the children follow her with curious looks.
Then the little guests willingly go on a discovery tour. How many coats of arms will you find in the old town of kitzingen?? "There’s one," a girl calls out, pointing in the direction of the district administration office, a boy discovers the replica of the old main bridge on a flower cube. And already the children are standing in the middle of it on the rough coat of arms that can be found in the city – carved into the fubweg between the town hall and the market tower.
The fact that a human being once lived up there, under the roof of the tower, visibly fascinates the young guests. They do not quite agree on its task. "Keep an eye out for thieves," says a boy. "Look for high water", suggests another one. Andrea mc wright explains that hundreds of years ago, people were mainly afraid of fire. The fact that there was no fire department and no siren back then seems to baffle some children.
The tour continues in the direction of the folding tower, where the little explorers enthusiastically join in as the hostess demonstrates how a giant trapdoor is raised or lowered. The children diligently imitate the movements and thus automatically internalize the original name of the tower. "Over the centuries, the french have turned the fall gate tower into the falter tower," explains andrea mc wright.
A short detour to the shortest street in kitzingen, which curiously enough has the longest name – kapuzinerklosterbruckenstrabe – and the children from st. Michael arrive back at the market place. One girl wants to know how many inhabitants there are in kitzingen, and then it’s time to say goodbye.
The hostess greeted each child, handed them a sheet of paper with the kitzingen coat of arms to color in and hoped that something of her child-friendly explanations of kitzingen’s history would stick in their minds. A hope that was allowed to come true, the little ones pointing to a flag on their way home again. To be seen on it: the kitzingen coat of arms.