Venezia (Venice), Italy

Today we left for Venice on the bus, and everybody but two made it.  We’ve kept telling the students that we WILL leave at the time we tell them, but this was the first time the threat was in effect. (They eventually made it to Venice on their own).

The bus dropped us off at the pier, and we boarded a ferry which sailed us to Venice.

In Venice the students had 6 hours on their own, to explore as they felt like. Many of them went on the traditional gondola rides around the canals – a very scenic and  cool experience.

Gondola ride!

The Rialto Bridge

After that we all spread out and had lunch (one of the most expensive on the entire trip – Venice is expeeeensive).

The weather was extremely nice, but the hot sun and the hundreds of thousands of millions of tourists forced everybody away from the Skt. Marcus square to seek out the quieter parts of the city which turned out to be quite a treat, with better shops, smaller canals and with a feel of the “true” Venice.

Beautifully detailed gates and fences in Venice

The Marcus Square (Piazza San Marco) seen from the water side

All abord the ferry home from Venezia

Back on the ferry all the students were all exhausted, but spirits were high – cause tonight there would be no curfew and we would all go to a club called The Splash, which is a soft-drink-only club just down the street from the hotel.

The students danced and sang all night, and around 2am the last ones left.

Most of the students went to bed, but around 10 stayed up all night to watch the sun rise on the beach – absolutely beautiful!