San Diego Children's Choir, Italy Tour
Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Please click on any thumbnail to view a larger image; see journal below


Another View from the Bridge of Sighs
Aubri, Rebecca, Samantha & Sonia inside Doge's prison
Brittni, Meredith, Cami, Jill & Mari on the Venice Tidal Basis
Chaperones John Cassaboom & Paula Johnson with group

Chelsea, Kati, Meagan, Rebecca, Sonia & Kara
Chelsea, Trevor, Jessica, Katie & Kati waiting to get tickets for the Water Taxi to Venice
Choir Watching Glass Blowing Demo
Choristers in front of St. Mark's Basillica

Choristers taking pixs of Glass Blowing
Christie & Briana
Christie, Trevor, Heather, Nolan, Briana, Aubri, Nick & Sonia in Piazza San Marcos
Claire in front of small Murano glass horses

Dan Rehm, Carlos, Cory, Katie, Jacque leaving the dock
Delicious Dinner at Cantina Canaletto
Dinner in Venice at Cantina Canaletto
Dinner in Venice before Rain, Lightning & Thunderstorm

Dinner in Venice
Doge Palace Courtyard in Venice
Doge's Palace in Venice
Glass Blowing Demo at Vecchia Murano in Venice

Gold Ceiling of Doge's Palace
Green Glass Horse, our meeting place for Vecchia Murano (Ancient Glass in Italian)
In front of St. Mark's
John & Kathy on Last Gondola

Kara, Chelsea, Jessica, Katie in front of Massimo, our Italian bus dirver
Kathleen, Katie & Jacque in front of Murano glass cases
Learning that Red Glass heavier (more exensive) than other colors since actual gold is an ingredient for red color
Listening to Explanation of Murano Glass in Chandelier Room

Looking at & taking pictures of ceiling in stairwell at Doge's Palace
Meagan & Kathy in front of Venetian Mass
Meagan, Chelsea, Mrs. Hargett, Sonia, Wendy,Dani & Tiffanie on the vaporetto (water taxi in Italian)
Megan, Dani, Wendy, Claire & Katie on a gondola ride

Michelle, Mari, Jill, Cami, Meredith & Brittni
Mrs. Hargett, Carlos, Kati & Dr. Krantz in front of Euro Exchange at San Marcos Square
Painted canvas on Doge Palace ceiling
Paula Johnson, Sylvia Bolden, Heather Hargett & Kathleen Krantz on their gondola ride

Pix of a Venice Hotel from Gondola Ride
Prisoner's Last View from the Bridge of Sighs
Prisoner's View from the Bridge of Sighs
SDCC hiding in the shade... very hot & humid day in Venice

SDCC waiting at the water taxi station called Tronchetto
Skyline of outer Venice
Sonia & Megan at Vecchia Murano
Sonia & Mrs. Woodhouse behind the gate in the prison

St. Mark's Basillica
St. Mark's Square Bell Tower (rebuilt around 1902)
Trevor, Michelle Brum-Orstad, Nolan, Nick, Daniel & Cheryl Woodhouse
Two SDCC Gondolas leave the dock

Venetian building from the vaporetto
Venice City Tour Guide explaining about multitude of accusation boxes
Venice Dinner
View from window of the large hall in Doge Palace

View of other gondola & scenery
Water flooding in at Doge's Palace at Venice
June 29, 2005 - Venice, Italy

Wow! We are finally in Italy after a long, long two-day journey. Today is our first full day in Italy and we went to Venice, the city with the canals. (That's all I really knew about Venice before we went.)

My favorite part of the day was the gondola ride. I went in a gondola with Kathleen, Katie, Carlos, Cory and a chaperone guy (I currently do not remember his name). It was really funny because Carlos had never been in a boat before and he spent the whole trip panicking and making funny faces every time the boat tilted. This trip was full of new experiences. Our gondola driver was really interesting and spoke English. So I spent part of the boat ride quizzing him. I found out that an average apartment in Venice is about 80 square meters (the size of a four car garage) and cost around twice as much as the same size apartment in other parts of Italy. Anyone who is planning on going to Venice should definitely go on a gondola ride, even though it cost us 20 Euros per person.

Today we learned an important lesson- the toilets in Italy are not free! You have to buy a drink to use a toilet and you cannot sit at a table unless you are willing to pay a couple of Euros ("cover charge"). Sitting down for lunch is definitely a NO-NO! My chaperone group sat down for lunch in Venice and we had to pay 163 Euros today!

We got to tour the Doge's Palace today. We learned that the doge was not the ruler of the Republic of Italy, but was the figure head of Venice and did not have much power. Also, unlike other Italian cities, Venice had around 300 noble families that actually shared the power and made the rules for the public. The tour was amazing… the walls and ceilings of the palace were literally covered with paintings and gold. It was an amazing experience.

So far, Italy is incredible. The food is wonderful and the buildings are beautiful. The trip is worth every penny and I would like to thank my parents for paying for it. Also, to any parent who is reading this, don't plan to do anything for the next week after we get home, because we are not able to sleep much on this trip. So even though it is really hot (around 100 degrees F), this trip is amazing.

Ciao, Jacque

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