Ciao!
Today is the 3rd October 2015, and I have just boarded my Emirates flight from Venice to Dubai.
When we arrived in Venice, we searched for our boat transfer to the city; there are no cars in Venice, so everything is done by boat. Eventually we found it, and squeezed into the tiny boat! It was rather scary, as our boat was so small and we had so much luggage! But, alas, we made it. We then walked to our hotel, Hotel Florida, where we freshened before heading out to explore Venice at night. For dinner, I had a Pizza Americana - pizza with tomato sauce, cheese, and potato chips (French fries) on top. It was so good, I finished it all! We then had chocolate mousse for dessert before returning to the hotel.
Friday began with breakfast: croissants filled with Nutkao (fake Nutella), bread with salami, ham, and cheese, wild berry yogurt, an orange (my obligatory fruit), a cappuccino, and pineapple juice. On the last day, tragedy struck - not only did the travel agent forget to send us an important code for one of the things we booked; one of the girls tripped on the stairs and dislocated her ankle! It was very chaotic! But, alas, we persevered, and caught the water-bus to Piazza di San Marco (St Mark's Square), where we met our tour guide outside the columns that mark the city's entrance. She showed us the Palazzo Ducale, the original residence of the Doge of Venice, which was built in the Gothic style. We also saw the library building, constructed in the Renaissance style. Next, we toured the Basilica di San Marco, the oldest building in the Square, constructed in the Byzantine style. It was amazing to see so many different architectural styles all in one place! In fact, the Basilica is considered to be the best example of Byzantine architecture in the world! St Mark's was covered in gold leaf mosaics - it was absolutely exquisite! The Basilica has five domes; the central Dome depicts Jesus' resurrection, the eastern Dome depicts Jesus's life, and the western Dome depicts Pentecost. The far-west mosaic, near the Basilica's entrance, depicted the Last Judgement. Our guide said that all the main Bible stories were displayed on the Basilica's ceiling, so that even ignorant people could see and understand the messages of the Bible. Furthermore, the ground of the Basilica is made of marble, whereas the ceiling is gold. This is because the Basilica was a representation of the universe, with man on the bottom and God at the top. Marble represents man as it is dark and does not reflect light; man "lives in the Darkness", and thus marble is representative of this. In contrast, gold reflects light, and is thus representative of God's shining light. The symbolism is fairly impressive, if you ask me! The Basilica was aligned east-west with the altar on the Eastern side. The main window was also on the east, so that the first ray of light - God's light - would shine onto the altar each day as a symbol of God's salvation. It was simply magnificent! After exploring the Basilica, our guide took us to see some of the streets and canals of Venice. We saw the Ponte dei Sospiri - Bridge of Sighs - and were introduced to the complex Venetian system of tiny streets and canals. According to her, the Venetian canals were given names before the streets. She also showed us what is considered to be a standard-sized street - or "calle", as they're called - in Venice. To our shock, it was tiny! We probably wouldn't even call it an alleyway; it couldn't have been more than 1m wide! We also saw a street that was next to a canal. As we had arrived in Piazza di San Marco half an hour late, our tour was fairly rushed, and - before we knew it - it was over. We were then given some time to explore the area around Piazza di San Marco in small groups. We explored the markets along the Grand Canal before going to buy lunch at a small cafe beside the Basilica. I ordered a peach ice tea and a Pizza Gondola - a small pizza folded over to look like a gondola and filled with tomato sauce and cheese. It was delicious! We then explored the Piazza and saw the famous Florian cafe. Next, we went back to the Grand Canal to see more of the markets. After a lot of walking, the whole group met back up and we caught our boat transfer to Murano. When we got there, I saw someone blowing and working the glass! It was incredible! We then explored some of the shops, and I bought some gifts for my family. We only had one hour in Murano before we had to return back to Venice. We were dropped off near our hotel, where we packed up our bags and wrapped up our glass. At 7:15pm, we went out to explore the markets around our hotel, before going to dinner at Le Campane. Our last Italian dinner consisted of vegetable pasta, chicken as roast Prato, and strawberry cheesecake. It was delicious! We also discussed our favourite places, Italian boys, and most interesting toilet experiences. We were probably the loudest group in the whole restaurant, but at least the waiters didn't seem to mind - the owner liked us so much, he gave us free drinks! It was so much fun! We then had some more shopping time. There was a gorgeous mask store full of exquisitely handmade masks; they were all so beautiful, I could have bought the whole store! But, alas, I settled on two - one for me and another for a gift. We then bought some gelato. I had Kinder Cereali (Kinder cereal) and I Puffi (Smurf) flavour. We'd walked past the gelateria several times and I'd promise I would try the bright blue Smurf flavour, so I gave it a go! It really wasn't as good as it looked, but it was a lot of fun and everyone was asking me what Smurf flavour actually tasted like! Although it certainly wasn't the best gelato I've ever had, it was worth it, just for the laughs. We then walked around a bit more before returning to the hotel and going to bed.
Today began with breakfast: croissants filled with Nutkao (fake Nutella), bread with salami, ham, and cheese, strawberry yogurt, a cappuccino, and an orange (my obligatory fruit). I also took some croissants to pack in my bag, as I'd spent all my money and needed something for lunch. My last Italian breakfast was definitely yummy; going back to Weetbix will be a bit of a shock! We then packed our bags before heading out to explore the streets of Venice one last time. On the bridge near our hotel, we filmed the final segment of Danzare. Some random people were filming us, but we didn't really care. After all, we'll never see them again, so it doesn't really matter. Most people bought last minute souvenirs before returning to the hotel to check out. We then caught our boat transfer to Venice Airport. It was a little bit scary, as the boat was tipping towards the side where we were all sitting! But, alas, it was a lot of fun. We all said "Ciao Venezia" as we sped away from the city towards the Airport. We then waited around for a while before checking in. My bag weighed 16.7kg, one of the lightest bags on the trip! We then went through the Venetian customs, which was absolutely chaos, to say the least! After getting our passports stamped, we explored duty free for a little while. Michelle, Jemma and I decided to organise a gift for the teachers, so we bought them giant Toblerones from the duty free and asked everyone to sign a little thank you note. With my last spare change, I bought a hot chocolate with cream. Unfortunately, it was not a proper Italian hot chocolate, but it was tasty all the same. We then presented Mrs L and Miss C with their gifts, before boarding the flight and saying goodbye to Italy.
Right now, I am at about 35000 feet, travelling around 550mph over some place in Eastern Europe. Fun fact: the aircraft ID is A6-ENI.
Overall, this trip has been incredible. I have done so many new things and visited so many new places, and I've loved every second of it. The highlights included Pompeii - it was amazing to see everything in real life after studying it for so long - making a pot in Deruta, seeing my host family in Florence, and walking from Monterosso to Vernazza at the Cinque Terre.
Venice was absolutely beautiful, and I love how everything is on the water. It is such a gorgeous and majestic city; I wish we'd had more time there!
I am so grateful to everyone who has made this trip possible, and I would particularly like to thank my teachers for organising everything, and my parents for making my participation possible and encouraging me to give this trip a chance. I cannot thank them enough for this amazing experience and I sincerely appreciate everything!
I will definitely miss Italy, but it will be nice to see my family again and not be living out of a suitcase.
I think dinner is about to come around now.
So, until next time, ciao!