What more is there to say??? "Most" of us awoke to a bright morning sun, showered, and had breakfast of fresh baked croissants with jam and cereal and milk and juice in our little Pensione Geurrato before we departed for our first official tour in Venice with our first "official" tour guide. A few of us just awoke to Mrs. Mynatt's "Five Minute Warning" departure call...unfortunately ;-) I noticed Jackson was walking while holding his "britches" up with his hands, and I asked him where his belt was. He said he didn't really know...somewhere buried under all of the stuff in his room. We laughed. After all it doesn't really matter. What DOES matter is that you're having a good time and taking in as much as possible...even if you DO happen to oversleep, miss breakfast and arrive downstairs at the departure time with a "Five Minute Warning". The students all know that if we have to wait "just five more minutes" times 14 students that's over an hour of valuable time wasted. Jackson is a good sport and rolls with the flow...just like everybody else! But in no time at all we were out practicing our navigation skills while on our way to the Doge's Palace in San Marco.
See those signs (both printed and written) on the walls overhead? Those are our "street signs". We're staying in the triangle between San Marco, Rialto and Accademia so all we have to look for are "Per San Marco", "Per Rialto" and "Per Accademia" to guide exactly where we want to go. What? You messed up and ended up in an alley that dead ends into a resident's front door? No problem, just back up and look for the sign you obviously missed. It's really quite simple, yet most people don't know about these skills...but YOUR students do :-) They've successfully navigated themselves in groups all over the island today. Of course they have our phone numbers in case they get lost. But guess what, they only call to tell us things like "they've met up with another group and they're all taking a gondola ride" or "I saw a pair of earring for my Mom yesterday can you tell me where that store was". Yep, they're doing just fine - just like all of the CAK groups before them. Mr. Margene and Mrs. Mynatt are excellent teachers, don't you think??? I know I do!
After our navigation teaching/testing, but before our Doge's Palace tour, we get in the very short line to ascend to the top of the Campanile. We're here just before opening time and before all of the crowds swarm into the square from the mega cruise ships that dock in Venice's port. I told Drew we would climb up to the top (100 meters or 300 feet) for a grand view. I saw the panic in his eyes :-) then I told him "or we can just ride the elevator" to which he was much more enthusiastic...Of COURSE we're riding the elevator - and it whisks us up to the top in no time for a grand view over Venice Island and the Adriatic Basin.
The bell tower was Jackson's favorite place in Venice...ME TOO!
I'm particularly fond of those giant bells that are suspended over our heads. And "Yes", they do peal the hour. Every year I try to convince Mrs. Mynatt that the noon hour would be particularly resounding, but after the first time I successfully convinced her of that she's never scheduled another noon time bell encounter - I can't imagine why!
OK - enough about bells, Mrs. Mynatt would say, let's talk about our first tour of the day, the Doge's Palace. We assembled in the palace square at our reserved entrance time and Mr. Margene and Mrs. Mynatt took a few minutes before our official tour guide arrived to explain to us a few things we would hear today during our tour.
We learned today how the Doge (leader/president) was elected by the town counsel for a lifelong position of living in the palace and being the supreme leader (almost). Sounds grand until you find out that he was pretty much trapped in Venice for the rest of his life and could never leave. I guess living in a palace wasn't quite what it was cracked up to be!
And our Secret Itineraries Tour took us to secret passages and rooms not included in the general admission ticket. We reserved our time this morning because if you wait until 10:00 or so to just show to buy tickets up you'll find a line of people waiting that could take 3 or 4 hours just to get to the entrance. Not Happening!
What's a palace without dungeons and torture chambers? Not much - but the Doge's Palace is full of them. No flash allowed so the pics are just a little grainy.
Kyle demonstrates one of the torture methods for us. Don't worry Mrs. Sparkman, he didn't scream too loudly ;-)
And of course we must have some WMDs (weapons of medieval destruction)
Even though the palace was full of torture it was still very much a palace and a place of opulence as displayed in the 24k Golden Staircase where people came to have a session with the Doge. It was designed to be intimidating and to remind you of the Doge's power. When the visitors departed they left via the NON golden staircase...just to remind you that you were WAY below the worth of the Doge's Golden entrance.
A beautiful grand hall in the palace with all of your tired students sitting on the bench to the right. For some reason standing while learning is exhausting, but standing while SHOPPING is exhilarating! Go figure...
After our palace tour we had reservations just next door at St. Mark's Basilica. Again it is a place of beauty beyond belief with millions of golden mosaics adorning almost every square inch.
But the NEXT activity of the day was a much anticipated event as the groups went out to have lunch and shop shop shop. Don't worry, Moms and Dads, I didn't see any purchases over 500Euro ;-)
The students spent several hours out and about discovering Venice on their own. We had several checkins during that time and everyone was required to be in a group with a phone. Last I counted we had all 14 students at the end of the day. Great job, don't you think?
The last destination of this day in Venice is little St Elena...way down at the tip of Venice Island where the locals live. It's got tree lined parks and lots of grass and of course the Adriatic lapping at the sea wall. Our students met several of the local students and had some good frisbee and soccer time. Mary Lawson said this was her favorite part of Venice. Not just because it was "fun", but also because she learned just how possible it is to communicate with other people even though you may not speak the same language.
The "official" last student photograph of Venice is always your students sitting on the sea wall in St. Elena just before sunset. It's a beautiful place in a magical city and your students have had a HUGE dose of Venice and many of it's most magical sites. I think they've performed magnificently while here in this city like no other.
And the sun sets on our last night in Venice...
In the morning we'll be up bright and early to catch the Vaporetto down to the Ferrovia stop where we'll hop on our bullet train to Rome. We've got some famous sites to see including the Colosseum tomorrow. We're staying at the beautiful family owned Napoleon Hotel with our dear friend Roberto Cioce who has welcomed our CAK students for several years...and he doesn't take groups into his hotel. That should tell you a great deal about CAK Europe Students and the expectations of their Europe Teachers, Mr. Margene and Mrs. Mynatt.
Lastly you might be interested to know that our dear friend Roby here at the Pensione Guerrato sends his best wishes to you and is already looking forward to welcoming next year's Europe Students. He says CAK students are always wonderful to have as guests. Thought you might like to know that!
Good night from Venice. Talk to you tomorrow from Florence!
See those signs (both printed and written) on the walls overhead? Those are our "street signs". We're staying in the triangle between San Marco, Rialto and Accademia so all we have to look for are "Per San Marco", "Per Rialto" and "Per Accademia" to guide exactly where we want to go. What? You messed up and ended up in an alley that dead ends into a resident's front door? No problem, just back up and look for the sign you obviously missed. It's really quite simple, yet most people don't know about these skills...but YOUR students do :-) They've successfully navigated themselves in groups all over the island today. Of course they have our phone numbers in case they get lost. But guess what, they only call to tell us things like "they've met up with another group and they're all taking a gondola ride" or "I saw a pair of earring for my Mom yesterday can you tell me where that store was". Yep, they're doing just fine - just like all of the CAK groups before them. Mr. Margene and Mrs. Mynatt are excellent teachers, don't you think??? I know I do!
After our navigation teaching/testing, but before our Doge's Palace tour, we get in the very short line to ascend to the top of the Campanile. We're here just before opening time and before all of the crowds swarm into the square from the mega cruise ships that dock in Venice's port. I told Drew we would climb up to the top (100 meters or 300 feet) for a grand view. I saw the panic in his eyes :-) then I told him "or we can just ride the elevator" to which he was much more enthusiastic...Of COURSE we're riding the elevator - and it whisks us up to the top in no time for a grand view over Venice Island and the Adriatic Basin.
The bell tower was Jackson's favorite place in Venice...ME TOO!
OK - enough about bells, Mrs. Mynatt would say, let's talk about our first tour of the day, the Doge's Palace. We assembled in the palace square at our reserved entrance time and Mr. Margene and Mrs. Mynatt took a few minutes before our official tour guide arrived to explain to us a few things we would hear today during our tour.
We learned today how the Doge (leader/president) was elected by the town counsel for a lifelong position of living in the palace and being the supreme leader (almost). Sounds grand until you find out that he was pretty much trapped in Venice for the rest of his life and could never leave. I guess living in a palace wasn't quite what it was cracked up to be!
And our Secret Itineraries Tour took us to secret passages and rooms not included in the general admission ticket. We reserved our time this morning because if you wait until 10:00 or so to just show to buy tickets up you'll find a line of people waiting that could take 3 or 4 hours just to get to the entrance. Not Happening!
What's a palace without dungeons and torture chambers? Not much - but the Doge's Palace is full of them. No flash allowed so the pics are just a little grainy.
Kyle demonstrates one of the torture methods for us. Don't worry Mrs. Sparkman, he didn't scream too loudly ;-)
And of course we must have some WMDs (weapons of medieval destruction)
Even though the palace was full of torture it was still very much a palace and a place of opulence as displayed in the 24k Golden Staircase where people came to have a session with the Doge. It was designed to be intimidating and to remind you of the Doge's power. When the visitors departed they left via the NON golden staircase...just to remind you that you were WAY below the worth of the Doge's Golden entrance.
After our palace tour we had reservations just next door at St. Mark's Basilica. Again it is a place of beauty beyond belief with millions of golden mosaics adorning almost every square inch.
But the NEXT activity of the day was a much anticipated event as the groups went out to have lunch and shop shop shop. Don't worry, Moms and Dads, I didn't see any purchases over 500Euro ;-)
The students spent several hours out and about discovering Venice on their own. We had several checkins during that time and everyone was required to be in a group with a phone. Last I counted we had all 14 students at the end of the day. Great job, don't you think?
The last destination of this day in Venice is little St Elena...way down at the tip of Venice Island where the locals live. It's got tree lined parks and lots of grass and of course the Adriatic lapping at the sea wall. Our students met several of the local students and had some good frisbee and soccer time. Mary Lawson said this was her favorite part of Venice. Not just because it was "fun", but also because she learned just how possible it is to communicate with other people even though you may not speak the same language.
The "official" last student photograph of Venice is always your students sitting on the sea wall in St. Elena just before sunset. It's a beautiful place in a magical city and your students have had a HUGE dose of Venice and many of it's most magical sites. I think they've performed magnificently while here in this city like no other.
And the sun sets on our last night in Venice...
In the morning we'll be up bright and early to catch the Vaporetto down to the Ferrovia stop where we'll hop on our bullet train to Rome. We've got some famous sites to see including the Colosseum tomorrow. We're staying at the beautiful family owned Napoleon Hotel with our dear friend Roberto Cioce who has welcomed our CAK students for several years...and he doesn't take groups into his hotel. That should tell you a great deal about CAK Europe Students and the expectations of their Europe Teachers, Mr. Margene and Mrs. Mynatt.
Lastly you might be interested to know that our dear friend Roby here at the Pensione Guerrato sends his best wishes to you and is already looking forward to welcoming next year's Europe Students. He says CAK students are always wonderful to have as guests. Thought you might like to know that!
Good night from Venice. Talk to you tomorrow from Florence!
At first I thought you lost Christian, but then caught a glimpse of him there at the last. Phew. Loving following the journey!! THANK YOU!
ReplyDeleteLost Christian??? No Way!
ReplyDeleteThank you soooo very much for the update. Helps me to remember that no matter how badly I miss ML, it's sooo worth it!
ReplyDelete