June 30 - Venice

This morning we woke up in Italy. Personally, I woke up in Milan, but it was a little later for most everyone else.

The first order of business was to drop our luggage in Padua, on our way to Venice. We had to accomplish this during a regular train stop. Once again, Lukas had the plan. We formed a “bucket brigade with the luggage down the corridor and down the steps to the platform and the porter. We accomplished it all in 10 minutes flat! Wish I could have taken a picture, but I was too busy passing along luggage. :) And then, we continued our journey to Venice. The train dropped us off at the Grand Canal.

We walked a path of narrow alleys and many bridges over canals to get from the Grand Canal to San Marco Square.

First, we took a walking tour that included San Marco, the Rialto Bridge and the Bridge of Sighs. The reason it has that name is be cause it was used to lead prisoners to their prison cells. It’s said that prisoners would sigh as they got their last view of Venice from the windows. The tour ended at the Murano Glass Companay where we watched an artist craft a vase and a horse in a matter of minutes.

No trip to Venice is complete without a gondola ride. This final activity had some students planning a return trip.