Yep, I survived eight days with 29 high school students in Northern Italy (mid-February 2010): Milan, Venice (during Carnival!), Verona, Florence, and Rome. I have tons of great photos to load on this site (eventually). The last time I was in Venice was 1955.
Not that much has changed in Venice since 1955. That's my brother, Allen, and I in the lederhosen with my contemplative father, Owen, pawing the pigeon feed. I'm the one standing, casually scoping out the nearest location of a spumoni stand. I was no fool at 5 years old. I remember we had a pretty good time on that trip in the old 1953 Studebaker that we drove all over Europe . . . except for when I was pronounced 'legally dead' after a small pox vaccine, required at the Italian boarder, went horribly wrong. But that's another story.
The Pisa Cathedral obscuring the leaning tower. 29 really good young people.
The beautiful Spanish Steps of Rome. A clear and very cold night.
Always lots of fun with 29 teenagers. St. Paul's Cathedral, Rome.
This is what Venice is all about!
Venice at night - during Carnival.
Venice dressed for Carnival.
The streets below the Spanish Steps in Rome are wonderful to roam at night . . . delicious coffee shops and high end fashion.
The basilica of St. Paul's cathedral: beautiful, but I always think how much good for people's lives could have resulted from using the Vatican money more wisely, instead of paying the premiums on an afterlife insurance policy.
A carnival set up in the back yard of Milan Castle . . . forlorn in the snow.
The streets of Verona are a wonder . . . many medieval period doors, castles, and streets (right and below).
