It was far too early on a VERY rainy Sunday morning when we set off from UCC to Leeds-Bradford airport; let’s say that the weather could only get better! After the stress of check- in and security we relaxed and waited to board our plane. During the 3 hours in the departure lounge our students started practising their Italian with a group from Rome flying home. Damien in particular was keen to try out his chat up lines!

 

 

The two and a half hour plane journey went fairly quickly and we followed the Italian tradition of cheering when the plane landed. Upon arrival Miss Finney and Mrs Hird had trouble trying to understand the grandma of the family run hotel as she insisted on speaking in Venetian dialect! Then after a quick ice cream in town we hit the beach for our first taste of Lido di Jesolo’s sun, sea and sand!

 

The first dinner was mainly traditional Italian cuisine, although Italians aren’t renound for their affinity with vegetarians, hence an interesting dinner of cheese and peas for Jess!

The first night went well, every one got a good night’s sleep and almost nobody noticed that there had been earthquakes in the local area in the wee small hours, luckily we were fine and were keen to get out and explore the area.

The next day we went by private boat to see mosaics in a lovely church on the island of Torcello and then moved onto the island of Burano for lunch and shopping. Most of us opted for pizza in a restaurant and the students got their first chance to practise their Italian with the waiters.

On the way back to Lido, the weather began to get exciting as we saw tornado shaped clouds in sky which was jet black and very dramatic. Back at the hotel, we all got beach-ready and enjoyed some fun splashing and taking it in turns to bury each other in the sand! An evening of go karting and mini golf occupied some of the boys, while the girls shopped until they dropped!

The next day was the first day we spent in Venice; we travelled by private boat across the lagoon to a very crowded St Mark’s square. First stop was the Doge’s palace with its ceilings of gold and large painted rooms and after an eerie walk over the Bridge of Sighs, stomachs called and we went off for lunch!

On another trip to Venice we went to Murano first to watch some glass blowing and visit the amazing glass shop. In Venice we also visited the very busy Rialto Bridge.

 

                

By far the best day though was the all day visit to Aqualandia, we were the first ones in at 9:30 and Tom got to be the first person down the REALLY big slide, staff joined in with rides on the toboggan and the crazy river, unfortunately, however, despite the teachers’ pleas for sun cream to be applied and T shirts to be worn there were quite a few frazzled children by the end of the day. The fun didn’t stop on the way home though, a game of footy was played at the airport and then tom drew a moustache on Charlie while he was sleeping on the plane and Miss Finney very nearly got purple eyebrows but woke up just in time…