January 5, 2009
Last Day of the Tour, and in Venezia!
By Jordan, Jacksonville Beach and Sam, Orlando
We woke up and went down for breakfast at 9:00am carrying our luggage with
us. We ate croissants for the third day in a row. Not filling, but
delicious. After breakfast we loaded the bus and headed for Venice. The
bus ride consisted of sleeping and iPod listening as usual. Three hours
later we arrived in Venice and checked into the Titian Inn Hotel.
After delivering our luggage to our rooms, we walked down to the closest bus
stop. Being the tourists we are, we used it to our advantage and loaded the
bus avoiding getting our tickets stamped so we could use them for the return
trip as well. (a tour tip from TIP TOP TIMMY)
When arriving in the city of Venice, we went off on our own. Jordan and Sam
on our own! Starving because of the little bit of breakfast we had, we set
off to find a place to eat. Sam had been to Venice on the first day with
Carly and Mary (when everyone else¹s flights were delayed) so we went to the
restaurant that Sam had been before. It was a pleasant little pizzeria where
we ate pasta. Jordan had fettuccini alfredo and Sam had gnocchi with cream
sauce. Jordan practiced her Italian with the waiter asking for the bill in
Italian using her handy instant Italian book, but it could only do so much
for her.
After we ate, we began to make our way to Piazza San Marco stopping at every
souvenir stand imaginable on the way. Navigating through the city alone, we
ended up asking a few strangers for directions. With the help of the signs,
a map and a few helpful strangers we finally found the Piazza San Marco. It
was a liberating experience and we felt extremely accomplished once we found
it. Hundreds of pigeons filled the square at Piazza San Marco along with
bunches of other people and more souvenir stands.
After taking lots of pictures of Piazza San Marco, we made our way to the
Rialto Bridge. On our way we stopped in a shop for some t-shirts and met
some tourists from Australia; they were very friendly. We finally arrived
at the Rialto Bridge and the view was incredible. We could see down the
Grand Canal and the buildings lining it with the sun setting in between; it
was beautiful.
From there we began to make our way back to the Stazione Termini (Train
Station). We looked for signs to direct us back to the buses and after
turning and walking we finally found a sign and made our way to the buses.
We got lost more than once trying to get there but eventually found our way
with the help of a friendly old lady who only spoke Italian. Once again,
distracted, we stopped for some gelato (Italian ice cream) which was
incredibly delicious!
When we arrived at the bus station, we saw absolutely no one from our group
so naturally we freaked out. After asking a police man where bus #5 might
be but not actually finding it, we ran into Kendall and Jessica. Finally we
saw our bus pull up, but no one else from the tour had arrived yet besides
the four of us (Sam, Jordan, Kendall, Jessica). We got on the bus and
waited to leave hoping someone else would show up considering we had no idea
what stop the hotel was at. Only 2 or 3 minutes before the bus was to leave
CJ¹s group (CJ, Meghan, Alison, Carly, Kamryn) came onto the bus, and just
as the doors to the bus were about to close Destiny and Ashley ran on the
bus. The rest of the group got on the bus after us and returned to the
hotel about 40 minutes later. We were all safe and sound and happy to back
in the warm hotel. This hotel is awesome, we have little apartment style
rooms with nice bathrooms and huge tubs.
Once everyone arrived back at the hotel, we headed for dinner down at Crazy
Pizza. We ate lots of pizza and salad and then went back to the hotel to
pack and rest up for the long traveling day home ahead of us tomorrow...
Fast Closing Facts From The BASH V Florida Delegation
By Meghan and Alison
-A plaster is a band aid in New Zealand
-A plat is a braid and togs is a bathing suit also in New Zealand
-New Zealanders do not speak Oplain real English¹
-Carly will talk to anyone at anytime regardless of if the person speaks
English or not
-Alison Y can wear 2 changes of clothes for 10 days without smelling
-Amanda (aka Pickle) is approximately 1/3 the size of Tim Kelly (aka the Big
Hairy Dude)
-It is possible for Krista to look confused 100% of the time
-The Venice Airport LIES
-The San Francisco Airport LIES
-The Pohorje Mountain is actually a mirage as we were really hiking a
mysterious moving sidewalk. Well, honestly it is about 1000 feet climb
(Alison crawled with Destiny the whole way)
-Sledding down the Pohorje = DEATH to those who don¹t know how to sled
-Destiny and Ashley are Siamese Twins
-Jordan R can stay out in the snow longer than anyone
-Italians eat more courses in one meal than most Americans do all week
-Coach Holli still has GAME as long as her personal physical therapist is
along (Meghan)
-John can drink sludge like coffee and smile
-Himi EATS like a garbage disposal
-Jessica got to ride in a Slovene Ambulance and lived to tell the story
-Coach Joslynn hit a 1 ball off Kamryn and nailed Jordan R in the face. Best
spike of the tour
-Colleen = HOT tour momma
-Sherry = Nurse
-Allison R and Brittany had miraculous recoveries and were able to block
tall Italian women
-Jessi can find WiFi anywhere
-Andi was force-fed one of Jordan H¹s dirty socks
-Kamryn¹s kneepads were burned in Italy
-Jordan H has an arm like a cannon and is not afraid to use it
-Kendall has baby hair to rival all others and is commonly confused as the
half-up half-down look
-Mary was always in the right place at the right time
-Sam is able to target pass with her shoulder and come out smiling
-CJ is the best tour guide and can put together a great tour and made it amazing
