Lunch with our friends

Our very first lunch in Venice was very nerve-racking. We were in Venice, somewhere, but we didn’t know where we were.

At each lunch during the week we each received 10 euro to use to buy food or drinks. We had about an hour with our partner to walk around and find a nice place to eat and maybe buy gelato.

The first time, I (Ludivine) was with Adele, first we tried to find a cheap restaurant to eat so that we could also afford a GELATO. The lunches are surprisingly cheap; for example, one sandwich could cost two euros. The best part about having lunch like that, at least for me, is that you have a little freedom and you can just talk as much as you want. When I (Eleonora) came to Venice I was expecting there to be no freedom; I was expecting that we would all have to sit down at a table together for lunch and dinner. But it was more fun than that, you had boundaries but that's it, we could eat what we wanted, with who we wanted, and if we didn’t want to we didn’t have to. But don’t worry, looking around museums built up an appetite for us and we did eat!

Ludivine Hakim and Eleonora Poulmenti

Must-See Sights of Venice

I think that if you talk to any of the students who have been on our trip to Venice, they will agree on the top sights to see. On the first day of our spring trip we went to San Marco square. It is the center of Venice and it holds the Basilica de San Marco where the body of San Marco still rests. We then went to the San Marco church tower. It is very tall and if you go up there you will probably see all of Venice, and it looks very beautiful! Later in out trip we went to the Rialto bridge which is over 400 years old and is one of the most beautiful bridges in Venice. It is a large tourist attraction. If you are headed to Venice, we recommend these sights on your trip. Add a few of the other major attractions, and mix in some quiet stops, and I’m sure you will have a wonderful trip to Venice, the city of romance.

Nikita Kryuchin, Grade 7 and Sage Farrell, Grade 8

At the Beach

I think everybody knows that Lido is know for it’s famous beach. Well, on our last enjoyable day all the girls went to have a nice swim in the cold, shallow and blue sea. After having breakfast Ms.Petra and Mr.Kevin took the girls to go swimming, the boys went to go shopping and some still had to get ready.

Slowly all the girls were heading to the beach, when we arrived at the beach everyone as quickly as we could, trampled into the shallow, cold water as quickly as possible to go swimming in the sea. Some of the girls didn’t go to swimming because they wanted to collect amazing and unique shells. At 9.45 we had to get out and dry ourselves off. We headed back to the hotel to have a quick wash before heading off to the train station. When we were heading back we saw the boys buying some presents for their families.

I really enjoyed my time and had so much fun in Venice. It was our last little bit of time in the Lido but everyone enjoyed themselves. I loved it and all the others did too.

Jill Giesner, Grade 7

We couldn’t believe it. Our dream came true! Because of Giovanni’s parents we were going on a gondola ride. It started out by going to a gondola factory, followed by a gondola museum and then we goto to go on a gondola ride! Oh I nearly forgot, a gondola is a black boat, made up of seven different types of wood. It is a shiny boat that can float on only 20cm of water!

We had been waiting the whole day when finally we were placed in a gondola. There were 5 gondolas each with about six people inside excluding the gondolier. The gondolier told us a little bit about Venice. He even sang when we asked him to! As the boat swiftly floated over the water, everyone was talking and enjoying the view. I found it fascinating how some doors touched the water, in other words, the water had reached such a high tide that it touched the buildings.

The gondolier made the boat rock and turn. The chairs were comfortable and decorated by a red pillow. The ride seemed to go by way too fast since before we knew it, we turned under the rialto bridge to park the gondola. I was amazed at how swift and without any problems the gondolier turned the boat. This was certainly an experience that no one would ever forget.

Feyona Lohr, Grade 7

The Gondola Factory

On the last full day in Venice Giovanni’s family had kindly offered us a visit to a gondola factory. This gondola factory is the only original hand making gondola factory in Venice. Once we arrived we met several workers that explained to us lots of important points about gondolas. While we listened to the head gondola maker, we learned that gondolas must be built to exact measurements. Those measurements are 11 meters long and 1.40 meters wide. Another fact about gondolas is that it takes about two months to make a gondola, which means they can only make about two gondolas a year because they construct them by hand using old methods. Gondolas are black because they have become a famous tourist attraction, and it’s the cheapest and easiest color to use. They weigh 350 kg each, and we learned that in Venice there are 423 men and 2 women gondaliers.

Kamalei von Meister and Nicklas Wolfe, Grade 6

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection

On Thursday, May 20th, we went to the Peggy Guggenheim museum. I learned lots of things there. For example, I learned that the avant-grand movements and periods represented included: Cubism, Futurism, European abstraction, Surrealism and early works of American Expressionism. The Peggy Guggenheim museum was very interesting, and my favorite painting was a painting painted by René Magritte called “Empire of Light”. It was oil on canvas. That painting was my favorite one.

There were lots of paintings in the museum by artists including Picasso, René Magritte, Jackson Pollock, and Peggine Guggenheim, the daughter of Peggy Guggenheim. Her mother inspired her to paint so in the museum there is one room dedicated only to her, filled with several of her paintings. Her paintings are really colorful! Her paintings make people think of happiness because all the colors are very happy and very bright!

After we went all around the museum we went to the gift shop and all of sixth grade students bought a postcard to remind us of the Peggy Guggenheim museum. This museum is probably the nicest museum in the

whole of Venice, and we all really enjoyed it!

Sveva Fossati, Grade 6

Doge's Palace

I am sure you know at least one of the highlights of Venice.....One of the biggest ones is definitely “St. Marc Square”, but do you know what the highlight of St. Marc Square is? I would say The Doge Palace. Now why? The tapping sound your feet make as they meet the marble floors, the columns that reach as high as you can see, the beautiful statues that greet you inside and out, the paintings that show you history, and the gorgeous views from the top of the palace. The Doge’s Palace has a long history, and we learned a lot about the way of life in Venice a long time ago.

You might be asking, who is the Doge? He is someone who is responsible to rule over Venice, and he was elected by the public of Venice. He had to be nice and everyone had to like him. A way to be elected was by being kind towards others and agree with all the decisions that the people make. Most Doge’s were very old and lived four to five years maximum before they died.

If you ever go to Venice, I highly recommend you visit the Doge’s Palace and walk through a palace that holds the history of the city on water.

Geraldine Lekszton and Charlotte Rupp

Restaurant of Friendships

Tonight at the restaurant was a bit different, we didn’t get to choose our “table mates”. The teachers said that we have been choosing to always spend time with the same friends and that staying with other people is good because we get to know other people better.

I (Luis) talked to Adele and I learnt that she doesn’t stop until she gets what she wants. I liked dinner because the food was very good. We had a choice between pasta with cheese and bacon or lasagne for our first course, and roast chicken or pork cutlet with tomato for our second course. After dinner we headed back to our hotel and stopped for a bit of dessert at a Gelateria where we were treated to three scoops.

Both Pietro and I think that the best part of the day was watching the glass making demonstration on the island of Murano. It was amazing to see Giorgio make a rearing stallion out of glass in only three minutes. If you have a chance, I would recommend you go and watch the glass-making in Murano!

Luis Gonzalez and Pietro Revelli

Fishing on the Canal

It was a beautiful day on the island of Burano. Two of my friends, Sage and Giovanni had bought a fishing pole and some bait. So what did they do, they went to a canale on the island of Burano. They caught a crab and a fish. Then we went on the ferry and then went to the island of Murano where Giovanni caught three more crabs. Unfortunately, no fish. We might catch some tomorrow.

Duncan Hillyer

'Evaporators'

The ‘evaporators’ (vaporetto water busses) are the kind of busses for Venice. we use them all the time up to know we have at least gone on them 15 times They get pretty full during the day, with about 120 people on each boat. In Venice there are about 10 evaporators and they go from the Lido to the St. Lucia witch is the boat/bus station stop. The water buses have four seating varieties: the front seats, the place were you board the bus (which is usually a standing up place), followed by the inside seating (which is the biggest area), and then the back, which in my opinion, is the best seat. Personally, I prefer taking the water busses to walking around all over Venice.

Kimon Papageorgiou

The Jewish Gheto

Wow! It sure takes a long time to get kids to blog their comments about our activities!

Today was another eventful day. Lots of sights, and a reasonable amount of walking. Highlights today included the Doge's Palace, the Arsenal Shipyards and Naval Museum, the Jewish Gheto (no, I have not spelled it incorrectly), Basilica of Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari (resting place of Titian), and dinner near the Rialto Bridge. Doesn't sound like much, but once again, our day was packed with sights to see.

It was interesting to see the architectural difference between the city of Venice and the Jewish gheto, but the highlight for me had to be the Doge's Palace. A beautiful multi-functioning structure, centrally located next to the Basilica del San Marco...definitely worth taking a look at (especially with a fantastic English-speaking guide)! I enjoyed the wonderful history lesson given by Carlo today!

Mr. Yon

Mask Making

On Monday 20th the Kennedy School 6-8 graders went to make masks. Silvia, the mask director, put many different masks on a table from which we can choose from. All the masks were amazing. The masks were made of paper maché but we didn't have to make them ourselves; they were made for us. Our task was to decorate our own masks. There were many different designs and patterns we could use.

First you need to choose a basic design, then we put our first layer of paint on the mask, if you wanted the colours blend from light to dark you would need to put an other layer on top of the first layer and dab it in with the other colour while it is wet. Then you blow dry it with a hair drier, when it is dry you have to choose a design to put on your mask with black paint. After that you can choose if you want to put metallic paint on it, if you do then you have to a thin layer of wax on it and wait five to ten minutes until it is not sticky anymore. Then you may put the metallic paint on it.

After you are finished with your mask you need to dry it off very carefully so that the metallic paint dries. It is very hard to dry that kind of paint but Silvia gave us a bag so it could dry on the way.

You should really try to make a mask yourself it is loads of fun!

The highlight of the trip so far for us was jogging in the morning on the beach in the Lido, because we love the beach in the morning.

By Ivet Ivanova and Shifra Steinberg

You may know about how Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the greatest painters in the world. Of how he painted the "Mona Lisa." Well this museum was not on all his magnificent paintings but on his inventions and creations. Leonardo was not only a painter but he was also an inventor. He invented the "movable wings" to help man fly. Well in this museum not only showed his inventions but you could actually (First museum I have ever been to) that you could actually TOUCH the exhibits. You could play around with the models and learn how to use them. There were really cool things. Like: the movable bridge, the pully machine to increase a lift ratio, and he also invented the bicycle. It was very interesting. I hope many of you get the chance to enjoy the lovely and enjoyable museum of Leonardo Da Vinci.

-Ambra Moore

Yesterday, we went to the busy Piazza di San Marco, where we went to the Bell Tower, and the Basilica di San Marco, I would like to focus more on the Basilica di San Marco as there was always more status and paintings to see. Looking at this church taught me what hard-working is, how long it must have taken to make this church, it was gigantic! You could also go on the second floor where you had the best view of the Piazza di San Marco, besides the Bell Tower of course. The architecture is what inspired me the most, between a gothic to Renaissance style, it was amazing, there was a point where I was just watching in amazement.

This was one of my highlights, with the delicious Gelato, no one could stop me from eating wild berry flavoured! Although, I think that all the flavours are delicious.

I love Venice!

-Adèle O'Neill

Eating with Friends

Each day we had dinner and at dinner we all get varity of foods like pasta, steak, eggplant (my favorite) and many more. We eat at different restaurants and get to sit with different people. It is really fun! The things I enjoy the most in the evening is sitting and making jokes with friends. Each day we do a lot of things.

The highlight of the day today, in my opinion, was making the masks at the masks factory. We all got to be creative and invent our own design of masks. It was awesome!

Brighton Steinberg