Thursday in Venice! End-of-Tour Catch-Up!

Due to basically NO internet in Padua, we were unable to update the blog beyond Wednesday night! The next few post are a catch up from the last few days of tour!

Thursday was dedicated solely to VENICE. This exquisite gem of a city was an excellent place for the girls to explore on their own. Our tour guide recommended everybody get lost- we advised them to not as we had a scheduled mini concert in the San Marco Basilica at 4:30!

Side note, there are posters for our Friday concert in Padua everywhere! This one was in the restaurant where we had dinner on Wednesday.

Just waiting to take the people mover into Venice prompted some gorgeous photos. This is actually a bus parking lot.

Those who participate in our off-Broadway presentation of Mandela! were reminded of the many subway rides we took while in New York. Chaperone Sue and Program Manager Kelly in particular had vivid flashbacks to those cold, crazy mornings while boarding the people mover. This made for a nice change.

Once in Venice, we took a brisk walking tour. Did you know Venice is actually comprised of 118 islands connected by over 400 bridges? We had to keep reminding the girls that there are over 400 bridges to take photos on and that they would have hours of free time later to cross over as many as they want.

As you can see, all our girls were dressed very respectably, but this time the priest was not too keen on the spiritual "I Know My Time Ain't Long." We know this because he attempted to stop them from singing once they had already started! Tour agent Kathie tried to explain that it was, indeed, religious, but the language barrier was not helpful in that situation. The audience loved it, though. 

Kathie assured us that her friend who had arranged this concert would speak to the priest later that week to smooth things over- we're so grateful to have her along with us!

After our concert, we took a boat shuttle (basically the equivalent to the public bus) back to the mainland. 40 minutes of sitting (imagine that!) prompted a little experimental photography on the girls part. Selfies are so 2013!