Do you like fish?

giovedi 3 maggio

Today was a great day! We woke up at 8:00, got ready and went downstairs for a delicious continental breakfast. The view from the dining room is out into the harbour. After breakfast we were met by Achili Grandis and his friend Mariella, who we met yesterday. She speaks fluent Eglish. She was so helpful with the language and translating for us. They took us on a tour of Chioggia in the morning and then Mariella took us on a bike tour to Sottomarina just over a canal bridge from Chioggia. Both cities are very much like venice with canals and similar architechture but a bit less touristy.

Achili used to own a jewellery store so he took us there for a few minutes before visiting the bell tower (Torre Dell’Orologio). The building was a clock tower centuries ago. The original clock, made in the 1300s is one of the oldest in the world and it still works! Achili has several pieces of art and jewellery on display at the tower museum. Some he made and sold, others are his personal collection on display. There is one particular sculpture of Christ which dates back to the 1600s.

We visited a very popular fish market that had every kind of seafood you could imagine. I've never seen so many types of fresh seafood, some of which was still alive! I was taking a photo of some large eel in a bucket when one of them moved! I jumped back and nearly dropped the camera. After walking through the market we were taken to lunch at a very fancy restaurant. Our host Anchili asked us if we liked fish. We all said we would try anything so he ordered for us. We had no idea after finishing our first plate of fish that it was just an appetiser, that we would then receive a second plate of fish as a main course. I think every type of seafood we saw in the fish market was delivered to us during those two lunch courses. Most of us tried everything. The eel that slithered toward me earlier in the morning was delicious!

Tonight, we are being met at the hotel by our hosts and their friends and going to a fancy hotel on the beach in Sottomarina for dinner. I think it will be quite formal. Tomorrow night will be our last night with them and they are hosting us in our hotel for another fancy dinner.

Arrived in Chioggia

mercoledi 2 maggio

Well, we finally made it! We landed in Venice airport at 12:00 noon. We were greeted by Alessandro, Frederico (one of the Italian GSE participants), Achili and his wife Mariella, who escorted us by water taxi to Chioggio.

Another woman (also named Mariella) and Luigi met us at the hotel as we checked in and said they would take us on a tour de la citta della mattina (in the morning).

The weather was not great when we arrived. The skies were overcast and the rain started when we were on the boat to Chioggia. After we checked in, our group went to go to a restaurant that our hosts recommended. On our way there, we were caught in a torrential rainfall. We ran for cover under a covered patio. We decided to venture on because the restaurant was nearby. When we arrived, we realized the restaurant was closed until 7:00 pm. We had approximately an hour or so to wait so we went to a cafe and had a glass of wine. It was molto buono and only $1.50 euros (less than $2.50 Cdn). We went back to the restaurant (by now the rain had stopped) but it was still closed. We were all pretty tired and we didn't want to try and find another restaurant so we just went to a pizzeria and bought a slice and took it back to our room. We decided to call it an early night and went to bed by 10:00 p.m. We are very excited about our day tomorrow!

May 1st - Still in the air...

Buongiorno Family and Friends!
We are in the final hours of our flight before arriving in Venice and we are all trying to stifle our excitement by getting a little sleep. I, of course, cannot convince myself that it is suppose to be 7am-May 2, and not 10pm-May 1st!
While we were able to confirm Kendy's RESERVATION on our Seattle to Atlanta flight, the Delta counter agent George, could not confirm that she was issued a ticket. Apparently there is a difference?? Wouldn't that be like bringing your own silverware to a restaurant that's expecting you at 7pm and has the table pre-set?? Well the ticketing "glitches" followed us to Atlanta also. We arrived on time and hurried to our next gate so we would have time to correct Linda’s lack of reservation – you know, the one she needed to fly from Atlanta to Milan to Venice? George had suggested we take care of this when we arrived in Atlanta. Apparently George was tired of our whining in Seattle. Actually, Delta Airlines had Linda booked to fly from Milan to Venice, but apparently thought she had rented a car to get from Atlanta to Milan?! As we are standing at the counter making the necessary changes, Jenn yelled, "LOOK! There's a Rotary Wheel!" At that moment I was facing the opposite direction and assumed she had spotted a plaque on the wall announcing that the local Atlanta Rotary Club volunteers to wipe down the seating area and empty the garbage each week - or some other recognition posted somewhere giving mention to a local Atlanta Rotary Club. But when I turned around, I saw that she was pointing to a group of people coming at us, all wearing Polo Shirts with an embroidered Rotary Wheel and Group Study Exchange insignia. What a small world!! This particular GSE Team was representing District 7890, Connecticut, WA-USA and heading to the southern area of Italy. They immediately asked if we were from Ohio. It was apparently obvious we'd had a rough morning, but was it fair to assume, based on our disheveled appearance that we were from OHIO?? No, there's ANOTHER GSE Team currently visiting Ohio and GSE-Connecticut had seen their blog and thought we might be that team! Our time to visit with GSE-District 7890 was limited as they were about to board their flight (which was originally OUR flight - but since George hadn't issued Linda a ticket and I wasn't about to split up my group - we agreed to be bumped... ... more on that later!) We did, however, enjoy the few minutes we had with them sharing our excitement, anxiety, hopes, fears, pins, brochures, business cards, hugs, and well-wishes. In fact, we threw a camera to a man who looked bored and asked him to take this picture.


Here's wishing our fellow-Rotary GSE Travellers from District 7890 a life-enhancing experience. It was truly a pleasure meeting you all.
The recognition of Rotary wasn't limited to just us GSE folk at an airline gate either. As I was ordering my dinner, the little gal serving me noticed my shirt and asked, "Are you IN Rotary?" with eyes as wide as the hem on your bell-bottom pants. "Yes!" I told her. She then briefly shared her Rotary experience with me as an Exchange Student. I only had time to tell her, "Stay involved, there are more opportunities for you around the corner!"

Volunteering to bump off a Delta flight going 'to Milan to Venice' is not such a bad deal. Instead of leaving at 5:30pm, we were now GUARANTEED to leave at 8:30pm. We were each given $10 food vouchers to purchase a meal while we waited. We were also each given $400 flight vouchers to be used on any future Delta travel. And best of all, our flight was now DIRECT to Venice and we would be arriving only 45 minutes later than originally scheduled. We will arrive on Flight #162 at 11:45am, May 2. This gave us the time to sit down as a team and enjoy a meal, relax and catch our breath, stake our claim on a scares electrical outlet to recharge some batteries, make a phone call or two... ahhhhh. According to our proposed agenda, it might be a while before we get that sort of 'down-time' again. Besides the perks mentioned above, they also gave us some AWESOME seats on this flight and we've got the legroom only an NBA star would require!!

Stay tuned for more exciting adventures from GSE-Italy, 2007. We haven't even touched down yet - and it's been an adventure to remember.

a presto!
Amy Black, Team Leader

Almost take-off

Amost take-off time....just a few glitches. Kendy is on the phone as I write trying to confirm our flights. Seems a bit much for our airline to handle 5 of us all on the same flights...lol. We are all sooo excited. The good-byes were a bit tough. Six weeks is a long time, but what an adventure. Suppose I should think about sleep. We have 18 hours of travel. Thanks to everyone for coming to see us off at the farewell reception and thanks to friends, family, co-workers and our new rotarian family for all your support getting us to the startline!