This morning we went to the Venetian fish market to take some really cool pictures of fish being displayed and gutted. The market also had wonderful fruit displays that made for some really great, colorful photos. After spending the morning at the market, we split up into groups and were able to choose where we ate lunch. Again, I had pizza (so good!). We then had a short time to walk around and take pictures on our own. Since we were near the Realto Bridge, I focused my free time on taking pictures of it. After that we met and split up into three groups: Ducal Palace, Peggy Guggenheim Museum, and shopping/relaxing time. I decided to your the Ducal Palace. The palace is on the Grand Canal right next to St Marks's Square. It is very ornate and guilds inside. In addition to being the home f the Doge (ruler of Venice), the Ducal Palace houses various Senate, council, and court rooms. There is a bridge (called the Bridge of Sighs) that leads from the court room to the prison across the canal. We were able to walk across the bridge ad tour the prison as well. The cells were cramped and dark, and I got a little claustrophobic inside. It was cool to learn that the prison was the first of its kind. Before it was built, all prisoners were kept in dungeon-like cells under palaces and castles. The prison set a new precedent for the treatment of prisoners. They were given outdoor time in the prison court yard each day as well as good food. After finishing the tour of the Palace/prison we headed back to the hotel to pack. Next, we organized a gondola ride. Luckily, 6 of us wanted to go, which is exactly the maximum a gondola can hold. This meant that we were able to split the cost only about €13 each (the total cost was €80). I LOVED the gondola ride. It was so relaxing! I feel like the boats in Venice seem to glide on the water unlike anywhere else I've seen. All the sights from the boats are just so beautiful, it's hard to put into words (I have some pictures though!). After the gondola ride we went to a nice dinner where we had a full 3 course Italian dinner with pasta, meat, and dessert. Then we watched a slideshow of everyone's best pictures and said goodbyes to the counselors and our fellow campers. I love you so much. It's been fun keeping these blog posts of my trip and I'm glad I could share it with you. Talk to you all soon.

Love,
Jack

This morning went to a delicious Italian bakery for breakfast. I had a chocolate croissant type pastry that was delicious! After that we caught a vaperatto to Murano. I got a little seasick on the ride over but it was well worth it. The island of Murano is a very colorful, beautiful island in which almost every other store is a glass shop. We were able to see some glass items being made, and they were all very cool. The man making the glass started with just a ball of molten glass and within seconds turned it in to an elaborately designed horse and Gondola; it was amazing!!! We had some free time to shop and explore/take pictures of the island. After that we ate a delicious picnic lunch in a square near a glass workshop. We made our own sandwiches from bread, cold cuts, and cheese made ate a local bakery and it was all very very good. Next we took the vaperatto to Burano. I thought Murano was colorful, but compared to Burano, not at all. Ever house in Burano is painted in a different Vibrant color; bright green, red, blue, yellow and every combination in between. It was so wonderful to look at, and made the perfect opportunity for picture taking. We were also able to play around with the buildings' reflection in the canals which made some remarkable photos. After walking around in groups taking in the wonder of Burano, we came back to the hotel to work on our photos for a while. In a addition to choosing a photo of the day, as we have the entire trip, we chose 10 photos from the entire trip to be displayed in a slideshow of the group's photos. After frantically sorting through my thousands of photos to pick 10 in just one hour, we took the vaporetta to st marks's square to take some sunset pictures before heading to dinner. For dinner I had pizza again!! It's just so good here I'm having a hard time ordering anything else (I have had plenty of pasta too). After dinner we went back to the square for practice with night photography - taking good pictures she. The available light is minimum. We also tried to do some writing with glow stick using a long shutter speed, but it turned out that the square was to light for it to work well. Then we walked all the way up from St. Mark's square to the hotel. It was a great, busy day and it was awesome to see all the great sights of Venice. Just one more day until I come home!

Love,
Jack

Hey everyone. I forgot to mention the gelato tour in yesterday's blog post. We went to three of the best gelato places in Florence, including one mentioned in an Endless Vacation article that dad showed me. They were all delicious!!! This morning we got on a 10:00 train from Florence that got into Venice at 12:30. It was a very fast, nice train, I think the Italian equivalent of the TGV, called the Tren ad Alta Velocita. The hotel is a small building on a square. It is on the same island as the train station but far enough away that it will not be loud. On the square is also the Santa Lucia Duomo. We went into the Duomo today to see Santa Lucia's body: it os over 1700 years old! All six boys are in the same room again. This room is smaller than the previous one, but at least the wifi hear doesn't cut in and out! After a short time unpacking we headed to anther square on the other side of the city to model for each other. The canals made a perfect backdrop for the portraits. We were put in pairs with someone who we weren't very familiar with and it was cool to learn about a person through taking photos of them. I love this city so much!! I have loved crossing the canals and seeing the boats and colorful building. I think this is the most beautiful city I have ever seen! I'm so glad I'm hear. For dinner we went to a nice restaurant on a canal and it was great to see the boats pass as I eat my spaghetti bolognase. After that, we went on a walk all around the city at night which was wonderful. I love you all so much! Talk to you soon.

Love,
Jack

Clubbing was really fun last night! we just danced ad hung out until about 1 am and then came back to the hotel. This morning we took a train to Pisa. When we arrived, we walked through the town of Pisa, which I though was very colorful and pretty, across the river and to the Campo dei Miracoli. Here are the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Duomo, and the Baptistry. The tower amazed me! I know that it is reinforced now but I cannot believe that it stood tipped at such an angle for many hundreds of years (construction began in the 1100's). I also liked to see the curve of the tower that resulted when the workers tried to correct the tilting of the building. Our photo project of the day was to take photos of strangers and get comfortable with asking and taking the photos. I have to say I do not think I succeeds at this! (I was really shy about asking). After taking the train back and resting at the hotel for awhile we went to see the David. I thought the David was really cool. I am amazed at the detail and realness of the skin. All the veins and folds look amazing! After anther quick break at the hotel we headed to a restaurant where I had some fillet minion for dinner. I ordered it medium rare, but I guess that is different in Europe because it came out pretty raw. I sent it back, and still was pretty rare, but it was very good. As you know, tomorrow i am going to Venice, which I am so excited to see. I just wanted to say that I don't know the situation with the wifi at the hotel in Venice. If they do not have wifi this may be my last blog post until I return to the states. Love you guys! Talk to you soon

Love,
Jack

I thought it might be god to post the itinerary so you guys could follow along with the plan for the upcoming days.  I probably should have done this earlier - sorry.  For my post for today, look below.

Today I went to Sciena. We went on on a 10:40 that got to Sciena at about 12:00. From the bus station, we walked through the Medieval city to the Duomo. I really liked seeing how the city's buildings had barely changed for so long (besides the retail stores on the bottom floors)! We then went into the huge black-and-white striped building. It was very open and spacious inside and they had the flags of all the different neighborhoods hanging which was cool to see. From the Duomo we went to eat lunch at a sandwich shop that overlooked the Campo. I tried an Italian Hamburger that was surprisingly good! Next we had gelato in the Campo and I walked around it and took pictures for a while. It's hard to imagine such a big horse race happens around this small area. I also really liked the fountain they had at the top of the Campo and the shell shape the Campo had with the drain at the bottom. After that, we walked to the bus station and took the bus back to Florence. Today's photographic goal was to tell the story of our entire day with 10 pictures.  I hope I succeeded! I am now at the hostel hanging out until 7:30 when we will do something (I don't know what) then head to dinner at 8:30. After that we will be going clubbing. I love you all so much.

Love,
Jack


Ps. Sorry I kept spelling Siena with a C!

Hi guys,

The picture uploading is not working. I will show you the pictures from my trip when I get back. Today we crossed to beautiful Ponta veccio bridge to get to the Picci Palace. Then, we went through the Picci Palace to get to the Bobili Gardens. These gardens are up a large hill from the palace and have a beautiful view of the Palace and the whole city. The gardens also have a lot of side passage ways and maze-like hedges that remind me of the gardens at Versailles. After we eat a picnic lunch in the gardens and exploring and taking pictures there for a while, we went to a square that Nic said was not touristy, all locals. Here we practiced taking pictures of and people and explored some sidestreets for photographic opportubities. Next, we headed back across the Ponte Veccio and went to the Uffici Galleries. This had an incredible collection of rennasaince art, and also some medieval art. It was really cool to be able to see the progression from medieval to rennasaince. Then, we had a little time to go shoppig in a market that had mostly Italian leather as some time to relax at the hotel before going to dinner. I had delicious pizza for dinner at a wonderful restaurant. I even had just a sip of wine! (Still don't like it that much). After that, we walked around in the dark for a while which was very cool and gave me a totally new sense of the city. Overall it was a great day!
I just realized that this is our last full day in Florence. Tomorrow is my trip to Sciena and the day after is Pisa, then it's off to Venice. I'm so excited for everything! Hope everyone is doing well!

Love,
Jack

There are still problems uploading, so this is not all the pictures, but hopefully it will start to give you an idea.  I'll show you the rest when I get home.

Hi everyone. First of all let me just say that the wifi is not working on my computer some reason, so I am typing this on my phone. This is fine, but it means I cannot upload photos. Hopefully tomorrow morning. Today we went to Lucca. We took a train, which tool just under 2 hours. Then, we walked around the city to see the amazing sights. Today we only shot in manual mode, which means you control both shutter speed and aperture yourself. I got really good at this and it made me more comfortable using the controls on my camera. We also picked 3 subjects and took them from tons of different angles and using different camera settings. For when you see y photos, My subjects are the tower (the darker stone one, not the white one), the garbage can (the one shaped kinda octagonal), and the "Piazza san Martino" sign. We then took a bike ride on top of the wall that surrouds the city. (The picture of this wall is my photo of the day) I had a fun day meeting people and exploring a new place. I love you guys so much. Happy belated birthday Poppa!!!

Ps. Hopefully I'll get the photos up by tomorrow.

Good morning.  Sorry about the delay for the hostel was having trouble with thier wifi, but I think everything is working fine now. Yeserday we had a long layover in Frankfurt then took a flight to Florence.  I have never to so many huge planes in one place as Frankfurt airport.  There was a single hanger holding 2 A380s!  I sat next to a very nice man on the flight to Florence that lived in Florence but came from the US.  He told me how much he liked it and pointed out sights as we landed.  Once we landed, we waited a bit for out bags then took a bus to the train station in Florence.  From there, it was was a 15 minute walk to the hostel, which is only steps way from the duomo.  After a short time of relaxing, we took a walk around the city.  We visited the duomo, the main city square, and also a high point where we could overlook the city.  The buildings here are all small it it remindes me a lot of Paris.  We then climbed back down and sat on some church steps to discuss rules, etc.  Finally, we had dinner then went back to the hotel.  These are some of the pictures I took yesterday.  I