The two-week Euro
Tour was designed to give students an opportunity to try new activities
and to visit many different places and cities in various countries.
The trip started off
with an overnight drive to Paris where they spent their first two nights
in France. Most students took the opportunity to see the famous Paris
landmarks and sampled the Parisian nightlife. Our next destination took
us to a tiny village in the heart of the Vercors region of France to go
walking and rock-climbing.
At the end of their
two-day stay in the Vercors, the longest and most tiring road journey
of the trip took us through the Alps Maritime and south to the coast near
Nice. Here we stayed three nights and visited Monte Carlo, Cannes and
Nice. Most students had especially wanted to visit the coast during their
two week trip and our accommodation during this section had perfect sea
views and a huge balcony - this really was the South of France.
At the halfway point
of the trip and another road journey to look forward to, the group said
a sad farewell to France before crossing the border into Italy and Tuscany.
Destination Florence, and the little town of Fiesole where we stayed for
the Easter celebrations. Florence is a beautiful city and the students
soon managed to explore both its well-known sights and lesser ones, including
market places selling all sorts of fashions and souvenirs. The mini buses
were definitely becoming more crowded and every spare seat was taken up
with shopping bags of all description.
The drive to Cortina,
via Venice for the day, meant an early start of 4am. It was worth it though,
as they were able to make the most of the beautiful weather to explore
this unique city.
What the group awoke
to the following morning, which had been hidden by nightfall when they
had eventually arrived in Cortina at midnight, was an array of snow covered
mountains in every direction. These were the Dolomites, a section of the
Alps that borders Italy and Austria. Here the group hill-walked, skied
and snow-boarded as well as slept very well, as by now the long days,
good food and sunshine were taking their toll.
Another early start
meant we could cross over into Austria and stop in Innsbruck by lunchtime.
As the students explored the city the drivers slept, before driving into
the early hours and eventually stopping to camp in Germany near the Belgium
border.
Soon the trip was
over and the statistics of 3687miles of driving and 5 countries visited
all added to the stories that are sure to be told by all the students.
A fantastic fortnight - a fantastic Euro Tour.
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