European Tour 2014 - Lake Garda 
On the 23rd October 2014, 27 TY and 5th Year Students, along with Mr O Donnell, Mr Lowe, Miss Roche and Ms Fitzgerald, went on the European School Tour to Northern Italy. We landed in Milan at 10am on Thursday Morning, and travelled straight to Verona by bus.

In Verona, we took in the majestic " Ampi Theatre" Colosseum and the house in which Juliet lived in Shakespeare's play, Romeo and Juliet. It reminded us that we couldn't get away from school! 

 We were given free time to get some lunch and stroll the streets of picturesque Verona ourselves. We got on our bus again, and returned to our hotel.
Later that night, we went to the Arcade for entertainment after dinner. We were glad to finally get some sleep that night!

The next morning, we went to the magical city of Venice. Venice really lived up to it's fantastic reputation! We had to avail of a water taxi to get to the city of Venice, which made it a really special experience. On arriving in Venice, we were given a tour of Venice, which was fascinating. We learned how St Mark is the Patron Saint of Venice, and it is a city rich in heritage and architecture. We took in St Mark's Square, St Mark's Basilica, and the thin streets. The local pizza and ice cream really was in a league of it's own. We returned to our hotel, and after dinner, we re-visited the Arcade, and played bowling, in which tensions ran really high!

On Saturday, we spent the day at GardaLand Theme Park. This really was one of the highlights of the trip. We challenged ourselves to go on the scariest rides possible in the Theme Park. The roller coasters were awesome and adrenaline was high afterwards! Everyone was wrecked tired after 7 hours on roller coasters, haunted houses and water-rides, so we headed back to our hotel, 45 minutes away.
In the evening, we went to a small town in which the "best ice cream in the world" is made, and we couldn't let the opportunity pass without trying it for ourselves.

On the last day, we went up a cable car to the Alps. Some were afraid of heights, but they conquered their fears with their friends. We took in the fresh, high altitude air and the exhilarating views of the Alps at the top of the mountain. We had some pizza and a crêpe, and returned back to the ground.
We then journeyed for Milan. We went straight to the Oreo Shopping Centre, in which everyone stocked up on the souvenirs and gifts for our families back home. We also took advantage of being in the Capital of Fashion, by purchasing clothes and accessories, it had to be done of course.

We then went to Milan Bergamo Airport, and flew back to Dublin. We arrived home at 3am.

This was an amazing experience in which the TY and 5th Year Students will always remember fondly. A word of thanks to Mr Lowe, Miss Roche and Ms Fitzgerald for their supervision over the holiday, and especially Mr O Donnell. His hard work and preparation for this holiday proved to be so successful and we will be ever-grateful to him because of that.

Brian O' Keeffe
TY Student

European Tour 2014 - Lake Garda