Lets go!

Some of you who live in England (or previous colonies) may have heard about The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award. Described as an “award Leading youth Charity the DofE gives all young people aged 14-24 the chance to develop skills for life and work, fulfill their potential and have a brighter future.” 

I’m attempting to complete the most difficult level the infamous gold award. This includes  spending 12 months Volunteering and for Physical and Skills one must spend 12 months on one and six months on the other — you decide which way round you do it. Unless you have not done bronze or silver, which I have not, then one must undertake a further 6 months in either the Volunteering or the longer of the Physical or Skills sections. On top of this there must be a five day expedition including a  Your expedition will be for four days and three nights (plus an acclimatization day) which take place in the wild. 

Recently I did my final expedition in which I slept for 6 days in tents and lived in the creepy Dartmoor.  So here I found myself, waist deep in mud yet laughing uncontrollably for almost a week! 

The first day was spent driving up to Dartmoor (with a pit stop for some junk food) and meeting our examiners who were much kinder and more open than we had ever dreamed! Our first night was one of the coldest because tents don’t provide too much protection. We immediately discovered that our tent was a bit of a dud and was not waterproof on the bottom — yet we had to live with this for the next week! 

Our second day, the first of walking, was one of the most difficult. With backpacks full of food and supplies we had hiking straight up hills in incredibly low visibility for 27 km. Showing just perhaps where these ghost stories found their inspiration! We enjoyed lunch in a creepy stone circle and had a nice break in the forest where we learned all about the water storage system of Dartmoor. This was our last night at a campsite and although I thought it would be a treasured experience it ultimately was horrible. First, it was mislabeled on the map and we got incredibly lost! Then we discovered that it was a turkey farm and the farmer was quite harsh — there was an adorable dog who was completely blind. 

Waking up the next day was miserable as it was raining but after walking more than 23 km I was glad to see our gorgeous wild camping location! Luckily this was our shortest day and thus allowed us to have more breaks (and a couple of naps). 

Day three — have you ever felt the wall? I did not just run into the wall but instead I took a rocket into a sheet of metal. Everything hurt and I was angry at the world. Luckily my group is a lot of my close friends and they were able to help me come over the 25 km  of pure torture (which included a brief visit to a prison). 

For our last night we camped at the crossing of two small rivers but the next morning we awoke to rapids just by the edge of our makeshift home. As it was unsafe to cross the river where we had stayed we ended up walking for more than 3 hours across two feet of water alongside a river to find 4 separate places to cross to get onto our original route. This was supposed to be a short and sweet route but due to the flooding the last stretch was impenetrable. This led us to hike back up an incredibly steep hill which we had previously flown down on! This went from being a planned 18 km day to 28 km! 

Although I had a lot of fun I am grateful that I am now done and my muscles can heal!

Two quotes perfectly encapsulate my time in Venice. 

Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go. - Truman Capote 

I will never forget experiencing Venice for the first time. It feels like you are transported to another time - the art, music, food and pure romance in the air is like no other place. - Elizabeth Berkley

The city harmonizes modern and geriatric art, that is if you can look past all of the tourists. I was lucky enough to come during the Biennale so I was completely surrounded by culture and beauty.

Attractions: 

The hardest thing for those who have not been to Vienna to understand is that the city has no streets but instead has rivers. The simplest way to think of it is as if the Grand Canal was the Pan American of Venice which many smaller roads branching off of it. 

My family and I were lucky enough to stay near to the Piazza San Marco which was absolutely beautiful except for it had beyond reached its capacity limit and all I had to stand on my tippy toes to see the Basilica di San Marco. (see the fourth and fifth photos below)

Sadly, the Ponte di Rialto is currently under construction so I was unable to see it in its entirety but the glimpse I got was incredible.

We devoted an entire day to Murano where the acclaimed glass derives from and it was beautiful and I was incredibly impressed with the craftsmanship.

The most surreal part of Venice was sitting and eating a meal and looking over the water. It honestly seems too good to be true! The first three photos above are three of restaurants with the most remarkable views. In order they are the Hotel Monaco & Grande Canal, Hotel Danieli, and the third is unknown. 

Travel:

The public transportation, although not cheap, was surreal - imagine going to work on a boat each day. The final picture in the series above is a photo I took on our way to Morano on the ‘water bus.’

Art:

Here are just a few snippets of all of the incredible art that I experienced! The way the Biennale works is that every country has a designated area and it is their job to fill it with art of their choice. Things ranged from photography, to blue sand pits (see the first picture above) to large shards of broken glass and each was unique and many addressed current issues in each individual country.

Although we spent days exploring the different verandas (and the different delicious food) we barely grazed the art offered at the Biennale.

Venice, although an incredibly touristy city, is somewhere I hope to spend much more time and although I only got a small impression of the city, I fell in love.

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