After meetings with our teachers, checking out wall displays of information on this year’s destinations, visa applications, foreign exchange conversions and a myriad of other forms of organisation the week of the field trips finally came.

The night before was filled with frenzied excitement. The first question was what to bring? Weighing up the possibilities of good versus bad weather, quantities of casual versus smart clothes, against the certainty that we would have to carry the suitcases or rucksacks ourselves, made packing a prolonged if not memorable experience. Suitcases were packed, unpacked, repacked, labelled and placed downstairs to be loaded on to the coaches first thing on Monday morning. Early on the morning of the 11th of October, the coaches rolled up outside the school to take us to our destinations. Passports safely in the hands of the staff who were going to be our guides and guardians for the coming 5 days, the students leaving for Provence, the North of Italy and Florence, stowed their luggage and boarded their coaches, eager to depart. Many of the younger students who were going on the Interlaken, Lucerne and Zurich trips the following day, along with Mrs. Zund and several of the remaining staff, waved us off and soon we were outside the school gates and on route for a week of historical and cultural visits, fresh air, foreign food, fun and hopefully fine weather.

Nothing which we could place on paper could describe accurately the experience of seeing the beauty of Florence or Provence for the first time, experiencing the magic of Venice, a romantic floating city of dreams or, to be truthful, the taste of Italian ice-cream and the relief of placing our aching feet in a hot bath after a fine day’s sight-seeing. These memories will stay with us forever, long after we have left St. George’s. So too will the friendships we forged during those memorable weeks.

The following are some colourful photographs and postcards which help capture our memories of this memorable week. We hope that you enjoy this pictorial resume about our trips as much as we enjoyed being there !