After the last-minute packing we were off to Dover with four days in the car ahead of us. From Dover we sailed to Calais. We drove through open pastoral scenery. To my great surprise I saw acres of crosses from time to time in the cemeteries of the First and Second World Wars. We stopped late at night near Langres, and next day we crossed the Swiss border and soon the scenery began to change again. The snow-tipped Alps towered above us. Along the Northern shore of Lake Geneva we stopped at Lausanne and Montreux, and camped for the night near Sion. Early next morning we were awakened by the sound of church bells answering each other across the valleys. The air was cold and fresh. By 4 o'clock in the afternoon we were in the dark Simplon Tunnel, having driven our car onto the train. When we arrived at the other end it was very sunny and there wasn't another cloud in the sky. We were in Italy.' We passed through many famous places like Milan, Genoa and Carrara, and eventually -a small fishing village called Marina di Marinetta. It was a beautiful place. Our tent was only a few yards from the beach, and we spent our time fishing, swimming and resting. I enjoyed my daily pizza and my father quaffed his chianti. On the first dull day I did some fishing. I used a live cockle for bait and at the end of the day I had caught some bass.
Three weeks passed in a flash and it was time to go back to rainy England. On our way home we stopped for one day at the sleepy town of Pisa, with its famous 12th Century Leaning Tower and its fine Cathedral. My father took a photograph of me pretending to hold it up. Then off to Florence which still bears the scars of last year's floods caused by the River Arno. Florence casts a spell on you as soon as you approach it. We went to see the Ponte Vecchio and climbed many steps to the Piazza Michelangelo to get a superb view of Florence and the Tuscan countryside. I looked with amazement at Michelangelo's statue of David, Cellini's 'Perseus', 'Hercules', and many other statues. Everywhere we went were stalls offering exquisite Italian leather goods, glass and marble, too. But the time came to say: "Arrivederci, Italia.'
Too soon, it seemed, the White Cliffs of Dover were there reminding me of home and, of course, school, because next day was the first day of term.
Victor G. Langkamer. Form 2D.