Scotch College
Venice, Versailles, Vatican and Scotch historians
When flight SQ 227 landed at Tullamarine on ANZAC Day the curtain came down on a great Scotch educational experience. A party of thirty-seven Scotch history staff and students had completed a superb sixteen day tour to Italy, Austria, Germany and France with stopovers in Singapore en route.
Following the success of the History Department's previous tours to the USA, the 1998 Scotch in Europe Tour set out to explore the human experience from Ancient Rome through Medieval and Renaissance Italy to the highs and lows of the twentieth century. In effect, some aspect of every senior history course taught at Scotch was covered on the tour.
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The itinerary balanced visits to famous centres such as Rome, Siena, Florence, Venice, Innsbruck, Munich and Paris with the delightful ambience of smaller towns such as Montepulciano, Verona, Ulm, Obernai and Verdun. Scotch staff members Messrs Bruce Brown, Nick Browne and David Paul were on hand to enrich the boys' appreciation of the various places. Mr Browne held court in the Roman Forum, while Mr Paul was in his element as he shared his great knowledge of the Renaissance in Siena, Florence and Venice.
For most boys it was their first overseas experience and the busy schedule meant that they had to cope with passports, different currencies and languages, and of course the early starts! But as the photographs came back they could reflect on some wonderful experiences such as a visit to the Vatican at Easter, a ride on the Grand Canal at Venice, a snowball fight in the Tyrol high above Innsbruck and sobering visits to the Dachau Concentration Camp and the battlefields at Verdun. And not to forget Paris in early spring as memories of the Louvre, Versailles, Montmartre, the Eiffel Tower and a stunning night cruise on the Seine came flooding back.
Mr Brown had a final reflection on the tour. 'Aside from our visits to historically important places, a wonderful feature of the tour was the personal growth of so many boys. They now have a much wider perspective on life which will help them in the future', he commented. It is of interest to mention the wonderful effort made by Andrew Marano (Yr 10), Peter North (Yr 11) and Mark Wilson (Yr 10) who, after arriving at Melbourne Airport at 7 am from the European History Tour, had a quick change and joined the other pipers and drummers to participate in the ANZAC Day march.
Scotch College: ABN 86 852 826 445 ACN 005 650 395 CRICOS 00624A (Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students)  Updated: Thursday 23 June 2011 © Scotch College 2011 |
