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Dalhousie - Students from Dalhousie Regional High School went on a trip of a lifetime on their March Break.

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The tour group visited the famed Piazza San Pietro.

The touring grouping from Dalhousie Regional High School, guided by DRHS teacher/chaperone Craig Caldwell (back row), included Katie Stewart, Sarah Vezina, Liz Harrison, Kaitlyn Reher, Jeff Guitard and Scott Babin.

The students also went on a gondola ride during their trip to Venice.

Caldwell said the view from St. Peter's Basilica, some 515 steps up, was "breathtaking."

A typical bridge in Venice.

While at the Holy See, the DRHS group toured the Vatican.

Inside Rome's famous Colosseum.

The teens, accompanied by their chaperone, DRHS teacher Craig Caldwell, toured Italy over seven days. The trip was several months in the planning stages and allowed the participants to take in a bit of culture with a lot of sightseeing, including the Vatican, the watery beauty of Venice, and the Coliseum in Rome.

The group left Canada on the Feb. 28 weekend.

They spent a week traveling the country from north to south.

As a result, they learned more about the country and its people than they every did before in textbooks.

Not only did they get a chance to visit many of Italy's historic sites and vistas, they were given a chance to put the life skills they are currently learning as high school students into action.

Caldwell told The Tribune March 12 that he was proud of his group and was happy that "they really enjoyed the trip."

"We had a great time, but I was also impressed by how quickly they adapted in going from country to country by plane, and crossing borders from region to region," he said. "When you travel, it's just not about the sites, but the experience of putting yourself in a situation to experience new things. Italy has a strong connection to Canada. A lot of immigrants came to Canada from there during the last century, and our soldiers helped liberate the country during the Second World War. Maybe that's why we enjoyed ourselves so much — because many Canadians feel truly connected to the country in one way or another."

Kaitlyn Reher, a Grade 10 student at DRHS, was part of the tour group. She said that the trip "was really overwhelming."

"There was a lot to do, and see," she said. "We went everywhere. It was kind of surreal in a lot of ways, because most of the places we went to we had only heard about. To see the Vatican and parts of Venice up close was a tremendous thrill. I would like to go back one day."