First Tasks...

We designed the tasks so they weren’t all about speed, but counted on resourcefulness and wits. The first task showed a photo of a giant toe. The kids had to find this statue just outside the city walls. It might look like a wizard, but is actually Gregory of Nin, a medieval bishop who introduced using Croatian instead of Latin in church services in opposition to the Pope.

The kids had to rub the statue’s toe, which is rumored to bring good luck.

The next task was to find a mosaic floor, then toss a ball without dropping it before searching the area for the next clue.

Jimmy came up with this clever task. The kids had to first find the Roman guards who stand in the main square (the entire area is Diocletian’s Palace, an UNESCO World Heritage Site, dating from the 4th century).

Then they had to say something in Latin in order to get the guard to hand over the next clue. Ironically, both Veronica and Andrew quoted a line from the same World War I poem that they’d learned in Year 9 (8th grade), which was over two years ago for Veronica. Bummer was that both Max and Julius knew some Latin, but the Roman guards had taken a break so there was only Nina around to impress.