Sightseeing: Reading Task

This time last week I was preparing for a short-term tourist trip to some foreign city. I was choosing which items of clothing to bring along. I was checking the weather forecasts on my phone. I was trying to come to a sensible decision on what things I need for a 3 day long stay. I was packing piles of my personal belongings. I was just trying to force a zip on my suitcase to close when my mum came in and said that I should leave some things behind.

Right at this time on Friday I was boarding a bus.The tour guide started talking: he was outlining the scope of the trip to us for a couple of minutes and then focused on the bus rules. I was attempting to fit a one-liter sparkling water bottle into an overhead shelf when I heard that it shouldn’t go in there. When all the instructions were over I took out headphones and switched my favourite songs on. I was listening to my own playlist the whole way to the border control.

We were waiting from 6 to 6:40 pm to get our passports checked and when we finally got through the sun was already starting to set. We were planning for a ferry ride on the day of our arrival but decided to go straight to the hotel because we were exhausted.

On the next day we woke up early and were just going downstairs for breakfast when our tour guide appeared to say that he expected us to be in a bus in 30 minutes time. When we were departing from the hotel grounds it began to drizzle. I was planning to get a nice open air photo shoot during our free time and was upset.

We left the bus staying at the parking lot soon upon our arrival and met our guide for the day. At the time we approached him he was waiting at the excursion site. He was planning for us to arrive earlier in time. He started his story with: ‘once upon a time noble royalties were passing these streets…’ He was pointing out major landmarks of the place for a while through not for long as he was planning to grant us some spare time to buy souvenirs.

When our tour guide left us we decided to stick together with the other group mates and were exploring the market of local goodies and treats until it was time for us to gather at our meeting point. We arrived there 20 minutes earlier which was just enough time to make a visit to the appealing nearby coffee shop. Towards the end of the day, we finally got a chance to take a ferry ride down the Danube River. I was enjoying myself with the views when I suddenly remembered about the unfinished school assignment I was planning to finish over the weekend and my mood was a bit spoiled.

That was a spending short term sightseeing trip we went on last weekend. On our way back in the bus everyone was discussing their impressions over with each other.

Tasks and questions:

Look for the verbs in bold. What tense form is used? For each verb explain the use of Past Continuous.

Look for the verbs in italics. What tense form are they in? Explain the use of Past Simple in your own words.

Reading comprehension questions:

Answer the following questions without looking at the text . Use Past Continuous for each of your answers.

1. What was the author preparing for?

2. What was the author doing when his mum came in?

3. Who was in the bus with the group of tourists? What was his role? (Do you remember your own experiences with the bus trips? What was the guide doing for you?)

4. What was the author doing all the way to the border control?

5. Why was the author upset on the next day?

6. What were the tourists doing after they left the bus?

7. How were the tourists spending their spare time?

8. What was everyone discussing on their way back?