Contiki European Panorama Drinkfest

This was the start of 54 days of Contiki made up of 4 tours.  When we say drinkfest I think that is an understatement. We had a great group and an amazing guide who looked like Grant Denyer. Prost to my European buddies xx

GOODBYE MY EUROPE CONTIKI-ERS

WEATHER:  Great in France – overcast in London ( shock )

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY :  We didn’t sleep in and nearly miss the bus!!!!

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Saying good-byes – it still sucks

BUYS OF THE DAY:  Travel day, so not much in this department today – how about the bottle of water on the ferry?

WORD OF THE DAY: - See you on Facebook…..

Well once again all good things must come to an end.  I am sure if we travelled for a further 4 weeks together it may have started to turn people a bit grumpy, 12 days is just a right amount of time to get to know each other and then when the tour finishes we are all still friends, if you get my drift?  I am not sure how much longer people could have out up with my subtle laugh anyway.

Some people were staying on in Paris, and not coming back with us to London.  Others were flying out of Paris that afternoon, so Contiki was kind enough to do an airport transfer for these guys on our way out of the city.  So we have a half coach for our travel day back to London.  Now I am a big believer of the ‘other side of the coin’ we have lost some comrades, but the upside is that we have extra room on the coach to SPREAD OUT!!!!  Woo hoo – but we still miss you guys……..really wed did………  J

We travelled for 3 hours from Paris, rest stop for Pete, another 2 hours and then we hit the port of Calais for the ferry back to the UK.  Passed through UK immigration no problems and then we had to sit in the bus for an hour till we could load onto our ferry.  Mark had a secret weapon up his sleeve called the DVD player, so we had a choice of 2 movies and Walk the Line won the vote and that helped pass the time, pretty much all the way back to London.  The ferry ride was smooth across the English Channel and the ride took only 90 minutes to find us back onto UK soil.  A further 2.5 hours found us back where we started 12 days ago at the Royal National Hotel.  5050km travelled is a BIG effort in 2 weeks and well done Pete for keeping is safe, even when the Maverick came out of you in Paris at the Arc de Triomphe, we were super lucky to get you!!!!

A special mention also has to go to our tour manager Mark.  I have done a truckload of tours in my travels and I have to say, besides Sam, who was our guide in India, Mark has to rate as one of the best dudes I have ever had.  Nothing was too much trouble and a smile was always on his dial. So cheers to you Mark for making the trip AWESOME ( as you love to say ) and I know I am not the only one who felt this way.  You have set a HIGH benchmark for the rest of my Contiki tours and the rest of my other tours as well buddy.  All was good in our hood………..

Another special mention also has to go to ChelC and Mags.  For being my personal Bernstar photographers on the trip.  We got some great shots and I literally couldn’t have got all the photos I did without you both.

As for the rest of my group, you guys, as I have said before ROCKED.  Groups can be a funny beast, and besides the tour manager, they can make or break a tour for people.  I was going to write a blurb on all of you personally, but figured that would take too long so thought I would just mention you by first name and where you are from.  Safe travels to you all, where ever your next destination may take you, and hope to keep in touch via Facebook and may see some of you again on my travels – it may not be the last you see of me!!!!!!!! – sorry………………

CONTIKI EUROPEAN DISCOVERY 2011 – in no particular order………

Veri and Giovana – Brazil

Anai and Lilian – Mexico

Mags – Canada

Eelaine and Douglas – Malaysia

Paalini and DG – Canada

Su – Singapore

Jesse – Australia

Nathan and Vanessa – Canada

Patrick and Regine – Malaysia

Soraya and Daiyaan – South Africa

Alla – USA

Edwin – USA

Allison and Bec – Australia

Anusha and Navin – South Africa

Greg and Mike – Australia

Hayden and Shantell – Australia

Pat – Australia

Kevin – New Zealand

Michelle and Angel – Canada

Harry, Gio, Eddie and Eddie – USA

Maria – Brazil

Amelia, Victoria, Edith and Jacqui – Canada

Lianni and Casey – Canada

David – Australia

CHELC – Australia

Elle and Zoe – Australia

Ada and Katie – Canada

Kristen – Australia

Jessie - Canada

DAY SONG: On The Floor by J-Lo featuring Pitbull
WAKEUP SONG: Sunchyme by Dario G
MOST ANNOYING SONG WE LOVED: Shut Upa Ya Face

START WITH BOOBS - FINISH WITH BOOBS

WEATHER:  Again a beautiful day 28C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  The Nouvelle Eve Live Show (the Can Can )

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not enough time in Paris – but I’ll be back

BUYS OF THE DAY:  Lunch in a garden café out the front of the Louvre for 25EUR

WORD OF THE DAY: - Sucki-moto L It’s the last official day of the tour

Paris is AMAZING – Have I told you this yet?  We are staying at the Holiday Inn and the breakfast here is amazing – the best on the trip so far.  After carb loading on bacon, eggs, croissants and bread, we headed to a perfumery, where were taken (very quickly I might add) through the small museum they have on site and then through the process of the making of the perfume.  We got the main definitions of the perfumes:

• Perfume extract, or simply perfume (Extrait): 15-40% (IFRA: typical 20%) aromatic compounds – this lasts the longest at around 8 hours
• Eau de Parfum (EdP), Parfum de Toilette (PdT): 10-20% (typical ~15%) aromatic compounds, sometimes listed as "eau de perfume" or "millésime" lasts around 4 hours
• Eau de Toilette (EdT): 5-15% (typical ~10%) aromatic compounds lasts around 2 hours
• Eau de Cologne (EdC): Chypre citrus type perfumes with 3-8% (typical ~5%) aromatic compounds
• Perfume mist: 3-8％ aromatic compounds (typical non-alcohol solvent)
• Splash and After shave: 1-3% aromatic compounds

I wasn’t going to buy any, but I did get 2 x 30ml bottles of the concentrate.  In my defence, I am running low on my current supply, so I have just saved myself some duty free shopping, and you can never have too much perfume, can you?  A gal needs to smell good…..

From here we had free time till 5.30pm.  With the offer of a free lift on the coach, we decided to head to the top of town, and then work our way down to get us back in the vicinity of the pick-up point.  We had plans of climbing the 283 steps of the Arc De Triomphe as our starting point, but when we go there, it was super busy, so we did a lap, touched the arch to say we had done it and decided to move on.  I think we were just so excited to be unleashed in Paris.  We walked down the Champs Elysee's, with a few stops in some stores who have the most prestigious addresses in the world.  The main one to point out was the Louis Vuitton store.  It is the largest one in the world and I can tell you it was massive.  I felt bad just being in the shop, in my sneakers and my camera hanging around my neck.  I just knew I probably wouldn’t be allowed to, but I snapped off a photo and in turn got into trouble for it, but it was worth it, the store was amazing!  The cheapest thing I could see was a key chain thingy for 170EUR, and it was as small as you would imagine a key pocket!  Needless to say nothing was bought here and I felt just as bad walking out as I did walking in!

Strolling the streets of Paris was amazing.  WE ARE IN PARIS!!!!!!!

We had lunch in the gardens of the old palace,  Jardin des Tuileries, and this was pretty amazing, sitting under the shade of trees, with little finches and a gentle breeze blowing with a view of the Palais du Louvre looming in the background and a glass of white wine in hand wondering what the plebs were doing today.  I must mention the pleasant company of Alla, Mags and ChelC just topped off a delightful lunch.  This is where we branched off, ChelC and Alla wanted to get some shopping done (as you do in Paree) and Mags and I continued our walking tour of Paris.   

After lunch we headed to the Louvre, which was closed, as it is every Tuesday, (Mona will need to wait for next time) but the picture opportunity is still pretty cool with the glass pyramid entrance anyway.  From here we headed to Notre Dame.  Entry is free and the queues to get into this famous church can be quite long, so you can imagine our surprise when we got there to find no-one in line.  So we got straight in and got to spend a good 40 minutes here, got a chance to sit down and just marvel at the beautiful stained glass windows and the serenity, well with 300 other people also in the church.  We couldn’t believe our eyes when we came out and the line to get in was at least 100 people long.  It is all in the timing, I don’t think I would have waited if the line was that long when we got there. 

The highlight of the day has to be the dinner and show of the Nouvelle Eve.  My understanding is it’s the same as the Moulin Rouge, just another company doing it. It’s not the cheapest thing in the world, but whether you do this one or Moulin it is definitely worth doing it.  Even to do it a little cheaper, do it without the dinner, but it is a MUST when in Paris.  We had front row seats, literally front row, you could see everything, EVERYTHING, of the dancers on stage, you know moles on legs, moles on boobs, a pimple on a butt, the things you don’t see from afar!  It was weird not knowing where to look to start with,  I was a little intimidated being so close to half naked ladies with their breasts exposed, but as the show progressed and the free flowing wine kicked in, I started to really enjoy the show.  I even started getting some ‘looks’ from 2 of the female dancers, well they are only human, would prefer a male as well, but hey……….  They mix the show with some jugglers (good looking jugglers) an acrobat comedian and a silent man act that was just amazing and I am still trying to work out how he did his act, and if anyone was going to see the trick, it would have been me being so close, and I still can’t work it out.  The highlight of the highlight is the can can, which the boys also do.  They were literally dropping into the splits 40cm away from my chair, that’s how close I was.  I think I had the best seat in the house in hindsight.  AMAZING SHOW.  We started in Amsterdam watching a sex show and boobs, and we end in Paris with half naked women and more boobs.  Very appropriate I say.

As it was our last night in Paris and as a group together, we headed to a bar and then jigged and drank the rest of the night away, well till 2.30am, where a group of us caught taxi’s home as we had a 7.45am bag call.  I did have an altercation with the reception guy when we got back to the hotel.  He has been a rude ass the whole 2 days we have been there, and he wouldn’t give me change for the vending machine, which that I could handle, but his attitude stank, so I told him so, which in turn resulted in a war of words till Alla and ChelC stepped in and broke up the verbal fight.  I was drunk, but not blind, so I knew what I was saying and it ended with me asking for his name, which he refused to give me (with a smirk that I just wanted to slap off his face), and then me telling him I would be making an official complaint about him, which I am going to follow through with.  It wasn’t just me by the way, he is s nasty pasty and should be reported.

Besides that ( a blip on the radar ), what a great way to finish a great tour, with a great group, with a great tour manager and a great driver.  The stars were all aligned when this tour departed London 12 days ago, and I am going to miss all my new friends made.  You guys are awesome, you rock and truly will be missed……………..

CONTIKI European Discovery has left its mark, in more ways than

OOO LA LA – BONJOUR FRARNCE (This is not a spelling mistake)

WEATHER:  Beautiful 27C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Climbing the Eiffel Tower at night  

BUMMER OF THE DAY: It’s the 2^nd last day of tour

BUYS OF THE DAY:  5 key chains for 1EUR – but I didn’t buy any….

WORD OF THE DAY: - Bonjour

We checked out of our cell this morning.  We had to settle the mini bar and the phone bill – yeah right!  None of these luxuries in jail. I updated my FB status saying I was spending the night in jail, and I got 2 text messages and 5 FB comment's asking what I had done and was I okay!???  Have a little faith peeps!  I may get into a little mischief, but to get to jail – no way!!  It has never been done (some close shaves) but touchwood this doesn’t change over the trip though!

We are off to Frarnce today. No this is not a spelling mistake, the French are quite particular with the way it is said, Frarnce not F-rance, I guess with the Aussie pronunciation it somehow robs the word of the culture the French high in such high regard. 

It is a big travel today.  You know this when you have 2 rest stops in a travel day.  We really hauled (well Pete did) some serious travel arse through Switzerland to cross into France just before lunch.  We stopped at our first rest stop and the French really know how to look after their drivers!  The rest stop was awesome and brand new and the toilets were free!!  Italy was a BIG one for charging the use of the public toilets.  Okay so it’s only .50EUR, but it is a pain, but to clean the toilets as a full time job, I would be asking for 1EUR right, I think they definitely deserve it.  But we don’t have to worry about this so far in France, thanks Frenchies!!!!  Oops there am me robbing the French word again.  You should hear me say Merci Bercou, I think my year 8 school French teacher would roll in her grave if she could hear me now, even to my ears I sound so ochre!!!  Oh well at least we are trying…..

The traffic into Paris was slow going, I wonder how Pete copes after 7.5 hours already clocked up in driving, to sit in stop start traffic is a testament to his driving.  Speaking of which, on our driving city tour of Paris, we were heading to one of the busiest round-abouts in Europe, the one that circles the Arc De Triomphe.  Apparently it is that busy that there is a car accident / bingle every 12 minutes and I can see why.  There are no line markings and you enter the round-about at your own peril.  Mark mentioned that he wouldn’t be standing up as we did a lap of the Arc De Triomphe; I was thinking how bad could it be and then the Top Gun song Highway to the Danger Zone came on and man you needed to strap yourself in and enjoy the ride.  Pete aka Maverick took the round-about by STORM!!!!!  It was the funniest thing I think that has happened all trip, he drove like he was doing a lap of the Melbourne Grand Prix, in a 50 seater coach mind you, with us whoop whopping!!!!  As we started the next lap, Mission Impossible tune came on and we did a third lap, nearly taking out 3 scooters, 2 motorbikes and 2 taxi’s!!!  It still brings a smile to my face thinking about it, my fellow Contiki-ers were just shitting themselves ( myself included ) and laughing all at the same time – it is so hard to explain it, but man it was FUNNY!!!!

After our excitement of the city tour, which from the bus can be a little frustrating, as you try and take pictures and there are 5 arms in the photo, but it was great to get an overview of Paris, I decided to put my camera away and just soak up this beautiful city and work out where we were going to go to tomorrow as we have a full day.

The highlight of the day has to be the Eiffel Tower!  Our booking was for 9pm.  It sounds late, but the sun had not yet set, so as we headed up the lights of Paris were going on.  The same as in London and Lucerne, this time of day is amazing and you get the best of both worlds with day and night time pictures.  It is a process to get up the tower.  As we were in a group, we got to skip the general admission queue (thanks Contiki) to catch the large people lift to the 2^nd level of the tower.  We didn’t have to wait long for this as it is a double life so it carries around 100 people.  So far so good, but when we got to the second level, the queue to get to the summit was not as short.  The queue moves – but we were in this one for about 30 minutes to get into the next lift to take you to the top.  Once at the top – it was mayhem, it was so busy, and this was at 9.30pm at NIGHT, can you imagine the height of summer, or just during the day how much busier it would get – Uggghhhhh it was bad enough tonight.  In saying that, you only had to wait a few minutes to be able to get to the fence to take your photos, and with the lights now on, the city was lit up like a Christmas tree.  I could think of no-where I’d rather have been – it was AMAZING!!!!!  We got about 30 minutes at the top to then repeat the process to come down.  We decided that we would come down the stairs to say that we had climbed down the Eiffel Tower, and to save from waiting in yet another line.  This can’t be done from the summit, you still need to come back to level 2 and then come down the stairs from there.  We timed it and it only took 8 minutes and 25 seconds, stopping the clock for photos and a stop at the first level where the restaurant is.  It was awesome to do it this way, just to appreciate the tower, all lit up in yellow lights and soak up that we are on THE EIFFEL TOWER!!!!!!!!!!  From arriving at the Eiffel Tower at 8.45pm till we had to be back on the coach at 10.45pm – we basically had 15 minutes to spare, so you do need a good few hours to it, and that was taking into account we had the quick group line.  If you come to Paris, you HAVE to do the Eiffel Tower, even if it takes 5 hours, it is certainly worth the wait.  I would stick with a later time though, to give you a good chance to try and beat some of the crowds.

We are in Paree, and I can see why it is called the city of love.  The city’s history and buildings and bridges and food, would give the hardest of hearts a flutter.  This city is AMAZING and I look forward to just walking around the streets tomorrow.

Oo La La – we are in Paris!!!!

1900M IN THE SWISS ALPS

WEATHER:  Beautiful day again – I’d have to say 25C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  The view from Mt Stanserhorn

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Nearly missing the bus this morning

BUYS OF THE DAY:  My Swiss Army knife in Switzerland 40EUR

WORD OF THE DAY: - It’s good to be alive

By the time ChelC and I got to bed, I think it was around 4am – I set my alarm for 6am as we had a breakfast call for 7am, and a coach departure of 7.30am.  Well you can imagine our SHOCK when I woke up at 7.38am!!!!  I don’t even know what prompted me to even wake up, but my first thought was that we had missed the bus, we have been left in Florence and will need to fly to catch up with the group!  All this in my micro-second before turning to the snoring ChelC to break the news top her.  So when she woke she was in a flap as well, but managed to tell me that the time had moved to 7.50am.  We had 12 minutes to pack an overnight  bag, re-pack the backpacks and get our butts down stairs!  I tell you now; you have not seen 2 people move so fast in your life.  We had all our stuff strewn from one end of the room to the other as well, of course, so no time for showers or teeth brushing, we were actually 3 minutes late getting downstairs, but the bags were still getting loaded, so technically we made it with some small time to spare, but it was a close shave.  ChelC was beside herself that we would miss the coach!  To top it off I am sure that we were still drunk, so the good old drunk pack has reared its head again.  I did a micro second scan on the way out, so hopefully we haven’t left anything.  Goodness knows what I have packed for my overnight bag for Switzerland, but as long as I have clean underwear, I will make do with what I have.

Needless to say, I slept for the whole first section of the trip.  The first auto grill we stopped at I had some pizza and coke and that seemed to pep me up and recharge my batteries.  I looked like death warmed up, but I certainly felt better than what I looked!! 

Good-bye to Italy and hello to beautiful Switzerland.  If you picture Switzerland to have tall snow-capped mountains, lots of green grass, cows grazing and lakes, then you have the right picture.  It was just stunning driving through this beautiful country.  Our first stop was at Mt Stanzerhorn which is 1900m high, and makes it into the blogs highest elevations list so far on the trip. Not the tallest as Mt Etna was 3000m+, but it is still pretty high!!!!!! We caught a train 15 minutes half way up the mountain and then we switched to a cable car for the rest of the trip up that took another 15 minutes.  Once at the top the view was breathe taking!  It really is hard to describe the view we had, but it was just magic.  They had a viewing platform that was made from see through steel, so it did feel like we were walking on air, it sounds corny I know but it was awesome!

From here we were only 15 minutes from the beautiful town of Lucerne where we were staying for the night.  As it is Sunday all the shops were closed and not many people around, but there is a preferred shop of Contiki, so they opened and everyone got to check-out the Swiss watches, Swiss army knives and all things Swiss could be bought from these shops.  I ended up buying a Swiss army knife.  I do have one, well a cheap version that I bought from Anaconda before I left, but if I am in Switzerland I need something Swiss right?  There were like 45 to choose from, so I ended up with a mid-size one that had a screw driver, you just never know when you need one of those right?  Some people bought watches and from what I could make out the knives were a popular choice as well as the Swiss chocolates.

Our hotel for the night was a converted jail.  It was built in 1862 and became the first prison hotel in Switzerland in 1999.  There were still prisoners locked up in the prison till 1998.  The Jailhotel has 56 rooms and we stayed in the ‘Most Wanted’ room category, but there is a lower category called the ‘Unplugged’ rooms which are original cells, equipped with only a sink and a toilet inside, their showers are located across the corridor.  It was a pretty cool place to stop for the night.

We then headed down to the Lake Lucerne for a cruise.  The cruise departed at 8pm, and I really love this time of day for photos.  I did an 8pm flight on the London Eye and the sunset and the colour of the sky makes for great photos and when you get back to snap some night time shots is a bonus.  I didn’t bring my tripod, so these didn’t turn out so great, but the city of Lucerne is a stunning place.

After checking out the Lion Monument in the dark (they had switched the lights off at 10pm) and stopping for one beer in a local pub (no day is complete now without some form of alcohol) it was back to my cell for the night and a goodnight’s rest.  We are off to Paris for the next 2 nights, with the farewell dinner on the last night, so I am picturing a very large night then.  Half of the coach is staying in Paris, the rest of us are heading back to London Town, so we may get to spread out a little on the way back.

THE STATUE OF DAVID, FLORENCE AND MORE DRINKING

WEATHER:  SUNNY FLORENCE 27C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  Tuscan dinner – free flowing wine

BUMMER OF THE DAY: The crazy payment system at the nightclub

BUYS OF THE DAY:  Statue of David magnet for the fridge, nothing like a naked man on the fridge!!!!

WORD OF THE DAY: - “CON-TIKI”

It was great to catch up with the guys yesterday, after being in my room from 7.30am till 7pm – I really think it was a good idea to get out.  I didn’t leave the room at all, all day!!!  It sounded like they all had a great day, even though the public transport was on strike for most of the day, they managed to get around in taxis and it didn’t seem to cost them too much.  It also seems some of the attractions like the Coliseum and the Roman Forum closes at 1pm, so a lot of them didn’t get a chance to go into these, which is a shame, but that is Rome for you!!!

We went for drinks last night at a pub just up the road from the hotel called Moe’s, I kid you not – and I guess it sort of looks like the Simmo’s pub!  Anyway after 2 steins and 2 wines ( I joked I was going to consume another 6 steins – yeah right, not in this life time ).   I was home by 12.30am, it made a nice change to actually get a good 4 hours sleep (when did 4 hours become enough sleep – Contiki has created a monster) and feel great this morning.  There were a lot of sore heads on the coach, and a lot of throwing up stories from people, so a good night was had by all, judging solely on that…..

Off to beautiful Florence today with the obligatory 5 hour drive we pulled into a stunning view stop, where we got our group photo taken for the trip.  I also go the group to do a Bernstar jump!  It is really difficult to get 50 people to fit into the shot and I thought it would be hard to get them all synchronized into a jump, but it was actually not as hard as I thought!   I got a few frames and even though it isn’t the Bernstar jump, I have a great shot with most people off the ground, so it will definitely make the album for sure.  Thanks guys for doing it, it is appreciated.

Down into the city for a leather demonstration, as Florence is renowned for its leather.  It was actually quite interesting in how the jewelry boxes were made, without glue, all purely leather and 4 nails and the process can take up to 8 weeks to finish, depending on the size of the box of course.  She also explained how to tell fake leather from real leather so people don’t get swindled.  The main 2 factors are the lining, the outside can be re-produced but the lining of leather will always be suede, whether it a bag, jacket, wallet – it will have suede lining.  If it doesn’t them it is a fakie and save your money. The ‘genuine leather’ seal will be stamped on the actual jacket, not on tag, as the tag then is genuine leather and the rest of the garment will not be.  And finally the good old fashioned burning myth.  This has been busted and real leather will burn.  If the seller even pulls out a lighter to show you it is genuine leather because it won’t burn, turn around and save your money – it is fake.  If they really are pushing the fact, get them to hold the flame in one spot for 5 seconds, it will bubble to jacket and then you know it’s real, and then you won’t want to buy a damaged jacket anyways, so I would probably then run!!!!

Free time before our walking tour, we decided to get some gelato (just for a change) as it is our last full day in Italy, we headed straight for the gelato shop one last time.  This stuff is just so so good!  Why aren’t the Italians bigger, with all these gelato shops everywhere, it would be too much temptation for me to not eat it every day!!!

Florence really is a walk able city.  All paved with stone and most known for its statues.  The most famous is the statue of David.  As our guide put it, back in the day David was what the Eiffel Tower is to the French and it was a big deal back then.  When he was unveiled it was quite shocking that he was nude!!!  Michael Angelo was 29 when David was completed and is one of his most famous pieces of work.  The statue that stands in the square today is a replica, the real one is in a museum on the other side of town, but the replica was done over 100 years ago and in itself is a work of art for a copy!!!!  We also did a visit to the Ponte Vecchio.  Florence straddles the Arno River and the view from the Ponte Vecchio is pretty amazing.  It was such a great day the photos look like postcards!  Our last stop was at the massive church called the Duomo.  It is a combination of a baptistery, a church and a bell tower.  It took them 170 years to complete the massive church and it was the biggest in the world when it was completed.  It now stands 4^th on the rankings after St Peters, St Paul’s in London and there is a Duomo in Milan.  You can get to the top of both the church and the bell tower ( 473 steps ) but the lines were too long for both, so we decided to double back to the Uffizi Museum, where for free you could get into a section to see original drawings of Michael Angelo, Leonardo Devinci  and other famous painters.  Some of them were just drawings; others were drawings for their famous paintings.  It was amazing that we were looking at original drawings over 500 years old – it was pretty mind blowing actually!!!!

We had our Tuscan dinner tonight and it was amazing.  Besides the food, which was awesome, they had free flowing wine all night!  The wine was in 1.5L bottles and we managed to get through 2 of them before the night was done.  They had 2 opera singers that were awesome and a guy (Giuseppe Mario) playing tunes all night and Italian ones like Volare and Shut upa ya Face (our request).  All in all it was an AWESOME start to the night which was only just beginning, as we then headed into a nightclub called ‘Space’.  They have a funny payment system here.  When you walk into the club, you are given a drink card and this is what you use to purchase your drinks with, so in turn it is a cashless system in the club – BUT you can only have 3 drinks, before you have to settle your account, then they give you another card, which is different colour and when you’ve had you three drinks on that you need to settle your account again!  The flaw I see is you have your three drinks and then have no money what do they do then?  You can’t give the 3 drinks back right?  Weird but I guess it works for them.  I know I got to the next card, but after that the rest of the night is a blur. I know I got upset when I got back to the hotel, but I think a combination of things just took its toll and I let the tears roll.  I think also because it is Mother’s Day today, it just reminded me how much I miss my mum……….. We’re only human after all.

Goodbye to Italy and hello to Switzerland – busy day ahead………………..      

AND ON THE 40TH DAY SHE RESTED

WEATHER:  22C – controlled room temperature

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Not feeling bad I didn’t’t go into the city today

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Nothing I can think of

BUYS OF THE DAY:  4 hours of hotel Wi-Fi internet for 7.80EUR  

WORD OF THE DAY: Sleep, upload and download

Im upto day 40 of my trip today.  My Trans Mongolian trip seems like eons ago, let alone London and Amsterdam last week. 

We didn’t get too much sleep last night.  We went and had a drink with Pete, as today is his rest day, so he was able to have a few Brewski’s.  I was dog tired, and as this was a 2 night stay, I wanted to wash some things and upload my last blog entry.  I know how productive that would have been had I stayed and had a few drinks – NIL.  So by the time I finished all that it was 1.20am anyways and ChelC got home at 1.45am, so we then chatted and caught up on all the gossip, before we closed the session at 2.15am thinking we better get some sleep.

The alarm goes off at 6.15am, I get up for the first shower, I come out and ChelC said ‘I wish I could sleep all day’.  Well that planted the seed, and I thought, I have been to Rome twice already (as recently as 2 weeks ago), I have done what the guys are doing today already, and maybe I could just have the day off?!  So after breakfast I decided this is definitely what I wanted to do, and I don’t feel bad that I am not going into Rome today.  If I am to have a down day, Rome is the one, as I don’t want to miss a thing in Florence and Paris – this was the day.

So I have uploaded 2 cruise albums, as I am running really behind getting these pictures up, and if I get too far behind, it will be crazy to try and catch up.  I have uploaded some songs to my iPod, ( it also helps that I have the MTV channel on and I can download as I hear the current songs ) this also included the day song we have for this tour which is On the Floor by J-LO, which seems to be a popular choice by the way.  The purpose of a day song is that we hear it every morning on the coach and it is the first song that is played.  So in 3 years from now, when you are sitting in your office, in the car or at a club and you hear the song it will make you think of your European trip you did all those years ago.  I can tell you now it works, I can still tell you the song we had for our 4 week Contiki tour **cough cough** all those years ago, which was Learning to Fly by Lennie Kravitz.  My Scandi Contiki day song was Banquet by Block Party.  This was a 3 week tour, and I reckon 70% of the bus hated the song, which made for a lot of BMW’s, but I actually liked it and downloaded the song when I got home and made it my ring tone on my mobile phone for like 12 months!  It can be hit and miss with the day song, but whether you like it or hate it, it will always make you think of your Contiki trip and that then serves its purpose.

Throw some more washing, some sleeping and more blog writing in pretty much rounds off the rest of my day – and I can tell you I feel FANTASTIC!!!!  The guys are due back after 7pm, so it will be good to hear what they got up to today.

AND ON THE 40TH DAY SHE RESTED…. And she feels awesome!!!!!

ORGANISED CHAOS OF ROME

WEATHER: BEAUTIFUL AND SUNNY AND ID SAY 22C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  Seeing hundreds of Italian Service men in uniform

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Hitting traffic for an hour on the freeway from Venice

BUYS OF THE DAY:  The free gelato we got as part of dinner

WORD OF THE DAY: Man we are in Italy

We got to have a sleep in this morning till 7am for an 8.45am departure – heaven.  The pace of the tour is pretty hectic.  When you look at an itinerary you do take in all the one night stays and know you have to drive, but a lot of people have been saying that they didn’t realize just how many hours would be spent in the coach.  The normal drive times are we travel for 3 hours, stop for 45 minutes and then generally have a further 2-3 hours travel, so generally trying to get us in to our destination by midafternoon.  Today there was an exception as there was an accident on the freeway leaving Venice and we didn’t get too far for about an hour till we passed the 4 car pile-up. 

So our first stop was nearly 4 hours in, and there were a lot of fast running people getting off the bus for the toilet break.  The beauty of the break, there were seriously about 150 Italian service men in military cams also using the same Auto grill (roadhouse).  They were all young; they all had guns sitting on their bus seats and as far as I could tell they were all GOOD LOOKING!  Sorry Mark how long were we staying here?  I have to admit they had a Burger King here and I got a whopper for lunch and it was just delicious.  Sometimes you need to eat something a little familiar, even if we call it Hungry Jacks back home.  Same burger, different name.

After another pit stop (and seeing some of uniformed friends again) we arrived into Rome around 5pm.  From our drop point, we walked to dinner by you know just the Coliseum, the Roam Forum site, and what I call the wedding cake but it’s proper name is the National Monument.  Just another ordinary walk in an ordinary city – NOT!!!!!  Rome is as Mark says a living and breathing museum.  Everywhere you look, there is a piece of history looking right back at you.  We are not talking like 200, or 500, or 1000 years old, some things are up to 2000 years old!!!  This place is just amazing.

After dinner we had the pleasure of Mark taking us on a small walking / orientation tour.  We took in the sights of the Trevi Fountain and for the record ChelC and I did a coin throw this time into the fountain.  Apparently if you throw one coin (right hand over left shoulder) this coin is for your return back to Rome.  Throw a second coin, and this will give you luck that you will marry an Italian so just for good measure we threw a third, just, well surely it has to mean extra extra luck right!?  As usual the Trevi fountain was busy, but nowhere as busy when we were there 2 weeks ago, so it made a nice change.  Apparently all the coins that go into the fountain are retrieved and given to homeless people and certain charities, so that is nice to know gypsies etc. don’t get all the cash!

Our walk also encompassed the Pantheon, which is 2000 years old, and boy does this building still look awesome. A little wear and tear, but to just sit on the steps and marvel this white pillared building was a reality check for me that I am truly living my dream and to soak up the history of this place and what it has taken to get here was very profound for me.  You would think a bigger, or better known monument would make that effect, but these things happen when you least expect it, which makes it that more raw.  The sun was setting at this stage, so the rays of light just made it all that much more surreal. 

Next stop was for our gelato.  Now you don’t mind a little bit of choice, but 150 flavors it just crazy right!  How could we even begin to decide, let alone in like the 1 minute we had to make our decision.   It’s one of those things you need to just pick the first ones you like the sound of and stick to it, as you know; generally you always go back to the original 2 choices!!!  As there were 50 of us, you can imagine the chaos that could have been. But as organized Mark is, we filed in like human beings 5 at a time, and what do you know, we didn’t have to push and shove and it took only round 25 minutes to get us all in, 2 scoops each and out again!  Happy us, happy ice-cream man, happy Mark – aka Grant.  For the record I got Pistachio and Coconut – D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S

Our last stop on the Marky Mark tour was the Piazza Navona.  By this time it is 9pm, so the place is lit up and there are artist stall everywhere with the main water fountain looking all magical and mystical in bathed light.  It was nice to see Rome at night time, just to give you another side to this very busy city!  We walked to the bus from here, where Pete was waiting for us to take us back to the hotel, which was approx. a 25 minute drive away.  Finally after a long day we arrived at the hotel at 10pm.  Long but totally worth it day of travel.  You could spend a whole week in Rome and not see everything the city has to offer – but it one that should be on every traveller’s itinerary – at least once.

This is our first 2 night stop we have had and we are now half way through the tour.  London and Amsterdam seem a life time ago and I am glad I am keeping a record of what I am doing.  I don’t think I ever thought I would keep a daily record, but I am glad I have and hope that it keeps up over the whole journey. 

VENICE FOR THE THIRD TIME

WEATHER: Beautiful day – I’d have to say 20C and sunny

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY :  The beautiful city of Venezia

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not enough time in Venice

BUYS OF THE DAY:  2 murano glass rings for 6EUR

WORD OF THE DAY: - Chow bello – hello handsome in Italian

Well I hate to be a show off but I have been to Venice twice prior to yesterday, and it really is a place that you can never get sick off.  I do have my general rule of not going back to a place twice, but there are some exceptions to this rule and Venice is one of them.  I find London, Rome and Paris cities you can visit more than once also, as there is just so much to see and do and you never tire of the atmosphere.

If you haven’t been to Venice, you need to get your butt into gear.  This city is truly something you not experience anywhere else in the world.  After an early departure this morning at 7.45am we pretty much motored into Venice Port at 1.30pm, after the compulsory stop for Pete and lunch of course.  We then had a boat waiting to take us from the mainland to the island of Venice itself.  As there are no roads on the whole island, boat is the only form of getting directly onto Venice.  There is a railway station that gets you just as far, and then you cross a bridge to get you on the island, other than that they are the only 2 forms to get you there. 

As we are staying off the island, we had 7.5 hours to maximize our time here, before our boat left at 9pm back to the mainland, and I believe we did just that.  We had some spare time before our walking tour started to soak up San Marco Square. When I was here last year, it was a public holiday and the place was manic.  It was so busy, you couldn’t even see the bridge of sighs as there were so many people on it, and it5 was terrible.  But I am happy to report, even though it was busy, you could still take it all in without getting bumped and pushed.  Our walking tour went for 1 hour and our guide took us off the major beaten track, and showed us some places, heading our way to the Rialto Bridge as our final destination.  From here we had some free time till 5pm, to do a spot of shopping before the glass blowing demonstration.  I have to say all the murano glass jewellery I have bought on previous trips, makes it home and then sits in the jewellery box to never be worn.  So I swore I wasn’t going to get any this visit.  So it is beyond me why I even stepped into one of the murano shops, as soon as I saw all the beautiful glass shining and calling my name, I had no chance of getting out of that shop without buying something!  To be honest, it is really not that expensive either which helps fuel the fire of spending.  I did control myself f and I only got 2 rings for 6EUR.  At the end of the day you get what you pay for and the murano costs can go into the thousands, but I was happy with my 6EUR purchase.

In saying that the glass blowing demonstration was really cool to see.  He made a vase and a cat out of glass in like 10 minutes.  He was a 5^th generation glass blower and like all things for free, we had to do the compulsory walk through their shop before we could leave.  They had some beautiful pieces in their shop, but certainly way out of any Contiki’ers budget.  There was a chandelier hanging from the roof that was 52,000EUR!!!  That is pretty much the cost of my trip hanging there.  It was beautiful in a garish kind of way, but not my cup of tea.  We also had a close shave with a glass headed horse for 45,000EUR, when 2 separate backpacks nearly swept it off its perch!!!!  Now that wouldn’t have been funny – would it??

From here we headed to the gondolas.  I didn’t do this last time, as they were so busy, so I didn’t want to miss it this time.  We could purchase sparkling wine ( aka champagne ) before we boarded our gondola, so we got 2 bottles for 20EUR and the six of us boarded for our 40 minute glide around Venice’s canals.  This really was a magic experience, even if I was with 5 other gals.  I could see how this could be so romantic if you had that special some-one to share it with.  I think there is a rule that you have to kiss under every bridge that you pass under, which we didn’t do of course, but there must have been at least 7 bridges!!!  Our gondolier didn’t sing to our disappointment, but he spoke good English and he is a 4th generation gondolier.  What a great way to see Venice, and if you are ever in Venice, it may seem corny, but definitely do the gondola ride as it is so worth it!!!!

From the gondola, we headed for dinner and as you do in Italy had an antipasto, an entrée and a main meal of the most delicious pasta I have ever eaten and of course dessert was gelato.  A wonderful meal to have in Venice and we also got serenaded by a couple of guys on a trumpet and accordion.

Venice is a beautiful and unusual city and I think I will be back.  Maybe not for a few years now, but Venice I will come again…..

ALL THINGS AUSTRIAN

WEATHER:  Rainy in Munich – Cold at white water rafting – sunny in Hopfgarten

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  Swarovski retail shop

BUMMER OF THE DAY: Not doing washing when I had the chance – bad move

BUYS OF THE DAY:  My Swarovski pen I have been eyeing off for months – it’s beautiful

WORD OF THE DAY: Alcohol is NOT my friend……

Well after consuming 6L of beer and god knows how many vodka’s, and then I also had a camparinya with my Brazilian friends, waking up this morning was ROUGH.  I think I was still drunk when I got up ( no surprise there) and I hate doing it, but I had to drunk pack my bag, this is where things get left behind, but I swept the room like a dozen times, so I don’t think anything was left – I’ll keep you posted.

It was such a fun night last night and the funniest thing I remember was we all had to catch taxi’s home and we pulled up at a set of lights and I hear my name being called, I wound down my window and there is Victoria hanging, literally, out of the taxi next to us!  It was so funny and to see some-one you know when you don’t expect it, wrap that in alcohol and you get the ‘funny’ of the night!  Yes I have photos to show as well!!!

I’m not sure how I even got it, but I snagged the front seat this morning, and it was a total fluke rather than a well-executed plan, but either way, Mags and I were in the front seat and what a great day it was for it, as we were leaving Munich and heading into some beautiful scenery.  Being hung over you would think it was a recipe for some motion sickness, but I felt actually okay – miracle?  It was good to see Pete and Mark (aka Grant) in the ‘office’ and I think people just don’t appreciate the work that they do up the front while we all sleep.  I didn’t say anything to Pete, but man I wouldn’t want his job for quid’s, some of the roads are on the skinny side, and I am sure there were some very close shaves with other vehicles, but I think that is just my untrained coach driving talking as Pete didn’t looked perplexed at all!!!  Well that is why he is the driver and I am not!!!  High five guys – you’re doing an AWESOME job!!

First stop was white water rafting – man I feel sorry for the bastards that were drinking last night that were rafting today.  They had about 3 hours to get some sleep on the bus before we got to the rafting place, and it was cold and the sun wasn’t out, and they had to squeeze themselves into wetsuits – yep so so glad I didn’t do it!!  In saying that I have done it before at the same place and it was an awesome experience, so it should be done at least once.  For the wimps that didn’t raft, we got to chill for a few hours at base camp, where they had internet, café and toilets.  It was tough to sit there, looking at the beautiful mountains; hear the river passing nearby and the sun finally did pop out towards the end…ahhhhhhhhh the serenity.

Our next stop was the Swarovski World.  Yes all things crystal can be found here.  The factory is also located here, so it is a pretty massive place and rather than take you through the history and making of the crystals, Swarovski World is more of an interactive live art museum, with the crystals as the main focus of each art piece.  The biggest man cut crystal can be found here at 32,000 carats!!!!! , so with the largest also comes the smallest, where they had them under a magnifying glass to see these!  Man everything just sparkled here and the retail shop at the end is MASSIVE!!!   It would be very easy to spend up BIG time, but once again I had on my sensible hat and I bought a Swarovski pen that I have been eyeing off for months.  I saw it on the cruise ship, but decided not to buy it there and save it for the tour, not sure if I saved any money but I have it now and it looks awesome!  Just wait till the next time I am on the plane filling in my next immigration card how fancy I am going to look!  Oh Yeah.  I wasn’t going to, but I also bought a pair of earrings and I am glad I did because they look a million bucks!!  Did I need them, um probably not, but I did want them, oh yes – so I got them.  Go home with no regrets and I will be able to say I bought them in Austria!

A further hour’s drive found us at Hopfgarten for the night.  A ski resort during the winter at 1000m above sea level, it was a cute little town.  It was actually good to have some down time and not have to rush off anywhere.  Dinner was at the hotel with a traditional fare of goulash, schnitzel and apple strudel served and it was flippin delicious!!!!  I purchased some internet, so I could upload my last days blog and send off a few messages, it was great to just chillax.  They had schnappy hour (specials on Schnapps) from 8.30pm, I had 2 and I have to say they were a bit rough; I just couldn’t drink anymore of them.  I would have to say I would prefer a shot of vodka than the schnapps, but I gave it a go.  After 2 vodka’s and 2 shots of schnapps, I decided for this to be my alcohol free day, for my liver to have a little recovery before hitting Italy tomorrow and where I am sure some vino will be consumed.  David worked out that 6L of beer was approx. 24 standard drinks consumed in 3 hours, and then it takes an hour for every drink to leave the body so as of 7pm I still had alcohol in my system, well I did have a vodka in my hand, so I guess he was right either way!!!!

Day 4 of 43 Contiki days – hell will I be able to survive if this pace keeps up?  Ireland would have to be a big drinking trip, oh and Spain with a 2 night stay in Ibiza I guess will have some alcohol consumed, oh and the 3 nights on Ios will also be a drinking destination – hell I think I will definitely owe my liver a holiday after this portion of my trip.  Toughen up princess – things could be a lot worse right?

ONE STEIN, TWO STEIN, THREE STEIN, FOUR……..

WEATHER:  Mostly sunny – I reckon 15C

HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY:  Bike tour of Munich

BUMMER OF THE DAY:

BUYS OF THE DAY:  My 6 litres of beer would have to be the buy of the day right?

WORD OF THE DAY: - Prost – cheers in German

Before departing sleepy hollow, aka St Goar, we got to visit a Beer stein shop.  It’s a cool little shop right next door to the hotel and is full of, yep beer steins.  It has the world’s largest stein in there (not for sale of course) but the guy went through the drinking process and it seems the Germans take their beer drinking quite seriously.  There is a myth that I will clear up out of this visit and that the beer doesn’t go hot if you are drinking from a proper stein ( being a liter it could sit there for a while ) because they have a lid on theirs that they keep closed and that keeps the beer cool, fresh and the bugs out.  I also took a visit to the cuckoo clock shop, I was tempted to buy one, as they ship to Australia, but I thought by the time I get back home next year, I’ll look at the clock and wonder why the hell I bought it, so I fought the urge and kept my purse in my bag.

We arrived into Munich at 2pm and had a quick turnaround at the hotel before heading into the city for a bike tour.  Yes people, I got on a bike!  I was trying to think the last time I rode a bike and I think it would have been like 8 years ago at Couran Cove.  I think I may get a little saddle sore tomorrow, but the bike tour was AWESOME!!!  We rode in 2 groups of 25 for 1.5 hours around Munich City and what a beautiful city it is.  The day was magic, and it was sweet to feel the wind through my hair.  I felt like Kermit the Frog on the bike, but I had fun!  The highlight was the park they have in the middle of the city, it is 25% bigger than Central Park in New York, it was massive and really glad we got a chance to ride around part of it.  We did have a stop at a place where there were surfers, yes surfers, riding a man made wave in the middle of the river.  It was so cool and so unexpected with these guys riding their boards in the middle of a capital city, it’s called river surfing and gets really popular in the summer and the only place in Europe where it can be done.

No visit to Munich is complete unless you visit a beer hall, in particular the Hofbrahaus.  The most famous one in all of Munich.  The Germans have 5000 types of beer, 10% of Europe’s beer consumption is drunk by the Germans and 80% of Europe’s breweries are in Germany!  Now that is some pretty impressive beers stats!!!  They obviously don’t sell 5000 beers at the Hofbrahaus, there was only a selection from 4 I believe, so I stuck to the original version.  I was always planning on consuming at least 2 steins (a stein for the record is one liter) and by the end of the night I had set a record and had consumed SIX!!!!!!!!! AND the thing that makes this record even more amazing is those 6 steins were drunk in a space of 3 hours!  Come on I dare some-one to beat that record………I asked Mark if there was a Contiki record, and he said no, so I have started the record with 6 as the bench mark and we’ll see if any of Marks other tours will beat it.  I am sure it will get smashed but it is a pretty good start right!  Bernie the beer drinker!!!  It was a great night, with about 25 of us staying until the Hofbrahaus closed at 11.30pm.  It was after all a Monday night!  So we all caught taxis back to the hotel, and as if 6L of beer wasn’t enough, we hit the hotel bar and pumped a few glasses of vodka down till that bar closed at 2am!!!  Sometimes I think the best nights are the unplanned ones!!

We leave Munich tomorrow and head to the Austrian Alps for the night, before heading into Italy.  It is day 4 of the tour and we are all getting along dandy. We are all hung over like bastards, and we sleep like babies on the coach but all getting along fine.  Romance has hit the bus, some drinking stories are starting to surface and we are all having a ball. 

Germany this morning, Austria tonight and Italy tomorrow.  This is my life and I LOVE it!