Start of travels

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hey all, im emailing u from sunny (and chilly) prague. thought i would give u an update.

so, we left london on thursday the 21st of feb, drove down 2 dover and caught the ferry across to calais in france. then we drove to paris and when we arrived we did a very quick bus tour around paris and drank champagne under the eiffel tower..

next day i climbed the eiffel tower, then spent the day wandering around paris, going to monuments etc. saw the arc de triomphe, the champs elysee etc etc. we had dinner that night at a traditional french restaurant and i had frogs legs. unfortunately tho, my plan to go 2 the louvre after dinner failed as the dinner ran 2 long and the louvre was shut by the time i got there. so absolutely gutted.

then we drove to switzerland the next day, long drive, and we arrived at lauterbrunnen late-ish in the evening. everyone went 2 the bar and there were many drinking games played that night, and much bonding lol.

up the mountain of jungfrau on sunday, absolutely stunning, its a glacial mountain so its just amazing. went in the ice caves, as u can imagine, its entirely carved out of ice, and there r little statues and stuff in there as well. majorly cool. then down the mountain (with a few mishaps on the way with some ppl and their tickets) and had some rosti for afternoon tea. really good hashbrown style thing with bacon and stuff in it. mmmm.

driving to florence the next day we stop off at the tower of pisa and took the obligatory photos. had lots of ppl trying 2 sell us "prada" and "gucci" bags on the side of the street, very legal of course haha. and they would always give the "beautiful lady" a "good price, coz i like u" hahaha.

arrived in florence and went out 2 a club called the red garter. there was karaoke there and cheap alcohol. u could get a jug of cocktail mix for about $16. and u could also buy a litre of beer in one mug thing for like $20. many many ppl paired up that night, lots of snogging haha. and before u ask, i was sober, so no drunken hook up for me!

did a walking tour of florence the next morning and then went and saw the statue of david. either it was very cold that day, or he really wasnt that big of a man after all. hahaha.

drove 2 rome the next day, stopping off in a small town called orvietto, really beautiful town, only about 300 ppl live there, its on top of a hill and u have 2 catch a train thingamee up there called a funicular. arrived in rome and did a 4 hour walking tour, actually probably went for longer, saw the trevi fountain and threw in my coin, made a wish. saw the colosseum, saw the roman forum, saw most of rome lol. then dinner at the hotel.

went and did a 3 hour tour of the vatican city, our guide was a kiwi guy, he was such a crack up, totally unconventional, and really good. then a few of us walked right across rome to the colosseum (took most of the day) and went in and saw that, its amazing. its so sad its in such bad condition tho.

drove to venice the next day, stopping at verona along the way. saw juliettes balcony, and rubbed her boob haha. (to explain, there is a statue of her in the courtyard and its supposed 2 be good luck in love if u rub her boob) we also wrote anonymous love poems to another person on the bus and stuck them in the tunnel of love haha. there were some really funny ones. when we got 2 venice we went out for dinner.

the next day we had a walking tour of venice then went on a gondola ride, saw a lace making demonstration and also a glass blowing demonstration. the glass blowing is amazing! one second its a blob, the next its a horse! insane.

drove to austria the next day, only stayed the one night there, and didnt do much, but we spent most of our time doing bloody laundry with 50 of us and 2 washing machines, 1 dryer!

got 2 prague yesterday, we stopped at mauthaussen, a concentration camp along the way, very sobering, and did a quick walking tour, then back 2 the bar for dinner. then a lot of ppl went out, a few of us stayed at the bas at the hostel and drank here. lots of ppl tried absinthe in the journey to find the green fairy (if u have 3 shots u should be able 2 see a green fairy on ur left shoulder) dunno if anyone was successful lol

that brings me up 2 today. we FINALLY had a sleep in, and now im on here! im gunna go swimming today, and just get some souvenirs, and thats pretty much it! off to berlin tomorro!

soooo, catch u all laters!!!

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