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Published: April 16th 2007
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Have I got it?
We had to do it... Untitled Contiki Part II:
And now for the rest of it...
The first week just flew by and luckily it contained by favourite part of the trip, Florence. An amazing beautiful city that singlehandely bought on the Renaissance period and turned Europe from the dark, dumb part of the world it was into a place that appreciates art and sculpture, literature and science. Florence was a total madness on the morning we were there, it was Easter Sunday and the locals were going crazy. It was a great atmosphere. Because of the number of people in the city, it wasn't worth paying and standing in line to see Michaelangelos David, no worry though, as they have a copy of it is a public square. Good on you Italy. We were treated to a walking tour by a lovely looking local man called Nico who had the best accent ever. My love for Italy was growing by the minute. Florence was the home of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci and Gallileo, which astounds me.
Now of course, being in Italy it was time to eat pizza, and we ate a LOT of pizza. No more, until Thursday when we are back in Italy.
The
Its Still There!!!
An amazing structure next day it was off to Rome and while on the coach we went through 10 minutes of rain, the only rain we had on the entire trip. The weather gods were smiling down upon us on this trip! Rome is huge, loud and dirty. As the whole place is one big moment for historians, there were a lot of people there. Because of this, I had my only regret of the whole tour, which was not being able to go into the Colloseum, but we did have a very informative walking tour around the area and into the Roman Forum, an area that predates the birth of Christ. Walking on some of the original paving stones was truly breathtaking.
We were staying in a campground on the outskirts of Rome and it was nice to be amoungst the trees after the mayhem of the city. We had a big party on our last night in Rome for the birthday of one of the guys and the next day was a truely terrible day on the bus. But its all worth it. Who else can say they partied like that in Rome eh?
After Rome came the fastest part of
Yep, I loved this place
My Favourite City - Florence the trip, three one night stays in a row, which meant a lot of time on the coach. We drove up to Venice and had a traditional Gondola ride. I would urge you to go there, it is an absolutely fascinating place, it is amazing to think that is really is all built on stilts in the water. The Gondola ride was a hoot, but the guy didn't sing to us. Where was my Dean Martin rendition???
After Venice it was a quick trip through Austria, listening to the Sound of Music soundtrack and we went to the Swarovski Crystal factory which was my heaven. They have this tripped out interactive museum bit with lots of different rooms. We went into the Brian Eno mediation room, which is a big black room with some crazy paintings that make your eyes go weird. Every now and then Mr Eno himself says something insightful, like Wind. Chair. Love.
From there is wasw a quick hop skip and jump up to Munich to the worlds biggest tourist let down, the Glokeinspeil. Alex wanted to take us there to show us how bad it was and to laugh at all the tourists who were
Ride the granny...
The bikes, they are called Granny bikes... you dirty people! excited about seeing the biggest Cuckoo Clock. Hilarious. Don't go to it. We also went to the Haufbrahaus, which is a huge beer hall in the middle of Germany where Hitler started his tirade against the Jews. An important piece of history and i'm pleased we went. Of course they don't advertise themselves as being the birthplace of Hitlers reign, and so most poeple wouldn't even know what it was all about. That night there was going to be a soccer match between Munich and Milan and the yobbos were out in force. It was hilarious, they are all yelling and drinking and chanting. Loved it.
Up through the Rhine Valley to Amsterdam for our last two nights. Apart from the obvious thing in Amsterdam to do, which is get stoned (btw I didn't, too much shopping to do) we also went to a sex show. Yep. I'm glad I went with the group of people that I did, as I couldn't go with anyone I knew too well as that was a once in a lifetime experience.
However, once those two pasttimes are done and dusted with, Amsterdam is a really cool city, we went into Anne Franks house
When the moon hits the sky...
He may have had the shirt on, but the singing was not there. Kathy and Martin from the trip sitting in the prime seat. which has been turned into an amazing museum. It was the highlight of the trip for me. Just an important thing that I think everyone should do. Amsterdam is a very pretty city and well worth a visit.
While in The Neatherlands we also went on a bike ride through a little town called Edam and went to see a clog being made. Great entertainers these Dutch.
Ok, time is almost up and I need to add photos.
Would I do it again? Yes, in an instant. I would reccomend it to anyone and overall Europe is a fantastic place, lucky i'm going back on Thursday eh 😊
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Kirsty
non-member comment
Turning a bright shade of green here
I'm SO JEALOUS! You sound like you had a fantastic time, and I can't wait to see more photos when we catch up or when you get home (depending on how much time we have in Reading)! Sounds like you had a good group on Contiki, and your guide and driver sound fun! Oh well, see you in a couple of weeks (we leave in 11 days - woohoo!)Big hug :)