This morning we had the option of going to see the palace of Versailles outside of Paris. This extravagant palace's most famous inhabitants were Louis XIV (the Sun King) and Marie Antoinette, and it is now a symbol of the absolute monarchy and the French Revolution of the 1700's. Only about half the tour decided to go - I'm guessing the others had either already been or were too hungover from the cabaret the night before. I heard it was totally crazy. I woke up with a bad sore throat this morning. I was really hoping I wasn't getting sick. I was expecting the Contiki cough, but not for a while yet. I was excited to go to Versailles, I'd heard it was very spectacular. It is enormous! And the lineups were just as long, they ... read more

I woke up really early this morning. I had a really bad sleep and lots of nightmares :O But I was so excited to be starting our tour! Me and Christine went down early to check in and weigh our bags. For some reason I ended up weighing in at only 18 kilos! I think they rig the scales in the Contiki Basement so that you think you have more than you actually do. Sneaky! We all waited in the courtyard of the Royal National along with a second Contiki group to wait for our tour bus. We got a purple bus; my last bus was purple too. This was one of the older buses so it wasn't as fancy and comfortable as my last tour, but still not that bad. I sat near the back ... read more

This morning I met my new roommate, Megan (from Florida) and it turned out she was actually on my tour! I spent the morning on my own, doing some shopping. Yep, more shopping. I also went to Trafalgar Square, the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben. It was a pretty cloudy day today. Sometimes it's nice just to spend some time alone, especially since I was going to be with 50 other people for the next 6 weeks. A lot of people from the tour arrived today. A big group of us decided to go out for dinner tonight. Italian again? Yep! Before dinner I met Christine, who was also from B.C. We hung out in her room and chatted for a bit. We met up with Megan, then went down to the lobby, where we ... read more

I slept in this morning, I was so tired. I think I was starting to get sick already. I took it easy before lunch, and just watched TV and relaxed. At noon I took the tube to Picadilly Circus to meet Jason and Teresa for lunch. Yep, you guessed it, we ended up at an Italian restaurant. Luckily Italian food is my favourite. I had an enormous, delicious pizza. The restaurant was called Franco's Ristorante Pizzeria, and it was quite nice, I recommend it! A note about taking the tube in London. It's really great, so easy to use, and convenient to get everywhere you need to go. I bought an Oyster Card (reloadable card) before I left home, thinking that would be a great way to save money. It does give you a discount price ... read more

We finally arrived into Gatwick Airport at about 7 am. I was exhausted, but relieved to finally be there! After going through customs (which was much smoother than last time), and collecting my luggage, I bought a ticket for the Gatwick Express train. It took about half an hour to get into central London. This time I was able to use my expert knowledge of the tube to get to the Royal National, instead of struggling with the overpriced taxis. This was my first experience lugging my suitcase around on public transport, and it wouldn't be the last. I knew I had packed way too much, but I wasn't planning on shopping at all, so I figured I didn't need to leave much room. Once I arrived at the hotel I went straight to the Contiki ... read more