After we left Dachau concentration camp we made our way up the Rhine Valley towards Bacharach where we would stay in a castle that night. It was pretty quiet on the bus and Kate could sense we were not in a fun mood so she showed us the video of Jordan (Australia) and Darcy (Australia) skydiving. Jordan and Darcy are sisters. I remember Jordan was 18 or 19 and Darcy was the older sister who also served in the Australian military in Afghanistan. They were brave enough to go skydiving each after the accident. Other people who considered it pulled out before paying the deposit. The skydive was in plane instead of a helicopter and I probably saw the plane in the air because they saw us paragliding. When they went up Jordan actually got sick ... read more

Woke up that day feeling nervous because in a few hours I would be flying off the ground in a parachute and that terrified me because I am scared of heights. People were talking about the masked party the night before at the bar which was apparently a lot of fun. Some back story, Venice is known for its Masks which allowed in the old days people of nobility and peasants to go to parties. So last night's parties people had bought masks in Venice and wore them to the party. The bus left fairly early that morning because we had a long ride to Austria and we had to be there shortly after noon for the optionals. We were just pulling out when I realized I had left my jacket which had my passport in ... read more

Today we get a tour of Vatican City. It would only be a partial day because we were leaving for Venice at 11:30AM. After breakfast we preloaded all of our luggage into the bus and Mike and Kate drove us to Cipro station where we would meet the bus after the tour. Mike the great driver he is put us directly/illegally in front of Cipro and we all piled out. A few of us were going shopping but most of us opted for the tour. Kate led us to where we would meet our tour guide and handed us off. The tour guide handed out radio boxes with headphones so we could all hear him speak. He took us up a flight of stairs and we could see the walls of the Vatican. We got there ... read more

Woke up in Firenze which is the Italian word for Florence. Gillon and Ken were still very much asleep so I slipped out of the room quietly and went downstairs to reception. I needed to find an arts and crafts store so after a game of charades with the person at reception I gave up and just brought up a picture of what I wanted on a computer. After that he directed me down the street to a store. Reminding myself to go later in the day I headed back to the Plus Florence. Today's plan was we eat breakfast, load the bus early that morning, take a walking tour of Florence, a leather demonstration, and than a bit of free time before heading to Rome later that day. I went downstairs to the dining area ... read more

Woke up today and went to reception to get some change because the showers were 50 Swiss cents. Unfortunately for me it was closed but thankfully Ken had the foresight to get some change the night before and I was able to borrow a coin. The campgrounds actually had the bathrooms and showers in a different building so if you wanted to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night you had to go outside. Breakfast was in the tent and we all got ready for today's optional activities. Most of us were going on a train to Jungfrau and 4 of the ladies Romy, Jemma, Emma and one other person were waiting for the weather to clear so they could go for their helicopter sky dive. The group that was going for the ... read more