Day 10 - Rome An early breakfast this morning at the Topdeck Cook Tent. This is the second place with a cook tent, essentially Topdeck have a permanent tent which they use all season long for all the tours which pass through and staff who stay there all season. We had a cook tent in Lauterbrunnen, one her in Rome and one at our next stop Venice. The food from the tents is usually pretty tasty. Anyway, we get dropped off at the tube station and we travel to our first stop, which is a whole different country. The Vatican City is the smallest country in the world and is of course home to the pope, who funnily enough was in London when I left there. We have a guided tour around the country with an ... read more

Day 8 - Florence I wake up fairly early and head for breakfast, ham, cheese and bread rolls follows the usual sort of food we are becoming accustomed to. This morning there seems to be a buzz around the group, which I learn is due to a football game, but not the football I’m used to. I’m talking about Aussie Rules. This morning is the grand final of AFL (which is pretty much like the Australian version of the superbowl). Today’s game is between Collingwood and St Kilda (both from Victoria), and I soon learn that Collingwood are AFL’s version of Leeds United, unless you’re a fan, everyone hates them. On our coach there are two Collingwood fans, Jess and Lucy, Andrea supports St Kilda and everyone else is backing St Kilda, as they hate Collingwood ... read more

Day 6 - Nice Today is our free day on the French Riviera, Most people want to head to the beach today but I’m not fussed about the beach so find a group who want to explore the town. Kristeen, Sam, Jodie and Kayene are my friends for today. We head down to the beach briefly to get some sense of direction. We then head over to a local market place, this is the most typically French thing I have ever seen. There are lovely little stalls selling sweets, fruit and veg, fish, meat, art etc. We cannot help ourselves and buy fruit and croissants, enjoying the opportunity to speak a little French and blend in with the locals. We then head up the many stairs to the lookout point over the beach. The view is ... read more

Day 4 - Lauterbrunnen I wake up pretty early to have a shower and enjoy the brisk morning air. I take a few snaps of the scenery and bump in to 3 nervous souls who are about to do the skydiving optional extra. Simon, Trent and Brendan all look a little scared, but I can’t blame them, I certainly wouldn’t want to skydive. I have breakfast and then we take the brief walk to the train station to catch the really expensive train up to Jungfraujoch, commonly known as the Top of Europe. Most of our group cram on to the little train and we head up on our couple of hours journey to the top. The views from the train are amazing; the snow capped mountains are just like a postcard scene. We switch trains ... read more

Day 2 - Paris Wake up early for our free day in Paris. I have croissant for breakfast and then we hop on the bus to get Paris. We get dropped off at the Place de la Concord. I group up with Brendan, Trent and a bunch of girls who I haven’t spoke to before, I gather from early conversations my group contains Nicole and Kat (who are travelling together), Tahlia and Jaala (who are travelling together) Jacqui and Lucy. We head out towards the opera house we saw yesterday and come across a fairly pretty church which we passed on the coach yesterday. Took some photos and headed to the opera house. The opera house was amazing, we went inside and the interior was so intricate and pretty. At the top there was a ballroom ... read more