The Big Europe

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Hi everyone!Sorry we took so long to get this blog done. It has been half a year. Anyway it was an amazing trip around Europe. We learnt a lot about all the different cultures and lifestyles. We had a ton of fun and met lots of people. The trip started of in London, 6 o'clock in the morning. The bus drive then took us to Dover , to catch the ferry to Calais where we would spend about 6 days in France. We then drove to Paris, Beaujolais, Cote D'azur (French Riviera), Nice and Monaco. Then we spent 7 days in Italy. Wow , these Italians know how to make cars and highways. We saw Pisa, Florence, Rome and Venice. Venice and Rome by far my 2 favourite cities in the world. Then we went to Austria, where we stayed in Tirol. Switzerland was next then Germany, which we saw a concentration camp. The camp was Dachau, it was a harrowing experience. The Nazis didn't kill them , it was worse , they made them feel less than human. Sometimes I feel ashamed to be a human. On that note we went to Munich at whcih point we had a proper Bavarian experience in a beer hall. After Germany it was Holland, towards the hedonistic heights of Amsterdam. That took 21 days, I forgot to mention the 'small' countries that we saw, namely Monaco, The Vatican city, Liechenstein,San Marino all duty free havens.
After 21 days of touring we went to Portugal to 'recharge'. We went to the southern part called the Algarve to a town called Lagos. Fresh seafood, sunny weather and good shopping.

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Photos

The Eiffel Tower
What else can I say? Its beautiful :)

Les Catacombs, Paris
The Catacombs, an immense maze of tunnels dug under the city. In 1786, all the bodies from Cimetiere des Innocents were exhumed and moved into the tunnels under Denfert Rochereau. You see walls made out of skulls and femurs.

The Catacombs
Grace looking rather disturbed....saddened because these remains were never given proper burial.

The Catacombs
Jason standing by a wall formed by skulls & femur

Champs d
Here we are again....Jason on the famous Champs d'Elysee in Paris

Arc de Triomphe
Jase and Grace walking up the inside of the Arc.

Opera House, Paris
This is where the legend of the Phantom of the Opera started

Parisian dinner
Dinner with some friends on Contiki. From the left, Jase, Ben, Vonnie, Alex, Erika, Emily, Catherine & Grace

Fontainebleau
About 50km south of Paris....Fontainebleau,a Unesco world heritage site, a magnificent chateau in a huge 40,000 acre forest with spectacular gardens. Claims to have once been home to Napoleon.

At Fontainebleau
Can you spot the famous French royals?

Beaujolais
A relaxing time at Beaujolais Wine Region

Beaujolais
View from our room at The Contiki Chateau.

L'eau De Vie
Yup, there is a snaake in there,crazy!

From the top of the world
Still in Beaujolais....we took a leisure walk up to this point (Trying to use the map that we were given) and had a beautiful picnic.

The Contiki Chateau, Beaujolais
This is where we stayed

Sunrise In Beajolais
Stunning sunrise, the view from the front garden, what else can you say?

Gelato in Nice
We were having some gelatos with the Saunders in Nice (The French Riviera on the Côte d'Azur). Gee rolls off the tongue easily huh?....

Monte Carlo
Outside THE casino, yup lost 20 euros.A bit of a dissapointment actually.

Pisa
The Church next to the leaning tower of pizza.I dunno what the name is .

Holding up the tower
It's really hard work , but taking pictures like these is what life is about.

My poor back.
cool eh?

Comments

[Emily boot]

Looks like you guys had a great time in Portugal. The pictures are absolutely beautiful. And yes, I do see the elephant and the camel...