Paris, Goodbyes and Home

From Switzerland we made an insane drive to Paris in time to run around the Louve like chickens with our head cut off to see the Mona Lisa amongst other paintings and such. If youve never been to the Louve, its huge. And apparently they dont believe in AC, because it was incredibly hot in there, not to mention that it was steaming in Paris that day.

So we saw the Mona Lisa in all her glory, which wasnt as glorious as I thought it would be, but hey shes the Mona Lisa so it was still cool. After that we rushed back to the hotel for some dinner and then head out into town. We went with some of the guys we met on tour to see the eiffel tower at night (awwww how romantic). We picked up some champagne in true Parisian fashion to have while gazing at the tower....which was the best idea in the world.

The next morning we went back to the Eiffel Tower to actually go up it which was cool. Then we headed off to the Paris Catecombes (spelling?) and Notre Dame. Just walking around Paris is cool enough, all the buildings look like museums. Its a beautiful city with a great atmosphere. After the busy day we got all dressed up for the last supper...haha or last dinner. We went to a little cafe by Moulin Rouge called La Marmite and had the best food from the whole trip washed down with wonderful vino. After that it was off to O'Sullivans to celebrate with the rest of the tour.

Chrissy left the next day for Athens (tear) while Heather and I continued our stay in Paris. We went to Versailles and to the Royal Opera house and did some sleeping in for once. So nice. Versailles was beautiful and definitely worth the trip over there. Now we are all home and needless to say we had the time of our lives. I wish I could have stayed over there for longer, but its back to reality i guess. Alright, thats all for now....if people did read this, I hope you found it entertaining, if not...well i liked doing it anyway! Ciao!

Forgotten Rafting, Florence and Switzerland

Well, the hills are definitely alive this morning. We are in Luzern, Switzterland also known as the most beautiful city in the world. I know ive been saying that a lot, but it is wonderful here. We feel like were walking around in a living postcard.

I apparently forgot to mention that we went white water rafting. Whoops. Way back in Austria we rafted up in the Austrian alps. It was freezing cold...40 degrees. It was a complete blast though and well never forget it.

Florence was a beautiful city. I wish we had more time there but allora, Italian for oh well...no worries. We waited in line for an hour or so to see David...as in the statue. He was amazing and it compeltey takes your breath away when you see him. The rest of the day was spent wandering around the city trying not to buy everything in sight. That evening we had a delicioso dinner up in the Tuscan hills complete with opera singers, accordion players and such.

The drive from Italy to Switzerland yesterday was a disaster. An 8 hour bus ride turned into a 14 hour bus ride...a tunnel we were suppposed to go through collapsed and then there was a car accident so the only road around this huge friggin mountain was blocked off. However there are worse places to be stuck in. We arrived to our hotel and passed out.

Its about 8am here and were about to climb up a mountain. Not literally, but on a cable car thing. Alright, talk to you later.

Munich, Rafting and Venice

Okkk,

So...we got a little busy once we hit Munich. However, we loved it!! We are currently in Rome but I will backtrack a little for you all.

We hit Munich full force by going to the Hofbrauhaus on the first night with the entire Contiki group. It was sooo much fun. We ate pork knuckle, had giant preztels and the famous huge mugs of beer.

After our rather festive intro to the city, we woke up the next day and did a Mike's Bike Tour around the city. We stopped at a Bier Garten for even more festivities and lunch, then proceeded to get back on our bikes for some more riding. It was a complete blast.

After Munich we head over to Venice, also known as the coolest city in the world. Venice is absoloutely magical. I think the canals suck people in and create an awesome atmosphere that cant be created anywhere. It simply does not look real.

We took a gondola ride, saw St. Marks Square, drank vino and bascially wandered the streets. We did some major shopping as well and are trying to curb ourselves for Florence.

Today we are in Rome, we did a little walking tour last night and saw the Trevi fountain, the Panthenon and such. We started off today with a tour of the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel....incredible. We had the most adorable little old man guide.

The Sistine Chapel is beautiful...words cannot put it into meaning. We just finished up lunch and are going to head over to St. Peters Bascilica. The pope had an auidence today which we missed due to our vatican tour so its been closed all morning. We had lots of gelatto to pass the time though so we didnt mind too much. All right thats all for now....we head to Florence tomorrow...whoo hooo. Later!

Fairytale

In Prague with Hot Kiwi guy. I've been told to write that by Anthony, our new New Zealand edition. He is extremely scared of us and constantly reminds us of just how American and loud we are. hahah.

Anyway, Prague really is the fairytale everyone talks about. I dont even think pictures will do it justice. We got to our hotel yesterday and took an evening stroll around the city. After some sightseeing in the freezing cold, we had a little bit of bowling. Yes, bowling. There is a bowling alley at the bottom of our hotel, which was so much fun.

Today, we woke up and heard that there would be snow flurries, I havent seen any yet, but its definitely cold. We walked around Handraddy (spelling?) Castle today, around the Old Town Square of Prague, and took a beautiful lunch river cruise.

Were going to go do some shopping now and then head out to this 5 story nightclub for some evening festivities. Talk to you from Munich!

Berlin = COLD

I dont have much time because its a little expensive here to be online. Mom, sorry I havent been able to call...we cant find payphones and by the time we do...its too late or too early to call. I'll try tonight. I also cant post pictures...my card doesnt match up to the european computers, you'll have to wait till i get back, which stinks weve got some great stuff.

Our first news this morning was that it is SNOWING in Munich (where we will be in 4 days)....SNOWING. Needless to say, we are freezing to death here. Its about 10 c which is about 40 degrees f.

We finished up yesterday in Amsterdam, and drove to Berlin. It was about 8 hours which flew by since we all slept. We got to Berlin at about 6pm, ate dinner and Chrissy and Heather braved the cold while I passed out in the room.

Today we had a 3 hour walking tour of the Communist side of Berlin. It was extremely good. We learned a lot about the Nazi party, saw Nazi and Communist buildings and the Brandenberg Gates. We also saw the Berlin wall which was very cool. We even saw the college Albert Einstein attended and all the stuff is up for the World Cup, which kicks off here on June 9th. There are cool stages set up everywhere and the whole city is talking about it.

We are awful at German...weve tried to order Bratwurst 3 times and all times just ended up with fries. Apparently, bratwurst translates to fries. So, bottom line, were cold, starving and all we want is a bratwurst. Hahah.

Alright, we go to Prauge tomorrow with a stop in the German town of Dresden. So Jus for now. (Jus is the slang for goodbye in German).

Holy Amsterdam

I dont really remember where I left off....today is a little hazy. Haha. We safely arrived to Hotel Lakeland in Amsterdam, Netherlands. We are staying in a suburb of Amsterdam called Monnickdam which is extremely cute and quaint. We had a long drive, about 6 hours plus a 1.5 hour ferry ride to get to Amsterdam.

We grabbed some dinner at the hotel and then decided to go into town. We decided to do an optional excursion with Contiki, a booze cruise around the canals of Amsterdam. We had our own boat and unlimited drinks....needless to say we went through 3 kegs of Heineken...35 ppl were on the boat.

After we stumbled off the boat we decided to continue with Amsterdam nightlife and went to a coffeeshop called the Jolly Joker. Information from the next hour is rated R and cannot be published. After we were done at the Jolly Joker and another shop called Hill Street Blues we went to grab a beer at a random bar. Apparently, we bring trouble where ever we go as a fight between some Irishmen erupted and we were forced to leave the bar. Hahaha....oh goodness, crazy times. We capped off the night by going to a techno club called Club Arelle or Nurelle, i cant really remember. Stumbeled into a cab and made it home. Contiki gives you a business card in every city of the hotel your staying in so you can just hand it to the driver....needless to say this came in handy as we couldnt speak more than 6 words....and everything was in dutch.

This morning started a little earlier then we would have hoped but it was definitely worth it. We drove about 5 miles to the town of Edam, where they make the cheese, and had a guided bike tour through the historic city. It was absoloutely adorable...however I dont know if it was more entertaining to look at the city or to laugh at our awful ability to ride bikes. We also got to visit a working windmill, cheese maker and a clog maker.

We are currently in central Amsterdam at an internet cafe and heading over to Anne Frank's house and then the Heineken Museum. Tonight we have a guided tour through the Red Light District and some sort of live show....what kind I will not say because I dont really know myself. Dont expect me to write about it on here though....

Goodbye for now!

Chill London Days

Well....another successful day in London. This morning was a little rough for us to wake up...we slept in until about 9ish and then headed off to Leischeter Square to buy play tickets. We're going to see Footloose tonight at 8:30pm...so excited.

Everything today was pretty normal, we saw the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London, pretty chill day actually. We rode around on our double decker bus, then walked around The British National Art Gallery and saw some beautiful paintings by Rapahel and DaVinci, including the Madonna on theRockes. We then headed over to Covent Garden again for our last chance to get traditional english food. Did a little shopping....eek, everything is so expensive here.

After our day we met up with our Contiki tour group...they all seem cool. Should be a fun group. We have two Australian guys as our tour guides (YES) and that will make listening to what they have to say even more enjoyable.

We managed to stay out of sex districts today...which is probably a good thing since were going to Amsterdam tomorrow. Alright, well i'm off to get ready for Footloose. My thing I bought to get pictures isnt working....damnit, so i'll try it on another computer in Amsterdam...although i think that none of us will be able to type or function there. Haha....Just joking, or am i? Wish us luck...

Wankers and Fanny Packs

Alright....well yesterday was a insanely busy day that of course provided extreme hilarity. We started off at 8am by going to Windsor Castle with about 25 80 year old women and men....hilarious. It was a lot of fun...the castle was absolutely amazing.

After the castle we headed back into central london to eat some extremely good Thai food and head off on the Original London Tour hop-on-hop-off bus. We started off our dancing video if you dont know what i am talking about visit www.wherethehellismatt.com with Heather giving us the inagural dance in front of Buckingham Palace. We then headed over to BIG BEN...PARLIAMENT (National Lampoon for all of you that didnt get that....thats for you Robyn). All three of us danced there....so great.

We also started taking pictures mocking famous monuments....when i figure out how to post them I will, just dont have time right this minute.

After seeing the sights we walked around to try and find Soho, and accidentally found the red light district of it. Accident, I promise. We met two glorious chaps, Justin and Nick, at this pub in Soho and proceeded to meet them at another pub (O'Neills) later to watch the England vs. Belarus soccer game.

Needless to say the boys taught us some English we never knew before. For example...Fanny Packs mean a way different thing in Soho, London. Ask me after the trip. We spent the rest of the night drinking and dancing at O'Neill's and somehow found the metro home.

Today is more sightseeing, Tower of London, Tower Bridge and St. Pauls Cathedral!! We miss everyone....but only a little. Pics next time I promise!!