CONTIKI, May 5-22 2008

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Hi everyone.. greetings from Nice, France.. following a 2-week tour of Western Europe on board contiki bus.

So the tour starts at 7.30am outside a hotel in London, continues to the Netherlands via some industrial looking roads through Belgium and France. At least it was a good time to meet people on the tour & begin to make friends with those who I would spend every waking minute with, travel with, share a room with... basically "become family" to quote Jacqui, our tour manager.

The tour consisted of mostly Canadians - probably at least half - with the rest from USA, Australia and others from South Africa and Korea.

First stop, Amsterdam - 2 night stop over where we stayed in a hotel in the outskirts of town. Some of the attraction there:

- Drinking Heineken beer

- Visiting a coffee shop (man! some strong coffee!)

- Bike ride through Edam. Bikes dominate this country. the most important road rule - give way to bikes...

- Cheese and clog factory tour

- Ann Frank house

- Van Gogh Museum

- Hitting up the red light district

- Boat cruise along a canal - unlimited drinks

- Partying all night until sunrise and being on the bus, checked out of the hotel at 7.15 or something ridiculous.

I really didn't know what to expect there, the language is a little bit like German - which I can say a few basic greetings and stuff. They generally speak a fair amount of English too which was good.

Next Stop, St. Goar, Germany.

This was a little town hidden in some little hills in the Rhine Valley. We did a boat cruise, tour of a beer stein shop and wine tasting. Also stayed up drinking beers at the local pub there. Picture the hills from the sound of music with little castles dotted through the view. Off to Switzerland next.

Lucerne & Mt. Pilatus, Switzerland

Got some money converted to Swiss Francs instead of Euro's to spend big in this country. Super expensive, but totally amazing.

Went on a boat cruise around the lake on Lucerne, views of the Swiss alps were totally unparalleled. Got a cable car up to our mountain-top hotel - was an awesome experience.. We spent 2 nights up there. Missing a lot of detail here but some other highlights were a Swiss-style lunch with entertainment including alphorns, yodelling and whirling a coin in a bowl. Also visited a swiss army knife & watch store but all i purchased was a little knife, coloured white which is exclusive to Switzerland for Victorinox. Yes cows in Switzerland do wear cowbells.

Anyway we pressed on to Austria, quick stopover in Liechtenstein for lunch (the royal family is where the story for the Addams family came from) and then into Austria for white water rafting. It was so cold, the water being 5 degrees C, and we had to jump in several times. Afterwards we were given shots of schnapps and red bull to try and warm up.

In Austria we hit up Innsbruck, most people went to the Swarovski store but Colin and I went for a beer. The town is very old-fashioned, narrow streets, cobbled streets and swarming with beggars. They approach you with a sign, or one man approached with his 2 kids pleading for money.

Thats about it for Austria, apart from another wild night of shenanigans at the hotel and all the festivities for the Euro cup (soccer) which Austria are co-hosting.

After Austria, Italy. Even less detail here, sorry I'm a bad writer and slow typist.

First stopover - Venice. Did all the touristy things and went on a gondola ride. Had a few drinks at the hotel before going to bed... Now the interesting bit.

I packed my stuff and got on the contiki bus. Packed everything except my money belt (which I was wearing around venice - what a tourist!). I left it in the hotel, it contained my passport, 3-month eurail pass (cost 900 euros and not replaceable) and 500 euros cash and 2 credit cards.

Cutting a long story short, yes I did get it back with every dollar inside, thanks to some unusually honest staff there.

Off to Rome for 2 night stop. We were told this would be the longest days on the tour so not to go out and piss it up the night before. I dont think so.

Touring Rome with under 2 hours sleep was a challenge, got to see:

- Vatican City and St. Peters Basilica

- Spanish steps

- Trevi Fountain

- Some chapel full of bones and skulls

- the Colosseum

- loads of restaurants, etc...

Next Stop, Florence

Cruised around the city through the tight streets with enormous old buildings crowding the streets, went to a leather shop, then I had to get a train back to venice real quick to collect my passport. took 7 hours and I missed out on seeing the statue of David. (but saw enough marble statues of naked men around italy...)

When i returned to Florence I went to the night club to catch up with everyone.. i was smelly and wearing running shoes but had a mad night at "space electronica discotheque" was packed with contiki'ers..

The next day we drove through Pisa, got a quick pic of the leaning tower and drove on. Drove past ING/Renault Formula 1 team which got me excited for the Grand Prix...

Nice & the Cote d'Azur

Spent 2 nights in Nice - went to the Cannes film festival and saw Harrison Ford. Was the premiere for Indianna Jones, Cate Blanchett was there too and Steven Speilberg. Sorry i didnt catch up Cate...

Hit up Nice by sitting on the beach (rocky beach though) drinking cheap beer and eating olives. Got quite sunburnt but was worth it for sure. Went to Monaco for a meal and the Monte Carlo Casino to make a profit, but unfortunately it got the best of me that night...

Stopped at Avignon for an expensive lunch and checked out this old castle. Continued on to Lyon.

Spent an overnight in Lyon - went to a little restaurant which served traditional peasant food at modern tourist prices. Was definitely good though. Got to use some of my French every now and then.. it's quite cool knowing some of their lingo. Then the drive to Paris...

Paris

First stop - dinner at the hotel restaurant, then in to town for a night tour. Checked out the eiffel tower among some other sights. Drove the bus through the roundabout at the ArcDe Triomphe - this roundabout has 5 lanes, no road markings and no rules. its like a washing machine full of cars, trucks and buses. Went out on the town that night, was pretty interesting but only a quiet night.

The next day - full day in Paris, we hit up Tour d'Eiffel again - went up top (by stairs) and took photos and checked out the view. then on to the Arc de triomphe and walked down the champs elysee (main shopping strip) for some shopping... oh rather some looking. Then of course, went to the louvre (saw the mona lisa) and went on to notre dame. was absolutely amazing, but not as big as i had imagined.

Went to a cabaret show that night - was quite expensive but a must-do for paris. After that we had a massive party in an irish pub in paris to say goodbye to everyone... went on quite late, actually i saw the sun come up that night too.

In the morning everyone Me and a contiki friend Heather stayed in Paris and saw some more sights (the only alcohol-free day to date). I was planning on getting a train in the evening to the French riviera (back to Nice) but there was a train strike and a lot of bookings so I had to stay in Paris for an extra 2 days. getting accomm was a nightmare but it gave me the opportunity to continue to see Paris, and I had a friend there so it worked out real good.

The next day in Paris we went to the Chateau of Versailles (an absolutely enormous castle) which is a short train ride from Paris. Also had a picnic on the grass outside the eiffel tower in the evening, was good to go cheap for a change, we had wine, baguettes, cheese, salami, etc... for about 10 euro's. Thats all folks.