Hello There!

In Amsterdam at the moment!!!!! Last night was a VERY interesting night actually!! We went into town after dinner and our tour manager walked us through the red light district. Something you just have to do when you're in Amsterdam! Lots of ladies in the windows, ready for action!

We then went to a "coffee" house. I can say I've been now, but didn't last that long there. Some of us went to the bar upstairs. One of the guys has to have a full medical exam when he gets home next week to get a job, so can't have any traces of that stuff in his system. Most people were out of it last night....

From the coffee shop we went to a..........sex show. It was FULL ON. It's continuous, so when it was our turn, we walked in and 2 people on stage were just going at it. (oh, Contiki organises it but doesn't put it in the brochure). The weirdest thing to see really. Think the guys liked it more, as most of us girls went out of interest, rather than for the "entertainment". The weird thing was that none of them looked like they were really into it. Sure, having sex for a job may take some pleasure out of it, but aren't they meant to act??!! And some of the other acts......well, let's just say, I bet Monica didn't light her cigar when she used it??!!!!!!!!

Today some of the group went on canel bikes and the rest of us are wandering around town. I'm by myself, but we're meeting at the hotel at 5.30pm to go on a canel cruise then our final dinner!!!!! We're back in London tomorrow night! Still not sure where we're sleeping tomorrow night, but we'll wing it when we get there!!

only 3 days of Contiki left!!

Here is another brief summary of what we've been up to since my last entry.

Explored Vienna city for a few hours. Dave took some of us to have schnitzel for lunch. Best schnitzel in Vienna - and he wasn't kidding!! We got (what I would class as) a luncheon plate. The schnitzel was hanging over EVERY edge! It was MASSIVE!! But it definately was the best schnitzel I've ever had!! That was all we ate for lunch, but that was a big struggle. Didn't do too much in the afternoon!! Mid afternoon, we headed to a schnapps museum where we got to see how they make the different schnapps and some secret ingredients! The tasting room is always fun. A few tastes of schnapps and a hot afternoon in the sun made for a fun afternoon!!! From there we went wandering around one of the palaces that used to belong to the Austrian/Hungarian Emporess back in the day. Huge gardens, which included a maze and a zoo!! From there we went into the Viennese woods to a restaurant to have a proper Viennese dinner. It was schnitzel (AGAIN) but it was heaps of fun!!

From Vienna we headed to Munich. The only plan there was to go to a beer hall for dinner. As part of the cost of dinner, we each got a stein of beer!! That's 1 litre! As some of us didn't drink beer, we were given soft drink. 1 litre of coke!! YIKES! But it was so hot in there you actually ended up drinking it!!! One of the guys managed to drink 7 steins! CRAZY!

The next day we headed back to Austria, into the Alps. For me it was a peaceful stop as some people went white water rafting and mountain bike riding. I've managed to catch a cold (who hasn't really, with the bus air conditioning circulating everything!) so I caught up on some well needed sleep. Was great!

Next stop was Switzerland. This is an amazingly beautiful country. New Zealand is beautiful in a similiar kind of way, actually. Most people hadn't seen mountains like this before, so were amazed. We stayed in a Swiss Chalet for a couple of nights, near the bottom of Jungfrau Mountain. Yesterday we headed up Jungfrau by train. Took a couple of hours as, of course, a train can't go straight up a mountain. Halfway up we had to switch to a Cog Train, which uses a cog to pull itself up the mountain, as normal wheels can't get traction on that steep an incline. The views were AMAZING. All you could see were other mountains in the alps, but the mountains were in Italy, Germany and Austria. There were many things to see and do up there as well. There is an ice palace where you walk into the mountain where the hallway is made entirely of ice. Once in the ice palace, they have all sorts of ice carvings which are lit up. Very beautiful and VERY cold! There were a couple of areas where you could actually go out into the snow. As me and Cameron are currently sick, we went to the plateau briefly, threw a snowball and took a photo, then went back inside. Also, being high in altitude, the oxygen is scarce. With already light heads from having a head cold, this just made my head spin for the few hours we were up there. We were allowed to stay up there all day, but my head was doing me in, so decided to come down early. Still a 2 hour journey anyway!!

That night I had a friend come and visit me! My Swiss friend, Helena, who lives in Bern (about 1.5 hour train ride away). Her and I were exchange students together in Denmark. It was so great to see her and catch up!!!

Am now currently in some random town in Germany, heading to the Reine Valley for some wine tasting. Only 3 more nights of Contiki to go! The last 2 nights are in Amsterdam, so will probably update again when I'm in Denmark!

Love getting emails/guestbook entires from everyone!!! Keep it up!!!

I'm old!!

It's been ages since I last updated, as I've had trouble with this website. Never seems to want to work when I find an internet cafe!

Anyway, from Barcelona, we went to the French Riviera. I went to Nice for a bit but it was Sunday and the French are still old fashioned in the sense that they only work 5.5 days a week - Sunday not included!!!! That night we went to Monte Carlo for a tour around and a go in the casino. I thought I'd put a couple of euro in the slot machine, just to say I've been there, done that! I came away with an extra 6.70 euro!! Not bad really as we were on the 10 cent machines!!

From there we headed to Florence, Italy. Beautiful city and rich in history (which European town isn't??!!). Learnt a lot about Michangelo and his work. Saw the fake David statue but couldn't be bothered waiting in the 2 hour line to see the real one!

Next stop was Rome!! The day we arrived, we went to the Vatican City as it would be closed for a religious holiday the next day. The line was 3 blocks long!! We nearly cried, as the heat was about 28 degrees!!! Luckily, the line moved really fast and only took us half an hour to get inside. It was beautiful. The Sistine Chapel was amazing! If we weren't on a time deadline, we could've stayed in there for a lot longer. The others tried to get into St Peter's church, but I'd been there 8 years ago, so didn't bother waiting in the lines. Cameron has done Rome as well, so we just hung out - and tried to work out where things were from Angels & Demons book (by Dan Brown).
The next day we had a tour guide to take us around the Colusseum and the Roman Forum. She gave us the extended version and at 9am and 25 degrees, we weren't caring too much! From there, a bunch of us went out for lunch to celebrate my birthday!! I can't believe I'm 21 again!!! After that, Cam and I headed back to the campsite for a snooze and long shower before everyone else got home! The joy of already seeing the city. At dinner a couple of girls from our tour gave me a cup that when filled with hot liquid, a guys pants disappear, and a box that looked like tic tacs, but are actually shaped as.......well, what's under those guys pants! NICE! After dinner our tour manager, Dave, got everyone in our group together and got them to sing Happy Birthday as loud as possible, so every single person at the campsite could hear them!!! Then as a present from the bus, I was given 50 euro! That's about $100NZ! Still have to decide what I want to buy with it. That night we partied it up at the onsite nightclub, which I am proud to say that I was one of the last to leave at 3am!!!

The next stop was Venice - the city built in the water! The temperature was HORRIBLE! Worst than Rome (which is the furtherest south we went). 8am in the morning and the sweat is dripping off us! First we went to a lace and glass blowing demonstrations - both famous from Venice. We wandered around ourselves for a few hours, but with the heat, most of ended up sitting in St Mark's square in the shade with some gelato! Then we all headed off for a gondola ride!! It's was so lovely - bottle of wine, some friends and a peaceful cruise through the canels.

Now we are in Vienna. Last night we went to a Mozart and Strauss concert. It was awesome actually. Even Cameron enjoyed it!!!!! Off to explore the city now. We're having PROPER Wiener Schnitzel (don't hassle the spelling!).

Thanks to those who sent birthday wishes. It was great to hear from you!!!!!
BYE FOR NOW!!!

¡Hola!

Time for another quick update.
I am currently sitting in Barcelona. We arrived this evening and have a bit of free time so thought I´d put an entry here.

Since I last wrote, we´ve been very busy!!!

We started our Contiki tour on Sunday 4 June from London. Our first stop was Paris!!!! One of my life goals was to get to Paris!! Now it´s actually happened. Of course there wasn´t enough time spent there, but that´s what Contiki tours are about!! The night we arrived our bus driver and tour manager took us on a little drive around the city. This helped us work out what we wanted to see on our day in the city the next day and to see it at night!!! It is a beautiful city!!!

The next day we got dropped off at the Eiffel Tower. We waited in line for AGES but eventually got to go up the tower. The very top was closed once we got to the front of the line, but going up to the second level was still awesome.
From there, I managed to loose everyone (as did a few others I found out later!). I wasn´t going to let that stop me from seeing the city. Did all the usual stuff - Champs Elysees, Place de la Concorde, Lourve, Notre Dame plus just walking along the Seine River. Beautiful!
That night we went to a lovely french restaurant. I had snails as my entree. Had to be brave and try new things. Big surprise - I LOVED THEM!!!! They had a garlic/pesto sauce and weren´t as chewy as I thought they´d be. After dinner we headed to a cabaret show. Lots of lovely girls dancing, but the filler acts were actually more interesting (they guys on tour would say otherwise!!)

The next day we drove to a place just out of Lyon (halfway down France). The next day we headed out to the Contiki Château for some wine tasting and a french picnic. A nice, quiet, relaxing day.

Today we drove from Lyon to Barcelona. It was nearly 9 hours to drive, so this evening nothing much has happened. Had a typical Spanish dinner and early bed I think! Tomorrow is an exploring day!

Hello London!!!!!

Hey guys. Have a few quick minutes before our "night before we leave" meeting, so thought I'd add a quick update.

We arrived in London after 2 VERY long flights with next to no sleep. Slept most of first day we were here, except for a brief outing to the supermarket for a couple of supplies and to find some dinner.

A quick summary of what we've done in our 3 packed days of sightseeing:
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliment
Westminister Abby
London Eye - AWESOME views, even on a typical cloudy London day
Picadilly Circus
Covent Garden
dinner in Soho
Tower of London
Tower Bridge (the famous one you see on all the postcards)
Buckingham Palace (Lizzy was too busy to see us so we watched her guards changing!
A West End show - We Will Rock You - was absolutely AWESOME!!!!!
lunch in Chinatown
Harrods - far too expensive for me but worth having a look to see how the OTHER half live
British Museum (just like any other museum - but it was free so why not!)
Notting Hill - found a "key garden" but not the famous one from the movie

So as you can see, we've done quite a bit.
My internet time has nearly run out, so hope all is well with everyone!
Don't know when I'll next get on here as our Contiki starts tomorrow and it will be ALL SYSTEMS GO! Maybe in 26 days time when the Contiki has finished!

Photos will have to wait quite a while as there is no where to download them to the computer to be uploaded to the website. Will let you know when I have uploaded photos, otherwise you may have to wait til we get home.

Bye for now!!!