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!!!
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!!!
posted by Jacki @ 12:05 am
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