Right this is going to be condensed to see how much i can fit in, although summarising is not my specialty...
Ok So our second day in Beajoulai we had a picnic lunch which was fun but a bit cold, then we spent the afternoon playing backyard cricket, had to teach the canadians how to play. That evening we had ribs for dinner and they were delicious and then spent the evening eating chocolate and playing cards, it was fairly relaxing day.
Day 5 Drove to Nice. We stopped in Avignon for lunch, the palace the other pope used to live. Apparently there used to be 2. We had McDonalds, a traditional french cuisine. arrived in Nice, did our washing, went to the bar, had dinner, drove to Monaco, the 2 smallest country in the world, Fun fact: only 7 people are accepted to become a citizen of Monaco each year. they have to be millionaire and preferrably famous. Also Monaco has a 0% crime rate. We went to the Grand Casino which is the super famous super classy casino, it cost 10 euros just to get in. the cars outside the casino were super impressive. I bought a cocktail for 15euros, equivalant of 30nz dollars which is ridiculous!! Headed back to Nice where we spent the evening playing pool, i was partnered with a guy named Savio from our tour and and we did quite well.
Day 6
Took the train into central Nice and had a relaxing day, walked up a hill to a chateau and had a good view over Nice, walked alongside the beach and saw many topless women, walked down a hill and a cannon fired and then massive sirens sounded and we thought a war was about to start. Ate lunch in a cute little side street, had gelato, walked through a few shops, sat on the beach, built small towers of rocks and then smashed them down again, did some more shopping then trained back to the campsite. Chelsea and I dyed each others hair, then we went to bed.
Day 7
Headed to Florence, stopped at a purfumery and learnt about different types of purfumes then I bought some. Headed to Pisa to see the leaning tower, took photos of us pushing it over and saw the cathedral too. Bought some lemon gelato. Arrived in Florence that day. That evening we went to karaoke, there was a crap DJ who wouldn't let us sing the songs we wanted to sing and kept taking over to sing songs himself. Bought a litre of kiwifruit daquiri which tasted pretty average and spent the rest of the eveing dancing. Rodney and I wanted to sing you outta know by alanis morisette and the DJ made us sing I kissed a girl, by Katie Perry and i am not a fan of that song. Nonetheless it was a fun night.
Day 8
Full day in Florence, started at Leonardo's Leather store and our guide was hilarious, taught us how to recognise fake leather. Then wandered around admiring statues, did a walking tour and saw Ponte Vecchio Bridge which was beautiful. Walked to the Duomo Basilica and did the 500approx step walk to the top of the dome. Amazing view of teracotta roofs and green hills that surround the city. Had lunch, wandered the markets, bought a ring then headed back to camp. Got dressed up, did our group photo overlooking florence, found a restaurant for dinner and then went to the Space electronic disco. It was a really nice club, spent the evening drinking and dancing, formed a massive circle of our tour group and each took turns at dancing in the middle.
So this is very summarised and i'm still over 10 days behind but its a start!
19 May, 2009
18 May, 2009
Apology
Hey guys just a quick note to say sorry for my lack of blogs, things have been soo busy that i haven't had time and not many of our campsites have internet. The ones that do tend to charge 5euros an hours so its fairly expensive. However I am keeping track of my activities in my diary so i will write a summarised blog as soon as i get some decent internet time. Rest assured i am having an incredible time, I've met some fantastic people and i am loving Europe, its so beautiful!!
05 May, 2009
Contiki begins...
So I'm on day 4 of my contiki and I already have a cold. But its been fantastic so far.
Day one we left at 8am from london and took the bus to the white cliffs of Dover where we boarded the ferry to France. It was a big driving day but that afternoon we arrived in Paris. That evening we were greeted by he contiki staff who gave us sparkling wine and escargo to try then we had a delicious dinner of lamb souvalakis. That evening we got a night tour of Paris to see the main tourist spots so we could decide what we wanted to do the next day. Paris is stunning, definately the most beautiful city i have ever seen the buildings are so old and so impressive.
So after the bus tour we got started drinking and had a good night getting to know everyone, played a few drinking games and had a wee boogie. headed to bed about 2am.
Our full day in paris began as all tours of Paris should-at the Eiffel tower. The tower is so impressive. We weren't the first to arrive and everywhere you looked directly under to structure were people in lines. We found the end of a line and waited around 30mins to get to the front. we took the stairs to the first and second floors and the esculator for the final section, the view was beautiful and we could spot heaps of other famous landmarks from there. We then took the metro to Notre Dame which is such an amazing church, its soo big and the details on the building are so intricate and beautiful.The church took 180years to be built which is ridiculous, thats means the people that started the building would never have seen it completed. From here we got crepes for lunch then did some shopping and i bought some new shoes. We still had 2 hours before we had to meet the rest of the group so we went to the Louvre and it was free because we are under 26 which was a bonus. We managed to see the Mona Lisa which was less than impressive, Venus de Milo which was quite cool and Napoleon's apartment which was soo extravagent. Thas all we had time to do in 2 hours because the louvre is so massive that its takes a long time to get from place to place. They say that if you spent 1 minute looking at each painting in the Lourve it would take you 9 months to finish.
From here we met up with our group, got changed in the coach and went out for dinner in a fancy area of Paris on a hill with a nice church and a gorgeous lookout, i don't remember the names of them right now. It was a 3 course meal with wine but i wasn't overly impressed with it. After dinner some people went to a caberet show but we wanted to see Arc de Triumph and the eiffel tower at night so we spent the evening wandering around the city. The Eiffel tower looks amazing when they light it up at night and it sparkles every 30mins or so. It was beautiful. I didn't want to leave Paris because i felt there was so much more to see.
Yesterday we spent the majority of the day driving, making small stops along the way including to see a famous chateau (again i don't remember the name, i'm not good with french words) and then we arrived at our Chateau owned by the Contiki company. We are staying in the Beaujolai wine region and its awesome to be able to stay in a chateau and it has a swimming pool! After we settled in we went on a wine tasting tour, where we were taught how to appreciate and understand good wine. It was really interesting although i still don't exactly enjoy wine.
Last night was the first big party night and the theme was tight and bright.Underneath the Chateau is a basement that they have nicknamed the cave and its an underground bar. It was a great night, we got to know everyone a bit better, most people had quite a few drinks and we did alot of dancing.
Today was just a chillout day. They packed us picnic lunches in a basket and we could walk up a hill to get a nice view of the region and have our picnic. It would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't such a cold day but the lunch was really good, french bread sticks with ham, brie and tomato, then fruit and a Mars bar. And this afternoon we've just been playing cards at the chateau and catching up on some sleep.
Day one we left at 8am from london and took the bus to the white cliffs of Dover where we boarded the ferry to France. It was a big driving day but that afternoon we arrived in Paris. That evening we were greeted by he contiki staff who gave us sparkling wine and escargo to try then we had a delicious dinner of lamb souvalakis. That evening we got a night tour of Paris to see the main tourist spots so we could decide what we wanted to do the next day. Paris is stunning, definately the most beautiful city i have ever seen the buildings are so old and so impressive.
So after the bus tour we got started drinking and had a good night getting to know everyone, played a few drinking games and had a wee boogie. headed to bed about 2am.
Our full day in paris began as all tours of Paris should-at the Eiffel tower. The tower is so impressive. We weren't the first to arrive and everywhere you looked directly under to structure were people in lines. We found the end of a line and waited around 30mins to get to the front. we took the stairs to the first and second floors and the esculator for the final section, the view was beautiful and we could spot heaps of other famous landmarks from there. We then took the metro to Notre Dame which is such an amazing church, its soo big and the details on the building are so intricate and beautiful.The church took 180years to be built which is ridiculous, thats means the people that started the building would never have seen it completed. From here we got crepes for lunch then did some shopping and i bought some new shoes. We still had 2 hours before we had to meet the rest of the group so we went to the Louvre and it was free because we are under 26 which was a bonus. We managed to see the Mona Lisa which was less than impressive, Venus de Milo which was quite cool and Napoleon's apartment which was soo extravagent. Thas all we had time to do in 2 hours because the louvre is so massive that its takes a long time to get from place to place. They say that if you spent 1 minute looking at each painting in the Lourve it would take you 9 months to finish.
From here we met up with our group, got changed in the coach and went out for dinner in a fancy area of Paris on a hill with a nice church and a gorgeous lookout, i don't remember the names of them right now. It was a 3 course meal with wine but i wasn't overly impressed with it. After dinner some people went to a caberet show but we wanted to see Arc de Triumph and the eiffel tower at night so we spent the evening wandering around the city. The Eiffel tower looks amazing when they light it up at night and it sparkles every 30mins or so. It was beautiful. I didn't want to leave Paris because i felt there was so much more to see.
Yesterday we spent the majority of the day driving, making small stops along the way including to see a famous chateau (again i don't remember the name, i'm not good with french words) and then we arrived at our Chateau owned by the Contiki company. We are staying in the Beaujolai wine region and its awesome to be able to stay in a chateau and it has a swimming pool! After we settled in we went on a wine tasting tour, where we were taught how to appreciate and understand good wine. It was really interesting although i still don't exactly enjoy wine.
Last night was the first big party night and the theme was tight and bright.Underneath the Chateau is a basement that they have nicknamed the cave and its an underground bar. It was a great night, we got to know everyone a bit better, most people had quite a few drinks and we did alot of dancing.
Today was just a chillout day. They packed us picnic lunches in a basket and we could walk up a hill to get a nice view of the region and have our picnic. It would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't such a cold day but the lunch was really good, french bread sticks with ham, brie and tomato, then fruit and a Mars bar. And this afternoon we've just been playing cards at the chateau and catching up on some sleep.
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