July 19, 2010
Our day started with a walking tour through the city of Venice, which is by far the best way to get around. That or on a boat through the canals. Hottie guided us through the city showing us a few sights here and there, like the Bridge of Sighs, which has been ruined giant advertising all over it. We ended up in St. Mark’s Square where there is also a basilica dedicated to him. There are some really beautiful and amazing sights and views throughout Venice and after the walking tour we had a chance to explore them for ourselves. First though, there was a lace demonstration of how lace was made and the history of it, I think. I’m not too sure because I walked in for about a minute before getting bored and going to check out the square again. I ventured back in to the lace demonstration again, only to see the lady holding up a piece of lace and saying is cost 960 Euro before turning around and heading back out again. I’m not sure if anyone actually thought it was interesting at all.
Tommy and I headed off to explore the city and get lost. It is so easy to get lost in the city of Venice, but also it’s so easy to find your way back again, so it never really matters. So we just wandered for a while checking out some of the shops and sights around the city. Although there wasn’t really much of a range. The extent of the shops was basically souvenir shops, clothes shops and plenty of mask shops, but not much else. We had a lot of time to kill before needing to head back to catch the shuttle bus to the campsite so we thought it would be a good idea to walk back out to the square, and then catch the Vaporetto (Water Taxi/Bus) back to the bus station. We would have plenty of time, or so we thought. Once we got out to the square the first taxis we found we private taxis and were going to cost 60 Euro, which wasn’t what we were looking for at all. We found the right place and jumped on, but it was the longest ride stopping at every single place it possibly could before we finally made it back to the station, and then had about 45 minutes wait before the next shuttle bus. Not so much fun considering all we wanted to do was get back to the campsite and relax.
When we finally made it back to the campsite it was straight into the pool for a swim before relaxing and then dinner in the restaurant of pizza and pasta. Pizza and pasta is pretty much the only two things we ate while in Italy. That, and gelati. After dinner there was a band playing outside the bar, so a big group of us sat around waiting for them to start. While we waited, we started a new round of Kings, this time with some different rules, including the ‘Gecko’ card, which led to gecko injuries for myself and a few others and I’m sure some bruises here and there. For anyone who is wondering, the ‘Gecko’ card entails once it being played, everyone finding the nearest wall or tree and pushing themselves flat up against it like a gecko. Once the card was played, everyone was up, chairs flying everywhere, drinks getting knocked over, and people running so as they weren’t the last one to be the gecko. I’m quite sure everyone else sitting at the other tables hated us and though we were crazy, but we had a lot of fun and that’s all that we cared about. The band came on after that and they were really good with the lead singer coming around trying to get people involved in helping him sing, but it seemed only our table were the ones joining in. All in all it was a good night, and I even got to bed early enough to get a decent sleep before making our way to Austria in the morning.
July 18, 2010
We had a long day ahead of us, but luckily it was broken up with a short stop in Verona, the home of Romeo & Juliet. Verona was such a beautiful city and we could have spent hours there, unfortunately we had only about an hour and only had time to see the ‘Tunnel of Love’ where people stick poems and other messages to their loved ones to be happy in love, which then leads through to a statue of Juliet, and her own balcony which is so famous from Shakespeare’s play and movie adaptations. We had a quick walk through the city and saw their very own Colosseum, which wasn’t as big as the one in Rome, but was still complete and fully standing, which in some ways makes it better than the one in Rome, although nowhere near as famous or with as much history.
We had a couple of hours before dinner so we went for a dip in the pool at the campsite. We were starting to grow accustomed to having a pool or a beach so close after having it the last few places we had stayed. After the pool it was showers and dinner before changing into our togas for the Toga Party at the campsite bar. The Toga Party was so much fun, and with most of our group all participating and everyone all wrapped in their sheets it made for a great night of drinking, dancing and just general fun.
July 17, 2010
The morning started nice and early once again, but this time not for the bus ride. This was to head to Vatican City, for a professional guided tour. I really don’t know what to say about Vatican City, there is just so much history involved and so much to take in, it is really something that needs to be done yourself to fully appreciate it. We went through and saw some of the famous and priceless statues and treasures of the Catholics in the Vatican Museums. The tour ended up with us visiting the Sistine Chapel, which is something that cannot really be described. I have heard about it before, but until you actually see it for yourself, you cannot really comprehend how amazing it really is. The fact that it was painted hundreds of years ago by a single person is just truly unfathomable.
We had the rest of the day to ourselves, so Lucy, Bel and I went off to a church where they have human remains inside, and is more like catacombs than a church. It was something that seemed so cool to go and check out, as we had a bit of history about it the night before on our walking tour, but when we got there they were closing, but we could come back later that afternoon if we would like as it would open again. We planned to do this after we checked out a couple of other sites, but because of the intense heat, we never made it back there unfortunately. Just gives me another reason to go back and visit Rome I guess. What a shame.
Our next stop was the Colosseum and this time, to go and have a look inside. When we got there, we were advised there was an hour and a half wait to get inside, but there was an abundance of guided tours around where you get a guided tour of both, the Colosseum and the Roman Forums, as well as entry without waiting in line for only an extra few Euros. We decided this was the best option and a few minutes later we were inside the Colosseum with our own personal tour guide explaining the history of the famous building to us. I would have loved to seen it when it was still completely built before being partly destroyed by an earthquake, but just the fact that it is still standing is amazing. I would have also loved to see a gladiator fight within the arena, as that would be an atmosphere like no other anyone could ever imagine. Looking around inside and imaging it filled with 75000 people all screaming for bloodshed is an incredible, but kind of scary thought.
After our tour we had about a 45 minute wait before our tour of the Roman Forums, but all we wanted to do was get back to the campsite and relax because of the heat. So instead of waiting for the guided tour, we made our own way in and walked around checking it out on our own accord. It really is an amazing place so full of such history, but being that it was so hot we really struggled to be able to take it all in and appreciate it for what it was. However, we saw some pretty cool ruins throughout it, and also got some amazing views out over the Colosseum and other parts of the city, as well as seeing a current excavation site which was started in 2009 and is uncovering some giant columns and buildings from thousands of years ago.
Then it was back to the campsite to relax by the pool with a few drinks and ball games in the water late into the night, as they were having a pool party that night. Once again we got some pizza and ate it around the pool before meeting 3 new guys from Perth who were joining the tour. That morning we had 6 that were finishing up in Rome, so we had become quite a small bunch. We stayed around the pool until about midnight playing volleyball in the pool and just enjoying to the cooler weather before heading off to bed before our drive to Venice in the morning.
July 16, 2010
Another early start, this time to head into the city of Florence once again for a walking tour with a local guide. He took us around and we saw some pretty cool sights and some amazing statues, including the statue of David, which they have a few replicas throughout the city. Florence is a really beautiful place and we could have spent so much longer there. We headed off to a leather demonstration where we found out how leather was made and how to tell genuine leather products from the fakes. It was quite interesting and also amazing at how much work was put in to making some of the objects they had. We had the chance to buy some of the goods, but they were so expensive and I couldn’t really afford too, and didn’t really need anything either.
We had a couple of hours to ourselves in the city before we had to head back to camp and get on the bus for Rome, so a group of us went off to get some pizza at a little restaurant not far from the leather demonstration. The pizza there was amazing, nothing like the pizza back in Australia. The pizzas are so much more basic, yet for some reason they are at least 10 times more delicious. I love the pizza in Italy and only wish it was the same when I get back home.
We arrived in Rome later that afternoon to 43 degree heat and had a 3 and a half hour walking tour with Hottie through the amazing city. Rome is a city full of so much history and it was so hard to take it all in, but with such historical and beautiful sights I think we all forgot about the heat (as much as we could) and just admired the city. The other thing that helped forget the heat was all the fountains throughout the city, connected by an aqueduct beneath the ground which all supplied clear, clean drinking water constantly, but the best part about it was that it was always cold.
We visited some incredible sites, including the Trevi Fountain which ridiculously huge for a fountain and where we stopped to throw some coins over our shoulders, the first for a safe return to Rome one day, the second for us to make a wish, and the third to ensure you would get married, or if you were already married, then you would get divorced. We filled our bottles with the water, which was supposedly ‘virgin water’ which when drunk is supposed to make you a virgin again. Then there was the gigantic monument to Victor Emanuel II which was so ridiculously big that the statue of him on his horse atop the monument could apparently have a bus driven under the horse’s legs! We also went for a short visit to the Pantheon, which when standing inside of it and looking up through the hole in the middle of the roof is just mind blowing. How they could have constructed these building really is a mystery to me, even with the story of the dome from the Pantheon being so big that the made it over a giant pile of dirt. While filling it with dirt they buried gold coins all throughout of it, and when it had been completed they said to all the poor people that there was gold coins all throughout the dirt and whatever they find is theirs, so the poor people of Rome began to dig out all of the dirt from the Pantheon for them.
Halfway through the tour we stopped for a break and a bit of food, pizza again, this time from a small little storefront that Hottie loved going to. After eating some we knew why. The pizza was so delicious, by far the best pizza I had ever had.
We continued our walking tour, and after watching ‘Angels and Demons’ on the way to Rome, we came across a lot of the sites used in the movie (or sets based on the sites). That was pretty cool to see some of that, but still took nothing away from the real history and architecture of the buildings and fountains. We made our way through the city before getting a view of the Roman Forums, which are still being excavated today and new discoveries are being made from thousands of years ago, and then onto The Colosseum which is just astounding to be standing in front of and just admiring it. While we didn’t go inside, we still had a whole day in Rome to explore on our own to come back and visit anything we wanted.
July 15, 2010
Back on the bus we went and by now I had become pretty accustomed to sleeping on the bus which was good considering all the late nights and early mornings we were having. We were always trying to cram as much as possible into the days, but with such little time in so many places that’s all we could do. We were on our way to Florence, but had a quick stop to make at a little known place called Pisa, famous for the Leaning Tower of Pisa!
When we arrived we had a short walk through to where the tower is located and got a little bit of history of the tower and surrounding buildings. We all went off to explore around for a while, but after our obligatory ‘holding the tower up’ photos, we started to wander back. Walking around in the 40 plus degree heat wasn’t that fun so we found shade where we could and waited for the others.
We got to the campsite and for a nice change we had permanent tents that were setup at the campsite, so no setting up the tents meant we could shower and relax at the bar during happy hour for a while before heading into town for dinner, paid for from our food fund. Our cook Mark loved this also, because it meant he didn’t have to cook and he could relax and hang out with us. We went to a bar/restaurant called the ‘Red Garter’ and after a couple of drinks it was time to head through to the restaurant for our meals. It started off with an entrée of pasta which was delicious, and considering we were in Italy, so it should be. The main course was chicken and was decidedly average, but not too bad nonetheless. After dinner we headed back through to the bar and had a few more drinks, including a ‘Tower of Beer’ which was 3.5L and usually shared between 3 or 4 of us. This turned into a few more towers as the night went on, and then cocktails jugs as well. Most of us got stuck into some karaoke and dancing before finally deciding to head back to camp and call it a night.
July 14, 2010
We were up quite early before breakfast and we had time for a swim, so Lucy and I went off to the beach for a quick swim and then lay around on the not so comfortable stones in the sun which was a great way to start the day, and something I can recommend to anyone.
We went back to breakfast and then were on the road for a day in Nice, and it was also Bastille Day (France’s national holiday) so we expected it to be busy everywhere we went. To our surprise the streets were really quiet. The beaches however were very busy. Bel and I went down for a swim and a bit of relaxing in the sun before it got way too hot and we went off and explored the city.
There wasn’t too much to see, and I don’t think we really needed to spend a whole day there, but we went to the Marina and saw some of the super yachts that were there and also went past one of the largest war monuments, Monument Aux Morts which is a monument to all the French soldiers that have died in all wars. We made our way back to town and met up with a few of the other guys from the tour, then made our way to beach, stopping for a few drinks on the way.
A big group of us lay around on the beach for the rest of the afternoon and swam before it was time to make our way back to camp, where there was a party on for Bastille Day. We had some drinks, around the campsite and most of us didn’t actually make it to the party as we all just sat around chatting and playing one of the biggest games of Kings drinking game with about 30 people. It turned into a big night, and we need some food so Lucy and I headed off to find some pizza, making a detour at the carnival that was going on across the road. We decided to go on the haunted house which was not scary at all, then left to find pizza. We found the pizza place and went off to the beach to enjoy our pizza. We loved the fact we were so close to the beach and able to just head there anytime we wanted. So great!
BTW- Lucy is pretty fantastic, and it doesn’t matter that she’s shit at typing because she more than makes up for it with her wit and charm.
Also, I can’t even recognise the word wit when it is spelt out in front of me, thus proving that I in fact have none.
I am also too chicken to leave any of this in…BRAAACCCCKK (before you say anything, that is a chicken noise).
Lucy’s sentence construction is far better than mine, though she is prepared to admit that I am SLIGHTLY (I emphasise the slightly) better with grammar…Only slightly, I wouldn’t push it.
July 13, 2010
After our short stay in Avignon we headed for the French Riviera, which is a spectacular place. On the way there we stopped at a perfumery and got a short tour of how the perfume is made which was quite interesting, but not really for me. We had the option of buying it direct from the factory as well for a fraction of the cost it would be in shops but after our samples there wasn’t really anything I liked too much so headed back down to the bus to eat our dinner that had been prepared for us in the car park. I’m sure some people think it strange when they see a couple of people in a car park with tables all setup preparing meals for a group of about 30 and then everyone standing around the bus eating it. Always fun nevertheless.
Back on the bus we made our way to Monaco where we had a short walking tour with our Tour Leader, Sam (or Hottie as he liked to be known), and visited the home of Prince Albert, and also saw some amazing views of the city and could even see Italy from where we were. We learnt some interesting historical facts about Monaco and how it was ruled before we went off on our own to see the city for ourselves.
Went back to the Sun Casino, which is not the best casino, but it is free to get into. There are 3 in total, the best one being the Grand Casino, but costs to get in and is where all the high rollers go. It has been used in a number of James Bond films. We had a look at it and stood out the front for a while admiring the cars. There was so many of them including Ferrari, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Maserati, Lamborghini, the list went on. Then of course everyone else pretty much drove BMW’s or Mercedes. I think they were the poor people of the city. Bel, Jarrad, Lucy and I headed to the Sun Casino and put a few Euros into the pokie machines and even took a photo of us playing it which is completely against the rules but we didn’t even think of it when we did it. We got bored quite quickly, especially seeing as we didn’t win 14 million Euros which was our plan for the night, where we would then get rid of the bus as we would be buying a private jet for the rest of the tour. Alas it didn’t happen, so we left to go chill out.
Monaco is such a small place and there isn’t really much to do unless you have a lot of money. So a group of us found a bar and some stayed and had a drink, and me, Lucy and Jarrad went off to find ice cream which we eventually found after walking past some amazing car showrooms and wishing we had enough money to buy them. Walking through the city we also walked over parts of the Monaco Grand Prix track, where the red and white striped curbing can be seen. We sat around eating ice cream, having a beer and chatting before we had to head back to the bus and back to our campsite.
The campsite we were staying at was about a 2 minute walk from the beach, although the beach was nothing like the beaches in Australia. Instead of sand they have pebbles and stones, which makes it difficult to walk on and lay on, and even stand in the water, but it’s still a beach and a group of us went down there for a late night swim which was beautifully refreshing and just what we needed after a long day.
July 12, 2010
Avignon is a cool city in France which is still surrounded by city walls from hundreds of years ago and was ordered to be built by the popes when they had fears of being invaded. We stayed at a camp site just outside the city, and then after setting up camp walked in through the city walls for a little tour before heading off to explore on our own. We visited some amazing sites including the home of popes from the 14th century when they no longer wanted to stay in Italy. The building was so big, and had reinforced walls 18 feet thick just to keep the popes safe. Bel, Lucy and I wandered around the city checking out the sites and the views over the city from high up where they also had the tallest building in Avignon, Notre Dame des Doms Cathedral with a gold statue of the Virgin Mary on top.
Bel and I then headed off to find somewhere to have dinner, and found this great place where the waiter was really nice and even spoke English to us. We had some delicious salads and also dessert as well, which was just as good as the main course. After dinner we wandered through more of the city where street performers are everywhere. We saw some break dancers who were remarkable, and also a man dancing to Michael Jackson’s Thriller with about 20 kids behind him all copying his moves. Such a great little city and so full of energy.
We walked back to the campsite and found a few of the guys sitting down on the river banks with a few drinks. So we sat down with them having a chat until about 2.30 in the morning even though we had planned on an early night. At least there’s always plenty of time to sleep on the bus.
July 11, 2010
We didn’t have much planned in the morning so we slept in for a while before getting up and heading into the town for a look around and some food. We found a nice café and some delicious sandwiches, which seemed more like they were in bagels. I had one that had caramelised onions, brie, camembert as well as lettuce and tomato. It was so good.
We went back to the campsite, picked up a few things then headed off for Bel to go and jump from a helicopter. She had her skydive jump and was really excited about it. I went along as well to go watch and take some photos. It was really cool and I would have loved to do it as well, but just couldn’t afford to unfortunately. She said it was absolutely amazing, as did the others that did the jump as well, but she was completely freaked out at the same time, especially when hanging out of the helicopter with the only thing holding you there is the straps attaching you to the instructor.
Back at camp we had a couple of bottles of wine then had some dinner before going down to the bar to watch the World Cup final with all our new friends. It was a fun night, especially getting to hang out with some people from the other tours as well. We went off to our dorms to get some sleep and to be up nice and early to head off back to France, this time Avignon, the next day.
July 10, 2010
We were up bright and early to pack up our bags and tents, have another cold shower, have some breakfast and be on the road by 9AM. We made it off on time and started the long drive, with most people falling asleep, and The Da Vinci Code playing on the TV’s in the bus, which had been named Betsy. About 1PM we stopped for petrol, any snack we wanted and to have some lunch that had been prepared for us earlier. Again, our chef made some great food, and after a little stretch we were back on the bus for the second half of our trip to Switzerland.
Arriving in Switzerland was beautiful and truly had some of the most amazing views. We were staying at a campsite in a small town call Louterbrunnen, as well as a couple of other groups from Topdeck as well which made for some great parties for the next two nights. When we got to the campsite it was raining and we were given the option to upgrade to a dorm room instead of staying in the tents. Best 18 Swiss Francs I’ve ever spent. A group of us upgraded and it just made it that much easier not having to worry about setting up and taking down the tent. They also had hot showers available to us, and that was a great feeling after the cold showers of the past two days. The area of the campsite is so beautiful and very relaxing and serene. It is surrounded by mountains with waterfalls all coming down the sides of them straight into the clear stream. There was also another snow covered mountain as well, and although I didn’t get to go up and touch, I’ve now at least actually seen real snow.
We had a late dinner and then headed to the bar in the campsite with the other Topdeck groups where we had some local beer called Feldschlossen which wasn’t too bad at all. They also had this game in the bar where there was a big tree stump flat on the top and every stands around it and each had a nail hammered into it a little bit, and the object is to get it nailed in completely using what is like a big eyelet. It’s hard to explain so have a look at the photos. The first person to get it nailed all the way in gets a drink bought for them, by the last person to get it nailed in. I played and didn’t miss at all and after about 5 shots had it nailed in and won a free drink.