Europe - 29 days of Contiki
[Highlights of Contiki Europe Photo Journal – 30 items][Contiki Europe Photo Journal – lots of items!] Hey everyone! Sorry for the lack of blogging in the last few months. We’ve been busy seeing the world – life’s tough – you know how it is.
As you all probably know Jason got a job in Silicon Valley and had to cancel his Contiki trip to start his work. So I did the tour alone with 47 other 18-26yr olds. It started in London on Friday 14th July 2006 at 6.30am with chants for “More Beer More Beer”. So our 29 day journey saw us to Paris on Bastille Day where we almost got lost in the crush for the last train home, we ate frogs legs in Lyon, sun-baked at the pebbly French Riviera, gambled at a casino and drooled over the cars in Monaco. And that was just the first week!
Next, we leaned on the Leaning Tower at Pisa, marveled at the Renaissance art in Florence, cringed at the Italian men at the discotheque, cooled off in the Trevi Fountain, walked around the Roman Forum, tip-toed around the ancient Pantheon and sweated out bucket-loads at the Vatican City and Pompeii.
In Greece, we ate gyros in Corfu City, had cocktails at the Toga Party, went paragliding and sang about tzatziki on George’s boat. After a ferry ride up the Adriatic, we played with masks and gondolas in Venice and recited Shakespeare at Juliet’s balcony in Verona.
With a change of latitude, the winter clothes finally came out of the backpack. In the home of classical music (Vienna), we enjoyed Mozart and Strauss while sipping Viennese coffee with a side of strudel. We celebrated birthdays in the 5-storey nightclub in Prague and shopped till we dropped at Wenceslas Square, paid 2 Euros for a stamp in our passport to prove we were in Liechtenstein, stocked up on Swiss Army knives and cow bells in Lucerne and walked the valley of Lauterbrunnen.
Then we prosted our steins at a Munich beer hall, tasted ice wine at St Goar, checked out clogs and cheese and cycled past canals and the one windmill at Edam, discovered when Vincent cut his ear off at the Van Gough museum and learnt about prejudices at Anne Frank’s house. Finally, we finished with a farewell dinner at the floating restaurant and straw-pedos in Amsterdam.
All in all, this trip was a fantastic history lesson, a great way to meet people and a lesson in how little sleep your body really needs. Thanks to our Frankston tour manager Brek and our crazy Czech driver Mikhael for the journey. Ahhh, I am going to miss sleeping on those Contiki buses!
Interactive Map of Irene's Contiki Tour:
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