Promise to update May 29, 2009
Posted by missrebecca in Uncategorized.Tags: Asia, Europe, post, Travel, update
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YES I KNOW.
My Europe trip was in 2006. Almost three years ago now! This site is in dire need of updating.
HOWEVER, I am about to embark on another overseas adventure – to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, and wI promise to update this site with tales of my South East Asian Adventure. At the same time I will also post the rest of my Europe trip 
Contiki Day 18: Rhine Valley to Amsterdam August 21, 2006
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Amsterdam… the sex, drugs and rock and roll capital of the world! 16 million people and 12 million bikes… We stopped at “Cheese and clogs” to each some delicious cheese and watch a Dutch guy make a clog (believe it or not). He gave it to Lisa because you’re allowed to take wood back into Canada. Bought some mini clogs to sneak past customs. Suitcase is full..not sure how it will fit. We didn’t attempt to fit as many people as we could into the giant clog to beat the record of 8 … they must have been midgets.
Our next stop: Eden! Claudia from Bike a Dyke (yup, that was the name of the bike hire place) took us on a very relaxing bike ride through the town. Her accent was hilarious. The bikes were awesome granny bikes, they took a while to get used to. Jackie Chan was almost run over by a car – an unlikely occurrence considering the lack of motor vehicles in the town! After our bike ride, we visited a diamond factory where I was tempted by a E30,000 ring. Decided against the purchase though.
Our accommodation tonight is at a youth hostel – sharing with Rachel, Karen and Kathy. We have our own bathroom, it’s fantastic. After dinner, Dave took us through the Red Light District (an eye opener for certain)… people selling drugs in broad daylight, prostitutes showing off in their windows (not a pretty sight) and sex shops everywhere you look. After a quick tour of the other parts of town, and a low-down on the best places to ..uh… smoke pot – we stopped in at the Grasshopper for some… you guessed it, marijuana! Admittedly I’ve never known how to smoke so after attempting and failing, we headed to a ‘coffee shop’ for some chocolate brownies. Much easier to digest. In fact it was delicious.
Everyone’s eyes were quite bloodshot by the time we met up outside the Casa Rosso Theatre for a live sex show. To set the mood we were given a penis lolly pop to suck on. Won’t go into details… if you really wanna know, ask me.
Back at the bar at the hostel, we had some ‘Flugel’ shots (tasted like cherry-flavoured medicine). The bar was extremely quiet as everyone was off their heads, staring into space. I wrote some emails which were amusing to re-read the next day… went to bed, and passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow.
Contiki Day 17: Swiss Alps to Rhine Valley August 20, 2006
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On our drive from Switzerland to St. Goar, we stopped for an hour in Heidelberg – WAY NOT ENOUGH TIME as usual. I had an anansaft at the Hard Rock Cafe (mainly because Rachel is obsessed with the place). I didn’t run into Sigrid…not that I expected to. Back on the bus, driving next to the Rhine River, we drove past Lorelei – too far away to take a photo and we didn’t stop. Arriced at St. Goar, a learnt a little about beersteins – they were selling special collectors edition steins for about E1000 – they had a piece of the Berlin Wall on the lid!! The biggest beerstein in the world was almost as tall as I am.
Most of the group went wine tasting … they got a free shot glass but the reports were that it was crap – glad I didn’t waste my money. Tonight we are staying at “Grandma’s House”! The place is so cute. Grandma didn’t appreciate the loud drunken group and kept shushing us. I had a great night’s sleep though!!
Contiki Day 16: Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland August 19, 2006
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Today was absolutely fantastic!!! I am no longer a snow virgin!! It was worth the 125 Swiss Francs taking the train up Jungfrau Joch. The train trip felt like it took forever, and it got colder and colder as we ascended higher and higher. Dave told us his DEATH STORY: how he nearly died being blown off the top of the mountain. We haven’t decided if his story is true or not – we’ve caught on to his humour; I think Dave’s story about the midgets running the waterfall on cycles confirmed my views. We reached the ‘Top of Europe’ – and it was freezing. The scenery .. the views … were spectacular. Snow capped mountains… a bit foggy but I was enchanted. We walked, sorry, slid uncontrollably, through the Ice Palace, discovering some interesting ice carvings around every corner. Got a photo wth Ben, we were being eskimos. (As you do). When we went out into the snow, that’s right, SNOW!, we re-enacted Dave’s DEATH STORY and took a photo, we thought we were pretty funny.
We only stayed out in the snow for about 10 minutes.. none of us were really wearing appropriate clothing (I didn’t even have gloves on), and my fingers were starting to get very cold. Nevertheless, I was in snow! After a dodgy cafeteria-style lunch, we got on the train back down the mountain. Karen made fun of how I was falling asleep, and my head was rolling everywhere.
Back at the Chalet, I had a much needed nap in our room, which doesn’t lock. I had a shower (one of those where you have to keep pushing the button for water to come out…. FUN). Dinner was a good Aussie meal: hamburgers, with bread this time! We hung out in the hallway (like all the cool kids do) and ate paprika chips in someone’s room. Double Bicep (Jo) farted so loudly and it stunk out the room so I left, then RETARDO RENATO broke my iPod! How dare he!!! An awesome day all up.
Contiki Day 15: Munich to Swiss Alps August 18, 2006
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On the bus early this morning to head to Switzerland! We stopped in Vaduz, the capital of Liechtenstein, for lunch. There was a volleyball tournament on, Australia were playing.
Liechtenstein is famous for its stoned cows but they passed a law so you can’t feed them cannabis anymore. (Random fact of the day)
Anyway so Dave told us about a good place to have a sandwich for lunch so we stopepd ther. After attempting to interpret the menu, we went to order our meals. Firstly, the waiter completely ignored Kasi and didn’t take her order, and she stormed in after him and he ushered her back to her seat saying “I come, I come!” then didn’t come back for ages…. Kristy & kasi asked for brown bread on their sandwiches, but instead, the waiter came out with a basket of brown bread. It was hilarious. I thought I was safe when I ordered a hamburger and fries, but when the waitress brought it out to the table, we all burst out laughing. My “hamburger” was simply a meat pattie on a plate!! No bread. Just a lump of meat in the middle of the plate. Tasted great though. Dave walked out, looked at me with a very strange expression on his face and put a plate of fries down in front of me… then walked off. Um… thanks Dave? Funny boy, he’s grown on me.
I was five minutes late for the bus because of the boys, AND I didn’t leave enough time to get my passport stamped for 2 Francs. Annoyed about that!!! We stopped at Lucern, one of the most beautiful places in the world, I love it. Skipped the swiss army knife demonstration and hit the shops instead. Bought myself a cute little red top… happy birthday to me? Dave gave us all Swiss chocolates on the bus and gave me the left overs, yum. Didn’t have very long in Lucern which sucks, but then we headed off to Lauterbrunnen, which is also beautiful so I guess that’s ok. I got a birthday cake at dinner! With 5 candles…ahem. We celebrated at ‘the bombshelter’ that night (the pub downstairs)… you have to walk through the laundry and past the showers to get to it. Didn’t pay for any drinks tonight which was awesome… extended birthdays rock, I think I will have to adopt Clare’s family tradition of a ‘birthday octave’.
Oh I also cut a chunk of flesh out of my finger… my razor had fallen out of the ziplock bag I put it in ,and I stuck my hand in my bag and… well… ouch. I was running around with my hand in the air like a maniac asking if anyone had a bandaid, and in the end, turns out I had one myself. Idiot.
Contiki Day 14: Austrian Tyrol to Munich August 17, 2006
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Left Austria this morning, and stopped at the Swarovski crystal museum (Katie & I didn’t waste our money going in…apparently it wasn’t that exciting). I bought myself a bracelet, just a cheap one but its nice… it sparkles After another few hours on the bus, we stopped at a concentration camp in Germany. It was really strange, walking through the gas chambers disguised as showers…. it honestly felt eerie. When we finally got to Munich, we only had a few hours in the city!! Subway for lunch, then a spot of shopping. Rachel & I went ot the Hard Rock Cafe because the poor deprived soul has never been to one before. And we went to a ‘Farmacie’ so I could get cream for this weird rash which is spreading over my arm…. eek. I had a banana smoothie but it just wasn’t the same as the ones from home. I’m dying for Boost or NZ natural banana smoothies.
At 5pm the Glockenspiel went off. i want that 5 minutes of my life back. Haha nah its amazing how its 600-something years old and is powered by hydrolics. I don’t even know if that’s true, I just heard some American tourist tell his kid that. Katie & I were the only ones who didn’t go to the Bavarian Beer Hall for dinner (my reason: too expensive, Katie’s reason: actually I don’t know why she didn’t go). Instead, we found ‘Cafe Am Nordbad’, had a fantastic meal and a Chi Chi cocktail… they were 15euros each but so worth it. It was nice to have a relaxing dinner just the two of us. Back at the Hostel, when everyone had come back from the beer hall, we went to the pub downstairs and danced a fair bit. At midnight I got some Happy Birthday kisses and I was dikened a million times … I feel so violated… but it was fun :-p wish I’d taken a photo when most of the boys had their shirts off.
Contiki Day 13: Austrian Tyrol at Leisure August 16, 2006
Posted by missrebecca in Austria, Austrian Alps, Europe, Hopfgarten.add a comment
Austria is so beautiful!! And we got our tour shirts today… haven’t paid Dave yet (sorry Dave). They look better than I expected, but Katie’s name isn’t on it! I think she was napping on the bus when the list went around. Today everyone except Katie, Margie & I went on a bike ride and BBQ (I guess we’re just tight arses and couldn’t be stuffed paying for it). We explored the tiny town of Hopfgarten. In total, there were three clothes shops, one pub, a few cafes and restaurants, and one supermarket. That was the Zentrum of town! I bought myself a gorgeous red dress (half price, only 35euros!) Had time to nap for about an hour… best nap ever, I felt so refreshed. The other tour bus, who were on their 40th day of a 46 day tour (INSANE!) were late, so dinner was pushed back, which meant we had three hours to get ready for the P Party.
It was awesome, everyone put heaps of effort into it!! Kristy did my hair and I wore Margie’s pajamas, possibly THE MOST COMFORTABLE party clothes ever. All in all it was an awesome night… got some great photos. Austria has been one of my favourite places.
Contiki Day 12: Venice to Austrian Tyrol August 15, 2006
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Today mainly consisted of feeling ill riding on the bus singing along to Bernard Fanning. Autogrill once again for lunch – Rachel and I shared a chicken schnitzel and salad, and it was so much better than Italian Autogrill food! And I can understand more German/Austrian than Italian, so it was much easier to read the menus and order our food. Renato sat next to me on the bus mainly because he wanted to listen to my iPod, not actually talk to me. And now I’m half deaf because he listens to it really loudly.
We didn’t stop at Hansel and Gretel’s place (the gingerbread house???) because we were short on time, which is a pity. We dropped the white water rafters off – they looked hot in their wet suit, boots and helmets. (We totally didn’t perve at the boys getting changed from the bus…) Apparently the water was freezing… we heard stories of boat hopping and pushing each other into the water. After waiting for the rafters and sending a few emails, we drove another hour and a half to “Contiki’s Own Gasthof”. This place is the best. We’re staying in a gorgeous wooden building, we aren’t in cabins (thank the lord) and we have a bathroom IN OUR ROOM! And there is HOT water in the shower. I’m in heaven. Tonight, some of us ventured five minutes into town to go to the silver bullet pub, but I watched Old School in the bar for a while then headed off to bed.
Contiki Day 11: Venice Sight Seeing August 14, 2006
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We caught a ferry into Venice in the morning. The boys were so rude to poor Bernie!! Anyway once on Venice (I’d already been here, Venice was old news…haha!) we saw a glass blowing demonstration, which was pretty amazing, then a lady told us a bit about lace making. It was so boring an painful, I felt terribly hungover (I WONDER WHY) but I started to feel a bit better as we walked around and did a spot of shopping! I walked through a few places I recognized from a few weeks ago… how lucky am I to go to Venice not just once but twice in one holiday. We went on a gondola ride in the afternoon – it was hilarious!!! Katie, Kristy, Kasi, Hayley, Margie & I shared a gondola and we got the funniest gondolier ever – he was singing and dancing to amusing lyrics such as “one banana for six girls” etc. Good times.
Contiki Day 10: Rome to Venice August 13, 2006
Posted by missrebecca in Europe, Italy, Smurf Song, Venice, Verona.add a comment
Today marks the half way point in our tour! It’s gone so quickly, but it feels like I’ve known my fellow Contikians for years. I suppose that’s got to do with the fact that we’re stuck together 24/7 whether we like it or not. We spent most of the day sleeping on the bus, being woken up by the STUPID SMURF SONG for lunch at an Autogrill. We stopped in Verona for an hour or so to check out Juliet’s balcony! There is a statue of Juliet below the balcony that gives you good luck in love if you rub her right breast. Dave told us to be cautious, as he’s seen a guy lick her breast. (That may be one of his bullshit stories but I might believe him on this one) There was a hallway of love messages that people have written on the walls, it was pretty cool. I took a photo but it turned out shit.
At the campsite, which was on the mainland, I had a room all to myself!! Katie shared with the Canadians (Lisa, Megan & Christie) We hung out at the bar tonight. They sold a drink called the Attitude Adjuster for €8. Made with Vodka, Gin, white rum, dark rum, orange soda and red grenadine – it is named appropriately. One of those would have been more than enough for me, but Ben bought me one, and I drunk half of Renato’s (or so I was told). I should have worn the medal but John threw up after me. Oh the shame. I woke up with Mark’s shirt in my room.
