Hello one and all that still check this! This shall be my last official European Blog. It has been grand, I loved absolutely every minute of it, yes, even the ones that I've had this stupid cold! I think I will still have many stories to tell that weren't on the blog, but I admit I'll probably repeat some of them. Plenty of great memories to bring back with me. Still, this trip did do one interesting thing, it confirmed just how much I love living in Canada!! Europe is old and beautiful and and everything I could have hoped it to be, and I'll defnitely be travelling more in the future. Good to know that home is good old BC though. Can't wait to be back!!
Thanks so much to everyone who read this and posted some comments, it made it so much easier for me not to get homesick having never been so far away, or away for so long before. See you all very soon I hope, tomorrow I fly home!
Love and miss you all!!!
Hugs, Melissa
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Sunday, June 24, 2007
Interesting Info
Well, I thought I'd write out some of the quirky things I've learned on my travels before I forget them. The amount of Aussie slang is in itself formiddable.
Aussie = Canadian
a singlet = a tank top
Howya gawin'? = How ya doin'?
Do ya reckon? = Ya think?
a beanie = a toque
thongs = sandals
I'm over it = whatever
sunnies = sunglasses
muffin tops = beer bellies
mate = friend/pal
skull it!!! = chug it!!!
winger (prounounced like "ginger") = bitcher/complainer
and the list goes on...more than I can remember
A phrase that I will never be able to forget because I've heard it hundreds of times on the tube (underground train): "Please mind the gap between the train and the platform."
Different ways of saying "cheers" like "Salut" in Italian, "Prost!!" in German (which the boys on the bus would call out endlessly when they were out drinking, and would usually follow the "cheers" with a hearty gulp of something)
Did I ever mention that our tour manager, Jenni, named our bus? Apparently she names all the coaches she gives tours on, and this one she christened Charlotte. We all got pretty defensive of our Charlotte.
Top 10 list of some of the most crazy things that happened on tour:
1) Geoff partying in tights and a tutu (later streaking, which most people missed)
2) Tom stripping down to his undies on the top of Jungfrau Mountain (Switzerland) and rolling around in the snow, he even made a snow angel.
3) First night out in Amsterdam one of the Aussie girls got arressted for wandering around the streets drunk and stoned at like 3:30 in the morning.
4) Some of our group getting into jealous "lovers spats" (almost everyone on tour "hooked up" with someone at some point) and causing some damage to the cabins we were staying in (over 500 Euros charged to them for repairs)
5) Several incidents of peeing on mattresses, once due to the pure drunkenness of someone who had passed out on their own bed, and at least twice the guys got drunk enough to think it'd be funny to pee on their mates that were already asleep. All incidents costing upwards of 100 Euros to replace the mattresses.
6) Several incidents of members of our group getting up on tables and dancing.
7) One guy threw up on the bus, he had tried to make it to the bathroom on the bus, but didn't quite make it. He ended up making a mess of one of the stairwells on the bus (bottom of which was the bathroom), walls, steps, etc.
8) Everyone cheering when our two South African guys made it through the first boarder check and almost getting them arressted for it.
9) The self-cleaning gas station toilette somewhere in Germany. It was the most sanitary bathroom anyone had been in. All motion sensored so you wouldn't have to touch anything, and when you were done the toilette flushed itself and then the seat rotated of its own accord underneath a sanitary spray and wipe. Insanity I tell you!!
10) The Aussies themselves...what an insane lot of people.
Okay, I think that's enough for now. I don't really have a lot going on now, so that's the best I can do. Hope you all found it entertaining!!
Love and hugs, Mel
PS-anyone want to share what they've been up to? what's going on at home? I'd love to not be completely in the dark when I get back, be a little more up with the current affairs ya know!
Aussie = Canadian
a singlet = a tank top
Howya gawin'? = How ya doin'?
Do ya reckon? = Ya think?
a beanie = a toque
thongs = sandals
I'm over it = whatever
sunnies = sunglasses
muffin tops = beer bellies
mate = friend/pal
skull it!!! = chug it!!!
winger (prounounced like "ginger") = bitcher/complainer
and the list goes on...more than I can remember
A phrase that I will never be able to forget because I've heard it hundreds of times on the tube (underground train): "Please mind the gap between the train and the platform."
Different ways of saying "cheers" like "Salut" in Italian, "Prost!!" in German (which the boys on the bus would call out endlessly when they were out drinking, and would usually follow the "cheers" with a hearty gulp of something)
Did I ever mention that our tour manager, Jenni, named our bus? Apparently she names all the coaches she gives tours on, and this one she christened Charlotte. We all got pretty defensive of our Charlotte.
Top 10 list of some of the most crazy things that happened on tour:
1) Geoff partying in tights and a tutu (later streaking, which most people missed)
2) Tom stripping down to his undies on the top of Jungfrau Mountain (Switzerland) and rolling around in the snow, he even made a snow angel.
3) First night out in Amsterdam one of the Aussie girls got arressted for wandering around the streets drunk and stoned at like 3:30 in the morning.
4) Some of our group getting into jealous "lovers spats" (almost everyone on tour "hooked up" with someone at some point) and causing some damage to the cabins we were staying in (over 500 Euros charged to them for repairs)
5) Several incidents of peeing on mattresses, once due to the pure drunkenness of someone who had passed out on their own bed, and at least twice the guys got drunk enough to think it'd be funny to pee on their mates that were already asleep. All incidents costing upwards of 100 Euros to replace the mattresses.
6) Several incidents of members of our group getting up on tables and dancing.
7) One guy threw up on the bus, he had tried to make it to the bathroom on the bus, but didn't quite make it. He ended up making a mess of one of the stairwells on the bus (bottom of which was the bathroom), walls, steps, etc.
8) Everyone cheering when our two South African guys made it through the first boarder check and almost getting them arressted for it.
9) The self-cleaning gas station toilette somewhere in Germany. It was the most sanitary bathroom anyone had been in. All motion sensored so you wouldn't have to touch anything, and when you were done the toilette flushed itself and then the seat rotated of its own accord underneath a sanitary spray and wipe. Insanity I tell you!!
10) The Aussies themselves...what an insane lot of people.
Okay, I think that's enough for now. I don't really have a lot going on now, so that's the best I can do. Hope you all found it entertaining!!
Love and hugs, Mel
PS-anyone want to share what they've been up to? what's going on at home? I'd love to not be completely in the dark when I get back, be a little more up with the current affairs ya know!
Friday, June 22, 2007
Laundry Day
Yup, today is definitely laundry day. I figure if I wash everything today, it will last me until I get home again and can do laundry for free there :) Le sigh...nothing much going on over here except for laundry today. I met up with my friend Belinda again, she's still here. She spent two weeks in Berlin so we had some good stuff to share about that place. Tonight we're going to buy some stuff to make minestrone soup!! Yay!! She's kinda looking after me and my sickness a bit. We shall cook together and have healing soup tonight! That shall be very good I think. The good news is that I don't seem to have an infection of any kind, no bright yellow stuff coming out of my nose or lungs, so that's a plus as well. I'm sure most of you didnt' neet to hear that last part, but I know that my parents and Dez are worried about just how sick I am - the answer, not so sick I can't get up and meander about my day. So yeah, I thought I'd include a few more details about the last few days of my contiki tour again.
France was beautiful. Did you know that the city of Paris is completely planned and designed to be beautiful?? After it was flattened between the two world wars, a designer was hired to design the city from scratch to be beautiful and pleasing to the eye. That's why everything is so lovely there. It didn't happen by accident like Prague (still the most beautiful city I've been to). Anyways, not the most important detail, but an interesting one nonetheless. Our last night in France we all went out to a Parisian dinner and a Cabaret. That's right, a Cabaret. I have never been to one of those but it was fantastic. What I failed to mention before was the significance of the weather that night. I don't think I mentioned the weather on my trip really at all. I must say, our weather was very nearly perfect the entire time. We had beautiful cloudless days, days with puffy white clouds and nice breezes, days that were grey but you were thankful for a break from the heat, perfect perfect weather...that is until the last night in Paris. We had to walk from the place we dined at to the Cabaret, and as soon as we stepped outside it began to drizzle a little bit. The girls all started to worry about their hair and makeup and such (we got a little dolled up for our last night in Paris), and apparently that slow drizzle is the kind of rain Aussies are used to. I said to Ray (a fellow Canadian from Vancouver) that the drizzle was nothing, it wasn't truly raining out until you spent 2 min outside and got completely soaked. Well, I really shouldn't have said anything apparently. It started to pour rain!! I mean pour!!! We were all soaked to the skin by the time we made it to the Cabaret!! The girls were all screaming and demanding the boys start removing coats and shirts to protect their precious hair!! It was hilarious!! I couldn't stop laughing as we ran down the street, with no possible way to stay out of the rain with the girls are screaming and trying to run fast in heels on cobblestone streets. Mean of me I know, but I really couldnt' stop laughing. It's a good thing I'm not a girly girl and could care less if I got rained on and it "ruined my hair" Couldn't complain really. In 18 days it was the first ugly weather we'd had, we all went through it together, and really, they all needed to just let it go and laugh at themselves. I sure did!! Come to think of it, some of them probably didn't like me too much will all my laughing at them. There were a few other times when I laughed at their expense. Like when one of my fellow Canadians asked where I got moose meat from as she had never seen it in the supermarket, to which I quite bluntly replied that my dad "shot it and we ate it". Stupid questions get stupid answers and a good laugh. Or like when one of the "group of 8" as we called them (a group of friends that were on tour together who were pretty anti-social to the 42 other people on the bus), asked a very stupid question. We were down in a valley, looking up at the Swiss alps on a beautiful cloudless morning. Looking up at the snowcaps, you could see gusts of snow being blown from the sides of the mountain. It was gorgeous. Until one of the group of eight asks, "is it snowing up there!?" to which I turned and asked "Do you see any clouds?" I burst out laughing...wow we had some great blond moments on tour. Anyways, I think that's about all for now. I have to get doing the laundry anyways. More to come later as I have not much to do with my time except play on the internet. Love and miss you all, will be home quite soon.
Hugs, Mel
PS-anyone wishing to meet and greet at my house when I get back are more than welcome to. We should get back from the airport around 9 or 9:30pm on June 28 (that's a thursday), so if you want to come say hi and have some appetizers, feel free. But please do call my mom to let her know if you're coming, cuz she's making the appies and would appreciate a head count before she starts getting ready. For those who have forgotten my home number as I haven't been there to call for 2 months it's 564-7330. Hope some of you can make it!!
France was beautiful. Did you know that the city of Paris is completely planned and designed to be beautiful?? After it was flattened between the two world wars, a designer was hired to design the city from scratch to be beautiful and pleasing to the eye. That's why everything is so lovely there. It didn't happen by accident like Prague (still the most beautiful city I've been to). Anyways, not the most important detail, but an interesting one nonetheless. Our last night in France we all went out to a Parisian dinner and a Cabaret. That's right, a Cabaret. I have never been to one of those but it was fantastic. What I failed to mention before was the significance of the weather that night. I don't think I mentioned the weather on my trip really at all. I must say, our weather was very nearly perfect the entire time. We had beautiful cloudless days, days with puffy white clouds and nice breezes, days that were grey but you were thankful for a break from the heat, perfect perfect weather...that is until the last night in Paris. We had to walk from the place we dined at to the Cabaret, and as soon as we stepped outside it began to drizzle a little bit. The girls all started to worry about their hair and makeup and such (we got a little dolled up for our last night in Paris), and apparently that slow drizzle is the kind of rain Aussies are used to. I said to Ray (a fellow Canadian from Vancouver) that the drizzle was nothing, it wasn't truly raining out until you spent 2 min outside and got completely soaked. Well, I really shouldn't have said anything apparently. It started to pour rain!! I mean pour!!! We were all soaked to the skin by the time we made it to the Cabaret!! The girls were all screaming and demanding the boys start removing coats and shirts to protect their precious hair!! It was hilarious!! I couldn't stop laughing as we ran down the street, with no possible way to stay out of the rain with the girls are screaming and trying to run fast in heels on cobblestone streets. Mean of me I know, but I really couldnt' stop laughing. It's a good thing I'm not a girly girl and could care less if I got rained on and it "ruined my hair" Couldn't complain really. In 18 days it was the first ugly weather we'd had, we all went through it together, and really, they all needed to just let it go and laugh at themselves. I sure did!! Come to think of it, some of them probably didn't like me too much will all my laughing at them. There were a few other times when I laughed at their expense. Like when one of my fellow Canadians asked where I got moose meat from as she had never seen it in the supermarket, to which I quite bluntly replied that my dad "shot it and we ate it". Stupid questions get stupid answers and a good laugh. Or like when one of the "group of 8" as we called them (a group of friends that were on tour together who were pretty anti-social to the 42 other people on the bus), asked a very stupid question. We were down in a valley, looking up at the Swiss alps on a beautiful cloudless morning. Looking up at the snowcaps, you could see gusts of snow being blown from the sides of the mountain. It was gorgeous. Until one of the group of eight asks, "is it snowing up there!?" to which I turned and asked "Do you see any clouds?" I burst out laughing...wow we had some great blond moments on tour. Anyways, I think that's about all for now. I have to get doing the laundry anyways. More to come later as I have not much to do with my time except play on the internet. Love and miss you all, will be home quite soon.
Hugs, Mel
PS-anyone wishing to meet and greet at my house when I get back are more than welcome to. We should get back from the airport around 9 or 9:30pm on June 28 (that's a thursday), so if you want to come say hi and have some appetizers, feel free. But please do call my mom to let her know if you're coming, cuz she's making the appies and would appreciate a head count before she starts getting ready. For those who have forgotten my home number as I haven't been there to call for 2 months it's 564-7330. Hope some of you can make it!!
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Lazy day
Okay, I'm back in London, and as cash is short, I won't be up to much for the next week. I thought I'd fill you in on current events and also recap some of the stuff I didn't have time to talk about before. So with almost no money, today will be spent on the internet, doing laundry and buying groceries. Hopefully that takes up most of the day, and whatever is left will be spend reading some books I suppose. Here at my hostel I am on the fourth floor, which here really means the fifth!!! It's like they don't count the first one or something. LOTS of stairs!! Just when I thought I had escaped so many stairs on my travels. Being on the top floor means that the hallways are weird, really weird. They wind, there are little sections that involve going up and down more stiars, there are random windows like skylights everywhere, and the bathrooms are in the most abstract places ever and the doors aren't labelled as such. Crazy Londoners and their "make absolutely no sense" designs. I think I got close to 10 hours of sleep last night, which is good considering I was averaging about five or less a night with Contiki. Lots more sleep for me tonight too.
I don't think I told you all enough about Florence, it was one of my favourite places and we were only there for a day. Even though I didn't get to go into the Duomo, I got to see it and take pics and climb the bell tower (the line was too long to climb the dome). The view from the top was more than worth the more than 400 steps I had to climb. Anyone else watch the movie Silence of the Lambs?? You know the drawing in his cell that Clarice comments on, wondering how he drew it all from memory and he replies that memory is all he has. The drawing is of the Duomo as seen from some Palaza or other, and I got a very similar view. It was so cool!! Anyways, before we got free time to do stuff like climb the bell tower and shop, we went on a small guided tour of the city. Our Florentine guide was very funny. He kept making jokes about the dangerous nature of Florentine women. They want money and gifts and are never satisfied and the like. There's this whole elabortate 1km long hallway going over one part of the city that was made entirely on the whim of one of the Medici family women who was above travelling such a distance in view of the common folk. Craziness! Apparently, when Florence was in a bad time, people starving and the like, the Florentine women used to lure men back to their homes and then proceeded to murder and eat them!! Our tour guide was seriously worried about the women there. He said that now, if men pick up Florentine women, they first take them out to a big dinner to make sure they are full, and even then remain wary. Lol, it was so great. With the tour we got to see an exact replica of the Statue of David (the real one had been moved and kept in a safer, more preserving place) in the place where it originally stood. Ever wondered why David's hands and head were so out of proportion with the rest of his body? It is because Michelangelo wanted to represent the strengh of the Florentines, which came from their abilities with thier hands and their abilities to use to their heads. David was made to look mature and capable to reflect the highest values of the people. Traditionaly, David was a child. So cool!! I never knew all that. I also got pics of the statues of Da Vinci, Rafael and Galileo (they are like portraits, so neat). There was much rivalry between Da Vinci and Rafael, Da Vinci lived to be 89 at a time when most people didn't live past their forties, and Rafael died in his 30's. The funny explanation for this is that Da Vinci didn't have any girlfriends and Rafael had too many! Our tour guide was really digging on the women in his tour, but it was funny.
Okay, more to come soon, but I'd better get out and buy some food and get change to do laundry. Miss you all, see you very soon!
Hugs, Mel
PS-the craziness of contiki has finally cought up to me. I'm a little sick. I have a cough as a result of my chest being so congested...pretty icky actually. Here's hoping I can rest up and be better before I come home.
I don't think I told you all enough about Florence, it was one of my favourite places and we were only there for a day. Even though I didn't get to go into the Duomo, I got to see it and take pics and climb the bell tower (the line was too long to climb the dome). The view from the top was more than worth the more than 400 steps I had to climb. Anyone else watch the movie Silence of the Lambs?? You know the drawing in his cell that Clarice comments on, wondering how he drew it all from memory and he replies that memory is all he has. The drawing is of the Duomo as seen from some Palaza or other, and I got a very similar view. It was so cool!! Anyways, before we got free time to do stuff like climb the bell tower and shop, we went on a small guided tour of the city. Our Florentine guide was very funny. He kept making jokes about the dangerous nature of Florentine women. They want money and gifts and are never satisfied and the like. There's this whole elabortate 1km long hallway going over one part of the city that was made entirely on the whim of one of the Medici family women who was above travelling such a distance in view of the common folk. Craziness! Apparently, when Florence was in a bad time, people starving and the like, the Florentine women used to lure men back to their homes and then proceeded to murder and eat them!! Our tour guide was seriously worried about the women there. He said that now, if men pick up Florentine women, they first take them out to a big dinner to make sure they are full, and even then remain wary. Lol, it was so great. With the tour we got to see an exact replica of the Statue of David (the real one had been moved and kept in a safer, more preserving place) in the place where it originally stood. Ever wondered why David's hands and head were so out of proportion with the rest of his body? It is because Michelangelo wanted to represent the strengh of the Florentines, which came from their abilities with thier hands and their abilities to use to their heads. David was made to look mature and capable to reflect the highest values of the people. Traditionaly, David was a child. So cool!! I never knew all that. I also got pics of the statues of Da Vinci, Rafael and Galileo (they are like portraits, so neat). There was much rivalry between Da Vinci and Rafael, Da Vinci lived to be 89 at a time when most people didn't live past their forties, and Rafael died in his 30's. The funny explanation for this is that Da Vinci didn't have any girlfriends and Rafael had too many! Our tour guide was really digging on the women in his tour, but it was funny.
Okay, more to come soon, but I'd better get out and buy some food and get change to do laundry. Miss you all, see you very soon!
Hugs, Mel
PS-the craziness of contiki has finally cought up to me. I'm a little sick. I have a cough as a result of my chest being so congested...pretty icky actually. Here's hoping I can rest up and be better before I come home.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Back in London!
Hey everyone!! I'm back in the land of cheap, 24 hour access to internet, a language I can speak, and luandry facilities at the ready! I love London!! Lol. Mostly I'm just pretty freaking exhausted from the Contiki tour. Lets just say that as much as I wish I were on my way home now instead of spending another week here, I just may need the week to recoup and be ready for home and work again. It's literally been quite a whirl of a trip, they don't joke in the title (I was on the European Whirl Tour by Contiki). Also for the record, carting over 70 pounds worth of baggage across London = not fun. Ah well, only have to make a journey like that one more time. It also looks like I got back here just in time, almost out of money. I should have just enough to be able to afford food this week, and that's about it. Can't complain though, I have a suitcase full of good stuff and hundreds (that's right, hundreds) of pictures.
We drove from Switzerland to France a couple of days ago, went strait to the camp after 12 hours on the road. Spent the entire next day in Paris, went to the top of the Eiffel tower, the Louvre was closed so no go, saw the Arc de Triumph, the Champs d'Elises, the Notre Dame Cathedral (although only in passing on the bus, not inside and no chance for a pic, so got a postcard instead), and much much more. It was all very lovely. I even caved and bought some French perfume (which incidently is the reason I'm short on cash for this last week). Today was another ridiculously long day on the bus to get back to London, but it's all good. I'm freaking exhausted, but happy. Got to see almost everything I wanted on this tour, excepting the Spanish Steps in Rome, the leaning Tower of Pisa, inside the Louvre and inside Notre Dame. Just not enough time on this whirl. However...last night in Paris went out for dinner and a Cabaret show!! At dinner I had duck with orange sauce (so good) and the Cabaret was amazing!! Such cool dancing and music and comedic entertainment and acrobatics!! I'll have to describe it better when I get home. It was all great though.
I really have to get to bed now. It's past eleven here in London and I've been up since 6am...sleep shall be wonderful!!
Miss you all, sorry for the lack of posts recently, but European computers are so touchy (not to mention expensive). Hope you're all doing great!!
Hugs, Mel
PS-for anyone who will be as excited about this as I was...I GOT TO SEE THE VIMY RIDGE MEMORIAL TODAY!!!
We drove from Switzerland to France a couple of days ago, went strait to the camp after 12 hours on the road. Spent the entire next day in Paris, went to the top of the Eiffel tower, the Louvre was closed so no go, saw the Arc de Triumph, the Champs d'Elises, the Notre Dame Cathedral (although only in passing on the bus, not inside and no chance for a pic, so got a postcard instead), and much much more. It was all very lovely. I even caved and bought some French perfume (which incidently is the reason I'm short on cash for this last week). Today was another ridiculously long day on the bus to get back to London, but it's all good. I'm freaking exhausted, but happy. Got to see almost everything I wanted on this tour, excepting the Spanish Steps in Rome, the leaning Tower of Pisa, inside the Louvre and inside Notre Dame. Just not enough time on this whirl. However...last night in Paris went out for dinner and a Cabaret show!! At dinner I had duck with orange sauce (so good) and the Cabaret was amazing!! Such cool dancing and music and comedic entertainment and acrobatics!! I'll have to describe it better when I get home. It was all great though.
I really have to get to bed now. It's past eleven here in London and I've been up since 6am...sleep shall be wonderful!!
Miss you all, sorry for the lack of posts recently, but European computers are so touchy (not to mention expensive). Hope you're all doing great!!
Hugs, Mel
PS-for anyone who will be as excited about this as I was...I GOT TO SEE THE VIMY RIDGE MEMORIAL TODAY!!!
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Sorry Everyone. Europe hates Blogger
Hey there!! The computers over here have not really been liking me much. I've been able to check my email, but blogger was being fidgety. So sorry for the lack of posts. I shall try to sum up the last few days as best I can. Venice was beautiful, I'm sure I mentioned. That night at midnight (which turned it to the 13) a bunch of guys from my bus bought me some shots...six (that's right brandon, six) and I did them all in about a minute and a half. My friend Steph has photographic proof. I was a little tipsy for the first time in my life, but it was lots of fun, lots of dancing, and I was not sick or hungover, so no real harm done. Then we went on to Rome, which was amazing!! I only wish I had more time there. I got to go into the Colleseum!! The only thing I didn't get to see was the Spanish Steps, but after the long RIDICULOUSLY HOT day, I couldn't get the energy to go that far. It was good all around. Florence was also beautiful, great food. I climbed to the top of the bell tower at the Duomo (not to the top of the dome cuz the lines were too long), the view was absolutely spectacular. Got lots of pics. But after over 400 steps, I was freaking exhausted!! Great time though, great food. Bought myself a ring that is also a puzzle, very cool, as well as some itallian sued gloves for driving my car in winter (they're green!!!) Now I am in Switzerland and this has been my first real chance to post in a long while. They're not kidding when they call this tour a whirl!!! I spent today on top of the Swiss Alps!! Now I know I'm from Canada and I've seen the rockies, but being up in them among the snow and the peaks is just mindblowingly cool and so beautiful! I walked out on the mountainside and it was like being in a dream. It was warm out, proabbly above zero, soft snow underfoot, and so much cloud aroudn that u couldn't see 20 feet in any direction, but not wet. Standing still it was almost completely silent up there. Truly it was like being in a dream. Fantastic experience!! And I got to walk through tunnels through the mountain and through an ice palace!! How neat is that!? Okay, I really have to cut this off because it's costing me a fortune, but I love and miss u all and will be filling u in on more details when I get back to cheap internet in london. Hugs all around, Cheers from Switzerland (only France left to go!!)
Love u all lots, Mel
PS-HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!! LOVE YOU-bub
Love u all lots, Mel
PS-HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!! LOVE YOU-bub
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Past Austria, now in Venice
Hello one and all!! That's right, I'm now in Venice. Austria was amazing. We arrived there a few days ago, and basically dropped off our stuff at the contiki camp and went off up into the mountains on a bike ride!! It was so beautiful!! It was like I was home again!! There were mountains!! Of course, their mountains are older and less peaky, and there are fields all over them for the cows, but still gorgeous. There was one part of the ride where we went through an evergreen forest and it was like I was back in BC!! So very happy, been missing Canada outdoors. We got to the top of one of the hills and had a barbecue lunch, some ice cream, then biked back down the hill. I rode into the tiny village we were by and took some pics, then went over to the trout fishing spot hoping to fish and have a good time. Never got to fishing though. Our bus driver and two of the guys from my bus were sitting there having some drinks, so I stopped to chat before fishing (if I had gone fishing, with a piece of wood and some line, and had caught anything, they would have cooked it right there for me, so very cool) and ended up chinwagging, sharing stories and stuff. It was so cool. And the one guy from my bus, Geoff, started buying us shots of shnapps. Now, shnapps in Austria is not like schnapps at home...it's basically moonshine distilled from random fruits and stuff. So we had some from apples, pears, apricots and...get this...pine cones!!! I must say, the pine cone was the best. Strange I know, but it was. After FOUR shots (this for a girl who doesn't drink at home) me and the two boys from the bus had to get back on our bikes (the ones we rode up the mountain we got to keep for the day to get around the town and to the trout farm or pool if we wanted, tres cool) and ride across the village to the contiki camp. I did really well, think my balance was better on the bike than when I was standing after the shots. Anyways, that night we had a beach party theme at the bar downstairs, everyone danced and had a good time. My buddy Geoff who was buying the shots got into a pink tutu and tights for the dance....icky....but funny as hell. I actually got to see stars last night too!! In the cities we're in you don't really get the chance to see a lot of stars or anything, so I got my stargazing fix last night. Yesterday morning we went white water rafting, it was amazing!! The Aussies were complaining about the water being cold, but they're just pansies...the water wasn't actually much colder than green lake!! lol!! I loved every minute of it. Then we drove here to Venice and camped out for the night. Lots of people got drunk again, but me Steph and Lynn had a quiet night knowing that tonight there are four contiki buses staying at the camp...it's going to be a karioke night, and it will probably go pretty late. I can't drink like the Aussie's, they are all pretty crazy when it comes to the alcohol. But I do have a social drink with them and then just enjoy the evenings and the dancing and singing and stuff. Very fun...think tomorrow (my birthday) they are going to try and get me drunk. They have yet to succeed in that. For a person who doesn't usually drink, I apparently have a surprisingly high tolerance for alcohol. Anyways, I know this has been kind of a long ranting blog, so I'll cut it off. Tomorrow we leave for Rome, that will be beautiful too. Plus, it's my birthday!! Yay!! Love and miss you all!!!
xox Mel
PS-Mom, I finally found something souvenir-like for you!! Whoo hooo!!
PPS-Loved the post from Mindy!! Of course I will throw the ball for her when I get back!! Miss my dog a lot...there are so many dogs here in Venice, it's cute!!
xox Mel
PS-Mom, I finally found something souvenir-like for you!! Whoo hooo!!
PPS-Loved the post from Mindy!! Of course I will throw the ball for her when I get back!! Miss my dog a lot...there are so many dogs here in Venice, it's cute!!
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