So here I am in Amsterdam on the second last day on my big Contiki tour. I am so sad that it ends tomorrow. It has been the best six and a half weeks of my life and we are having a BIG one tonight!
Soooo...after Croatia our road crew decided to suprise us and take us on a little detour and we went to BOSNIA! It wasn't on the itinerary but it was awesome to go to yet another different country. We then went to Budapest in Hungary for a few days. Budapest is yet another city I want to go back to as there are so many different things to see and do there that two nights wasn't enough. Even headed out to the nightclubs there and ended up taking alot of trams (and evading tram fares) and got really lost. It was still fun.
Then it was onto Bratislava (Slovakia) for the day (best hot chocolates ever!) before we arrived in Vienna, Austria. Managed to see a Mozart concert at an opera house in Vienna. It's a beautiful city and we also went to Prater Park which is an awesome amusement park in the middle of Vienna. Then we went to the Czech Republic for a few nights, first stopping in Cesky Krumlov then onto Prague which I ALSO loved. Not just because I got drunk on our lunchtime cruise and decided to get myself a new tattoo (the Chinese symbol for courage on my right hip) but because of the big club crawl I went on with a few people. Ended up staying out until 5 in the morning and at one stage was at a REAL disco club with proper disco dance floors that lit up and disco music and everything! Prague is also the place I had my first Jager Bomb (or three!).
After Prague we went to Munich and I decided that in actual fact I really do like beer and proceeded to drink two steins worth. Dressed up as a German bar wench for the event and managed to meet a lovely Aussie guy named Beau from one of the other Contiki tours. Can't wait to head back to Munich for Oktoberfest in a few weeks! We drove past the festival grounds and it looks awesome!
After Germany (Part 1) we went to Vaduss (Lichenstein), then onto the Swiss Alps via Lucerne and stayed in the town of Lauterbrunnen for two nights where I paid extra money to upgrade to a cabin (it is soooo cold!) and spent two hours on the highest cog railway in the world to spend a day on Jungfrau, one of the tallest mountains in the Swiss Alps! I haven't been in the snow for a good ten years. There was also a bar at the campsite that was an old bomb shelter. More Jager Bombs were consumed in the bomb shelter. (I don't think I have managed a day without alcohol since this tour began.)
Headed back to Germany after Switzerland to Heidelburg which is this gorgeous little university town with the longest shopping strip in Europe (apparently, but I reckon I've seen longer and I'm a PROFESSIONAL when it comes to shopping). Also upgraded to a cabin that night because it was like five degrees outside and raining. On the way to Amsterdam we stopped at St Goar where I stocked up on Birkenstocks (THREE MORE PAIRS MEL! THIRTY EUROS!!!) before we got here.
Amsterdam is fantastic, managed to visit a "coffee shop" yesterday afternoon. Relax Mum and Dad it's legal to smoke marijuana here and it's all very regulated and safe and everyone always looks out for each other. Needless to say, by the time we got to the live sex show last night I was a bit giggly and even more so when I was called up onstage to take part in a strip act with a big muscly stripper dressed up as a policeman! It was hilarious although I have never been more embarassed in my life! The red light district here in Amsterdam reminds me alot of the Valley at home. Very seedy and neon-ish and lots of hookers although here it is also legal and they stand in booths like dolls in a dollhouse and men can just walk up to the glass window and get themselves sorted.
Today we went to a cheese and clogs factory and I spent the day wandering around town with friends after our bike ride in Edam. Tonight we have our farewell dinner and tomorrow morning we have a long drive back to London via Belgium and France (and a ferry ride). We're all going out for drinks in London tomorrow evening once we get back, and on Friday afternoon I fly to Ireland to start my next tour. I'm exhausted and have spent ALOT of money and am not looking forward to this last night of camping because it's so cold but it's going to be so nice to sleep in a bed for a few nights before I camp out at Oktoberfest again!
Sorry I couldn't be more detailed but I don't have much time left and once I have all of my photos uploaded I will be able to be much more comprehensive!
Yeah it was amazing.
Posted by: emma in wonderland | Sunday, September 23, 2007 at 10:20 PM