LAUTERBRUNNEN, SWITZERLAND.

Today we left Hoptgarten in Austria and drove to the Zworsky Crystal museum. We then drove to the Principality of Leicesten where we had lunch. After lunch we drove to Lucerne and finally here in Lauterbrunnen. We will stay here tonigt and tommorow night.

VIENNA, AUSTRIA AND MUNICH, GERMANY.

From Cluj we drove across the border to Vienna Austria. Austria is one of those cities where every where you go you can point your camera anywhere and get a pretty picture! On our first night here we went to a Mozart Concert, it was the first classical music concert I have been to and it was excellent. There was some singing and a bit of ballet as well. The following day we explored the city and at night we had a traditional Austrian dinner at a beer hall in the forrest.

Today we left Austria and drove into Germany, Guten tag! On the way we stopped over for lunch at the city where "The Sound of Music" was partly filmed. We visted the church where they got married and the trees where the Von Trap children hanged upside down! I had a bratwurst sausage annd bread rolls for lunch at the nearby lake.

We reached Munich Germany at about 5PM. For dinner tonight we went to a beer hall and had a traditonal pork knuckles with beer sauce. They had a traditional German band playing and offcourse some traditional Bavarian Dancers. Also everyone had at least a one litre jug of beer! No I didn't drink it all in one go, it actually took me all dinner to drink it!

After dinner we went to another beer hall, right now I have just escaped from the beer hall and found an internet cafe to get away from the drinking for a while!

Tommorow we will be going whitewater rafting back in Austria- I cant wait!

Update:
In Austria we stayed in Hoptgarten in Austrian Tyrol. We went on a bike tour through the mountains- it was quite an exercise but it was beutiful. Everything looked perfect.

I did not end up going white water rafting the day before since I started to catch a cold and didn't feel well. However after the mountain bike ride I went paragliding, which involved running off a mountain while strapped to an already opened parachute.






Mozarts Statue.


Paraponting.

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY.

We arrived here in Budapest this afternoon.

Update:
I'm here in Munich with an hour to spare so I will add more to what i wrote here.

Budapest is actually two cities, Buda and Pest, separated by the Danube river. Together they are known as Budapest the capital of Hungry. There are many beutiful buildings which came from the era when Austria and Hungry had a dual empire and between them ruled over a large part of Europe.

We had a traditional Hungarian Beef Goulash and Chicken for Dinner which was excellent. The follwoing day we had till 12PM to explore the city before we headed for Austria.

BUCHAREST AND BRASOV, ROMANIA.

We arrived this afternoon in Brassov from Bucharest. We past through Vlad Dracula the Impalers castle- he was so named for impaling thousands of people on spears- crooks, turkish invaders (he impaled 20,000 turkish prisoners in one week!) and anyone that he thought was a threat to his rule.

The Eastern Europe is great. Not just only because the prices here are reasonable compared to the prices in the rest of Europe but I just feel so relax here for some reason.

Its 10:15 at the moment and i'm here at another internet caffe filled with young Romanians playing computer games, writing emails and mostly chatting online. Brasov is surrounded with lush mountains and the main square is buzzing with restaurants and bars and people enjoying the cool night.

Tommorow we will be going to Cluj, still in Romania.

Update:

Cluj was fun city for all of us on the tour. We only had time to explore it by night but we saw much of it on our way there. Cluj has a young student population and this showed at the bar and dance club we went to. The club was up class, you can tell by the cars parked at the front and the many nicely dressed people that go there. But since it is still in the eastern block the drinks were still affordable!

Beutifull Brassov.




Draculas Castle.

BULGARIA AND ROMANIA.

We finnally crossed the Romanian border this afternoon after our bus took a detour and got lost in Bulgaria for about 2 hours! The road we took just kept getting narrower and less maintained and we were going though poor farming towns until we finally basically reached a dead end and we had to turn back. But it was all good.

Its 12:45AM right now and we're in an internet caffe in Bucharest- the capital of Romania. This city looks pretty run down after many years of communist rule which ended in 1989. Its quite poor in comparisson to the rest of Europe but its great for us since everything seems so much cheaper here. I'm paying 20000 Leis per hour (about AU1.50, which is cheaper than Turkey which cost 2,500,000 Liras (which is AU2.5)

And yes by the way I become a millionaire for the first time in Turkey. At the moment I have 25 million in my wallet! (yeh only AU25 but i'm still a millionaire here!) Istanbul, Turkey by the way is an amazing city, we all had a faboulous time over there, everything about it is great, the people, the culture and its history I would defintiely like to go back there.

In Bulgaria we stayed at a hotel near the Black Sea. I went for a walk down the Black Sea coast and got a feel for what the people are like here Bulgaria. I've noticed everyone just kept to themselves and I did'nt feel the locals staring at me as would usually happen in places where they dont see much asian foreigners around.

Also in the place that we stayed in Bulgaria there is a mall, and although it was where a Tuesday night it was quite busy with people walking around and eating and drinking at the street caffes and bars. Almost everyone in my tour went to a coctail bar and drank alot of coctails costing around $AU3-AU4! compared with the coctails in Mykonos which cost about AU14. I had a "Sex on the Beach"! a Mojita and a Carribean Crush.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY.

We arrıved ın Istanbul thıs mornıng from Canakale. Yesterday we drove across from Greece to Turkey. We vısted Galıpolı and the Anzac Cove memorıal. It was a movıng day for all the Australıans and Kıwıs on the tour.

We then drove to the cıty Troy and saw the parts of the ancıent cıty where the legend of the Trojan Horse came from.

We then stayed at a nıce hotel ın Canakale.

Istanbul ıs a very nıce cıty. Although 99 percent of the populatıon ıs Muslım, ıt ıs a secular state and ıt ıs very modern and western.

Update:
(When you see this update it means I've added it on at a later date.)

Some of the things I did in Istanbul includes going to the Turkish Bizzare which is jsut great- it has over 1000 stalls and you could buy anything from jewellery to hand made silk rugs to fake what ever! I was expecting it to be like Paddys market but it is alot better.

I also got a haircut and followed it up with a Turkish Massage and Bath! Basically you to a steam room until you sweat almost half of your body weight then have a big Turkish guys srub the skin of you while he covers you foam and finally give you a nice firm massage! One of my tour buddy next to me got spanked, spun around the marble and treated like a human dole. Luckily I had an older and more gentle Turkish Bather.

Finnally in the evening we went to a belly dancing dinner. The belly dancers where amazing and quite pretty.

OFF TO KAVALA

It was hard to leave Mykonos this morning, after spending a week of sleeping in and relaxing by the pool or beach. However the tour must go on. After a 6 hour ferry trip to mainland Greece we are finally back here in Athens at the hotel we stayed at previously. Tommorow we will depart for Kavala and then finnally head for Turkey the following day. It is 11:15pm right now and I am at an internet caffe near our hotel.

MYKONOS.

We are statying here in Mykonos at a Contiki Resort at Kalafatis Beach. The resort has a swimming pool, a bar and restaurant. Day life here involves eating a buffet breakfast between 9 and 11am, relaxing by the pool or on the beach, in the sun or under the shade of the many semi-fixed beach shades. There are also water sports and activities organised by Contiki Action Planners (CAPS) for people who can't stand just lazying about. Yesterday I went jetskiing with Scott from Australia- it was so much fun. It was our first time to jetski and we took turns driving.

Nightlife involves having a buffet dinner in the restaurant then having few drinks at the bar by the pool or watching a movie at the 'chillout' lounge. Later in the evening one can either go into town or stay in the resort for the night party. Night clubs in town doesn't get busy until 1 to 2am in the morning! so you'd have to be very keen to party in town.

Alcohol is expensive here, at the bar, expect to pay 8 Euros or around $AU13 for a coctail or a Bourbon and Coke.

The charming windmills of Mykonos.




Paradise Beach, Mykonos- the beaches here are beutiful fro swimming in, no surf and plenty of gravel instead of sand.

ATHENS, MYKONOS.

We drove up to Athens and stayed at a hotel there. We visted the acropolis the next day where the Parthenon stands. Some people in our tour then departed for Egypt, while the rest of the group including myself caught a ferry to the Greek Island of Mykonos where we will be staying for 6 nights. There is a pool here and it is next the beach. It is going to be a week of leisure, drinking and lazying about!

Also we heard about the bombs going off in London on our way to Athens. We were all quite shock since one of the places where a bus was bombed at Russel Square is where the Contiki Head Quater is and where we departed from just a few weeks ago.

I do hope that everything will be sorted out by the time we head back to London. It would be hard to feel completely safe to travel on the London underground again. I caught the underground from Heathrow Airport to Russel Sqr when I arrived from LA.

Update:

One thing I forgot to mention - you cant flush toilet paper here, the Greeks have made their sewer pipes too small and toilet paper will just block it up. So what do you do with the used toilet paper? well they have a lidded bin in every toilet!

ROME, POMPEI, CORFU.

From Florence we drove to Rome. Rome is an amazing place. We visited the Sistine Chappel and St. Peters Plaza where we saw Pope Benedict 16th. We also saw where Pope John Paul 2nd was burried under St. Peters Church. The Roman Civilisation and Empire is so extraordinary. The buildings sucha s the Pantheon and the drainage and sewage systems that they where able to build more than 2000 years ago is just incredible.

From Rome we travelled to the lost city of Pompei where we stayed just for the day and then made our way to the port to catch an overnight ferry to the Greek Island of Corfu. The name of our luxury ferry was Ouranos!

I'm in Corfu now in the town center. We arrived here yeaterday in the morning and spent the day on "Georges Boat" for a day cruise and some water sports.

Tommorow we we will be departing for Athens.


Paragliding in Corfu, Greece.



Inside the Sistine Chappel where Michael Angelos famous 'Creation' painting graces the ceilling. (Note photos are not suppose to be taken inside the chappel so I felt quite guilty taking this shot! however I can assure you that I did not use the flash.)



Waiting for Pope Benedict the 16th at St. Peters Square. He is due to appear from the window draped with a red cloth.





Pope Benedict the 16th addressing the faightful in different languages! I've been told he could speak 9 languages.




The facinating Colosseum in Rome.




On the steps of the Spanish Steps in Rome.




My Contiki Tour Buddies on 'Georges Boat', Corfu, Greece.




In the streets of the Lost City of Pompeii.

VENICE, FLORENCE.

We have just arrived in Florence from Venice. It is the 30th of June. Yesterday we spent the whole day in Venice after arriving the night before. Venice is a beutiful city full of alley ways and canals. We visited St. Marks Square and went on a 4o mins gondola ride through the canals.



The guy on the left with the two cans of beer (i think :)) is Brad Barry, our tour guide manager. The two girls beside me is Sandra (on my right) and Jessica, they are sisters from Mexico. The guy on our left is Brett from the US. This is just after our gondola ride.

Today we stopped over in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa of course. Its always amazing to see all these things that you ve seen in postcards and tv all your life. And yes I did the cheesy photo shot of me propping up the leaning the tower but I thought it was too cheesy for me to post it but heres a postcard shot anyway.



Its been hectic since joining the contiki tour. It is also very expensive here in Europe. For example it cost me about 10 Euros to do my laundry in Barcelona, which is about $17 Australian. Internet is like around $AU5 for half an hour. Also I havent been able to post pictures since the internet computers dont support USB.

Its definitely worth it though. The sights are absolutely amazing. Paris and Barcelona has been great. Tommorow we go exploring the city of Florence the birthplace of the Renaissance. We will then go to Roma and where we might be able to catch a glimpse of the Pope at a Sunday service.

The contiki tour has been pretty good. Most people here have been drinking every single night since it started! I drink every now and then. Yeh but everyone gets along real well and there are a great mix of personlaties. We also catch up with other contiki tours. We mostly stay in cabins at campsites owned or leased by Contiki. The food has been pretty good and it has a very school camp atmosphere at the food tent.

I liked to go on but im running out of internet time so cheers to everyone cheecking out my blogsite and thanks for being interested in what i have been doing in my travels.