European Tour: First leg

AMSTERDAM

Thanks to Uncle David, we arrive to our meeting point for the Contiki nice and early, ready to check in and meet the rest of the crew at 6am. Our bus is made up of 4 Kiwis/Maori; 3 Canadians; 1 Korean and; 43 fricken Aussies! Our tour guide is Australian (Tim) and the cool Portugese bus driver is Joe.

We have a comfy coach that is going to our home for the next while. We take a ferry from Dover to France and then drive through France, Belgium and into The Netherlands! First time ever driving through four countries! Our first stop is of course, Amsterdam!

Arrival to our first hotel and we are paired with a nice young couple from Australia; Steele & Ariana. A pokey little room, with bunk beds (hotel? more like hostel) and prepare the interesting evening ahead. We are taken to a "typically Amsterdam show" in the middle of the red light district. And I'll leave it there... After this, we venture around the hustle and bustle of the town square, trying local delights and finally end up at a bar with the rest of the Contiki crew. A few drinks later, we're dancing to hip hop in a night club. Classic.

The next day was a bit lethargic-y but we managed to haul butt and get on the coach by 8am. Off to the cheese and clogs factory! We got to see how clogs and cheese are made and then got dropped off in town for some sightseeing. Tu & I decided to visit the Rijks museum and the IAMsterdam sign. Despite the line being ridiculously long to get into the museum, we persevered. That evening, we venutred out again for a group dinner at the Sea Palace (asian cuisine) and a boat cruise through the canals of Amsterdam. Afterwards, our tour guide showed us a couple of bars including a shots bar. Over 220 different shots are on their menu. Some of the favs were the "Harry Potter", "Chemistry", "Sunflower" and the "Lamborghini". Ouch. Next morning was a bit rough...

BERLIN

We departed for Berlin at 8am, this would be our longest day travelling of 7 hours. Initially I thought that travelling by coach was going to really suck. Thankfully I was wrong - our bus is so comfortable and easy to just sit there and nod off. So sleeping was on the agenda for today. Arrival to Berlin... we were getting excited. We would spend New Year's Eve here! Today is the 30th of December so not long to go. An early night after dinner served Tu and I well as we prepared for the big one on NYE.

Happy New Year's Eve! We set off for a walking tour with a local guide around Berlin. Freezing temperatures and 3 hours worth of walking later, we were much more knowledgeable and appreciative of this historical place we were visiting. We visited numerous cathedrals and monuments, heard about the place where Hitler lived and subsequently killed himself. We visited a large Jewish memorial which was an odd exhibition, but quite eerie too. We visited and heard all about Checkpoint Charlie, visited the famous Branderburg Gate (where we will be spending NYE!) and heard about and visited the Berlin Wall.

Tu and I then walked into the city and found some pop up xmas markets for lunch and had a tradit German meal; goulash for Tu and I had currywerst, some kind of sausagey thing with some mulled wine for me and a red for Tu. We then ventured to the German Museum of History which was very insightful for Tu especially with the World War 2. In preparation for the big night ahead, we grab some ales and head back to the hostel to spruce up a little :)

As a Contiki group, we venture to the Brandenburg Gate to party on with 1 million other people from all across the globe! Had an amazing night, Tu found us a posse, we had a crew and celebrated the night away with hot wine, Patron, and Bollinger (which we didn't get to) and found our way home on the metro. Before moe, Tu and I went and had some schnitzel and chips before showering and moe time.

Up early the next day, and off to PRAGUE! Feeling a little bit jaded today, but feeling awesome!

PRAGUE

So the drive from Berlin to Prague was relatively painless. All we do is sit there, relax and sleep. We stopped in Dresden for lunch, so Tu and I decided to have Spanish Tapas which was delicious. We then continued onto Prague and had a walking tour around the city, visiting the castle and the cathedrals. It's interesting because only 20% of Czech people are Cathloic, the rest are communists, yet most of the city and its architecture heavily draw on Cathloic/Christianism. We walked down Charles Bridge and saw the statues and monuments of the apostles and walked through town square past the astrological clock, night markets, restaurants and lights. We then walked to where our coach was and all of a sudden the biggest, best display of fireworks exploded right above our bus. It was fabulous!!! Arrival to Plus Hostel, this night we managed to score a room by ourselves and settled in for the night, had a beautiful meal, sauna and a hot shower - wa moe.

The next day in Prague, we hung out with our old roomies, Steele and Ariana for the day and visited the weirdest quirkiest museum. So strange, the majority of the exhibits were a mixture of banking, historical and film history... Ummm... Anyway, the clock struck 12pm so we reckoned it was beer oclock. Mulled wine, beers and street food of potatoe dumplings, smoked pork and cabbage was on the cards. We sipped and ate in the middle of the Main Street in Prague. Classic. The kai was tradit czech kai too, we also sampled a twisty donut that was covered in cinnamon and almonds and then I tried these kebabs with potato spirals that were then deep fried and sprinkled with salt and chilli... AMAZZZING!

Despite eating as if it's lunch, we then boarded a boat with some of the other Contiki whanau for a lunch cruise through the Prague canals and a tour guide gave us some great korero about her homelands. We learnt some interesting history about the communist party and the impact it had on the Czech people. We tried the local goulash and dishes and then headed off to the Dubliner pub for a pint! After a couple of drinks, we headed to another part of town for a tour of an underground nuclear war bunker that was built in the 20th Century for civilians to retreat in case of nuclear war. It was very interesting, seeing the gas masks and guns and stuff. For dinner, Tu tried the famous pork knuckle (that's well known in these parts) and we called it an early night, as tomorrow... we leave for Vienna, Austria!

VIENNA

Driving to VIenna, we stopped into Kunta Norva for an hour, a quaint, quiet town still inside of the Czech Republic. After this we visited a service station with outlet shopping and restaurants. The restaurants here in Europe allow smoking inside. So disgusting. Heoi ano, when in Rome. Or Vienna, in this case. We had to eat in an area that was still smokey, but much less than the rest of the restaurant. So different here. I remember when we could smoke in bars at home... thank goodness those times have changed.

Arrival to our hostel, tonight we're sharing with Brad & Jennifer. We spruce up, pop the Bollinger and get on our way to the Strauss and Mozart concert in Vienna city.. it was truly beautiful with operatic singers and ballet dancers. Loved the music and it was nice to dress up a little and go with my baby to the concert. Love how we appreciate these kinds of things together. The majority of the Contiki were dogging the idea of classical music. Those poor little youngins just don't get it :)

In consideration for an early morning flight to Roma the next day, we politely declined the invitation for drinks at the hostel bar and turned in for the night. Roma tomorrow... this has been the most anticipated leg of the trip for me. I wonder what it will bring... CIAO!

Oh and the hashtag for Contiki is... #noregrets

It's a pretty good way to live life!!!

 

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