First, let's start off with the people on the tour with us. We met our bus-mates now turned close friends during our night in London through Contiki. A majority of the people on our bus are from Australia, and we have learned SO much about life in Australia in the last few days. I think that I've actually learned more about Australia than I have about Europe. There are also a few New Zealanders (Kiwis?), a couple of South Africans, one Brazilian, and only one other American besides the two of us. As of now, we've met someone on this tour from every continent except Antarctica, which has been amazing. The Australians all love to bother Robert by pronouncing his name with an accent, and it's been fun trying to figure out the different colloquial terms used by different places. Plus, we now have a place to stay any time we wish to visit Australia, and we're looking forward to housing the Australians in the near future to show them the BEST country on Earth.
Now, the places we've seen:
1. Dover- There's not a whole lot to say about Dover, except that there are some white cliffs there and a beautiful castle. We spent about 30 minutes in Dover that consisted of getting through French customs and making our way onto a ferry that took us to France.
2. Paris- Paris was beautiful. We started the two nights in Paris by having escargot- not that bad! Afterward, we went to the TOP of the Eiffel tower, which was terribly frightening for someone who cannot stand heights. It was absolutely beautiful at the top. We spent the next day venturing down the Champs Elysees. We saw the Arc de Triomphe, the Lourve, Notre Dame, and everything in between. My personal favorites were the Louis Vuitton store and the wonderful French pastries, which I definitely had too many of. Robert enjoyed the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomple the most. We ate lunch at a Parisian Cafe, dinner at an Italian restaurant (they have so many in France!) and more pastries at a pastry shop on the Champs Elysees. It was cold and raining, but still so beautiful.
3. Beaujolais Wine Region- We stayed in a beautiful French chateau that is owned by Contiki. The views were absolutely AMAZING, with rolling hills and vineyards all around. The first night there, we had a "wine tasting" which consisted of one free glass of red wine in an old barn that was used to make wine. There was then a "party night" that included all three of the different Contiki tours staying at the chateau dressing up as different themed Ken and Barbie dolls and hanging out. I went as sorority Barbie, and the Australians thought it was hilarious. They constantly have asked me about the ways sororities work in America, and when I spoke in my sorority voice they all died laughing. Robert was Ken with a blue shirt on, haha. Even though the whole night resembled an awkward cruise ship party, it was nice bonding with the other people on our tour. All of us have grown pretty close recently, which makes the trip a lot more fun. The next day, they told us that we got to go on a relaxing picnic lunch. We probably trekked about 2 miles uphill to the spot of the picnic and 2 miles back. The food wasn't great, but again the views were outstanding. On the way back, we met some locals from France who talked to us for a while and it was great getting to have the feel of the land. We spent the rest of the day relaxing by the pool and laying in the sun chatting with our friends- definitely the most relaxing day of the tour.
4. French Riviera/Monaco- We didn't really get to see a lot of the French Riviera- it was more a way of letting us stay somewhere close enough to see Monaco. We did, however, have an upgraded hotel room which was FANTASTIC because we finally had a real bed and a hair drier. That is one thing that I really miss about America- hair products. With bad to no outlets and a travel hair dryer that hasn't worked since day 1, it has been pretty difficult roughing it without my straightener or curler. However, finally having a hair dryer that night was perfect timing because all of the girls were able to get dressed up for Monaco. Monaco is pretty much everything that you could imagine it being. Nice cars, fancily dressed locals, and LOTS of money everywhere. We went to the Monte Carlo Casino for a few hours, where Robert spent the whole time outside looking at all of the supercars and I spent time inside looking for a prince.... didn't happen. I spent 5 euros gambling for the first time and came back with $0.15. Obviously not my night.
5. Pisa/Florence- We started our Italian adventure by heading to Pisa. We took some not-so-great cheesy Leaning Tower pictures, but made up for it with amazing gelato. The gelato of Italy is almost as good as the pastries are in France. We didn't spend much time in Pisa before heading to Florence. Robert and I were both really excited about seeing Florence because that will be our home in July. We didn't do much the first night, but we spent the whole next day on a walking tour of the city. Florence is SO beautiful and I cannot wait to spend next month there. It was filllllled with tourists, so I think it will be nice to actually see the local areas next month and get a feel of the real Italian culture.
6. Rome- We just arrived in Rome this afternoon. We took a tour of the Vatican, where we saw the tomb of Pope John Paul II, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. Tomorrow we have an entire day in Rome, and we're going to try to see the Collosseum and other sites tomorrow.
This entire experience has been more than either of us could imagine. I never would have thought that I would make so many friends. I also never would've thought that I missed America so much. We have both learned never to take free refills, ice, air conditioning, comfy beds, WiFi, family, fast food, and so much more for granted. We're both learning how to survive on our own and I feel like we've learned so much in the 12 days that we've been here. We'll post pictures and update more as soon as we can, hopefully with a shorter stretch than we had last time. Ciao!!
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