I wanna scream and shout and let it all out
And scream and shout and let it out
We saying oh wee oh wee oh wee oh
And scream and shout and let it out
We saying oh wee oh wee oh wee oh
- Scream and Shout Will.i.am and Britney Spears
Hellooooo, I know it has been a while but I have been off having adventures! I spent 12 days away traveling Europe and as we did so much I have had to split the Contiki experience into separate posts. Here is #1!
Every time we crossed the boarder into a new country the bus would do a Mexican wave! Here we are entering the amazing Amsterdam!
Fifty one people on the European Horizon tour, here we all are in front of the I Amsterdam sign (I am sitting on the lefthand side of the t).
The first thing that struck me about Amsterdam were the beautiful buildings.
The architecture here was original and exquisite! I was not expecting that!!
After we took our photos at the sign we headed off to our own private river cruise around Amsterdam.
Seeing Amsterdam as the sun set such a wonderful experience! I remember thinking it looked like a fairytale!
The river cruise also provided us with FREE wine! I was very impressed! :P
After the river cruise we headed out to see Amsterdam at night. This was when my view of the city changed so quickly! This fairytale city took a slight twist at night. More than I was expecting!
While the rest of Contiki went to explore the red light district, Ben and I took a walk around the main part of the city and stopped for some delicious chocolate waffles!
We met back with the others a few hours later at The Grasshopper 'coffee' shop! Where some travellers decided to try out an Amsterdam delicacy.
Even Horse face had a puff!
The rest of us shared drinks and laughed with and at our new friends. I was asked if I realised I was both Australian and shared a name with baby Kangaroos. (I was aware of this!)
We then decided to see what night life Amsterdam had to offer....
You are now, now rocking with Wil.i.am and Britney bitch!
It was a fantastic first night, a great way to break the ice and get to know the people we would be sharing the next 10 days with!
That morning we awoke and I was eager to see Anne Frank's house! I had reread her journal just before we left to refresh my memory! Walking through the secret annex was like taking a step back in time and quite literally into Anne's world! The original maps, markings and posters are still on the walls. Reading the journal I had felt connected to Anne as if she was a friend of mine and now walking through her hiding place I was speechless! In fact I didn't speak to anyone the whole time (which as you know for Mr Chatterbox that is saying something).
Mum in 2011. Me in 2013!
Ben tried a pancake. Which was more like a crape - very thin! He wasn't too impressed really!
And then we headed back on the bus...
The bus ride was so long! I was still not used to traveling for six hours!
The first three trips were really painful!
I spent a lot of time moving up and down the coach talking to others!
I even did a fashion show/cat walk to pass the time!
FINALLY, we arrived in the picturesque Rhine Valley, St. Goar in Germany.
We freshened up, had dinner and a beautiful black forest cake...
...and then headed off for some wine tasting!
Surprisingly, not being a white wine drinker, I really enjoyed it!
Being traditionally German they gave us large portions to taste.
They told us all about the history and how grapes are harvested differently to make the different wines!
The last wine we tasted was Ice Wine! The grapes need to be harvested frozen to create Ice Wine. It is so sweet, almost like drinking syrup. I have to say I wasn't convinced! Too sweet for me!
We then went back to the hotel bar to hang out.
Ben purchased an Ale he tried while we were wine tasting. Based on his recommendation Rebecca and I bought one too...it tasted like piss! We were not impressed!
We decided the only way to get rid of it was to chug it down! Amy decided to enter our chugging competition. But, I won! It was still too much for Rebecca!
After our night at the bar we headed upstairs!
We decided it would be a good idea to hang out in one of our rooms and chat for a bit before bed!
What we didn't realise is that our bus driver was also on this floor... we were soon told to shut up or be kicked out! Whoops!
Ben decided to calm me down by quietly reading me a bed time story from the German Bible.
Neither of us had any idea if it was Biblically sound!
When morning approached we avoided our driver, due to embarrassment, and embarked on our drive to Munich!
We shared snacks on the bus to get us threw the drive. But once we had eaten everything (and gained 10kg by day three) we began looking for other things to do.
I investigated if my work experience at a Hairdressers in year ten had taught me how to style hair...
...Hell yes they did!!!
After what seemed like an eternity we arrived in the exciting town of Munich!
Munich truly was amazing and we had such a blast hanging out around town. The Germans were so easy going and pleasant. (I know, unexpected right)
We had a blast!
We went on the BEST bike tour! It took us around to all the major sites in Munich and gave us history with a lot of humour!
The food in Germany was the BEST I ate all tour! Truly delicious! It reminded me of the feast I enjoyed with my sister in Handoff in Adelaide - but Trina, this food was even better!
Rebecca, Ben, Kelsey and I decided we would each get something different to share - BEST IDEA EVER! We feasted on a massive pretzel, dip, Würste, Bratwürste, Frankfurters, fried potatoes, meat loaf, sauerkraut, pork knuckle and chips!
A good feed in the Munich Beer Gardens!
That night was Friday night and we decided to hit the clubs in Munich!
It was pretty cool for 5 euro we got entry into 15 different clubs!
We tried out at least half of them and found quite a different scene in each one!
The clubs were small though and quite packed! It was a good experience and lots of fun, but I would say I still prefer Sydney clubs!
The next morning we stopped at Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany.
It was another sobering stop during tour.
Walking the hall of the cells.
The gas chamber!
It was a silent morning of remembering the horrific history that was in this place. It felt so far removed from the Germany we experienced the last few days. How we ever let such monsters have so much power I will never understand!
But as it goes on such an action packed tour we had to move on to make our next stop,
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