Warning: this may be pretty long - get a coffee before you start reading
This is gonna be one of the hardest blogs to write so far...
I'll try break it down by city and give a brief recollection of each place
Paris, France (Day 1 - 3)
After a night on the beers, we had to get up at 4:45am to catch the tube to the Clink 78 Hostel in Kings Cross to meet our tour party. We got there and were not in the best shape. 7am rolled round and we were on our way to Dover to catch the ferry to France. Dover was pretty cool, well the cliffs were. We had a bit of a wait at the terminal, so coffees and introductions were made. There were 34 of us on the bus, so it took a few days to nail down everyone's names proper - some were still battling later in the trip...
The bus trip to Paris that day was long, we arrived sometime round 6 and had a dinner booked for us at a local french restaurant. Got the snails and frogs legs crossed off the list of foods to eat and jumped on the bus for our night tour of the city. We saw most of the sites, but not really cos we were on a bus.
The next day was a free day, so we could explore the city on our own. We got a drop off at the Lourve to meet Andrew at 9. He was still in bed and gave us a typical sly response (no one in Paris is awake at that time). So while we waited for him to come in, we thought we may as well check out the Mona Lisa while we were here. Andrew finally arrived at 10:20 and took us on a sweet tour of Paris (hit up the jewish quarter for an epic falafel, Notre Dame, River Seine, Jim Morrison's Grave). We had booked in a bike tour of the city for that afternoon, Sly tagged along at the back of the pack. Met up with the crew at the Eiffel tower for a picnic dinner before hitting up a Caberet show that night. The Caberet was epic, well worth the money. After the show, a few of us stayed out in the Latin Quarter and ended up having a pretty big night out.
Lauterbrunnen, Switzerland (Day 3 - 5)
The next morning was rough. Our room (Me, Alex, Riley) were among the last to get on the bus. Riley brought half our stuff from the room. Needless to say, the trend of hungover bus trips had started. We arrived in Lauterbrunnen with enough time to sort out some beers, washing, and a wander through the small town to withdraw some Swiss Francs. That night, there was a traffic light party in the bar with another topdeck bus that happened to be in the same campsite for the same night. There was no fridge to keep our beers cold so we ended up chucking them in the river to try keep them cold. Donna and Mark (a couple of Louise's friends) were on the other bus. They also knew Reeves, who was on my bus. Pretty damn small world. This night got loose. Couple of the boys ended up bunking with other cabins cos their room got destroyed.
The next day was rubbish, weather-wise, so we slept til lunch time. The sun came out just after we got up, so we timed that perfectly. A few of us went for a wander along the valley and checked out the waterfalls. Lauterbrunnen has an epic number of waterfalls coming over the cliffs. Trummelbache falls were the most epic - a waterfall inside a cave. We thought it'd be rude not to have some beers again, so we picked up another tray for 10 francs and perched them up in the river. Reeves, Riley and Duncan came up with a sweet game - Beer Races. Basically, you start with ur beers at the top of the creek, drop them in and let them race to the end of the creek. That kick started another night on the beers. Nothing planned that night, so we just hit up the bar and then had some yarns in the cabins til late. The next morning we were packed up and off to the French Rivera.
Nice, France (Day 5 - 7)
Nice was nice. Sunny, warm and beach... pebble beach, but still beach. We got in late afternoon and had a bit of time to go for a wander. Alex and I went for a wander to the beach and then picked up some wine for pre-dinner drinks. Turns out we didn't have as much time as we thought, but between us two, Trav and Tim, we downed the bottle. We had dinner at some local restaurant and then headed out to Wayne's bar which turned out to be one of the biggest nights on the tour... well for me. Don't really remember much too, but sounds like it was a good night out. Everyone was pretty rough the next morning. We didn't really surface til late, but got washing done, and went for a walk to the lookout and along the beach. We had to be back by 4pm to head to Monaco for the evening. Had a dabble in the Sun casino, then paid 10 euro to play with the big boys in the Monte Carlo but got schooled.
Florence, Italy (Day 7 - 9)
We left the French Riviera for Florence, but had a quick stop off at Pisa to check out the Leaning Tower. There was a most original photo comp, so most people spent the time tryna come up with original photos. The comp was judged by Luke and Gabriel (bus driver) at dinner in Florence. The campsite at Florence was the bomb! Pool, supermarket, three restaurants, bar, disco, pretty much everything you can think of. First night in Florence was mad, epic dinner of pizza and pasta, then everyone hit up the bar and disco. Big night out. The next morning, we were all dropped into Florence for a walking tour. Majority of us were hung as shit, but the tour was alright. Had a good lunch and then ended up wandering the streets to find the gelato shop that Luke suggested. Alex started his yarn here about how the sun travels the other way in the sky in the northern hemisphere, which went on for the rest of the day. There was a decent group of us, we checked out the markets, ponte vecchio and a few other sites, before heading back to the camp site. we had to fend for ourselves for dinner, so a few of us just bought up supermarket food and had a picnic for dinner then just chilled having a few wines and playing cards.
Rome, Italy (Day 9 - 11)
We left early for Rome the next morning, so we could squeeze in a walking tour through the main sites in Rome. We stopped at Orvieto on the way in to have a look round and grab a wicked wild boar sandwich. The weather was shit when we got into Rome, but Luke took us on the walking tour anyways. We covered most of the sites in Rome on the tour, but didn't get heaps of time at them. Most of the boyw were frothing for a proper cabonara. This restaurant hooked us up with 7 euro cabonara with a beer. Winning. After lunch we walked to the colosseum, where the walking tour ended. We trained it back to the hotel, stopping for a cheeky maccas stop on the way. That night was fairly chilled, just a few beers, there was an early start the next morning for our Vatican City tour.
The Vatican City was cool, stocked I did it, but was pretty drawn out. I guess if you love the artsy stuff, you would hav frothed, but I think i was too tired to really process it properly. The highlight of the tour was the Sistine Chapel. that place was awesome, Michelangelo did some good work. After the tour, we briefly checked out St Peters Basilica before heading to the colosseum and checking that out properly. There was a themed toga party planned for that night, but unfortunately, there was no other bus at the campsite with us, so it was just our crew dressed up. We still had an epic night and got pretty messy.
Venice, Italy (Day 11 - 13)
Pretty sure a lot of us were still drunk when we got up and on the bus to Venice. We stopped in at Verona enroute to check out Juilet's balcony and grab some more gelato. The campsite in Venice was sweet. There were supposed to be a number of Topdeck buses at the campstie when we were there, this fired up a couple of the boys. There was a masquerade party planned for the second night in Venice, so everyone picked up masks in Venice after our walking tour and gondola boat cruise. Venice was a choice place, canals and small streets winding everywhere. Luke's walking tour took us through most of the sites (St Marks, etc) and then we got on the gondolas and cruised some of the canals. After the boat, me and alex met up with tessa. She had been in venice for a few days, so took us on another wander through the city. I was completely lost, but she seemed to have it down. Found a sweet lil bar and had a few beers there, before boosting back to the crew and heading back for the masquerade party. We started the night playing a few drinking games and mafia. the set up was sweet, all our cabins were facing each other. The masks were awesome and some funny stories came out of that night. The next morning we had to leave early to Austria.
Tirol, Austria (Day 13 - 14)
The masquerade party ended up being a huge night. It was the most hungover, painful bus trip I had on tour. Tried to sleep most of the way to Austria and missed most of the epic scenery that was round. We stopped at the most epic place for lunch. The lunch actually saved me. There was snow about 30m away from where we were perched, but it wasn't that cold. Obviously after lunch, we had a quick snowball fight before we jumped on the bus and drove the last bit before arriving at Tirol. The afternoon was free for people to do their optional activities. Most people went canyoning, some went sky diving and Tim went paragliding. If you didn't do any of them, you could hire a bike and go for a ride, or just chill round the accom. It was a sweet little chilled place. We opted for biking as the other options were expensive as. We started this track that would wind up a mountain, but was too intense for most of us - especially me in the state i was in, so we flagged and went on an easier bike along the river. Alex and Dylan stayed back and tried to climb the hill. We had to be back for a big group photo at 6pm followed by an epic BBQ dinner. After dinner, we started up a NZ vs Aus game of touch. Kiwis killed the aussies, 5-2, although they'll claim they won from "last try wins". Typical Aussies.
Prague, Czech (Day 14 - 16).
The drive to Prague was long, but no one was really hungover at all so relatively painless. We stopped off at the Mauthausen concentration camp for a look. Pretty incredible some of the stuff that went down here. After that, we jumped on the bus and headed to Prague. There was one more stop along the way, so we could pick up some Czech Crown. That night, Luke took us on a boozey walking tour into Prague and then we finished up at the biggest night club in Europe - a 5 storied building with different music on each floor. This was the night the infamous game of blackspot occurred. No explanation given, you either know what blackspot is or you don't. The night got rather messy, so it was a slow start to the free day the next morning. Alex and I had to sort out washing, so didn't get into town til after lunch. We checked out the Castle on the hill, Charles bridge, Wenceslas Square, Old town square, all the sites really. We also had time to pop into the casino and alex managed to double his money. The second night in Prague was fairly quiet, some pool and a lil bit of mafia.
Berlin, Germany (Day 16 - 18)
Berlin was one of my favourite places on the tour. We stopped off in Dresden and had a look round the town. You can get these chilli currywurst sausages. they come in 7 different levels of spice. 1 is mild, while 7 has a higher scoville rating than pepper spray. Obviously, I had to get the 7. Luke reckons no one is able to finish a 7. I showed him... then suffered. It was pretty hot, not so bad eating it, but the after-burn. few of the boys pitched in some euros to get me to lick the plate clean. I was already on fire, so took the challenge. The rest of the bus trip to Berlin was painful, think my body started shutting down. We stopped at the East Side Gallery - a part of the Berlin wall that artist have been commissioned to paint. It was wicked man, but gutted i didn't find any banksy stuff... probably been painted over. That night, Luke took us down to the Hofbrauhaus where another bus were having a "B" themed party. Only a few of us dressed up - our room (Me, Alex, Trav, Tim) went as bags. The night ended up pretty large - we drank until the hostel bar closed, then went on a mish thru town. Burty turned 21 that day, so he ended up having a huge night. The second day in berlin started with a walking tour through all the sites of Berlin. The tour finished round lunch time and then we headed back to the hostel for a sleep before the pub crawl that night. There were two buses on the pub crawl, but it seemed like our bus dominated the crawl. We only ended up going to 4 pubs, but still managed to be a fairly large night out. There were free shots, at each pub, but no cheap drink deals.
Amsterdam, Netherlands (Day 18 - 20)
The drive to Amsterdam was the longest trip of the tour. We left early and got into Amsterdam late afternoon. We stopped off at some random farm to check out how cheese and clogs are made. The guy there was hard case - very good value. most of the boys picked up some cheese and when we got to the hostel, we had a massive cheese feed. Everyone had booked in for the sex show that night, so we met Luke in the lobby and he walked us into the centre of town and let us grab some dinner. A few of us went ot get frites (fries) and the vending machine food from Febo (croquets, frikkadels, and mini burgers). After that, we still had time to kill, so we hit up the casino. I came out 12 euro up, so i was happy. At 9:30, we hit up the sex show. Was similar to the ping pong show in Thailand, but not as extreme. Was funny seeing some of the crew get up on stage tho. After that, we went for a wander through the redlight district and ended up at a pub. A few of us flagged the pub and hit up a cafe. The others joined later on, but the cafe closed, so we hit up another cafe.
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| London Crew! |
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| Chinese Crew! |
The second day, we started with a bike tour. The bike tour was pretty rubbish - the guide was terrible. The other group had a wicked guide, so we got juted. After the tour, me alex riley and reeves had one of the funniest afternoons every. No more needs to be said, but we saw some pretty crazy stuff go down, e.g. Khalifa, the mountain, the grass people, the queue, bob parker, the man milking a bike, and the NZ auckland store. That night was the last of the tour. We all went for dinner at a chinese restaurant and then went on a river cruise with an open bar. One last night OTP with everyone. After the cruise we all hit up the Pirates bar in Amsterdam. The night was pretty large, but worth it for the last night. Some of the boys stayed in Amsterdam for a couple extra days, while the rest of us got on the bus back to London. We stopped off in Bruges for lunch and a wander round, before heading back to the ferry.
We left Gabriel in Calais and then everyone went their own ways at the Clink hostel.
Bath and Stonehenge
8 of us from the crew headed up to Bath to check out the Roman baths and Stonehenge on the Saturday after the trip. Was an expensive trip, but cool to catch up with some of the crew again. The baths were way better than I expected, but stonehenge was a bit of a let down. We did get a good nap on the grass there. In saying that, I'm glad I went and crossed it off the list. It was cool to hang with some of the crew again.
Anyways, that's it for the novel. 3 epic weeks in one blog. There are a lot more stories that will eventually come out, but for now, that's all you get.
Congrats for making it to the end.
Next chapter: Spain. woop!
Driving in Europe is mad! We got up early and headed to the airport to pick up our rental car - VW Golf 1.6L Diesel. It boosts man, way more than i thought a 1.6L diesel would. It took a while to get used to driving on the right and changing gears with the right. Yea man, not wasting time on getting an auto, if you're gonna do it, do it right! haha - nah, we had no choice in the matter. I took the first leg of driving, a short-ish drive to Tarragona (where we were gonna stop for lunch). Our final destination for the day was gonna be Valencia, which was about 4 or so hours down the coast.
After getting stung by road tolls on the way to Tarragona, we decided to avoid toll roads for the rest of the trip. Also meant we'd get to take more scenic roads. After we got off the damn roundabout our tomtom GPS had us keep turning back onto for about 20 minutes, we were off on our way to Valencia. We decided to name our tomtom "Kate" after the name of the voice we chose. Kate was pretty good at giving us directions on the open roads, but man, she struggles when she's in a town/city. We got about halfway down the coast to Valencia, when we decided to make a random stop off at a beach. I think the beach was Torrenosta. Awesome beach, but it was dead there, no one was round at all. It was a little creepy how dead it was. Asty had a quick dip, but Tess and I decided to perch on the beach. After a quick snack stop, we jumped back in the car and hit the road to Valencia. Somehow, i'd managed to get Kate trapped in the centre console, but some quick thinking by Tess got her out.
The walking tour leader was a classic scottish dude, Paul, who was out til 6am with the bar crawl from the night before. Half the walking tour had been on the bar crawl, so we were all feeling pretty rough. Paul still managed to do a fairly decent job tho. The crawl ended round 2pm, and by that stage we were starving. We found a decent feed near by the hostel and hit up some grub. Valencia has some sweet street art painted on walls throughout the town as well. We saw some on the walking tour, but i reckon there's more gems if you spent time looking.
After a mid-afternoon siesta, we decided that we'd better not waste the whole day in bed like the other day, so we jumped in the car and headed down to the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (City of Arts and Science). The buildings there are a buzzy design, pretty cool and worth a look if you have time. We didn't pay to go in and see anything, and missed the aquarium altogether, but by that stage we were pretty keen to check out the beach in Valencia.
By the time we hit the beach it was round 6pm at night. Before you call us idiots, it doesn't get dark til round 9 or 10pm and it's still pretty warm. The water was a little be cool to swim so we just lay on the beach... well, we slept for just over an hour. Probably a good thing it wasn't real sunny out, otherwise there would have been 3 bright red lobsters in the car the next day! When we finally woke up, we navigated our way back the hostel, parked up and went looking for a decent paella. We found a joint that did a pretty sweet paella not far from the hostel. It came out in a big dish that the three of us could just serve ourselves out of. I'm not gonna lie, it was pretty epic. After dins, we headed back to the hostel and hit the hay.
We decided that we'd break up our drive down to Granada by stopping off at a random little beach town called Torrevieja, which translates to "Old Town". We left Valencia pretty early (around 9am) to avoid having to pay anymore for parking. After a couple days away from the wheel, I decided to drive the first part of the way. It wasn't gonna be a big drive day, but on the way we managed to past what would normally be classed as ladies of the night, but they were working in the middle of the day... random, but that must fly over these ways.... We stopped at some random beach in a town just outside of Benidorm, where we checked out if the beach was decent or not. It wasn't that great, but Tessa did manage to finally skip a stone in the water there! We decided to head straight to Benidorm for lunch and a possible dip. Benidorm was fairly build up, and felt like a retirement town. The beach there was good, but packed full of oldies. We had an epic lunch and decided to try our luck at a beach in Alicante. One of the great things about Spain is the siestas. This mean that between the hours of 2 and 4pm, there's free parking as the meter-maids are on siesta. This worked out perfect for our stop in Alicante, one hour free parking! The beach was pretty sweet and the water was good, so we perched there for an hour, had a couple swims and got our tan on for a bit. At 4pm, Alex jumped in the drivers seat and we boosted the rest of the way to Torrevieja.
Torrevieja didn't turn out to be the quiet little beach-side town we thought it was gonna be. It too is fairly built up. The beach front/port area is fairly nice though. We checked into our hotel and Tess loaded up some walking tour notes, and we headed down to the beach front to check it all out. We had a bottle of Don Simon sangria leftover from Valencia, so we brought this along for the tour. The beach front has this massive 1.5km long spit/boardwalk, so we decided to walk to the end of that and watch the sun set. Half way along, we stopped for a drinks break and downed the bottle of sangria. There were a bunch of dudes rock fishing at the end of the spit, we counted 28 rods in the water and after about half an hour, they got nothing! not even a bite... The sun set was pretty sweet, and after we pretty much headed back into town, grabbed a feed and headed back to the hotel to chill.
