Contiki: Day 8 – Nice to Florence

// May 18th, 2008 // 1522 Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/18/ptm-contiki-day-8-nice-to-florence/Contiki%3A+Day+8+-+Nice+to+Florence2008-05-18+15%3A26%3A58Ryan // Contiki, France, Italy, Travel

I, personally didn’t like Nice at all nor would I recommend it to anyone. Nice seemed pretty run down for a coastal city in southern France. One word: Grimy! Monaco which is a half hour away, seems like it’s in another world. All of the glitz, the glamour, the cleanliness, and more. Monaco is definitely a country that you need to see! Nice on the other hand, don’t waste your time! There are so many other great cities that you could spend your time in. I’m really not sure why Contiki even visits Nice? Maybe because it’s the only coastal city on the European Vista tour? But realistically the beaches in Nice are literally all rocks. There is no such thing as sand in Nice, so even if the weather was good the day that we were there, it still wouldn’t have really mattered! On top of that, I didn’t feel too comfortable staying at the Hotel Busby with it’s not so good of a reputation. I have to say through out my travels so far I have never been more happy to actually leave a city or country.

Unfortunately, this morning started with the same included hotel breakfast as yesterday. Once again, we received a plate with one piece of bread, and one croissant. Yummy! What a great start to our last morning in Nice!

After breakfast we loaded up the coach and headed off for our first quick stop which would be in Pisa, Italy. The home of the Leaning Tower of Pisa! I was pretty excited to get some good photos of the leaning tower. Before we arrived we were warned by our tour manager that as soon as we put the bus in park, that the “Lookie, Lookie’s” would harass us and try to sell us all sorts of fake merchandise. Watches, handbags, umbrellas, t-shirts, and anything else that you can think of. Our tour manager told us if we decided to buy anything we should definitely try to haggle and get the price down because they WILL take most offers.

Well that is exactly what happened when we got off of the bus. Five or six guys holding all sorts of fake merchandise surrounded the coach and tried to talk us into buying stuff. Nobody purchased anything yet, because we wanted to see the leaning tower first and then we would have some free time to shop afterwards.

We walked from the coach to the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Duomo, and baptistry? and we took a bunch of really cool photos while we were there. See some of the photos below!

After we took some photos I wanted to see if I could screw around with some of the street vendors. It’s something I enjoy doing actually. As I walked around, I was approached by many men trying to sell me watches, and sunglasses. I was stopped by one guy that had all sorts of sunglasses and I haggled with him a bit to drop the price on some Armani sunglasses from 20.00 Euro to 15.00. But that still wasn’t good enough for me. I offered him 8 Euro and he declined. I turned around and walked up to another vendor who sold me the same exact pair for 10.00 Euro.

Later I was stopped by a guy selling watches and I really played with this guys head. He was so persistent, and I kept walking away. He kept yelling… “Playboy, Playboy!”. “I give you best deal. Your lowest price? How much you spend?” I liked one of the black Armani watches that he had and I asked him how much? Ninety five Euro he replied. Ninety five Euro I said? You’re crazy! I’ll pay 20 Euro. He said no, that is good deal for you, no good deal for me. I walked away and as he followed me he kept asking me, Okay, how much you pay? I told him over and over that I would only pay 20 Euro. Fifteen minutes later this guy is still walking next to me asking me the same question, and I’m giving him the same answer. Over and over, 20 Euro, or no deal. He started getting aggravated and said, no this watch worth 300 Euro! I kept on saying to him, let’s be honest here! It’s fake! He agreed, and said but it’s good imitation! Haha!

To make a long story short I finally said okay, 25 Euro and that’s it! He accepted and I got a beautiful black Armani watch with an original price of 95 Euro for 25 Euro! Sweet deal! I was a happy man, and he was left aggravated! Too funny! The whole experience today at the leaning tower of Pisa was quite like my experience in New York back in December. I enjoy giving outrageous offers to these street vendors and when they won’t budge, I laugh and walk away. They absolutely hate it! One thing about New York was that things were quite a bit cheaper than the leaning tower of Pisa but all in all, it was a great experience.

The leaning tower of Pisa was great! Be sure to stop by there if you’re in the area. It’s a great sight to see!

Contiki: Day 7 – Nice, France

// May 17th, 2008 // 151No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/17/ptm-contiki-day-7-nice-france/Contiki%3A+Day+7+-+Nice%2C+France2008-05-17+15%3A10%3A09Ryan // Contiki, France, Travel

Today we had a free day in Nice. Ryan and I planned out a few things that we wanted to see the night before as we usually do so that we can be somewhat productive and have some sort of a plan for our free day. We planned on sleeping in just a bit later than usual because we’ve been waking up pretty early lately.

After we slept in a bit we headed down to our included hotel breakfast. This breakfast broke a few records for the worst breakfast of the trip so far. You had no options, literally all that you had was a plate waiting for you on a table with 1 small piece of bread, and 1 croissant. Tea and Coffee were available, and orange juice. Enjoy! Because I sure didn’t. You know it’s bad when you have to take a second croissant off the plate next to you because you’re still starving. Every man for themselves!

Ryan and I went back up to our rooms, grabbed our day bags and headed out to the ocean front of Nice. We walked along the beach all the way until we arrived at the Chateau, which is a look out point that overlooks the whole beach front of Nice, and there are a variety of different views at the very top. Warning: You will have to climb nearly 400 stairs to get to the top! At the top there were gardens, a small restaurant, and views over the port of Nice and more. We took a few really cool photos, and just enjoyed one of our first really relaxing days since the trip started.

We had enough of the views and Ryan wanted to head over to Cannes, to check out the Cannes Film Festival that was going on while we were in town. It was a 30 minute train ride so I figured I’d go check it out with him. We walked down from the Chateau to the markets in Old Town Nice and down a few streets to get to the train station. About half way through our walk to the station I realized that I lost my glasses. Not my replaceable sunglasses, my actual prescription eye glasses. I knew for a fact that I had taken them off to take a photo at the top of the Chateau. I didn’t want to disrupt Ryan’s day, so I told him to take off on his own and that I had to at least go back to the top of the Chateau to check if my glasses were still there for my own sanity. I walked all the way back up the 400 stairs to the top of the Chateau where I knew that I left my glasses, and of course they were gone. That is basically where my day ended and it was only 11:00AM. I was so aggravated at myself for being such a fool and leaving my glasses down. I wouldn’t care if I spent a $100 on them, but when we’re talking about a pair of $400 Versace frames, it’s quite a different story.

Like I said, after I lost my glasses my day was pretty much over. I headed off to McDonalds to try to get WIFI, but of course it didn’t work. I headed down the street and picked up some WIFI at Subway for a few hours. During that time I made some calls back home, updated my website, and replied to a few thousand emails.

Our group planned to meet at 5:30PM to head to an included dinner. Not at the hotel, but an affiliated restaurant about 10 minutes walk from the hotel. This dinner was one that I wish I didn’t go to. I had heard that this dinner would be the worst of the entire trip, but unfortunately I gave it the benefit of the doubt. For starters you had no option, you simply received a piece of who knows what. Some type of pizza? With all of these different types of cheeses, olives, and again more unidentified objects. For our main course you also had no option. All of a sudden the main course was just placed in front of you. It was fish, with a side of mush, and mashed vegetables. I’m not sure if they realize that not everyone likes fish, or even the plate of mushed vegetables. Plain and simple, it was the worst dinner of the trip so far. All that I ended up eating was the bread that was left on the table. Mmm!

After dinner Ryan and I headed back to our hotel to change our clothes and head out for a walk around town on the last night of Nice. We were looking to grab a beer at one of the bars down in Old Town but after passing a few ice cream stands on the way we decided to grab an ice cream cone and head home for the night. Another long drive ahead of us to Pisa, and Florence tomorrow!

Contiki: Day 6 – Lucerne to Nice

// May 16th, 2008 // 1503 Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/16/ptm-contiki-day-6-lucerne-to-nice/Contiki%3A+Day+6+-+Lucerne+to+Nice2008-05-16+15%3A03%3A35Ryan // Contiki, France, Monaco, Switzerland, Travel

This morning we had to be up early so that we could head back to France! Yep, back to France we go but this time our destination is Nice which is located in the south of France on the French Riviera.

Our tour manager Kennett told us that we’d travel through four countries today! Switzerland, Italy, France, and Monaco! I thought that was pretty cool, minus all of the time sitting on this bus of course.

We finally crossed the border of Switzerland into Italy and just after passing over the border we made our first stop at a truck stop in Italy. We had a nice 45 minute break from 11:30 to 12:15. As usual, most people headed for the bathroom since we try not to use the toilets on the bus. It’s not a law, it’s just a rule that the toilets should only be used if it’s an absolute emergency. I’m not sure if anybody has used the restroom on the bus as of yet, besides people that got sick from drinking the previous night, or car sick. Otherwise the bathrooms are rarely used.

At the rest stop in Italy, there was a great pizza chain called Spizzio’s? I ordered a slice of margarita pizza, and it came with a small order of fries, and a drink. I didn’t think the price of 6.00 Euro’s was too bad actually. The slice of cheese pizza was 1/4 of a full pizza so it was absolutely huge, and tasty too. After everyone was finished eating we headed back out to the bus so that we could take off to Nice.

A few hours, and a few windy roads later we finally arrived in Nice! We checked into our hotel and had about 30 minutes to get ready to head out to Monte Carlo in Monaco for the Contiki Optional Dinner. Everyone attended and it was the best meal I’ve had so far on the trip. I was debating on going to this dinner, but I’m glad I did. Each table was served 2 bottles of wine, one white, and one red. I had roasted chicken with garlic and rosemary. For dessert I had two scoops of ice cream, one strawberry, one vanilla. It was a perfect way to finish off the meal before heading over to the Grand Casino in Monaco.

We arrived at the Grand Casino and I couldn’t believe how rich it actually was. We didn’t have much time at the casino, only 25 minutes so I decided not to go in at all. I stood out front with some others and watched all of the expensive cars, glamour, and rich old men park their Ferrari’s, Bentley’s and Porche’s. It was incredible!

After the casino we all came back to our hotel and spent about 15 minutes getting ready to go out to a bar down the street. Ryan and I went out for 1 drink and walked back home. Tomorrow we have a free day in Nice and Ryan & I are going to sleep in a bit before heading out to explore the city. There isn’t a ton to do here, but if it’s nice out we’ll probably hit the beach for a bit and do some sightseeing. Should be a good day, hopefully the weather clears up a bit.

Til’ next time…

Contiki: Day 4 – Paris to Lucerne!

// May 14th, 2008 // 147No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/14/ptm-contiki-day-4-paris-to-lucerne/Contiki%3A+Day+4+-+Paris+to+Lucerne%212008-05-14+11%3A10%3A03Ryan // Contiki, France, Switzerland, Travel

Another early morning! Everyone was up early to get to the bus so that we could head off to Lucerne, Switzerland. Kennett our tour manager said that this would be one of the longest drives on the whole tour.

We stopped twice during the 6 or 7 hour drive, once for 45 minutes, and then another 15 minutes. Personally, I would’ve rathered to drive straight there, but some people had to use the bathroom, stretch their legs, etc.

Finally after arriving in Lucerne, Kennet took us to the famous Wooden Chapel Bridge here in Lucerne. A bridge that USED to be the oldest wooden bridge in Europe, but due to a man tying his boat up to it and burning most of the bridge down back in 1994, it is no longer Europe’s oldest wooden bridge, Too bad huh? The Swiss restored the bridge, but lost most of the paintings that were located on the ceiling of the bridge in the process. Luckily the Swiss made copies of the paintings just before the Wooden Chapel Bridge burnt down so they were able to put artificial copies of the paintings back up on the ceiling.

The bridge itself is beautiful. It’s surrounded by mountains and hills and even Lake Lucerne. There are swans that live in the river below the bridge and they too are part of the Wooden Chapel Bridge’s beauty. Along the edge of the river are cafe’s, pubs, and hotels. There are tables outside along the river and along side the bridge, and I’m actually sitting at a table right now typing this blog!

After getting a look at the Chapel Bridge, we headed over to Harry’s, a well known Swiss Watch and Swiss Knife shop here in Lucerne. I took a look at a few watches, but after seeing some of the price tags, I took a stroll outside.

We had about a half hour free time to walk around Lucerne, so I took a walk by myself around the town and grabbed a plate of french fries for the walk. As I headed back to meet the group I stopped at a water fountain that was about two minutes from where we were all supposed to meet. This is where things got a little weird. I was standing enjoying the view of the fountains when all of a sudden I heard a woman say Hey! I turned around and there was a building on the corner of the street in front of the fountain with tall hedges covering the door. As I turned I saw this woman signaling me to come towards her. I started to say what?, what?. Because I couldn’t understand what she wanted. Then when I started to walk away around the other side of the street where I was meeting with my tour she crossed the front of the hedges and whispered “Hey Baby!”. I was sort of shocked so I turned to her and said Hi. Again she signaled for me to come towards her, so as I got closer she began to ask me all sorts of questions, where I was from, how long I’m in Lucerne, etc. So, I proceeded to ask the questions right back at her! Two or three minutes into our conversation she asked me if I wanted to make love. Haha! I asked her, what is this a strip club or something? She said Yes, but we have a room upstairs but shh… It’s full contact, we make love! I couldn’t believe what was going on, and my tour was in sight to my left so I politely said no and changed the subject a bit and she kept on asking me. “C’mon, how many swiss francs is too much?” I again politely said no and ended up walking away to catch up with my tour. That experience was the last thing I would’ve thought would happen in Lucerne, I mean I can see if I was in Amsterdam, then that would be a different story.

Once I got back on the bus, my tour manager Kennett told everyone over the loud speaker that I had been in Switzerland for 30 minutes and I’d already been offered sex from a Venezuelan woman. Everyone was cracking up!

We headed off to to check into our hotel and everyone went straight to dinner when we arrived. It was an included Contiki dinner at the hotel, and it wasn’t too bad. I would say that it’s free, but in reality I paid for it in my tour price. After dinner, some people gathered in the hotel lobby and drank, but I was locked in my hotel room trying to find wifi so that I could update my website for you all! After an hour or two of attempting, I gave up and went to bed. Unfortunately I’ve been having some issues finding free wireless in the last couple of cities. I hope that I’ll have wifi access in my hotel in Nice, France this weekend. We’ll see!

Til’ next time…

Contiki: Night 3 – Paris!

// May 13th, 2008 // 146No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/13/ptm-contiki-night-3-paris/Contiki%3A+Night+3+-+Paris%212008-05-13+10%3A39%3A10Ryan // Contiki, France, Travel

Our group planned to meet at the hotel reception desk at 6:00PM so that we could head out to our first Contiki Optional. The optional was a dinner and Cabaret show in Paris called Nouvelle Eve. At first I debated on going, but when I realized that 48 of the 50 some odd people were going, I made the decision to go and now I’m so glad that I attended. I originally thought that the price was a little steep at 114.00 Euro per person, but after the show ended I realized that it was worth every Euro! The only downfall of the night was that there were no photos or videos allowed inside…

My table was one of the first ones to be seated at Nouvelle Eve. We were seated front row and I was sitting right up against the stage. Perfect! I shared the table with my new friends Jaide, Karen, and John. I ordered steak for dinner and when it came out it actually ended up being the size of an over sized steak tip, but I have to admit it was very, very good. Our dessert was some sort of ice cream, which I still have no idea what it exactly was, but it was pretty good. After dinner we sipped on some champagne while we waited for the show to start.

The show consisted of singing, topless dancing, and even some acrobatic acts that were really cool. It seemed that everyone really enjoyed the acrobatic performers over the dancing. At least that’s what I enjoyed most. A juggling act came on stage about three quarters of the way through the show and what do you know, they pointed me out of the whole crowd to come up on stage. The two men sat me down in a chair in the middle of the stage and made jokes as they put a funny pair of white glasses on my face, a fake cigarette in my mouth, and a top hat on my head. They told me to look straight into the crowd and to not to move at all while they stood on each side of me and threw juggling pins back and forth to each other trying to knock the hat off my head, the cigarette out from between my lips, and last but not least the glasses right off of my head! I couldn’t believe how accurate they were. As they were throwing the pins and knocking all of the stuff off of my face I was trying not to laugh too hard because I didn’t want to get hit off of the head with a pin! Tonight was one crazy experience, and definitely one that I’ll never forget!

I didn’t want the show to end, everyone was having such a great time but all great things have to come to an end. We all laughed and joked on the way out of the theatre and chatted for a few out front before walking up to the front of Moulin Rouge to take a few photos! After taking a few shots of the Moulin Rouge we headed over to the bar next door called O’Sullivans to have a few drinks to close the night. Everyone was having so much fun dancing, conversating and more. I ended up heading home with John and Lucianne and went straight to bed because we were heading to Switzerland early the next morning. Tomorrow is going to be one long day…

Contiki: Day 3 – Paris!

// May 13th, 2008 // 145No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/13/ptm-contiki-day-3-paris/Contiki%3A+Day+3+-+Paris%212008-05-13+10%3A17%3A54Ryan // Contiki, France, Travel

Ryan and I set our alarms this morning for 8AM so that we could run down and grab some breakfast that was provided by the hotel. We pretty much filled out trays with croissants, bread, crepes, applesauce, and fruit. There were no eggs, bacon any of that, but that is pretty much expected of a hotel breakfast anyways. Not a big deal. We filled ourselves with all of the junk above.

Once we finished breakfast we headed straight for the subway or what the Parisian’s call the “Metro”. At first we had quite a bit of trouble understanding how to purchase a single day pass but thanks for a generous french woman, we both had our tickets in hand within a few minutes time. And yes, we were holding up the whole line.

We purchased a single day ticket on the Metro for 5.60 Euro, but I was doubtful that we bought the correct pass because I expected a full day pass to be between 8 and 10 Euro. After jumping off and on a few trains I came to the realization that we had just got a great deal! Only 5.60 Euro to ride anywhere on the Paris metro system in one full day. Sweet!

Our first stop was down to the Notre Dame Cathedral where we didn’t have to wait in line at all. We saw a tour group ahead of us and we decided to try to blend in with the tour and we walked right in! I’m still not sure if there was a line outside, but all I know is it felt like we breezed through like we were V.I.P!

The Notre Dame Cathedral was amazing, the outside of the building was pretty impressive and the inside was even nicer. We walked around a bit inside and even sat down for few minutes to listen to the organs play in the background.

From Notre Dame, we headed off to the Catacombs which are burial grounds for some 6 million people. The story is that at one point there was no more room in the cemetaries so the city of Paris designed underground tunnels that ran underneath the sewer and water systems, and now what is the Metro system (20 Meters deep and over 500 Meters long). These underground tunnels and passage ways stored the bones of over 6 million people! As you walk through the dark passage ways, it seems like you’re in a maze of skeletons.

We left the spooky Catacombs to head over to the Montparnasse (tourmontparnasse56.com) sky scraper. As far as I know it’s the tallest sky scraper in Paris. We went up to the roof (59th Floor) to the observatory deck so that we could get a 360 degree view of the city of Paris. Also in perfect sight is the Eiffel Tower, The Arc de Triumph, and more. The views were crazy from the top, check out some of the photos below.

Our second to last stop of the day was to the Eiffel Tower of course! We decided not to go to the top of it due to the lines that had formed over the course of the day. We took a few good shots of the tower and headed off to our last destination.

Last stop was the Arc de Triumph! We took a few photos of it from across the street, and then proceeded to head down through the tunnel to get across to the Arc de Triumph.

Our day exploring Paris was just about over and we felt like we really accomplished a lot. We knocked off every single thing that we had planned to try to see. I have to say, Paris was a really cool city!

Contiki: Day 2 – London to Paris!

// May 12th, 2008 // 144No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/12/ptm-contiki-day-2-london-to-paris/Contiki%3A+Day+2+-+London+to+Paris%212008-05-12+10%3A09%3A09Ryan // Contiki, England, France, Travel

This morning we met at 6:45AM at the Royal National Hotel to check in, weigh the bags, and load the bags on to the coach. I met up with Ryan, Michelle, and Christine the same Contiki’ers that I went to dinner with last night.

The four of us got seats in the same row so it worked out quite well. We left Royal National Hotel around 7:30AM to head for Paris! On the way, our Contiki Tour Manager Kennett explained to us a little more about our trip and some of the rules of the road. He seems really outgoing and funny. We’ll be spending the next 3 weeks traveling and listening to him so it’s comforting to know that he has a good personality.

We arrived at the White Cliffs of Dover where we had to cross the border and the bus was randomly picked to be searched! The border patrol took six random suitcases off of the bus to be searched and each person that owned a suitcase tha was chosen had to get off the bus and be searched as well. Luckily I wasn’t one of the six!

After we crossed through the border, we arrived at the port where we would take the ferry from England to France. We drove on to the ferry, parked and we all got out and headed up to the top deck so we could get a few photos of the White Cliffs of Dover before we departed England. After we took a few snapshots we headed downstairs to grab some breakfast.

After breakfast we headed back up to the top deck and took a few more photos before we arrived in France. Once we arrived at the port in France we all loaded back on to the bus and started what was a four hour journey south to Paris.

At first we thought that we wouldn’t make it to the Louvre before it would be closing at 5:30PM, but thanks to our speedy bus driver we made it just in time to run into the Louvre and catch a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, and the Venus de Milo. After the Louvre we headed to our hotel so that we could check in real quick before dinner at 7:00PM. The dinner was included in the Contiki Tour and it was roasted chicken and white rice.

At 7:45 we met outside at the coach so that we could take a tour around Paris. Kennett our Tour Manager gave us sort of a guided tour around Paris with all sorts of cool facts about monuments, buildings, and more.

After the tour around Paris we came back and ended the night in the hotel bar. I had a pint and conversated with all sorts of people from my tour. It was great getting to know everyone a little bit better. I have pretty much met most of the people at this point. Everyone seems to be really cool so far. Hopefully it stays that way!

Tomorrow we have a free day to explore Paris. We’re going to go check out the Catacombs, Nortre Dame Cathedral, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumph and more.

Til’ next time…

Contiki European Vista Trip

// April 3rd, 2008 // 801 Comment »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/04/03/ptm-contiki-european-vista-trip/Contiki+European+Vista+Trip2008-04-03+22%3A47%3A40Ryan // Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Travel

As most of you know that after I booked my plane ticket to Ireland back in September of 2007, I wasn’t exactly planning on turning this “vacation” into a full fledged trip of a lifetime. Once I realized that my dreams of traveling Europe were actually viable, I started to do some research on a few different companies that offer tours throughout Europe. Not just day tours, not through one country, but I was looking for more of an extended tour through multiple countries.

After researching for a few weeks I came across a company that really interested me. This company is called Contiki. They were the only tour company that I found to offer specialized tours designed strictly for 18-35 year olds. I found this to be great considering I will be traveling on my own and would prefer if possible to hang out with a few people my age. I had been reading some travel forums about a few other tour companies and many people said that the tours were filled with tourists from the age of 3 to 60, senior citizens, the whole lot. Not that I have anything against children or the elderly in any way, but if I’m going to drop a couple thousand dollars on a tour through Europe, I would simply rather travel with people my age. Pretty understandable, right? (more…)