Contiki: Day 12 – Venice, Italy!

// May 22nd, 2008 // 157No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/22/ptm-contiki-day-12-venice-italy/Contiki%3A+Day+12+-+Venice%2C+Italy%212008-05-22+14%3A52%3A24Ryan // Contiki, Italy, Travel

This morning we woke up a little later than usual. The breakfast? I won’t even get into it. All I will say is that when you open up the packets of butter and there’s mold growing on it you’re simply no longer hungry anymore. Or maybe if you find a bug in your bread roll as your eating it like my friend Julieana did, you might understand what I mean. We’re at a little over the half way point on this trip and this is really the beginning of then end for me. As much as it’s a great “preview” trip, and the great people that I’ve met I’m just really disappointed with a lot of things. I expected a lot more from Contiki for the price.

Anyways, everyone loaded the coach so that we could spend a full day in Venice. There were a few things scheduled for us to do, and also for some people that were doing some of the two available Contiki Optionals. The water taxi picked us up at the port and took us on a 30 minute journey through the Grand Canal into Venice. It was beautfiul seeing the city that surrounded the canal. It’s amazing to think that every building and structure was basically built on stilts! The traffic in the canal was some what light because of the time of the morning.

We arrived at the docks in Venice and walked straight to St. Marks Square. As big and as amazing as the St Mark’s Basillica was, St. Marks Square wasn’t much to write home about. It was a giant square that was filled with millions of dirty pigeons eating from the hands of people that don’t realize that these pigeons carry all sorts of diseases, lice, and much more. I wasn’t five minutes in St. Marks Square before I saw some guy feed a pigeon from his own mouth. I literally almost vomited all over the place. Yuck.

In the morning there was a lace demonstration and if you didn’t want to participate you would have some free time on your hands to check out all of the back streets and alleyways of Venice. That’s exactly what I did for about 40 minutes before meeting up with the group to head to the Venetian Glass Blowing demonstration. We walked into the area where the glass blowers work and they put on a very fast 3 minute demonstration before bringing us in to the other room and showing us the real reason that they wanted to give us a demonstration of glass blowing. They wanted to sell us outrageously priced Venetian glass! I felt uncomfortable being in the room because there were all sorts of super expensive glass products everywhere on shelves and tables. I was hoping I wouldn’t knock anything over with my backpack so I stood way in the back away from everything just in case. There were Venetian chandeliers in this place worth 10, 20, even 40,000 Euros. It was crazy!

After the demonstration I headed off with Ryan and we met up with Bruno and Juliana to get some lunch. Our tour manager had told us that it would be very hard to find good food at a good price in Venice, but we had no problem finding that. We sat down at a restaurant on one of the back streets off of St. Marks Square and had a great pasta dinner. The fact that they charged us for the bread that they put down on the table was pretty aggravating, but whatever. The meal was still worth the 16 Euro we paid.

After lunch we decided to walk around deeper into Venice to see all of the little bridges, buildings, and other historic sights along the way. I got some great photos in the process, so I was psyched. We all planned to meet back up with the group at 4:40PM to do the Contiki Optional Gondola Ride! I mean, how could you go to Venice and not take a gondola ride? It’s pretty mandatory.

We met at 4:40PM and groups of six hopped on to the gondolas for a supposed 35 minute ride. The ride was great and it was really cool to be sailing through the canals of Venice but the ride was far less than 35 minutes. Our tour manager had promised us that Contiki has a deal with this company and they sign a contract stating that the ride will last at least 35 minutes. Definitely not. Another big disappointment! The ride itself lasted between 20 and 25 minutes. Yes, it was 20 Euros, but you have to realize that there are six people in the boat too. A few of us got a quote from a gondolier earlier in the day and he said he would take us around for 45 minutes for 20 Euro each, and there were only four of us. If you are visiting Venice on a Contiki trip, my tip to you is to find your own gondola ride. You might save some money, and even get a ride that lasts as long as it’s quoted for.

After the gondola ride, I wasn’t in too good of a mood. We walked around a bit more, got a gelato and that seemed to bring my mood up a bit. We ended up hanging out in St. Marks Square for most of the evening talking, laughing, and venting about the trip so far. It was pretty funny.

We met up with the group again at 8:45PM so that we could get back on the boat that would take us back to the port where the bus was, which would then take us to our hotel. Yeah, pretty disappointing. By the time we got back to the hotel, everyone was extremely tired and most went to bed.

Tomorrow we’re heading to Hopfgarten, Austria and I was originally signed up to go white water rafting, but I pulled out due to finding out that it’s not real white water rafting. It’s more like floating down a river in a boat and paddling every now and then. No thanks! If I’m going to spend money on white water rafting, I want it to be extreme and hardcore rafting.

The following day in Austria there’s also a Mt. Biking trip that I was also signed up for but I pulled out of that too after finding out it wasn’t real mountain biking. It’s simply riding a mountain bike on a paved path in Austria. Arghhh! I’m very frustrated at this point…

Contiki: Day 11 – Rome to Venice!

// May 21st, 2008 // 156No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/21/ptm-contiki-day-11-rome-to-venice/Contiki%3A+Day+11+-+Rome+to+Venice%212008-05-21+14%3A40%3A27Ryan // Contiki, Italy, Travel

This morning we left Rome to head to Venice, a city that I’ve been looking forward to seeing for a while now. I find it amazing that Venice was originally created by building on top of sand banks using wooden poles, cement, and other materials.

On our long journey to Venice we made an unexpected stop in Verona, Italy which is about an hour and a half away from Venice. Verona is an absolutely beautiful city located in Northern Italy with big squares, high end shopping, a somewhat similar colosseum to Rome, and it’s where the story of Romeo and Juliet took place. Once our tour manager told us that we would be stopping in Verona, all of the girls on the bus let out a few screams because they were so excited to be able to see Juliet’s house and the balcony that was a part of the story of Romeo and Juliet.

When we arrived, myself and a few others headed towards the Casa de Juliet (Juliet’s House) to take some photos. There’s a statue of Juliet out front of her home and the myth is that if you rub her right breast that you will have good luck. It’s not hard to figure out which breast to rub when she only has one shiny one! Her right breast is shiny due to so many people rubbing it over the years. It’s quite funny. You know me, I had to get a naughty photo with her.

After spending about an hour and a half in Verona we all jumped back on the bus so that we could check in to our hotel in Venice. Once again I was very disappointed with the hotel location. When we are told that we will stay in Venice, I expect to stay IN Venice. I feel like I’ve been scammed on a few things on this trip and the hotel location is one of them. Our hotel in “Venice” was actually located in Padova which was a 40 minute bus ride to the port and then a 30 minute boat ride to get to the actual city of Venice. The hotel was old, and the showers didn’t have much hot water.

The first night at the hotel in “Venice” we really had no other choice than to either go to bed or go out for a beer at the bar down the street from the hotel. There was no option to head out to Venice even if we wanted to. It was just simply too far. I went out for 2 drinks with a few friends and then headed back to get some sleep for a long day in Venice the following morning.

Contiki: Day 10 – Rome, Italy!

// May 20th, 2008 // 155No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/20/ptm-contiki-day-10-rome/Contiki%3A+Day+10+-+Rome%2C+Italy%212008-05-20+14%3A33%3A54Ryan // Contiki, Italy, Travel

Today was the earliest day on our trip so far. We had to wake at 6 this morning so that we could make the Contiki included hotel breakfast at 6:30AM. I woke up, washed up and headed down with Ryan to grab some food. It was our first breakfast at the hotel and I have to say it wasn’t too bad. There were Croissants, Scrambled, Eggs, Toast, Bread, and for drinks there was orange juice and another type of juice? Tea and coffee were also served. Today was the first time on the trip that we were offered scrambled eggs, or an egg cooked any style. I was pretty satisfied after I had two croissants and some eggs.

Everyone jumped on the coach and we left for Rome at around 7:15AM. The big problem I have with this stop in Rome is that the hotel is so far outside of Rome that it isn’t even funny. You couldn’t go into Rome on your own if you wanted to. If you did, you’d need to take a taxi from the hotel to the train station, and then take a train 8 stops, then change over to another line and go another 2 stops before you reach the Colloseum in Rome. It’s simply very inconveniently located well outside of Rome. The good thing was that Contiki takes care of your train/bus passes to get you into Rome for your day in the city, as they should.

We finally got to the train station after about a 10 or 15 minute bus ride. We were let off and our tour manager led the way and showed us how to use the train system here in Rome. We finally arrived outside of the Colluseum and we took a short walk to our first destination which was a Contiki Included Guided Tour of Rome.

The guided tour brought us down into the oldest parts of Rome. It was amazing to see how many layers Rome was. When I say layers I mean that Rome is simply layers and layers of buildings built on top of each other and now finally the city is what it is today. We were in a place that was over 2000 years old! The original buildings, and architecture is still in place to this day and we were on a guided tour that explained everything about it. We even visited Julius Ceasar’s temple and shrine on the tour. At the end of the tour we were brought to the Colluseum. The tour of the Colluseum was also included which was great. Our guide took us in and explained all of the history of the famous colluseum and it was quite interesting. We headed upstairs to the second level to get a great view of the full Colluseum and some great pictures too!

After we left the Colluseum we were to meet up with the group and our tour manager would take us on the bus to the Vatican in Vatican City. I did not realize until I got to Rome that Vatican City is actually it’s own COUNTRY! Not city, COUNTRY! You can walk around the walls of Vatican city and say that you walked around the country. It’s quite small, but quite a walk at the same time because the Vatican itself is very, very big.

We arrived outside of the Vatican and most people wanted to get something to eat before standing in the line for the Vatican which was about a half mile long (seriously). We all headed over to a pizza place that our tour manager recommended and I thought the pizza was really good. Ahh, I love pizza!

After the pizza, Ryan and I went to the post office to mail some postcards before jumping into the longest line that I’ve ever waited in, in my life! I couldn’t believe that there were so many people trying get in the on a Tuesday afternoon. The line hugged the walls of Vatican city from the front of the Vatican all the way around to the back entrance. Crazy! Ryan and I said, you know what we’re not waiting in this line! We walked all the way up and around and found some friends on our trip that had been waiting in line for about an hour at this point and they were way at the top of the line at this point. We jumped in with them and we waited about 20 minutes or so before we walked in the entrance to the Vatican!

Once inside everyone was mostly looking forward to seeing the Sistine Chapel so we sort of speed walked through the maze of rooms and hallways of the Vatican. I would’ve preferred to go a little slower if I had the option but I wanted to stick with everyone so Ryan and I followed. Along the way there were all sorts of great art work, statues, egyptian artifacts, extravagant carpets, and much more.

It took about 35 minutes to get to the final destination which was the Sistine Chapel! After spending some time gazing at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel we exited and headed straight for St. Peter’s Basillica, the biggest church in the entire world. St Paul’s in London comes in second for being the biggest church in the world, behind St. Peter’s here in Rome. It was absolutely amazing. The size of it makes you feel somewhat miniature.

Ryan and I were so tired after walking most of yesterday and all of today that we decided to call it a day after seeing St. Peter’s Basillica. We headed back on the Metro to the station where our bus would be waiting but we were an hour or so early so we hung around until the bus took us back to the hotel. Finally we could rest and relax for a couple of hours before the included Contiki dinner here at the hotel at 7:30.

Rome is now checked off the list. It’s a great city, and a city that I would definitely visit again in the near future. It’s quite large, and the metro system seems pretty reliable. The architecture, and ancient ruins are superb and you can’t miss them when you’re in Rome. The driving, and traffic is exactly what everyone claims it to be, totally crazy! Nobody adheres to pedestrian laws so if you are crossing the road you need to be in a group of 5 or more to feel somewhat comfortable. The people here WILL run you over. You will be a new accessory on a scooter if you walk out in front of one on purpose or by accident. Other than the driving and traffic, Rome was a great time!

Ciao!

Contiki: Day 9 – Florence & Rome

// May 19th, 2008 // 154No Comments »http://www.pausethemoment.com/2008/05/19/ptm-contiki-day-9-florence-rome/Contiki%3A+Day+9+-+Florence+%26+Rome2008-05-19+14%3A18%3A48Ryan // Contiki, Italy, Travel

Last night we finished our first and last night in Florence with a dinner at La Certosa an Italian restaurant which was a Contiki Optional Dinner. The dinner was pretty good, and the atmosphere was nice at La Certosa. The staff had violinists and singers serenading the women on our tour as we walked in. Some of the girls were pretty embarrassed to be serenaded in front of our whole group.

As we walked in we received a choice of a glass of red wine, champagne, or orange juice. I chose the Champagne and I finished it off before we sat down at the table. At the table there was bottles of red and white wine and the staff had us line up to pick and chose from the anti-pasto selection that they had on hand. The main meal was lasagna, pasta, and salad with beef. I thought the dinner was just okay. I preferred our dinner in Monaco much more. The dinner in Monaco was great!

After we ate, we were dropped off in the center of Florence so that we could head to Space Electronic Disco another Contiki Optional. We were warned that it would be somewhat corny, but mostly everyone came out for this event. We arrived and the place was nearly empty. Another Contiki group showed up and then the dance floor upstairs opened also. This is when the night really started to kick in. Everyone headed upstairs and danced the night away for a few hours. I think this was the first night that everyone really felt comfortable with one another and everyone was just having a great time dancing, laughing, joking and of course drinking! I had a couple of drinks, got to dancing and had a blast with everyone. A night that everyone thought was going to be a bust turned out to be really cool. Mostly everyone was glad that they chose to come out to Space.

This morning everyone woke up, some with major hangovers, and some were feeling fine and dandy. I admit I was feeling fine, but I was just so overtired! After I got home from Space last night I jumped on my computer because it was the first night that I’ve had free wifi access in my hotel room! I made a few calls back home on Skype and ended up getting to bed around 4:00AM. Breakfast was scheduled for 7:00AM, so that means I had to set my alarm for 6:45. I had just over two hours sleep and I knew that today would be a big day in Florence, and Rome!

As we drove into Florence to spend a half day I slept on the 30 minute bus ride in. I awoke immediately as we walked off of the bus and to be honest I think I was still sleep walking. I felt like absolute junk due to lack of sleep. I pushed through it and ended up having a great few hours in Florence enjoying the scenery, the statues, the art, the architecture and more. Florence was a pretty impressive city with tons of great history behind it.

At 11:30AM we had a guided tour by a man named Fabio. He was a great guide with tons of knowledge and he answered everyone’s questions immediately as they were being yelled out to him. He knew more than 5 languages and he knows Florence like the back of his hand. He absolutely loves history, and he puts a lot of effort into his job as a tour guide. Great guide, good tour, and we got to learn about many of Florence’s top sights.

After our guided tour of Florence, our tour manager took a few of us to a place where he claimed had the best steak that we would eat in Europe. I was doubtful, but by the end of the meal I realized he was absolutely right. we ate at a restaurant called Osteria dei Baroncelli. This place was amazing. The steak was out of this world. I normally don’t eat steak that is undercooked, red, pink, or anything less than medium well but the Italians don’t give you a choice when they cook your meat. They cook it one way, and that is the way you will have to accept it. They don’t believe it overcooking the meat because it “ruins the meat, and the taste”. Each piece of steak melted in your mouth and I have to recommend this to anyone that visits Florence! There is nothing like this… unless you fly back home to the states for a few days!

Once we finished eating lunch we headed back for the coach so that we could head off on a 3 hour journey to Rome where we would be staying for the next two nights. I was really excited about visiting Rome. Like Florence, another beautiful city with even more history and really cool facts. I was also happy to be able to sleep through most of the bus ride to Rome. I really needed to catch up.

We arrived in our hotel in Rome. It was supposed to be the nicest hotel on our whole trip. I agree, it’s a very nice hotel. Much better than many of the hotels that we’ve stayed in so far. BUT! The hotel is about a 25-30 minute bus ride to the train station and then another 20-25 minute train ride to the city which makes it quite difficult to do your own thing and take off to see some things in Rome on your own. I am definitely not satisfied with the location at all. I was under the impression that we would be staying maybe 10-15 minutes walk from the city center. Nope!

We spent an hour lounging around the hotel until we hopped back on the coach to head into Rome. Our tour manager gave us a quick tour of a few of Rome’s most popular sights like the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, St. Peter’s Bascillica, Piazza Navona. All of the sights were really cool and we have a guided tour in Rome tomorrow that will be taking us all round the city to some of the more popular sights. After we take our guided tour we will have the rest of the day free to go where ever we want. Ryan and I like these type of days because we like to be really productive and we try to fit in as much as physically possible on our free days.

We got back to the hotel tonight around 9:30PM after getting some dinner in Rome and we planned out our day for tomorrow. Should be very interesting and I should have plenty of great photos to show for it. Looking forward to exploring Rome tomorrow more in depth!

Ciao!

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 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…)