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…

This morning Ryan and I set our alarms for 8:00AM because breakfast was being served at 8:30. We headed down to breakfast, and I wasn’t too impressed at all. The dinners here at the hotel have been quite good, but this breakfast was pretty light. Lighter than the breakfast in Paris which is hard to believe.

After breakfast we all headed for the coach and went into town to see the famous Lion Monument here in Lucerne. After seeing the Lion Monument we had about an hour free time so I headed off on my own to see if I could get access to wifi along the river. Eveyone I had asked told me that there was no free wifi, and that I should go here, and there to pay for it. I decided to park myself on a bench next to the river and see if I could get a connection. At this point, I’m feigning to get on the internet, reply to emails, update my website, and everything else that I hadn’t done in days.

At last I found a connection, but at that point it was time to meet up with the group to go on the Contiki Optional boat cruise around Lake Lucerne. We boarded the boat at around 10:30AM, and it took us on a small loop around the lake. It was beautiful out, the sun was out but yet there was a nice cool breeze. I stood up on the top deck for a few minutes before I went downstairs and laid down on the front of the boat as it cruised around Lake Lucerne. I’m not sure if I would recommend this optional, because I thought it was sort of short and wished we could have explored more of the lake. I wasn’t really satisfied with it to be honest. Each person on board was given a token for a free drink, beer, wine, soda, or water. At 16 Euros, or 25 CHF it was just a little expensive for what we got.

After the boat cruise, most people decided on doing the Swiss Fondue/Folk Show Contiki Optional, but I decided not to do that one. I just wasn’t interested in it at all. Plus, I was on a mission to find a wifi hotspot, which I did on my hour and a half free time. I headed over to Starbucks, and I was surprised that they limited me to only 30 minutes on the internet, and you had to buy something which makes it even more pointless. After my quick 30 minutes was up, I went outside to the tables that they have along the river and jumped on another wifi hotspot that was in unsecure in the area. It worked out well. I ended up getting a lot of stuff done and even made a few calls on Skype.

At 2:00PM I had to meet up with the group again so that we could head off to Mt. Pilatus a mountain in Lucerne that reaches over 7,000 ft. This is one of the Contiki Optionals that I was really looking forward to. I couldn’t wait to get to the top of Pilatus.

We hopped on the 4 person Gondolas which took us up to just about half way at a little over 3,000 ft. When you jump off, there is an adventure sport park and a toboggan course which was closed. There were also zip lines and other really cool things to do, but none of that was for us. We still had to take a 25-30 person Gondola up to the top of Mt. Pilatus.

When we arrived at the top of Pilatus it was pretty chilly. The temperature dropped at least 10 degrees from when we were at the bottom about 30 minutes prior. Everyone really enjoyed the views on the way up, and especially from the top of the Mountain. There were all of these stairs and platforms that you could climb to get even higher view points. The views were incredible and unfortunately while walking around taking photos at the top, my camera battery died and I had left my spare battery in my backpack on the bus. Oh well! I got some great photos, and footage prior to my battery dieing so it worked out fine.

After taking a few photos and videos I went down to the snack bar and ended up paying 12.50 CHF for a hot dog and bottle of diet coke. Yeah, quite expensive! Our tour manager had warned us that buying anything on the top of Mt. Pilatus would be very expensive, more expensive that Switzerland is in the first place. And, he sure was right!

Our group decided to take the last Cog Railway train down the mountain (5:30PM) instead of the gondolas. The only problem was that the temperature dropped big time before we left, and it got really cold and it was pretty much a white out at the top. We all moved into the waiting area, and gift shop to keep warm until our train came.

It was a really cool experience to be descending down Mt. Pilauts on the steepest Cog Railway in the world! The train basically goes straight down the mountain side. The views were really cool. I was so tired from such a long day that I ended up sleeping for the last 20 of the 45 minute descent down to the base of the mountain.

Once we got to the base of Pilatus it was pouring rain and I think it just made everyone even more tired. We headed back to the hotel for our Contiki Included dinner and I headed straight back to my room to relax. Overall today was a great day, mostly due to the Mt. Pilatus optional and the weather this morning was really nice here in Lucerne.

Overall I thought Lucerne, and Switzerland in general was simply beautiful. The city of Lucerne was so clean, so fresh, and the water is some of the cleanest water in Europe. You can drink from any fountain, any sink, even the toilets if you’d like. Well, I wouldn’t recommend that, but that is how clean the water is here! I hope to come back to Switzerland later in the summer, but we’ll see what happens. One down fall about Switzerland is that it’s pretty expensive compared to other major countries in Western Europe. Expensive, but AWESOME! If you get the chance to go to Switzerland, definitely do it! It’s worth the money…

Tomorrow morning we head off to Nice, France. Yep, back to France again! But this time we’ll be heading to the south of France where the French Riviera lies. It’s going to be a long bus ride and I’m told that once we arrive we’ll have about an hour before we head off to one of the most high class countries in the world, Monaco! Should be a great time!

Til’ next time…

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…

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?

Over time, after giving another look at a few other tour companies, I decided to choose Contiki. In January I went ahead and booked the Contiki: European Vista Tour. The European Vista tour is a jam packed 23 Day tour that starts in London on May 11th, and ends in Amsterdam on June 1st. In between London and Amsterdam we’ll be spending time in Paris, Lucerne, Nice, Florence, Rome, Venice, Hopfgarten, Munich, Vienna, Prague, and Rhine Valley.

In each city along the way there are what Contiki calls “Included Highlights”. These highlights are included in the tour package price of course. Some of many included highlights are:

• (Paris, France) – Tour of Illuminations, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, the Champs Elysees & Notre Dame Cathedral
• (Lucerne, Switzerland) – Wooden Chapel Bridge, and the Lion Monument
• (French Riviera) – Visits to Nice, Monaco, and Monte Carlo. French Perfumery, Royal Palace, Casino in Monte Carlo, and a scenic drive along the Riviera coast.
• (Pisa, Italy) – Leaning Tower of Pisa
• (Florence, Italy) – Walking tour with local guide, Florentine leather craft demonstration, the Duomo, Basilica Santa Croce, Giotto’s Bell Tower, the Baptistry & Piazza della Signoria
• (Rome, Italy) – Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Colosseum & Roman Forum
• (Vatican City) – St. Peter’s Basilica
• (Venice, Italy) – Private motorboat to the historic islands, Piazza San Marco, Bridge of Sighs, the Doges’ Palace & St. Marks Square, Murano glass-blowing & Burano lace-making demonstrations
• (Brenner Pass) – Scenic drive past vineyards, orchards and castles
• (Tyrol: Austria) – See the picturesque area famous for adventure sports
• (Munich, Germany) – the Glockenspiel & Marienplatz, and visit to a beerhall
• (Vienna, Austria) – Schonbrunn Palace, St. Stephen’s Cathedral & the State Opera House, Scenic drive along the historic Ring Road
• (Prague, Czech Republic) – Hradcany Castle, Cathedral of St. Vitus, Charles Bridge and Wenceslas Square
• (Rhine Valley: Germany) – Scenic River Cruise, Lorelei Rock
• (Amsterdam, Netherlands) – See the Canals, Gable Houses, and city by night, Bicycle tour through the dutch countryside, visits to a cheese farm and clog maker’s house, and a visit to a fishing & cheese village.

There are also many extra Activities that everyone can choose to take part in or not along the way. These activities are what Contiki calls “Optionals”. The optionals are NOT included in the Tour Package price, if you choose to take part in the activities you will go through your Contiki guide to do so. Some of the many optionals that are available on the European Vista are:

• (Paris, France) – Famous Parisian Cabaret Show w/ Dinner
• (Lucerne, Switzerland) – Boat Cruise on Lake Lucerne
• (French Riviera: Monaco) – Dinner at a restaurant in Monaco
• (Florence, Italy) – Tuscan Hills Feast w/ Entertainment and visit to a Florence Nightclub
• (Rome, Italy) – Guided Imperial Rome Tour
• (Hopfgarten, Austria: Tyrol) – Tandem Paragliding / Mt. Biking Tour & BBQ
• (Vienna, Austria) – Mozart Classical Concert & Dinner
• (St. Goar, Germany: Rhine Valley) – Wine Tasting
• (Amsterdam, Netherlands) – Evening Canal Cruise, I also hear that depending on your Contiki guide you might also be invited to a special so called “Amsterdam Cultural Show”, but I’ll report back on that one. I can only imagine at the moment…

So as you can see above, there will be so much to do and see along the way. Most of the main attractions and sights over the course of the trip are for the most part included, which is pretty cool!

The fact is, is that most people tend to shun these types of tours due to not being able to spend enough time in a each city. I’m not too worried about that because I didn’t really choose to take a Contiki trip to see as many places as I could in 3 weeks, I decided to take a Contiki trip so that it would provide me with an idea of where I’d like to go back to for a weekend or two here and there near the summers end.

My Contiki trip is a little over a month away at this point. I head off to London on May 11th, stay the night and meet with all of my fellow Contiki’ers at the hotel. It should be a great time, and I’m sure I’ll make a few new friends along the way. Maybe even a few that I will get the chance to meet up with later in the summer…