Contiki Day Nine. Dude, Where’s My Boat?

Travel day to Venice. We’re all getting really good at sleeping on the coach. We had a couple stops and then made it to the camp site. Our last Contiki Village. If we’re being honest, this was definitely one of the worst looking accommodations. We were literally in caravans. The beds were like res size. At least there was air conditioning which I think saved our lives. We caught a boat to Venice because the camp site is on the mainland. There is so much water! It was time for our Gondola ride. Unfortunately our gondola guy didn’t want to sing for us. It was really fun though, even though every now and then it felt like the gondola might actually tip over. Luckily it didn’t. It wasn’t quite as long as I thought it was going to be, but it was a really fun way to see Venice considering that the canals are the main thing everyone knows about Venice.

The stunning buildings

After the gondola we went for an early dinner. It was Katie, Grace, Miranda, Colby, Jimbo, Dwayne and me. We just found a place on the way to the Rialto Bridge (which I just realised we didn’t see). I had seafood pasta. Sorry mom, you’re not off the hook – yours is still way better. We all went and found sailor hats afterwards for the beach party at Fusina camp site. And had gelato. While we were walking around this Aussie couple and their daughter stopped us and asked us where we had parked our boat, because we were all in sailor hats. It was so bizarre. And they asked us if we had seen their cow because they had lost it. Strange.

Katie and Me strolling around Venice 🙂

Canals!

Katie and I also fed the pigeons and they sat on my hand. It was so freaky. And apparently you can get a fine for doing this, but we didn’t get caught. And we managed to get away without needing to pay the gypsy either. Hahaha. To kill the last bit of time Katie and I just walked around until it was time to catch the boat back.

We got back to Fusina to find the beach party already underway. I actually don’t even have words for what we witnessed within the next hour. There were four other Contiki’s there. When we got there there was a competition going on where girls were rubbing oil all over the guys on a stage, and pretty much stripping. Then there was the wet tshirt contest. The first girl had already taken her top off basically before the music even started. The next two did the same and hooked up with each other. All of our girls are standing there like whhhaaat the hell just happened? It was honestly so gross and trashy. Like I get it, it’s Contiki and stuff but wow. We all just looked at our guys and were like don’t even think about it. Hahaha. The camp site also has a signature cocktail called the “Amnesia” – I don’t know what’s in it, and I don’t want to know.

Ahoy Sailor!

When the bar side closed, the night club opened. Best way to describe this night club – Dropzone. A gazillion people in a tiny room, with a table as a stage. Wasn’t keen in the beginning but as everyone started to jam and we had a good group going it was actually really fun. Managed to get a Lifeguard Fusina vest, so I’m pretty happy. I lost my Venezia sailor hat though, but I was kind of expecting that. Its really difficult to keep a hat when everyone keeps trying to wear it for a bit. Oh well. When the club closed there were a couple of us left, but I went to sleep rather than seeing if anyone was doing anything else. Breakfast is at 7am and we’re off to Germany tomorrow!

Will definitely be adding Rome and Venice to my list of places to return to in the future. A lot of people have been feeling really homesick the last few days. Don’t get me wrong, like I miss talking to everyone at home and I miss them, but I am the happiest I have been in my life right now and a little bit of missing home is not going to stop me. Although I would do anything for some Nik Naks. Haha. But this trip is incredible so far, and I really feel like it has been so good for me. Its really nice to actually have no responsibilities and not feel like I need to worry about everything. I think the travel bug has really bitten me good and proper. But yes mom, dad and Ang I do actually miss you guys, and thank you for being patient about me having too much fun to spend my free time looking for wi-fi. I can’t wait to return to some of these places with you guys one day hopefully!

Contiki Day Eight. “Yoo-hoo Contiki”.

I heart Roma, and I’m pretty sure Roma hearts me too. Had the most spectacular day. We all hopped on the train to Rome, and Tam, Katie, Brett and I decided to jump off at an earlier stop than the others to go for breakfast and to the Spanish Steps before the Vatican Tour later this afternoon. We managed the Metro no problem and went and found a little restaurant for breakfast. I ordered an omelette with bacon, but it was awful, which sucked. The bacon was literally just all oil. Grossies. The other’s food was good at least.

Next we went to the steps, where we just walked around a bit and then went and sat on them for a while and people watched. With that done, we all decided to rather get back on the Metro and  go to the Vatican City stop so we’d be around there to meet the group later. Just as well we left when we did, because we somehow managed to get lost in the Metro for half an hour. Literally. Just walking up and down, with each turn leading to an exit into the street but not actually taking us to a train. The signage is really not good, and obviously it’s in Italian as well. It was actually pretty funny though.

Spanish Steps!

Me, Brett, Tam & Katie on the Spanish Steps

Finally we got to the Vatican stop. We just wandered around a bit again, sticking with our relaxed feeling for the day. It was so good to not feel like we were in a rush and could actually just take a couple minutes to remember that we were in Rome! We went and bought our “I Heart Roma” shirts for tonight’s party and then found a place for lunch. A lot of food today. Haha. I had Carbonara again, because it came as part of a deal. Again, it was nice, but I think I was expecting way too much from every place in term  of pasta standard. At least I ate Carbonara in Rome, so score one for the Bucket List.

We went to meet up with the group for our Vatican Tour with a local guide. We all get these headsets to wear so we can hear her while we’re walking around. She starts off with “yoo-hoo Contiki” to get our attention, which was hilarious because you just hear this voice in your ear if you can’t see her. Because we were in a group we got to skip the queues. The Museums are amazing. Everything is detailed and old and even though it’s really busy inside and it was about a thousand degrees it felt like, its really cool to realise that you’re actually in a different country.

Some of the amazing ceiling artwork found throughout the Vatican Museums

I was so excited for the Sistine Chapel. It was one of the things I was most looking forward to. We heard a bit about the paintings and how they were done. For example, the paintings on th  ceiling were not done in the order you see them in. The Noah paintings were done first, with the creation ones following. The composition of them is also different, with the early ones having lots of figures in them, and the later ones rather having fewer bigger figures in them – which makes them easier to see. No photos in the Sistine Chapel, but I’m kind of glad. A photo wol  never be able to do it justice. A lot of people ran through really fast, but I decided I was going to just stand for a few minutes and enjoy it. So I did. It really is incredible. I mean my neck got sore in those few minutes looking up like that; I can’t imagine doing that for four years. The images are breathtaking, and done in such a way that they actually look 3 dimensional. I am so happy I did the tour, because there’s no way I would have enjoyed it as much without knowing some of the background for everything.

We also got a chance to go into St Marks Basilica. It is also incredible. Its massive. I saw the Pieta, and just walked around a bit looking up at the massive ceiling. Most of us in the group decided after that to head back to the camp site as it had been a long day and all of our feet were starting to hurt. I’m quite lucky that my feet haven’t really gotten swollen or anything, a lot of the girl’s have been having this problem. We all managed to make it back to the camp site pretty easily. We all just hung around for a bit, and then went to have dinner. We had chicken parmigiana (I think that’s what it’s called??) And it was delicious. Everyone put on their Roma shirts and we headed up to the bar. Somehow we ended up playing a massive round of “never have I ever” which was so funny. And then the markers came out and we all wrote on each other’s shirts. Reading those later was hysterical, I laughed so much.

Me with Clare (our incredible TM) and Colby

It is official though, I absolutely love Italy. Off to Venice in the morning, our last stop in Italy.

The Flight.

It is just past 5am and I am somewhere over the sea, just under two hours away from Munich (where I will catch my flight to London). The flight has been good. I had movie ADD though so didn’t actually finish one movie, although I started about five of them. Haha. Its pretty cool that in a short while we will be flying over Italy! And can I just add that the music options on the in-flight entertainment are AWESOME.

The sun is starting to rise and they’re about to serve breakfast. Hopefully I get the omelette. I got the omelette – yay! It was actually quite nice, and I ate i  while watching the sun rise. Let me tell you there’s nothing quite like pretty much being the sunrise. Very cool. Even though my window  is frozen at the bottom because it’s -51°C out there at an altitude of eleven thousand something metres. Who knew?

Dinner last night was also pretty good. I ended up having the vegetarian pasta, which was actually mac and cheese. WE JUST FLEW OVER LIKE RIGHT BY ROME!!!!! Oh my gosh and i swear I just saw my first red-roofed houses. Wow. Mini excitement dance in my head. Okay so dinner; they said there was beef stew, fish or the vegetarian dish. But vegetarian to me implies like weird tofu or something so I ordered the beef and was the last person to get it basically. But then I heard it was vegetarian pasta (key word here) and so I offered to switch my beef for the pasta. The flight attendant/stewardess/whatever they’re technically called was all like “thank you so much ma’am” and I pretty much was a superhero saving someone in front of me from starvation because they didn’t want fish or veggies. I’m kind of cool like that.

Ice on my window and a European sunrise!

The airport last night was something. I’m not quite sure what – I think I’ve forgotten as a result of traumatic stress. Just kidding, it wasn’t that bad. I may have even shed a tear when i went through passport control. Thanks mom, dad and Ang for waving me through until the end. Killed a bit of time looking through the duty-free shops (didn’t buy anything though) and then went to lin  up to board the plane. The window seat was a definite win – much more comfortable to try and get some sleep. At least I did get a bit of sleep, although I do still kind of feel like a zombie. Anyways.  That’s my excuse for the typing errors that may be possible in here. That and my fat fingers struggle on the Kindle keyboard.

Hoping to have free wifi at Munich International to post this (so I am here safely everyone!) Otherwise will have to post it later  in which case you will know that I am wherever I am then safely. Will be honest, my nerves are pretty much gone and all I feel now is complete total and incredible excitement. And a little bit of disbelief that this is happening right now.

Love,
The Oh-My-Gosh-I-Am-Technically-IN-Europe Traveler
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