Contiki Day Six. The Leaning Tower of…

Bonjourno Italia!

First stop, Pisa. We stopped here to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Only for an hour, but this was more than enough time for the standard cheesy “oh look mom, I’m holding up the tower” photograph, which I did. Clare had made a competition for whoever could take the best and most original picture, but only some of the guys did it. The general theme of the submitted pictures has now earned this building the nickname of “The Leaning Tower of Penis”. Enough said. Colby won, but all the pictures were pretty funny. I also bought a new handbag because my one’s zip broke the other night. Super chuffed with my purchase, and it even says “Made in Italy” on it. We also had a service stop where we had our first pizza in Italy. The wait for it was really long, but it was well worth it.

Pisa. And obviously the Tower would be falling over without my assistance 😉

We have apparently been “upgraded” again. If this is the upgrade, I’d hate to know what the original campsite is like. Us girls scored with only three in a room – one bunk bed and one double bed. The boys apparently had more in a room, and the absolute minimum amount of space. We also had the most hectic walk up to the campsite with our day bags, and only half an hour to get ready as there were road closures which created a 45 minute detour. Needless to say, everyone was pretty annoyed by the time we got on the coach for the optional Tuscan dinner. I was in two minds about this optional before eventually deciding to do it because almost everyone did. It was quite nice, although again I don’t think it was worth the price. I would have rather gone and found a nice little restaurant somewhere. We had bruschetta and cold meats, spaghetti bolognaise, pesto pasta and spinach and cheese filled pasta. We then had mashed potatoes and meatballs and creamy mushroom chicken. We had tiramisu for dessert. It was all like a sharing set up, so you just got a little bit of each.

We could go to Red Garter for Karaoke if we wanted, but because of the delays we would need to get a cab home. I didn’t want to do that for a couple reasons. Firstly I wasn’t feeling well. Second, I didn’t like the sound of catching a cab home in a country I haven’t seen by light and don’t know the language to the middle of nowhere. And I didn’t want to spend 25€. It sounded like the beginning of “Taken”, and despite the disaster that was today I am having too much fun to go missing.

Side note: Italian boys are HOT.

Most of us had come back on the coach, and people assumed the bar would still be open. It wasn’t. Massive fail, especially when everyone was expecting a big night. Went to bed quite early to try get better and we have breakfast at 7am before we explore Florence and head to Rome.

Florence Day Sheet

Contiki Day Two. Bonjour Paris!

Bonjour Paris!

Up bright and early (8am breakfast) this morning to go have our free day in Paris. We are free to walk around and do what we want and then either catch the coach back at 4pm or make our own way back to the hotel. Not much of a plan for today – have figured I will just see what I can do and enjoy it a  much as possible.

First Day Sheet. Yay Paris!

Me at the Eiffel Tower – definitely one of my favourite “famous things” to look at

We were dropped at the Eiffel Tower but the queues were awful. We had so much to see and only one day, so a bunch of us girls decided to go up the Arc de Triomphe instead. Ended up strolling the streets of Paris to get there; bought a couple souvenirs along the way. We also saw two Ferrari’s and a Lamborghini!  Its quite a walk up the stairs to the top. My legs were burning and just as I thought I couldn’t do it anymore we saw the light, and then the view. Wow. It was very cool, and the best part is that you can actually see the Eiffel Tower in your city view. We all snapped a couple photos up there.

When you come out the Arc, there’s two extra options and quite by accident we ended up splitting up into two groups by going in different directions. Grace, Katie, Erin and I went to the end of what we thought was the Champs Elysees, but turns out it wasn’t. Haha. Turns out we had gone to complete opposite direction to where we thought we were going. Managed to find a little cafe on the street corner though that served Creme Brulee. It was delicious. Trying to explain to waitresses who don’t speak English that we want an extra spoon was hilarious. After dessert in the middle of the day, we went to look at one of the many big maps around the city to try get our bearings. A very kind French gentleman then directed us to the Metro and explained which stops to get off at for the Notre Dame – our next stop.

Once we got off the Metro (also relatively easy to use, minus the French) we headed towards Notre Dame. We stopped at the Love Lock Bridge to see that. Katie wanted to put a lock on for her and her boyfriend so she did that. The story goes that if you put a lock on the bridge and throw the key into the river below, your love will last forever. Clare told us the night before that they used to cut the locks off individually when they didn’t want them there anymore, but now they just remove complete panels and replace them.

We headed to the Notre Dame. By now we were all exhausted, and finding a bathroom is near impossible. Saw the Notre Dame, it’s pretty impressive. We wanted to go have lunch somewhere because we hadn’t eaten yet, so off we went. Managed to find a bathroom when we bought cooldrinks from a little place as a pitstop. By now it was getting closer to meet up time, and so we decided to head that direction and eat lunch on the grass there somewhere. Couldn’t find a Monoprix to buy stuff for lunch. Haha. Met up with the rest of the group at the meet up, where I bought a baguette hot dog thing. At least I could say I had a baguette in Paris!

At the hotel we had an hour or two to get ready because we were off to La Nouvelle Eve for Cabaret and a French dinner. We saw the Sacre Couer on the way to dinner, and so there’s this whole group of us chilling at the top of this hill drinking Heineken. We saw a street performer who did some crazy things with a soccer ball on a pole on the edge of the steps. Apparently he’s on YouTube. Who knew? On to dinner at a place called Catherines. We had placed our orders the night before so I had escargot (much yummier than the night before) and duck. It was so yummy. The duck literally fell apart it was so soft, and the potato bake that came with it was to die for! We also got free wine with dinner. It was really fun because everyone was there all together. There was chocolate mousse cake for dessert which was really good except so rich I couldn’t eat more than a bite.

Then off to the Cabaret for those of us who had booked. We stopped at the Moulin Rouge to take photos so got some pretty cool group shots and photos with my new friends there. It was really funny because you stand on top of this giant fan grid thing and it kind of just blows everyone around on top of it. So obviously all the guys are trying to trick us girls into not holding our skirts down. I had fun at Cabaret although I’m not 100% sure it was worth the 80€ we paid for it. At least we got champagne. During the show they also call some people from the audience up to participate, which two of our guys did. There was the usual dancing and then there was a completely freaky mime part and an awesome acrobat juggling act by two brothers.

Tam & me. Welcome to the Moulin Rouge 🙂

The first of many glasses… Santè!

When the Cabaret was done, we all headed out to O’Sullivans next to the Moulin Rouge. And we celebrated being in Paris properly. So much fun. Too many free shots from the Contiki TM’s and team on the bar. Caught a cab home with a couple of the others and went to bed (much later than I realised).

Paris was everything I had hoped for and more. It was amazing. So excited for the rest of the trip. Will keep you updated when I can.

Love,
Me
x

Contiki Day 3 can be found here.

Wear The Fox Hat!

London: Day Two. I have decided that my previous view on how incredible London is was not merely a result of lack of sleep and initial excitement. No. It is 100% accurate. It is most definitely incredible.

I had a wonderful day today. Got to start quite late (I only catch the train after 9:30 to avoid peak travel costs) which was good because it meant I could have a proper night’s sleep. And boy did I. I was so tired I don’t even think I moved at all during the night. So anyway when I was up, ready and it was time to go, I went all by myself and caught the train to Waterloo. Yay me. First stop was to be Buckingham Palace to see the Changing of the Guard. To do this I needed to hop on the tube at Waterloo. Which I promptly did with no problem. Yay me again. Once there, it was a lovely walk through the park to the Palace. I got there quite early which was cool. But I didn’t really know much about what would happen so I didn’t know where would be the best place to watch from, and so I found a spot close to the one entrance. The one advantage of being by myself is that it is actually surprisingly easy to squish through crowds and get a good space. Next thing you know, I hear trumpets and drums and all sorts of things. But I couldn’t see anything. Moment of confusion about whether or not I was in the total wrong spot to see anything. Luckily I was patient, and waited it out in my space, because eventually the whole procession came by right in front of me and I could see everything. It was quite cool, it’s just really long – especially because I couldn’t see any of the first part. But it was nice to watch and I got some cool video.

And then came the disadvantage of being by myself – the selfie. I’m actually pretty good at this, but it turns out it is a lot more challenging with a building of that magnitude. It just ended up looking like I was standing in front of a green screen. Haha. But luckily I found another solo person and made a deal that I would take her photo for her if she would take one for me too! So at least I got that.

Buckingham Palace

After Buckingham Palace I went for a walk around. Didn’t really have a plan – just decided to wander around and see where I ended up (all in busy areas though, so don’t worry mom and dad, haha). Also sorted out my UK sim card. Found a few nice little churches along the way, and all the buildings are so beautiful. Eventually I found a really high wonderful looking tower in the distant skyline and decided to head towards that. And that is how I found myself at the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. Snapped a couple photos of both and then made my way into the Abbey. It is MAGNIFICENT. I think that’s the best word. But even that doesn’t do it justice. It was so amazingly beautiful and detailed. There was an opportunity to light a candle and say a prayer which I did. The cool thing is that the entry fee (student discount with an ISIC card) includes an audio guide, so when you go in you can get a little phone type thing and then at certain parts in the Abbey you can listen to more information about them, and also hear organ music while sitting inside looking at the organ. It was a really wonderful experience.

Just a little piece of Westminster. Photos don’t do it justice!

Sticking with my no-plan just-go-with-it idea, I figured that the next best thing to do would be to go on a hop-on hop-off tour and so I ventured onto the tube and towards Piccadilly Circus. Went and bought my ticket for the tour and headed off to the starting point for the “Yellow Route” which has a live guide. Will definitely be going back to Piccadilly Circus – there are so many souvenir shops to choose from, and I want to go to M&M World too! Jumped on the bus (got a seat on the top level on the side) and went around London, learning interesting facts along the way. I got off at St. Paul’s Cathedral. Unfortunately it was just before 5pm and so evensong was about to start and I didn’t get much chance to really look around. But again, saved money because there was no entrance fee at that time. Winning. Its beautiful as well though. While waiting to hop back on to the next bus, I had my first Starbucks experience – just grabbed a hot chocolate and some shortbread biscuits, but it was yummy. Hopped back on the bus and carried on around London.

Starbucks Selfie!

It was getting a bit chilly and so I decided to head home. Managed the tube to Waterloo with no problem. Got there, looked for the train to catch and saw two options. One didn’t have a platform number, so I went with the second one. Checked it had my stop on it. Went through the gates. Realised I forgot to look at the platform number. Went back out. Checked the platform number. Ran to the other side of the station for the platform, thinking it was weird that it was so out of the way. Got on the train. Sat. Rode the train. Kept riding the train. Wondered why I wasn’t recognising any of the station names we were going to. Looked at the map. Saw they were all on a different line to where I needed to be. Texted Wendy to say I would be late. Rode the train all the way to Shepperton. A place that you would wear a fox hat to. Got off at Shepperton to wait for the next train back as it is the end of the line. And finally made it to where I needed to be. Quite the adventure. And I was so proud of myself because I didn’t freak out or anything.

“Lost” in Shepperton

We went to the pub down the road for dinner, and I had a Pimm’s and lemonade, and fish and chips with mushy peas. Most yummy fish I think I have ever eaten. It was really good. And that was day two pretty much. Was a good day in my opinion!

Love,
Me
x

Visas: Mission Accomplished!

So, in exactly one month’s time, I will be in an airplane, somewhere in the sky, on my way to London. And I can OFFICIALLY go now, because I now have both my visas! Yay! So what initially seemed to be “Mission Impossible” has now changed into “Mission Accomplished”. Not without a lot of stress and confusion on my side, I will admit.

TIP FOR ANY SOUTH AFRICAN MAKING AN APPOINTMENT FOR A SCHENGEN VISA, specifically a French one – when you make your appointment to go to Capago and submit your application, go early. Go an hour early. Because for some completely unknown and illogical reason, your appointment time does not actually seem to be significant in any way. Take my appointment for example. I had booked for 2pm so that I would have more than enough time to get there after my lectures for the day. I am always on time, and so I planned to get there by about 1:45, especially as I was unsure how the process would differ from the UK Visa application process. Ending up getting there earlier than planned, and so I had my ticket number by 1:30. According to my slip, my estimated waiting time would be 41 minutes. Okaaay. So while I’m standing in the line, I happened to catch a part of the conversation of the people behind me. Turns out his appointment was for 1:30pm – half an hour before mine was actually booked for – but because of the number system I would be helped before him. Hence the conclusion that your actual appointment time does not seem to have much significance. And even though my ticket said 41 minutes to wait, I ended up waiting close to an hour and a half before I was helped.

In extreme contrast to my experience with the UK Visa application process, I was FAR from impressed with this one. I felt that the staff were unfriendly and rude (not simply efficient). They didn’t answer any questions, or explain anything to me. Instead the lady who “helped” me, gave back half my documents with no explanation. Now as I’m getting older, growing up, whatever you want to call it, I’m starting to want to give my feedback on things. I really wanted to tell them how unimpressed I was with their services. Not the French Consulate I must add, as my visa was approved and returned in one week; but definitely with the intermediary that I am forced to use and forced to pay for their service. However, I have been unable to contact them as the enquiry number just rings, I haven’t been able to get through to the call centre for two days and am still waiting for them to reply to my message, as well as waiting for them to respond to an email from almost two weeks ago. Really not impressed.

But, enough with the whining. I AM GOING TO EUROPE.

My trip is starting to feel so real now. I’m slowly gathering all the things I’m going to need, and doing all the last admin-type things that need to be done like travel cards, copies for safe-keeping, student discount cards and actually buying the currencies I need (exchange rate please improve!) I must say, I am incredibly proud of myself. I have done almost all the planning, organising and admin myself – although thanks for the guidance and help you have definitely given Mom & Dad! 🙂 I am so excited. I just need to get through third year university exams now, and then it’s time! And because of these pesky exams I need to write (oh, and actually study for…) it suddenly feels like everything needs to be done now. Or possibly yesterday. Haha. But never fear, I’ve got this 🙂

That’s all for now – think I might actually explain my Contiki trip and holiday plans next. Maps and everything included. Let’s do this thing.

Love,

The One-Month-And-I’m-Out-Of-Here Traveler

x