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 Three

Driving day today. Pretty much everyone was exhausted and/or hungover. We overslept and woke up in a flat panic, throwing clothes in bags to make the coach on time to leave for Lyon. Just made it, and luckily we weren’t the only ones who had had a bit of difficulty getting up on time. We drove for a few hours and then stopped off in Fontainebleau for 45 minutes. We saw the Chateau here and then went and found a restaurant to grab a coke and something to eat and then back onto the coach for us. One of the girls got super dehydrated and so Clare became a superhero and sorted that out. We also all had a chance to stand up and introduce ourselves to the rest of the coach. We went through all the optionals and chose which we want to do. I’ve chosen all of them except the Venice walking tour, the Rome Imperial tour, the Munich city bike tour (I’m not sure I trust myself on a bicycle) and the canal bike tour in Amsterdam. I’ll also be getting a Contiki hoodie, which we’ll be designing tomorrow.

Chateau Fontainbleau

A bit later we had a stop at a service stop. I was so impressed with the one the other day but this one was awful. It was tiny and the toilets didn’t have toilet seats. Apparently that’s quite a thing here. Didn’t stop here for that long, we just have to because of the European driving laws I think. At least it gives us a chance to stretch our legs.

Next stop is going to be Chateau de Cruix in the Beaujolais Wine Region. We were supposed to stay here tonight, but we were “upgraded” to a hotel in Lyon. We did wine tasting at the Chateau though, and learnt how the wine is made here. Quite a process. The area is beautiful, just like you would picture the French vineyards. Turns out we probably aren’t missing too much by not staying at the Chateau, except another big night maybe. By the time we would have finished wine tasting and dinner the pool and everything would have been closed anyway. Instead we get to go to Lyon and have dinner there somewhere.

The view.

Contiki’s Chateau de Cruix

The hotel’s not bad. The nice thing because of our upgrade is that we are only 2 in the room now with our own bathroom and shower instead of 4 with a co-ed bathroom for the whole floor. Somehow in 20 minutes Tam and I managed to both shower and get ready and meet downstairs for dinner. We all walked into Lyon where we could choose where we felt like going for dinner. Ended up finding a tiny little restaurant on the side away from all the main places. It was a good chance. After our greetings in incredibly bad French, we somehow managed to order our wine and meal called Croque Monsieur (I think that’s what it’s called) which is a toasted ham and cheese. Except its not. Its like a sandwich with ham in the middle and then melted cheese on top with something creamy too. So Delicious. We also had French fries and then ordered Creme Brulee for dessert. Was really happy with our choice. The waiter kept asking me whether I spoke French, in French. I’m like “non” but then he kept talking to me in French and I’m just sitting there like “whaaaat are you saying to me”. Hahaha. Walked around a little bit, got some nice photos. Lyon is actually the second biggest French city, but it has such a different vibe.  It is so good and relaxed.

Croque Monsieur in Lyon

Basically everyone came home after dinner to sleep. Tomorrow we are off to the French Riviera. Very excited. We also get to see the Tour de France if we want as it will come past our campsite while we’re in Antibes on Wednesday.

Lyon Day Sheet