Some Photos

Venice and Vienna

Hello
I cant remember how to write good morning in german so its just a boring hello! Hope you are well. We survived the cruise to Venice and what a beautiful place it was. Apart from suffering from a hangover and/or bug in the morning so I was quite ill.. i still managed to see most of the city! We went to a glass blowing demonstration which was pretty cool and then a lace factory...which wasnt that exciting! Then just wandered the streets and got lost which is what you do in Venice! For most people on tour it was a massive shopping daz - but Scott and I have actually not bought anything so far apart from magnets from the countries for our fridge at home!! We are just enjoying the places we go to and taking hundreds of photos for memories instead!
We left Venice and headed to Vienna and arrived here yesterday and yes it is another amazing and beautiful place. Scott is trying to download photos but is having problems so if they dont work we will get them up soon!
SO just a quick one today - go you Socceroos!! It is soccer mad in europe and we are caught up in the chaos and its been great. We go to Munich tomorrow and it will be mad!!!!

What can you say about the Greek Island??

Morning all
Well we are currently on a 24 hour cruise from Corfu to Venice. Corfu is a tropical island of Greece and its beautiful. We spent 3 days there chilling at the beaches and the hotel pool and it was what we needed and it was finally good to see a beach with sand and not pebbles!! Funny thing about Europe though is that you have to PAY to sit on the beach - crazy really! Another crazy thing is that hardly anyone goes in the water and most people sit naked sunbaking....

On the 3rd day we had a contiki boat trip around 3 islands with a really funny guy called George. A real character and he made the day really enjoyable for everyone. This was definetely the highlight of the tour so far for Scott. He went parasailing over the islands while I sat back and got a tan. But for those that know how much i freak out at deep water you should be proud - we had a stop along the way and I jumped off the boat into the water!!! Scott was very proud of me - took me about 10mins to get the guts to do it but glad I did as the water here is so clear and warm and I figured with 40 other people around me if I started freaking out someone would rescue me!

So the Greek Islands have been a blast - everyone on tour is starting to get sick though which is a bummer - Scott has been struck down and there is also a few people with 24 hour stomach bugs so Im trying to keep away from everyoen! Although Ive been attacked by bed bugs and look gross with lumps over my whole body so I think people are trying to stay away from me anyway!!!!

Scott would like to mention that he loves the crows and is really happy with how they are travelling as well but whats going on with port and how on earth did they get into the 8??? ;-)

Hope all is well back home. We have enjoyed getting everyones emails to catch up on the goss on whats been happening as I have my homesick moments and enjoy reading about home. Happy Birthday to Steve and Andrew and the presents in the mail ;-)

Anyway must be off - the boat docks to Venice in 1.5 hours at 1030am so we need to go get some breakfast and then meet everyone up deck to see the apparently awesome view coming into Venice.

Again - sory no photos - didnt think they had internet on the boat so didnt bring our camera cables - as soon as we can get to another internet joint we will download quite a few pics from the last few blogs!


PS - Megan B - hope all is going well with junior ;-)

Days 10-15

Ciao Bello/Bellas

Yes in case you havent figured it out already - we are in Italy!!! But let me start from a few days ago when I last posted when we were in Spain. Which of course was another awesome place. From Spain we headed back to France and spent 2 gorgeous weather days in Nice and also a dinner at Monaco - one of the richest places in the world and you wont see so many la-de-da cars parked in a row anywhere else in the world I dont think!! Was pretty cool to see-even for a non car person like me!! But we have been having such a good time- we are so tired as Contiki days are very long with little sleep and thats with not drinking!!
But from Nice we went to Florence - now the weather has really picked up since we arrived in London and its at least 30 every day so we are sweltering walking around all day. Florence was good - we had a walking tour around the city with a guide. Then onwards to where we are now in Rome. This is our 2nd day here- yesterday was total chaos! It is a public holiday here today for St Peters day so the Vatican and sistene chapel are shut- so every man and there dog was there yesterday but we jump the queue and pushed our way to the front to only have to wait 30-45mins instead of the 2 hours! Was another amazing place (they are all amazing places-its our new word!!haha).
Today we have visted Colosseum and spend a hour or so there which was decent. Its so hard to imagine what life was like back in the days...it spins you out really.
Anyway the next 3 days will be in Greece relaxing on a beach in Corfu WOOOHOOOO!!!!
We dont have our phone cables with us so cant put any photos on but as soon as we get to another computer we will post some. Its week 3 and already taken at least 500 pics so will be plently to see!

Ciao for now amigos ;-)

Days 5 - 10

Bonjour everyone

Man you would think touristy places like europe would have good internet places but they are very few and far between!!! So i could write a novel about what we have been up to the last week but ill keep it short and let the photos do the writing for me!!!
We started Contiki and have so far been to Paris, Spain, Nice and tonight is dinner at Monaco before heading to Italy tomorrow with Florence being first call. No place has disappointed us yet - hotels arent anything special but we go to bed anytime after midnight and up again at 6am so yes tired and sleepy is our key word at the moment!!!!
But Spain was pretty cool and so different to Paris! The food everwhere has been awesome so been enjoying the foods and then walking miles all day to burn it off so all good!!! Bought a decent leather jacket in Spain with the promise to scott that i will wear it when i get back!!!
The trip to Spain from Paris took about 10 hours and on arrivial we had to catch 2 trains to get to the centre of town with the promise from our guide thats its worth it- and for all the hassle at 10pm he took us to the most amazing water feature we will ever see. For 15mins there is a fountain with music and its so lovely. Check out the photos and hopefully it will give you an idea of how awesome it looks!!
So we are having a good time and the people on tour are nice. We arent the oldest either much to Scotts delight! There are 4 of us couples, about 5 guys and then the rest are chicks - and minus about 5 americans, and 1 new zealander - we are all aussie bogans so its pretty funny!
anyway thats all for now - hope everyone is well and enjoying the cold weather today while i will now head for a private beach on the mediterrean sea with a waiter to serve me cocktails hehe now dont get too jealous and enjoy work!!!!!!

xoxox

Day 4 and 5 in London

Yes we are back again - time to download more photos from the last couple of days. Yesterday we spent the day at Hyde Park which is where Kensington Palace is situated. We had lunch at the Princess Diana shrine waterfall which was really nice and HOORAY the sun was shining and it was a nice day! So we spend the morning walking around the park and then in the afternoon went to the palace - not quite as extravagant as the others we have seen but still nice. They have a special memorial to Princess Di there of never before seen photos and we spend a bit of time there which was nice too.
After walking around the park for most of the day (its a pretty big park!!!) we wandered the streets in search of Harrods - after getting lost and ending up down who knows where i decided to ask directions and we were back on track! And what a shopping centre! Massive!! So then spend an hour or so wandering through wishing we were rich and buying designer labels haha maybe one day we will come back when we strike it rich! ;-)

After Harrods we jumped back on the underground (what a great thing that is!!) and went to NOtting HIll. I was really looking forward to coming to the 'famous' place but was disappointed...wasnt at all like I expected and was dirty and scruffy. We wandered down Portobello Road Markets as well and was told by a guy that the blue door from the movie is no longer there and was sold to some guy who owned a boat...so fair enough - travelled all the way here to see and its gone!!! We had tea in some restaurant and then went back to the hotel for some much needed rest and gave our poor feet some rest!!

Today was the day Scott has been looking forward to - we went on a tour of Lords Cricket Ground (yawn for us girls!!) Scott thought it was awesome and he was in awe of it all but didnt really do much for me though! The tour took 2 hours and we went to the famous Long Room and then in the Media Centre and finished in the museum and had photos with the ole Ashes. And now here we are on the internet downloading photos and then we will be meeting our contiki group before boarding the bus at 7am tomorrow morning and off we go to Paris! So not sure when the next blog will be but stay tuned!!

What have we been up too?

Well we have been bloody busy!! Jetlag aside we are still trooping on doing a million and one things!
Yesterday we went to Tower Hill and visited the Tower of London and Tower Bridge and did a river cruise to Westminster along the Thames. The history here is amazing and there is so much to take in. Scott is downloading the photos as I am writing this so check them out - some good shots - I think hehe! Last night we went to see a band called Thursday at the Electric Ballroom. Was something different but enjoyed it - although by the end we were both falling asleep - not because it was boring but still suffering from the time adjustments!

Today was another full-on day. We got the underground to Buckingham Palace and watched the changing of the guards - once in a lifetime thing there and it was awesome! The palace is MASSIVE and the surrounding gardens of St James Park also is great. Everything around here is so well maintained. We also checked out Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and we have just got back from going through the Westminster Abbey. We spent about an hour or so walkign through with audio commentry and it was a beautiful place. Quite amazing the history...Its currently 3pm here and at 5 we are on the London Eye...im not keen on the heights bizzo but see how I go - hopefully I dont freak out! But Ive been good on the underground so should be fine. I dont think Ive ever caught so many trains before in my life but they are so good over here! Who needs taxis or cars when you have a system like they do!

I miss my mate Cougar - I know Mik is looking after him but sounds like he hasnt left the bedroom so I know he misses me too hehe ;-) poor little thing = how dare I go away and leave him huh!

Well tomorrow we are off to Hyde Park and going to check out Marble Arch then Harrods. So another busy one - our legs and feet are killing but hopefully getting stronger so by the time we get back we will be fit and fabulous! ;-)

Must be off - time is ticking away so hopefully we will be able to upload the photos for you to look at.

Thanks
Jade & Scott xox