European Vacation

ITALY HERE WE COME! You will not be surprised to hear that today was another crazy day in the land of Contiki. We left our Austria hotel at 8am and checked into our Venice hotel at 10pm. Here is what we did in between: First stop in Italy was a service station. They had real Italian pizza and paninis as well as free bathrooms for when you’re done with your Italian pizza and paninis. I was so excited about the thin crust, light sauce and italian salami that I had to take a picture. Delicious! Now off to Venice. Venice is an island and there are no vehicles allowed so we had two options to get there: a 2.5 hour walk from some place that I can’t remember or a 20 minute ferry ride across some body of water that I can’t remember. We chose the ferry. On the ferry I took some pictures of buildings that I can’t remember. Here they are: The port we docked at is right next to Saint Marc’s square. This is the most popular place for people to start their visit in Venice so it was pretty packe...

WOW! I think today was the craziest day we’ve had yet. We left Lucerne at 8am and got to our hotel in Innsbruck at 8pm. We stopped only to brave some rapids, have some lunch and conquer an Olympic bobsled track. As you’ve seen, most of our days have similar amounts of action but this one was more physically involved than just walking around snapping photos. I found it funny that one of Austria’s main exports is Red Bull energy drink. It’s like you’re not allowed entry into the country unless you do something extreme. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take many photos on this day, which works out in my benefit because I was screaming a lot. Just kidding I’m hardcore. Less pictures = more writing. Sorry. The rapids were Class 3 and they ran down a river called the Inn. They didn’t tell us too much more than that because this trip is less about history and more about experiencing things, which is great. Although I can’t show you the amazing scenery along the river, the lovely people at Feel...

Our day in Lucerne is a busy one. As usual! I took an insane amount of pictures in Switzerland due to it’s beautiful nature so I’m going to use small pics and then you can click on them. Or not. I don’t care either way because I saw it in person. Booya! Ok we started by heading up Mt.Pilatus. It’s the tallest mountain in the area - we had to take a 20 minute gondola ride up to the peak. Once we got up to the top I ran to the nearest coffee shop because the hotel coffee was awful. You guys must think I’m crazy with the amount of coffee I consume but they are really jamming our days up and I’ve been under the weather. So… After (and partly due to) the double espresso, I went on a picture taking rampage. What follows can only be described as breathtaking. Both for its beauty and the insane amount of stairs I had to climb with very little oxygen in the air. Cute wedding chapel on the mountain. You have to walk there. HA! We eventually descended Mt. Pilatus and had some free time...

Today was mostly a driving day. It was around three hours on the bus in the morning with an hour stop in the afternoon before leaving Germany. I believe it was somewhere in the black forest region but I didn’t get the name of the town because I was sleeping. We took some pics with a cool waterfall and I ate some kind of bratensteinwurst and then we  drove the last few hours to Lucerne. Waterfall action: Ashlee always asks to get in my pictures and then she stands there like I have a gun to her back. She’s so weird. Then we get to Lucerne in the late afternoon and stop at another of Contiki’s partners: Harry’s Swiss Watch Center. They sell Swiss army knives, watches and chocolate at excellent prices. I didn’t take any pictures of this shop because it was boring. Then I went outside to get Swiss Franks out of the ATM since we will be here for a few days and they don’t do the Euro thing. Because they’re independent. Or shady. This was taken near the ATM machine. The girls ask me...