Poked by a Praguian Guard? Ohh laa laa!

This morning we woke up and went on a sightseeing tour of Prague, including the Hradcany Castle, the Cathedral of St Vitus (pictured), Charles Bridge and Wenceslas Square (all very famous places around the city!) We stopped at this beautiful overlook, and then we had the afternoon to explore on our own.

The guards at the Cathedral actually ended up poking Brittany at one point because she got too close when taking the picture. Aren't those guards not supposed to move!? The bridge was so pretty and I wanted to go on the boats in the river but we ended up just running out of time. Prague was probably one of my favorite cities after Venice. I got a good vibe from just being on the streets and the culture was cool, and the people were friendly and it was very easy to get around! Plus I loved being so close to the river and the architecture was fantastic there!

While walking up and down the streets I happened to run into my friend Gabe from SC on the streets! So random, it makes you realize how small the world really is! We made plans to meet up at the discotheque later that night (although we didn’t end up running into each other cause the club was so huge and neither of us had cell phones.) While walking around Prague we also took note of the fact that there are an absurd number of KFCs in Prague (and they sell beer) so some of our friends decided to do KFC beer hopping for the day! It was sure a hilarious story, and those kind of stories are part of what makes traveling so fun!

When we got back to the hotel we got ready for our last night out in Europe. Surprise, surprise—a taste of the local food and culture at a folklore show. The great food and amazing shows were kind of a staple of the Contiki experience, I’d have to say. We then spent the rest of our night bar hopping and partying it up, living our Contiki Experience to the fullest. Tomorrow is our last day in Europe, well, until next time. And holy shit, I can’t believe how much fun I had with Contiki!!

"I met a lot of people in Europe. I even encountered myself." -James Baldwin

Never a Dull Moment in Prague! DOWNPOUR!!

In the morning we wake up and have breakfast a the hotel before hoping in the Coach to cross the border into the Czech Republic, the last stop on our adventures in Europe! On our way we stop at the first of many KFCs of the next couple days (explanation will come later!) and try to figure out the Korona exchange rate. It makes you appreciate the Euro when you enter a country that doesnt use it, but the KFC guys changed our Euros into Korona for us!

When we arrive in Prague, we head straight to the Old Town Square and walk around Old Town for a while. After checking out a couple of shops, we sit down at a café in the square and have a beer in front of this sweet astrological clock located on the Old Town city hall in Old Town Square. We head back to the hotel and relax a bit and go to this huge grocery store nearby for wine and sandwiches, and then get ready for one of the craziest nights of the trip—partying at the discotheque Karlovy Lazne, where each of the 5 levels had its own style of music! I was pretty stoked.

We pre-partied a bit in the hotel until it was time to head out to the town, but before we know it we are caught in a downpour rainstorm! This was the first bad weather of the trip, but in all honesty we were drunk enough to completely not care. We just decided to screw it and run through the rain and jump in the puddles!

We sloshed our way to the discotheque but saw a Coyote Ugly bar and decided a pit-stop for some shots of absinthe was completely necessary, while still soaking wet from the rainstorm! We then met up with the crew at the discotheque and partied the night away, rocking out to Michael Jackson on one floor, European Dance music on another and Disco on another, still kind of soaking wet! Although I ended up loosing my purse and others lost their wallets and cameras, it was still one of the craziest and most fun nights of the trip!

“Make voyages! Attempt them... there's nothing else.” Tennessee Williams

Everyones Free To Wear Sunscreen. And Beer Goggles.

On our way to Munich we made a couple stops at some really cool places. First was this sweet jewelry store, and while the name escapes me right now, it was filled with gorgeous jewelry and everything was all a glitter!

We also stopped at this random park with this cool ass fountain and stuff to play on and even a maze made of shrubbery, which was actually kind of hard and I got lost in there at for a while!

The most intense stop by far was the The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site in Dachau, Germany. It was so somber and humbling learning about the Holocaust tragedy, and simply trying to fathom the inhumanity, cruelty and lack of empathy of the Nazis was so difficult. Actually being there made the whole thing seem so real, not just something you read about or have heard about. Intense. Ryno gave us some insipirational words of wisdom after we boarded up the coach and we listened to the song (Everyone’s Free) To Wear Sunscreen by Baz Luhrmann. The lyrics are motivational and great, I suggest you watch the video, and imagine listening to this right after experiencing the intensity of spending a few hours at the concentration camp.

When we got to Munich we had some free time to explore the city right away. We walked from our coach to the town centre and Ryan our guide pointed out some cool places to go and, like always, handed us his “Ryno in your pocket” with tips of places to see in the city. We walked around and shopped a little bit, and saw the historic Glockenspiel (this large bell tower thing with 43 bells and 32 figurines that move twice a day). Then we grabbed some tasty bratwurst, and walked inside the The Frauenkirche, a large church famous for the Teufelstritt, or Devil's Footstep, at the entrance. There are numerous legends around the strange black foot-print looking mark, and the church was pretty cool.

We got back on the Coach after spending the afternoon in the city—we were in Germany, so we needed beer (some of us had already started enjoying the fine beer that Germany has to offer!) And where could be a better place, than the famous Hofbrauhaus Beer Hall. Surprise surprise… the beer was plentiful and we were provided with amazing live entertainment! Seriously, every night we have had something cool to watch while we ate and drank. So fun. A couple Contikiers even got on stage and danced and sang with the crew! Just another night in beer-fueled paradise!

“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”-G. K. Chesterton

Mountain Biking! Then Sex-Position Chair Battles? In the same day in AUSTRIA!

The next day we awoke and had breakfast at the hotel, and met some other Contiki travelers from the other Coach that was also staying at our hotel. After breakfast we then got dressed up to mountain bike!

The ride was a 5 mile loop, gradual, sometimes-rocky, and slightly uphill the whole way there, and a flying downhill on the way back. The scenery was breathtaking. We stopped once to rest on the way up and filled up our already-purchased-by-Contiki water bottles from a small, trickling stream on the side of the trail that was literally the best water I have ever tasted! I was a little hesitant to drink water right from the stream, but I swear I have never had anything so fresh and so clean!




We saw mountain goats, cows and 2 black cats crossing the trail (superstitious anyone? haha!). When we made it to the top we had some amazing bratwurst and potatoes for lunch waiting for us at an outdoor café at the top of Gatshof. We are still silly Americans and although apparently this sign means something along the lines of "hot food" the boys loved it that it said "warme kuche" and we all laughed.

Then we flew down the decent from the mountain, which was a complete blast. We had our bikes rented to us for the rest of the day, and the rest of the afternoon was left for us to hit up Hopfgarten.

Rhyno gave us a map and a variety of options of things to do in the town. Some of us decided to go trout fishing. Hopfgarten has a trout farm, and those who went said they caught a fish in about 2 minutes, and then the trout farm crew grilled up the fish that they had caught right there… talk about fresh fish! There was also a cool water park and swimming lake there too, but James and I decided we wanted to take the gondola and chairlift ride to the park and church at the top of the ski resort.

One of the lifts was a single person lift with barely any restraint, which was probably the most intense chairlift I had ever been on, but scarily-fun! The view of the mountains from the top was spectacular. After coming back down the lifts we biked to pick up some schnapps from a local market and went back to the hotel for drinking and getting ready for the night.

Since the hotel was owned by Contiki, the staff decided to throw us a “pimps and hos” party for the two Coaches staying at the hotel. We all got dressed up and the staff hosted a pimps vs. hos trivia game (aka the girls on one side had questions about sports, supermodels and beer and the boys were asked stuff like Sex and the City trivia, fashion and make-up) The contest ended in a sexual-position battle where one boy and one girl had to battle to see who could come up with the most sex positions in an allotted amount of time (and do them. physically. on the floor of the bar or with a chair that the staff had allotted “sex-position-chair”.) I don’t remember if the guys or the girls ultimately won, so yeah… that means that I was having fun. I spent the whole night chatting with random new friends from the other Coach, and ended up actually staying up the entire night. We decided to walk to a bench to watch the sunrise over the mountains, which was gorgeous! And before we knew it, it was all the sudden time for breakfast! Thankfully we had a bus ride to Munich to take a nap the next day! What a fun night, I would have never guessed there would have been so much to do in there, but Contiki showed us all the hidden treasures of the quaint little town (and then threw us a party!) What a fun night!

“Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”- Miriam Bea

Rafting. And Then More Drinking! TEAM FUCK YEAH!

We left Venice after breakfast at the hotel where I enjoyed some great espresso there for breakfast that seems so rampant in Europe. Then we were off to the Austrian Tyrol district to stay at a Contiki’s Gastoff hostel in Hopfgarten (aka a hotel full of Contiki travelers!), but on the way we stopped in Brenner Pass to go white water rafting!

I think a prerequisite for the job as a rafting tour guide was that you had to be a sexy, foreign, English-speaking male, because all of the guides were incredibly good looking, and we all noticed! We got into our gear and did a little safety training session and jumped into the river to get a taste of the water temperature before getting onto our rafts. The rafting was so awesome! We jumped and fell into the water a couple times, definitely got splashed around, and purposely spun and tried to flip the raft, just for fun.

After the 45 minute raft ride, guides were waiting for us with shots of schnapps and gouloush soup, which are Austrian favorites. We got back onto the coach after lunch and headed to Hopfgarten, this quiet little town in the mountains. After checking into the hotel, we wanted to go out.

But there wasn’t much nightlife in Hopfgarten, however Ryan (the tour guide) recommended this one bar called The Silver Bullet, and the coach shuttled us there after we’d had some time to settle in our hotel and shower. They had punch-off beer cards (10 pints for 20 euros) so Elise and I shared a card and Contiki travelers literally took over the bar. It was a Monday night, so the bar was pretty empty, but we sure made it fun!

When the beer card was all gone, things turned a little crazier—shots of absinthe started to come out, and whiskey-in-a-water bottle outside the bar was involved too. Me and some of the girls got to know the Contiki crew of Marky Mark (left) our tour guide Rhyno (being fondled in the middle) and K-Mad a little better, by playing “The Questions Game” and “Never Have I Ever”. This was a blast, and full of laughs. Let’s just say the quote of the night was “Penis in your ear!!” and I think that kind of sums it up!

Anyway we didn't feel like walking back (although it wasn't very far) so we decided instead to cab it home. The cab driver was driving 80-90 miles an hour along small, turny cobblestone streets! Had I not been intoxicated I would have been terrified! When we asked him about his driving, he said “There’s one cop in the city. My dad’s the cop.” So I guess he wasn’t worried! We passed out at the hotel after another awesome night, ready to mountain bike in the Alps in the morning!

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open." -- Jawaharal Nehru

BOB the "sleep dancer" and Blown Horses. What, that isn't what you think about when you think of Venice?

We woke up and had breakfast at the hotel and got on the Coach to drive to Venice. We drove through the Appennine Mountains and through Bologna (where spaghetti was born!) We got on the boat to Venice, which has been dubbed the “sinking city” cause the island actually is sinking into the ocean every year! You could see, walking around the canals, that some of the steps are now a couple steps shorter cause they are submerged into water.

We saw St. Mark’s square (the historic center of the city) and the Doges Palace, a gorgeous castle. We also got the chance to watch a glass blower work his trade at a local glass shop, and he gave us Contikiers a special show (He blew a horse. Nice, haha!) and he showed us how glass blowing works. He gave our tour a discount at his store, so I bought a gorgeous, handmade glass necklace there.

The streets were so small and bustling, and the pigeons were prevalent in the square (ew. bird poop), but I loved Venice so much! It was my favorite city on the trip so far. We spent the afternoon wandering the city, ate some gelato for lunch and walked around by the water. We then met up with the Contiki group in St. Marks square and went on a boat ride through the canals with a bottle of champagne provided by Contiki, and an Italian guide dressed in a Where’s-Waldo-esque outfit and a perpetual cigarette in his mouth. It was gorgeous though and so much fun.

We took a big boat back to the mainland for dinner. We had this 4 course Italian dinner, and listened to some great live music while we ate (wine included with dinner. naturally.) After dinner we were kinda warn out from lack of sleep and excessive alcoholism so we decided to take the five-or-so extra, unopened bottles of wine that our waiters left us at the table at dinner and proceed to hang out at the hotel. Let’s just say that the night ended with a game of “2 minutes in the hot seat” and a blacked-out-Brittany. I'm a damn good uh... sleep dancer. Enough said! Haha!

“I see my path, but I don't know where it leads. Not knowing where I'm going is what inspires me to travel it.” Rosalia de Castro

From Churches to Wine. And a naked man Statue.

After breakfast at the hotel (and now chugging water instead of drinking wine!), we started off our morning with a walking tour of the Piazza del’a Signoria, the Duomo and Santa Croce Cathethedral. Our tour guide was so informative and knew tons about the artwork, statues, and gorgeous Renaissance architecture. This is only a reconstruction of the famous David statue, but its the same size as the real dude, and is located in the Piazza. Florence is famous for its leather, so those of us who were interested headed to a little leather shop and learned a little bit about how it was made, in a short demonstration from one of the employees of the store. I bought some really cool leather jewelry there. We had the rest of the day to enjoy Florence on our own.

Some of my friends went to museums and galleries, but I decided to head out with a couple new friends and pick up a panini sandwich and gelato for lunch, and shopped a little bit around the city. There are a lot of mopeds in Florence, and we witnessed two near-accidents (by the same lady) within approximately 2 minutes! Good work, lady. It was pretty funny how uncoordinated she was on her moped. After our afternoon in the city was done, we went to the top of this gorgeous hill that over looks Florence and took a bunch of group photos of our Contiki travelers as the sun was setting over the city!

Soon after, we went to dinner. We entered the quaint little café restaurant and were immediately greeted with a choice of three drinks and little appetizers in the outside dining patio with fountains and gorgeous flowers. Once inside, we were offered unlimited wine and a four course meal spread over a couple of hours. We wined and dined and listened to the live music, including an amazing opera singer. I usually think opera is usually not my fav, but this lady was so talented! There was a dance floor at the restaurant, and we actually witnessed another proposal too! Europe is so romantic!

After dinner we headed out to Red Garter, which is this cool karaoke bar. There we meet up with a bunch of other Contiki travelers who were on the Road to Athens tour. We kicked it with them, flirted with Australians and Italians from the other Coach. I tried to speak Spanish to the Italians (again. Apparently I speak Spatalian) Basically just we partied until late into the night. We finally made it back to the hotel after another fantastic day of travel. I’m so stoked… Venice tomorrow!

“Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends.” - Maya Angelou