So yeah I ended up drinking 3 steins of beer, which is 3 litres, at the Hofbrau House beer hall in Munich. Never thought id drink that much, but it was great beer. And the atmosphere was just 10/10. There is no other place in the world where you will find that many happy drunk people. Walking around cheers’ing complete randoms all over the place. Everyone was just so friendly. Was also rather exciting when this dickhead american sitting behind us hurled all over himself and his table. Stumbled all over the place, couldn’t walk a straight line to save himself. He was totally paralytic. Quickly got thrown out, with the rest of his table. Surprisingly, when I asked our tour manager if that happens a lot, he said that’s the first time he has seen someone hurl there.

After the beer hall it was off to a pumping club called Q. We got rejected at first because it was some members only special night, but the tour manager spun some words and we all got in. Went to the bar, and they FREE POUR the spirits. I ask for a vodka and coke, so I get half a glass of vodka and a little coke. I love it already. Danced for a good solid 4 hours straight with a chick on the tour from Sydney. I literally couldn’t walk at the end of the night (probably for a few reasons). Got home at around 5am to wake up at 7am for breakfast. I rate that night probably the best night out ive ever had anywhere, it had everything.

Now I set my alarm for 7am. But for some reason I think I heard my alarm, and I woke up really quickly because I was freaking I would miss the bus. I jumped in the shower, got out, must have looked at my watch, and it was like 6:15. So I went back to bed, woke up when my actual alarm went off at 7, and have pretty much no idea why and how I had the shower, I only know I did because my hair was wet. Drunk to the MAX.

Aaaaaaanyway, hopped on the bus after breaky, and we headed for Venice, Italy via Innsbruck, Austria. The scenery is crazy, the mountains just pop out of nowhere. Stopped there for a little bit, had some lunch and did a little shopping, keeping up with my buy something in every country thing I got going. That’s what my excuse is anyway, I think I just have problems with buying stuff.

Got to our hotel at about 7pm I think and headed straight back down to have dinner. We weren’t actually staying in Venice because that would be next to impossible, but on the mainland in an industrial-ish zone. So there wasn’t exactly much of a night life, but I wanted to rest so that was cool.

We had the whole next day in Venice to walk around. We got given maps and were told what to see, then told to throw the maps away because there is zero point to them. You cant follow a map in Venice, it is impossible. There is no cars at all, just hundreds of little alley ways everywhere. So to get somewhere you just walk in the general direction of where it is and eventually you find it. I mostly just walked around with some of the other guys, went to St Marks Square, went up the tower, checked out the Basilica, then the big main bridge. Had a pretty nice lunch as well, well priced except for coke being 6 euros. What a joke.

Found some markets and bought a few random things (again). Was fun bartering with the people because the advertised price is NEVER the real price. The fake bag, sunnies and belt sellers are also rather funny. They rock up to a street somewhere, lay down a sheet and put the usual Chanel, Gucci, Louise Vuitton etc bags out on it. Its totally illegal to be selling them of course, so when the cops come, someone shouts out COPS and they all pick up their sheet with the bags in it and run to another new spot. I saw one group of about 20 guys setup in a street with a real Gucci shop next to them, how ironic. With these guys you can barter down a fake designer bag from 80 euros to 15.

Headed off again to Switzerland, was a full driving day, so about 10 hours total with stops. Had a fun little cruise on the lake in Lucerne, then started to hit the town. Switzerland is not a cheap place. They take Swiss francs and the euro so that didn’t matter, but it was just expensive. A simple spirit mixed with softdrink was about 10 euros, so that’s about $16 aussie dollars. Oh well the club was pretty cool though, the whole floor was covered in sand, supposed to be a beach club. Ended up having a rather big one again, got back to hotel at about 4am to wake up at 7am.

Woke up and got on the bus which was a relief, and headed to Paris, which was ANOTHER full day of driving. We drove 700kms and got into Paris at about 5pm. Had some spare time for once before dinner to just relax, sleep or check emails etc. After dinner we drove down to the the Eiffel Tower which was obviously very cool, especially at night. Then our driver just took us on a quick tour around the city. Hopped onto the round-about at the Arc de Triomphe which was interesting to say the least. Craziest driving ever. Got back to the hotel and just had a quiet one to catch up on some sleep.

Next day we just had a full day in Paris to see whatever we wanted to see. I walked around with a few people on the tour and we checked out the usual main attractions. The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre (which had NO line), Notre Dame, and various other little things in between. For one day I think we fitted in a good amount of stuff considering how spread apart everything is in Paris.

That night, for the people that chose to, went to see Moulin Rouge. Was incredible. Everything about it was amazing. The atmosphere, the costumes, content, everything. Went to a bar afterward which is right next door that is kind of like the defacto end of tour contiki bar. The music is heavily influenced by Australians which was cool. Drinks weren’t that expensive either, so I had a few.

Eventually made my way back to the hotel at about 5am to wake up at 7am. I was just being let off the bus at the airport so missing the bus isn’t really *that* bad. So what happened, I missed the damn bus. I really wanted to be on the bus though so I could say bye to everyone as I didn’t last night as I assumed I was going to be on the bus. I especially wanted to say bye to a special few people ive made pretty good friendships with, but I stuffed that up and im actually very annoyed with myself. But these things happen so I just have to look forward to the rest of my trip. Even worse though, the group photo that was taken yesterday was being handed out on the bus. So hopefully one of the chicks from Sydney picked mine up and ill be lucky enough to get it in a few weeks, who knows.

There is a MASSIVE amount of stuff that we did that I cant even remember at this stage, but ive got a lot of stories that will keep these memories going for a while yet!

So im writing this in my hotel and Contiki is over. Had an absolute blast and im glad ive done it. Was good to hang out with people after being alone for a couple of weeks. Met some great people and made some good friendships. Hopefully I can keep in touch with the other Sydney’ers at least. Now I have to figure out how to get to my next hotel in Paris…because I missed the Contiki bus which was dropping me off right near it…