We heart Europe!!

Buon Giorno!

We finally found some Internet, so will give you a very brief update on the last week and a half.

Contiki is great. We have an awesome group. Andrew is the oldest followed by our Italian tour manager, Cecelia and then me. There are about 4 other couples but we are the only married pair. But we are surprising everyone as they all tell us that we're not boring like they would expect married couples to be. I tell them that contrary to popular belief, you still are a human being when you get married and want to have fun!

Here is a quick run down on the places we've been so far.

Amsterdam

What a progressive town! They have designated roads for bicycles and as we all know have very interesting draw cards for tourists. Well for now anyway, in a few months their special brownies will only be available for residents.

As you could imagine, Andrew felt right at home in Amsterdam with more bicycles than people (true fact!).

We had a great time in Amsterdam from dodging crazy bike riders to visiting Anne Franks house. That was an amazing experience, we saw the actual place she stayed and of course the real diary. We also went on a cruise along the canals at night, it is such a beautiful city.

We visited a Cheese and Clog factory where we saw how they made, you guessed it, cheese and clogs!  The cheese was amazing...so yummy! Here is a photo of us in a giant clog.  

Clog in Holland

Berlin

My (Jacinta's) first encounter with snow! I got over it pretty quickly as it was snowy pretty hard. We visited the Berlin wall and went for a walking tour where we saw a heap of museums and stood above Hitler's bunker (where he hid and died during the war). We then had a traditional German lunch and beer. We went to some bars and clubs at night which were great fun.

It was in Berlin where we found out our shoes weren't that great for snow. Fail!

We don't have many photos from Berlin because we've taken them on our camera and can't upload them onto the computer.

My first snow, on our way to Berlin

Prague

On our way to Prague we stopped in at a place called Dresden. It was so beautiful, heaps of old buildings all in a small space (or precinct as Andrew would say). They were attacked quite badly in the second world war but rebuilt each building soon after. The town reminded me of Dulock (from Shrek), as it felt like a ghost town hidden away (in a good way).

Prague really is as beautiful as everyone says. It is even more beautiful this time of the year, with Christmas lights and covered in snow. We went on a river cruise for lunch and ate our way around the Christmas markets for the rest of the day.  We also tried hot wine, it was the most unusual feeling drinking hot wine, but it was so cold that it was hard to stop drinking it. 

Hot Wine at Prague Christmas Markets

On our last night in Prague we went on a Pub 'crawl' which was more a Pub hike, it was about a 25 minute walk between each pub and in the freezing weather, it wasn't the greatest.  I tried my first shot of Absinth which was 75% alcohol.  I could still feel the cold so it didn't work that well!

Prague Town Square by night

Munich

We went back to Germany to have one last taste of the culture. On our way there we stopped in at a concentration camp memorial site. It was the most saddest things we've ever seen. We stood on the grounds where the prisoners had to stand each morning for roll call in nothing but rags, and we were wearing layer upon layer and were still freezing. Just heartbreaking to see to be honest.

On a nicer note, the first night we went to a beer hall where we drank from 1L steins. Andrew earned the title of 'Crazy Andy' after he put away 6.5 Litres in 3 hours. Needless to say we didn't do too much the next day. But Andrew certainly cemented himself as the most seasoned drinker on tour. He is the oldest (besides the bus driver) after all.

Beer and Pretzels...before the epic drinking session

Italia

We are now in Italy! We went through Austria today and stopped off at the Swarovoski world headquarters...I held back pretty well, but do have a new sparkling pair of earrings. The mountains on the drive through Austria were amazing, especially covered in snow. I can't even describe how beautiful it is.

Tomorrow we head to the centre of Venice with Florence and Rome coming up over the next week. If you haven't picked up on it already, we are having a great time! Hope you're all well.

Love to all

A & J xo