More time! Yay! Oh, and Bath!

Yay, I have more time to play on the internet! Joy! Rapture! Very expensive for Cass! Heh. Doesn't matter, that's what money is for, right? At least, that's what they tell me... (oh, and on a complete random sidenote, I am becoming used to the weird-arsed English keyboards. Oh my god, the culture shock when I get back home is going to be INSANE)

So I am currently in Bath, discovering that it really is fun to stay at the YMCA. But casts your minds back, people, to that happy time when I was a little bit less worldly, a little less cold and a lot tanner... Contiki and Europe. I am in Switzerland, home of the milk cow and chocolate and snow. Lots and lots of snow. When last we were there, I had just arrived. So the next day, we went up Jungfrau mountain on a cable car, which was an experience in itself. The view was stunning and I'm sure I took too many photos. Still, that's what digital cameras are for, right?? So we then went into the mountain and up to the plateau. I suffered from a bit of pressure sickness, but only inside the complex. Weird. Still, fun times were had. the Ice Palace was beautiful, all these ice sculptures and slip and sliding around (the floor was ice too!) we then had some lunch and found the play area! yay! snowball fights and snow angels and frivolity followed. It was awesome.

The next day it was on to the Rhine Valley and Ice Vine (or if we're being particular, in english - and not bad german accent - Ice Wine) We went to a beer stein demonstration thing - as you can tell, I found it super exciting - and then I bought Birkenstocks for 30€! Bargain! We then had din dins and off to the wine tasting, where I kept my glasses/shots (seriously, they served the wine in shot glasses!) and had to bite my tongue when they said that they had just given us a "dry red vine" as it was super sweet! And they kept getting sweeter! Until finally the moment of truth... Ice Wine! They gave us the smallest bit, and it seemed nice but agian, see smallest bit. Hard to tell, really. So on from there to Amsterdam.

We stopped off in Edam to ride granny bikes and look at dykes (get your minds out of the gutter people, this is the water barrier kind). fun riding a bike and not dying in the first five minutes! We then made our way into Amsterdam! Yay! And, of course, the contiki tradition continues... we all signed up for the sex show. The red light district was very interesting, with the prostitutes in the windows and all. they have quite the set up, with a little bathroom and all the facilities (i saw this from the street, people. I swear!) the sex show itself was kinda meh, with the, um , participants not that into it. the sex museum afterwards was way better!

The next day, it was off to the post office to send some stuff home. Of course, do you think we could find the post office? Of course not! It took us at least 45 mins to find the darn thing, and then another hour or so to get everything ready for posting. ah well! we then walked to Anne Frank House, which was beautiful. Amsterdam is such a pretty city, and seeing as it was Autumn, the autumn colours really brought out the beauty of the canals and the houses lining them. Anne frank house was really cool, and sad, and interesting and a hundred different adjectives encompassing sadness and joy. I had never read the book before this trip, but Denielle had brought it along with her, so managed to read it while sitting on the bus for those countless hours (esp in Alabania!) After Anne Frank, what better than retail therapy! Not that I bought much, but I did buy these Dutch biscuits that are yummy! Spice biscuits, I think they're called, and they taste like Coffee Rounds without the pink icing and the dried fruit! After shopping, we walked down to the Heinekin Experience (I'm sure I spelt that wrong!) IT was really cool! Def go if you're in Amsterdam, if only for the free beer! You get three, and then there are heaps of people who don't want their beer, so they give you the tokens! We ended up getting about five free beers!

That night was our farewell dinner, with a cruise on the canals followed by a chinese buffet. It was sad that it was our last night, but awesome too. We had survived! Huzzah!

The next day, we drove back to London. However, a two truck smash on the freeway forced us to detour through the back roads of Holland. yay! what should have been a three hour trip become six hours. Joy! Still, we got back to London at about 7pm, had farewell drinks and that was all she wrote (literally)

So we come to the end of contiki, the 37 day extravaganza that took me all over Europe and left me with some glorious memories and new friends. How could you not love such an experience!

Next up, people, I shall delight you with tales of London and day trips to the surrounds. Oh yes, the saga continues!

stay well and I'll see you all real soon (a week and a half to go!)
xx