Day 1 – Cruise from Finland to Sweden
We all met in Turku docks where
we all boarded our cruise ship Isabella who was taking us across to Sweden. The
food on the ship was amazing, there was a huge buffet with a whole range of
foods from salads, seafood, meats, cheeses, bread and a number of deserts like
tiramisu, brownies, ice-cream. After dinner we headed up to the conference room
where we had an introduction evening getting to know the bus drivers, Rotarians,
rotex, and students attending the tour. After this meeting we had a little time
to explore the ship before heading to bed for the early wake up we would be
getting in the morning as we arrived to Sweden.
Today consisted of mainly driving as we drove through Sweden to
Copenhagen, Denmark. In Sweden we stopped off at “FRANSSONS
POLKAGRISTILLVERKNING” a lolly shop. This lolly shop had won a Guinness world
record in 2003 for the world’s largest lollypop weighing 2158.7Kg. After
visiting the lolly shop we left Sweden and made our way to Copenhagen. We arrived in Copenhagen that night and had the
night to explore Tivoli the theme park in the centre of the city. The night was
so much fun I was high on life with a friend running around all night from ride
to ride. We got an unlimited ride pass.
Day 3 – Tour of Copenhagen to Bremen Germany
Me at the Little
Mermaid
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This day consisted of having a bus tour to explore the beautiful city
of Copenhagen by day. We stopped to have a look at the sites such as the Little
Mermaid, and Amalienborg (the palace), and we saw other big sites of Copenhagen
such as the new opera house and Royal playhouse and the canals with us stopping
off in the main shopping street where we had lunch and was able to have some
free time exploring the city for ourselves. During the free time I bought some
strawberries with one of my friends in which we ate one the deck of the ferry
we caught later in the day leaving Denmark and heading to Germany.
Once in Germany we headed to the city of Bremen where we would be
spending the night in our hotel, the only thing is that we got caught in a
traffic jam and so the trip took us around 4 hours rather than the 2.5/3hrs in
which it was supposed to be. When we finally arrived in our hotel we had a few
free hours to look around the city. During this time a friend and I went to
discover the city, here we found the main shopping street, where they had some
museums, art galleries and also some parks around it. On our walk back to the
hotel we met some of the exchange students who were living in Bremen whom had
met up in front of the hotel with some members from our group who they knew
already.
Day 4 – Netherlands
Today we got to visit the clog and cheese factory in the Netherlands.
At the clog part of the factory we learnt about the machines used in which they
make the clogs with and also got to see it in action taking only around 5
minutes for one shoe to be made. The cheese factory had a section where we
could see the steps they use to make the cheese from scratch, as they explained
the different times to wait in order to create different types of cheeses such
as Gouda which is aged for usually around 5 months. After seeing where/how the
cheeses are made we were able to go into the shop, where we were about to try
all the different cheeses they make at the factory.
After visiting the cheese and clog factories we headed to a little
town Volendam where we had a little free time to look around the old little
city and then have dinner at a restaurant, before we headed to Amsterdam where
we visited the Anne Frank House and went for a tour by waterbus through the
canals.
Day 5 - Brussels
Walking tour of Brussels for the morning, after which we had lunch and then actually met up with some of the exchange students living in Belguim, so we went and chilled during our free time with them. Catching up and being awesome as all exchange students are.
After a morning exploring the
city of Brussels we headed off and that evening arrived at our hotel in Paris. We
had a little free time to find ourselves some dinner before heading back to the
hotel for the night.
Day 6 – Tour of Paris
This morning allowed for us to
explore the wonders of Versailles, we used the audio guides through the palace
and then had time to wonder around the magnificent gardens. After exploring
Versailles we all headed down the road where we all had lunch together and
where we were all allowed to have a glass of red wine with our lunch, which was
chicken and vegetables with a chocolate muffin for dessert.
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After our amazing morning in
Versailles we all headed back to the buses where we met our tour guide again
who this time was going to take us on a bus tour around Paris. We first stopped
for photos infront of the Eiffel tower, before heading back on the bus to see
the other wonders of Paris such as the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame
Cathedral, Champs-Elysées, etc.
Once the bus tour came to an end, we were given our tickets for the
River Seine cruise. The cruise lasted for an hour after which we had free time
until 11 pm, having to find our own way back to the hotel ourselves. Heading
off in a group we found a little cafe where we had some dinner before we
climbed the Arc! The view from up top was spectacular, with a 360⁰
view of Paris. After a wonderful look around at the view from up the top we
headed back down, to have a look at from down the bottom and then heading to a
little cafe for a coffee and tart at a little French cafe, before walking back
to the Eiffel tower catching the metro back to our hotel.
Day 7 – Free day in Paris
Peter, Sarah
and I decided that today would be a perfect day to explore the area around the
Moulin Rouge area before having a picnic. We found a free walking tour around
this area in which we went on. We started at the bottom of the hill at the red
windmill heading up the hill learning the history of the area before ending up
at the Sacré-coeur
on top of the hill. During the tour we found out where the bakery which was
awarded the prize for best baguette in the whole of France 2010 was we decided
to get some baguettes and strawberries and head to the Eiffel tower where we
had a picnic. After our picnic we headed off to the Notre Dame, though we just
missed out on going up to see the gargoyles, so instead we walked around the
area before heading back to the hotel to get ready for our free night we had to
enjoy in Paris. During this free night my group and I wandered around the
Champs- Elysées
area and the Eiffel tower area which were so different by night.
Day 8 – Driving to Grenoble
This day mainly
consisted of driving as we left Paris and headed to Grenoble, a city which is
situated in South-eastern France at the foot of the French Alps. When we
arrived people could go swimming in the pool before dinner. After dinner we had
a little free time to chill before heading to bed ready for tomorrow.
Day 9 – Alps
It was time to
leave the city and head up the mountains! Today we got to wind our way over the
Alps on our way to Nice. Along the way we made 3 stops. The first stop was at a
beautiful small French village in the middle of the Alps called Sisteron. We
had a little time to explore where my friends and I wandered up the hill to an
old castle which we were able to see the view of the whole village from the
top. This area was so beautiful with none of us wanting to leave after our
lunch there. Unfortunately we had to leave the beautiful village, getting back
on the busses on our way. The next stop was at a petrol station where we could
get some snacks if needed and a toilet break before heading back on the bus
before the last stop along the way before reaching Nice. The last stop was at a
Parfum factory in Grasse. Here we were fortunate enough to have a tour around
the factory before heading to the shop to get some great deals on some of their
perfume ranges. After making our purchases (me getting a new perfume for
myself), we once again climbed back onto the bus to head to our hotel that
evening in Nice. Once we arrived and all had dinner together we had a little
free time to go and explore, so most people headed off to find the beach where
we all went swimming. The only thing about the beach in Nice is the lack of
sand, rather it being pebble/rocks which made it rather painful to enter and
leave the water when swimming. Other than this however the water was beautiful
and definitely worth a dip.
Day 10 – Free time in Nice heading to
Monaco
Day 12 – Venice
Venice was one of the cities which was on top of many people’s places
they were most excited to visit (as well as Paris of course). Whilst waiting
for our waterbus to arrive to take us across to Venice we had a little time to
have a look around the touristy shops around the area. The trip was around half
an hour from there to Venice, so we were able to pick up a few tips from our
tour guide who spoke to us during the journey across. When we arrived we
followed our tour guide who took us to the place we would be getting our
gondolas from. From here we formed groups of 6 to share a gondola with for our
20min tour around the canals. Once everyone had finished their gondola rides we
headed to the glass factory where we were able to watch a glass blower make a
jug. After watching the demonstration on how they make the glass, we had the
opportunity to look around the shop at the different glass products they make. After
our tour we had 4 hours of free time to do what we wanted around Venice before
heading back to the hotel that afternoon for some more free time and a game of
beach volley ball.
Day 13 – Free day in Lido di Jesolo
Today we
relaxed at the beach swimming and laying on the day beds in the sun. I ate
lunch at a restaurant and then had some more gelato :D
Day 14 – Dolomites hike
We headed off
for a morning drive through the Alps where our next hotel was. We arrived at the
hotel around 11am, after which we unpacked and cleaned the buses (It was my day
for bus cleaning, before putting our things in our rooms and getting changed
for the hike which we were going on that afternoon. Once we were ready we
headed back to the buses, where we met our guides and drove to the spot we were
starting the hike from. We were told
that it was going to be cold for the hike so we all had on our jeans and
jumpers, though it turns out it actually wasn’t hot, in fact it was around 30⁰C!!
Most of us were so hot on the way up, but we all made it to the top, where we
had time to sit in the shade and relax looking at the stunning view. We stayed
up the top for around 40mins before heading back to the bottom where we met the
buses which took us back to the hotel. Back at the hotel we had a shower and
got changed and relaxed before dinner, with some people playing cards, others
giving people massages and others signing people’s flags. Dinner time came
though to everyone’s surprise it was a 5 course meal which took us a bit over 2
hours to have. It started with a salad,
soup, pasta, roast meat and vegies, and finally dessert. When dinner was
finally over we had a little bit of free time, which I spent with a whole group
of people in someone’s room talking. Around 11.30ish it was time to head to our
rooms for the night.
Day 15 – Austria
Unfortunately we only had a few hours in Austria for lunch and a
little walk around (the temperature was around 34⁰C and almost had me
questioning if I was Australian as I thought it was so hot). As it was a Sunday
there wasn’t too much open around so firstly we went to the tourist information
shop where we got a map of the city. They suggested that we go to the top of
the mountain and have a look at the view from up top, though we decided not to
as we didn’t have enough time. Instead we went for a walk round and found a
nice little cafe/restaurant for lunch. After the delicious meal we went for a
walk to explore some more of the city. We found the river that ran through the
middle so we followed this with the amazing mountains behind and we found the
little shopping street, where we stopped to have a little look round and get
some souvenirs and snacks before grabbing a gelato and heading back to the bus.
Leaving Austria we made our way to Garmisch-Partenkirhen where we were having a
special dinner. The restaurant was a decorated little cottage type house, and
during dinner we had a Bavarian entertainment with music and traditional
dancing, which was great to watch. After our dinner and the dancing had
finished we once again got back on the bus and drove to Nurnberg where we
stayed for the night.
Day 16 – Nurnberg to Berlin
Today we
visited the Nurnberg war museum. The museum was interesting to visit though as
I didn’t realise that it was actually the same building in which Hitler
campaigns were actually held, I didn’t take as much interest in it as I would
have if I had know this beforehand, though it was still interesting to visit.
After looking through the museum we got back on the bus and drove to Berlin.
That evening after a bit of free time we went to the conference room where we
had a farewell party all together. The party was really nice, and the
oldie/Newbie gifts were handed out to each other. It was such a lovely night
although it was sad to think that it was our last night altogether. Tomorrow we
would be spending our last day together before heading back to Finland where we
might not see each other again before people go home.
Day 17 – Berlin and home
The morning was spent on a guided bus tour
around Berlin. Here we got to see the main sights including the wall. After the
tour, it was time for lunch so we were dropped off in the centre where we went
to the Mövenpick restaurant
where we had a lovely buffet type lunch. After lunch we had a couple of hours
to do what we wanted, so my friends and I walked around having a look through
some of the shops and the different things in the main area we were in. After
our few last ours together looking around it was time to get on the bus one
last time and head to the airport for our flight back to Finland. The flight
was good, with most people talking and getting the last signatures on their
flags before arriving. At the baggage collections it was the saddest and worst
part of the trip as it was time to say our final goodbyes to everyone, whom we
may never see again.
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