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Hello from Europe At 5:21 PM by: Hiro |
So apparently getting internet access while doing a whirlwind tour of Europe isn't as easy as you would think. There have been internet cafés available but rarely the time to sit down and use them.
I'm now in Amsterdam and it's my 3rd last day in Europe. It's been an insane 2 weeks and been having a blast. Tons of fun shit has happened and my video filming is coming along great. I'm up to 10 tapes of footage now so hopefully enough decent footage to make a quality dvd and oh what a movie it will be.
So tonight we walked around Amsterdam's red light district. I swear I was in sin city or something. I couldn't believe that shit. Sex shops/shows everywhere, and every 10 feet there are these glass doors that the hookers stand behind and smile at potential clients as they walk by.
Backtracking back to the beginning of the tour, ít's been incredible seeing so much of Europe in such a short amount of time. We started off in London where the boys (Mike, Dave and Tony my roommates from Waterloo) and I adventured around using The Tube. I swear we saw all of London. Tiring as hell but loads of fun. Later that day we met our Contiki tour group and stayed the night before heading out to France. France was very nice and we did the tourist things like the Eiffel tower (which I would argue had one of the most beautiful views I've see in my life) and the Louvre museum.
From France we went on down to the tiny but lavish country of Monaco where we got to tour around in one of the richest cities of the world. It was just ridiculous. So much money everywhere, it was unbelievable. The view driving along the mountains looking out at the coast was absolutely spectacular.
Then we drove to Italy where we toured Florence, Rome, and Venice. Italy was very nice and we had loads of fun. I loved the views of the mountains as we drove around Italy. 10 out of our 14 days in Europe are "travel days" where we spend a solid 6-8 hours on the bus. As such we go to a lot of service stations. An interesting thing to note is that every service station I can remember in Italy was an Autogrill. What's even more interesting is that every Autogrill is actually owned by the Vatican. Interesting.
Speaking of service stations, here's a weird thing about Europe. You have to pay to piss! They actually have these people sitting outside of just about every washroom and they have a tip jar where you're supposed to tip like 50 cents. The free washrooms are like a diamond in the rough. We go totally wild when we find one haha.
Leaving Italy, we passed through Austria where we made a short stop at the Swarovsky Crystal Museum which was pretty cool...moreso for the girls I guess. After that we dropped into Munich, Germany where we had an awesome time at a German Beer Hall. Man the German's know how to party. They drink from 1 litre glasses(called Steins or Tankards) of beer. When we were at the beer hall, there was another Contiki tour group as well and a number of them had been "skulling" (Aussie term for chugging - more on Aussie slang some other day) or attempting to skull their 1 litre glasses of beer. The ones that finished sure as hell took their sweet time. So yours truly, with the help of some peer pressure, stepped up on behalf of our tour group and skulled it in 18 seconds. Good times.
We spent a night in the Rhine valley yesterday and now we come back to today, when we arrived in Amsterdam in The Netherlands. I already mentioned the red light district but we all know that this place is much more known for its tolerance of smoking weed. We checked out a "coffee shop" tonight and it was so weird. It was like I was in an alternate universe. You go up to like a ticket booth and order your weed. You can get it in a bag or pre-rolled. They even have a variety of different types depending on what your mood is. Then everyone just sits around like a pub and smokes up.
Anyway, I don't have much time to keep typing and I can't think of any great stories off the top of my head so I'll have to go back and recount some of the better stories from the trip.
Tomorrow we spend another day in Amsterdam and enjoy our final night of debauchery and then the day after we head back to London where we spend another night there and finally leave for Canada the next morning.
See you in Canada!
I'm now in Amsterdam and it's my 3rd last day in Europe. It's been an insane 2 weeks and been having a blast. Tons of fun shit has happened and my video filming is coming along great. I'm up to 10 tapes of footage now so hopefully enough decent footage to make a quality dvd and oh what a movie it will be.
So tonight we walked around Amsterdam's red light district. I swear I was in sin city or something. I couldn't believe that shit. Sex shops/shows everywhere, and every 10 feet there are these glass doors that the hookers stand behind and smile at potential clients as they walk by.
Backtracking back to the beginning of the tour, ít's been incredible seeing so much of Europe in such a short amount of time. We started off in London where the boys (Mike, Dave and Tony my roommates from Waterloo) and I adventured around using The Tube. I swear we saw all of London. Tiring as hell but loads of fun. Later that day we met our Contiki tour group and stayed the night before heading out to France. France was very nice and we did the tourist things like the Eiffel tower (which I would argue had one of the most beautiful views I've see in my life) and the Louvre museum.
From France we went on down to the tiny but lavish country of Monaco where we got to tour around in one of the richest cities of the world. It was just ridiculous. So much money everywhere, it was unbelievable. The view driving along the mountains looking out at the coast was absolutely spectacular.
Then we drove to Italy where we toured Florence, Rome, and Venice. Italy was very nice and we had loads of fun. I loved the views of the mountains as we drove around Italy. 10 out of our 14 days in Europe are "travel days" where we spend a solid 6-8 hours on the bus. As such we go to a lot of service stations. An interesting thing to note is that every service station I can remember in Italy was an Autogrill. What's even more interesting is that every Autogrill is actually owned by the Vatican. Interesting.
Speaking of service stations, here's a weird thing about Europe. You have to pay to piss! They actually have these people sitting outside of just about every washroom and they have a tip jar where you're supposed to tip like 50 cents. The free washrooms are like a diamond in the rough. We go totally wild when we find one haha.
Leaving Italy, we passed through Austria where we made a short stop at the Swarovsky Crystal Museum which was pretty cool...moreso for the girls I guess. After that we dropped into Munich, Germany where we had an awesome time at a German Beer Hall. Man the German's know how to party. They drink from 1 litre glasses(called Steins or Tankards) of beer. When we were at the beer hall, there was another Contiki tour group as well and a number of them had been "skulling" (Aussie term for chugging - more on Aussie slang some other day) or attempting to skull their 1 litre glasses of beer. The ones that finished sure as hell took their sweet time. So yours truly, with the help of some peer pressure, stepped up on behalf of our tour group and skulled it in 18 seconds. Good times.
We spent a night in the Rhine valley yesterday and now we come back to today, when we arrived in Amsterdam in The Netherlands. I already mentioned the red light district but we all know that this place is much more known for its tolerance of smoking weed. We checked out a "coffee shop" tonight and it was so weird. It was like I was in an alternate universe. You go up to like a ticket booth and order your weed. You can get it in a bag or pre-rolled. They even have a variety of different types depending on what your mood is. Then everyone just sits around like a pub and smokes up.
Anyway, I don't have much time to keep typing and I can't think of any great stories off the top of my head so I'll have to go back and recount some of the better stories from the trip.
Tomorrow we spend another day in Amsterdam and enjoy our final night of debauchery and then the day after we head back to London where we spend another night there and finally leave for Canada the next morning.
See you in Canada!
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1 Comments:
Notice how he never actually says if he smoked or not?
Good to read that you're having fun Hiro! Get back safely.
By
Nana, at 8/30/2005 02:46:00 AM
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