In order to get onto the main island the next morning we had to take a ferry in and it kind of gives you an idea of what you are into. Venice was spectacular, so interesting and different. Those of us who had chosen to do the walking tour had such a wonderful guide. She was fun and gave us all the interesting facts as well as the normal historical facts. It may just be that Venice lent itself to that type of tour because it is so unique. After the tour it was just a quick run to the pharmacy, nose spray this time, it was an afternoon to explore by ourselves. We got lost so many times but Venice has three major spots in the city and you can always find a sign post to one of them and so it was very easy to find our way again. Although a little bit of sight seeing is done this time was mainly used for shopping. There really were so many beautiful things t buy that I had to limit myself. We also had to try to find things for the “Nautical” themed party that night. The best thing I bought was the Gelato. I bought lemon gelato in every Italian city and Venice was definitely the best. Later in the day we all met up for our gondola. We were 6 to a boat with 2 bottles of wine between us. We went around the canals with our gondolier on his phone the whole time, how the times have changed. As he took us around we sang and waved to all the other people we saw. It was so much fun and time just flew.
That night’s party everyone had some form of blue and white stripe or sailor hat and there was a lot of drinking. However before we even got there, a group of us gathered in one room to drink some of the Absinthe we had bought in Rome. First time drinking it and I didn’t think it was too bad but I couldn’t drink anything but water for a while afterwards without feeling a bit sick. The funniest part was seeing everyone’s expressions as they drank their shot. Best part of the night was running into what felt like half of Cape Town there. Everyone from CT knew at least one person in another tour group and almost all of us were from UCT, I felt a bit sorry for the one Maties guy I met. It was so much fun to party with a bunch of South Africans and it also proved how small our country really is. We partied until the bar closed and then slowly made our way back to the campsite. Another night of cyclone contiki to celebrate our last night in Italy and unfortunately a light got broken.
Leaving Italy was very hard to do as it was such an awesome country. We saw so many amazing sights and it was already starting to feel like home. I really can’t wait to go back there. Add to all that was the knowledge that we were now past the halfway mark of tour and everywhere we went was only closer to back home.
Our next country was Austria. Here we were to be staying in a small mountain town, Hopfgarten. This meant that there was no major city to be explores but they had lined up a whole lot of adventures for us to of which I was too poor/scared to do any. Before we got to the town we stopped for a few people in the group to go white water rafting. Looking back I would’ve liked to have gone but I was just so worried about money at that stage that I decided against it. When we got to our destination I think we were all quite surprised by how small this village actually was. Upon arrival we were told that the party night was that night and the theme was “tight &bright,” again. In protest to the theme repeat I wore black and grey, more out of necessity as I don’t really have tight or bright clothing. The party was quite fun and the tour guides had organised some fun guys versus girls games. A group of us had discover a game that involved knocking nails into a stump of wood with the wrong end of the hammer. This game requires very good hand eye co-ordination, which I have none of even when I haven’t been drinking and so I wasn’t very good at it. As per usual our group were the last there and until closing time.
The girls I was rooming with: Amy; Elle; Ash and I, had decided since there was nothing we had to do the next day we were going to skip breakfast the next morning and sleep in. It was really nice to get a bit of rest and just let my body recover a bit. It seemed like there was quite a few of us who had decided to do this and so we all walked through to town get lunch and explore a bit. It was a really quiet logging town but it was very cute and pretty. When we got back some of the guides were going to a nearby waterpark so we grabbed our costumes and joined them. It was a damn that had been closed in and a pool had been built next door. It was the most amusing thought that we were lying down, reading magazines and tanning in the middle of Austria. We decided to swim in the pool as the damn water was freezing. What we didn’t plan on was getting attacked by a vampire fly. Just imagine a bunch of girls in the pool screaming and waving their hands around their heads, the locals must have thought we were crazy. It was really nice to just have a very chilled day, instead of the very typical tourist activity filled days we had been having. I even managed to get a bit of a tan.
That night was meant to be just a chilled movie night, somehow the consensus landed on watching all the Austen Powers movies. Somehow there were a few of us who moved to the in-house bar and ended up playing a round of Kings. When the bar closed some of the others chose to walk to a bar in the town but I just went back to the movies and eventually to bed.
Although leaving our accommodation the next morning we weren’t leaving Austria quite yet. We were off to the Swarovski Crystal World, which has surprisingly little to do with crystals. It’s a collection of a lot of weird and wonderful artworks. From a set piece from an opera, to a crystal tree by Alexander McQueen. My favourite was an artwork with accompanying music by Brian Eno. I sat in front of it for quite a while listening and seeing how the two pieces fit together.
It was interesting and I’m glad I went but I can’t imagine would be any worse had I not gone there. It was just one of the small stop overs we sometimes made in between the cities we stayed in. Our next was the Dachau concentration camp. It’s not until you step in side and see how dull and lifeless that place is, that you realise how much the people inside really suffered. They’ve added artworks and plant life to make it more bearable and approachable for the visitors, but nothing can really hide the horrors that were experienced there. Just being able to walk out as easily as you walked in makes you feel guilty. Most of the place has been levelled with just the foundations in place so you can see the structure. They do keep one room standing so you can see how everything was. There is also a museum with full explanations of how life was. It was really moving experience it went by so fast and it was time to get back on the bus and move again.
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