DAY 19

Today started off early, around 6am. We boarded to coach to drive to Munich, making a somber stop at the Mauthausen concentration camp. We walked through the barracks, the crematorium, and the burial sites of the prisoners of this camp. We watched a movie on the coach of the specific historical events that took place in the area we had just walked through. Words can’t really describe the feeling you get when walking through a place like this, but all of us were speechless for most of the morning. Conversation picked up once we stopped for lunch in Austria’s lake district, surrounded by the beautiful view of the mountains by the water.

Ein Prosit, Ein Prosit, der Gemutlichkeit! These are the lyrics to our German drinking song we learned for our night in Munich. After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we headed to town where Dangerous gave us another short walking tour during which he pointed out the Marienplatz and the Glockenspiel. Although it was interesting, we were all excited to get to the Hofbrauhaus beer hall. After all, we had to leave Munich in the morning! We had so much fun at the beer hall. We enjoyed glasses of beer, served by the liter, along with crispy pork knuckle and dumplings for dinner. We had a fantastic time with our awesome group, swinging our glasses from side to side singing our drinking song.

DAY 18

Our Contiki tour guide, Dan (or Dangerous, as we call him), took us into the city and gave us a short walking tour. He took us to all the historical buildings and explained some of the Viennese history to us. We got lucky enough to see some of the show horses walk by, which Dan said he had never seen before. In Vienna, they teach these horses to ‘dance’. They are trained to jump up and down and perform tricks that horses don’t usually do. We thought we’d invite them to a football game to do the Jump Around with the Badgers, but they were busy with their trainers. Our walking tour ended when we arrived at the Swarovski Crystal store. We saw a 100,000 Euro ‘Waterfall chandelier” (That’s $130,000!) which was featured in Ocean’s 11. We saw a lot of really cool original crystal jewelry items, but most of it was too expensive for our budget. Audrey was still able to find some souvenirs, of course. After the Swarovsky tour, we had free time for the rest of the day. We did a little shopping before grabbing lunch. This was the first day on the tour where it was cold and snowing, but we enjoyed the snow, as it was one of the first snowfalls we’d seen this year. You can imagine how fascinated the Aussies were since most of them had never seen it snow, and it is summer for them at home right now. We decided to warm up a bit by going into the Shmetterling Haus, a butterfly house, where we watched some drunken butterflies fly around. (They feed their butterflies fermented bananas). After that, it was time to meet up with the group for our Schnapps Museum tour! A man in the Fischer family invented the Schnapps recipe in 1895 and he has never shared his secret. The recipe has been passed down to his son, and his son’s son. The great grandson gave us our tour. Of the 15 factories they once had, we were in the only one that survived the bombings of WWII. He explained to us everything about the Schanpps from their sparkling wine to their Absinthe. After his little history lesson, we headed to their bar to sample our choice their 20 different types of Schnapps. We were each allowed 3 shots, but who was keeping count? ;) After warming up in the Schanpps factory, we headed back to the hotel and took it easy. We grabbed some schnitzel for dinner before heading to bed.

DAY 17

(Thank you for all of the birthday wishes, everyone! I though of all of you as I was celebrating in Venice/Vienna :) From, Audrey)

Today we woke up and boarded to coach to head to Vienna. It was a relatively long drive, so there was plenty of time to sleep off the hang over. Once arriving at the hotel, we unloaded our bags and got ready for a classy evening. We had dinner in the Mayors house, or provincial building, which looked more like a castle. We were served a Viennese meal of schnitzel with soup and potatoes in a lovely hall of the building. After dinner we headed to the State Opera House where the Vienna orchestra would perform a Mozart and Strauss concert for us. The room for the concert could only seat about 100 people. The orchestra consisted of a pianist, bass player, viola player, two violinists, a cellist, and a flute player. They all dressed up in ‘Mozart-generation’ clothes. So the women wore ballroom dresses while the men wore traditional tuxedos. An opera singer and/or a pair of dancers accompanied the orchestra for a few of their songs. After the performance of Mozart pieces, and before the Strauss concert, we were invited backstage for a complimentary glass of champagne and a chance to meet the musicians. The entire night was SO COOL and was just perfect for Audrey’s birthday. Once arriving back at the hotel, we ventured out to the nearest bar to celebrate for Ms. 21 yet again. We walked into a club and enjoyed shaking our bon-bons. It was early in the night, but there were still a lot of guys in the club who didn’t seem to pay much attention to our group of girls dancing. After looking around a bit and seeing some male couples flirting, we realized we were in a gay bar. We still had a great time there, and took it a lot easier than the night before. We headed back to the hotel around midnight and rested up for the following day.

DAY 16

Our bus driver, Rasto, drove us into town this morning where we were able to hop on a small boat that would take us to the city of Venice (because there are no cars, or even bikes, allowed there). Once arriving there, our local walking tour guide greeted us. She told us about the history of the city while taking us down the small, skinny alleys that they call streets. She was very knowledgeable; she told us about all of the historical monuments and the general history of Venice. Afterwards, we grabbed a cup of coffee before meeting up with our Contiki tour guide to see some of the Venetian culture. First, we saw a glass blowing demonstration. The glass master made a vase and a small horse figurine while we watched in awe. The demonstration was pretty amazing, and we were able to take videos of his technique. We were able to walk through the store, but unfortunately a 200 Euro glass figurine or tea set was a bit out of our budgets. However, Matt did find an affordable birthday present for Audrey: a beautiful crystal necklace in the shape of a heart :) . Our next stop was in a Venetian lace museum/store. A cute little old lady told us about why Venetian lace is such a delicacy, and how the women from the city make the lovely fabric. Other forms of Italian lace are made differently than Venetian lace. Her store was the only place you could buy real Venetian lace today, so we were sure to invest in a couple small souvenirs. Next on our agenda was a gondola ride around the canals. We were able to get a couple bottles of sparkling wine, which we enjoyed as our driver whistled tunes behind us as he paddled the boat standing up. On the ride, we floated past Mozart’s old apartment located right on the canal. It was a great way to see the beautiful city! For the rest of the day, we had free time from the group. We did a little window-shopping and coffee drinking before finding a romantic place to have dinner by the Grand Canal. Ironically, a group of girls from Eden Prairie and Minnetonka High Schools were enjoying dinner right behind us. They were studying abroad there for 4 weeks, and we chatted with them for a bit. It was a lovely dinner by the water, and was a great way to spoil Audrey for her birthday. After dinner, we reconvened with the group to hop back on the boat and go back to the hotel. Once there, everyone was excited to help Audrey celebrate her 21^st as midnight approached. We’ll leave it at this: with 34 people in our group buying Audrey drinks, it’s understandable that Matt piggybacked her home

DAY 15

On our drive to Venice today, our tour guide told us that we would be able to stop in Verona for a few hours. What a surprise! Verona was the city that Shakespeare had in mind while he was writing the play, ‘Romeo and Juliet’, so in the city they have Juliet’s balcony. This was the balcony where Juliet (had she been a real person) said the famous line, “Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?”. There is a statue of Juliet there; it is said that if you touch her right breast, you will have good luck in your love life. Matt took advantage of that superstition. We had some time to stroll around the main roads of Verona, grabbing some lunch and, of course, some yummy gelato. Hopping back on the bus, our next stop would be the floating city of Venice. Our hotel in Venice was a 30 minute drive followed by a 30 minute boat ride into the city. After dinner in our hotel, we had a couple drinks and paid for an hour of internet while we chatted with the Aussies. We needed to take advantage of a long night of sleep, as the entire bus has developed what we now call the Contiki Cold/Cough.

DAY 14

In the city of Rome, there was so much to do and so little time! We started off visiting a Monk cemetery with our group. We weren’t allowed to take pictures, but the inside of this building was extravagant. The bones of these Capuchin Monks had been placed all over the walls and ceilings to portray their message. There were altars of femur bones, shoulder blades, and even one with the skeletons of children as Monks used to house orphans. There was a quote in the final altar that stuck with us. It read: “What you are, we once were. What we are now, you will become”. Although a bit eerie, the cemetery was very intriguing. Afterwards, we left our group to roam around Rome on our own (…bah-dum-chhh). First, we went and took a photo of the Spanish steps and captured some great views of the city from the top. Next, we walked to the Basilica San Giovani in Laterno. It was a gorgeous church that we enjoyed walking through and taking photos of the artwork. Near there, we saw the Holy Steps. These are the steps Christ walked up when his father told him he was going to have to be killed. You can walk up them now, but only on your knees. On each step you would kiss your rosary and make a prayer because these steps are so holy. After that, we then headed closer to town and walked past the area where the Roman chariot races used to take place. Near there was a church called Santa Maria where we took some photos of us with our hands in the Mouth of Truth. Back in the Roman days, it was said that if you put your hand in the mouth of this lion on the wall and told a lie, he would bit your hand off. All of that sightseeing probably required 5 miles of walking! But now it was time to meet our group for our Vatican and Sistine chapel tours. Everything we saw and learned about on this tour was amazing, especially the paintings on the ceiling done by Michelangelo. To end the tour, we walked through St. Peters basilica, the largest church in the world. Leaving there, we could see where the Pope’s office windows were, and also the balcony that he walks out on to speak to his worshipers. One of the Pope’s bodyguards walked right past us! We learned so many interesting facts on this tour, and after it was over we were just exhausted and in much need of some coffee. With a few of our friends, we headed to a coffee shop that is said to sell the best coffee in Rome. We each ordered a cappuccino, and it was downright delicious. It’s hard to describe how it was so good, but it was definitely the best cup of coffee we’d ever had. After that, we headed to dinner. We ate on a small back street near the Pantheon where we ordered a seafood salad and a pizza. Once again, it was amazing food. With all the energy we had left, we made our way back to the hotel on the metro. We were ready to hit the hay, but all of our friends convinced us to experience the Roman nightlife. The line that got us was, “When are you going to be in Rome next?”. So, we got dressed and split a cab out to a nice area called Piazza del Fiori. We found a bar called Numbs where we were able to get a nice deal on drinks. For 12 Euro, you could drink as much as you could in one hour. We definitely took advantage of that! After a great night with our Aussie friends, we headed back to our hotel and went to bed.

DAY 13

We woke up early and headed to the heart of Florence with our group. We started off at a local leather shop, where we learned all about the creation and validation of real Italian leather (as opposed to the fake stuff that most stores claim to be real). At 10:45 AM, we joined some of our tour mates in a walking tour of Florence, led by a cute little old lady that was born in Florence and has lived there her whole life. She was very knowledgeable about the city and its beautiful architecture, and we were very glad to have the opportunity to learn about this wonderful city. After seeing the Duomo, the Basilica Santa Croce, Giotto’s Bell Tower, and the Baptistry & Piazza della Signoria (along with many others), our time in Florence had sadly come to an end. We boarded the coach at 12:45 PM to head to Rome, finally arriving around 5 PM. Instead of going directly to the hotel, our tour guide decided to get us oriented with this amazing place. Strolling along the moonlit city, he brought us into the Pantheon and showed us the Trevi fountain, the Piazza Venezia, the National Monument of Rome, and the Colloseum! We each threw three pennies into the Trevi fountain; one for good love, one for good luck, and one guaranteeing our return to Rome J. Finally, our tour guide walked us to dinner next to the Colloseum. The salad, Italian lasagna, and small dessert was nothing special, but we were all STARVING after such a long day, so we ate it all up. Then we went back to the hotel and after the amount of walking we had done, fell asleep almost right away. We would have spent more time updating our blog, but unfortunately the Wi-Fi in Italian hotels in usually 5 Euro per hour L

DAY 12

We woke up and boarded the coach to begin the long drive to Florence. We could not be more excited to be in Italy!! On the way, we made a pit-stop in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower, where we made sure to take pictures of ourselves holding it up. We finally arrived to our Florentine hotel around 6 PM, which gave us enough time to get ready for our 7:30 dinner. This dinner was definitely the best meal of our trip so far. Not only was the food absolutely delicious and the wine bottomless, but the restaurant had live entertainment, which included a piano player, accordion player, and a fantastic opera singer. The piano player invited all of us up to dance the Macarena and we also learned how to dance a similar Australian jig. After an all-around great time with our new mates, our tour guide brought us to a Space Electronic Disco near our hotel. We had a great time with karaoke and ‘shaking our bon-bons’ before calling it a night.

DAY 11

For the first time on our trip we were told we could sleep in, so we didn’t even set an alarm J. However, we made sure not to sleep in too much because we had the beautiful French Riviera to experience. We started our day by grabbing an espresso and a yummy breakfast. Then we headed straight to the beach, which is full of pebbles rather than the usual sand. We took off our shoes and socks and put our feet into the crystal clear Mediterranean Sea. Our tour guide told us that this was a popular skinny-dipping spot, but after putting our feet in the cold water we didn’t think it was that time of year. But sure enough, as we continued walking along the water, we saw a topless woman taking a dip (and lots and lots of men in banana hammocks)! We then headed up to the highest point in Nice, which used to be a defense fortress for the city. We took some great photos before heading back down to eat a Bruschetta-style pizza for lunch. Later that night we boarded the coach and headed to Monaco for the evening, which is the second smallest country in the world. We saw the Prince of Monaco’s palace on top of the city before heading to dinner. Our dinner included a three-course meal with an artichoke appetizer, our choice of chicken or pork, and a small chocolate dessert. And of course, as much wine as we could handle. After we wined-and-dined, we went to the Monte Carlo Grand Casino, which is straight out of a James Bond movie. The casino was nothing like those found in Las Vegas, and was very quiet and professional (the slots didn’t even make noise). We pretended to fit in with the high-rollers that were there, and split a bottle of Champagne with some of our tour mates. Many of our new friends lost a lot of money playing roulette and blackjack, but we were there more for the experience and decided not to gamble very much. Matt lost a whomping 10 Euro between a round of roulette and a few slots. After a few hours, we boarded the coach and headed back to our hotel in Nice.

DAY 10

After a couple hours of sleep, we boarded the coach and headed to Nice. Once we got there, we had time for dinner with our tour mates, then headed to Wayne’s bar. We had a really great time because there was a local band performing live music for us. The venue was fairly small, but would be a great potential new spot for the Mraz Bros. After a few drinks, we headed back to our hotel to catch up on some much-needed sleep. It had been a long day, and our last night in Barcelona had taken quite a toll on us.

DAY 9

We had the whole day to explore Barcelona (or “Barthelona” as the locals would pronounce it). We enjoyed walking up and down Las Ramblas, a street open to pedestrians that has shopping, restaurants, and sightseeing. Las Ramblas is also the home of a market called La Boqueria, which has everything you could imagine, including a full pig (eye balls and all) that you can purchase for dinner! We liked looking at the chocolates and candies that were stacked up along the walkways. Also, when we were in the seafood section looking at the crabs, one snapped its claws and almost crawled right off of the table! We had no idea they were on display still completely alive (but freezing their shells off!). After the market we headed towards the Mediterranean Sea. We walked along the boardwalk and enjoyed the warm, sunny weather. Later on, we grabbed a bite to eat on Las Ramblas, did some shopping in the area, and then met up with the group to head back to the hotel. Since dinner is set so late, we had time for a siesta. When we woke up, we headed back into town for some paella and delicious sangria by the water. Barcelona is also known for its crazy nightlife. So after our meal, we met our group at a bar in the Port Olímpico around 11pm. We enjoyed some (very strong) long island iced teas. Around 1am, our group headed to a dancing club and had fun ‘shaking our bon-bons’ all night long.

DAY 8

As kickoff for the Badger game was at about midnight our time, the Rose Bowl didn’t end until about 2:30am here! So we woke up at 6am to texts on our phone of a play-by-play of the game. We were so sad that our poor Badgers lost L But it was time to pack up our things, head down to breakfast, and hit the road for Barcelona, Spain. Our tour guide informed us that the longest drives of our trip would be on the way to Spain, and then on the way out of Spain. So we were prepared for a long haul. When we drove into the city, our tour guide drove us around to show us a few popular sites. We took pictures at the top of Montjuic, where the 1992 Olympics were held. Afterwards, we headed to La Sagrada Familia, a church designed by Gaudi, and took some great photos. Once we got to the hotel, we set our bags down and had dinner with our group in the hotel. Apparently Spaniards like to eat a bit later, so we had dinner at 9pm! Afterwards, we enjoyed drinks in the lobby with our new friends in the group. Our hotel was pretty far outside the city, so there weren’t any clubs for us to go to. We did, however, find a tapas bar that was willing to give us some tequila shots! We spent the night getting to know our new friends much better.

DAY 7

Today we woke up and boarded the coach to drive back into France. We left our cute little hotel in Switzerland around 9am and drove into the city of Lyon around 6pm. After dropping our bags off at the hotel, we immediately left to go and see the city. We saw an awesome cathedral and an even more breath-taking basilica. The basilica is at the top of a mountain, and overlooks the entire city of Lyon, so we had some great views in this French city. After our sightseeing, we headed to dinner. Our tour guide gave us a tip: the fewer people in the restaurant, the better the food will be, because then the waiters and chefs are able to focus their attention only on you. We headed down a small street from the main square, and stopped once we found a menu we thought we could understand. Words cannot describe how incredible our food was. THE best meal we’ve ever eaten! We shared an order of escargot, which was actually extremely delicious. Matt ordered frog legs as his entrée, and Audrey ordered chicken in a morel mushroom sauce. If the smells weren’t enough, then after just one bite it tasted like heaven. We also ordered a bottle of fantastic champagne for the table, which was a perfect compliment for the meal. For desert we had chocolate cake. Audrey didn’t want to eat the last bite because she didn’t want it to be all gone! It was delicious. After dinner we headed back to the hotel, as we were waking up at 6am the next day to depart for Barcelona, Spain.

DAY 6

Gütes Neues Jahr! (That is Swiss-German for Happy New Year. It is pronounced like ‘Gootes Noi-yes Yar’). Our group stumbled to breakfast in the hotel at about 10am. At 10:45 we headed into town for some shopping. Almost all the stores were closed for the holiday, but a couple opened up for us to come and buy some souvenirs. Some things Switzerland would be famous for would be their watches, Swiss army knives, and chocolates. We picked up a couple things for our families and ourselves J. We then had some time to stroll around the town where we admired the gorgeous, clear lake surrounded completely by mountains. We walked across the oldest covered wooden bridge in the whole world, then we went and saw the lion monument carved in the side of a mountain, and played with some of the rather large swan that inhabit the lake. One of them bit Matt’s finger! Next, we met up with our group to go to a local restaurant by the town square where we enjoyed some spectacular Swiss fondue. The cheese was incredible! After that was finished, we headed back to the lake and boarded a boat, which we took for a cruise around the lake as the sun went down behind the mountains. Hot red wine is a popular drink here during this time of year, and they had some of that for us to sip on during the cruise. After a long night of celebrating the New Year and all the activities we did this day, everyone on the tour was pretty tired. We made our way back to the hotel where we were able to enjoy a nice dinner once again, and then headed to our rooms for a siesta. We decided to take it easy tonight, so we cuddled up close in our heat-less hotel room to watch a movie before bed.

DAY 5

Our day began at 9am, boarding the coach bus to head to Lucerne, Switzerland. It was a pretty long day of traveling on the bus; we pulled up to our hotel just before 7pm. Our hotel is a rustic old building outside of the main area of Lucerne, and it looks more like a cottage then a hotel. There is a dining room on one of the floors, so our group was able to have dinner there after being greeted with sparkling wine drinks. After dinner, we had an hour or so to get ready for our New Years bash! There was a small sports bar in town where we were able to go as a group and receive 9 drink vouchers for the night. At 11:30 they started handing out glasses of champagne, and when midnight came around we all went outside the bar to watch some locals light off their fireworks. It was quite the celebration, drinking champagne in the streets by Lake Lucerne with fireworks in the sky, counting down and making cheers to everyone in the group. Our 2012 countdown would have been around 3pm in Minnesota time! After we used up all of our vouchers, we called it a night and took the public bus to the hotel.

Fun on New Years Eve:




Fireworks at midnight!

DAY 4

Arc de Triomphe at the end of Champs Elysees

The tomb of the unknown soldier at the Arc de Triomph

Lunch time



The Notre Dame

At the Louvre

The Opera House

The River Seine

We started our day with a tour of a French perfumery with our group at 9am. We learned about the history and process of making perfume, and then we got to smell many of the best selling scents in the factory of the museum. Audrey enamored over all the different scents, while Matt tolerated it :)

We then had the rest of the day free to enjoy the wonderful city of Paris. From this point forward we hardly stopped walking! We first went past the opera house where the Phantom of the Opera show was born. Next, we ventured to the Louvre where we walked through the courtyard and admired the amazing architecture. We then walked along the River Seine to the stunning Notre Dame church (unfortunately the hunchback wasn't ringing bells today). We found a lovely place down a small back street to have a Parisian lunch, then we headed to the Luxembourg Palace and garden. After strolling through the park, we found our way to Champs Elysees. Both of us bought a new scarf as a souvenir at one of their many 'holiday-season-only' shops, which were tents lining the street. At this point it had started raining, so we decided to duck indoors and enjoy an afternoon mixer. After that we continued up the Champs Elysees where Matt was unable to resist the temptation of the Nike store. The journey continued to the Arc dde Triomphe where we elbowed our way past other tourists to get our photo opportunity. Now it was about 4pm and we were exhausted from all the walking, so we took the metro back to our hotel to have a quick rest. Forgetting to set an alarm, we woke up at about 9pm. This was perfect timing, as our group was meeting at a local pub called O'Sullivans (not an Irish bar). Our tour had the back area of the bar where we ordered drinks and got to 'shake out bon-bons', as our tour guide would say. After we spent all the Euro's we brought with us to the bar, we decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel, saying farewell to Paris on our walk home.