Eurotour

After 19 days, 80 exchange students, 10 countries and at least 30 hours on busses there was always going to be awesome times, bad times, adventure, fights and some of the best memories i have.

It all started in Turku, a city in the southwest of Finland where we would all meet before we took the ferry to Sweden. I went down a couple of days early to stay with another Australian in Turku, we hung out and had a look around the city.

On sunday we made it down to the harbour to check-in and after that realised we had nothing to do for about 4 hours. So we quested for food, but didn't manage to find anything nearby and after that played some very hungry frisbee. When we made it onto the boat we had an awesome feast and then went straight to sleep.

The next day we were driving through Sweden on the busses, starting in Stockholm and eventually making it Copenhagen in Denmark. On the way we stopped at the ruins of an old Swedish castle where there was an amazing veiw over some farming fields and the sea. In the evening we visited the famous theme-park, Tivoli, in the middle of Copenhagen. We bought a pass for all the rides there and spent several hours after that upside-down, free-falling, in wierd dark tunnels and feeling a little sick. Eventually we found our way back to the hotel from Tivoli (this may not sound like much but at one point it really wasn't looking likely).

We awoke the following morning just in time to get on the buses for a sight-seeing tour around Copenhagen. We saw all around the city, several famous monuments and statues and i even managed to fondle the Danish national statue of a mermaid. Then it was time to drive to Bremen in Germany, after crossing from Denmark to Germany on a ferry we got stuck in a huge traffic jam on the highway and we're 4 or so hours late. By the time we actually made it to the hotel we were so hungry i don't think it would have mattered what we ate, despite that the meal we got was delicious.

Then it was off to the Netherlands, on the way we topped on a dyke to take some photos (including more inappropriate photos with statues). A bit further along, still on the way to Amsterdam we stopped at a cheese and clog factory in the area of Edam. There we got to taste some cheese and see a pair of clogs being made by a crazy old man. In Amsterdam we went to the Anne Frank museum and then on a guided waterbus tour through the main canals of Amsterdam, where we could see all the old buildings, long house-boats and coffee shops.

From the Netherlands we drove through Belgium into France, stopping for a few hours in Brussles. We looked around Brussels, got some waffles, got lost in some tiny streets, had an awesome lunch and then got straight back on the bus for another few hours, eventually making it to Paris. We had a time for a quick look around town before we had to be back at the hotel.

The next morning we got straight onto the buses, heading on a short trip to Versailles where we had a look around an old french castle and gardens. From there we went back to Paris for a guided tour around the town. Then we waited in huuuge lines before eventually making it up the Eifel Tower, once on the tower it only got more crowded but the view over Paris from so high up was spectacular. Then we had the evening free, we just had to be back at the hotel by 2.

Then came the long awaited free-day in Paris. We had the entire day to spend how we wanted and see whatever we wanted. Some people went sightseeing, others went to euro-disney, heres what i did:
After waking up quite early i set out with some of the girls, Jordan and Matt (not me), another Australian heading for the Lourve, on the metro, stopping on the way for some delicious street vendor crepes. When we got to there a massive line awaited us and two of the girls decided to go somewhere else instead, as it turned out the lines only took 10 minutes or so. When we were in we chose to head straight for some of the most famous pictures, the mona lisa etc. On the way around we saw some some intersting stuff, including a double sided painting, goblets i could fit into and paintings that took up entire walls. Not wanting to spend the entire day there we left after about an hour or so, heading for The Avenue des Champs-Êlysêes, the main street of Paris. We caught the metro there again (no easy task i might say) and were soon there. As we came out of the metro we saw the massive Arc de Triomphe down the road, seemingly only a few hundred metres away. About half an hour later we made it there and ran into some German exchange students who were also on the tour. So Me, Matt and Jordan split off from the girls to go with them to try and find the Moulin Rouge. So after getting of at the wrong metro station we found ourselves in a busy street somewhere in Paris. From where we were we could see a big, beutiful old building just up a hill so we went strait for it. From up the top of the stairs in front of the building there was a beautiful view over the city (we later found out that this is a favourite place for tourists to come for a great view). After talking to some people we discovered that we were really only a few blocks from the Moulin Rouge so we walked there, with every step our vision was filled more and more by strip clubs and porn stores until eventually we knew we were there. It wasn't as grand as we expected but there was the red windmill on top, so we were more than happy. The journey back to our hotel took maybe 3 times longer than it should have but after getting off at the wrong metro station twice and asking dozens of people for directions we eventually made it back. Then it was time to make a start on the nightime activities.

The next day looking out of the windows on the bus was amazing, as if we were looking onto the set of some movie. To see the south of france myself was amazing. eventually we made it to the town of Grenoble in the french alps, which is famous for holding the winter olympics of 1968. That afternoon we all spent hanging out at the pool as there was nowhere else within at least a few kilometres for us to go.

On the way to Cannes we stopped to see amazing views over the Mediterrenean and to visit a couple of medieval towns, as well as a perfume factory in the town of Grasse.

We went from Cannes on a trip to the Principality of Monaco where the Monte Carlo casino is sittuated. This tiny city/country if full of some of the richest people in europe do to the lack of taxes, and just wlaking around this can be clearly seen. A lamborghini drives past, followed by a porshe, followed by a ferrari. And then you look out over the harbour at the thousand of multi-million dollar yatchs, it was a sight to see. Thwn on the way back to Cannes we stop at the little town of Nice, where if i remember rightly there lives a few famous people including Elton John who owns a house there.

Sticking to the Mediterrenean we set out for Venice in Italy and while driving through northern Italy we stopped at the town of verona to see the balcony where (allegedly) the famous love scene between Romeo and Juliet occured. Eventually we reached our destination of Lido di Jesolo, which is a small beach town near to Venice. As this was such a big tourist town, there was plenty for us to do in the night also.

The day after was our day to spend in Venice. While it was very nice to look around such an old an interesting city, this was overshadowed by the mass of tourists and Americans and actually apart from the fact that the city is on water i don't think there is anything too special about it. However, the gondola ride which we had through the canals was awesome. Heading back to Lido in the afternoon we spent the rest of the day relaxing at the beach and the night looking around the town.

It was then our free-day to spend as we wanted in Lido and with the town being built around a beach there was not much else for us to do but soak up the sun and relax. We had the night free also to spend around the town, eventually ending after a 3am skinnydip at the beach.

The next day marked the turning point of the tour, when we started heading North again, back towards finland. We stayed the night at the Dolomites, the alps of Italy. The view of the alps i won't ever forget, it looked like something straight out of the Sound of Music (not that i've seen it of course.) That afternoon we had a hiking tour through the alps where we eventually reached snow, we were so high up that it was 25 degrees or so and so we were wearing just shorts and t-shirts and yet walking in snow.

Continuing over the Alps we drove into Austria and stopped in Innsbruck. We had a few hours of free-time there but as it was a sunday there was almost nothing else to do there but eat. We left there heading for the small town of Garmish-Partenkirchen in Germany, in the Bavarian Alps. There we had a traditional Bavarian-Style dinner with tradition music and dancing as well (das ist meine lederhosen.) From there we drove to Nürnberg to spend the night.

Most of the whole next day was spent in the horrible German traffic on the way to Berlin but once we got there we had the evening to spend as we wanted. A small group of us explored around the town, we just had to be back by 1.

The next day we had a guided tour around Berlin where we went to the holocaust museum, Checkpoint Charlie, to where there was still a section of the Berlin Wall and around the middle of the town. That afternoon we drove all the way up to Sweden through Denmark eventually staying in Helsingborg.

So are last day together started in Sweden and would eventually end in Finland. In the morning we went to a candy factory in Gränna to get a sugar fix and then we kept going on the way to Stockholm. Once there we had a short tour and then a little free time in the old town before we had to get on the ferry for Turku. We had had a buffet dinner and then a farewell party for the Nothern Hemisphere exchange students who would be going home soon. As a tradition they hand down things to us which we will in turn hand down to the new exchange students from the North and so it goes. I was given some frisbees and a bracelet which has been handed down for 4 years already. After that we had the night to ourselves and on the ferry's there is always plenty to do. At something like 4 o'clock we watched the rus rise after a sleepless night and we were ready for another day. We arrived in Turku at 7 and then shortly after set off on our way back to our own towns. In the hours that it took to get back to Lohja and while sleeping at a bus station near there all i could think was how amazing it was to feel back at home...in Finland.