Europe wrap up

My 17 months in Europe will forever hold great memories for me. I was lucky enough to have seen both the tourist sights as well as many places the common traveller does not go. I had attended the Running of the Bulls in Spain which as I look back was one of the craziest festivals in the world. I had also attended a polish wedding, just by meeting the right person and saying yes. I had flown in a glider plane over the mountains in Slovenia. They are just a few of the many, many memories of the 24 countries I visited. I was also lucky in the work I got working in Grasmere, Guernsey in the middle of London and even delivered pamphlets for a couple of days.
It was time to go home though. In time to be best man at my mate Cam's wedding.
One day I will return to Europe but for now I had seen enough.

Ireland

I had about a week between the time I finished the tour and the time I was due to fly to Australia. I did not just want to spend the week in London and I had a little bit of money (not really mine) left. I decided I needed to see Ireland. I got there the cheapest way I could which meant a few trains then a ferry which arrived into Dublin about six am. I spent the full day in the city and booked myself on a tour of the south leaving the following morning.
The Paddywagon tour was hardly full and the tour guide just seemed to be going through the motions. It was a fairly routine path I chose and the tour guide I could tell had seen it all hundreds of times before. We stopped at the Cliffs of Mohair, Galway, Killarney and then the Blarney Stone.
Many people make comparisons between Scotland and Ireland and it is hard not too. In my books though Scotland easily wins. I enjoyed my few days in Scotland over my few days in Ireland but I was happy to have seen Ireland and it was time to leave Europe.
I flew from London back to Melbourne in mid August 2010 over 17 months after flying in there the year before.

Amsterdam

Amsterdam once again was the end of my tour and once again I loved it. It has such a contrast from one area of the city to the next and we did almost exactly what I had done the year before. We attended the sex show and I was a part of the show (that does not mean I had sex), you will have to go see for yourself to see what it involves. My free day I spent just wandering the streets and enjoying the whole city and what it has to offer. I did not though try everything the city has to offer, if that makes sense.
Our final night together involved a Chinese dinner followed by a lot of alcohol aboard a canal boat. Its a good way to say goodbye as the next day on the bus everybody is exhausted and hungover. When the bus parks up in London everybody gets off goes their separate ways and you are back on your own.
Amsterdam would have to be in the top five best cities I have ever visited.

Austria, Chezch and Germany

Tyrol was great because it was not a city. I like cities but having been to Vienna I was glad on this trip to get the chance to explore a different part of the country. In Tyrol I chose to go canyoning. Although it was not as extreme as I was hoping it would be as there were only a couple of drops in the two hours or so we were in the water. Canyoning was the most afforadable option for me but some of the crew chose to go skydiving.
Entering Prague I was back in familiar territory. I had visited Prague on my Top Deck tour in 2009 and therefore I spent most of my free day checking out the Prague Castle, something I had not really seen on my first visit. I went in search of what is known as the dancing house in Prague although I did not find it.
From the Czech Republic we stopped for a night in the Rhine Valley in Germany and it was pouring rain most of the time. It was again a part of Europe not overun with tourists and the narrow streets make it a good challenge for coach drivers to get around. We stayed the night in an old castle which was quite a lot different to the hostel in the middle of Amsterdam we stayed in the following night.

Venice

Sovenia is a great country and I had the opportunity to visit when I caught up with my mate Igor. In the few days I spent with him he taught me caught a lot about the country and so on the tour when we entered Slovenia I became the tour guide for a few hours. We stopped in Slovenia to visit the Postojna Caves, it was a part of Slovenia I had not visited and spent a couple of hours on an organised English speaking tour in the caves. They are the largest underground caves in Europe. Having seen the cave we drove back into Italy and made our way to the campground in Venice. Pizza and pasta was once again my food of choice on a night which was one of the biggest drinking sessions of the tour. The Toga party. Wild things happen for some reason when you mix wearing a toga and drinking a lot of beer.
A big night out is not reccomended before a full day sightseeing in Venice but I pushed through the hangover and saw Venice in a half a way.
We watched a glass blowing exhibition and a glass blower before boarding a gondala and riding down the Grand Canal. I walked around some more on my own and then deciding I would head for the bus and back to camp to spend the afternoon in the pool.
Our next stop after Venice was Tyrol in Austria and it was a rather dramatic change in landscape and change of mood.