Florence without the machines

Not the most incredible of stops we had. Not to say Lucerne isn't a beautiful place, but that the day we had there was Sunday so everything was shut, it was like walking around a ghost town and it is and expensive expensive place. Mt Pilatus was pretty special, as was the realisation that snow is hard to maintain full balance and control in while running and picking up a girl, and leads to near busted wrist. But in the town it felt as though I missed a bit, we ended up finding a dear old Irish pub and relaxed for the afternoon. The evening may have gotten big, and then very big, but I wasn't there.
But then I went on a slide, covered in ice. Oh my quickly. I went twice it was that cool. And if the bus sits this still for much longer I may go again. Twice. I wish I had have, there isn't much like sitting on a bus all day with minimal breaks thinking about the slide you want to slide down. The rush was to get to the louvre in Paris before it shut. We made it, Mona Lisa didn't seem to excited to see us though, just sat there staring really, most rude. At least Athena was standing up.

You dead man?

What a city, of the places we have visited Rome is up there with could live here. Again another place with so much to see, luckily we did some sightseeing the night we arrived, and had dinner with a lit up coliseum right out side the window. Which was the definite highlight of the meal. We came from a massive meal in venice with dish upon dish of pasta being brought to our table, to a small salad and half a square of lasagna. And the dirtiest wine glass I have seen in my life, which then came back with half the amount of wine. Beautiful view though. During the night the bug hit me, I had to miss the entire morning in Rome, and by the end of the Vatican tour I was exhausted. I'm not really sure how the when in Rome quote applies here, but ah when in Rome. The whole of Italy is somewhere I will definitely comeback to. Plus I saw an elephant in a car wearing a hat. Highlight of the morning so far.

Floating cities

My mind has been blown far too many times and everywhere. Venice once again did this. I made a cat friend within ten minutes on the island, it already had a name so i just called it cat friend. We hung out for a bit. Wandered up a golden staircase Sighed on the bridge of sighs, took my sigh back on the way back. And then got lost just walking around the streets. I was more than happy with this. Although I did want to and get to go see a few of the buildings it was incredible that at every turn was something exactly the same but so very different, I wanted a camera in my head that took a photo every time I blinked. Venice is somewhere you need more than a day to explore, if for no other reason than you spend half of the time wandering around the streets. Not so incredible for nightlife if your not staying on the island, which we weren't. That's where the hotel bar and a bottle of jäger comes in handy. The drive through to Rome was worth skipping any sleep on the coach. I slightly regretted this when getting to Rome completely worn out but not enough to care. Until I died.

Beer and buildings in Munich.

Munich meant beer hall. And boy did it mean beer hall. Note to Charlie, I don't want to skull a stein, but if you make me I will destroy you. Packed to the rafters with waitresses carrying up to 9 at a time, drinking songs I didn't understand but made noise anyway and beer as far as the eye can see. My kind of place really. I'm writing this 4 days in retrospect so there may not be as much imagination, because I tend to forget things. My day of exploring was snowing and blowing a gale, so it made it that much more fun to get lost. But eventually we found the antiquarium. The museum was closing so we were the only two people in the most incredible room of my life. Beyond that Munich seemed to be the opposite of Prague in that the outside of the buildings wasn't that amazing but the insides, oh my insides. I'm starting to not mind religion so much if these are the types of buildings they create. Although the antiquarium wasn't religious so the effort can be placed elsewhere. I also learned the risks of jumping on a snow covered chair far outweigh the potential benefits

Czech it out now

Prague, the birthplace of absinthe. So I paid 20 euro for a nap, well it was some kind of show that was proper terrible so I fell asleep the first half and spent the 2nd in the bar. When in Rome. So when in Prague. Better meet the green fairy. She missed the bus. Maybe she got the night wrong, celebrating Prague at the largest club in central Europe, this time we'll try not miss the bus, as fun as that may seem, it wouldn't have been. I write much of this as I think of this so the tense will vary, often from sentence to sentence. I'm not worried by this. All though I am by the amount of this's I have used, this this thisy thisy this this, least I'm not weirdy Mcfat weird. Alarms will be set for the morning, and they were, 8 of them. No mad dashes for us. Prague is the type of place I could wander around all day, I don't even like walking. Unfortunately the camera on my phone can't capture the brilliance, the one in my head can but you can't see them. That's unfortunate for you. but I didn't have all enough day to see it all, so Prague is on my come back to list. I am also now of the opinion, well I always was but I've seen both sides now, if you're going to be foreign, be quiet while you do it. But I got to be there the first time someone saw snow, and that's pretty cool. But I'm totally unprepared to get off the bus and into it. I may run in seventeen circles, but I may not. This is one of those things you'll never know.

No sleep till Brooklyn

Would be a good plan if I was going I Brooklyn. This trip is naught but a taste test of where I come back to. Berlin =incredible. I would have gone to the museums if I hadn't turned the wrong way, and the map hadnt lied. And if I didn't walk around a mall for a while, expensive Louis Vuitton stuff is still expensive Louis Vuitton stuff regardless of nation. But I enjoyed the time there and what I learnt. The Jewish memorial was something to admire, even if little kids were running around like they should be in a scary movie. Then I cuddled a bear. Nz we messed up when it came to choosing our animal, bears are way cooler. Everything was splendid until the door knock to tell us we where about to miss the bus, but oh my Berlin. Tuesday night and it was charging. I am now of the thinking that Europe likes to party all the time. Now everything is awesome. :) motoring down the autobahn. But we're a big bus and every one else is motoring faster.

Would you like to touch my cheese?

Amsterdam. new years. wow. So many people so many fireworks exploding absolutely everywhere at any time. It was an incredible experience. Basically, fireworks Dutch people coffee shops bars clubs mind blowing. Which made this morning great fun. Flagged breakfast and made sandwiches for lunch out of breakfast. Stopped by a cheese and clogs factory so to say. Guy made both the cheese and the clogs, and wore the clogs all the time. He is the proud owner of the quote titling this post and many more, made a clog fairly quickly as well for the most part. Beyond that I had my photo taken as a Dutchman, which was great fun when we were late for the coach and running out of the shop in front of another group who definitely thought we had stolen something. Managed to find time to visit the Anne frank house. I have not previously read or known too much into her story, so the tour was a very sobering experience. 105,000 Jews from the Netherlands alone. In between the rubbish that comes out of my mouth is sometime seriousness. And the whole ordeal still blows my mind. Beyond that I have a new favorite game. My new favorite game, sitting at a bar watching Dutch people speak, particularly the bar man and his locals. But because I don't understand I make up what they say. For example barman 'and he threw the chicken, squawking and all, at a 60 degree angle, and I said that will never clear the canal, not a chance, and then next thing I know POOF the chicken was a firework!' Local 'ah yes I have many chickens go splodey, particularly at the new year period, they get very excited by not being killed at Christmas ' barman 'you eat chicken for Christmas ?' local 'no I just enjoy the slaughter' things were starting to seem tense, but they were laughing and smiling the whole time. Senseless chicken murder, at least let us eat them, jerks. And the bartender speaks better English than me. I had skipped the dinner in the hope of getting out and wandering about the city, but it is pissing down with rain and I got soaked just walking from the restaurant to the first bar I saw. So I'm people watching. It's not weird if you can't understand them. Happy 2012 world, I'm opening the way I ended.