Australia vs. World

Where to begin, for starters the cruise is awesome apart from the room unfortunately we are directly above the engines this means when we break and enter port the entire room shakes violently. Apart from that there are a few younger crowd and after about 12 the club is filled with them. I have gotten into the habit of downing a few martinis and then drinking mohitos for the rest of the night, the cruise must be 90 per cent American’s and although some do fit the stereotype they are still a blast to be around. However when drinking with Republican’s politics is not the best subject, first it’s all drinks then its all fights then all is forgiven and we promise not to talk politics again until we get hammered. But now onto the trip.
Our first stop was Nice, which turns out was a little bit meh although I did get a Royal Deluxe from Maccas apart from that the Modern Art Museum had some wonderful pieces but it wasn’t great.
Next stop was Florence and I think I could have spent weeks wandering the streets, but we spent a great deal of time in one of their church slash museums the heart of the Renaissance it was indeed.
When you are looking at the works of Michelangelo, Donatello and Giambologna it’s hard not to appreciate the level of detail of these master craftsmen. For some insane reason I convinced myself I wanted to climb one of the biggest towers in Florence. 414 steps didn’t sound that big until I was sweating my ass off and barely able to move my legs for the last 100. Awesome view but I think I should have said let’s get a beer instead.
Pisa was cool, but as with everything in Europe so far it’s overshadowed by the massive amount of tourists and street hawkers, but 10 Euro watches and sunnys are awesome.
Then to Rome, truly more history then you could see in weeks let alone a day but amazing to wander through and touch ancient history. I swear by this stage I have eaten pizza so much that I am a connoisseur but pizza in Italy is brilliant. The Vatican is really pretty, and inside the Basilica has the most beautiful statues, frescos and artwork. As we were there on Sunday we could not go into the Sistine chapel but that’s fine you’d need to go back to get through everything in Rome.
And today we stopped in Sicily, I swear this place is one of the most beautiful places in the world and its history stretches back 30 centuries, although this is technically part of Italy it’s really it’s own country.
And they are still pissed off about the Italians taking over from the Greeks back in Roman times, and they are quite obvious that they don’t like it.
Tomorrow we are in Mykonos which we decided we would sleep in and head to the beach mid morning for a swim. Well it must be time to meet the crew in the Grand Dining Room for dinner and drinks.
While your at work spare a thought for me relaxing in perfect weather by the pool, with a mohito in hand.
Ciao Ciao
-A

Hey,

Sorry about the delay in posts but we are running into issues with the wireless on the ship, as it is charged per minute and the speed is really bad so most sites do not work correctly. Anyway we are having an awesome time; we just got back from our tour of Taormina (Sicily). It’s situated about 500m above sea level at the top of a hill, and it’s full of shops and restaurants which take advantage of the view. We had nearly 2 hours of free time around the area, so we had some food at a restaurant that had the best view of the bay below the town.

Yesterday we were in Rome and spent 7 hours walking around the Coliseum, Vatican City, and the forum area. A good tip for anyone wanting to see the Coliseum, purchase either the guided tour or audio guide as both are between 4 – 6 Euros on top of the normal entry price but you get to jump the massive queues! We ended up going to wrong direction to get back to the bus but managed to get a taxi just in time to make it.

The day before that we were in Florence, much like Rome with so many things to check out and not enough time. A highlight was the Church of Santa Croce with all the tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, etc. Another was climbing the third highest point of the city; Andrew was dead once we made it to the top.
We spent about an hour in Pisa but unfortunately as we were there early, the Cathedral and Baptistery were closed so we only got external views. We have been told there is a lot to see in the surrounding area of the leaning tower etc, so another thing to put on the list if I come back.

More updates to come, also pictures might be uploaded in Ibiza depending on access, but definitely when we get back to HelloBCN (absolutely awesome place to stay). Till next time.

Blake

Hey hey all,

We have arived in Barcelona safe but with very little sleep! We spent most of the first day walking around the city looking at the sites and ended up in the gothic quarter and thats some really nice architecture. We attempted to go clubbing after a siesta but by the time we got to the club, I was dead to the world and could not stop yawning. We were also a little out of place as the club, Opium, was a well dressed establishment wereas we were in t-shirts. Well thats enough for now, we are off to the cable cars!

- BW
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Hola,
After a quick stop off in singapore and enjoying some much needed Singapore Slings,
we via Milan arrived in Barcelona.
All I want to say is you can not only smoke everywhere (Thanks Sue smoking a packa day which is like 3 euro),
but the first bar we landed at had taps on the table. Not only that but it had a leader board of who had drunk the most beer, after defending our title for many hours we decided it was best to check into our hostel and head out onto the Ramblas. First stop Australian Bar, boo it's just like Leederville full of Poms pretending to be Australians. Well after that we wandered around found an awesome pizza place , then wandered the gothic quarter and I found a copy of Dante's inferno in this wicked little bookstore.
After having wandered around all day we attempted a siesta unfortunatly we were running on Perth time and slept in till like 11pm. After awakening we went to a crazy pub, that defies explaination and then onto Opium( the bar not the drug) and enjoyed some tunes until tiredness over came us and we retreated back to our hostel. Until next time .
-- A

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