Rome!

Our last day in Rome today, we had a look at then shops and got a few souvenirs. I brought a painting from the Piazza Navona, one of the most beautiful squares in the world. We visited the Pantheon today. The most impressive aspect of this building is the massive circular interior, lit only inside by a large opening in the ceiling. We really enjoyed Italy, especially Rome- will definitely be returning :)

Vatican City & Colosseum

We left early on the metro to meet our very interesting Vatican guide. We skipped all the ques and spent the morning looking around the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica. We climbed up 500 steps to the top of St Peters for amazing views over the Rome and the Vatican city. After lunch we made our way across town to the Colosseum, it is Rome's most recognizable symbol. Our Colosseum ticket also included entry into the roman ruins which we visited next. Back to Camping Roma for a well deserved swim, but also time for us to say goodbye to our new friends. Our next stop was our hotel for the next 2 nights in central Rome. We went out in Campo De Flori, one of the busiest squares in Rome.

Rome

We arrived in Rome, Italy's Eternal city, mid afternoon where we relaxed by the pool and enjoyed some yummy cocktails. In the evening we took the metro into the city centre and our top deck guide took us on a very interesting walking tour of the city where we had our first glances at some of Rome's famous attractions.

Orvieto

On the way to Rome, we called into Orvieto, a small hillside town. The highlight here was the 'Zebra' Cathedral.

Florence

We stayed at a nice Tuscan resort in the hills surrounding Florence. We enjoyed a nice Italian dinner of pizza and pasta and 3 euro cocktails at the resort bar.

The next morning we took the coach into Florence to join the guided tour around Florence. Its a beautiful city with a lot of history. We had a local leather demonstration and had the afternoon free to enjoy Florence. Florence is well known for legends Michelangelo and Leonardo Da Vinci.

Pisa

Today we left switzerland for Italy. Our first stop was Pisa and the famous Leaning Tower!

Switzerland

Today we left France and made our to the beautiful Swiss Alps. We stayed 2 nights in a village called Lauterbrunnen which is surrounded by huge mountains and waterfalls. The 1st evening we had a rubix cube party with some of the other top deck crews.

The 2nd day we visited Trummel back falls, comprising of 10 glacier falls that carry over 20,000 litres of water per sec. Very impressive!

Final Day in Paris

We spent the final day relaxing and having a look at the shops! We had a lovely picnic dinner besides the Effiel Tower before the Cabaret show!

Meeting the Topdeck Crew

On Friday evening we met up with the rest of our trip as they arrived from London. We had a interesting dinner of snails and frogs leg...mmm! We then boarded our nice coach and did a city lights tour of Paris.

3rd day Paris

Today we met up with Christelle, a lovely French girl who came to Dio in 6th form on an exchange programme. It was awesome to see her after a few years. She was a great local tour guide taking us to some flash Paris shops, showing us the best place to enjoy lunch and taking us to Monmartre to have our portraits done.

2nd Day Paris

Started the day with lovely crossants from the hotel before making our way to the bus stop. Our first stop today was the Louvre museum. Luckily there were no ques and went straight in. Spent a few hours looking at the amazing art work including the very famous Monna Lisa. The Louvre contains more than 35,000 objects!!! We then walked through the Louvre gardens towards the Champs Elysees, a very exclusive shopping street in Paris. At the end of the Champs Elysees is the Arc de Trimphe where we took in amazing views after climing a fair few stairs to the top. In the evening we took the lift the the top of the stunning Effiel Tower. It was incredible and so high!!!

Day 1 Paris

We set off to Paris early in the morning from London on the Eurostar. It was a quick journey under the English Channel to France (2hours). We made our way to our lovely hotel before setting out for the day. Our first attraction to visit was the magnificent Sacre-Coeur located on Paris's highest point. Next we purchased hop on/off bus tickets and made our way to the amazing opera house. Spent ages admiring all the decorative ceilings before boarding the bus.In the afternoon we took a lovely river cruise from the Eiffel tower to the Notre Dame Cathedral. We walked through the Cathedral which took craftsmen over 170 years to build. We enjoyed French cuisine for dinner.

Keane Concert

On Tuesday 15 June I met the girls back in London for the Keane Concert. Lottie is a huge fan of this band. It was an awesome concert even know I only knew a few songs!

The Girls in London

After Croatia, I made my way to London to meet up with best buds Charlotte and Steph, we went and saw the West End musical WICKARD followed by hitting the bars at Lesister Square. It is so awesome to see them again after 7.5 months! On Sunday, we visited the 'Church' Its a Kiwi/Aussie pub that goes crazy every Sunday.