Germany to the Swiss Alps

My two favourite places on this trip so far have been Germany and the Swiss Alps.

We went to 3 different beer gardens in Germany and they were all choccas with people sitting around drinking steins of the local beer. The best thing about the beer over here is that you don't really get hangovers from it!! Germany has very strict purification laws meaning that all the ingredients of beer have to be extremely pure so nothing else goes in the beer. It means the beer tastes great and hangovers are not really a problem!

We also went to a beer hall for dinner where they had a band, German dancing and of course steins of sweet, sweet purified beer! :) After every song the band do a special drinking toast chant and everybody has to drink! Everyone got involved and before long the atmosphere in there was pumping and it was a great night.

We were only in Munich for one night which was a little disappointing because it was such a great place. We decided to come back here in a few weeks before the greek islands.

With this in mind, we left Germany and headed for the Swiss Alps. What a place!! We camped in a town called Lauterbrunnen which was surrounded by hugh mountins with jaggered cliff faces everywhere. There were heaps of little waterfalls that flowed down the cliff, with one particular waterfall right next to our campsite that was lit up by hugh lights at night.

The next day we went for a walk around the tiny town and spotted a shop that sold extreme sport tickets. We went in to have a quick look and walked out all pumped up and nervous about what awaited us in a few hours.. The third biggest bunji jump in the world! 134m from a cable car over a lake in one of the massive Swiss Alp valleys!!!

Was a bit of a last minute decision but before I knew it we were all suited up and in the cable car, climbing to some ridiculous height.. Needless to say I was a little nervous, but the atmosphere of everyone in the cable car cheering me on and the death metal music that was cranking, as soon as I stepped up to the edge and looked out, I was ready!

I launched myself out into air on the count of 5 and I was flying (or falling) for about 5 seconds. The first few seconds was cool and then I realised that I wasn't stopping! Haha.. The rope slowed me down just in time and next thing I know I was launching up into the air for another free fall all over again!!

After bouncing up and down a few times, my head felt like it was going to explode from hanging upside down too long but I didn't care, I was pumped!

They lowered me into the boat and I swam to shore.. Was easily one of the best things I've ever done and I'd do it again in a second! Great times..

There were 7 of us that day who did it and we were all super stoked after it. What a rush!!

The next day we left Switzerland and headed for Amsterdam. I was such a lomg way that we stopped over in a little German town called Heidleburg. It was very small and there wasn't much to do but was great to stop in a quiet little town and experience the real Germany, without the whole tourist vibe.

We left early the next morning and headed to Amsterdam, which I described quickly in my last blog.. Interesting place but a great place to party :)

Here's a little pic from our bike ride through Edam. Very typical picture from Holland of an old windmill but they still actually use this one.

The next day we drove back to London and that was the end of our 32 day Contiki trip! It's flown by so fast and it was a little sad to say goodbye to the crew that we've gotten to know so well. That night we stayed at the contiki hotel, the Royal National for one last night with the crew, and what a night it was!!

We all headed down for a few loud ones at the bar and when that closed, we all went back to one of the rooms to kick on. I don't think the guitar at 3am was thae best idea and when the security came up to tell us to keep it down, he opened the door to find 18 people partying in a 2 person room, all singing along to Mr. Jones!!

Great times and a fitting end to a great trip.

Although a lot of our new found friends are heading home, the trip is only just beginning for us!! I'm kicking back at a hostel in London at the moment and this place is cool! It's got couches and a TV in the chillout area in the lobby and the bedrooms are simple but cheap and just what we need.

We plan to stay here for about 4 or 5 days and then fly to Ireland. I'm even going to try some Guiness over there cos I hear it taastes totally different to Guiness in Australia. I'm not a fan of Aussie Guiness but we'll see how it goes :)

From Ireland we plan to head back to Munich for a week or so and then onto Athens for our Greek Island tour.

Hope all is well back home guys. A big hello to everyone!! Bye for now :)