When the Cheshire emerges...

Ok, so haven't been able to write on here for some time, and writing this is slightly difficult because I'm working with a German keyboard in Austria.

So I'm in Vienna, halfway through my Topdeck tour, and it's been amazing so far. London was a great lead-up though too, so let me go through that...

Highlights were definitely the people we met: walking tour through London introduced Helen and I to sisters Eleina and Anita, and then roommates Teghan and Kelsey (also sisters). It's a very cool thing experiencing sights and sounds of a city with people you're just getting to know and I had a great time with everything - London Eye, Buckingham Palace, getting 'hung, drawn and quartered' like Guy Fawkes (I volunteered to provide a demonstration because I found our Irish tour guide funny), etc.

Helen and I had done a tour to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge and Bath (which was a horribly gloomy day with a stern tour guide and a bus full of older people and families - but the sights were nice), but even though that was a mammoth driving day that was nothing compared to my birthday.

Madame Tussaud's, Portobello Road (and the markets), Mamma Mia! on the West End and then managing to find a good r&b club from a guy offering entry tickets on the street meant that my 21st ended up being incredibly awesome. Great to have Helen to share that with.

Mingling with the tour got off to a slow start but really kicked off in our Swiss campsite's bar. Dancing on the seats was the norm, and the bar became the centre of which in-bus gossip began. Beforehand, Paris was beautiful and I was much more in awe of the Eiffel Tower than I thought I would be. Getting to climb it and seeing how far we walked all day (from the Louvre, where I fought to get a centre position at the Mona Lisa and succeeded, to Notre Dame back to the Tower - at least 1.5hrs walking) was awesome. Switzerland gave me the opportunity to push myself like never before... I decided to jump out of a helicopter from 12000 feet (4000 metres). And I was surprisingly calm about it. Even afterwards. No jitters. Just knowing the accomplishment of achieving such a scary thing. It was one of the most exciting things I've ever done in my life and something I'll never forget.

Nice in the French Riviera was relaxing at the beach (pebbles, again) because on Sundays Europe decides to close its doors. Also travelled to Monte Carlo in Monaco to visit their casino (as used in Bond films etc) - underwhelmed. Beautiful building but empty and definitely not within my gambling range!

Italy was 5 nights... Leaning Tower of Pisa shots were fun, tried unsuccessfully to lick it, Florence was pretty but didn't get to see enough (especially M'angelo's David), Rome was too busy - 90000 PEOPLE AT ST PETER'S SQUARE to see the Pope's address (as opposed to an avg 10000 - once-a-year convergence of 70000 from across Europe of altar kids helped there, some of who howled Hunn-ga-ri-aaaa at us in a Metro station quite forcefully), and not knowing where to go was annoying. Did love the Trevi Fountain though, tossed coins in and tried a La Dolce Vita shot. Oh, and ate a takeaway pizza through the streets, felt very Italian - not that they really do that but whatever...

We had some people leave us in Rome and others join us. New group are younger and have already injected life into the partying which is good. Although Angela and I didn't need them in Florence - the discoteca at the campsite went off for us - we killed the d.f. and shat all over the 15yo's who didn't know Eminem's Without Me. Only ones on d.f. by 2am. But the biggest came after getting to Venice - through Verona, which I was ußer excited about. Total awe washed over me as I visited Juliet's house and saw all the names graffitied on the wall. Stuck a note up and left my legacy, that's definitely been a highlight too. Only spent an hour there though, not enough...

So Venice got off to an absolute flier with a Toga Party at the campsite's bar. It got very messy very quickly with plenty of Silvio's Special's flowing: 4 shots and a Bacardi Breezer. Details were still emerging 2 days later - a Gappie (gap-year camper on another Topdeck tour there) was rumoured to be kicked off his tour for starting a fight with one of our boys and then subsequently everyone else, an in-bus hook-up that included an accidental punch in the face that the female does still not recall, and another female being caught eating a potplant (and nutella) cross-legged on her bed cuddling it are just a few stories. Let the good times roll...

These stories, embarrassments, get nominated for the cowbell, which has to be worn as a walk of shame until next midnight. Penny and Lauren have received the first joint awarding of this already for getting ready to leave Florence in a rush - an hour before schedule, in turn putting tour guide Amy into a fright. Hilarious.

Vienna today was alright, but again it's Sunday so nothing was open. Did go to Europe's biggest fun park last night and tested myself on rollercoasters... Awesome fun.

Think that's everything... Budapest through Bratislava tomorrow, getting really East now. Should get really interesting from here!