Eurotour

I have recently returned to Germany from my Europe tour. I went with about 40 other exchange students and it was one of the most mind opening and exciting experiences I have ever, well, experienced. We left from Hamburg and were off on our 3 week trip to wander and probe at the lives of the many different cultures that were awaiting us. First stop was Prague, the beautiful old city in the Czech Republic lives in the day but comes alive in the night with the biggest club in Central Europe. Famous for its specialized donuts exchange students ran crazy buying the simple street food around the city. We visited the John Lennon wall and educated ourselves on the middle ages through the many churches and museums. From Prague we journeyed onto Vienna in Austria. This quaint city is known for its bohemian cafe's and coffee shops, as well as its Opera and many historic castle like buildings. Of coarse also the Castle in which Marie Antoinette was raised in before moving to France for Marriage. The city Vienna though quite big is simple in its inhabitants and composed in its Austrian culture. We then ventured to Lido Di Jesolo in Italy to go to Venice. Venice is an undisturbed placid city on water. The colour of the water brings you to Hawaii but the buildings are old and worn. As we walked in the infinitesimal alley ways and over the compendious bridges the buildings would bring colour to the raining sky above. After a city tour the rain stopped and we were doused in sunshine peaking through the clouds, eating pizza and tasting gelato the disbelief that we were in Italy would never fade. 
        From Venice to Rome. Rome was ancient with modernization seeping through its ruins. Crazy Italian drivers would rampage through the streets, but still we saw its landmarks such as the Colosseum and Trevi fountain, none of which is what I expected. The Trevi fountain is in a small enclosed place and the Colleseum was bigger yet smaller than I expected and is really in ruins with no sort of structure in it still breathing.The Vatican City was especially Grand and to see the Pope was a great privilege. We then went to Florence, which was also not what I expected. The city was overgrown with tropical trees and the colored walls were being taken by green growth. The city itself was one of my favourite, it looked as if the city was just there and nature was taking it like a marvelous pandemic. After visiting Florence we made our way to San Remo before going to Monaco/Monte Carlo. We lived at the beach in Monaco even if it was just for the day. It felt a bit like home but with Jaguars and Porches. So after enjoying the sun and water we stayed in Avignon and then to Paris. Paris is a dream, like a fantasy for all of its visitors. The Eiffel tower swung higher than some expected and the Champs Elysee was longer than most believed so the city itself was full of imagination, culture and fine architecture. We ate a baguette while waiting for the train, we explored the Louvre and saw the Mona Lisa, we ventured into the gardens to listen to the buskers and see the garden art/sculptures. Sad to leave Paris and knowing our trip was nearing to the end we had a very uneventful bus ride to Brussels.
        Brussels is in its own way similar to Vienna, beautiful and quaint but hectic and always moving. Here we chanced ourselves on the matters of parliament with a tour in the parliamentary house which was quite similar to Canberra only in Brussels it is many years older. The last city we visited was Amsterdam. Like a mini Venice Amsterdam takes pride in its waterways and bikes, the city is known for the amount of bikes it has and it is no lie, there are bikes everywhere. So whilst avoiding the rapid path of the bikes we enjoyed the city as much as possible, took our last pictures and sang our last songs with the buskers in the train station (as we also did in Paris at the Opera house). We burrowed ourselves into the Anne Frank house and immersed ourselves in her time and feelings. Hours later we left Amsterdam and arrived in Germany (Hamburg) the next morning. We had seen, done and experienced so many things on this tour that some thought they would never get to see so I want to thank Rotary for giving us that opportunity, and here is to the nights that turned into mornings and the friends that turned into family. 

below are just some of the photos that I have got so far (not taken on my phone) and there is a video coming!