Germany to Austria!!!

Day 7
When someone said Contiki paid for us to rent bikes in Munich, I was beyond thrilled. . . but, of course, the biking was a guided-biking-tour! I HATE GUIDED TOURS!! I don’t want to have to stand still and hear about things that don’t matter to my life. Nevertheless, our guide was an Australia guy who cussed a lot and was adequately entertaining. The biking wasn’t intense and I didn’t sweat, but it might still count as aerobic. That is one AMAZING thing about the cities we have been to – biking is beyond an accepted form of transportation. Business men, women in skirts, old people – everyone bikes to get around in regular clothes. There has been biking trails on the road or on the side walk of every single major street in Paris, London, and Munich. . . but this was my first time to get a chance to ride one.
The group followed the tour guide from statue to statue and finally to the nudist park. HILARIOUS – from the elderly to the newborn, everyone was naked. I have no idea how this is acceptable, but I will prove it with pictures. Anyways, on the other side of this park, was a little outdoor kitchen that served the only things one can find in Germany to consume: meat and beer. Dana and I ordered chicken wings, chicken schnitzel, and fries to split and I got what is considered a small beer which was absolutely a 2XL beer in America. It was disgusting, but I had to embrace it – I was in Germany for possibly the only time ever.

After a few hours of free time, we headed to Austria!

FIRST STOP: SWAVARSKI CRYSTAL WORLD! This was an amazing experience. The museum was filled with modern, ludicrous exhibits made out of CRYSTAL! It was kind of like being in a crazy dream. Amazing. There countless hallways, staircases, mazes, movies, and other exhibits to explore. Each were beautiful and a little crazy. I loved it.

That night, we stayed in a very small village with just a few roads and a church in the middle. Upon arrival, I ran to find an internet café. As I walked into a bland room with hard chairs that resembled our coffee shops in no way, and said hello and everyone jumped over one another to see who was speaking English. It was strange. Know what else is strange? People keep asking me if I’m from Australia – we sound nothing like Australians or Brits, but I guess English is English to Europeans. But in real life, to us, it’s so very different. My Australian roommate and I can never understand each other – I always have to think of what she means before I can reply to anything she says to me. "Heaps" or "loads" means "a lot". "Keen" means to want to. "Yeeeaaa" is said every few seconds kind of like saying, "ummm". I love it and it’s fun, but we are so much more different in speech than I would have imagined, but anyways, I can understand how English could be English when you’re in Austria. I paid 1 Euro per 10 minutes of internet time, wrote some emails, and cried! I had been in five countries in seven days and was exhausted.

We stayed at Haus Lucas which is like a Ski Cabin Hotel that Contiki contracts out for the summer. Apparently, Hopfgarten is the number one skiing destination in Europe in the winter. This was summer, however, and in the summer Contiki takes over the town. They contract out hotels and hostels for people on their tours to stay in and the town is basically abandoned. It feels plastic to see Europe this way. [When the people working at the hotel, in the hotel bar, and giving the bike tour work for Contiki and the owner of the only bar in town is a former Contiki tour manager. . . you just have to say REALLY?!) Anyways, on more positive notes, that the village was beautiful and peaceful – and I was exhausted. I needed a holiday from my holiday and this was a place to take a break


I got back in time for dinner and Schnappy Happy hour! Dana and I went to explore Hopfgarten with the Lou brothers, Howie (our bus driver), and Brendan. Dana and I left everyone behind to run into O2 Dance Party. When you see a sign that says dance party, you have to go see. Dana gets this kind of thing - which is probably why we're friends. So we ran down two flights of stairs into a dark blue room with disco lights, jumped in the middle of everyone, dance for one song, and left.

We spent some time at a bar next door and headed to bed :) I wish I loved the Contiki experience more, but it honestly does not matter - I love Europe enough to make up for any negative about one certain part of it.