Hi All,

Last time I spoke to you all I was in Switzerland. Since then everything has been busy busy busy. We left Switzerland for Lyon in France where I participated in quite the culinary adventure, & actually tried snails. They were actually not as bad as they sound, but I wont be rushing out to eat them again.

From there we had a really early start and a really long drive down to Barcelona, but it was worth it. I loved the city. We had 25 degree weather which meant we didnt even need jumpers, & it was beautiful. We went to a Flamenco show there, and had one of the best dinners of the tour. The flamenco is a very fascinating and sexual dance, but not quite what I was expecting. Mostly alot of stomping around but still lots of fun.

From there we went back into France but this time stopped at Nice. Nice is possibly the most beautiful of the cities we"ve been to, but my opinion could be slightly swayed as our tour guide lived there for two years and he absolutely loves the place. Whilst there we had two very big nights and I think the group really bonded. We also went to Monaco on one of the nights where we tried our luck in the MOnte Carlo Casinos, some won, some lost and unfortunately I was in the losing part of that equation.

We left Nice for Florence, and on the way stopped to see the leaning tower of Pisa. The tower itself is pretty cool, but Pisa is possibly the dirtiest and most disgusting town I've ever seen. Defintelt glad we werent staying there. Florence was interesting but we only stayed there one night so we didnt get to see as much as I may have liked. There is definitely lots of history in Italy and some wonderful food. I have been living off of Pasta and gelati while we have been here. While in Florence we had a fantastic dinner at a place called La Certosa which consisted of 4 course, finished of by a few drops of 90% alcohol which is distilled by the monks who run the restuarant and live in the monastry across the road.

Just quickly as I am running out of time. From there we travelled to Rome where w were absolutley flat out for a day and a half. There was so much to see. The Collesseum was amazing, but that is nothing compared to how much there was to see. On the first night we went to a church which is decorated by all of the bones of monks that they exumed from their previous church. Pretty crazy, but fascinating none the less.

At the moment I am in an internet cafe in Venice and have just been on a gondola ride. It is such a peaceful city and definitely want to come back again. There are no cars on the island and they travel around on the gondolas. It is a twisted city whos roads male no sense, but still lots of fun.

I will try to talk to you soon.

Keep in touch

xxx