It was raining when we drove into town today. We did a driving tour around the famous ring road and Bec pointed out a few of the main sites e.g. Parliament buildings, statues and a memorial for all the Jews that were killed in World War 2. We were told that we would have to get out in the rain for our walking tour as Alex couldn't park the coach any closer. Alex was having a chuckle to himself as we hoped off the bus. It was pouring down with rain and there were huge puddles everywhere. I'm so happy I decided to pack my umbrella. It's come in handy so many times. We all splashed through the puddles that edged the road and crossed across the tram lines. Bec only gave us a brief walking tour as we were all getting soaked. Some of the group picked up an umbrella from a small store on the way. On our walking tour we passed some Roman ruins that have been left intact and another Jewish memorial. In all of the large European cities we have visited so far there have been a lot of statues that are dedicated to someone's memory and achievements. The history of the cities is always very evident, something we don't have in New Zealand. At the end of the walking tour Bec took us down to the crystal place. One of the girls that work there spoke to us about the store and the history of Swasoki. Everything is so pretty and sparkly. I tried to take photos, but it doesn't show all the sparkling so I took a short video of one of the display walls that was made up of hundreds of tiny mirrors. I didn't buy myself anything when we went in, but regretted it so went back after lunch and bought a necklace with a plain chain and a crystal heart. It will be my one special thing that I buy on this trip. It cost me €70 and I almost didn't buy it because of the price, but I really wanted something from this trip that I will always have. We decided to get out of the rain and had an early lunch at an Aussie pub. The burgers were huge! I had to cut mine up because I couldn't fit it in my mouth. I'm so sure that the chicken patty was coated in skippy cornflakes. They even served Vegemite toast. I was tempted to buy some, but didn't. I wish I could find a Kiwi bar so I could order an L&P. We met up with Bec and Alex at 2.40pm and headed to the Schnapps Museum. The tour was really interesting. It's a family business and has been around for years, although a lot of the buildings were bombed during World War 2. When you go through Europe you realise just how much was really bombed during World War 2. It's also intriguing as to which towns Hitler did leave alone for various reasons. At the end of the tour we were allowed to sample some different types of Schnapps. I tried a strawberry liquor, a banana liquor and their famous rocket fuel. I wasn't game enough to try the absinth shot. Once everyone had loaded their bottles and boxes into the coach we headed off. Our next stop was the summer house of the .... We had an hour and a half here to explore the gardens, pay to go inside or visit their zoo or the mazes. We choose to visit the zoo. We didn't have much time so we choose to visit the animals that we don't have back at home at Auckland Zoo. The polar wolves were my favourite. I don't think I've ever seen a wolf before. After the castle we drove to the restaurant in the forest. We were greeted by two Austrian men. Both had an awesome sense of humour. Throughout the evening live music and games were played. We had a really nice meal and then did some dancing in the little restaurant. It was a lot of fun. The party continued on the coach on the way back to the hostel. We were all singing and dancing on the coach. Alex kept flashing the coloured lights. When we got back to the hostel we had a drink downstairs at the bar and then headed off to bed.