Day 8: For our free day in Florence we were given a leather demonstration at Leonardo's leather works and then a one hour walking tour with a local guide around the city where we saw all the statues and learnt about the Medici family (mum I realised the bag you got me is Italian leather and was similar to the ones they were selling in the store). A group of us then went to an Italian restaurant where we had all the traditional food like lasagne and pizza and it was absolutely amazing. A few of us girls went off shopping for a few hours while the boys walked up the 450ish stairs of the Dome to get a better view of Florence. We all met up for some Gelato before catching the bus back to the camp site and after more quick showers we were off to have our group photo taken and out to a Tuscan dinner which again had free wine and there was soo much food so I can definitely say that we have experienced Italian food and we still have several more days in Italy. After dinner we all walked to Space nightclub (Jersey Shore went there when they were in Italy) where there was some more Karaoke and fun and it ended up being another late night.

Day 9 was a 3hr bus trip to Rome followed by a driving tour of the city. We then went to the Vatican which is the smallest country in the world and got a guided tour with a local guide and went through the sistine chapel. We then walked from one side of Rome to the other to see all the sites including the Trevi fountain and made our way back to the bus at 8pm and by then we were all exhausted. Due to the traffic it took us an hour and a half to get to our camp site so we all had a quiet night and made the most of the free wifi. Our friend Dave hurt his foot on one of the rides at Antibes and from all the walking it swelled up and got infected so he had to go to the hospital and after waiting for 4 hours they put him on a drip and antibiotics and they got home about 2:30am.

Day 10: For our free day in Rome our tour guide took us to the train station and we all caught the train into Rome which was very entertaining because there was a lady walking around begging for money and if you said no she would hit you with a plastic bat thing she had in her hand, I am not sure how she hasn't been sued yet because she actually hurt people. Upon arrival in Rome we made our way to the Colloseum which was absolutely amazing, it was probably one of the impressive sites we have seen so far. We then found some 'I love Roma' shirts because the party for that night was a whiteboard party where everyone wears those shirts and writes on eachother. We walked to the spanish steps and had more pizza and pasta for lunch and then gelato of course and made our way home again by train. The whiteboard party was great and they have a really cool bar area and everyone got into writing on eachother and had an awesome night, unfortunately the weather wasn't great so we weren't able to use the mechanical bull because it was outside but it was still a good night all round and its good that we are getting to know everyone better.

Day 11 was a massive day because we had to be up, packed and at the bus by 6:45am and were given a packed breakfast. We were on the bus for about 3 hours when we arrived in Pompeii and had a guided tour of ancient Pompeii where a volcano erupted and destroyed the entire Roman town that has now been partly excavated which inhabited around 12000 people before the tragedy. It was interesting to see how the Romans used to live with the old houses, brothels, wine stores, bakerys and take out places that were pretty much just brick now with some marble where the bench tops used to be. We also saw the traditional baths with gyms and what was left of some people who were killed which was very interesting. One of the girls in our tour group studied Opera in Australia and is moving to London to persue her career after Contiki and our tour guide got her to sing in the old ampitheatre to hear the acoustics and she was absolutely amazing. After lunch we were back on the bus for another 6ish hours before we caught the 12hr overnight ferry to Igoumenitsa, Greece. We had airline seats which were great and the ferry was much nicer than I was expecting with lovely food and comfortable seats. It was good to have a quieter night because everyone is starting to get the 'Contiki Cough' although I was paranoid because the safety instructions were in Greek and all I could think about was the Titanic and not knowing what to do if the boat sank.

Day 12 we woke at 6am to find the boat had not sunk but one of the boys had his wallet stolen while he was asleep so lucky Jesse and I are so paranoid with our gear. The ferry was late arriving at Igoumenitsa so we caught the later local ferry to Corfu and arrived at our hotel around 11:30am. The hotel is amazing with awesome views, rooms, food and bar but I still can't get past the fact that Greece has a terrible waste system so you arn't allowed to flush toilet paper down the toilet and instead it goes into a bin beside the toilet which I think is gross. Also the water is not drinkable here so we have to buy bottled water the whole time and make sure you don't accidentally open you mouth when having a shower. We all headed to the pool for a relaxing afternoon and had Gyros (greek kebabs) for lunch which were delicious . After dinner it was time to put on our Toga's and head to the toga party at the hotel which is great because it meant you can go home whenever you want and don't have to worry about paying for cabs.

Day 13 was always going to be a good day because our tour guide had talked up 'George's boat' the whole trip and everyone was keen to see what the hype was all about. We were warned that George was an old greek man whose jokes were borderline inappropriate but had an amazing boat and made an awesome lunch. George's Boat lived up to all the expectations and we spent the day doing water sports, swimming at different islands and eating fresh bread and Tzatziki. George got everyone to sing their own national anthems and the Aussies also sang 'I come from a land down under' which I thought everyone knew but apparently only Aussies do and the people from other countries thought it was an awesome song and said they wish they had a song like that for their own country. Overall it was a great day out in the sun and everyone was exhausted by 4:30pm when we arrived home so we had a few hours rest and then went out for a Greek dinner and dancing which went until midnight and was a fantastic night. It was very embarassing though because our tour manager told the people who owned the restaurant that we were engaged so they made us get up and dance in front of everyone and then gave us a bottle of champagne which was lovely (it wouldn't have been so bad if it was a slow song but it was boppy music which was awkward).

Day 14 we finally got a bit of a sleep in and had a relaxing day doing washing, playing cards and having lunch at a restaurant near the hotel. It is really funny playing cards with the Canadians because they seem to have different rules than everyone else. We had an early dinner and loaded our gear onto the bus again to head for the ferry back to Igoumenitsa and arrived at out hotel at 10:30pm and all had an early night.