Dad by day itinerary of the Eurotour.
DAY 1 Malmö - Berlin
We will start the tour with a short meeting in Malmö before we board our coach and leave Sweden. The Öresund Bridge will take us into Denmark and we will continue to head south to Gedser. From Gedser we will take the ferry to Rostock in Germany and head on towards the capital, Berlin. We will reach our hotel around 6.00 p.m. and end the evening with a typical German dinner. Berlin is waiting for us! (420 km)
DAY 2 Berlin
We will start the day with a sightseeing tour of Berlin. During the sightseeing we will look at ”Die Mauer”, the wall that divided the city during the Cold War. We will also visit Museum Haus am Checkpoint Charlie. Later on, the bus will take us along Unter den Linden Boulevard and we will pass several famous buildings such as the Staatsoper and the Berliner Dom, the largest church in Berlin. We will also visit the Tiergarten, a huge park that spreads through the western part of the city. In the afternoon you will have time to explore the city on your own.
DAY 3 Berlin - Cracow
We will leave Berlin in the morning and continue our journey to Cracow, the beautiful city in the south of Poland. Somewhere along the road we will stop for lunch and late in the afternoon we can check in at our hotel in the city that once was the royal capital of Poland. Nowadays Cracow is a vibrant city called the heart and soul of Poland. In the evening a fine Jewish dinner and nice music awaits us. (600 km)
DAY 4 Cracow
We´ll explore Cracow on foot today. Together we will take a walk through the alleys where the movie "Schindler’s list" was filmed and of course we’ll take a look at the St Mary’s Basilika and the Cloth Hall. After lunch we will visit Auschwitz, a concentration camp where several million people were murdered during the World War II. The people were forcibly evacuated from their hometowns by the Nazis and were transported from all over Nazioccupied Europe by rail, arriving at Auschwitz-Birkenau in daily convoys. We will walk among the barracks and listen to stories about the terrible things that happened here. This visit will be a really touching experience.
DAY 5 Cracow - Prague
We will leave Cracow in the morning and head for the capital of the Czech Republic. When we have left Poland behind us and crossed the border there will be a lunch break in the countryside. Late in the afternoon we will arrive in Prague and after dining together there is time to enjoy our first evening in the heart of Europe. (530 km)
DAY 6 Prague
The best way to explore the city of Prague is on foot. Make sure to wear comfortable shoes and follow our tour guide through this fascinating city. We will start at the city’s oldest part, on the hill of Hradcany, where the Cathedral of St Vitus is located along with the old Royal Castle and the President’s palace. We will cross the river Vltava by the famous Charles Bridge. The small, narrow lanes of the Old Town spread out east of the river. In the evening a fine dinner cruise awaits you on the river Vltava.
DAY 7 Prague - Salzburg - Zell am See
We will check out from our hotel after breakfast and continue our journey. After crossing the Austrian border we will make a visit to Salzburg, known worldwide for being the birth city of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but also for the musical "Sound of Music" which takes place here. We will have some time to stroll through the city centre before heading towards the well known resort of Zell am See. In the evening we will arrive to our hotel high up in the Alps. (480 km)
DAY 8 Zell am See
Zell am See offers something for all tastes. In winter, it is a skiers’ paradise and a paradise for activities such as paragliding, windsurfing, hiking, tennis and golf in the summer. The resort is beautifully situated between lake Zeller, one of the cleanest lakes in Europe, and the mountains where Schmittenhöhe is the highest peak (2 000 m). The mountains around Zell am See are perfect for trekking and our experienced guide will take us on an amazing day hike in the beautiful Austrian countryside.
DAY 9 Zell am See - Lido di Jesolo
It is time to move on. In the morning we will be traveling through a typical Mountain landscape and in the afternoon, after crossing the Italian border, the surroundings will change and the north Italian plain will welcome us. We will arrive at the famous seaside resort of Lido di Jesolo during the afternoon, where its long, sandy beach, restaurants, cafes and discos are waiting for us. (330 km)
DAY 10-11 Lido di Jesolo and Venice
Close to Lido di Jesolo you will find one of the most unique places in Europe, the sinking city of Venice. We will cross the lagoon by vaporetto (waterbus) and get off not far from the Piazza San Marco. Our tour guide will show us the most important sights such as the Palazzo Ducale with the famous Bridge of Sighs and the Basilica di San Marco. Like most tourists we will go on a gondola ride, a very romantic but convenient way of discovering the city. The narrow lanes among the canals don’t allow cars or bicycles. You can spend your free time in one of the exclusive shops or stop by Harry’s Bar, where Ernest Hemingway used to hang out. When the sun sets over the Adriatic Sea the herds of tourists will disappear and a romantic calm will settle over the streets and lanes. We will go back to Lido di Jesolo and spend the night there.
DAY 12 Lido di Jesolo - Lyon
It is time to go west again, this time heading for France. We will leave Lido di Jesolo behind and travel through the Lombardy and Piedmont provinces of northern Italy. We will arrive at our hotel in the evening. (750 km)
DAY 13 Lyon - Paris
We will check out from our hotel early in the morning and continue our journey until we reach Paris, the city of lights, late in the afternoon. In the evening we will visit a French cabaret. (470 km)
DAY 14-15 Paris
We now have two full days to explore the French capital, a city rich in museums, art galleries and monuments. The most famous landmark is probably the Eiffel Tower, designed for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. The Champs-Elysées, Paris, most well known thoroughfare, connects the Place de la Concorde with the Place Charles de Gaulle. It has been the ”triumphal way” ever since the homecoming of Napoleon’s body from St Helena in 1840 and is an ideal place to stop for a snack while observing the Parisian way of life. Paris is one of the fashion capitals of the world with something for everyone. Go window-shopping at the great couturiers or visit the Mecca for bargain hunters; the two large flea markets Porte de Vanves and Porte de Saint-Ouen. On one of the evenings in Paris we will have a nice dinner in a typical French restaurant.
DAY 16 Paris - Brussels - Wuppertal
Unfortunately we cannot stay in Paris forever, but we will be continuing our journey towards another interesting destination: Belgium, a small country located at the cultural crossroads of Europe. Our first stop will be Brussels, the capital. We will arrive around lunchtime and have time both to explore the city and check out the Belgian cuisine. Our tour guide will teach us more about the ”Eurocity”, the capital of the European Union and the headquarters of NATO. During our city walk we will see the Grand Place as well as the famous statue of the little boy, Manneken Pis. After lunch we will continue our journey towards Germany. We will spend the night in a town called Wuppertal, located in the oldest industrial area in Germany, the Ruhr area. (550 km)
DAY 17 Wuppertal - Malmö
It is time to return to Malmö. We will cross northern Germany and pass Hamburg and Lübeck, once members of the Hansa medieval trade organization. The ferry from Puttgarden will take us back into Denmark and a few hours later we will return to Sweden, crossing the Öresund Bridge. The tour has come to an end. (700 km)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Åre Gondola Ride
Gondola ride back down to earth.
Quite a weird feeling actually, everytime we got to one of those towers, it'd speed up, then slow back down again. Very weird.
Monthly report - March
Åre is an amazing town. The Åre and Duved mountains are…indescribable.
40 Rotary students currently on exchange staying in Sweden were chosen to attend a ski camp in Åre from the 22nd – 26th of March. I was picked as one of those lucky few. On the Sunday (22nd) because the ski/snowboard hire wasn’t ready yet, the students went to a big indoor swimming centre in the middle of the snow in Åre. I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed as dry as I could and I took photos, there was also a gym, bowling lanes, mini golf and a few other pretty cool things. There was a small pool in one corner of the centre which led to an outside pool, some people were even crazy enough to get out of the nice warm water and run in the snow. Me? I was just as happy taking photos of the crazy people.
On Sunday night, everyone got fitted up to their boots, helmets and skis or boards, then we kept our boots on and went wild in the snow, had a LOT of fun and played some games as well.
On Monday we all trekked to Åre, where we had our first out of two lessons for the week. It was my first time snowboarding. And I wasn’t doing so well to begin with, but about 1 and a half hours (out of 2) into my lesson, I started actually being able to move around without having someone next to me the whole time, then I fell. Bad mistake, when I fell backwards I put my hand back to break my fall and it started hurting really badly. I almost fractured my wrist. An hour and a half is all it took for me to hurt myself, haha.
I got a bandage for my arm and went back to the hotel we were staying at. There went me going snowboarding for the rest of the week, it hurt so much so I took it easy for the rest of the week. On Wednesday everyone went to Åre and took the ‘Gondola’ up to the top of the mountain, it was a tad chilly up there. Negative 25 degrees to be precise, And I was in jeans, a thermal top and a jacket. Not the warmest clothing for -25 degree weather, I was freezing.
I did however meet a very nice girl, Louise, who lives in the Bentleigh/Brighton area in Victoria. Who I’d only seen once when hopping on the plane to go to Singapore airport, and in passing I asked her what footy team she goes for and she replied with ‘When I say I go for this team, I stick with them even when they’re doing really badly, I go for Melbourne’ (which is the best team in the world :D) and I was so happy I’d finally found someone who goes for the Demons too. We got very…energized and stayed that way for the rest of the night, we plan on meeting up when we get back in Australia and going to the football together.
On Wednesday night, there was a Rotary club of Åre meeting and all the exchange students got into their country groups and had to do a presentation in Swedish, about a different country. Australia’s presentation was about Taiwan, and all 19 of us said about 1 line each.
Everyone had a blast.
The train rides were a long, dull and boring 13 hours, so we passed the time by talking on the way there and there was a lot of sleeping on the way back.
Before the trip to Åre there was a District 2360 Conference in Göteborg on the 21st. All the students in the district met in the city and we each did a performance or talk on our country. Daisy (the other Aussie in my district) and I did a 5 minute ‘mime’ of Australia’s history. Everyone loved it.
I’m still with the Arveståhl family, Rotary are still trying to find me a family.
School’s the same as usual confusing but fun, my Swedish lessons are coming along pretty well too.
There’s going to be an ANZAC day commemoration in Göteborg on the 25th of April. All the Aussies and Kiwi Rotary students in Sweden have been invited to go. So I’ll be able to see a fair few exchangers again then.
I’ve had a cold but I’m getting better from that.
Hey då!
Corinne
40 Rotary students currently on exchange staying in Sweden were chosen to attend a ski camp in Åre from the 22nd – 26th of March. I was picked as one of those lucky few. On the Sunday (22nd) because the ski/snowboard hire wasn’t ready yet, the students went to a big indoor swimming centre in the middle of the snow in Åre. I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed as dry as I could and I took photos, there was also a gym, bowling lanes, mini golf and a few other pretty cool things. There was a small pool in one corner of the centre which led to an outside pool, some people were even crazy enough to get out of the nice warm water and run in the snow. Me? I was just as happy taking photos of the crazy people.
On Sunday night, everyone got fitted up to their boots, helmets and skis or boards, then we kept our boots on and went wild in the snow, had a LOT of fun and played some games as well.
On Monday we all trekked to Åre, where we had our first out of two lessons for the week. It was my first time snowboarding. And I wasn’t doing so well to begin with, but about 1 and a half hours (out of 2) into my lesson, I started actually being able to move around without having someone next to me the whole time, then I fell. Bad mistake, when I fell backwards I put my hand back to break my fall and it started hurting really badly. I almost fractured my wrist. An hour and a half is all it took for me to hurt myself, haha.
I got a bandage for my arm and went back to the hotel we were staying at. There went me going snowboarding for the rest of the week, it hurt so much so I took it easy for the rest of the week. On Wednesday everyone went to Åre and took the ‘Gondola’ up to the top of the mountain, it was a tad chilly up there. Negative 25 degrees to be precise, And I was in jeans, a thermal top and a jacket. Not the warmest clothing for -25 degree weather, I was freezing.
I did however meet a very nice girl, Louise, who lives in the Bentleigh/Brighton area in Victoria. Who I’d only seen once when hopping on the plane to go to Singapore airport, and in passing I asked her what footy team she goes for and she replied with ‘When I say I go for this team, I stick with them even when they’re doing really badly, I go for Melbourne’ (which is the best team in the world :D) and I was so happy I’d finally found someone who goes for the Demons too. We got very…energized and stayed that way for the rest of the night, we plan on meeting up when we get back in Australia and going to the football together.
On Wednesday night, there was a Rotary club of Åre meeting and all the exchange students got into their country groups and had to do a presentation in Swedish, about a different country. Australia’s presentation was about Taiwan, and all 19 of us said about 1 line each.
Everyone had a blast.
The train rides were a long, dull and boring 13 hours, so we passed the time by talking on the way there and there was a lot of sleeping on the way back.
Before the trip to Åre there was a District 2360 Conference in Göteborg on the 21st. All the students in the district met in the city and we each did a performance or talk on our country. Daisy (the other Aussie in my district) and I did a 5 minute ‘mime’ of Australia’s history. Everyone loved it.
I’m still with the Arveståhl family, Rotary are still trying to find me a family.
School’s the same as usual confusing but fun, my Swedish lessons are coming along pretty well too.
There’s going to be an ANZAC day commemoration in Göteborg on the 25th of April. All the Aussies and Kiwi Rotary students in Sweden have been invited to go. So I’ll be able to see a fair few exchangers again then.
I’ve had a cold but I’m getting better from that.
Hey då!
Corinne
Friday, March 6, 2009
Monthly report - Feb
Sweden is beautiful, simply beautiful. I was walking around in the forest yesterday, and even though a lot of the trees are bare, they still manage to look stunning. After it snows, and the snow starts to melt; the water falls off the rocks next to the paths and as it’s coming down, it freezes again. Until it’s all fully frozen again. It looks amazing.
During language camp at Vimmerby, the exchange students had a blast! I learnt a bit of Swedish, but I have a lot of notes from what we learnt. We also got about 15-20cms of snow and all the exchange students had a massive snowball fight against each other and a couple of the teachers.
I’m living with the Arveståhl family and they are an incredible family, they’re so caring, and they listen to what I have to say. (Plus I get big hugs when we say goodnight J) My host club is still trying to find me a second host family. But they don’t want me to change before 3 months and I wouldn’t mind staying here for a while longer. I have been to one Rotary meeting so far, and I was planning to go to some more, but I wasn’t able to. I’m planning to go every week.
In school the subjects I participate in include: English, Swedish, maths, sport, multimedia and art.
I was in some other subjects but the ‘tutorial’ teacher took me out of them because I wouldn’t understand anything, especially as the class has been studying in for 6 months and are only starting to get the hang of it now. I am also now in my own Swedish lessons, and they started this week. But they’re very fun.
I have joined the Mölndal Rover group. They’re a pretty lively bunch, and we have lots of fun. We’re currently decorating and making our own group scarves. The meetings are every Saturday or Sunday. After this weekend I will have been to two meetings.
The Swedish language is really hard to learn, but I’m doing my best. When I’m listening to a conversation sometimes I will pick up the odd few words or so that I recognize. I can also have a very quick conversation (Hi, how are you?) and I know the basics, (please and thank-you) and I’m going pretty well with the numbers. If I get people to slow down what they’re saying, sometimes I can try and work out what they’re saying. Sometimes I’m right on the money, other times, not so much. But it’s always fun.
Last weekend we had a Swedish food and Bath weekend near Borås. It was a very…different experience. Definitely something I’ll remember for a long time. I met all the other Rotary exchange students who are living in my district at the moment (mainly from the US and Canada). And we didn’t go to bed until about 4am. But we had loads of fun.
In late March I will be attending a ski camp in Åre. For just under one week, I get to see some of the exchange students again. Hopefully I will be skiing and I might be able to be taught how to snowboard by one of the other exchange students from Victoria.
Hope all is well.
( Here is the website where you can keep more up to date with what I’m doing: www.corinnedeagan.blogspot.com )
Corinne.xx
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Ice skating.
Snowball fight.
Failed attempt.
It's hard to make snowballs with gloves on.
First time Ice-Skating
Ouch those shoes!
It hurts after a while.
Not a hug, just trying to steady me.
That was a hug.
Go Corinne!
Okay, try it now.
*Glare* Let's all glare at the showoff. Jks
Eyyyyy, Corinne sucks at Ice-Skating.
Going alright.
Still going well. Surprising, ey?
Woot Woot, Corinne's no. 1.
Gotta practice a bit more.
My skates.
'Lets try it on one foot now' 'Arghhhhh'
Yay, the tre skaters :)
Woah, almost fell.
Showoff
Dammit, first fall.
It was very funny though.
Mamma helping me up.
The consequences of a snowball fight.
Soooo not fair.
Save me Mamma.
The skates come off finally, ouch!
Trying to stay up.
The showoff strikes again.
'Don't look down'
C'mon, c'mon
It's going well.
Yes, yes, yes *almost falls* DAMMIT
'Are you skating or what?'
'I was better on Wednesday!'
Not looking too bad.
Woah, woah.
WOAH! WOAH!
Full pro.
Full amateur.
: P
Yay for hugs!
'Okay, like this.'
'Yay I'm doing it!'
*Almost falls*
*Almost face plants*
'I've had enough'
*Falls again*
*Getting up*
*Is hard work*
And just when you get up...
*Falls back down again*
This is a lot harder than it looks
Getting up is also very hard.
*Woah!* Don't fall.
*WOAH!*
(It was inevitable)
Getting up again.
*Epic fail*
'Okay, I'm getting up.'
'Okay, I'm up. Don't push me!'
*Argh!*
*Looks pro as* (really isn't)
*Almot face plants again*
Time to get these skates off.
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