Contiki Days 4, 5 and 6

So by now you're probably getting sick of having to read through my stories of having an amazing time overseas so I thought i'd just keep you updated on what's happening. Short and shiny.
It's been three days since I posted last and since then the biggest highlights have been generally related to the amazing scenery that we've been blessed with. We've explored what seemed to initially be a nice, cosy little town called Lucerne which had a couple of main streets and a few main attractions such as a historic old bridge. The trip up to the top of the closest mountain proved those observations wrong as we were treated with incredible panoramic views of the swiss alpine region, some amazingly white and clean snow and a view of what turned out to be a big sprawling city. The scene provided time for some quality snowballing and some even better group photos.
Since then we have travelled through 4 countries; Switzerland, Italy, France and Monaco (the second smallest country in the world, 5 square kilometres). We've travelled from endless snow capped mountains into the quaint italian countryside through to the beautiful french riviera with possibly the bluest water I've ever seen. It's pretty incredible to think that we travelled through 4 countries, from snow to surf and had 3 main meals in 3 separate countries, all in one day!
Last night was spent in Monaco, a country which has no taxes but requires residents to have a passport worth $4 million each. Fair to say there was a serious amount of money being thrown around. Mansions, yachts, at the casino. It was just incredible. Fun fact: A piece of land 1 square metre by 1 square metre costs $56,000 in Monaco!

We had dinner in a cosy little restaurant off one of the alleyways before heading to the Grand Casino for the rest of the evening. It was an odd sight seeing people just walk up to a roulette table and place a $500 bet every once in a while and not even care what the result of the bet was. It was similarly enthralling to witness what a $200,000 chip looks like. Luckily some contiki-ers won a bit of cash to provide some entertainment as we all cheered to the amusement of the dealers in the tuxedos.
Today was a relax day, allowing us to do some washing and a picnic up above the cote d'azur of some local delicacies before heading out to dinner later on tonight. This morning was one of the most picturesque runs i've ever done in my life, along the beaches of Nice as the sun rose. Breathtaking!
We head into Italy for the first time to stay tomorrow as we explore Florence. And I can't wait.
Until then,

Watch this space,

Dillon