Italy!!!

So its been a while since i last blogged. Since Paris we've been to some French wine region (sorry can't remember what is called). We stayed in a chateau and it was amazing! The view out of our window was of beautiful vineyards and mountains. We had an interesting experience trying to walk to a look out. it was a mega long walk and a very hot day. a french lady drove past and offered us a lift- we excitedly hopped into her car and waved the rest of the group off smugly as we headed up the hill. unfortunately once in the car we realised she didn't speak a word of English (and none of us spoke a word of french). after lots of very confusing attempts at explaining where we wanted to go we worked out she had no idea where we wanted to go (and in fact had driven straight past our turn off and was taking us somewhere completely different). she immediately pulled over the car and made us get out of the car. so we had to walk twice as far back to the correct turn off and catch up with the rest of the group - not so smug anymore!
We then headed off to spain-barcelona. after being told we were staying at a lovely campsite next to the beach we were quite excited, upon arrival we realised the site wouldn't exactly live up to our expectations. it was right next to an airport so planes were flying above our heads frequently (it felt like we were in a war zone!), the place absolutely stunk (apparantly due to a stagnant river next door) and the 'beach' was filthy (you had to dodge the plastic bags when swimming!) We spent the next day exploring the city as well as looking for a pub that was playing the soccer.
our next stop was the French riveria. we spent a day in cannes which was awesome. we releaxed at the beach all day which was a lovely change from sightseeing all day. that night we went to monaco and visited one of the casinos. the drive along the cliffs was beautiful it was interesting being in a town so full of rich people- the yachts in the port were huge!
we are now in venice. as i write this the heat is stifling! we spent the day exploring venice which was lots of fun. it is such a beautiful city and its so nice not to have cars anywhere. we actually went and had a sleep in the park for a couple of hours (as i said sightseeing is very tiring) but we also got to do some shopping as well as take a gondala ride. i love italy and definitely want to come back and explore it fully!

overall its been an exhausting time. i have the 'contiki cough' due to exhaustion and frequent bus rides with 50 other people (most of which also have the contiki cough). i'm loving getting to see so many beautiful parts of europe but am a bit sick of touring. i forgot how i don't really enjoy camps that much (well this is like a camp except it goes for 21 days!) i have met some great people but have also found it challenging to live with a good deal of other people. i am trying to understand people better through this experience but have also found myself dissapointed in the way people behave (including myself). i know this is an invaluable experience for me however and am so glad for all that i am seeing and learning in this time.

keep it real,

betho

bonjour!

hey, weve started our tour and were in paris. this is going to be a short one as these french keyboards have the letters in diff plqces qnd its tqking ,e five hours to type one word oh and i cant find the apostrophe either!
the tour is going well im still getting used to all the people. we were greeted on arrival with lovely fizzy drinks. unfortunately there was a bee in mine and it bit me on the lip-typical!
well were off to the louvre now
au revour

ps nath i dont know how to link you up, brad did it all for me!

Pommy-land

Okay we're in London and have been doing all the touristy stuff-Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, The London Eye, Hyde Park. Hyde Park was my favourite-so beautiful, you could smell the roses from a mile away!
We caught up with Brent and Zena on Friday and Saturday night which was great fun!(sorry nath i didn't ready your email in time to give brent a wedgie). WE watched the soccer at a pub full of noisy aussies and brazilians. Very packed and hot! We had dinner at another pub- kate you'll be please to hear i had bangers and mash. Annie got poohed on by a bird. It was so huge! Very funny, we were laughing loudly but no-one around us even smiled. I thought poo was funny in all countries-apparantly not here!
Better go now...
cheerio old chap!

Singapore Baby

Hey there,
Me and annie are on our adventure to the UK and we've just stopped over in singapore for a couple of hours. The plane ride has seemed long, so the next one to London will be even worse. We had some delightful food for breakfast- some sort of omlette and sausauge thing (matt not even you would eat this food) and the movies have been dissapointing.
In true beth style i forgot to bring my usb attachment for my camera so i won't be able to post any photos of our trip (sorry Gaynor!), but i'll hopefully be able to blog a little bit to keep you posted of what we're getting up to.
Catch you in the UK!!
betho

My Achievments......

I was talking with Lt Dave the other day. We were talking about 'Achievment'and 'Relational' people. He told me i was definitely relationship oriented, while he saw himself as 'achievment' or rather 'task- oriented'. I thought about it and although i agreed with him i also said 'I guess it depends on what you label as achievment'. We then decided that relationships are achievments...and i believe of the highest kind.
I'll leave you with some pictures of my 'trophy cabinet'!

'Another freakin fine'

Today i got home to find that i had a letter telling me that i had recieved a traffic fine and had to pay $200 to the Victoria Police. AARGH!!! Firstly why is it that you always recieve a fine at the worst possible time? (ie a week before you go away on a holiday to Europe....or perhaps you get one a few weeks before Christmas and then 2 days later you get ANOTHER ONE!!!). Secondly, why do i keep getting fines? Seriously i have contributed more than my fair share to the Victorian Budget. IN fact i believe that I am funding the Mitcham Frankston Freeway. In fact, it should be called THE BEASTWOOD FREEWAY, and they should have a plaque there with my name on it, and perhaps i could cut the ribbon on the day they open it (i've always wanted to cut the ribbon at the opening of something!). When that freeway's finished and you all start using it, you should thank me!
I'm not a maniac driver (Ruth says i'm a grandma driver), so why do i get so many fines? Matt told me that i should just be more careful (here's a hint, when someone tells you they just recieved a $200 dollar fine, the best answer is not pointing out that they made a mistake, it really doesn't help!)
I think i'm very unlucky! One time Ruth and i were pulled over in the city and a policeman fined me $150 for not having a white enought number plate!!! PUH_LEASE!!! Apparantly thats a law these days!
Oh and while i'm fired up i'd just like to say that anonymous comments give me the pip! Especially when they criticise Big Brother, people's names and my good friend Brad. SO if you're going to post something anonymously, post something nice!