The third 'premiership' quarter (days 9-12) - Nice is nice ...

So day nine started in Rome, where we were taken on a guided tour of Vatican City. Parts of the tour may have been rushed, but the Contiki people were always good in ensuring that we missed the lines and got in-and-out of the major tourist attractions as quickly as possible. One could only imagine how crowded the Vatican was before and after the Pope's final days.

We went inside the Sistine Chapel and I'll be honest that I was so awestruck with everything inside that I totally missed the two index fingers touching. Quite unbelievable really. From there, we went to the Colloseum, which was so good that I gave it the two thumbs up in a pair of borrowed aviator glasses. At this point, I'll talk about the weather. It only rained twice in 16 days. The first time was from Germany to Switzerland and we were in the bus anyway. I told you it was an infamous trip. The second occasion was on our drive back from Paris to Calais. It also rained on the return ferry crossing, which meant no pictures from the deck of the ship, but considering what happened on my maiden voyage, this was probably a good thing.

On the way from Florence to Nice, we stopped at Pisa. We didn't walk up the famed leaning tower as we only had an hour, but as you can see, the funny photos are taken from the outside. Our tour manager was meant to give a prize to the person who had the best photo. I'm pretty sure I would have had a good shot at winning with this one, which took more than a couple of attempts to master. Apart from the tower, the city of Pisa is nasty and should be avoided. Luckily, we were off to France and the coastal city of Nice, on the French Riviera. God's country. Nice!

I had my biggest night on tour at a place called Wayne's, consuming multiple Green Splinters, a splendid concoction of Baileys and some green liqueur that tastes like an after-dinner mint. In the background, there was an awesome band playing everything from Foo Fighters to Counting Crows. The affable lead singer even played a Tenacious D track and I was joined near the stage by my mate Gareth, who delivered the chorus with as much vigour and gusto as me. When we were kicked out at closing time, we decided to go to Blue Whales. I reckon I'll never see it again, but there at 2am was another cover band, this time playing Led Zeppelin covers. The lead guitarist with the heaviest of heavy metal hair was belting out what seemed like a five-minute solo to "Whole Lotta Love". Unbelievable! A couple of hours later, the party was in full swing, but I decided to leave this fine establishment with Daws from West Sydney in search of some food. We may have been in different hemispheres but the kebab is still the late night weapon of choice on French shores. The kebab store vendor asked: "Are you guys Australian?" When we informed him that this was indeed the case, he loaded up that baby with more meat than an abattoir. It was superb! The late night (or early morning) lamb sandwich is an institution.

At 10am I decided to rise and make my way straight for the ocean. Stupid me didn't pack any shorts for the trip, so I decided to sit, sometimes aimlessly, by the water and take in the sights instead. The scenery was nice, save for the many elderly women who were topless. I'm not sure I'll ever get used to that, or walking on stony beaches. In fact, going to Torquay will be one of the first things I do when I get home, which is now less than a month away. Down at the beach I bumped into Gareth and his girlfriend, Linda. The pair are now engaged after their Parisian proposal up the Eiffel Tower. We had Chinese and kicked it for a bit before going back to the hotel.

It was then off to the Monaco for a meal and to the casino, hardly a place for a broke and indebted traveller. You actually had to pay to get into one casino, which is pretty wrong. Sort of like paying to get into a nightclub, but worse. I had my photo taken down by the Formula 1 race track and admired the wealth that forced itself upon me at every turn. It would be nice to be rich. Who said rich people have problems? The person who said that was probably poorer (and less wiser) than me at the moment. After our little excursion, many made a return trip to Wayne's but I decided against it. Back-to-back nights - followed by numerous hours in a bus - are out of the question for me these days. I was also the coach and had to lead by example but I'm not sure how many of the young troops heeded the words of this experienced soldier.