The "prettiest drive ever" (25th September)

Ok -so whomever said that the Germany purity means that you don't get a headache from drinking the stuff, failed to point out that you can definitely still feel a bit low the next day -as Mike finds out during the 9 1/2 hour bus ride. It's nothing serious mind you and the guts certainly don't feel anywhere near as bad as during the Zurich tummy bug incident and the ride passes with very little event. Today we head from Germany, into Austria and on our way into the north of Italy. The day stop is a small town called St Johann in the Austrian area of Tirol and our ears prick up when we hear it is a lot like Lauterbrunnen. It's not fair to kick ourselves for not staying here, because we have to remind ourselves that we can't keep the trip going forever and that every day we spend in one place is a day less to spend somewhere else. It WAS pretty hard to drive through the countryside, seeing the stunning mountains, hear about the activities and walks you can do -and know that we aren't able to do them (on this trip anyway). If Tirol is sounding a little bit familiar, it's because they have hosted the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck twice! It is also home to the second tallest bridge in Europe (used to be the first until the one in the south of France was built a few years ago) and it is also home to the highest McDonald's in Europe. As the McD's is lunch pit stop we indulge ourselves in a couple of New York burgers - perfect hangover food. Problem is that it is totally crazy and after being first off the bus and in the queue we get our food with 3 minutes to eat before being back on the bus. We are not allowed hot food, drinks without a lid, dairy and basically any food that could annoy other passengers or get the bus dirty. Our only option was to scoff it all down, which we did, but we were still ten minutes late back. It was ok as the driver and guide knew that McD's was chaos and our friends Tim and Clara were with us, so the four of us were in the bad books. We did make up for it at the next stop (which was only 20 minutes to make up our lost time) by being first back on the bus! we arrive in Venice to find the pool closed (boo) and our room is tiny with very uncomfortable beds. So much for upgrading to a private room - eh! We find out that despite being told that they would show the AFL Grand Final at 6am in the morning, it was not to be. Get this, we are staying at a camping ground, but there is NO kitchen. That's right we have to eat at the restaurant on site. The food (pizza and lasagna) is ok, but we realise that Venice is going to be expensive! We call it a night after double checking that there are no mosquito's in our room...