Europe trip: Part 2

Our coach proceeded to take us through the farmlands of Holland to Germany and the famed Rhine Valley. Rhine Valley, for the uninitiated is in a very pretty setting with a river meandering through a valley and castles on mountains on both sides of the river. The owner of the hotel we stayed in was a woman in a her mid 40s and was as freaky as they get. Dont get me wrong, she didnt do anything, and in fact was extremely kind, it was just how she looked! The dinner was tasty (cant remember what it was:)) and we had a bunch of hats that we donned for a fun filled couple of hours where we played games and sang songs. That was also the night it snowed for the first time in the tour. The snow would follow us for a few more days. More on that later. It was also the only time we stayed in a room that was made of all wood right out of one of the horror movies. Very spooky!

The following day we headed to Munich, the capital of the Bavaria in Germany. On our way we stopped in a place which is famous for its Cuckoo clocks with a very strange woman as the host who explained us the history of the clocks and how they worked, etc.

The townhall in Munich was a grand building and is a must see (didnt get a good photo though). Germany is also famous for its beer and there was also an optional tour of one of the breweries where a lot of people got drunk. After roaming around, we found two options to dine out. One was a place called Taj Mahal which, predictably, served Indian. The other was a Pizza Hut. Its funny how comforting familiarity can be. We ended up eating at Pizza Hut:)

The day after we left for Salzburg, Austria. Its famous for Mozart, its amazing hill top castle and the shooting locale for 'Sound of Music'. To get to the castle we took one of the pulley coaches and the sights of a snow covered Salzburg from the top was truly enchanting. On our way back, we ran into a chap with an Indian looking face. He turned out to be a Pakistani, based out of Kuwait and was visiting Munich for a trade fair. On our way to the base of the hill he got a call from him mom to check if he was covered in enough layers of clothes. All moms- Indian or Pakistani- are alike, we joked!

Europe trip: Part 1

It was in January earlier this year when we started looking around for options to have a whirlwind tour of Europe. After looking at various options we closed in on a coach tour from Topdeck tours. Topdeck, we found later, is big in Australia and the tour was scheduled to be a 12 day journey, mostly on a coach, through the most popular Europe sights at break neck speeds.

The visa rules required us to get a Schengen visa from the country where we'll spend the most number of days. Since we were scheduled to spend the most number of days in Italy (3 days!) we had to go to the Italian consulate in Manchester to get our visa. The process was simple and allowed us a day's visit to Manchester. We went to the famed Man U stadium and the equally famous, albeit in Cricket circles only, Old Trafford cricket stadium. The intra city tram was a joyride too. Of course, some shopping in Arndale Shopping centre which happens to be the largest inner-city shopping centre didnt hurt Mansi a bit. Cant say the same about my purse though:) In one of our 'walks' Mansi was approached by someone to model for some hair product! I wasn't around when Mansi got the offer but she later told me that she got scared when offered the assignment and declined it outright!

The visa took about a week to reach us and we were all set for our Europe trip! The night before the tour was due to commence we came to London on a train and stayed overnight in a hostel for the lack of a better option. I had stayed in a hostel before so knew what to expect but it was all new to Mansi and she liked the 'collegiate' setting. We were travelling light and tucked a bag each under our heads (this might be a very 'Indian' thing:)) and dozed off with dreams of Rome and Paris!

The day started at 6 in the morning and we left for Dover in a bus. At the Dover port, we took a ferry to get to Calais, France where we got to see the group we'll be travelling with. The group was 40-odd with mostly Australians and Koreans! A handful New Zealanders and a Canadian couple besides and an Indian couple (Mansi and I) completed the group. Yes, no Americans or Britishers in the entourage! Our tour guide was Maggi, 30-something, Polish with golden locks wearing square rimmed glasses and our coach driver would be Barry, a head shaven Irishman who could be mistaken for a muscleman from a movie.

Our first stop was Amsterdam. Of course, everyone has heard of the notorious red-light area but there is so much more to Amsterdam! The city has as many or more bicycles as the number of residents, smoking marijuana is legal and common place in cafes and there are a number of very beautiful canals. Our dinner was aboard a canal cruise. We were mostly offered stuff we couldnt understand but since it was a buffet we did give it a go. Drinks were on the house and if I remember right we consumed an insane amount of Diet Pepsi! That was followed by an optional visit to the famed Red light district. (I'd rather not say what happened thereof- as they say what happens in Amsterdam, stays in Amsterdam) The following day we visited Anne Frank's museum which is a very well maintained house where Anne Frank's family stayed. If you are in Amsterdam, you must also try the 'frites', which is nothing but french fries (or 'Chips' as the English know it) with a handful of mayo on it.. Delighful in taste and sinful in calorie count! We also went around and saw the Madame Tussaud's museum and the war memorial.

After around midday, we left for Rhine Valley. On our way we stopped at a factory that made traditional cheese and clogs. The place stank of some animal poo (we didnt try to find out what kind though, am afraid) but the craftsmanship of the clogs was reminiscent of what one would see in a local village even in India- simple and effective designs painted in a hue of colours. Its surprising how alike things can be even thousands of miles away!

2009

The year 2009 has been an eventful one. Period.

Whilst I could stop writing at this, I will go on. Partly because I want to write and partly because I am waiting for someone at lunch and I have some time at my disposal.

The year started in Nottingham where Mansi and I were fresh off getting my bank balance under £500 owing to the shopping in the Boxing day sales. Thats what cultural acclimitisation is about! Boxing day (26th Dec) in the UK marks the biggest sales in the year, with almost all stores on sale, some offering upto 80% discount. The stores that I suffered the most- and Mansi enjoyed the most- at included Marks and Spencers, FCUK and Debenhams.

The shopping, some of it unwarranted, done, we started to look at what we'd do in the UK in the coming months. One of the big items on our agenda was to travel around. We knew that UK offers one of the best windows in the world to explore Europe. The art, the history, the culture is so so cool, we had decided that we would take a dab at it, come what may. We werent sure of how much we'd be able to do given the time, weather and budgetary constraints but we knew that we'll do something.

We discovered that we'd need to have three months on our visa from the date of our return to the UK. Since our visa was due to expire May end, we only had till about 28th Feb to travel outside the country. After looking around we concurred that a tour on a coach (not a bus but a coach- they are very different as our soon-to-be-coach driver, Barry, would enlighten us during our tour) would work best for us. We closed in on a 8 country tour that'd start from London, take us to Amsterdam, Rhine Valley, Munich, Salzburg, Venice, Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Lucerne and Paris before ending where we'd start- in London. It was a whirlwind tour and absolutely awesome. I loved Amsterdam and Rome and was most disappointed with Paris- possibly because it was our last stop and we'd seen too many old, brown and magnificent structures by then. More on the Europe tour another time.

On our return, we started exploring places within the country. Edinburgh in Scotland was a must-see, it was my third visit and the maiden visit for Mansi. The country side to get to Edinburgh was so scenic that Mansi thought that just the beauty on the way was enough value for the ticket! We took a double decker bus tour there and I went to places I hadnt seen the last couple of times I'd been there. The buildings in the city are so brown and the city has been able to preserve its old world feel so well that it feels like a different world. Below are a couple of photos taken in Edinburgh

Cardiff was another stop, although besides the beautiful castle, there wasnt much to do or see. The funny story there is when Mansi felt like singing 'Mere Desh ki dharti' in the lawns of the castle and I discreetly clicked a few pictures of her singing, arms outreached et all. I loved it. I do have an embarrassing story of what happened when we were touring the castle- but I'll leave it at that. Below are a couple of shots of the Cardiff Castle..

(Mansi singing 'Mere Desh ki dharti')

The dark horse though would have to be York. With spring in full bloom, the city was numerous flowers in all colours looked like heaven on Earth. There too we took a bus tour (sense the lazy traveller's trend here?:)) and loved the whole city. The York minster which is a gothic cathedral stood out as a highlight. After that we started getting ready to return to Bangalore via Delhi. Below is a photo from our York sojourn-do I look nice or do I look nice?

On our return in June we came back to what I like to call 'practical heaven'- the joy of having a maid, a chef and our istriwala! In the next couple of months we started to look for our own place and found an apartment that we loved. Both Mansi and I are the youngest in our families to have bought our own pad and its something that all of us are extremely proud of. Though had we known the post-purchase expenses (like curtains cost a freakin 15k, the mandir another 14k!) we might have hestitated in going ahead. But in retrospect I think we did the right thing and are happy to have our own place.

So yes, all in all a very busy and thouroughly enjoyable 2009, 2010 can only be boring from here!