Athens!

We (me and three other colleagues) won the Puma Urban Stampede National Finale in March 2016 in the corporate women's category which came with a prize of an all expense paid trip to Athens. Since we were going all the way anyway, we decided to extend the trip and check out Athens at leisure.

The run itself was splendid. We all ran the 10K category as individual runners and it was a huge realization to see what a well organized run looked and felt like. It was simply an amazing experience. I did my debut 10K in 50:58 and was super thrilled. This of course set the pace for the rest of the trip - to be enjoyed thoroughly.

It was refreshing to travel without kids - I have done it after 8 long years! Sleeping well, eating well, traveling well and just doing nothing else. It was splendid. Reminded me of my Europe road trip with cousins, way back in 2001-02.

Seeing the world - 2015

So it was time for the annual vacation of 2015 - this time we zeroed in on Europe because Mom had to attend her graduation at London anyway. After a long thought process about what cities to cover, we decided to keep it simple and just do two cities - Paris and London - since with two young kids and three senior citizens, anything beyond that would be far fetched and very strenuous.

It was a 9 day trip and it was a fabulous one although very tiring - especially for my Dad I presume, since my younger one refused any other mode of getting around except for my Dad carrying him. Phew! I have no idea how he managed.

Day 1 - Disneyland. It was freezing! We got a place very close to the metro so it wasn't so much of a commute but was the day freezing or what, probably one of the coldest in October. It ruined the whole experience, but the kids were excited to meet Mickey (although the older one did get a tad bit too old for it - he said it is not Mickey, it is some guy dressed as Mickey :( ) and of course buy some nice souvenirs - the older one was especially pleased with his McQueen pull-suitcase.

Day 2 - Arrive in Paris from Marne-la-Vallee. We reached around noon. Only half a day left. Decided to do Eiffel by day and night - mom did get very tired - going by Metro was a bad idea. Should have stuck to the cab. But Eiffel in all its glory by day and night was worth it. Again younger one refused to get off Dad, and we had a chill towards the evening - plus all the climbing up and down was very tiring for the seniors - but well, how many times do you do it in a lifetime, so it's ok. They were quite sportive about it.

Day 3 - Louvre. Decided to ditch the Metro after yesterday's experience and took the cab. Louvre was a good experience, everyone saw Mona Lisa - one check mark off the list. Everyone liked it, plus it kept us from the cold weather ;) We got back early around 5 PM, seniors played cards etc, after the kids went to sleep, Subhash and I took off for Paris by night - very late in the night but hey, who is complaining - went to Place de la Concorde, walked along Avenue des Champs Elysees, went to Arc the Triomphe and back - by Metro. Good experience by the night.

Day 4 - Did the Paris city tour by open bus. Everyone got to see Notre Dame, Pont Neuf, Place de la Concorde, houses of Parliament, Arc de Triomphe, Avenue des Champs Elysees, Moulin Rouge etc. And back by evening. Very tired but happy :)

Day 5 - Off to London - by Eurostar! It was a great day - weather wise, plus the sights from Eurostar were amazing! More determined to go back for a proper Eurail vacation when the kids are a little older! Arrived in the London apartment around 5 PM, it was much better weather. One of my cousins came over, we had dinner and called it a day!

Day 6 - London Eye and bus tour - much more disappointing than the Singapore Flyer because of the rain - couldn't see anything clearly. Plus cars were cramped. In Singapore, they let us all fly alone in one car, here we were with at least three other groups - although cars were empty - it was quite stupid actually. Plus the cars were less clean - probably because of the damp weather. But had a good darshan of London from a 100 ft perspective :) Took the open bus tour to cover the western part of London - went to cheapside, London Bridge and Tower bridge. Walked back on Westminster bridge before taking a cab home. We did at least two to three relaxed walks on Westminster - with Big Ben in sight - the son becomes a huge Big Ben and London Eye fan!

Day 7 - London tour - East End - started with a cab to Buckingham - saw the change of guards, then started on the East loop tour. Stopped off at Trafalgar, Piccadilly circus, Madame Tussauds, Baker Street, saw Paddington (so many remembrances from Wodehouse and Sherlock Holmes), finally ended in Regent Street. What a place! It didn't disappoint. Still feel it was over-rated, I mean, Indiranagar 100ft is equally lively ;) But the Hamley's store was a big hit with the kids! They had fun picking out their Octonauts toys and we finished with a dinner at a Thai place there and cabbed home. Fun day!

Day 8 - Mom left for her hotel and conference and we were supposed to leave back for Paris and take a flight back home from Charles de Gaulle. Or so we thought. My facebook post from after we successfully put ourselves on a plane back home - albeit at a nauseatingly high cost!

""
Horrifying day yesterday. London to Paris connection on easyJet refused to let us board since they were overbooked. We travelled from Luton to Kings cross, changing a bus and a train, to try the train to Paris but nothing was available. Then went to Heathrow(oh, and to reach terminal 4, took us an hour thanks to no one knowing the right directions!!) but nothing there too and we had to book ourselves fresh on Jet airways after traveling across London horribly by bus, train, cab and what not. Oh and the souvenir shopping and chocolates went for a toss in this loss of a day. And did I mention that last minute tickets from airports don't come cheap even one way?😞 One can only resort to philosophy in these situations, sigh!! Thanks a lot easyJet! Folks travelling by them next time, please remember to check in well ahead of time even if they don't mention it anywhere!!!
"" 

Note to self - never get cocky with planning - I planned a perfect trip but neglected one small step of checking-in online and paid a very nasty price for it, financially and emotionally. Well, at least I got wiser - for the next trip.

Two things that I think worked very well - renting apartments vs hotels - we got to stay together unlike in Singapore where we booked two rooms. Carrying along packaged food - MTR, Ashirvad etc were life savers, since we rented apartments, it was easy to cook rice and dal and rotis and sabzis and kids were well fed at least twice in a day. Plus laundry was a breeze. 

Want to show the seniors some more check-mark places across the world in the next few years so they can enjoy them while they have the energy and patience! Hope it all goes to plan :)

 

Singapore & Legoland 2014

I am writing a travelogue after a long time! There is actually quite a few trivia I realized as well

1) After we moved back from the US to India, this is the first international flight I've taken - Subhash has been on a couple to the UK, but me, none. So it has taken 6.5 years for me to venture out after moving back. That is quite a long time. I never realized its been that long!
2) The older one matches Subhash in that his first flight ever was a domestic one and this one was his first international one. The younger one matches me, his first flight ever was an international one.
3) Coincidentally my first flight which was international was to Malaysia - about 13.5 years ago - which I visited this time too.
4) I also realized I have now been out of the US for as long as I was in there. I spent 6y 7.5m in the US in all and now it's been about 6.5 since we moved back. Time does indeed fly! Where, god knows!

So anyway, back to the travelogue - we spent a week in Singapore and made a single day journey to Johor, Malaysia to visit Legoland since Rohan turned 5 and we wanted to celebrate it by doing something he wanted. He got to choose between Disneyland and Legoland and he consistently picked Legoland over the past two years of questioning so Legoland it was.

There were two hitches in the trip - one, the sentencing of Jaya "amma" right the day before we were meant to travel. Our tickets were booked from Chennai (a bit more on that in some time), and we were planning to drive down and catch the flight. I had confirmed train tickets to and from Chennai which I canceled because driving seemed more comfortable and exciting. Only to discover that the time was just not right to drive through TN roads with a KA number plate. So we booked last-minute one-way flight tickets to Chennai which costed a bomb :( Oh well, at least we arrived in Chennai airport safe and got onto our flight.

Next at Singapore immigration, we discovered just me and Subhash had multiple journey visas. And the rest of the family, all 5 of them got single journey visas. In my mind, this was Ok, since it was one trip, so I never thought anything amiss till the immigration guy told us how no one will be able to come back from Legoland if we were to go. Oh god, as soon as I stepped out I was terribly disappointed - this whole trip was made for Legoland and if we couldn't go there, then what was the point. We explored a few options, pushing Legoland to the end and flying out of Malaysia or just requesting to convert the older one's visa to multiple journey. Finally ruled out everything else, after calling the ICA guys, decided the simplest and easiest thing to do was to re-apply for a visa. Again spoke to T who helped apply the visas the first time and applied for just the kids. Got their visas by the end of the day. Next day we were hoping to go to Legoland, but did not want to leave parents behind on their own in Singapore, so canceled that and instead applied for all of them again as well, and got all visas by end of our third day there. Again, many thanks to Singapore ICA guys. Truly, leading by example in how hassle-free an immigration processes should be.

After that was reasonably happy, in spite of the extra costs and headache and tension, finally we would be able to go to Legoland!

This was what we did -

Day 1 - Jurong Bird Park - very boring, it was. We were tired after our red-eye flight. So didn't enjoy it at all. I was terribly disappointed when Rohan said, let's go back to Bangalore tomorrow.

Day 2 - Singapore Duck Tours and Singapore Flyer. We went to Singapore Flyer as suggested by the hotel to catch one of the duck tours. Now, this Flyer thingy is new and was not there when I last visited Singapore (2007 July). We took the MRT which was a little tiring for everyone but we were at the Flyer at last. The Duck tours guy had a package for flyer which we bought after checking the speed of the flyer. It was so slow in rotation that we were sure even the parents would not mind it - it was not your typical giant wheel (the roller-coaster in India). Duck tour was standard. But the flyer experience was fantastic. Not for the views or anything but the car, the speed and the fact that we were to ourselves in the car. Kids monkeyed around, rolled on the car's floor and what not. Everyone had a fantastic time. After the disastrous day 1, this was getting good :) Till now, I have very fond memories of the Flyer - just for this one reason - it transformed our trip. Rohan said, I like this place I want to stay for a little longer :) I asked him if he wanted to go back to Bangalore the next day like he was asking earlier, and the answer was a firm no ;) Evening went to dinner with A and U by Boat Quay which was a lovely experience. Also it was just me and Subhash who went since kids were asleep by then and parents tired so we left them at the hotel and went.

Day 3- Sentosa. This was when we were originally planning to take the kids to Legoland and plan something for the parents in Singapore, later chucked the idea and swapped the Sentosa day with Legoland. Went by cable car (again, after a long MRT ride to Harbourfront). Sentosa was a nice, made-for-tourists island. We went directly to Resorts World Sentosa. It is an oversized mall housing a lot of stuff including Universal Studios, but we just went to the S.E.A Aquarium and were Ok with it. I mean, if we were water species enthusiasts I guess we would have enjoyed it more. The younger one was mightly excited - we were able to make out he would love aquariums on the Jurong Park trip when he was super happy to see Penguins in the glass case. So he had fun and we just roamed around, went to the Typhoon experience theatre - it was rather ordinary. Had lunch after hunting around for the most vegetarian friendly place and found one Bali Thai and had food there. Went to the casino and discovered there was no way they were going to let us in because we left our passports at the hotel (we forgot and realized but still wanted to try our luck, did not work out). So just came back, surely, richer for the savings ;) On the way back went to Mount Faber although I was not really keen. But I was happy Subhash insisted. It had some fabulous views :) Since it was late, went directly from Harbourfront to T's place and had dinner with T and family at their place - finally caught up in the middle of the trip.

Day 4 - Singapore Zoo - wanted to do this on the day we went to Flyer because I wanted to go late so we can cover the Night Safari but both U/A and T/R had suggested against it with kids, saying they might be scared so dropped it and went during the day instead. Zoo was better than the bird park. Still nothing spectacular. Did the tram ride multiple times and got back. Again kids were sleeping and so we left them at the hotel with parents and took a walk around Orchard (the heart of Singapore shopping district where our hotel was) and I had a Pretzel after a long long time and also Garrett's popcorn (after Chicago, this was the first time I was having it). So a happy tummy! :) Then dinner with A, my cousin and childhood pal :) Evening well spent :)

Day 5 - Legoland finally! Arrived at the coach office at the Flyer - was happy to be back :) Finished the journey and the immigrations without event and reached the park at 12 mid-day. It was so hot! and no shade to speak of in the park. I was keen on taking Rohan to the driving jaunt while he was fresh still and luckily it was at the entrance. The track for kids his age was too small for him. He finished his allotted two rounds while the other kids were still finishing the first one - we figured we should have taken him to the bigger track. Then we got him a "license" which he treasures a lot now ;) Finished about 75% of the park when it was time to get back. Got a souvenir shirt for both kids, some mandatory lego sets and some stickers and came back. Kids were tired and so were the parents. And we had to leave early the next day so finished dinner at an Indian fine diner in the Flyer itself and reached the hotel by 8.

All in all a great trip but a tad bit tiring with all the walking we needed to do. Hotel was nice, well worth it's #6 rating on TripAdvisor :)

More general observations about Singapore

1) Weather resembles Chennai - something I cannot tolerate. But somehow managed. Was happy to get back home :)
2) For the strength of the currency (1SGD =50 INR) the SGD didn't go very far in terms of what we could buy. Absolutely no purchasing power for the currency within the country. We were comparing to the USD, and both of us agreed that the USD went a lot further in buying power than the SGD within their own respective countries. We came back home to read that Singapore was just minted as the world's most expensive city - that explains it ;) Not surprised at all.
3) The city is forever in construction mode. And the traffic, oh, what a pain it is. In spite of the near-perfect infrastructure, and the world-class MRT, they have some stupendous traffic snarls! I learnt to appreciate Bangalore traffic which we can at least blame on the total lack of infrastructure. So I am complaining a lot less now. Let's see how long this lasts!
4) A lot of the tourist attractions are over-hyped. Some of the parks you find in India are much much better. All in the marketing I guess :)
5) Singapore is much much less vegetarian-friendly than what we were expecting. In fact I remember Kuala Lumpur about 14 years ago was far more evolved as far as this area is concerned. Singapore was definitely disappointing.

Chennai airport deserves special mention. It is what one would call a "fish market" in younger days at school. Major chaos everywhere, huge lines (which we luckily avoided thanks to traveling with an infant), absolutely bad facilities and so on and so forth! And the whole town was pasted with Amma come back posters. Phew! Now I know why tickets from Chennai were so much more cheaper, I bet the airport surcharges are an absolute low here - next time I am wondering if I would actually mind paying a lot more just to be able to fly out of Bangalore which is a far more evolved and better maintained airport!

Back!

From a whirlwind Hyderabad trip. For the first time, we left home with parents and aunt (mom's youngest sister) staying here and us traveling to Hyderabad. It was a new experience ;) My parents managed the house very well while we were out I think.

Trip was fun, just enough agenda packed in so as to fill the days well but not tire us out too much. It looked like the son was on the verge of a diarrhea spree before we left but luckily it was not very bad and we all came back safe and healthy.

We went by train and for the first time the son was able to catch some glimpses of life outside a train's window in the little daylight that was left. He enjoyed it I think. Also the first time after he is fully potty trained, so a new experience there as well.

Since my parents were here while we traveled and since my father in law is in the US, we stayed with my mother in law's sister. It was lovely. She kept cooking and feeding us. And their place is so much in the heart of things, that it is simply awesome. We were also visited by Subhash's uncle and his whole family thanks to his kids who were also visiting Hyd that weekend. And ohh, that paan!

We also caught up with friends - another long pending agenda item.

And most importantly, we met my sister's newborn! This was a long overdue trip made exclusively to meet the little brother. They have decided to name him Sohan, and the two cousins are namesakes but for one letter ;) Of course, in his usual style, the son did not pay much attention (he normally ignores kids younger than him) - he was rather amused to see such a small baby I think.

We also managed to find one half an hour in between to take a walk with the son on Tank Bund. And I also got to eat corn on the cob! How better can it get :)
 

Hectic week

Right after we were back from Chikmaglur, we traveled to Hyd for my sister's baby shower. It was the son's first time in the train. We had booked Rajdhani, but my, what a horrible train, old and shoddy. I would have much preferred the Kacheguda express if only it ran a little later in the night! Phew! But the son thoroughly enjoyed the train and the auto ride that led to it. He was a darling and didn't fuss at all. But neither he, nor I, got any sleep, thanks to the berth being too narrow for both of us.

Sister's shower went off very well. Her in laws took care of every detail so painstakingly, it was heartening to see she was in such good hands. We took the usual sweets, fruits etc and I was glad I was able to be with her on that day. One moment our eyes met in the middle of all the ceremonies and tears swelled in my eyes. I don't know when we grew so old! She is going to have a kid! We were just kids hanging out at home and chilling not so very long ago! The son, as usual, gave up on food and sleep and got very cranky by the evening and I felt so sorry for him. Today we got back and were so fatigued from the journey that we took off, son included. Hopefully routine will set back in soon.

Subhash was his usual very nice self and took care of all the shopping, clothes, sweets etc. Boy, am I glad I have him for a spouse :) He takes on initiative when he doesn't really have to and never complains. Couldn't get any better! I hope I can do him a good turn in return. I think in our marriage, I am quite happy that he has never had to choose between being a good son, a good father, a good brother and a good husband. In whatever little ways I could, I enabled him to be all of them at the same time. And he has done the same for me too! I never have to choose between being a good daughter, a good mom, a good wife and a good sister! Hopefully we will continue doing the same for many more years to come :)

An unforgettable Tahoe experience

Notwithstanding my extreme hatred for snow and anything remotely connected with it, I agreed to go on a skiing trip with the gang. My cousin is visiting from Hyderabad. He had met up with me once while I was still fighting it out in Wisconsin. When we met a couple weeks ago, he was going over things and was mentioning how much he misses snow (cringe!) and I was telling him, he should go to Lake Tahoe. There is practically nothing that California cannot offer in terms of weather/nature. He said he had already heard of Tahoe and the snow and if we could go there, so I told him, I'd talk it over with Subhash and we can "see" if we can plan anything.

Then one of the gang's ever enterprising guy sent this email the very next day asking how about a trip to Lake Tahoe for skiing. I look at my calendar at work. It looks hopeless. I look at the planning pending for that much-awaited Hawaii trip. Again hopeless. All this AND planning a trip to Tahoe. Impossible! My best bet to making my cousin happy was to tag along with the gang. No troubles with planning anything, they usually take care of everything. I agreed! I went, well, we could still take my cousin all the way there, show him snow and get back. Let the rest of the world ski, we can have hot chocolate in the very cozy mansion these guys checked out for the trip.

Little did I know that this trip would be a bundle of firsts!

First, I was dreading the drive up to Tahoe, it was raining incessantly the past couple days even in the Valley, lord knew how it would snow up there. I couldn't get off work fast so we had to leave at 6.30pm. Very bad time. Office traffic coupled with rain. And the darkness?! Not looking very bright. But unbelievably, as much as I dreaded the drive up there, it turned out to be a nothing. Pooh pooh. We made it in 5 hours (Google said 4.5, so that was extremely decent) and Subhash was brilliant as the driver, as always :)

We vehemently refused to ski on reaching there despite the pleas and the taunts and the threats ;) We even left about a couple hours after everyone left, hoping to make the excuse that there are no classes left for "beginner" skiers. But as soon as we reached, since none of the gang was in sight we started getting bored. We inquired about a ski lesson and were told that there was one at 1. We took it. And what did we find as soon as we booked our lesson and turned back! The rest of the gang! Excepting the pro skiers, the rest of them who needed classes (including my cousin and his friend who came along with us) were all lined up for the 1 pm class. Now it was exciting. To be in a class AND to be with company. Couldn't have asked for more.

And so, for the first time I skied . I still cannot believe it. What four winters in Wisconsin could not get me to do, one trip to Lake Tahoe did;) And I should admit I enjoyed it. Doing it with Subhash and friends. Everyone falling and skidding and just having a lot of fun!!

But the best (?!) was yet to come. The next day a blizzard was expected and we left at noon after a hearty breakfast and the Australian Open final on TV coupled with Winter Games live afterwards. It didn't look very promising but we had to get out so we didn't have much of an option. And here comes another first-time event. Snow chains! We needed them for our tires as it was made mandatory on CA-50. We used GPS to cut through grueling CA-50 traffic using by-lanes only to find that we bypassed the one point where snow chains were being fitted on and where the entire gang had stopped. We were hoping that we would find one down the highway. But the drive was getting more and more exasperating. 3 hours into the drive and we still were not even out of the Tahoe checkpoint. Finally we found it! One place that would fit us with chains for the tires. We took the Honda because it was used to snow, it has seen 8 midwest winters, and in general its a very dependable car. I knew it would see us through, but even for that car this was a first. The ride was so bumpy with those chains on, we didn't enjoy it at all;) But the more we went into the snow, the more we realized how life saving those were. Cutting through the snow was not something for ordinary radials. And then we had to take them off when we came down the mountains. While the guy was installing it, I noticed what he was doing and I had to be the tactic person in removing them. Not very welcoming. Now the snow had turned to rain and we finally managed to get the chains off the tires, 20 minutes and a lot of sludge later.

It was an avalanche. It was a blizzard. It was beyond what I can describe. I would have never thought that I'd see something akin to this weekend's ever outside of Wisconsin. I thought I was done with bad days in snow but yesterday was amazing. Terrible and beautiful at the same time. I wonder how Subhash managed to drive. What should have been a 4.5 hour drive back to the Valley took us a grueling 9 hours. (I drove the easy part from Folsom to the Valley.) And of those, we spent the first 6 hours (normal conditions 1.5 hours) coming down the mountains! Wow! Just when you think you've seen it all, there is yet another experience waiting around the corner.


I used to argue with my friends that the midwest was more beautiful than the west coast. (knowing very well that it was a failing and an entirely wrong standpoint). I just didn't think of California as home yet and I wasn't prepared to let anyone think of the midwest as a place less desirable. But after three years here, I feel at home in CA. And its beauty never ceases to surprise me. You have it all here. I don't need to live in depressing winters anymore to experience snow. I can simply see snow-capped mountains all the way to work everyday. Or I can drive to Tahoe and truly experience it for what it has to offer. If I yearn for picture perfect sunrises and sunsets, nothing can beat CA-1, the Pacific Coast Highway. If I want warm weather I drive South for a couple hours. If I want snow I drive north for a couple hours. Its as simple as that. And its simply unbelievable. I can now agree when anyone says, the Bay Area is the best in terms of weather. Maybe not for the weather itself, but definitely for the convenience in the varieties! :)

Today was bright. Perfect warmth. I was driving to work. Green hills in the front and a snow-capped range just behind them. I was thinking, less than 12 hours ago, I was on this very same road, driving in rain coming back from snow, snow and more snow. It seemed so far away, yet it was so near. And I had to pinch myself ..

Go California! :)

Nutrition contd.

If you read my post on what you need to do in order to obtain Nutrition, this is the place where it all started. The picture was taken when we (Subhash and I) toured Chicago and Madison (where I finished my Masters) to show his parents around the place:) We had a great time and for me personally it was "coming home to Mad Town" like always :) His parents thought the place was great and I felt, well, proud! :)

Awesome! Simply!

The coquetry of being a world wonder

Yeah, had to look in a Hindi-English dictionary to find an exact match for the word "Nakhre".

One of my cousins was saying that his friends were planning a trip to Machu Pichu and asked him to join. He was wailing. I asked him why and he said that the ticket was really expensive. Plus he had to pay the Peruvian government 900 bucks for the visa.

So much for becoming a world wonder;) This is like when Indians became "Miss Universe" in a row so that cosmetic companies could gain a foothold in the Indian market ;) Didn't quite get the comparison? Well, never mind;)

Are we hearing of an increase in the fees for an Indian Visa? ;)

Europe Travelogue, December 25, 2001 through 8 January 2002.

I have been meaning to do this for a long long long time now (as is very obvious for the last four years;)) I went to Europe on a road trip with two of my cousins, Aravind and Prasanna. Aravind was in Netherlands (Hilversum, where he is still living even as I write this) and Prasanna was in Oberhausen, Germany doing his MBA. Both wanted me to go visit them as this was my first major break after I landed in the US in August 2001. This was simply put an amazing trip with loads of fun and all the amazing things we saw. And so much for my most wanted destination, Paris, we had the maximum number of mishaps too. But it can all be made into a funny movie now I guess:) Window view of life!! I wrote a diary when I travelled with these two dear cousins of mine (yeah, they stuck me in the back of our compact car with 3/4 of the seat occupied by our mammoth food supplies, and I remember I wrote this diary using a tortilla packet for support;)) As the trip progressed I had more space in the back because we were rapidly eating away at the food, so my handwriting improved near the second half of the trip;)

So I had this handwritten diary of those 17 days, and I always meant to put it in electronic format, actually I think I did once, but I have to look for a backup CD of my old laptop.(so much for data saving!!! You never want to look for it later) But I think my blog would be the perfect place where I can tell the story with pictures and facts pulled in courtesy Google!:)

I hereby take an oath that I am going ot just stick by my diary and not modify any part of it in language, form or content.

Here begins my journey in blue ink...

12/25/2001

Arrived, had food, packed and left for Oberhausen (Intnl border - Netherlands-Germany)

12/26/2001

Wednesday 8.45 am START Mileage: 2717.7 (Odometer) 306 (Counter)
Petrol: 44.47 DM = 22.74 Euro
Restaurant 7 DM

10 AM: Arrive Cologne (Germany)
12 PM: Depart Cologne ( " )


Me and Aravind at Cologne Cathedral (This one was built over 7 centuries!!)

4 PM: Wurzberg (Petrol)
6.30 PM: Nurenberg - Searched around the place for snow tires - search failed:-( Slept in the car.

------------------

I have to interrupt my diary here. The reason why we searched for snow tires in Nurnberg was the amount of snow that German skies were dumping, I think Gremany saw one of its worst snowfalls that year, in all of the places that we went to this one was most cold and most snowy. We saw a car in front of us take a 360 degree spin in the snow and Aravind decided we are not going any further that night.


Prasanna in knee deep snow near Frankfurt


Aravind in knee deep snow near Frankfurt

We spoke to a cop and somehow managed to get to a parking lot and slept in the car as this was not a planned halt and we had no hostel reservations for Nurnberg (Prasanna bhaiyya was a member of YMCA and so we stayed in youth hostels all through our trip, so you will see hostel in most cities, instead of hotel) My first major brush with the dangers of snow and cars spinning. And I still can remember the chills I had that night sleeping in the car, boy it was soooooooooooo cold. Slept beside all the food at that.

------------------

12/27/2001 Thursday

Spent the morning in Nurnberg, finished replacing tires by 1.30 pm - Uff, had a tough time rearranging stuff to fit in the tires. (brushed near tire replacing!!)

Reached Munich (Munchen) by 6.00pm. Saw the city centre, Leopold Strasse - stayed overnight at Haus Intnl on Elizabeth Strasse. Had puliogare and curd rice:)

12/28/2001 Friday

Started early in the morning. Had oeufs (eggs) after a long time:) Breakfast ke baad had a walking tour around Munchen city centre.



Me and Prasanna in Munchen (Munich, Germany)

Saw Ludberg's castle, BMW museum, Olympia Village (Of Munchen Olympics in 1972) and again walked on Leopold Strasse for sometime. Right now proceeding to Holocaust. (Shopping in Banhauf - 18DM)

Went to a concentration camp in Dachau. Saw a video and saw how prisoners were treated. Started for Innsbruck (Austria) (Intnl border Germany - Austria) around 2 pm. Had lunch on the way. Saw Alps all through the drive - beautiful snow-capped mountains!!! Reached Innsbruck around 7 pm, checked in, then went to old city and Hauptbanhof and other such places. French Fries in McD;) Came back to the hotel, had fried rice. Just sleeping now!!

12/29/2001

Started off the day with Croissant and Cereal for breakfast.


Alps in the early morning, from our hostel in Innsbruck, Austria


Then again went to the city centre of Innsbruck too see if we could go atop the Alps. Could not - bad weather. So we covered half the distance ourselves and then took the cable car. WENT ON TOP OF THE ALPS!!!!


Me and bhaiyya On top of the Alps!!!!!!

Breathtaking sight!!! Tried shooting as much as one can:) Then went for coffee, bought souvenirs and started for Venice. Crossed another international border Austria - Italy. All through the drive yesterday and today we had the Alps overlooking us. In about 40 km, (as soon as we crossed Austria and got to Italy) there was this sudden transition from snow to sun:) Though it was still cold. The drive from munchen to Innsbruck to Venice was simply superb!!! Alps and Alps and Alps all the way. Currently in Italy it is mindblowing (1 Euro = 2000 Lirae). Considering we shell out around L3000 for 2 half shots of Espresso!!!!:-) Right now looking for accommodation for the night in Venice. Had lunch at the first petrol pump after the Italian border.....

Checked into hotel Col di Lana and then went to check out the night life in Venice. Had pizza in Genos and went back. Reviewed the video cassette till so far.

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I have to interrupt my diary again, and fast forward to Jan 2004. When in Bangalore with Atte and Prasanna we discovered that he overwrote our entire, I mean ENTIRE Europe trip video with some idiotic Kannada soap!!!!!:((:(( I should have got that tape with me for safekeeping, boo hoo!!!!
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12/30/2001

Came to Venice by 9.30 am. (We stayed in Mestre for the night, BTW-Aravind hit the gate too:( ) Went around town by walk, got lost a couple of times:( And the town is absolutely gorgeous. Old fashioned houses, "pathli galis", canals et al. Here, everything moves on water. Buses and taxis are all boats. Canals all over. We went by bus (again, a boat I think) after seeing all places of historical interest/otherwise like "main bridge over Grand canal", San Marro, Murano, Burano, etc. Then we again had pizza for lunch (breakfast in the car:) ) and then we are now headed for Rome. Just hit the Autobahn. Reached a place about 30 kms from Rome at 8 pm. Booked a hotel (Henry hotel) in that place and started for Rome to look for accommodation in the city centre. Futile efforts:( Got lost again. Reached the hotel around 1.00 am. Had tortillas and finished the day.

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Have to interrupt again to furnish a little background detail. We managed well with our language in all countries except one, ITALY!!!! Austria, Germany and Belgium were a cake because Prasanna was so fluent in German. Netherlands we managed because it was Aravind's ground. I manages pretty well with my French in France, my knowledge in French has dropped drastically since, I managed talking to cops and all that then;) But in Italy, we had no CLUE!! As soon as we entered Rome, our troubles started. When we got lost we asked for directions and those folks out there didn't know one bit of English. We first asked a man. All he said was an animated "Sampaddddrrrrrrrritto!!" for anything we asked. God only knows what he meant, we were reminded of our famous Hyderabadi directions "Seeeeeeeeedha chale jaao, aajayega". Then we asked a mom-daughter duo and they felt as helpless as us with English:))

Then we had our eternal dumbcharades with everyone as long as we were in Rome. I remember bhaiyya asked the hotel guy about a place to eat in animated sign language, and he gave us directions which took us to some god forsaken place and we saw a couple of tent discos on our way. Then next morning bhiayya just HAD to get his clothes laundered, so he took the bold step of having yet another dumbcharades session with the hotel guy. He went down and asked us to wait in the room and said he would find out where the laundry was, and he came back with a clothes iron in hand. God!!! Aravind and I laughed so much. All bhaiyya said was, I asked him in sign language and showed him "washing clothes" in action and he misunderstood me and gave me this iron!! So we asked, why did you bring it, why didn't you just leave it with him, and he said, I didn't have any more patience to explain to him that this was not what I wanted and I wanted to wash clothes!! So much for our revered game of Dumb C bhiayya:)

Another notable fact in Rome was that laziness was just in the air. All through our trip we never woke any later than 7 am. But in Rome, we just slept like logs, even bhaiyya did!!!! We woke only at 9.30 I remember and were thinking ki aise hi Romans are not lazy, its all in the air. Like you will see in my diary hereafter, we were just plain LAZY in Rome!!!!

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12/31/2001

Got up veeeeeeeeeerry late (9.30 am). Got ready for another day of exercise and dumb charades with Italians. (they don't know English at all:(, had to dumbC always with them:() Right now still trying to figure out how best to get to Rome. Night at 12.00 am ka plan also we got to make. (Everytime we enter major cities, we pay a toll of L47000!!)

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Yet another interruption..Italians are not just lazy, they are also totally lawless and reckless and disciplineless and what-not-all-less. We went around the whole of Rome trying to look for parking, and we saw people everywhere just leaving their cars in the middle of the street, with their blinkers (emergency, hazard lights) turned on, kya style hai parking ka!! And in ALL of Europe, we noticed only in Italy that people change lanes left, right and centre without turning on their indicator lights!!

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We then learnt that " All roads DON'T lead to Rome". Got lost a couple of times again. I was navigating for once and then we reached finally at around 3 hrs later (11 am) at the Central Station - Rome (Roma Termi). We researched on options of tours and finally decided that we were best on our own. Searched for a laundromat (remember that interruption note I wrote earlier!!!). Had internet there. After about a week I was checking mails!!! (L3000/hour). But did not have enough time to compose and send out mails:( Bought a calling card, but could not call India. Since it was 8 already, decided to have lunch-cum-dinner. No use:( Finally we sat over coffee (I didn't drink of course!) and decided to stay at Via Del Ponto (I think that was the name) for the midnight New Year celebs. Saw Spanish Steps. Finally had pizza on the streets around 10.30. Waited there near the fireworks for midnight!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2002!!!!!


Me Aravind and Prasanna in downtown Rome for after the New Year 2002 fireworks

Fireworks were OK! Too cold, we were shivering.Then we visited the Vatican and came back. I think by the time we steered clear of the human traffic on the roads, the midnight mass was over (??). Slept early after going to the hotel.

1/1/2002

Happy New Year!! Still cannot call India:( Got up late (remember the interruption note!!) So hit the road straight for Napoli (Naples) We will be seeing Mt. Vesuvius there. More Later!

Just coming back from Vesuvius. Was a BIG disappointment. We went almost on top of the Mount bit could not go to the peak to see the trough because it was highly, I mean really highly windy. So we just did a touch and go of Vesuvio:( Getting back to Rome to take a walking tour.

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Time for interruption. Aravind has all the pics of our Europe trip and I have only a selected few of that whole bunch. I just realized I have very little of Rome. And a whole lot of Paris. Also, Aravind lost his Canon's cap on top of Vesuvius, very sad, he tried to get it, but Prasanna "strongly" discouraged from his doing so, for fear of Aravind following his Canon cap down the hill in the wind:))
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Had a walking tour of Rome, saw Colloseum, Foro Romano, Pantheon (from the outside) and a lot of other places like Trojan market, forum of Augustine and Julius Caeser. Then we went to Fonatana di Trevi and Piazza Novona.


Me and Prasanna at Fontana de Trevi

Gee- I was navigating. Then we went to Quirinole to see the Palace where the President of the Italian Republic resides. On our way back to the car we had dinner in a restaurant (Ristorante). I had Pizza, Aravind had Lasagna and Prasanna bhaiyya had Ravioli (this was my first time for Ravioli and it was heavenly!!!! Never had a Ravioli like that ever in the US). My egg soup was good. Then on our way back to Henry hotel, we went to "St Angela's Castel". But the one thing I saw on all this itinerary was that we HAD to see "Vittoriano" and take Villa Del Corso ALWAYS!!!:( I don't know jow many more times we would see him:( Bought souvenirs at F. di Trevi) Also had pommes frites (French Fries) and Sundae in McD standing outside.

Foot Note 1: New Year: I was witnessing an important event in the economic history of Europe. From 1 January 2002, the currencies of all the Schengen countries were to be discontinued and the Euro was to be the new standard. I am feeling great to have witnessed this transformation:):):)

Bitte = Please (GERMAN)
Dankes = Thank You (GERMAN)
Alt Stazzionne = Toll Station (ITALIAN)
Prego = Please (ITALIAN)
Grazi = Thanks (ITALIAN)
Bancomat = ATM (ITALIAN)
Banca = Bank (ITALIAN)


1/2/2002

Started around 7.30 am to reach Musei Vaticana. Bahut rush:( Finally got in and looked around. had breakfast in the Musei. Amazing place!!! Saw the "THE LAST JUDGEMENT" in Sistine Chapel. Got out around 1.30 pm and ate lunch in some Ristorante. Was a disappointment. We could not get Tiramisu yesterday in the Ristorante and we did not get it today:( Don't know when I will eat it. (Tiramisu is a speciality Italian dessert)

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Interrupt: Aravind told us about Tiramisu and that it is a speciality Italian coffee cake. That was the first time I was hearing about it. Which explains why it is in brackets in my diary;) I was waiting to eat it. So effectively I had my first Ravioli and first Lasagna and first Tiramisu in "authentic" Italian land:) When I got back to the US, and now four years hence, I have had loads of these but none to match taste with those first ones in Italy.

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Then we went to San Pedro (Vatican). By Gosh!! Was a huge church. We had to beat the 3.30 pm deadline for Colosseum (it was already 3.10), so we ran to that place, but while in the queue, the counter got closed. So watched it from outside, went to see the Pantheon again. This time saw its interior as well. Then we went to Maria Maggiore, San Giovannic. These both are cathedrals (basilicas) as well. Then we went to the Pyramid de Cestio and Porta San Paolo. Then we hit the roads for Firenze (Florence). About three hours from Rome. Just reached Firenze and bhaiyya has gone to look for accommodation for the night. Still not called home:( Looking desperately for a phone booth and TIME SLOTS:( More later!

We checked into Spagna (hotel) and retired for the night about maybe 1 am.

1/3/2002

Got up as usual, had breakfast and started out. Saw Duomo and the Ufizi Square. Here the famous sculpture of David could be seen. Went to Gardens of Baboli and Ponte Vechio. They were all great. Then on our way back, finally had Tiramisu, the speciality Italian dessert. We then started for Pisa.

Reached Pisa around 2ish. Saw the Leaning Tower, took pictures (in the highly popular pose of trying to hold it up as well;) ) .


Me at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy



Pisa Duomo Tower, Pisa Italy

Then we had Pizza yet again and started for Genova.

In Genova (the Italian Riviera) we saw sunset on the beach (which will be a rare sight, if at all, for the next four months in Madison:( ) Then started for Paris. The Final Attraction;)

Started for Paris around 6 pm. Journey from Genova to Paris was estimated as 10-12 hours. Drove all night. Broke the journey about 130 kms from Paris to have a sleep halt.

Continued driving through the early morning. Stopped at a service station around 6. (Crossed the international border Italy - France around 10 in the night)

Foot note 2: The tolls in Italy are too much sometimes up to Euro 25 for a single stretch. Now France too has tolls:( That is one thing I can't forget, how we cursed the Alt Stazziones (Peage gares)

via = rue=strasse=lane



1/4/2002

Then while we were proceeding towards Paris (about 50 km) suddenly we hit against the ramp. I am thankful we are in one piece still. There was no vehicle and the ramp really saved us from falling. The fron right tire went flat. We (Aravind and I) walked towards an SOS and called the SOS. I tried to explain to the guy on the other end, our problem in vain in my absolutely horrendous French (just realized that as well:( ) We got help around 8 am , were towed to Muleno and got that thing done.

The car had a dent on its entire right body, so we just took it (after paying that tow guy an amazing Euro 106, for whch we had to go to an ATM in search of money, again relying on my broken French to find our way. We asked at a post office and she gave me directions in pure French:)) Next we checked into the youth hostel on Le Pre de St. Gerais. We could not move in till 2 pm. so decided to see National Car rentals about getting a new car. We finally went around here and there and they agreed to get us a new car. By the time we got one, shifted our Colossal luggage, and returned the old car, we got lost a couple times in Les Rues des Paris. (We told National that we had the accident because the tire burst, the actual story was quite the opposite;) )

Ok, today is 8. Tomorrow I am leaving. I am way back in my diary. Let me see how much I can remember.

Yeah, so after that eventful day, we went in the evening to Eiffel Tower. We saw it by the night. Took pictures.


La Tour Eiffel (Can you see the blue spot in the lower part, that is bhaiyya;) )

We decided to go up the tower the next day. Then we walked the streets until we came up to the Statue of Liberty. Well, it looked the same as the one in the US:)



Statue of Liberty, Paris. Americans in Paris modeled this one after the one in New York, its next to Pont de Grenelle a bridge on Seine.



Me at the Statue of Liberty in Paris

Then we came back home. (Before I forget, we did all the traveling in Paris by the Metro, my god!!! that traffic) We had Puliogare and white rice and slept off.

1/5/2002

Got up and had "kett" breakfast, started off on sightseeing travails. We first went to see Louvre (which took up the entire morning). Saw a lot of things like the Mona Lisa, Statue of Venus, etc. Very Huuuuuuuuge Museum. Saw the foundation too.



Admiring a statue in Louvre, Paris


An amazing masterpiece showing all highlights of Rome, I liked this one better than Mona Lisa!!!! Louvre, Paris.


One more for Rome. Louvre, Paris



Me and Prasanna at the basement of Louvre

Got out of Louvre and walked along the Gardens of Carousel and Jardins des Tuileries. Then at the end of Jardins des Tuileries, I had Goiffures (Chocolat et Chantilly), was yummmmmmmmm!!! I have a pic too;)



Goiffures in Downtown Paris

Then we headed for Eiffel Tower. We reached Eiffel just before sunset and had pommes frites (French for Fries). Then got on the top of Eiffel. Saw the model of Eiffel and Edison sitting on the top.

We came down and went over to see Arc de Triomphe and Avenue des Champs Elysees.


Ard de Triomphe Memorial


Me at Arc de Triomphe


Aravind and Prasanna at Arc de Triomphe

We had good desserts in Brioche Doree. We walked on Avenue des Champs Elysees and went on to see La Defense (saw the opera too) and Lafayette Galleries. (The second one was closed). Then we came home and slept. (had fried rice for the night)

1/6/2002

Got up and again had "kett" breakfast. Checked out. Kept our luggage in the car and went to see Sacre Coeur. Boy! I had to climp so many steps.



Sacre Cour (Sacred Heart) Paris, see me and bhaiyya at the top?

Then came back and bought souvenirs. Then went to Notre Dame.



Notre Dame Front view. Paris


Notre Dame from behind, can you spot Divya?;)Paris


After that we walked a long while until we came to the Palais Royale. On the way we saw Pont Neuf too.


Me near the fork in River Seine in the heart of Paris on Pont Neuf (Bridge 9)


We then came back to the hostel to take the car and head for Brussels.

CAR MISSING!!! We could not find it, we searched for a long time!! We went in and enquired at the hostel reception desk. They said the police might have towed it. So we just stood around for sometime. The reception called up the police and let us know that they MIGHT have towed the car and that we could not get it today as it was a Sunday. We told them we left all our luggage in the car and so they gave us the police station's address and asked us to find out there. (This after he said that he would bear the charges 50-50 as the misunderstanding we had about the no park was partly his fault too)

So we reached the police station. Huh!!! One more experience. This was where I was reminded of our Tamil/Telugu movies where the pathetic plight of the victim's mom is shown where she goes between police stations to only hear a callous "This is not our jurisdiction!!". When we went there, we had to ask that officer for special consideration in getting out the car that was towed. (That guy was, thank god, English speaking).

But after all this confusion, that officer told us that the car was not with him. According to him, on the lane where we had parked, one side belonged to his jurisdiction and the other side belonged to someone else. That place was very far so we had to take the bus. (And pssst..we traveled ticketless).

Then after taking the bus, and after asking the driver about the place, we went searching for the police station. We finally found it out and those people flatly refused to get the car out that day. (Moreover, they didn't speak English!!) Later a lady, who knew English, came by and we convinced her that ours was an exceptional case (we again lied that I had to take a flight the next day;) ) so she directed us to the place where the car was (after a lot of confusion and explaining that the car could go in as it went in the morning, but could not come out now as it was afternoon).

My cousins left for that place and I stayed back at the police station. They came back around an hour and a half later (meanwhile I was witness to a person being jailed, again my first time in life event, not in India). They came back but with papers and then we went back to the tow-guys place (after getting a ticket of Euro 35 for parking in a no park). I still can remember that tow-guy's HUGE dog, very scary, and his struggles with Math:))

Finally got the car out and went back to the youth hostel, had an argument with that fellow over sharing the fine (tow ka Euro 97), he refused and we just went back. After pizza (in Pizza di Roma) went ahead to go to Brussels. (International border France - Belgique). Reached Brussels around 10.40. But by the time we could search for the youth hostel (we booked it in Paris) it was 12.40 - 1.00 am. Too tired, just went to sleep.

1/7/2002

We got up pretty early, had breakfast and went sightseeing in Brussels. We saw Mannekan-Pis too:) Then we saw a Cocoa and Chocolate Museum (only on the outside, Prasanna refused to let me go in:(( ). Also we went around downtown Brussels and saw the Royal Palace.


Me at Mannekan Pis in downtown Brussels


Belgian Grand Palace in Brussels


Me at the Chocolate Museum in Brussels


Bought some pieces of lacework (famous in Brussels). Went to a cafe and started for Mini Europe. We went there and found that this thing was closed for I don't know what, till March. So we just went across the street. Aravind climbed up a wall and he shot that whole thing (as much as could be seen) and then he came down and took me up (this was the fourth effort to get me up, I used to weigh close to 143 lbs then;) ). So FINALLY I saw it!

Then we had pizza in Pizza Hut, we saw the Godiva factory in Brussels on our way to Atomium. We also went to the EU (European Union) Headquarters building (or was it the EU Parliament, I don't remember). We then headed back for Netherlands.


Me at the EU Headquarters in Belgium

We reached Hilversum about 4.00 pm. Home Sweet Home!!


Aravind at his place in Hilversum, NL

Went home and started back for Amsterdam to return the car. At the airport we had to clear out the car's details with that guy. We then saw a flight model shop , had pommes frites, and same back to Hilversum by train. Reached about 8 pm and went to Aravind's friend's place for dinner. Finished the day after narrating the trip's happenings to his friends.

1/8/2002

Ok, some relax time!!! Got up around 9 in the morning. Sat before the comp after a long time FOR a long time. Meanwhile my cousins finished getting ready. Then I got ready and we went out. Did some shopping (window mostly:P). Then we came back and had some food, did some timepass by watching our trip video. Then we went out again in the evening for chocolates. Came back. While bhaiyya was making Alu Parothas for us, Aravind and I went to get Hera Pheri. Then we had dinner while watching that movie. BTW Aravind made custard for me;)

We retired for the day around 2 am. Got to get up early the next day, I was leaving:((

1/9/2002

Well, I got up at half past 6 and then got ready. Aravind and I went to the station and took the 7.50 am train to Schipol. I did some wishful thinking that the flight should be overbooked. (because we tried postponing my journey on the 8 and it didn't work out)

So we reached Schipol and the flight was overbooked!!!! Aravind and I were so happy. Had egg and cheese sandwich and hashbrowns at Schipol. Then I went in and after about an hour, they told me they would take me to their office, give me a compensation of Euro 450 and rebook me for the 15. ( I asked for 15 as school was starting on the 21 I think) But in the last minute they informed me that someone from the executive class didn't show up and so they put me in that place. I still remember A1, right behind the cockpit;) My first Exec class travel:P

Earlier I had sent a message for Aravind saying that I was still there, not they said they would not be able to let me out, and told me that they would let him know.


That is the end of it all. I sat in the flight for 8 hours, reached Chicago. Missed Kaumudi at the airport and asked her to come directly to the bus/shuttle centre. We took the 2.30 pm bus (Van Galder) and came home. That is about it then!!

I must add and can add any number of times, that but for bhaiyya and Aravind, I would have never been out and seen so much of Europe. Something that everyone dreams about. Thanks to you mere bhai, again and again:)

-D