European Extravaganza
Prelude:
There are some journeys that
begin at home and few of those, take one back to the self.
It was December last year (2018)
and a dear friend asked me if I would like to join their gang of a dozen to the
European Extravaganza and make it lucky 13. Probably the instincts behind the
number magic worked and immediately, I affirmed.
The longest ever vacation of 17
days (beating the previous record of 15) was on its way and I started thinking
about the preparations to be done.
A couple of months passed and I
didn’t see anything happening. Whenever I asked anyone in the gang, I was told
to just chill and only be ready for the Visa stamping.
Post that, the only thing that I
had to take care of was about my personal shopping. Rest everything was taken
care by the group and that’s really so sweet of them.
Day 0:
The calendar reflected the number
16. The final packing before the take-off was done. We were all set to fly. The
cab arrived just before the midnight and drove us off to the International
terminal of the maximum city of the world.
This was a package tour of 45
people of which we 13 of us knew each other and the rest were yet to meet. We
expected them to meet up directly at our first destination.
Day 1:
We embarked for the excursion
during the early hours on the 17th day of the 5th month
of the year 2019.
I have always cherished the long
distance flight journeys despite of the fact that they are exhausting at times.
The better side of it is the ample amount of me-time.
Landing at the Charles de Gaulle International
Airport was as smooth as expected and the weather was as pleasant as one could
wish for. For a moment it took me back to 2006 when I had earlier landed once during
transit. Coming back to the current trip – we were introduced to the tour
manager, who navigated us through the coach. The eyes wanted to catch up on
some sleep, but the 25 minute of picturesque drive of 15 kms to Novotel, didn’t
allow.
The stomach demanded food and
what could be a better news than to see the food packets ready at the moment
you reach the hotel.
After a complete satisfaction on
the belly, it was time to stretch legs and lie down for a bit. The restless
soul inside this body, however, didn’t want to. The legs did the trick and I
was out for a stroll.
A local super market was just
around the corner and hence thought of treating my eyes with the products on
the shelf.
The dinner was scheduled at 8pm
at an Indian restaurant - Bhojan. Sleep was the last and the most important
thing to catch-up considering a busy day ahead. I hit the bed without setting
an alarm.
Day 2:
Somehow, the body alarm was active,
and my eyes opened at 5 am. Since it was a summer time, we had seen daylight
till 9.30 pm last night and hence I assumed that the day will start soon.
However, to my surprise, it was yet dark.
After the regular mediation, yoga
and floor exercise, I pulled off the curtains to witness some light. After
changing, I stepped down for a short run. Since I was not much aware of the
nearby areas and also the hotel was gated, I settled down with making rounds of
300 metres in the hotel campus. After 13 odd loops, when the app showed up 4 km,
I chose to stop and get back to the room.
I felt happy about maintaining
the regime. After the morning activities, it was time for breakfast. Since it
was our first breakfast, there were some typical instructions. It was a treat to
relish the Indian and the English (rather, French) breakfast together.
Cruising through the older and
newer parts of the city for about 45 minutes covering over 26 kms through the busy
and easy lanes, we reached the ubiquitous icon of not only Paris but the whole
of Europe – the magnificent, the mesmerizing, the majestic Eiffel Tower, constructed
in the year 1887 and designed by Gustave Eiffel.
The schedule was to go to the top
and observe the entire city. However, my personal incentive was to soak in and
experience its existence. I felt dwarfed standing below it. It was challenging
my existence and I replied mentioning - Let most of the people take the
elevators, I shall step up and conquer you. An easy first leg took me up to
level one by climbing 330 steps. This level is the broadest of all 3 since the
area shrinks as one goes up. As I was alone from the group to grab this chance,
I enjoyed a lot of me time. After having good 10 minutes over there, I resumed
my journey up to level 2 as I had to catch-up with the folks coming by
elevator. The next phase was another 300 odd steps to level 2. Again, it was a
cake-walk and soon I was at the middle level. A beautiful city view was quite
refreshing and moreover, since I was waiting for everyone to appear, I captured
some images through the eyes and stored them in the heart.
To reach up to the level 3, the
only option was to go through an elevator. It is the topmost observation deck
of Eiffel, 278 metres from the round. The highest point, the peak of the tower
is 324 metres from the ground.
It might sound like an
exaggeration if I quote that one can never have enough of the legendary Eiffel.
However, we moved on as nothing can come between food and the craving for it.
Post lunch, the agenda was to drive through the interiors of the city of love
and romance. Bollywood in its yesteryears also has had a love-filled connection
with Paris. It comprises of 27 districts and includes iconic structures like
Louvre Museum, Arc de triomphe, Notre dame cathedral, Invalides and many more.
Throughout the city, one can witness and the calm and mighty 777 km long river
Seine.
The Louvre is the world's largest
art museum and a historic monument in Paris containing over 38000 articles from
pre-history to the current age and not to forget the inclusion of the most
popular Mona Lisa, painted by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century. Spread
over an area of 72,735 square metres (782,910 square feet), it is a central
landmark of the city located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st
district. In 2018, the Louvre was the world's most visited art museum,
receiving 10.2 million visitors.
Arc de Triomphe means Triumphal
Arch of the Star. Standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the
centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, it is formed by its twelve radiating
avenues. The location of the arc and the plaza is shared between three
arrondissements, 16th (south and west), 17th (north) and 8th (east). The Arc de
Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French
Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and
generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. Arc de Triomphe was the tallest
triumphal arch until the completion of the Monumento a la Revolución in Mexico
City in 1938, which is 67 metres high.
Notre dame means Our Lady of
Paris. The cathedral is consecrated to the Virgin Mary and considered to be one
of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture. The cathedral's construction
had begun in 1160 and took around 100 years to complete. Recently during the
mid of April 2019, it was in the news due to the fire that broke out beneath
its roof.
Invalides is the National
Residence of the Invalids. Also known as Hôtel des Invalides, it is a complex
of buildings in the 7th arrondissement (district) of Paris, containing museums
and monuments, all relating to the military history of France, as well as a
hospital and a retirement home for war veterans, which was the building's
original purpose.
After absorbing the monuments of
the city, the next hop was to sail on a beautiful cruise and witness the city
on both the sides from the water. It was a soothing 75-minute experience
cutting across the spellbinding city on a shiny evening.
We drove back to the Indian
restaurant that served us delicious meal. Post dinner, the schedule was to go
back to the hotel and rest. However, few of us wanted to revisit Eiffel to
experience it by the night. We got down nearly a kilometre and a half closer to
the viewing gallery that is called Trocadero. Built in the year 1869, it is
undoubtedly a place from where maximum pictures of the Eiffel must have been
captured so far. At around 9pm amid the rains, the whole of the Eiffel was lit
up and it was a visual treat.
Post that, booked a cab that drove
us 26 km to the hotel. Entered the room
surrendered to the bed.
Day 3:
Once again, woke up in the wee
hours and for a long time didn’t observe the daylight. The clock displayed the
tall-man-standing pose and I peeped out of the window to notice that it was
drizzling. I wasn’t motivated enough to step down for a run but wanted to
experience the light showers and hence I thought of walking in the campus.
However, it wasn’t too bad and eventually I ended up running 3 kms.
All the kids (including the kid
in all the adults) were excited for a fun-trip to Disneyland. Hence, post a
lavish breakfast, everyone grabbed their seats and we flew off to Marne-la-Vallée,
a new town located 32 km east of the centre of Paris. It took us around 40
minutes to catch up with the distance of 45 km from the hotel.
It encompasses two theme parks,
many resort hotels, Disney Nature Resorts, a shopping, dining, and
entertainment complex, and a golf course, in addition to several additional
recreational and entertainment venues. Disneyland Park is the original theme
park of the complex, opening with the resort on 12 April 1992. A second theme
park, Walt Disney Studios Park, opened in 2002. Disneyland Paris celebrated its
25th anniversary in 2017. In 25 years, 320 million people visited Disneyland
Paris making it the most visited theme park in Europe. The resort is the second
Disney park to open outside the United States following the opening of the
Tokyo Disney Resort in 1983 and is the largest Disney resort to open outside of
the United States. Disneyland Paris is also the only Disney resort, outside of
the USA, to be completely owned by The Walt Disney Company.
We were offered lunch packets by
our tour company at the entry as we had to spend the rest of the day over
there. Most of us were kind of scattered during the entire day as everyone
wanted to try out the rides of their choice. It was not possible to experience every
ride inside the park. Occasionally, we would bump into each other shuffling
between the zones and would ask about what’s hot and not! After enjoying the
thrilling adventures of Star Travels, It’s a small world, Buzz Lightyear,
Indiana Jones and few other rides, it was time to watch the parade. Disney
parade is a fantastic treat to the eyes and ears wherein many characters from
the Disney shows and movies take a stroll in front of the audience in an utmost
flamboyant fashion. The fast pass displaying the schedule of the next event
helped us cover the stuff efficiently.
We moved out of the entertainment
land at 6.30 pm and straightaway drove to the restaurant to have a satisfying
dinner.
Needless to mention, no one was in
any mood to stretch further and all of us must have directly hit the bed. At
least, I did.
Day 4:
We were scheduled to start early.
In the first half itself, we had to travel nearly double of what we had
travelled in last 3 days. The plan was to have all the three meals in different
countries. Hence, after breakfast at Paris, we checked out from our Hotel and
drove 300 km straight to Brussels, the capital city of Belgium. It took us
nearly 3.5 hours including a loo break that we took mid-way. This was the first
official on-the-way halt and it helped break-the-ice with few fellow voyagers.
Post break, we had an elaborative
introduction session, wherein all the travellers briefly spoke few sentences
about themselves. It was a great fun to know about the fellow tourists.
The clock showed 1pm when we
entered Brussels, which is considered the de facto capital of the European
Union (EU) – It is important to note that EU has no official capital. The stomach
overruled the heart and therefore, before exploring the city, we settled down
for our meals. Brussels is a cute city, a little different than Paris. The
trams on the road added to the glory of the heritage town.
City square was our next hop.
Grand Palace was the first monument we saw in the city centre. Once a King's
palace and now the number of guild houses converted into shops, terraced restaurants
and brasseries, the Grand Place is the most important tourist destination and
most memorable landmark in Brussels. It is also considered as one of the most
beautiful squares in Europe and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since
1998.
The next stop was Manekan Pis,
which is a statue of a peeing boy and the name itself quite literally, means peeing
little man, or peeing boy. Before this became his title, he was also known as
Petit Julien, or little Julien. There are many fables that surround his
origins; some are believable, while others are downright bizarre. The most popular
story states how the boy saved the city of Brussels. The legend goes that
Brussels was surrounded by enemies who pretended to retreat, but in reality,
were hiding gunpowder underneath. A little boy named Julien saw the burning
fuse and quickly peed on it. Out of gratitude, the city made a statue in his
likeness.
Soon, we were set free for an
hour and we proceeded for some shopping at the Agora shopping arcade. Before
that, we passed through The World of Tintin. In this boutique near the
Grand-Place, one can find self right at the heart of the world of Hergé's (the
Begian author of Tintin) famous hero. Besides the adventures of Tintin, Belgium
is celebrated for chocolates.
At Brussels, no one wants to miss
the magnificent marvel Atomium that was constructed for the 1958 Brussels
World's Fair. It is located on the Heysel Plateau, where the exhibition took
place. It is now a museum. It stands 102 metres tall. Its 9 stainless
steel-clad spheres of 18 metre diameter each are connected. We clicked a lot of
pictures and post that, my legs wanted to walk facing it thereby engrossing the
beauty and the
mightiness of the structure.
Since we were supposed to jump on
to another country for dinner and further stay, we bid a warm adieu to Brussels
by 6 pm and reached a small and cosy town Oosterhout located within the
bi-cycle lover country of Netherlands, traveling 110 km in a little over an
hour.
The agenda was to have dinner and
rest. Meanwhile, few of us managed some time and hit the sauna for 15 minutes.
Day 5:
The biological clock was doing
wonders for me. On top of that, my heart wasn’t willing to refrain from running
in another country. The shoe was laced up and there I go. A beautiful locale
appended by a lovely weather poured in a new energy in my legs and it resulted
in a 6 km run within the town. Unlike the earlier two runs in the campus, this
one saw picturesque outdoors. Besides, I felt glad to exchange hello with a few
humans who had started their day early in the morning on the feet as well as on
the pedals.
Straight to breakfast after the
morning routine and another busy day in making.
It took an hour after travelling
104 to embrace Amsterdam, the capital city of the Netherlands, which has more
than one hundred kms of canals (known as grachten in Dutch), about 90 islands
and 1,500 bridges. Alongside the main canals are 1550 monumental buildings.
Isn’t it obvious that a canal cruise should be the best mode of transport to
give complete justice to the former lines? Indeed, it was a fantastic 90-minute
experience. There are over 3000 houseboats in the Amstel river on which we sailed.
Amsterdam, also known as the Venice of the north, was popular for trade in the
18th century. The city is also very popular for its architecture,
that still lives up with a heritage pride and was designed during the late 16th
and early 17th century by Dutch architect Hendrick de Keyser. Stones
and bricks were used for construction instead of wood. The reason was - during
the 15th century, Amsterdam suffered not from one, but two
great fires. The first city fire happened in 1421, followed by
the fire of 1452. The fires quickly spread over the city,
where houses and buildings were made of wood.
Taking the memories of the cruise
and canal along, we wanted to breathe a little more of the city and hence we
reached to the town centre. It was a thrilling experience to take a walk around
the square, passing through the feeling of the city and accumulating lovely
memories to take along.
At these times, I really wish
there was a capsule that can satisfy the craving for food. We moved on covering
25 km in next 30 minutes and hugged the endearing Volendam, a pleasant town on
the shores of the Ijsselmeer. After a lavish lunch, we paid visit to Cheese and
Clog factory that manufactures a wide variety of cheese and unique type of
wooden shoes known as Clogs. In the earlier days, the shoes were made by hands
but now they have machines.
Post that, we resumed our journey
and toured 82 kms in 60 minutes to hit another city named as The Hague. It is
also home to the U.N.’s International Court of Justice, headquartered in the
Peace Palace, and the International Criminal Court. Our primary agenda was to
visit Madurodam, a miniature city covering Holland's highlights and heritage. It
consists of 1:25 scale model replicas of famous Dutch landmarks, historical
cities and large developments. The park was opened in 1952 and has since been
visited by tens of millions of visitors. It was named after George Maduro, a
Dutch law student from Curaçao who fought the Nazi occupation forces as a
member of the Dutch resistance and died at Dachau concentration camp in 1945. The
entirety of net proceeds from the park go towards various charities in the
Netherlands.
We had an awesome time strolling
around the models. It was an astonishment to see the detailing done in
constructing the smaller versions of the marvels. The icing on the cake was the
indoor attraction, the Waterwolf. It tells the story of Dutch determination, of
400 years of reclaiming land and how mills have kept the country dry right up
to the present day. Netherlands is below the sea level and the Dutch find it
the most natural thing in the world! In the life-size pumping station, one can
go back to a time when the land still had so many inland lakes and rivers. From
the 16th century onwards, the Dutch drained these lakes one by one using
windmills, but for centuries one inland lake seemed impossible to conquer. Yet,
by building the world’s largest steam engine, the Dutch even managed to drain
the destructive Haarlem Lake (also known as the Waterwolf), leaving a stretch
of land of over 185 square km. An area that, since its drainage, has grown into
one of the Netherlands most important economic regions.
We conveyed our bye-bye to
Madurodam and drove 87 kms towards Oosterhout and in around 75 minutes we
reached the hotel, where we were put up. Delicious dinner followed by a good
night sleep.
Day 6:
It was time to bid farewell to the calm and soothing Netherlands. However,
I didn’t want to miss the run as I felt that was the best way I could say wanna-come-back-soon
to the pretty little town. Did a quick 3 km.
Post breakfast, we checked out from our friendly hotel Oosterhout and
embarked on our 210 km voyage to Cologne. At the beginning to the journey, our
family friend took the microphone in hand and announced my birthday. He was
extremely kind to do that and moreover, he gave me some sweets to share in the
bus. I told that I am planning to buy during the post-lunch break and share
with all, but he recommended on executing both the options. I felt obliged and
shared the sweets with each one on-board.
It was an awesome feeling to turn 40 on such a spellbinding trip.
Probably, it was the first time in my life that I must have shaken hands with
45 people on my birthday. We moved on and so does life.
Before entering the landscape of Germany, we had a decent 25-minute
break on our way. Amid scattered conversations, new friendships were being
established and some were getting stronger.
In some time, we reached Cologne and were given some free time to take
a look at the Cathedral and loiter around in the city square. Most of us opted
to check out the town centre first. We had to assemble back at outside of the
Cathedral. During the last 20 minutes, we checked-in at the Cologne Cathedral,
which is a renowned monument of German Catholicism and Gothic architecture and
was declared a World Heritage Site in 1996. It is Germany's most visited
landmark, attracting an average of 20,000 people a day, and currently the
tallest twin-spired church at 157 metre, second in Europe after the Ulm
Cathedral and third in the world. The cathedral had an amazing collection of
paintings. All we could do is capture them through our eyes and lenses.
Next was lunch. After quenching the appetite, we headed towards the
forthcoming stopover that was 258 km distant. During the mid-way break, I
purchased chocolates, went to each traveller once all were seated in the bus,
and shared with them. On our way to Hockenheim, where we were supposed to stay
overnight, we encountered a congestion due to an accident. However, it was so
well organized and disciplined that that overall delay was lesser than
anticipated.
After checking in at the hotel, we had an hour or so before the
dinner. I wanted to take a stroll around to check where can I run in the third
country in Europe, next morning. Post that, since I had some more time, I
decided to check out the roof-top of the hotel to witness the sky, sun and the
city. We 4 of us went there and were fascinated to see the charming view of the
small town.
After dinner, around 10 of us assembled in a room for a little
chit-chat. We had to check-out next morning.
Day 7:
Another lovely morning and I was
all set to run. Didn’t have much time so planned to go for a quick 4 km but it
was such an excellent weather and an eye-catching geography that I wasn’t
satisfied by sprinting only on one side of it. Hence, I covered a total of 6 kms
including both the ends. As I entered back into the hotel, I saw a friend who
was marching ahead for a walk. I recommended him to make the best use of time
and check out the neighbourhood.
2 hours and 30 min of a 205 km
drive, including a bio-break, took through the dense Black forest to the very
popular Cuckoo Clock place. The Black Forest in the Drubba region was named so
because of its density. It is said to be so dense that the sunrays cannot
penetrate inside of it. It is a large forested mountain range in the state of
Baden-Württemberg in southwest Germany. It is bounded by the Rhine valley to
the west and south. The region is roughly oblong in shape with a length of 160
km and breadth of up to 50 km.
On our walk from the bus to the
Cuckoo Clock place, a small stream with a chiming sound was flowing through. My
heart asked the legs to stop for a bit and it also wanted to grab a little
water. After slaking thirst through tap water all these days, the handful of
H2O from the stream was heartening. The legs had to move further towards the
clock area as nearly the entire group had vanished from the sight.
It was a marvellous place with a
huge teddy at the entrance. Inside of it was full of cuckoo clocks on the
display. A cuckoo clock is a typically pendulum-regulated clock that strikes
the hours with a sound like a common cuckoo's call and has an automated cuckoo
bird that moves with each note. The mechanism to produce the cuckoo call has
been in use since the middle of the 18th century and has remained almost
without variation until the present. It is unknown who invented it and where
the first one was made. It is thought that much of its development and
evolution was made in the Black Forest. The cuckoo clocks were exported to the
rest of the world from the mid-1850s. Today, the cuckoo clock is one of the favourite
souvenirs of the tourists in Germany, Switzerland and Austria. It has become a
cultural icon of Germany. The Black forest shop that showcased the clocks also
had a varied selection of gifts and souvenirs.
Besides the above, the campus was
also a home to St. Oswald Chapel with bone house, built in 1148 and a shop
having a collection of the traditional handicraft of glass-making at the
glass-oven resulting in modern glass sculptures of today.
The master piece was a big clock
on the wall of a single-storey house. It was one of its kind where every hour a
big sized cuckoo would come out and the human couple statues would rotate
around themselves and revolve around the cuckoo.
The icing on the cake was the
delicious lunch having an amazing spread followed by a lip-smacking black
forest cake.
Usually one wants to sleep after
a lavish meal, but nobody wanted to skip the next attraction and hence we all
settled in our coach. The journey of 78 kms was completed in a little over an
hour. It took us through the German-Swiss border to encounter the largest
waterfall in Europe. The Rhine falls are located on the High Rhine, next to the
town of Schaffhausen in northern Switzerland. They are 150 metres wide and 23
metres high. In the winter months, the average water flow is 250 m3/s, while in
the summer, the average water flow is 600 m3/s. The highest flow ever measured
was 1,250 m3/s in 1965; and the lowest, 95 m3/s in 1921.
We took a boat from the bank to
witness the falls from the top. The falls were not only big but made a mammoth
sound of the water flowing. After clicks and memories, we stepped into the boat
and sailed through the tiny part of High Rhine and alighted out. The High Rhine
is the name used for the part of the Rhine river that flows westbound from Lake
Constance to Basel. The largest city on the Rhine is Cologne, Germany and it
flows through Netherlands, Switzerland and eventually empties itself into the
North Sea.
Instead of diving further into
the beauty of Swiss, we drove through A1, passed through the Swiss town of St.
Gallen and after nearly 4 hours of a 271 km long drive including a break, we
reached the beautiful town of Seefeld in Austria. Before that, we passed
through the city of Innsbruck where we could witness the Winter Olympic
stadium.
Since the journey from Rhine falls
was long and the kids were getting bored, we planned to play some games
involving music and fun. That travel resulted in quite a heavenly happiness.
All the kids got bonded with each other to an extent that no one wanted to step
out of the vehicle when we reached the wonderful resort sitting in the lap of
Alps and geographically located in the cosy town of Seefeld. Since we were
late, we had a buffet outside our caravan that had the food ready for us as we
reached. It was quite cold but the hunger for the meal overshadowed it.
Now that we had gelled so well, post
meals, the kids were excited to play in the outdoors. Nobody bothered about the
dropping temperatures. We played for around 40 minutes and then walked towards
one of the rooms where all of us gathered to play Mafia – a popular card game
that can be attempted without a deck of cards also. Since no one had cards
handy, we opted for a non-card version.
It was close to mid-night when I
hit the bed.
Day 8:
I took my time to wake up since I
hadn’t planned to run. After the morning stuff, strode for a leisurely
breakfast as we had quite some time in the morning hours. By the time we
started, it was 9.15 am. We also started with morning prayers in group for
initial 45 min to an hour. The best part was most of the travellers were
aligned and happy with the happenings.
We travelled 40 kms to reach the
Swarovski Crystal Worlds. It is a museum, located in Wattens. The museum was
built in 1995 in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Austria
based crystal company Swarovski, founded by Daniel Swarovski in 1895. At the
entrance, it has The Giant, which is a popular photography attraction.
Swarovski crystals specializes in combination of a secret chemical formula and
the highest degree of precision cut. These crystals are more expensive than
regular glass because of its fine materials and a complicated manufacturing
process.
The museum is a masterpiece
containing wonderful works of arts and architecture. It is a treat to the eyes
and heart. The exit of the museum opens to a huge shopping area that sells
excellent varieties of jewellery and other stuff made of Crystals. After coming
out of the shopping zone, we entered a nicely designed park that contained the
crystal cloud as well as a water illusion where people can click pictures and
it looks like one is standing in the water.
Another 25 min of drive and we
reached a soothing place where lunch was arranged for us. Post lunch, we headed
towards the City centre of Innsbruck. The main attraction over there is the
Goldenes Dachl (Golden Roof). It is a landmark structure located in the Old
Town i.e. Altstadt section of Innsbruck. It is considered the city's most
famous symbol. Completed in 1500, the roof was decorated with 2,657 fire-gilded
copper tiles for Emperor Maximilian I to mark his wedding to Bianca Maria
Sforza. The Emperor and his wife used the balcony to observe festivals,
tournaments, and other events that took place in the square below it. Over a
period of time, the copper now looks like gold, but it is only the colour.
We were given around 45 minutes
of free time to move around and explore the town square area but a dear friend
of mine and I settled for a coffee at a restaurant with an Alfresco setup. The
term Alfresco refers to outside, or in fresh air and to me, it was nothing less
than a bliss to sit on a chair on the cobbled street and sip a cup of coffee.
Soon after coming out of the City
centre, on the right, one can encounter a delightful sight of the row of
colourful houses on Mariahilf Street along the Inn River in Innsbruck.
We went ahead and reached the
Sillpark mall during the late hours of afternoon. It hosts stores like Primark,
Newyorkers, C&A, H&Ms, Claire’s and beyond. We were given some free
time to shop.
It was a mandate to reach the
hotel before 8 pm to have dinner. After 45 min and 42 km of drive, we landed up
on time and grabbed the dining table for a delicious dinner.
Except for the kids, all were
exhausted after a long day. We did play for a little while and chose to doze
off by 11.30 in the night.
Day 9:
The plan was to check-out from
the amazing resort and convey bye-bye to the ski-loving country of Austria.
Before that, I certainly craved to etch the entrancing Alps in my heart. After
waking up at 5 am and getting ready, I entered a friend’s room to check out the
first rays of sun coming from behind and converting the peak in front of us
into a golden triangle. It was pleasing beyond words. Besides, I didn’t want to
miss on my only running stint in Austria, so I immediately rushed downstairs
and sprinted towards the mountain. It was an astonishing experience to run on
open roads with no signs of vehicles anywhere around. I did an ultimately
soul-calming 6 km before I got into the room.
Regular breakfast and getting the
bags out were the next lined-up tasks before starting the onward road-trip.
Although it was a long journey of
over 6 hours covering 420 kms, from within I felt excited as we were to enter
the historically significant country of Italy in about an hour and a half after
75 odd kms. After our morning prayers in the moving vehicle, it was time to
halt at an Italian outlet where some visited the loo, a couple of them sipped a
coffee whereas a few shopped for chocolates as selected ones were on heavy discounts.
The journey resumed, and the kids
wanted to sing and have fun. Many of the elders wanted to turn into kids. After
a lot of pleasure-time, as we landed up inside the floating city of Venice that
is not only having a lagoon and a part of the city listed as a UNESCO World
Heritage Site but called by several other names like La Dominante, La
Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, City of Water, City of Masks, City of
Bridges and City of Canals, we broke for our afternoon meal.
The next in happening was to
reach at the Water Taxi station and take a taxi to St Marks square. They call
it Piazza (means Square) San Marco and it is the principal public square of
Venice. The Piazzetta (little Piazza/Square) is an extension of the Piazza
towards the lagoon in its south east corner. The two spaces together form the
social, religious and political centre of Venice and are commonly considered
together.
The Piazzetta dei Leoncini is an
open space on the north side of the church named after the two marble lions,
but now officially called the Piazzetta San Giovanni XXIII. The neo-classic
building on the east side adjoining the Basilica is the Palazzo Patriarcale,
the seat of the Patriarch of Venice. Beyond that is the Clock Tower, completed
in 1499, above a high archway where the street known as the Merceria (a main
thoroughfare of the city) leads through shopping streets to the Rialto, the
commercial and financial centre.
To the right of the clock-tower
is the closed church of San Basso, designed by Baldassarre Longhena (1675),
sometimes open for exhibitions. To the left is the long arcade along the north
side of the Piazza, the buildings on this side are known as the Procuratie
Vecchie, the old procuracies, formerly the homes and offices of the Procurators
of St. Mark, high officers of state in the days of the republic of Venice. They
were built in the early 16th century. The arcade is lined with shops and
restaurants at ground level, with offices above.
In front of the Church, the
Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, a library and Renaissance building, is located.
It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and depositories for
manuscript in Italy and holds one of the greatest collections of classical
texts in the world.
At the end, we visited the glassblowing
demonstration at the Murano glass factory that also has a shop full of glass
articles upstairs. The popular Gondola ride attraction can also be seen and
experienced nearby.
Overall, it is quite a scenic
square with loads of information and stories from the past. After spending a
good amount of time, we took the taxi back to the other side where we had
started from.
We sipped in a cup of tea and
entered the vehicle. It took us straight to the hotel that is located in the
adjoining city of Padova, which is the capital of the province named Padua. Our
dinner was setup at the hotel.
It was the best property so far.
Once again, no one wanted to rest and hence we took positions in one of the
rooms and played for over 2 hours. Good night happened at mid-night.
Day 10:
In the morning, we had a filling
breakfast and checked out. We covered 235 kms in 3 hours including a customary
halt. The vehicle got us down right at the Piazzale Michelangelo, which is a
square, designed by architect Giuseppe Poggi and is dedicated to the
Renaissance sculptor Michelangelo. It has bronze copies of some of his marble
works found elsewhere in Florence: the David and the four allegories of the
Medici Chapel of San Lorenzo.
The panoramic view from the
square captures the heart of Florence from Forte Belvedere to Santa Croce,
across the lungarni and the bridges crossing the Arno, including the Ponte
Vecchio, the Duomo, Palazzo Vecchio, the Bargello and the octagonal bell tower
of the Badia Fiorentina. Beyond the city are the hills of Settignano and
Fiesole. It was an ideal location for pictures and selfies. We did exploit our
cameras and also strived to soak in as much.
The next milestone was Rome and
the journey of nearly 300 kms took us an approximate of 3 and a half hours
including a short break. We checked in quite early and since the property was
excellent and loaded with facilities, we chose to explore. We settled down for
steam, sauna, jacuzzi and swim. After 90 rejuvenating minutes, we had a
comforting shower and sauntered towards the dinning table.
Before sleeping, we did several
rounds of Black Queen – a game that is played with cards.
Day 11:
We were told that inside the
metropolitan city of Rome, tourist buses aren’t allowed and hence there would
be quite a bit of walk. Nevertheless, that didn’t stop my morning sprint in yet
another country. One loop around the hotel was 500 metres so thought of doing
10 loops first but then the heart wanted to check the neighbourhood and hence
the legs changed the direction after 2 loops. It was an energizing 5.6 km run.
A belly-filling fantastic
breakfast and we all set to roam in Rome after vanishing from Venice. We had to
stop near the Roma Aurelia train station, around 19 kms from the hotel, to grab
the bus permits for the city centre. It took over 100 minutes to obtain the
permits. We reached inside the city and the vehicle stopped near the centre
from where we had to walk down to the Vatican City, which is the smallest
country in the world both by area (measuring 0.44 sq. km) and population (1000
inhabitants). It was drizzling; after around 15 min of walk we entered the
gates of Vatican.
Situated at the centre of the
Rome, it is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. It is home to the
Pope and a trove of iconic art and architecture. Its Vatican Museums house
ancient Roman sculptures such as the famed Laocoön and His Sons as well as
Renaissance frescoes in the Raphael Rooms and the Sistine Chapel, famous for
Michelangelo’s ceiling. Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio on 17 December
1936 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is the 266th and current pope of the Catholic
Church. He was elected on 13 March 2013.
It was a delicacy to the eyes to
see the colourfully attired Swiss guards. Swiss Guards, Italian Guardia
Svizzera, corps of Swiss soldiers are responsible for the safety of the pope.
Often called the world's smallest army, they serve as personal escorts to the
pontiff and as watchmen for Vatican City and the pontifical villa of Castel
Gandolfo.
It was over 2-hour wait outside
to enter the St. Peter's Basilica and hence we satisfied ourselves by clicking
pictures in the exteriors.
Next, we knocked into an old
looking Indian restaurant that was full of Indian tourists. After Indian lunch
that included Indian style Italian Pizza in the capital city of its origin, we
were supposed to contradict the principles of Ayurveda and walk about 2 kms to
embrace the world-famous monument – the Colosseum.
One of the new 7 Wonders of the
World, the Colosseum or Coliseum, also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre, is an
oval amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome. Built of travertine, tuff,
and brick-faced concrete, it is the largest amphitheatre ever built. It took 8
years for its construction. The Colosseum could hold an estimated of 50,000 to
80,000 spectators. It was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles
such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous
battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be
used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such
purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a
quarry, and a Christian shrine. It is said to be built in such a way that even
if it is fully packed, it takes only 15 minutes for the entire audience to
evacuate.
It was difficult to move from the
enormous structure but after getting drenched into its feel for a while, we
walked down to Trevi Fountain. It was designed by Italian architect Nicola
Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini and several others, stands 26.3 metres
high and 49.15 metres wide. It is the largest Baroque (art of 17th
and 18th century) fountain in the city and one of the most famous
fountains in the world.
There are few legends associated
with it. The first is that the throwing of a coin from the right hand over the
left shoulder will ensure that you will return to Rome in the future. The
second legend was the inspiration behind the film "Three Coins in the Trevi
Fountain". This legend claims that you should throw three coins into the
fountain.
Next on the platter was the Time
elevator show. It was quite a hype, to be straight. From information
standpoint, it edified a decent know-how about the Roman history but from a
perspective of an experience, it was mediocre. However, not outright
disappointing too.
Walking back from the show, we
had to reach out to our vehicle. On our way, we passed by Capitoline Hill that
hosts the very popular Equestrian (having a rider on the horseback) Statue of
Marcus Aurelius. It is an ancient Roman statue made of bronze and stands 4.24 metre
tall.
We were nearing the late evening
hours and it was time to say good-bye to the historical city. They say that Rome
was not built in a day and I would add that neither it can be covered in a day.
Before dinner, had space for
steam, sauna and swimming. After a quick shower, directly rushed to the dining
table.
Quite a bit of walk had left
people with tiredness and hence once the stomach was fuelled, most of us slid
into our respective beds.
Day 12:
Another beautiful morning in Rome
but this time we had to move out and travel to another city. Pisa was around
400 kms away. We took 2 breaks – 1 for washroom and another for lunch. Post
lunch, we had planned to directly reach the Miracle square of Pisa. We had to
park our vehicle and board a local public transport that was a vestibule bus.
It took us to the Miracle square. It is called so as it is dominated by four
great religious edifices: the Pisa Cathedral, the Pisa Baptistry, the Campanile
(free standing bell tower or the leaning tower), and the Monumental Cemetery.
The most visited and the
highlight monument is the leaning tower known worldwide for its nearly
four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. The tower is situated
behind the Pisa Cathedral.
The tower's tilt began during
construction in the 12th century, due to soft ground on one side,
which was unable to properly support the structure's weight. The tilt increased
in the decades before the structure was completed in the 14th century. It gradually
increased until the structure was stabilized (and the tilt partially corrected)
by efforts in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The
height of the tower is 55.86 metres from the ground on the low side and 56.67
metres on the high side.
Once we had enough time at the
campus, as a bonus we also got free time for shopping. Post that, as an added incentive for being
punctual we were rewarded around 20 minutes of an extra time. Needless to
mention, I reached out to my coffee partners to try out expresso shots at an
Alfresco setup.
After making the most of it, with
a satisfied heart, we boarded the public transport again to reach the place
where our vehicle was parked.
In next 30 minutes, we checked-in
at our hotel. We had an hour before the dinner and hence few of us chose to
check out some stuff in the vicinity. I chose to relax at the room.
It was a delicious dinner. Our
cook had made mouth-watering pastas that I had completely hogged on to. The
tour plan for the next day was to drive 560 kms to Engelberg in Switzerland,
passing through Lake Como. However, 6 of us wanted to explore a varied route
and a different mode of transport. For this we had a couple of conversations
since last 2 evenings (including the present one) with our very kind-hearted
tour manager who crafted the entire plan for us and guided us about the things
to do.
Placing an alarm for 4.15 am, I called
it a day. The taxi was to arrive at 5.15 am, next morning.
Day 13:
The taxi dropped us at the Pisa
Centrale station at 5.40 am. We purchased the tickets and boarded the train to
Milan that started at 6.10.
After travelling 219 kms, making
24 stops, it reached the fashion capital of the world after 4 hours of
cruising. It was a grand feeling to witness the huge railway station that had
nearly 44 platforms and variety of trains stationed on it. There was quite some
buzz around and one can easily assume that it must be a busy city.
Since we had around a little over
2 hours, we wanted to reach the main street that hosts the leading brands of
the world. However, first things first and that was to book the inter-country train
tickets to Zurich.
The underground metro reminded me
of the cosmopolitan city of London. We took the yellow line after enquiring at
the Centrale station, passed three stops southbound before the train entered Duomo.
The feeling after coming out of Duomo is conceivably the only thing in this
entire write-up that is indescribable. The next couple of hours on the street
were nothing less than a heavenly bliss for the fashionista in me. Milan is not
an exaggeration at all. It is a temple for the fashion bhaktas and as they rightly
quote, the glory of the bhaktas is known only to themselves.
In not-so-much-enough time, I
strived to fill practically everything in my heart through my eyes and a little
bit in the shopping bag through the wallet. We returned to the Milan Centrale
and took the inter-country high-speed train to Zurich, the ultimately scenic,
largest and the most populated city in the Alpine nation of Switzerland.
Close to 300 kms of journey was
covered in a little over 2 hours. It was charming beyond expectation. The train
passed through Como, Lugano in Italy and once it entered the nation of Alps, it
turned out to be extravagantly beautiful. Amid the hills and the water bodies,
it was an experience of a lifetime. It appeared as if the nature had painted
the entire landscape with the most entrancing stuff.
The feeling experienced while
coming out of the Zurich HB (main station) can be, although should not be,
compared to the iconic and heritage terminus station of Mumbai. We did walk
through the main street and after around 20 minutes, reached the waterfront.
After chilling out and capturing few images, we walked back to the busy street
and checked-out stuff in the stores. We wanted to sip a coffee at leisure but
since we were short of time, we rushed back to the Zurich Central station to
take our next train to the destination of the day, Engelberg. However, the
heart wished to come back for a coffee but was unsure when would it happen.
Since there wasn’t any direct
train, we had to first take a train to Lucerne. It was a 2-storey train and we
directly went upstairs and grabbed a seat. Soon, we reached Lucerne that was
only 50 km away. After a 20 minute of stop over, the train to Engelberg was
scheduled. Just for kicks, we stepped out of the station and then came back
quickly to board the fifth and the last train of the day. It was 35 km of
journey on a very cute little train that took us about 40 minutes. It was
heart-warming to see this toy-type train passing through the small towns on the
way.
Once again, our tour operator was
so kind that he had arranged the dinner for us right inside the restaurant
despite of the fact that the dining hours had passed. After a lovely dinner at
the one-of-its-kind hotel terrace, the final surprise of the on-going wonderful
day was waiting for us.
Dancing for over an hour at the
Bollywood night was so blissful that instead of feeling tired after a long
though super fantastic day, I felt all the more pepped up.
Night had begun, the bed was
waiting but the legs didn’t want to drag themselves towards it.
Day 14:
Eyes opened before the first rays
of the Sun could touch the land. After a quick regime inclusive of workout and
meditation, took a shower and got ready. Post breakfast, we had to travel
nearly 2 hours covering 100 kms to reach the base camp of the top of Europe,
Jungfraujoch. The name can be divided into 2 words - Jungfrau (pronounced as
Yungfrau and it means maiden or virgin) and Joch (pronounced as Yoke and it
means ridge between two higher peaks).
Jungfraujoch is a saddle in the
Bernese Alps, connecting the two four-thousander peaks Jungfrau and Mönch, at
an elevation of 3,466 metres above sea level. The Sphinx Observatory, one of
the highest astronomical observatories in the world, provides an additional
viewing platform at a height of 3,572 metres.
From the base, we need to change
two trains to go to the top. The first train took us to Kleine Scheidegg via
Grindelwald. From Kleine Scheidegg at 2,061 metres, a 7 km long tunnel was dug
through the rock of the Eiger and Mönch Alpine peaks for cogwheel trains to
reach the top on gradients up to 25%. At the end it reached the Jungfraujoch
railway station that is the highest in Europe at an elevation of 3,454 metres. The
cogwheel railway track to Jungfraujoch was completed in 1912 and has been in
continuous use ever since.
While in train, we saw a lot of
patches of snow, but it was snow all around us and also, below our feet, once
we reached the top. Before that, we consumed an over-the-top lunch at the
Bollywood restaurant on the peak of Europe. We had a couple of hours after that
to experience the ice palace, sliding in the snow, the viewing gallery and
above all, to make memories by clicking pictures and absorbing the beauty
thereby packing it in the hearts forever.
After traveling back through the
same trains, we reached the base at around 4.30 pm. By the time we checked-in
to our hotel, it was 7 in the evening. In true sense, we hadn’t spent the day
but earned it.
We enjoyed for a while in the
lobby, chit-chatting and ambling around. Post dinner, it was a mandatory black
queen session and obviously, full of fun.
My animosity with sleep yet again
didn’t allow me to place shutter to the eyes before mid-night.
Day 15:
No matter what, I wanted to run
today and considering the imminent schedules, in maximum probability, it was my
last chance to make the best use of feet. Arguably, it was the best 5.5 km
sprint so far. I had totally fallen for the gracefully gorgeous tiny town of
Engelberg.
Hardly a couple of kms of drive
took us to the base of Mt Titlis from where we had to take the cable car ride.
The entire journey is broken into 3 legs. The 1st cable car goes till
Gerschnialp, which is at 1,262 meters. To reach the higher slopes, one can
continue in the same cable car (second leg of the journey) to Trubsee, located
at 1,800 meters. The slopes are quite steep and provide a combination of
cruising and carving runs. At Trubsee, there is a change of cable car that
takes you to Stand, which is at 2,428 meters. The final gondola, called Rotair,
is one of a kind. It’s the world’s first rotating gondola. As one moves upward,
the entire floor slowly rotates in a circle, offering a 360-degree spectacular
view. Finally, it reaches the peak.
Mt Titlis is indeed like that
dreamy other world into which Lucy steps from the wardrobe in Chronicles of
Narnia. All one can see is snowflakes and nothing else.
We had a little over a couple of
hours and needless to say, we wanted to get lost in the white frost.
The summit area had some of the
most incredible views I had ever seen. We were at eye level with the
snow-covered Swiss Alps, high above the clouds, and felt like we were on top of
the world. It was sunny and clear which gave us the chance to see far and wide
despite the low temperatures.
There were quite a few things to
do up here besides enjoying the landscape and playing in the snow. Firstly, we
took the chairlift Ice Flyer. It was like an open swing and was designed to
take us from one peak to another with the harness of a cable connecting the
peaks. The view of the glacier crevasses was more than enormous! At more than 3000
meters, an astoundingly incredible panorama unfolded. The Ice Flyer dropped us directly
to the Glacier Park.
At the park, to start with, we
took a tube, one by one sat inside of it and slid down approximately 150
metres. After that, we took the small sliders, took positions (like we do on
the back of a small sized toy horse) and released ourselves on the descend. We
repeated that exercise quite a few times. After that, we took the flyer back to
the side we had initiated from. Many pictures were clicked and also, a
mandatory shirt-less click was executed.
Further, it was fun to cross the
Titlis Cliff-Walk, which is Europe’s highest hanging bridge. Supported by steel
cables and barely seeing the bottom of the mountain, it furnished a breath-taking
view on all sides including the top and importantly, bottom.
After entertaining and pampering
ourselves, we took the Rotair back to second leg and from there, the cable car
took us to the first. The lunch was served to us in a restaurant at that level.
After filling our heart with the memories of Titlis, we had to fuel in our
bellies.
The distance of 35 km from
Engelberg to Lucerne was covered in 30 minutes. Few people from the group took
the train as they wanted to experience it and rest of us travelled in our
vehicle. At the beginning, we passed by the Chapel bridge, which is one of the
most important landmarks in Lucerne. It is probably the oldest wooden bridge in
Switzerland dating back to the middle of the 14th century (first written record
in 1367). Perhaps even more important, only very few covered wooden bridges do
have old paintings under their roofs. The most famous two are in Lucerne:
Chapel Bridge and Spreuer Bridge.
On August 18th, 1993, shortly
after midnight, about two thirds of the wooden Chapel Bridge were destroyed by
fire. Only the pillars, the bridgeheads and the Water Tower could be saved.
Within a year, Chapel Bridge was completely restored, however.
Next on the cards was shopping. I
predominantly shopped chocolates.
The Lion monument was the last
sight to be visited. Also known as the Lion of Lucerne, it is a rock relief
designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820–21 by Lukas Ahorn. It
commemorates the Swiss Guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French
Revolution, when revolutionaries stormed the Tuileries Palace in Paris. A dear
friend treated us with a lovely gelato ice-cream.
We straightaway hurried to the
dining area once we hit the hotel. After leisurely dinner, we could hear the
beats as it was the Bollywood night again. I just took a stroll inside and came
out in a bit as I wanted to pamper my body with a good sleep tonight.
Day 16:
The heart wasn’t yet convinced to
adhere to the schedule of bidding farewell to the cutest little Engelberg but
alas! that was the only choice.
Nearly 100 kms of drive took us
to the footsteps of Trummelbach falls after around 90 minutes of travel. It is a
series of ten glacier-fed waterfalls inside the mountain made accessible by a
tunnel-funicular, that ascends at an angle. The falls carry up to 20,000 litres
of water per second. There were several viewing galleries at different levels. I
did stand at most of the places to engross into the beauty of it. A couple of
sights were indeed captivating. While return, few of us, including me, chose to
take the steps down. For our fun, we attempted to count and it turned out to be
around 268 steps.
We were quite close to
Interlaken, but it was lunch time and hence we reached an Indian restaurant in
the outskirts of the city. To our surprise, we had our kitchen caravan out
there and hence we anticipated a delicious lunch. However, it was yet being
prepared and hence to utilize the time, some chose to grab an ice-cream while
some kept chatting with each other. I enjoyed watching variety of superbikes
and ravishing cars while sitting on a bench with a couple of friends. We kept
talking about the make, model and features.
Our assumption about the food was
right. Post lunch, we reached the city centre of Interlaken where we had an
hour of free time for shopping and treat our eyes with the stuff around. Once
again, I shopped a bunch of chocolates and also visited the popular Interlaken
railway station. Coincidently, a superfast ICE (Inter-City Express) train was
stationed and we grabbed the opportunity to click a few images.
Approximately 120 kms of journey
from Interlaken to Zurich was exceptionally scenic with a gorgeous lake sitting
calmly parallel to the drive and exquisite ascends and descends backed up with
lush green fields. It took us around 100 minutes to reach the entry point of
the metropolitan city but another 25 minutes just to get into the outer
periphery of the city centre.
The vehicle dropped us at a lane
that had the entry to the main street in the front and a beautiful lake on its
backside. In the middle of the two, my eyeballs grabbed a fantastic alfresco
coffee shop. The wish made on the day 13 was about to be fulfilled. I chose to
utilize that part of my life, slowly sipping in a large glass of cold coffee. I
had a super cool company with me, so together we had our own ultra-leisure time
chatting, coffee and checking out the lake from our bench.
Today, we had an early dinner
scheduled. After dinner, we all gathered and felicitated our tour leader, who
was no less than a cool dude throughout our splendid excursion. Some emotional
moments, heart-touching speeches and gratitude exchange were more than enough
to have happy tears in the eyes of everyone. Doesn’t matter where we dwell, we
human beings are always connected with a tightly coupled bond of love and
sentiment. This part of my life, this one, right here; to me, this is
happiness.
Well, we had to wake up at 4 am
in the morning but since it was our last night together, who wanted to sleep!
Our gang jumped out of the hotel that we had checked in an hour ago, and we
were out on the street. After a long walk, we came back to realize that it was
only 11 pm. Today, none of us wanted to play but just wanted to engage into a
conversation. Perhaps, everyone assumed that this would be the last one before
we meet again on a date and time that was unknown to all of us.
The good-nights were heard at 1 am.
Day 17:
No! I was not prepared to have
breakfast at 5 am; neither did my stomach allow. After swallowing in a little
bit of cold chocolate, I entered the vehicle after checking-out. With a thought
of balancing the sentimental imbalance, checked-in luggage at the Zurich
International Airport, which is also known as Kloten Airport.
We had swapped hugs in the
transit, since all of us knew that it will be hard to depart once we reach our
scheduled destination.
Leaving the infinite-adjective-deserving
Europe was no fun but landing at home-lovely-home Mumbai yet made me feel back
to my roots.
Yes, this was the journey that
began at home and touched so much within taking me to my own self that the
hangover is still on….
How about you, fellas...?
Epilogue:
After typing over 10500 words,
when it is time to express my gratitude, ironically, I am short of words.
Hence, I would like to keep it simple.
I had the best, literally the
best time of my life during this marvellous outing. The places don’t matter as
much as the company does. This was practically proved during this voyage.
कुछ भी नहीं रहता दुनिया में लोगो, रह जाती हैं दोस्ती….ज़िन्दगी का नाम दोस्ती, दोस्ती का नाम ज़िन्दगी
Nothing remains in the world, everything may perish but friendship does
prevail forever. Life is friendship, friendship is life. (lines from a
popular song of a Bollywood movie)
From the inner core of my heart,
mind, body and soul, I would love to thank each and every individual on this
exceptionally amazingly wonderfully fantabulous excursion called European
Extravaganza. Everyone was not a part but more than a heart of the trip. Also,
I sincerely apologize for anything that must have hurt anyone.
References:
Wiki, Google, Maps and few other
links on the web. Thank you so much, internet for providing truckloads of
information.
