some more travel tales

Shantanu:

To quote Tagore's poem -

bahudin dhore bahukrosh dure,

bahu byay kori bahu desh ghure,

dekhite giyachhi parbatmala, dekhite giyachhi sindhu,

dekha hoi nai chokkhu meliya,

ghar hote sudhu dui pa pheliya,

ekti dhaner sisher upore ekti sishir bindu.

Translating the sense - I have travelled for days, covered miles and spent thousands to see countries, mountains and rivers in far off places. But I missed seeing the beauty of the tiny dew drop on a leaf just outside my house, which shines in the sunlight.

Sometimes, what is obvious, what is within the reach, is ignored and its beauty is not appreciated, and yet, probably that, when noticed, gives us the maximum pleasure.

Adding another perspective from Tagore's elder brother Dijendranath's collection:

ichha sammak bhraman gamone

kintu patheyo nasti

paye shikli mon uru uru

eki doiber shasti

I want to travel but I have no money. Like a caged bird, I want to fly and yet tethered to my cage, what a misfortune!

This might be a lament from many a wannabe travellers who are severely constrained financially and yet, want to visit places. However, even at a moderate to low budget, travel to exotic locations are possible; but off the beaten track and not the heavily commercialized places. For instance, in Europe, we found Austria to be far better in terms of natural beauty and cheaper than Switzerland. But Austria is not as popular tourist destination as Switzerland is. One obvious limitation of such a strategy is more often the lack of tourist infrastructure in such places, esp. in the context of poorer countries like India. No hotelier would set up a decent hotel where there is little demand. More often, any recently discovered exotic location does not remain secluded for long, as information flows thick and fast.

To travel by train is of course a cheaper alternative to flights esp. if you have some time to spare and companions with whom you can enjoy the travel. Faster than fairies, faster than witches, bridges and mountains, hedges and ditches - all glide past and you enjoy the serenity of the country side, often on a rainwashed day esp. during monsoon seasons when lush green vegetation is a feast of eye. As stations come and go, you fill yourself up with hot chai, pakodas, samosas, watch the crowd jostling on the platforms, wheeze past other slow moving trains. When the train enters a tunnel, it's a mysterious environment, like a stage set for an Agatha Christie whodunnit novel. When it goes over a huge and monstrous river bridge, you simply stare in amazement at the vast expanse of water, the occassional one or two boats floating or men fishing, and far away, in the horizon, the looming picture of the setting sun. Wonderful, isn't it? Well, a train journey may not be quite romantic as it sounds, but it certainly has its attractions.

Have you ever ridden a rickety bus to your destination? Say, a 6 hour bus journey, some portion of which is spent climbing uphill? The days of rickety buses are almost over even in India. Of late, there are quite a few Volvo buses which are as comfortable as train journey. Take for instance the bus from Mumbai to Pune, at night. You will stop at Lonavala to sip a warm cup of tea or perhaps enjoy a packet of chikoo. During daytime, you will feast your eyes on the beauty of the Sahyadri. And the vast tracks of fields passing by with farmers busy cultivating, or one or two sugarcane laden bullock carts coming from opposite direction, may keep you busy all the way, unless the bus has a loud in house entertainment set, which may painfully distract your imagination.

On road or rail, however you travel, your journey will always hold an element of surprise at every corner, which you would miss in air travel. And if you want to resonate with the very first poem with which this rambling begins, what are you doing sitting in a corner of your house, sipping coffee and looking at the monitor? Go and explore any unknown, serene part of your city or town that you have never visited before, or perhaps go for a trek. You may be pleasantly surprised to discover that your findings will be no less valuable to yourself than Columbus's discovery of the New Land.

Deshe Bideshe 20 - Munnar

Devmitra:

Nilgiri beauty - Munnar

It was almost a year since we had taken a vacation and both of us badly felt the need for a getaway. As is with most trips, we evaluated different options some of them being Munnar, Coorg, Kalimpong and Gangtok. After a great deal of thought & research, we settled on Munnar. This hill station is located at a height of 1600 - 1800 mts above sea level in the Idukki district of Kerala and was once the summer resort of the British. The nearest airport to Munnar is Cochin from where a 3 - 4 hour journey by road takes one to Munnar. We booked our flight tickets and also contacted the travel agent Munnar Holidays http://www.munnarholidays.com/ for a 3 night 4 day package deal.

We set off on 10th April. The afternoon sun beat down on us vigorously as we drove to the airport to catch our Indigo flight to Cochin. This was to be Shantanu's first drive to the airport via the ORR and my second. The Outer Ring Road serves to connect different parts of the Hyderabad city to the new airport at Shamshabad. It is purported as one of the key achievements of the local government and the traffic on this road is comparatively lesser than on the other routes to the airport. Nevertheless there is still work going on in many sections of the road and the connecting roads from some parts of the city have either not begun or are under construction. The street lights are still not operational and so night time driving can be dangerous. It is evident that the road has been inaugrated in a haste with an eye on "electoral benefits". Also it is amazing how openly rules are flouted in this city and how careless the authorities are in their implementation. While a board at the entrance clearly indicates that heavy vehicles are not permitted, trucks seem to fearlessly ply on this road!

The drive to the airport and the onward journey was uneventful and we reached Cochin airport http://www.cochin-airport.in/ at around 6 in the evening. Our first view of the city from the aircraft was green - tall trees over the entire area. Living in Hyderabad where trees are being felled down every second day in the name of progress and with no replacement in its place, the Keralean landscape was a sight for sore eyes. The plan was to spend the night in the Abad Airport hotel http://www.abadhotels.com/airporthotel/index.html?livserv_cs_id=2103996 & drive to Munnar the next morning. Cochin airport appeared impressive; it is set up in a public - private partnership model. But the departure lounge was deserted at that hour. The counter for Abad hotels at the airport also was empty. Our research had said that the hotel was within walking distance from the airport & so we decided to venture out by ourselves. However after a point, we were not sure of the direction to proceed in and so headed back to the airport. Enquiries with the policeman standing there revealed that there was no auto stand & the only alternative was to take a pre paid taxi. Better safe than sorry in an alien city was our philosophy and so we stood in the queue for the taxi. Ahead of us was a large party enquiring about transport options to Sabarimalai. They seemed to be taking a really long time and so I had to barge in with my request for a city trip to the hotel. The kind folks at the counter suggested we enquire at the hotel's counter as the minimum fare for the taxi - Rs. 250 would be too expensive. Luckily for us the gentleman had returned to the counter and once we showed him our reservation, he promptly called a cab that drove us to the airport. It was a little confusing when the hotel rep started talking to me in Malayalam; apparently he thought I was a local resident. Wonder what gave him that impression...? Anyways, we checked into the hotel and after dinner & a long conversation reminiscing about the old days, we turned in for the night.

We woke early the next morning. The hotel serves buffet breakfast starting at 6:30 am and we went down to share a quiet and early meal. The crowd at the hotel seemed to comprise mostly of pilots & other airport personnel. After a relaxed spread of idlis, dosas served

with yummy tomato chutney and topped off with coffee/tea, we headed back to our room to freshen up & collect our luggage. The Innova arrived promptly at 8:30 and along with our driver Syed, we set off. The weather was cloudy and after about an hour's drive, we stopped for a break at a shop where we stocked on water, biscuits & banana chips. By the time we started our climb on the mountains, it started raining slightly. The road was good albeit narrow and at times, we had to wait for traffic passing in the opposite direction. The rain brought out the chilly weather. I had kept sweaters handy and was the first to bundle up; Shantanu bravely faced

the cold for a while but ultimately gave up. If someone had told me 24 hours ago that I would be wearing a sweater in the month of April, I would definetely have branded him a lunatic! Anyway the cold weather & rain offered some glorious sights along the climb. The mist came down on the mountains in some sort of a conspirational whisper. Tea gardens streched out on the slopes like a thick green carpet. Waterfalls gurgled down the face of the mountains quite like an excited child who has to speak out all his stories in one breath. We stopped at the Athukadu falls, on the Adimaly road and attempted to capture its beauty on film.

Finally we reached Munnar city at around 12:30 pm. We had a room booked at Windy Hills http://www.windyhills.in/ - we were impressed with the suite like room layout they had shown on their website. However this is a new hotel and the driver seemed unsure of its exact location. Also the approach to the hotel is through a narrow road followed by a short 2 min walk. The hotel is still under construction and does not even have a signboard or a reception to its name. More bad news as we attempted to check in - our room was not yet ready. While we waited, the hotel folks tried to ready the room for us. However I did not like the view from the room - it was on the first floor & the view of the mountains that was much acclaimed on the website was restricted by the other wing of the hotel still under construction. So I asked the guys for options & they showed us another room which was currently occupied but the people occupying it wished to change. We opted for that room & asked the hotel folks to get it ready while we had lunch at the restaurant of the neighbouring resort Great Escapes - apparently lunch at our hotel would not be ready before 2. The restaurant we stepped into seemed no better. It was still being cleaned and so we waited at the reception & placed our order. Once the cleaning was done, we stepped in & had a sumptuous lunch of Kerala parathas, chicken chettinad & vegetable jalfrezi. We then headed back to our room. The room condition was not very satisfactory - maybe it was our mistake that we took a room that was already occupied. But the least we could expect was clean towels & sheets which were delivered only after we asked for them. We bargained with the one guy Jagadish who seemed to be managing the entire place & was the only one who spoke English - tomorrow he HAD to change us to a better room on the top floor. He agreed and we decided to put up with the hardships for a day. We then took a short nap and by the time we woke up, the sun had already set. Since the room had a kitchenette, I asked if we could atleast get a kettle & some cups so that we could make our own tea & coffee - sadly this is not the case. We ordered coffee in the room (Jagadish himself asked us not to go to the restaurant as it is still not ready) and then went out for a long walk in the woods. The view on our walk left us spell bound - we saw beautiful birds & insects. Also cows from the nearby sheds grazed on the grass maintaining a wonderful balance on the mountain slopes. We settled down on a rock by the road side & took in our beautiful serene surroundings. By the time we headed back, the temperatures seemed to drop rapidly & our room got really chilly thus obliterating the need for a fan or an AC. We spent the evening on the balcony enjoying the sights (what was possible anyway. In addition to the restricted view, our woes were compounded by a noisy group of people who were occupying the opposite rooms). Dinner was rice, daal & chilli chicken. Since the hotel is still under construction, management seemed to be chaotic - while we ordered for 2 plates of rice, only 1 was delivered. We had to again remind them of the 2nd plate before it was sent up to our room.

More trouble when we woke the next morning. The power situation in Munnar appears to be in a sorry state. Every 1 to 2 hours, the power would be off and in the morning, we realised it had been off the whole of the previous night. Result? The motor was switched off & so there was no water in the bathroom! This was the limit! Shantanu & I pride ourselves that we are pretty accomodative, but no water in a hotel bathroom is unthinkable in these days. Also it was getting on to be 7 am & not a soul was seen around the hotel. Finally Jagadish arrived & we and other residents were able to vent out our frustration. He switched on the motor & asked one of the other men to turn on the generator. This brought in the water, but for hardly an hour. Turned out that there was some repair work carried out the previous day & something appeared to have gone wrong in that. All the hotel staff started delivering buckets of cold water to each room. This was too much for us. We called Munnar Holidays & asked to be moved to a different hotel immediately. The travel agents were also pretty understanding & sent down the car within half an hour. We settled our dues with a very apologetic Jagadish, loaded our bags into the car & drove off.

Syed was to drive us to Mettupatty for sight seeing but changed plans due to the incessant drizzle. Instead we drove to the Eravikulam National Park. There was a long queue for the tickets & so we decided to catch this on our way back. We then drove to Lakkom waterfalls.

The approach to the falls was quite a hike but the sights were worth it. One word of warning - there is a host of monkeys inhabiting this area & a little precaution would not go wasted. From Lakkom, we drove to the 93 sq.km of Marayoor sandalwood reserve forest. Rows & rows of sandal wood trees stood tall behind fences & the air was lightly scented. Apparently this is the only place in Kerala that has natural sandal wood forests. There are beween forty to sixty thousand naturally grown sandal trees in this forest. The drive to these areas is

long and can be a little tiring. When we reached Eravikulam again, it was still heavily crowded. So we decided to put it off for the next day & drove to our hotel. Reservations were made for us at the Oak Fields hotel. This is an offshoot of the KTDC owned Tea County and is tucked away in a far nook. It is basically a disputed property and the outcome of the court case is still awaited. The rooms were good, albeit slightly old but for us, more importantly, there was water in the bathroom! It was lunch time when we reached the hotel. Apparently lunch is made to order & so we placed our order for fried rice, fish molly and vegetable curry. While lunch was served, we played a round of carroms in the reception. Food was good, but since this is a government run hotel, it was on the pricier side. We took a short nap & after a cup of coffee in the evening, we went out

for a walk. We found a path that went into the tea gardens and had a great time exploring the country side. For dinner we opted for a simpler meal of rice, daal & vegetables which we had in the hotel's restaurant. While we ate, a huge moth flew in & hovered around the place unsure of how to get out. Not only was the size big, the colours & marks on its wings were most exquisite. The waiter tried to carry it out but in vain. Finally he switched off all the lights except a distant one and the moth settled on the same. We were'nt carrying the camera, else a picture of such a beautiful creature deserves to be captured.

The itinerary for the next day comprised the Mattupetty area. We had ordered for a breakfast of idly dosa. Wrong choice as it seemed to take infinetely long for it to be prepared. While we waited at the restaurant, we met Vinod who was one of the restaurant staff. He offered us some toast & coffee while we waited for the meal that we had ordered. We were almost ready to leave after eating this, luckily we did'nt because Vinod shortly served delicious dosas with steaming hot sambar and chutney. If we were'nt pressed for time, we would probably have eaten more. As it is I ended up ordering for some more coffee & this delayed us further. Finally I went up to the room to get ready while Shantanu took a short walk.

The previous day Syed had suggested catching a Kathakali show, but we had to give it a

miss due to time constraints. Today we decided to attend the show and so our first stop for the day was at the Mudra office to buy the tickets for the 6:30 show that evening. We then drove to the Rose show just outside the Munnar city. It offered an impressive display of plants & flowers. We then set off for the Mattupetty area. This drive has the sights spaced at shorter distances. We visited the Matupetty dam which harnesses the rainy water. Apparently between the months of July and September, it rains incessantly in Munnar thus offering a rich source of water. There was a boat ride and an elephant ride in the plan, but we decided to give these a pass. We then drove to Echo point followed by the Kundali plantations and lake. The lake offers a beautiful scenic spot for a family picnic or a quiet getaway. By the time we got back to Munnar city, it was lunch time and so we grabbed a quick bite at Sarvanna Bhavan. We then headed off to try our luck today at the Eravikulam National Park. The queue today was shorter, however just when we got to the counter, it was shut for lunch! Luckily it opened within 10 - 15 mins and we were able to get our ticket. From the entrance, park buses ply & navigate a 4 km long further climb to the main tourist area; private vehicles are not allowed here. From the entrance, there is a kilometer long path on which trekking is allowed. The main body of the park has an area of 97 sq.km and consists of a high rolling hill plateau with a base elevation of 2000 m. The park also houses Anamudi - the tallest peak in South India at a height of 2695 m. The park is home to the Nilgiri Tahr, an almost extinct species of mountain goat. The view on the drive up the mountains was spectacular - tall mountains shrouded in mist. We started on the trek and caught sight of a huge male Nilgiri tahr as well as a female and a kid. They seemed to be calm creatures keen on grazing on the grass quite oblivious to their surroundings. We spent almost an hour at the park after which we caught a bus back to the entrance from where we drove back to Munnar city for some shopping.

The main city is pretty small and is warmer than the surrounding mountains which house most of the hotels. Our driver dropped us at Krishna, a reputed store for spices, tea, oils & handicrafts and agreed to pick us up at 6 for the Kathakali performance. We shopped for tea, sandal wood and souvenirs after which we had coffee at a small joint. After strolling around the city for a while, we caught up with our driver & drove down for the show. When we bought the tickets that morning, we knew we were one of the first few. But when we got to the venue, we found that we were the only people attending the show that evening. Another elderly couple drove in a little while later & that was it! Kind of like a private performance :-). Since we arrived a little early, we were able to see the artists get ready. We saw how multiple thick jute bags are threaded around the waist of the artist forming the base of the flared costume and jewellery.

He then wore loads of ornaments and other accessories. The show started with a 15 min. demo of the instruments, exercises, the 9 facial expressions - amour, humour, fear, pathos, anger, valor, disgust, wonder and peace, the 24 mudras or hand gestures and some small items that are commonly used in this dance form. The story being performed that evening was Narakasura vadha. It was an entertaining and impressive show which I thoroughly enjoyed. By the time the show was over, it had gotten dark and the mist was slowly coming down. We drove back to the hotel for dinner and called it a day.

The next day was the local festival of Vishu. We were to drive back to Cochin to catch our return flight. We set off after breakfast joined by Vinod who was travelling to his hometown of Calicut. Syed seemed to be in a great hurry as he drove at almost break neck speed and brought us to the airport with almost an hour to spare. The journey back was uneventful although we had a tough time locating our cab at the Hyderabad airport. Finally we caught a different cab & returned home with memories of a beautiful town and holiday.

Deshe Bideshe 19 - Copenhagen

Shantanu:

The SAP based software system that we were designing for Daimler was to be implemented in their Scandinavian market in June 2005 and so we travelled to Copenhagen every week from earlier that year. However these were strictly business trips - catch the 7:00 am flight from Stuttgart on Monday, shuttle between the office and the hotel until Friday evening when we caught the flight back home; tight schedules and the nature of the work left little scope for sight seeing. Also our wedding date was fixed and so Devmitra & I had our personal agenda of making sure that our work was neatly tied up before we left for India. In the months leading up to the final Go Live, it was made mandatory that one member from each team necessarily be present at the Copenhagen office every week and we normally took turns for the same. However one of our team members was unable to travel on his scheduled date due to a death in his family and so asked us if we could fill in for him over a weekend to minimize travel costs. A chance to spend a weekend in Copenhagen? That gives us a chance to visit the city! We bargained for permission for the two of us to travel which was agreed to and all arrangements were immediately made including a weekend stay over 6th and 7th May.

Copenhagen was a fishing village of Denmark in the 10th century. It then grew into a prosperous city through commercial activities centred around its Haven or port. Since world war 2, when it was occupied by German forces, Kobnhavn or Kopenhagen has grown tremendously. The Oresund Bridge is a combined two-track rail and four-lane road bridge across the Oresund strait. It is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe and connects Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmoe. The airport is located in Kastrup and on the way to Malmoe. It's a small but nice and well organized airport with all amenities.

The people in Copenhagen in particular and the Scandinavan countries in general have an excellent quality of life. Even though they are vibrant democracies and rich countries, they follow a socialist tradition. Denmark has a monarchy with Queen Margarethe II at the head. The royal family's summer retreat is the Amelionberg Palace. However Denmark is remarkably egalitarian with no special treatment for royal family even when they are on road (lessons to be learned by our politicos who take the slightest opportunity to display how special and different they are from the masses). Denmark has free healthcare and education, though taxes here are very high.

Before we proceed, an apology to the readers of this post. As this was an official trip, the idea of carrying a camera slipped both our minds. So sadly, we do not have any pictures of this trip :-(. Work done on Friday evening, we checked into our rooms at Hotel Fox http://www.hotelfox.dk/. This was our first stay at this hotel and frankly, even though the website boasts of an 'alternate' experience, we were not sure what to expect. For starters, we were asked by the receptionist, to pick our rooms from a computerised catalouge. Pick our rooms at a hotel? That's a first! Anyway, I opted for Room no. 510 while Devmitra picked 508. These rooms are unlike any other hotel room that I have stayed in at least. The walls of Devmitra's room were painted a pale yellow and adorned with pictures of modern mythical creatures while my room seemed to radiate the colour blue. Later we spent a leaisurely evening strolling along Stroegate, the longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe, a walking distance from the hotel. Stroeget starts at Radhusplatzen or the town hall square which is a sprawling area with several junctions and intersections. Vehicular traffic is strictly forbidden and only bicycles and pedestrains have access to the long alleyway with its several branches and subbranches. There are many famous shops laden with expensive brands, souvenir shops, restaurants and fast food joints on the way. Stroegate ends at Kongens Nytorv or King's new square. This is near the Nyhavn area which is a harbour for the Danish canal which crisscrosses the city. We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant called Papa's located in Skindergade, near Stroeget. This was my first experience of the Mexican cuisine; Devmitra had sampled the food before in Copenhagen itself. What we like about the Mexican spread is its proximity to Indian cuisine while maintaining its own distinctive flavor. Papa's Cantina restaurant features a combination of Italian and Mexican cuisine at knock-down prices. Situated in a basement, the restaurant has a distinct "Wild Wild West" influence with guns and cowboy hats adorning the walls.

The next day being a Saturday, we woke up late, had a lazy breakfast and then began to plan our trip for the day. After a lot of deliberation it was finally decided to embark on a city tour of Copenhagen. Denmark was celebrating one of its worthy sons - it was Hans Christian Andersen's birth bi centenary that year. Footsteps marking frequent walking paths that this notable author frequently took were marked out on pavements and we began to follow the same, like other tourists. We have all read Hans Andersen stories - the most famous being Little Mermaid, Thumbelina, Ugly Duckling, Emperor's new clothes etc. The weather was pleasant as we strolled along this busy road accompanied by people from in and out of the country. Walking is indeed a pleasure when you have no fear of colliding into a huge shopping mall or of being knocked down by some or the other odd vehicle. After walking for sometime along Stroeget, we felt very hungry and promptly went to a "desi" or a South East Asian restaurant near our hotel after which we went back to the hotel for some rest and siesta.

At around 4.30 Pm (summer days in Europe stretch till 8 Pm in the evening), we set out for further exploration. Walking towards Stroeget we stumbled upon Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum and promptly bought ourselves two tickets. This is near Radhusplatzen and is apparently the only Ripley's museum in Europe. Don't remember much except Devmitra's fear of the rotating tunnel (I literally dragged her along :-) ), the two headed calf, and the punch bag which records the force of punch and compares it with that of the world heavyweight champion (I tried my luck, but mine was just a tenth of that benchmark figure; I did not utilize all my strength ;-) ).

Walking along Stroeget we reached NyHavn. Here we opted for a city tour by boat. This is the oldest part of the Copenhagen harbour that was built in 1670s. In old times, the sailors' quarters were located here. The Vikings were a seafaring lot and in keeping with this tradition, the sea forms the principal mode of trade and commercial activities in this area. NyHavn is now a very busy commercial area, bristling with activities and modern amenities, although some parts still have a "naughty" tag attached.

Coming back to our trip, the sights featured on the canal tour from Nyhavn include the Christiansborg Palace, the Copenhagen Opera House, Holmen, the Little Mermaid statue, the Amalienborg Palace/Garden and the Danish Royal Library (The Black Diamond). We first saw the Christianborg Palace on the bank. Home to Denmark's three supreme powers - the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, this palace contains the Royal Reception Rooms, the Queen's Library, the Sovereign in Council rooms, the Chapel, Parliament, the Supreme Court and the Prime Minister's office.

We also saw many Danish houses near the canal. After sometime the canal opened to a larger body of water. It was a bright sunny day, the structures on the bank formed dream like silhouttes against the blue sky. As the boat made its way through the water, we passed the Opera house. This is a specimen of the prowess of modern architecture. It is located opposite to Amelienborg palace. It was opened pretty recently, in January 2005. Our guide said something about the huge construction costs; a later wikipedia search revealed that construction cost was half a billion USD! The house is administered by the Royal Danish theatre and is the national opera house of Denmark.

The Amelienborg palace is another attraction worth mentioning. This is the winter home of the Danish royal family. We did not get a chance to explore this palace, but it certainly looked glorious from the boat. Nearby is the marble church, another attraction from 16th century.

The cruise takes about one and half hour, so we spent some time on water before reaching the Black Diamond or Danish Library. This is the national library of Denmark and largest in the Nordic. In 1999 a new building was constructed adjacent to the old building, and it was called Black Diamond, because of the unique outer cover of black marble & glass and the shape of the building.

Holmen is an old Naval base and presently a residential area. So nothing much to say about it, but we were caught by the Little Mermaid bronze statue. I bet you are all familar with the story of Little Mermaid. If not, brush up your F-Q, i.e. fairy tale quotient. Hans Andersen was a prolific writer ( I bought my niece a a story book from Copenhagen airport, I had read some of his works in my childhood) and this is one of his most repeated tales. It tells the story of a young mermaid willing to give up her life in the sea and her identity as a mermaid to gain a human soul and the love of a human prince. The statue of Little Mermaid, commissioned in 1909, sits on a rock in Langelinie. Sadly, despite being the symbol that Copenhagen is identified within and the world over, she has been the target of many attacks by vandals. The visit to this iconic landmark concluded our canal cruise. We returned to the city centre to have dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, another joint favourite with Devmitra.

The next day we decided to explore the Baltic sea. We consulted our hotel receptionist on how to get there. (On most of our travels we have consulted hotel receptionsts about local attractions and modes of travel. They are excellent information providers; besides they have a sense of duty and obligation to their guests and hence will provide accurate advice). He suggested Amager strand beach, which is accessible by metro. We therefore walked down towards the nearby metro station at Vesterport. From there it took us around 20 min to reach Amager. A wide nature park welcomed us before we walked down towards the beach. There was lush greenery on which hungry horses feasted and some horse drawn carts for the tourists. The locals were either riding horses or cycling or simply walking. The beach area is known as Amager Strandpark. We reached the beach which was white and sandy. There were some kids running around, but overall the beach was quite empty. We could see the Oresund bridge and the wind energy generators in the distance. That gave us a vague idea of the location of the Kastrup airport. I, was however disappointed by the beach and the sea; it seemed so calm and tranquil. There was hardly any wave, it resembled a placid lake than a raging sea. Later we realized that it was part of large lagoon and not exactly the sea. After a random stroll along the beach, we decided to get back. By the time we got back to the city, the sun was directly overhead and we were ravenous. We therefore swiftly entered a Burger King and comforted ourselves with chicken burgers and fries (my favourite :)).

We had planned to spend the evening in Tivoli gardens. Devmitra had already visited this on an earlier trip. Tivoli gardens is a famous amusement park right adjacent to the city centre. It is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world and was opened in 1843. The park is best known for its wooden roller coaster. We were greeted after entry by a nice procession of fairy tale characters coming straight out of Hans Andersen's books. We saw the Tivoli guards, who are mere boys dressed in Royal Guard uniforms. We enjoyed every show and since Devmitra was extremely afraid of all forms of rides, I had to contend with an experience on one harmless ride and just walked passed the famous roller coaster with a sigh. By the time we left Tivoli it was 8 PM and we were hungry. The Hard Rock Cafe once located practically next door to Tivoli again provided us the well deserved rest and food.

Monday evening we went strolling as far as the Vor Frue Kirke or the Church of our lady, in Vor Frue plads near Strogate and Kopenhagen University after work. The Protestant Church is old but serene and beautiful (it is the national cathedral of Denmark). The area nearby (Plads) is a complete pedestrain zone with cobbled streets . We finally dined to good music at an Italian restaurant bang opposite Papas.

Come Tuesday & we headed back to Stuttgart after work. Though we did visit Copenhagen a few times after this trip, we treasure the memories of this short but beautiful chance to explore this wonderful city.

Deshe Bideshe 17 - Lisbon

Devmitra:

17th June 2006 - our first wedding anniversary. I guessed Shantanu was planning a trip for this occassion; he had that look of one with something up his sleeve for many days. Turned out I was right - my dear husband had planned for us to celebrate our one year of married bliss along the Atlantic coast in Lisbon or Lisboa, the capital city of Portugal. Unfortunately times were not so good back home. My Dad was down with fever; the irritating fact was that the doctors were unable to diagnose his ailment and his treatment seemed to be based on much speculation. In fact, on the morning of our special day, he was hospitalised and my poor Ma was having to manage on her own. It seemed heartless on my part to go on a trip in these circumstances. But my parents, particularly Dad goaded me to go on assuring me that he would be fine. So, with a prayer in our hearts, we set off on the morning of the 17th.

We reached Lisbon before lunch and checked into our room 805 at hotel NH Campo Grande. Shantanu loves staying in properties belonging to this chain; after all, NH Utrecht has been our haven many times. Those were our initial days in Europe, alone, far away from both & adopted home working in a high visibility project. At such times, our rooms at NH where we returned in the evening welcomed us to comfortable beds, great views and yeah, a wonderful breakfast spread :-). So it was not surprising that Shantanu had chosen this hotel as the venue for our first anniversary. After a short rest, we took off to see the city. Like most European cities, Lisbon also has an excellent transport network. Trams tour the older parts of the city while the newer areas are serviced by buses and the metro. We took the subway to Rossio. Also known as Praca Dom Pedro IV, this is one of the most beautiful squares in the city. It is edged with many cafes with outdoor sitting where people had stopped for a drink or a bite to eat. On either side of the square are two huge fountains. In the center is a monument in honour of Dom Pedro IV, the 28th king of Portugal and the 1st Emperor of Brazil. At the foot of the monument are four female figures representing Justice, Wisdom, Strength and Moderation, qualities attributed to Dom Pedro himself. We had arrived in the middle of the Cow Parade 2006 celebrations in this city and so coloured figures of the animal were placed at different parts of the square and the city. This was a public art event where multi coloured fibre glass cow figures were exhibited and sold in many important cities of the world. From the square, one can catch a glimpse of the Carmo convent which we were to visit later. The Rossio square leads to the Rua Augusta, one of the main streets of Lisbon. Only pedestrian traffic is allowed on this road and it is filled with shops selling almost everything under the sun. Immigrants from Africa and South America offer items of wood, metal, or leather, while other vendors sell books, souvenirs, sunglasses, paintings, t-shirts, and anything else to attract the crowds passing by. The road also boasts of its appearance in the movie Gulliver's Travels in which the Lilliputians wheeled actor Ted Danson, as Gulliver, through the arch. However the road will remain memorable to me for other reasons; spontaneous public display of affection is not one of Shantanu's qualities, but on this occassion, he presented me this beautiful boquet of red roses! Sudden & very romantic, a very pleasant surprise :-). The Rua Augusta leads into the Commerce square or Praca de Commercio through a wide arch decorated with statues of historical personalities, like Vasco da Gama. Mostly occupied by government buildings and a few restaurants now, this majestic square was once a major entrance to Portugal via the sea route. One can still see the old marble steps leading up to Commerce Square from the River Tagus. At the centre of the Commerce Square stands the equestrian statue of King Jose I. All this walking got a bit tiring and we headed back to the hotel after lunch.

Later in the evening, we took a trip to Cascais. This is a touristic town and one of its main attractions is the Port or Marina, a luxurious facility with capacity for more than 500 vessels. The train is the best way to travel between Lisbon and Cascais with frequent trains from Lisbon's Estacao Cais do Sodre. The 25-minute trip costs Eur 1.40. As we got off at the station, we were accosted by a garrulous but friendly taxi driver who offered to show us around. He took us around the port & then in broken English communicated to us that he would take us to a beautiful spot. The ride to this "beautiful spot" was really long and I admit that I was scared if he was planning to take us to some lonely spot & do away with us, though why he would want to do so was something I failed to consider. Also the weather suddenly turned foul, it got cloudy and there were intermittent light showers. Today I am glad that I stuck it out till the end of this ride for after 30 - 35 mins of taxi drive along the Atlantic coast, we reached Caba de Roca, a cape that forms the western most point of the continent of Europe. We walked to the edge of the cliff in the failing light and saw the lighthouse. Construction of the lighthouse was completed in 1772, and the structure rises 144 meters in height above the cape. I am not sure if it was the weather or the overall atmosphere, but the experience was simply superb. It felt thrilling, even scary to think that we were standing at the edge of continental land mass and that one false step could land us in the deep blue waters of the Atlantic. And the sight of the ocean - awe inspiring as violent waves beat upon the land, as if in a competition of who could hold on longer against the other. If the weather hadn't turned really bad and if we had arrived there earlier, we would have definitely spent more time there. However, we drove back to the station to catch the train back to the city. On the way, I fell sick and the taxi driver was most helpful, he offered water and was most understanding throughout. Isn't it surprising how you can sometimes receive help from the most unexpected quarters?

The next day, we planned to visit Sintra. After breakfast, we took the train to Sintra, the 45-minute trip costs Eur 1.40. Declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, this is one of the most romantic areas near Lisbon. In fact, Lord Byron called it the "Golden Eden". Since it is surrounded by tall mountains, the temperatures here are relatively lower than in Lisbon city. A thick mist enveloped the entire place and rendered the place almost surreal. We first visited the Town Hall and then walked down to the National Palace or the Palacio Nacional. This was built in the 14th century and has served as the summer house for Portugese kings since then. The exterior style is a mixture of Gothic and the Manueline with a good deal of Moorish influence adapted over the centuries. The interiors are also remarkable, including some of the oldest and the most valuable tiles in Portugal. Most of the rooms have many interesting stories to tell - like the room where Afonso VI was confined for six years by his brother Pedro II and where he eventually died, the myth is that the worn floor is a result of his constant pacing up and down. Or the flock of 136 magpies painted in one of the rooms, each bearing a rose and a scroll named 'Por bem'. The story goes that when his queen Philippa wasn't looking, Dom Joao I offered a rose to a lady-in-waiting and a magpie snatched it. The King excused himself by saying 'Por bem' or 'For good'.

Sintra is unique not only because of its palaces and churches, but also due to its peculiar characteristic alleys. The streets are narrow, mostly paved with stones and flights of steps connect them in some places. We explored the city for a while & then came down to the Guincho beach that lies at the foot of the mountains. This is a famous beach in this part of the world, a popular spot for wind surfing. The water was a deep blue and the beach was beautiful and clean. Fun and games in the water done, we headed back to Lisbon city. We visited the Elevator de Santa Justa or the Elevator of Carmo. This was built in 1902 to connect downtown streets with the uphill Carmo square. It bears a close resemblance to the Eiffel tower as the architect Raoul de Mesnier du Ponsard was an apprentice of Gustave Eiffel. The 45 m tall iron lift was originally powered by steam and later converted to electrical operation in 1907. The terrace offers spectacular views of the Rossio Square and the Baixa neighbourhood. Another surprise when we reached our hotel that evening - a complimentary gift of chocolates and port wine was sent up to our room, courtesy the hotel manager. Hmmm...wonder how he found out that we were there on our anniversary...

Our last day in this beautiful Atlantic city. We decided to explore some of the older areas today. We took Tram 28, one of the many traditional yellow trams and probably Lisbon's greatest ride as it runs through the narrowest and steepest streets of the Alfama district. The tram rattles past a unique selection of old Lisbon's sights, taking travelers through winding streets, past historic buildings and many such landmarks. Our first halt was at Santa Maria Maior de Lisboa, the oldest church in the city. Since the beginning of the construction in the year 1147, the building has survived many earthquakes and been modified several times with the result that it is now a mix of different architectural styles. From here, we boarded the tram again and got off at Castelo de Sao Jorge. Research has shown that humans have occupied the site since the 6th century BC, and possibly earlier by indigenous tribes. The castle and the city of Lisbon were won from the Moors during the Second Crusade. In the late 14th century, the castle was dedicated to Saint George, the warrior-saint, usually represented fighting a dragon. This was also the setting for the reception of the navigator, Vasco da Gama, when he returned after discovering a maritime route to India in 1498. Destroyed by earthquakes, the castle's period of neglect ended in the 1940s, when an extensive renovation was undertaken and it is today one of the most significant sites in Lisbon.

By now, it was time to catch our flight back to Stuttgart. Since the tram would arrive much later, we called for a cab to take us to the hotel & thence to the airport. Locating the cab in the middle of the street was a bit of a problem. Nevertheless we made it and returned home, safe and contended.

Deshe Bideshe 15 - Uttaranchal

Devmitra:

Of white water rafting, tiger sighting & capital visit - Apr 2008

We had had many trips where we visit a new place & its attractions. For some time now, we were itching to go on a trip where we try out some activity, some adventure. So we decided to try our hand at white water rafting on the Ganges. While we would be in that part of the country, why not also visit Uttaranchal & the Jim Corbett National Park? After all, this is something that I have been wanting to do since my Lucknow days! We had been planning this trip for almost a year before we finally set off on Apr 1. We had an early morning flight and would be flying out of the new "truly world class" Shamshabad airport in Hyderabad. This is about 32 kms. from home (and from everywhere else in the city). To further heighten the experience, we decided to take a radio cab, one of those new swanky cab services launched in the city, brand new fleet of Toyotas & Mahindras fitted with GPRS and an automatic billing system though I have always wondered how useful a GPRS would be on the roads of any Indian city. I mean, we are used to directions like "Opposite the temple / mosque / church" or "Adjacent to the kirana shop / super market / hospital / water tank". The GPRS I have seen in Germany operate primarily on distances & street names. Would the simple mind of the machine be able to work with the locations here? What if tomorrow the kirana shop moves to a new spot? Anyway, back to our trip. We booked a Dot cab which, true to its name, arrived dot on time. Earlier there was an SMS sent to Shantanu's mobile with the cab & driver details - impressive. We arrived at the airport 45 minutes later. Probably pale in contrast to other world class airports, the new set up was impressive in that it atleast looked like an airport unlike the older one that resembled a bus station. Spacious and a decent attempt at attaining a neat & orderly set up. However the typical desi attitude was prevalent here too; got into a quarrel with a gentleman in the check in line. Anyway we boarded our Indigo flight and reached New Delhi at noon. Shantanu has lived in Delhi before and is put off by the corruption, power play and worse - the weather. Luckily for him this time, we are shortly headed out to Haridwar via the Janashatabdi from the New Delhi railway station. For now, we took a pre paid taxi to the station, checked in our luggage into a dilapidated cloak room and headed out for some lunch. We reached Connaught Place and headed to Nirulas' to get something to eat. Shantanu regaled me with stories of his IIM days on the way when he used to stop over at Delhi on his way to or from Kolkata. After a meal of a thali for Shantanu & aloo paratha for myself, we headed back to the station, collected our luggage and waited for the train. The platform seemed to be bursting at the seams, the floor littered with dirt and the place crowded with vagabonds & passengers alike. Once the train arrived, we escaped the heat into the cool confines of an AC compartment. This train was not exactly like its upmarket counterpart, but nevertheless we settled down for our journey. The train was running late by almost an hour when suddenly Shantanu discovered that he had overlooked the date change while booking our tickets from Haridwar to Haldwani - this train leaves Haridwar at 12:05 am & Shantanu had mistakenly booked our tickets for the same night! However our plan was to spend a night in Haridwar, go rafting the next day & take the train the next night!!! Panic ensued but a fellow traveller comforted us & asked us to contact the station master at Haridwar. Needless to say we jumped out of the train & contacted the station master who assured us that we would be able to secure seats on the train the next day. Partly comforted, we headed to the Ginger hotel, where we had reservations by auto. The hotel is located far from the city & the autowallah made a killing at our expense. Ginger hotels boast of being a simple, low cost but comfortable hotel & they certainly seemed to live up to their promise. After check in, Shantanu attempted to contact a travel agent who could cancel the wrong tickets & get us correct ones, while I bought us a dinner of sandwiches at the Cafe Coffee Day that is located in the reception area of the hotel. The travel agent told us that cancellation was a lost cause, but assured us of seats for the next day. Thus assuaged we headed to our room, had dinner & tried to get some sleep.

We woke up at 7 the next morning & realised that breakfast in the hotel, though healthy, was overpriced at Rs. 116 per person. So we went out and had a hearty breakfast of aloo parathas at a bhojanalay called Danapani. The ticket agent was supposed to come to the hotel at 9 with our tickets but he did not turn up. Couple of frantic phone calls revealed that he would be able to deliver the tickets only at noon & that we should leave the money at the hotel reception. Left with no other option, we did the needful & headed out on our maiden rafting trip - correction: my maiden trip, Shantanu had already experienced this thrill before during his days at Bharati Telecom. The previous evening we had arranged with an agency called Explore Himalayan Adventures for a rafting trip from Marine Drive to Shivpuri. Rafting trips work out to be most economical for large groups, unfortunately there were only 2 of us & so we ended up paying the fare for 4 people. The agent, Mr. Monik Dhawan arrived at 9:15 am & we set off in a Maruti Wagon R. A short drive later, the view improved considerably. We left behind the city & the highway and drove alongside small streams that made their way to the river. Tall mountains surrounded us & green lush forests offered some comfort to our tired eyes. We stopped briefly at a temple & then proceeded to Rishikesh via Muni ki Reti. The road then went uphill & this presemted some difficulty in driving as repair work was on in many landslide affected areas. At these points the debris further narrowed the road; one false tread to the right & the car would fall through a huge gorge taking us with it. Our agent however seemed to be an expert driver; he got us safely to Shivpuri all the while telling us interesting tales. At Shivpuri, we moved into a pick up van driven by Lakshman and arrived at the camp site. Here we were joined by 4 boisterous boys, apparently from Delhi, who would be joining us on the trip. Almost an hour later, we descended at Marine Drive. Here we left our belongings in the van and were equipped with life jackets, helmets & paddles. Shantanu & the other guys carried the raft down to the riverside where it was cooled by splashing water lest it rupture due to the heat. We then boarded the raft & arranged ourselves suitably with Shantanu & me seated at the rear. Our instructor was Deepak Rana & he was assisted by Prakash. As the raft slowly bobbed along the river, Deepak taught us the different strokes - forward, back & rest. Also most important was the locking of the feet while we moved over a rapid so that we did not fall off the raft. The trip had begun peacefully & I was enjoying the calm surroundings when suddenly Deepak screamed "Jump!". Was he out of his mind? Jump into the ice cold water? But apparently that is one of the highlights of white water rafting. There is hardly any danger of drowning because of the life jackets & the feel of the cold clean water is too good to pass. Soon we encountered our first rapid - Mickey Mouse which was a Grade 1 rapid. The first experience was terrifying & for a few seconds, I was sure my heart had stopped beating! To make sure that I do not fall off while rowing (and also to see what the rapid really looks like), I gave up my oar to Prakash. Man, those rapids are so cool! As you rise to the top of the wave, you can see no bottom, just some white foam gurgling & ready to take you in! On & on we went rowing & resting alternately making our way through the rapids. The rapids we conquered - Mickey Mouse (Grade 1), Black Money (Grade 1), Three Blind Mice (Grade 3), Crossfire (Grade 2). Once we reached Shivpuri, Shantanu & I alighted while the rest went down further. We sat awhile at the office of the EHA & then were dropped at Lakshman Jhula. It is said that Lakshman crossed Ganga on jute ropes between the place where this bridge is built. Today it is a suspending iron bridge and a landmark of Rishikesh. On the other side of the bridge is Swargashram & the temple. We headed to Chottiwallah, a famous restaurant and had lunch. Then we took an auto till the bus stand & boarded a Delhi bound bus to get down at Dudhadhari Chowk close to where hotel Ginger is. We had already checked out that morning, but left our luggage in the cloak room. We freshened up, collected our tickets, and had some coffee. At around 5 pm, we headed to the railway station in a last ditch effort to cancel our "incorrect" tickets but to no avail. We then headed off to Har ki Pauri. This is the main ghat of Haridwar and was constructed by King Vikramaditya in the memory of King Bhagirath. The Main ghat and is supposed to be at the precise spot where the Ganges leaves the mountains and enters the plains. Each evening at sunset priests perform Ganga Aarti (the river worship ceremony) here, when lights are set on the water to drift downstream while priests engage in elaborate rituals. We watched the aarti for a while & then went back to the hotel. Dinner was a buffet spread & Shantanu wisely decided to book the hotel car to drop us at the station. Our train to Haldwani was late in the night & it was obvious that we would get no means of transport at that late hour. We passed the time in between playing some games & chatting up until 11:10 pm when the car arrived. We drove to the station and still had some time before the train arrived during which we stayed in the car as it was quite cold outside. Finally the train arrived close to midnight & we boarded our AC 2 tier compartment & tried to get some sleep. Alas, that was not to be. Our co passengers were to get off at Moradabad which comes in at 3 am. And once that did, this lady started calling out to her sleeping son on top of her voice - "Prince, Prince, wake up! we have arrived." But much to her dismay & to our extreme discomfort, Prince seemed reluctant to abandon his princely sleep. Worse still, I was sleeping in the side lower berth & it seemed like the entire train thought its responsibility to stop by & move the curtains to ensure that I was sleeping well :-(.

Finally at 6 am, we woke up. Shantanu's eyes seemed swollen & we were mortified that he had caught some infection. Luckily it turned out to be the result of sleep or rather the lack of it. We were still in that hazy zone before the shrouds of sleep are completely lifted when Shantanu realised that we had arrived at Haldwani, our destination, 5 minutes ahead of schedule. I was still brushing my teeth, but that luxury was not to be. Luckily we had not unpacked much during the night& so grabbed our luggage & jumped off on to the small but neat platform. All at once, we were surrounded by drones of taxi drivers - Sir, kahan jaana hai? (Where do you want to go?),Corbett, Nainital...When we did not respond, one of them quipped Local hai! (He is a local resident!). Once out at the station, we struck a deal with Rafiq, a cab driver at 800 bucks till Corbett Riverside Resort where we had reservations. We also asked him to stop at the Corbett Mueseum at Kaladhungi which is on the way. The weather was nice & the views were nicer still. We crossed Haldwani, a small sleepy but congested town & once on the highway, we cruised at a speed of 80 - 90 kmph. At Ramnagar, the road splits into two one headed for Nainital & the other going on further to Kaladhungi where we stopped at the Corbett Mueseum. It was nearly 7:15 am & though the mueseum was not oficially open, we could explore the place. This is actually the original residence of Jim Corbett, now converted to a mueseum. The house is small & simple surrounded by a beautiful garden. It was here that Corbett spent his last few years before moving to Kenya with his sister and carried out his conservation efforts.

After spending 10 - 15 mins at the mueseum, we hit the road again. The hamlets we passed on the way appeared to be quite prosperous. Tourism & agriculture seemed to be the main means of sustenance in this region. With the improvement in infrastructure including many resorts catering to all types of budgets, tourism in this region has received a major boost. We crossed Ramnagar & headed to Garjia which is about 11 kms away. We reached our resort at around 8 am & proceeded to the reception. Ajit at the reception was pretty friendly and after checking all the documents, opened up a room for us despite the fact that the check in time was at 12. However there was some bad news. Our package included a jungle safari in an open jeep for which we had paid Rs. 2720, but apparently the permit was not obtained. Worse, all the permits for the 30 vehicles for the morning were given away. The morning time is supposed to be the best time to sight animals & so this was a bit disappointing. After some discussion, Shantanu headed to the permit office accompanied by one of the men from the hotel to secure the permit for the afternoon rides. Apparently the office of the forest department was neat & clean and the people were courteous. However they were well aware of their power in issuing a permit & seemed to take great pride in the same. The crowd at the office was varied - a few domestic tourists, many foreigners, some folks seeking permission to stay in the forest guest houses. Anyways, Shantanu got back at almost 12 pm after securing the permit for the same afternoon. He also tried to get the bookings for the cantor (whatever that means) ride to another part of the forest for the next day, but the office did not open at its scheduled time. After he freshened up, we headed to the Riverside Restaurant. As we had reached before the peak weekend time, the resort was practically empty & so we were served lunch separately. The resort was beautiful. Our room was large & well furnished. There was a small bench in front of the room that made great seating with a cup of tea or a book. A short walk through a beautiful garden led to the restaurant. There were hammocks placed in the garden where you could cuddle up with a book or catch some sleep. River Kosi flowed at the edge of the resort. It being summer, it was very easy to go down to the river bed, that was dry & covered by stones, except for a small stream of water winding its way down. On the other side of the river were huge mountains and it was not very difficult to imagine a tiger or leopard hidden in the bushes on top. After lunch, we spent a few relaxing moments here after which we decided to get some sleep.

At 2 pm, our jeep turned up. The driver, Haneef, drove us first to the forest department office where we managed to secure the permit for the cantor trip the next day after a wait of about 15 mins. We then headed to the Bijrani gate of the forest. The Corbett National Park comprises 3 main areas - Bijrani, Dhikala & Jhirna & encompasses a total area of 1288 sq. km. Dhikala is the largest of the three & that was on our itinerary for the next day. As we drove in through the Bijrani gate, our driver selected a guide for us, Mr. Pandey & we took off. Soon after we entered the main forest area, we spotted a herd of elephants in the bushes. It was really difficult to see the entire animal. We had to be content with an ocassional trumpet or a swish of the tail...for now . We then caught sight of a crested serpent eagle perched atop a tree. We drove on meeting herds of sambar, peacocks, langurs, boars but alas! no sight of the tiger or any of the big cats. We saw loads of dear though, the spotted ones. According to the latest census, Corbett houses, 31,000 deer & 141 tigers. That's a healthy ratio of 200+ deer per tiger...healthy for the tiger, I mean :-). After about an hour or so, we reached the rest house area for a short tea break. Here we met Albeli, one of the elephants that are available for forest safari. Elephant safari is extremely popular & thus extremely busy as the animal moves off the beaten track & so it is purported that your chances of spotting a wild cat are better. Albeli's mahaut proudly told us that her mother Gomti was also an elephant of the forest department & that Albeli was born in the park. For now, she was engaged by a foreigner couple who seemed excited & happy to set off on their ride across the forest. We took off again hoping to catch sight of the tiger, but to no avail. As we turned back to return, we witnessed a spectacular sight that made the journey worth its while. Apparently the herd of elephants that we had spotted during our entrance had since moved. For some reason, two of the tuskers got into a fight & one of them was determined not to let the other join the herd. The sight of this struggle was really awe inspiring! We got back to the resort, tired but satisfied and went for a walk in the garden and along the river. Dinner was at 8:30 pm, again a meal served exclusively for us. We arranged with the restaurant for a packaged breakfast the next morning as we needed to be up & away by 5:30 am. We then headed back to the room for some much needed sleep.

The next morning, we awoke sharp at 5 am. A look outside revealed that it had rained the entire night. Our driver did not arrive until 5:45 am. Once he did, he turned out to be an exceedingly garrulous man called Ghulam. We reached the Dhikala gate at Dhangiri by 6 am. By now, it had started drizzling again & neither of us had thought of getting any warm clothes. Little did we realise then that the cold would be magnified in the open forest area & the open vehicle would do little to prevent it. Anyway the cantor turned up close to 6:30 am by which time, a small crowd had gathered there - a couple accompanied by their elderly parents, a pair of foreigners & a noisy group of 8 from Delhi. As we drove into the forest, we were warned against having any expectations of seeing the tiger - something that turned out to be a prophecy. First we stopped briefly to see tiger clawings on a tree. In addition to sharpening his claws, this is one of the ways that the tiger uses to mark his territory. The other is by urinating...ugh!!! Our guide also pointed out tiger paw marks in the wet sand. Apparently, this was as close to the tiger that I was going to get. :-(. However the sights of the forest were extremely captivating. The vegetation at Corbett comprises of tall Sal trees that ensure very little sunlight reaches the ground. Sal wood is one of the strongest kind available & lasts for eons. At one point the driver turned of his vehicle & we all stood & listened...to silence. Well, not exactly. If one listens closely, there is so much to take notice of. The sounds of the forest, the smells of the forest...the occassional chirping of birds or call of an animal, the smell of earth & trees...how I wish there was a chance to capture that & share it with you! We covered a large forest area but did not see anything different from what we saw the previous day - spotted dear, barking dear, wild boar, sambar, many species of birds but not even the tail of the tiger :-(. We stopped at one point near the Ramganga river which originates in the Himalayas & culminates into a reservoir after flowing through the Dhikala region. By now the cold had frozen me all over & so I begged the driver and the guide to let me sit with them in the covered driving area. We reached the Dhikala rest house which, we were informed, is the more modern of the forest rest houses in that it has electricity & even a canteen. Here we devoured the natural beauty surrounding us as we munched on our breakfast. As we continued on our journey, I did something really stupid. I do'nt know if it was due to the cold or the fact that I badly wanted to see a tiger, but I suddenly thought I saw some yellow & black stripes between the trees. I screamed out "There it is!" and the entire bus of people stopped & followed my finger. Alas, my vision was playing tricks on me...and the timing was really wrong! The entire bus looked at me as if I was a fool, some could barely keep from laughing. So much for my tiger sighting! On the return journey, the bus drove us to our resort where we freshened up & had lunch. By now the weekend tourists had arrived mostly from Delhi. We parked ourselves on the hammocks in the garden & relaxed as we read and slept. After some coffee in the evening & an early dinner, we went to bed, tired but contended.

Our last day at this beautiful place. We packed & checked out at 12 noon, but our train wasn't until 9:30 pm. We decided to hang around at the resort itself. There were no choices to go out & it was also raining heavily. When the rain subsided for a while, we went trekking. We crossed a suspension bridge along the river Kosi. There were a number of adventurous folks trying their hand at bungee jumping from the bridge. It was almost scary to see parents goading, at times even forcing their kids to take a shot at this sport! At the other end of the bridge was a narrow road that led to the Garjia Devi temple. By the time we got there, it started raining again. To get to the top of the temple, one has to cross rickety woodden bridges over the streams & also navigate a long flight of stairs. There was quite a crowd there & the weather also was most un co operative. So we headed back to our resort and stopped at a roadside shop for some tea & biscuits. The folks at the shop were pretty chatty & told us stories of the jungle and how & when one should come there in order to spot a tiger or leaopard for sure. When we reached the resort, the weather turned most foul. We had lunch at the restaurant and spent most of the time at the reception. In the evening, we freshened up and by 8 pm were ready to say our good bye to this part of the world. Ghulam came in with the taxi & we took off. Firstly we halted at Ramnagar where we bought ourselves packed dinner at a local restaurant. We still had a good 30 mins before our train arrived & so we waited in the AC waiting room of the Ramnagar station. Finally at 9:15 pm, the Corbett Link Express arrived. We found our AC 3 tier seats, had dinner & settled in for the night.

4:30 am the next morning, the train reached Old Delhi railway station. Just our luck - one of the times that we were ok with the train being 1 or 2 hours late, even praying for it, Indian Railways insists on being punctual. It was still pitch dark. Retiring rooms at the station would be available only at 8 am so we spent the intervening hours in a mixed dormitory. The room was occupied by one policeman when we went there, sleeping away the effect of his last beat. Later more people came in, all men & so it was not the most comfortable time for me. By 7 am we had given up. We got ourselves some breakfast & then managed to get a retiring room. The place seemed to be more than 200 years old & could definetely not brag about its cleanliness. Luckily we were there only for a few hours until the attractions at Delhi opened up. We first headed to the Red Fort or the Lal Qila. This historical monument and the city surrounding it was constructed by the Emperor Shah Jahan in 1639 A.D. It houses many buildings of great historical & architectural significance including the Diwan-i-Aam - where the emperor met his subjects, Moti Masjid, Naubhat Khana - the musician wall and the ladies' quarters or Rang Mahal. This fort represents the pride, glory as well as the downfall of the Mughal empire in India. The practice of unfurling the national flag from the ramparts of the Red Fort with a speech by the Prime Minister on the Indian Independence Day continues to this day. We then headed to Jantar Mantar. This observatory represents the scienific & the astronomical advances made in 18th century India. Maharaja Jai Singh II of Jaipur constructed five Jantar Mantars in total, in Delhi, Jaipur, Ujjain, Mathura and Varanasi that were completed between 1724 and 1735. Jantar mantar literally means calculation instrument. The primary purpose of the observatory was to compile astronomical tables, and to predict the times and movements of the sun, moon and planets. After viewing the marvels of the days gone by, it was time to experience one of the modern marvels - the Delhi metro. You are probably wondering why I called it a marvel. Well, one really has to ride it to know why. It is amazing and impressive to see infrastructure so clean & so well maintained these days. Also the stories of the engineering & bureaucratic hurdles that the team associated with this project overcame are famous. We had lunch at Wimpies in Connaught Place. We were supposed to meet a friend here, but somehow that did not materialise. Last on the agenda was a visit to Qutub Minar, but our autowallah said we wouldn't have time. So we went on a round of all the administrative buildings - The Rashtrapathi Bhavan, North Bloc, South Bloc, India Gate, Teen Murthi Bhavan & so on. Our conscientious driver dropped us at the airport -with a full 2 hours to spare :-(. Anyway, the flight back to Hyderabad was uneventful. At the airport, we faced a bit of a problem locating a taxi - only the designated radio cabs are allowed to come to the arrival gate. Finally we reached home ready to face our usual routine again.

Deshe Bideshe 16 - Andamans

Devmitra:

Sep 2007 and the humdrum of regular life shuttling between work & home was getting to us. So we decided to take a holiday & travel to the Andaman islands. These islands located in the Bay of Bengal are part of the Andaman & Nicobar Union Territory of India. To get there we would have to travel via Chennai and so we decided to include a short trip to Pondicherry in the itinerary. This city is a former French colony & today it houses the famous Aurobindo Ashram and Auroville. Since my parents were interested in visiting these sites, they decided to come with us until Pondicherry and return to Hyderabad thence while we continue on the rest of our vacation. Tickets were booked, rooms reserved & we set off on the 21st on board the Chennai Express. Mom and Dad came to the station well in time while Shantanu & I wrapped up our office chores & finally joined them. The train journey passed off well & we turned in for the night as we were to reach Chennai at 6 the next morning.

Morning arrived & with it came the first jolt of the trip - I was in charge of arranging for our transport to Pondicherry from Chennai station. But there was no vehicle waiting for us as was promised by the guy at the Ashram Guest House who I had spoken to. On calling him up, I found that he had "not recieved" my email confirmation & so assumed that there was no need for a cab. Anyways, we asked around & the only alternative we were offered was to take a bus to our destination. The four of us & our luggage squeezed into a single auto to CMBT - Chennai Mufassil Bus Station in about 20 min, cost 93 bucks. The ticket counter wore a deserted look and so we asked around. A cop standing there heard us & directed us to an ordinary ECR express that was just leaving. We were among the first few passengers but the bus took in many more folks as it made its way to the highway. We found ourselves sharing our seat with another Bengali family. Added to that I had taken an anti emetic drug which made me pretty drowsy. But there was hardly any place to get a decent nap & Shantanu mistakenly hitting me with our suitcase on the arm did not improve things! The road was good though - a toll road with hardly any potholes. Three long hours later we reached Pondicherry & asked the driver to let us off at a place near the Ashram Park Guest House where we had reservations. A short auto ride later, we reached the Guest House & checked into adjacent rooms. Like most other places of religious & spiritual importance, the essence of the Guest House is simplicity. The rooms are big & spacious each with a private balcony facing the sea. Furnishings are restricted to the quintessential but suited our needs very well. We were cash starved & it was also lunch time. So we quickly freshened up & took an auto to Mission Street - Pondicherry's shopping region. We located the ATM as guided by the man at the reception in the Guest House. We then had lunch - South Indian Thali, 33 bucks, unlimited quantity. On the way back, we realised that the Tourism Centre was pretty near the Guest House & so Shantanu & I decided to go down to get some information. The afternoon heat was extremely oppresive & the humidity was stifling. In addition, the trip to the Tourism Centre was not very helpful & so we walked back to the Guest House for a much needed nap. We realised that there was no scope for a conducted tour & so we struck a deal with an auto driver of 250 Rs. for a trip to the beach in the evening.

By the time we woke up, it was around 5. My parents had been long up & were taking a walk in the beautiful garden at the Guest House. We had coffee at the restaurant within the Guest House & then set off to find our auto driver. Dad had struck a bargain at Rs. 150 for the trip to the beach & the auto driver Shanmugham was waiting for us as we stepped out. Since four people in the rear seat would be too cramped for anyone's comfort, Shantanu volunteered to sit along with the driver. Brave decision - he had not bargained for Shanmugham's zeal & enthu in ensuring that we did not miss a sight & so had to put up with a constant chatter of broken English interspersed with a few Tamil words from the friendly driver :-).

It was already dusk when we reached the Repos beach about 7 kms from the town. There was hardly any approach road and the beach was not clean. Nevertheless, we splashed in the water for a while except Dad who is extremely allergic to getting wet. We drove back to the Guest House & it was'nt until much later that Shantanu had realised that he could not find his sunglasses. He had probably misplaced them at the beach! We went out & searched for the shop where we had stopped for a while but to no avail. Poor man was so disappointed! While he grieved over his sunglasses, Ma, Bappi & I went out for dinner. There is an eating joined called "La Terrace" adjacent to the Guest House that boasted of French cuisine. We decided to play it safe & stuck to good old "desi fare". I also got a sandwich & juice packed for Shantanu who was still down when we got back. Anyways, what ca'nt be cured must be endured.

The next day looked promising. Shantanu had sufficiently gotten over his loss of the sunglasses and joined us in making plans for the day over breakfast at the Guest House. Breakfast was good albeit slightly expensive. On the agenda was a visit to the Aurobindo Ashram & associated departments. For guests staying at the Guest Houses aligned with the Ashram, a lunch & dinner is also included coupons for which are available at the Guest Houses. The Ashram is about a 1.5 km walk from the Guest House. The main building houses the living quarters while the different departments surround it. Sadly these were closed as it was a Sunday. So we visited the main area and sat awhile under the big banyan tree in the courtyard. We also visited the library where Ma and Bappi bought a few. Sri Aurobindo holds great significance not only to India's mysticism and philosophy but also to the Indian freedom struggle. He entered politics around the time of the First Bengal partition from 1905 to 1912 and was one of the founding members of Jugantar party, an underground revolutionary outfit. Awaiting trial as a prisoner, he read through the Gita which brought him spiritual upliftment. From then on until the last of his days, Sri Aurobindo turned to the exploration of the subtle realms of human existence and, as a consequence, developed a new spiritual path which he termed Integral Yoga.

As we did not have any luck at visiting the other departments associated with the Ashram, we went down to a Vinayaka temple nearby. After spending some time there, we started walking towards the Ashram dining hall. The arrangements were all in place - short tables were placed on the floor and mats placed for seating. There is also an arrangement of chairs for those who find it difficult sitting on the floor. The food is served by the Ashram volunteers and comprises heaps of rice, a big bowl of sambar, bread, curd and bananas - simple but filling. While Shantanu walked back to the Guest House, the rest of us took a rickshaw and all of us turned in for a siesta. Unfortunately there was a power cut and the humidity & heat made sleep difficult.

Towards evening, we decided to head out to Paradise beach and backwaters about 7 -8 kms. from the town. I had negotiated a deal with an auto driver who was there at the Guest House gates for us when we stepped out. After an auto ride of about 20 mins., we reached the ferry point. There are different arrangements for the backwater cruise and the trip to the beach. We took the big boat and after a pleasant 15 min. ride, we reached the Paradise beach. This was relatively cleaner and we spent about 40 mins. there before we caught the last boat back to the ferry point.

The auto drivers in Pondicherry are very helpful and this was revealed on our trip back to the town. By then we had decided that none of us wanted to take the ECR bus back to Chennai & were on the lookout for a more comfortable conveyance. On asking the auto driver, he took us to the bus station where Shantanu & Dad got all the requisite information. We headed back to the Guest House and were in for a major treat. It was the day of the Ganesh idol immersion & since our Guest House was on the beach road, we caught the entire procession. It was a very colourful affair with Ganesh idols small, HUGE and of all sizes in between made their way to the ocean accompanied by music, colour and loads of fanfare! It was a treat for the foreign tourists as they had probably never seen such an event. We had coffee at La Terrace and returned to the Guest House. We had planned to attend a meditation session in the evening but by the time we located the place, the gates were closed. So we walked back to the dining hall where we had dinner - this time the meal included milk, a dessert and a piece of sweetmeat. The entire meal system is run by the ashram volunteers who cover everything - from the seating to the cleansing of the dishes. The guests are asked to dispose any leftover food in the trash after which the dishes are handed to the volunteers. They in turn soak the dishes & bowls & spoons in huge tubs of soap water and then clean them dry. Quite a painful task but the volunteers went about their job with absolutely no sign of any discomfort!

Next day we had planned to visit Auroville. This was the last day of this leg of the journey for me & Shantanu as we were to leave for Andamans that evening. Ma & Bappi would be staying an additional day at Pondicherry and then return to Hyderabad. Auroville was founded in 1968 by The Mother. The idea was to set up a universal town where men and women of all countries are able to live in peace and harmony. Today there are about 2000 inhabitants in this model town across 44 nationalities. Accomodation is self financed. Donations & contributions from the departments associated with the Ashram also add to the Auroville's economy. We first spent some time in the visitor center where we were also shown a movie on the Ashram. We then decided to pay a visit to the Matrimandir. This is a meditation center and an often represented piece of architecture. The walk to the mandir was about 10 mins. long but the sultry weather made it seem longer. And when we finally got there, there was some restoration work on & so we could not enter the Mandir. On the way back, we put Ma & Bappi on one of the electric golf cars that ply between the Mandir & the visitor centre while Shantanu & I trudged back. Shanmugham was there waiting to drive us back. He proved to be a very friendly guide and his enthu in ensuring that we appreciate his city and the current government was unmistakable. Before driving us to Auroville, he also took us to some local temples that had tall idols of many gods. He was probably a bit disappointed when we did not display the same interest as say a foreign tourist, but we could not help that! By the time we got back to the town from Auroville, it was 1 and we were starving. Lunch was at La Terrace - that had become our local kitchen. Shantanu & I had already checked out of our room that morning & after lunch the four of us rested awhile in Mom & Dad's room. Then Shantanu & I left for our bus to Chennai at 4 pm & reached the bus station with about 45 mins to spare for the 5 o clock delux bus. It came on time but did not seem keen to embark on the journey; finally at 5:20 pm, the conductor turned on a video cassette of Tamil songs at a volume high enough to wake up the dead & the bus finally left the station. Our request to turn down the volume of the music fell on deaf ears (with the music blaring so loud, can you blame them?) and all in the bus except us seemed to be enjoying the show; so the two of us put on brave faces & endured the pain. Shantanu was also concerned about how we would get to the airport from the bus station at Chennai as neither of us knew the city and it was getting to be dusk by the time we reached. On talking to the bus conductor, we ascertained that Guindy would be a good place for us to get off which we did & then took an auto to the airport - cost us 120 bucks. Next hurdle - getting inside the airport. At 9 pm, we were too early for our flight that was scheduled to leave at 4:40 the next morning. I had to put my superior negotiation skills to work & finally managed to convince the guard to let us in. All around people were eagerly watching the final match between India & Pakistan at the T20 cup, but we were too hungry to be bothered by that. After feasting on some sandwiches at the Taj outlet inside the airport, we plonked on the chairs & tried to get some sleep before the flight.

Morning 2 am and we sleepily walked to the other terminal where we needed to check in. We shamelessly jumped the queue for baggage check & earned ourselves some choicest rebukes; but we could'nt care less. Chennai airport did not appear to be equipped for the huge crowd of peple who were travelling at that time of the day - chairs were few and not in very good condition. Nevertheless we waited for the flight & finally went on board & promptly fell asleep. Couple of hours later, the plane arrived at Port Blair's Veer Savarkar airport. We got off and walked (you heard me right) across the runway to the terminal to claim our baggage. Baggage handling is arcane, but we recieved our bags within 10 minutes; sometimes things move faster the old fashioned way. Once we left the airport, we were met by our tour operators - Andaman Holidays who transported us to our hotel - the Sun Sea resort. The hotel looked a little worn out from the outside but the location is too good - bang in the middle of the city. Infrastructure seemed to be remote; then again tourism industry in India is still in its infancy compared to Europe or elsewhere. Also the 2004 tsunami wreaked havoc on these islands as we were to witness later.

Having freshened up & eaten breakfast (mostly south indian spread but filling), we decided to look around. Our tour operators would pick us up at 2:30 pm to visit Corbyn's Cove & then catch the Light & Sound show at the Cellular Jail. So we caught an auto & asked the driver to take us to the biggest shopping area. He drove us to the Aberdeen market which is the biggest shopping area there. Walking through the market reminded me of MG Road at Hyderabad ages back - small shops with dim lighting, limited display & loads of shop boys trying to get you to come inside. After strolling for a while, the afternoon sun got to us & so we headed back to the hotel for some shut eye. Post siesta & a light lunch, we set out accompanied by our guide Rajesh to Corbyn's Cove. We stopped at the Port Blair Science Centre which houses many interesting displays. The approach road to the beach was heavily damaged in the 2004 tsunami & we could still see proof of the same. There did not seem to be much of a road, more of a pathway and at many places, trees that were uprooted by the waves still lay across. Often our car would have to stop to let a vehicle from the opposite side pass as the road was not wide enough to accomodate two adjacent vehicles. The beach at Corbyn's Cove was calm and the water felt heavenly on that hot sunny noon. We spent a really long time at the beach and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

At 4 pm, we set off on the return journey to the Port Blair city. The ticket counter for the light & sound show at the Cellular Jail opens at 5 pm and we spent the intervening time in a small park - Veer Savarkar park located opposite. Our tour guides treated us like royalty & stood in the line to buy our tickets. The tickets are priced at Rs. 10 and so there is a long queue at the entrance. Once we got in, we were quickly herded into our seats and the show began at 5:30 pm. It was in Hindi & although I liked it, Shantanu thought it could be better. But for both of us, it triggered a thought process - what is that quality that differentiates a fighter from an ordinary man, that gives him the courage to defy authority & stand for what is right, that inspires him to fight for another's freedom and not shirk from even embracing death for it? To all those brave sons of India - Thank You seems to be too inadequate, yet we are genuinely grateful to you.

The next morning, we are to set off for Havelock island. The ship was to leave Port Blair at 6:30 am and so we woke up at 5 am and sleepily accompanied our tour guide to the harbour. On hindsight, booking this packaged tour at Andamans was the best thing that we could have done. After all infrastructure on this island is still in its infancy and we would have definetely missed the boat if we had relied on local transport to get us there on time. Of course, the ship, M.V.Deming finally left the harbour 30 mins behind the scheduled departure time - true Indian punctuality :-). And the cruise itself was a rude shock after our wonderful experience at Greece (am I comparing apples & oranges here?). It felt like we were in a coffin or like we were pigs or cattle being carried to the slaughter house - the room was dirty, the seats were tattered, no question of anyone adhering to their seat numbers and worse, none of the fans worked making the entire atmosphere extremely stifling. How I managed to fall asleep there is now beyond me, but after a few hours, I woke up to find Shantanu missing. I ventured out to the top deck and found him taking pictures of the beautiful surroundings. We also managed to see some flying fish and even a green turtle swimming in the waters. After about 3 hours, we reached Havelock. The tour guide from Andaman Holidays was waiting for us with the vehicle and whisked us off to Silver Sand beach resorts. While we checked in and sipped in our welcome drink, the bell boy named Chotu carried our luggage to our room. The resort was extremely beautiful - lush green all through with two storied cottages set up neatly across the place. We were on the second floor of the last cottage in the hotel & the room was vast - king sized bed, sofa, two extremely comfy easy chairs and a neat & clean bathroom. After being cramped on the ship for 3 hours, it felt heavenly! While Shantanu freshened up, I ordered breakfast. Wonder if it was the fact that the first meal was complimentary or whether I was genuinely hungry (by the time we discovered the snack bar on the ship, it was time to leave), I ended up ordering aloo parathas for myself & a sandwich for Shantanu. The food came & we literally gorged on it :-D. Lunch was to be served at the restaurant and we were to order the food atleast a half hour before so that it would be ready on time. On Chotu's recommendation, we opted for grilled pomfret. To reach the restaurant, one has to leave the resort, cross the road & walk over to the other side. The restaurant faces the sea and it felt extremely relaxing eating there. We mostly had the place to ourselves and hardly saw anyone during the meals we had there during our stay at Havelock.

Hunger satiated, we took a short nap until 2:30 pm when our vehicle came down to drive us to Radhanagar beach or Beach no. 7. The drive to the beach offered a typical rustic picture - infrastructure wise, Havelock is remote compared to even Port Blair and a single road appeared to run across the length of the island. The drive was bumpy and slow but the surroundings made up for it - small huts in the middle of lush green fields, children playing without a care in the world and ducks & chickens fearlessly crossing the road. From time to time, we saw groups of Europeans who rent two wheelers & navigate their way on the path as much with ease as a native driver. No wonder these folks had at one time conquered half the world! Havelock has an area of some 92 sq.km. and is the largest of the islands which comprise Ritchie's Archipelago. Our destination, Beach No. 7, better known as "Radha Nagar" Beach, is one of the most popular beaches on Havelock and was named "Best Beach in Asia" by Time in 2004. And once we reached the place, we were not surprised. For a change, the beach is extremely clean. And the sea looked extremely beautiful - foamy white waves gurgling forward as if calling us in for a game. Shantanu quickly opted to take a bath and spent a lazy 30 mins in the water. All over the beach sand, you could make out the patterns made by crabs; Nature is the best artist. It began to get dark and although we really did not want to leave the place, we had no choice. While our driver got the car, we had tea at the small shop outside the beach. Back at the hotel, there was nothing much to do and so we spent a blissful evening taking in the serene atmosphere around us before retiring for the day.

The weather turned a little gray the next day with intermittent drizzles. We prayed that the rain gods would not mess our snorkelling plans. We set off from the resort at 8:30 am and reached the jetty in a matter of minutes. Still remember the sight of this huge pig that was there at the jetty, snorting so loudly that it was almost scary! Anyways we got into a small fishing boat equipped with a small motor that would take us till Elephantine Beach - the spot from where we would go snorkelling. The weather cleared by then & the boat ride was fun with waves splashing us from all sides; we were reminded of our ride on the Arabian Sea to St. Mary's island in Mangalore, but the waves there were bigger & wilder. Soon after the boat anchored at a small beach (nothing elephantine about it). We were soon joined by another family. Our boat guys conveyed to us in broken Hindi that we were to wait there for the guys who would take us snorkelling. There was a small hut apparently a changing room of sorts, but completely littered with remnants of a camping trip. Soon after the life guards arrived and to our good luck, they both spoke Bengali. We decided that I would go first and so I geared up. I was first fitted with thick glasses that also covered my nose completely and then given my breathing pipe. Since all breathing during snorkelling takes place through the mouth, one end of the pipe is shaped like a mouth which should be held firmly between the jaws. The other end remains above the water and allows the air to pass. I am a scaredy cat when it comes to most things and this would be my first under water adventure. Would I pass out? My guide spent some time calming my anxiety and showing me how to balance my weight on the life buoy. The idea is to hold the buoy at your chest and once you enter the water, lie down holding the buoy at the chest level and paddle with your feet. The head needs to be held at the surface of the water to ensure that you see clearly as well as are able to breathe freely. It took me a few minutes to adjust to the whole idea but once I got the hang of it, I loved it so much that I went in a second time! I only wish I had a camera that would capture all that I saw there...it was...amazing...like a city underwater, a city bustling with life...corals of various colours & shapes just like the buildings we see on land & fish of all sizes moving in & out. At one point, my guide even plucked out a coral for me to touch. Seeing what I saw down there only made me marvel at His creativity. And the sheer beauty of it all! The green parrot fish...funny name for a fish, I thought, but the beauty of the colours on the skin...amazing!!! Also at one point, my guide made me stand absolutely still...and an entire school of small blue fish surrounded us...man! it felt...WOW!!! Shantanu also went in and unlike me lost his nerve a bit. He forgot the essential rule & started breathing through his nose. Water entered his nose immediately & he panicked. Thanks to the able life guards, nothing serious happened & Shantanu recovered to complete his maiden snorkelling adventure as well as a second trip! Snorkelling & other water adventures are more expensive on these islands as compared to Port Blair but the water is clearer and so the cost is definetely worth it. We played around on the beach while our clothes dried & then set off at 12 noon. Once we reached the hotel, we dried ourselves, had a sumptuous lunch and then took off by the 2'o clock boat to Port Blair. The return journey took only 2 hours and having reached Port Blair, we were driven back to our hotel.

Back to Port Blair and Day 4 of our visit to the wonderful Andamans and the program for the day was a visit to North Bay island & Ross Island. By 9:30 am, we had reached the jetty. There was some confusion about which boat would carry us and we went through a couple of inter boat transfers before we finally made it to our boat. Owing to the "contacts" of our guide from Andaman Holidays, we were allowed to sit inside the captain's cabin; later we realised that we were not the only privileged ones, two other couples from Bangalore soon joined us. Anyways the cabin was spacious and sheilded us from the rain. "Master" as the driver was called also allowed me to steer the boat for a while :-). By the time we got to North Bay island, the rains settled down to a light shower and we all got off for a round of snorkelling. Disappointing set up - just a few makeshift cabins where one has to change, a small canteen serving south indian meals, a vendor selling biscuits etc. and a questionably secure locker room where we are to stash our belongings. It is sad that neither the Government nor any big private player has bothered to invest in these parts. In all fairness to the locals, they make a huge effort to ensure that the tourists have a good time including a minimal charge of Rs. 250 per person for snorkelling and a 20 bucks charge for the locker. Anyways, once we had changed and secured our belongings, we were all bundled into glass bottom boats which would take us to the middle of the ocean. These "famous" boats are normal canoes with a 8 by 1 sheet of thick glass at the center of the floor through which the tourists view the corals. One has to be extremely careful while stepping on it but the glass is not very clean & offers a murky view of the corals despite the guides constantly splashing water on it. Once we reached the middle of the ocean, the snorkelling guides began escorting groups of 4 - 6 people for about 30 mins of snorkelling. Unlike Havelock, there was a huge crowd here - a Bengali family of four, an elderly Bihari couple, four young men from Chennai, two old Bengali guys. Some of them were excited about going snorkelling while some were not so sure. Thanks to our stint at Havelock, we are pros at this game :-) and so were able to go through the whole round very comfortably. Sadly, the water was not very clear and owing to the rains, we only got to see a turbid view of corals; we were certainly glad that we had gone snorkelling in Havelock! Once we got back to the beach, we changed back into dry clothes and snacked on some biscuits. After a while we set of to visit Ross Island. Named after the marine surveyor Sir Daniel Ross, this was the original seat of the British adminstration in the Andamans and home to a thriving community, largely due to the presence of clean drinking water sources. Known as the Paris of the East, the island had a protestant church, a market place, a bakery, bunglows, swimming pools, club houses, cemetery and what have you. In 1943, the island was occupied by the Japanese who converted the place to a military set up and put up war bunkers. When Japan surrendered at the end of WW II in 1945, the island was returned to the British until the Indian independance in 1947. Today the island houses the ruins of the British and Japanese occupation and also shelters some deer and peacocks. We got ourselves some coffee and then explored the island on foot. Finally at 3:30 pm, we returned to the boat and arrived back at Port Blair in 15 minutes. We had gotten so used to being pampered by Andaman Holidays that the absence of a vehicle at the harbour came as a rude shock. By this time, it started raining heavily and we had absolutely no where to go. Few frantic phone calls later, our driver showed up - turned out that he was told that the boat would arrive after 4 pm. Anyways, all's well that ends well. Also this small misfortune revealed the generous nature of the locals - a policeman offered us shelter from the rain, a cab driver opened his vehicle so that we could avoid getting drenched.

Day 5 of our trip and a nasty surprise. We had a 10 hour gap before our flight to Hyderabad from Chennai and had booked a hotel room so that we could freshen up and also get some rest. We also had plans of driving down to Mahabalipuram. Unfortunately the ruling DMK party called for a bandh in Chennai on the same day and all transport was expected to be off the roads. So we faced the prospect of spending almost an entire day at the airport. Anyways we made a few calls to Yatra.com asking them to cancel our hotel reservation. While still awaiting a response from them, we got ready for our Port Blair city tour. We first visited the Anthropological Mueseum which offered loads of information on the various aboriginal tribes on the different islands. We then drove down to visit the Cellular Jail. The last time we were there only for the Light & Sound show and this time we got a chance to visit the jail. Cellular jail or Kaala Pani as it was commonly known is one of the darkest chapters of the Indian freedom struggle. The history of using the Andaman island as a prison dates back to the First war of Independance in 1857. Built over 10 years & completed in 1906, the Cellular jail housed some of the many famous Indian freedom fighters. This included Vinayak Damodar Savarkar or Veer Savarkar in whose honour the airport at Port Blair is named. The entire structure comprised a central watch tower with seven arms. Each arm consisted of a three storey building comprising the prison cells. Today only three of the spokes remain standing. David Barry, the jailor considered himself the God of the land & subjected the prisoners there to extreme torture - physical & mental. The prisoners were tied to the yoke & made to extract coconut oil - a job normally done by cattle. The cells themselves are 4.5 metres x 2.7 metres in size with a ventilator located at a height of three metres and prevented any prisoner from communicating with any other. The Empire of Japan invaded the Andaman islands in 1942 and drove the British out. The Cellular Jail now became home to British prisoners and, later, to members of the Indian Independence League, many of whom were tortured and killed there. During this period, Subhash Chandra Bose also visited the jail. The INA was an ally of the Japanese army and Netaji met the Indian prisoners of war. He renamed Andaman & Nicobar islands as Shahid Dweep (island of the martyr) and Swaraj Dweep (island of self governance) respectively. In 1945, the British reoccupied the islands after World War II ended. Next on the agenda was a visit to Samudrika, a maritime mueseum and a local zoo. Finally we reached the Chattam Saw mill - the largest of its kind in Asia. We saw the entire process of how wood from different forests across the islands is converted to logs of timber and finally shaped into different artifacts. On the way back we stopped at some local shops for some souvenir shopping and returned to the hotel for lunch. The afternoon itinerary comprised a trip to Mount Harriet - the highest peak in South Andamans. But to our bad luck, the road was closed to facilitate some repair work. So our guides took us to Chidiya Tapu. This is at the far end of Port Blair. It is famous for attracting a variety of birds, especially during sunset. However the wet weather was not very conducive for bird sighting. The beach was also inaccessible as this place was also heavily affected by the 2004 tsunami. We spent some time watching the sunset & playing in the water before we drove back.

Last day of our stay at the Andamans. Today a visit to the Red Skin island, part of the Mahatma Gandhi Marine National Park is on the cards. A 45 min drive took us to the entrance of the park. A special permit is required to enter the park which our travel guides had already secured and the ticket includes snorkelling charges. Also no plastic is allowed on the park. One has to pay a deposit of Rs. 100 in case one needs to carry any plastic to the island which is refunded once you bring back the same with you. We started at 10 am accompanied by a huge crowd of mostly Bengali families in a nice big boat. The cruise was good but the intermittent showers played spoilsport. 45 minutes later we reached the Red Skin island. We got off from the big boat & were driven to the island in smaller boats & groups. The beach is basically a small strech where the boats anchor. The rest of the island is covered with dense bushes and tall trees. I opted out of snorkelling today; the mood did not feel right. Shantanu took off in the light rain. His guide spoke Bengali and soon struck a deal - Rs. 100 extra for venturing into deeper waters where there was chance of viewing sea cucumbers. Shantanu managed to get a good view of many sea cucumbers, some of them apparently almost the size of a grown man. Once all the enterprising snorkellers had returned, us non snorkelling 'junta' were put on the glass bottomed boats and driven to the middle of the sea to view the corals. The water here offered a better view compared to North Bay but paled in comparision to Havelock. Once this was completed, the entire group walked to the other side of the beach to get into smaller boats that would convey us to the bigger one. We were ferried back to the park entrance where our guides were waiting for us. On the drive back, we said our good byes before getting off at the hotel. We spent a leisurely evening & turned in early as we had an early morning flight to catch. Our tour guides were promptly there at the hotel at 5:30 am the next day & drove us down to the airport. Our flight was at 7 am & we reached Chennai by 9. No thanks to the strike, we were confined to the airport until late evening before we finally boarded the flight back to Hyderabad.

Deshe Bideshe 14 - Mallorca

Devmitra:
Mallorca - Aug 2005
We got married in June 2005 and did not have much time for a honeymoon as we had to head back to work almost immediately. The software system that we had designed & built for Daimler had just "gone live" in the second market and we expected to have our hands full. Luckily Aug 15 was a holiday in Germany (but working day in rest of markets that we were supporting, so partially working for us) and so decided to have a somewhat delayed honeymoon at Mallorca. After some haggling with our boss, we finally could manage to get one day leave and that too on a holiday ;). We chose this destination because (a) we wanted to head out to an island, amid the sun, the surf & the works and Mallorca was the nearest spot to fit the bill and (b) two of our colleauges had recently gone to Mallorca and claimed to have thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Mallorca or Majorca was an old Arab setlement for quite some time in the middle ages until the Spanish reclaimed it. Till date, here are quite a few Moorish remnants here. Like any other coastal area of Spain & Portugal, Mallorca became a hot favourite among the British and German tourists. They in turn bought properties on the island in the 80's and 90's and settled down here. Today a part of the island, esp. the Pollensa bay side, houses many British settlers and tourists. Ibizza, on the other hand, is predominantly German. The rest of the land is inhabited by Spanish, Catalans, Italians and of course, the ubiquitous Asian migrants.

We booked a room in a hotel near the city centre (it was the peak of the tourist season & hotel rates were at their highest) and set out on a fine sunny day aboard a German Wings flight from Stuttgart. The aisle seat was ocuupied by a German individual who was engrossed in his copy of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. When he finally finished the book, he put it down and looked us disappointedly - pathetic book, according to him. The ice thus broken, he gave us loads of information on the island. Apparently he worked in Munich while his family lived in Mallorca. Thanks to him, we came to know that the island is very small, practically "driveable" within a few hours. Neither of us had a license & so we took a cab to the hotel. The driver seemed to know the place & an approximately 30 min drive cost us merely 15 Eur and brought us to our hotel (so cheap compared to Stuttgart, we thought!).

It was not yet noon and so we gathered our maps & went down to the reception to glean information on bus/tram service, beaches etc. The bus stop to the sea beach was a good 20 min walk. Another 30 min journey by bus brought us to Ses islets. The beach here was great, not too big, but good enough. Like any other tourist beach, hotels & eating joints lined the place. We spent some time splashing about in the water and had a great time. It soon got dark and we decided to take the bus back. Dinner was at a Chinese restaurant near the hotel; not great food, but nevertheless filling.

The program for the next day was to explore the Soller beach. There is a small train that carries tourists to the beach through a picturesque valley. Small incident on the way - I realised that I had was not wearing my wedding ring and could'nt remember where I had left it. So I HAD to go back to the room to find it which we did - under the bed! Luckily the housekeeping folks had still not entered the room and so we were able to locate the ring. That done, we realised that if we do'nt rush back, we are bound to miss the train to Soller & so we took a cab to the train station & barely managed to catch the train. The trip was worth the effort! Basically made of wood, the Soller train dates back to 1912 and since then has been connecting this small village with the main capital of the island. The train service was started to enable the locals commute to the city to sell their orange produce which this region was famous for. One of the main attractions of the Soller Train is that they still use the same machines they did when inaugurated nearly a hundred years ago! Today a one way ticket to Soller cost 6.50 Euro, and 11 Euro if both ways. It was a bright & sunny day and the sights in the valley were nice. At Soller, a small bus took us to the beach. The view was great, but there was not much to do. The beach itself is pretty small, really not more than a backwater. The train back was only in the evening so we decided to take an early bus back to Mallorca. The bus stop bore a forlorn and deserted look; nevertheless the bus was on time & as it took a shorter route back, we reached Mallorca in about a hour and a half. We then headed straight for Ses islets. We stayed there for about an hour. Shantanu took to the water like a fish to the sea & indulged in a nice, long, leisurely bath :-). As dusk approached, we felt really hungry and so headed to the sea side restaraunts for dinner. The first one needed us to have a reservation & since we did'nt, we headed to the one beside it, its not so up market cousin. In the spirit of adventure, we ordered for sea food & chicken kebabs. The presentation was great and we ate to our hearts' & stomach's content.

Next morning, we had planned to visit the Cabrera islands. We had booked seats with a travel agency that would take us to the islands by boat. But the boarding point was about 60 kms from Mallorca & we had to arrange for our own conveyance. So we took a cab to the place and after about an hour's drive, reached the place. The ferry was a small one and there was a motely crowd of about 30 people mostly from Europe. The cruise on the Mediterranean was great - cool breeze and warm sun. Ultimately we reached the much touted island and its national park. The Cabrera National Park is to the south of Mallorca and is made up of 19 small islands and isles with an area of 1,318 hectares on land, as well as the sea area that surrounds them, with a maritime area of 8,703 hectares. However we did not have the permit necessary to visit the park and so we went hiking. That got too tiring as the day got progressively hot and so we grabbed some drinks at a makeshift bar. We then lazed around on the beach for a while after which lunch was served - a measly lunch of sea food. The most characteristic vegetation of Cabrera is the low hills of wild olives and Junipers (Juniperus phoenicea), although there are also some extensive pine areas. Marine birds, such as the sea gulls as well as birds of prey such as falcons are also found on the islands.
After spending some time on the beach, we set out on the return trip at about 3 pm. On the way back, the boat took a detour & entered Cova Blava or the Blue Cave. As the name implies the water inside the cave was a deep aquamarine blue, a blue that we had never seen before. It looked like an artist had emptied cans of blue paint into the water in the cave. It was difficult to imagine that the water inside was of the same sea that streched outside the cave. The boat set anchor inside the cave for a while for the swimmers to take a plunge into the deep blue waters. But we didnt have the stomach to jump into the ice cold water, nor did we know swimming. Finally we headed back and reached the bus stop. There was still some time before the bus arrived, but unfortunately, my stomach started to rebel and I felt extremely sick. Once we reached Mallorca, Shantanu wasted no time in getting a taxi and getting me back to the hotel. Fortunately I felt better after a while and so we spent the evening in the hotel where we also had dinner.
The next day was the last day of our trip. We checked out of the hotel in the morning & decided to take a submarine ride at a place called Magalluf - my brilliant idea! Shantanu would have prefered a lazy day at the beach :-). Nevertheless we left our luggage in the hotel safe keeping and took a taxi to Magalluf. It was a typical tourist spot with modern buildings and a beautiful sea beach. The view was great - children playing on the beach, gliders and balloons dotting the sky and loads of sea birds perched on the sea rocks. It took us a while to locate the office where we bought our tickets for the submarine trip. A smaller boat would take us to the submarine that was anchored in the middle of the sea. We were also gifted a DVD of the sights from the submarine trip. But my weak stomach started to act up again and so we looked around for a pharmacy. As my ill luck would have it, it was a Monday - the weekly day off for pharmacies in Spain. So we had sandwiches at a small resturant hoping lunch would make things better. We then took a cab to Marine Land. This is an amusement park that had a variety of birds - flamingoes, macaw, parrots, cockatoo etc. There was also a dolphins and sea lions that we thoroughly enjoyed. Towards evening, we took a taxi back to the hotel, picked up our luggage and headed to the airport from where we took the flight back to Stuttgart. Despite the misadventures and the sicknesses - a wonderful trip to the island of Mallorca.

Deshe Bideshe 13 - Barcelona

Shantanu:

Barcelona, the capital of Spain and the most important city in Catalonia was in our consideration set as a tourist spot for a long time, but we were simply not able to fit it in our schedule. The chance came in January 2006, the 6th being a holiday and falling on a long weekend. We estimated that two and half days would be enough for Barcelona. Even though it would be cold out there and we would not be able to enjoy the sea beaches, we estimated that we would be better off in a warmer coastal area than in cold Stuttgart. Therefore on a Friday morning we boarded the Lufthansa flight which would take us to Munich. From Munich we boarded the Spain Air flight for Barcelona.

The flight was uneventful. We reached Barcelona at around noon and took a taxi to the hotel. Barcelona International airport at El Prat de Lllobregat is about 3 km from city. We stayed in a hotel in Poblenau distict, which is an upmarket area in Barcelona, with a lot of new and planned modern construction and also very near the sea beach. The day we arrived, we had lunch in a nearby Chinese restaurant as there was nothing else anywhere nearby and we were in no mood to go out elsewhere. We spent some time at the beach and then had a short siesta (in keeping with Spanish tradition). In Late afternoon, we strolled down leisurely to the nearby metro station to go to our intended places of attraction. The first on the agenda was none other than the famous Sagrada Familia, one of Gaudi's masterpiece. Located in Eixample district which boasts of Gaudi's other major creations, this church is a major tourist attraction in Barcelona. Sagrada Familia is on L2 and L5 line of metro. So coming from Poblenau, we had to change at La Pau. The architect, Gaudi worked on this project for 30 years, since 1882. But the church remained incomplete at the time of his death in 1926. In fact, work is still going on to complete the structure, as per the original plans. The entire structure as can be seen from the picture on the right, deviates fom convention, nevertheless, it captures imagination. The towers on the Nativity facade are crowned with geometrically shaped tops much in line with Cubism, an art form. We roamed around the church and saw the partially constructed areas, but did not go inside. From Sagrada Familia we walked down the Passeig De Gracia trying to locate more of Gaudi's works. After a few searches here and there, we decided to follow the line of tourists. Smart decision, we finally reached Casa Mila or La Pedrera, another unique creation from Antoni Gaudi. This is different from traditional architecture in that there is not a single straight line. If you ask me privately I would say it looks like the crooked house of the nursery rhyme. However, hats off to the master architect who designed such a building, in the prevalent art form called Expressionist. We also saw some other buildings like Casa Battllo nearby and walked on further along Passeig De Gracia. Next on our agenda was the Olympic village and the port of Barcelona. We hopped on to the metro from Passeig De Garcia and got down at Barceloneta. Barceloneta or Little Barcelona was built after King Felipe V ordered the construction of a new fortress (La Ciutadella, now a park) in order to control and punish the city of Barcelona, that fought against him during the war of Spanish Succession. The fortress was planned very close to the city so that a tenth of it was demolished. The people who lived in this part had no compensation and as a bigger punishment were obliged to demolish their own houses. Historically a fisherman's quarter, Barceloneta has always been a poor quarter, with dark and narrow streets, although it's slowly being gentrified after the 1992 Olympics. (source: wikitravel).

The port and Olympic village was walking distance from the station, or so we thought. However walking along the road, consulting the map is not very easy for a tourist as there is always a chance of getting lost. It happened to us as well, after 10 mins of futile walking, we concluded that we must be far from reaching our destination. In the meanwhile a Spanish fellow stopped us on the road and asked us directions to the harbour in broken English. The poor fellow apparently came from Madrid this morning and lost his girlfriend whom he was supposed to meet at the harbour. I had no clue how he could go to the harbour, I was looking for the way myself. While I was explaining this to him, a man in uniform appeared from nowhere. He asked us in an official tone who we are and what were we doing. Then he asked for our passports which we had left in the hotel. We had heard horrifying tales of notorious criminals in Europe who mug in the name of official inspection (happened to one of our friends in Brussels), so we were careful. The person asked me to show my wallet which I did, albeit I kept a tight grip on the money. He then entered into a rapid conversation in Catalan/Spanish with the other person and peeped into his money bag as well. Then he explained to us in good English, apparently Barcelona is notorious for drug peddling, esp. with tourists, so he was checking whether we were also indulging in some such activity. Any conversation between a tourist and a local is a matter of suspicion and is investigated thoroughly.

Finally we located the Olympic village of Barcelona. This is built on the sea front by the Port Olympic Marina. The village was built for the 1992 Olympic Games and has now been converted to other uses and contains the 4 star Hotel Arts Barcelona and Olympic Village Apartments. The hotel is in one of the two tall towers on the Placa dels Voluntaris. These towers are the tallest in Spain with a height of 153.5m. There are numerous sculptures along the sea front. The Olympic harbour was constructed in 1992 and has a huge capacity. It was full of yatchs even in the cold month of January when we visited. It has a vibrant community of restaurants and public places and contributes effectively towards the nightlife of Barcelona. Near it is the Passieg Martim de la Barceloneta. We roamed around the Barceloneta sea beach. The water was too cold but the beach and sea front was nice. Once the sun set, it was getting cold and we felt the biting chilly winds. So we decided to move and come back to our nice cozy hotel room. We spent sometime in Las Ramblas, the main thoroughfare in this city and basked in its crowd and festivities. Even after considerable hunt we could not locate any suitable restaurant nearby and therefore settled for Chinese food at our lunch time restaurant.

Next morning was bright and sunny and we had several things on our agenda. The first was a longer visit to Las Ramblas again and Mont Juic, then the Barcelona Aquarium, followed by an experience of the local culinary flavor - the famous Spanish food - Paella (pronounced as "Payea") and soaking our taste buds in Sangria, the local wine based drink. We strode along Las Ramblas, a 1.2 km long tree lined pedestrian thoroughfare with plenty of variety for locals and tourists alike. It is also called Les Rambles in Catalan. The street goes on and on from Placa de Catalunya to the Christopher Columbus statue at port Vell and has several other streets in its basket. It also contains the largest congregation of shops and eateries in Barcelona. Las Ramblas is apparently also notorious for its seedy sides, in form of pickpockets and red light areas. There is a flower market and a bird's market on the way. Several live attractions like street performances and statues beckon you. Devmitra stood transfixed near one such statue. It was apparently headless and yet wearing a pair of specs and a hat. It even shook hands with her and smiled an invisible smile for a picture.

We ended up near the statue of Christopher Columbus in Port Vell - a 60 m tall monument dedicated to one of the greatest explorers in the world. The man had gone out in search of us (India) some 515 years back and in the process found a new landmass. Now we have visited him from India :-). As is common knowledge, Bareclona was the spot where Columbus reported to King Ferdinand and queen Isabella, who sponsored his famous voyage. The column, hung with a device bearing an anchor stands on an octagonal pedestal from which four bronze winged victories take flight towards the four corners of the world, above paired griffins. There is a huge lion at the base. The construction of this column was completed in 1888. Columbus points to the new world from the top. As it was sited, instead of pointing to the west towards the New World, the statue points east towards Columbus's supposed home city of Genoa. We then saw the model of a typical ship of 15th century. Back then, Spain was a powerful entity in maritime activities and had conquered a large part of the world. It also had established a huge trade with the Arab and other Eastern world. We have all heard of the famous Spanish Armada and how it was destroyed in a war with queen Elizabeth's Britain.

We moved on to the aquarium and shopping arcade. By this time it had started raining and we were comfortable inside, with the fish and other marine life. The Barcelona aquarium is one of the largest in Europe and has an impressive collection of Mediteranean species of sea life. We saw tiger sharks, sting rays, various kinds and sizes of fishes, huge lobsters, sea horses, corals, sea anemones, and even some penguins(!).

Once the rain stopped we went down to Mont Juic and Spanish village. Mont Juic castle is a municipality building located 170 m above sea level. The sky was overcast and there was a light drizzle. We first went to Placa Espanya and from there proceeded towards Mont Juic, but halfway we discovered that we (read Devmitra) were tired and hungry and unwilling to walk so far up. So we retreated our steps back to Las Ramblas and after some manhunting, located a fine dining restaurant. Devmitra was tired of searching and had almost set her mind on Hard Rock Cafe, but I was hell bent on eating Paella. Patience pays. Soon we found ourselves at a table and being served by an English speaking waiter. Not wanting to take chances with sea food, we ordered a vegeterian Paella and Sangria, which came within 20 minutes. The Paella was steaming hot and served directly from the frying pan on our plates, the taste was amazing! The Sangria was heavenly and we soon drank ourselves to sheer pleasure!

By the time we left the restaurant, the Sangria and the food had gotten to us and we soon found ourselves taking the much needed siesta in our hotel room. In the afternoon we went out to explore the Gothic quarters. Barri Gotic is situated on the right hand side of the Las Ramblas as we look toward Placa de Catalunya and the metro connects directly to the place. This is the area where the old town of Barcelona is situated. It has narrow cobbled streets with tall buildings on both sides. Picasso lived and worked in Barri Gotic from 1895 to 1904. Joan Miro was born and lived here during his youth. We saw the amazing Gothic cathedral and the remnants of the royal palace where Columbus was given a warm welcome after his return from the "Discover India" voyage. The cathedral is a largely medeival building with a nineteenth century facade and spire. Its treasures include ancient catalan paintings and dramatic carved gothic cloisters and choir stalls. The martyred Saint Eulalia lies beneath the main altar and the whole building is full of drama and colour.

We also explored parts of the old Roman city wall and the city's historical archives in the Archdeacons house or Casa de L'Ardiaca - an ancient building standing right on the Roman wall. After more exploration of the streets of the city we returned to our favourite Chinese restaurant. The waitress who was traditionally very sombre and grave, gave us a warm smile this time. It pays being a regular customer. The restaurant was busy with several East Asian dignitaries thronging the restaurant, but the waitress treated us well.

Next morning was our flight back to Stuttgart. This was a direct Span Air flight without any change. We woke up late and went out for a stroll along the beach. It was so calm and peaceful, almost heavenly. There were some morning joggers. At around 10 am we called the taxi and went to Barcelona airport. There we spent some time at the airport souvenir shop where we bought a small refrigerator magnet. Thus ended this short but delightful and memorable trip.

Deshe Bideshe 12 - Greece

Devmitra:

Greece - the dream trip

We had always wanted to visit Greece - the cradle of European civilization, the birthplace of European culture. We wanted to explore the many ancient ruins in this country, esp. the Parthenon. We also wanted to see the sun, the sea & the beautiful beaches. Greece has been my dream destination for like forever. Also the first Hindi movie that Shantanu & I saw together had the romantic portion based in Greece and that endeared the place to us to a great extent. We did loads of planning, research & even wrote to some of the websites that offer to devise a holiday plan for you. Finally we decided on a trip to Athens followed by a cruise on the Aegean sea to Crete.

Thanks to his frequent trips to Utrecht, Shantanu had accumalated loads of air miles on KLM & so used the same to book the tickets. However a "system" glitch resulted in deduction of his miles twice over, bad start to a dream trip :-(. Anyways, the miles were not really ours; after all Daimler had paid for the Utrecht trips. We decided to travel during Easter 2006 & worked out a few days leave to give us 5 days for the trip. We booked rooms in hotels at Athens & Crete as well as tickets on the cruise ship.

We set off on a bright morning on a KLM flight from Stuttgart to Athens via Paris. The entire journey was about 4 hours long incl. a one hour long stop over at Paris. By the time we reached Athens, it was almost evening. Athens today has a brand new airport, courtesy Olympics 2004. After Greece joined the European Union, its economic condition has considerably improved. However this country has had quite a chequered history. Its roots date back to 2000 BC when Minoans ruled Crete. Babylonian & Egyptian culture also contributed to the Greek civilization during this time. However it was not until 500 - 400 BC that the Greek culture rose to prominence. Athens was the main seat of this ancient civilization. There were other prominent independent states like Sparta, Macedonia etc. Sparta was known for its military strength (remember the Trojan war?). Training in warfare was considered more important than any other education in Sparta. There is a legend that newborns were left on top of a hillock overnight to check their fitness for war (how cruel!). Athens & Sparta fought a series of wars called the Peloponesian wars which weakend them both, particularly Athens & made them vulnerable to external attacks particularly the Persians. Athens & Sparta joined forces to ward off the Persians in the battle of Marathon in 487 BC. A heavily outnumbered Greek army powered by sheer determination & superior war strategy defeated a vastly superior Persian army under Darins. Around 432 BC, Athens was an extremely prosperous land under Pericles, in fact this is refered to as the Golden Age in Greece. This period also witnessed the birth of great works like Illiad and Odyssey by the blind poet Homer, beautiful ballads in praise of heroes like Hercules, gods and godesses and their great achievements (the epic poems of Illiad and Odyssey). Greek architecture is renowed the world over; the Parthenon was built around 600 BC and the surrounding area - the Acropolis developed into a prosperous city. The Helenic civilization was the only beaon during the dark ages of West, till more aggressive Romans took over. The pagan civilizations came to an end with the birth and firm establishment of Christianity.

Once we reached Athens, we took a taxi and headed to the Polis hotel where we had reservations. The airport is quite a distance from the city. This was the new airport which was constructed for the Athens Olympics in 2004. In fact the whole of Athens underwent stupendous renovation during this period in terms of infrastructure, which included the metro. The hotel, on the other hand, was in the heart of the city & very conveniently located near a metro. We checked in & decided to explore the neighbourhood before dinner. We dined on Greek salad & chicken and also enjoyed Ouzo - Greece's most popular drink. It was too strong for our tastes, kind of like fried saunf (fennel), nevertheless an interesting experince. Also we did not want to offend the waiter who was extremely friendly & asked us many questions like where we were from etc. We walked back to the hotel & crashed for the night.

The next day was the day before Easter & most people from Athens head out to the warmer islands for their Easter lunch - barbequed lamb, ouzo accompanied by song & dance. There still seemed to be quite a crowd in the city. Our agenda was a city tour of Athens & took a train to the city centre. Once we stepped out of the underground at the Syntagma square, we found ourselves in a park full of people & pigeons. We located the tourism office and arranged a trip to Cape Sounion - the Posideon temple that evening. We also got the details of the travel agencies that conduct day tours to Delphi & such other places. The man at the counter told us that the change of guard at the Greek parliament was just about to start. So we rushed back to the park opposite which were the Evzones - guards to the Greek Tomb of the Unknown Soilder, the Hellenic Parliament and the Presidential Mansion. The entire ceremony lasted a few minutes and there was a huge crowd gathered there to witness the change. The guards wore traditional Greek costumes - a kilt like garment & a red cap. After the ceremony, we took the coastal tram & went down to the Glyfada beach. The coastal tram in Athens runs along the sea. The beach itself was very placid. We spent some time in the water, but then it got too hot & so we first headed back to have a lunch at the pizza hut nearby and then to the main square. On the way back we visited the ruins of the Temple of Apollo. At Syntagma square, we found the bus stop for our trip to Sounion as well as the counter of the agency that would take us to Delphi. We bought our tickets for the trip the next day. The bus to Sounion was a normal public bus and it took us one & a half hours to get there. The views en route were magnificent. Sounion is the southernmost tip of Athens and the temple lies on a high cliff. By the time we reached the place, it was close to 5 pm. We climbed the steps up to the temple site which offers a glorious view of the Bay of Attica. It is said that the place housed a temple dedicated to Posideon - the trident bearing Greek God of the Sea (kind of like Neptune, or closer home Varuna) which was plundered by the Persians. It was believed that the temple deity protected the Greek sailors who were out at sea. It was nearing sunset & the view was simply magnificent. But it was also getting dark and so we caught the bus back to the city centre. Once there, we headed to the familiar tavern for dinner & then retired for the day.

We woke up early the next morning as we had to set out on the trip to Delphi. The folks from the travel agency picked us up from the hotel & brought us to the bus stop where there was a huge crowd of tourists - mostly Americans, a few Germans & some English, Spanish & Italian nationals all eager to get on with their trip. Finally we identified our bus & off we went! Our tour guide was a Greek lady, but she spoke fluent English, German and Italian; so she kept switching between languages on the enire trip. We took a small break for coffee & some nibbles and then headed off again. The journey to Delphi from Athens is 3.5 to 4 hours long. We passed by a village which is supposed to be the highest in Greece. At long last, we reached Delphi - the seat of the oracle. The place was a major site for the worship of Apollo and was also revered as the site of the omphalos stone, the centre of the earth and the universe. Our guide took us round the ruins explaining the mythological & historical significance of each. She showed us where, it is believed, the priestess (also known as Pythia) sat on a tripod seat over an opening in the earth. There would be fumes coming out of the earth & intoxicated by the vapors, the sibyl would fall into a trance, allowing Apollo to possess her spirit. In this state she prophesied; though, mind you, the oracle spoke in riddles, which were interpreted by the priests of the temple as they saw fit (and convenient :-) ). We then saw the the Omphalos, an egg-shaped stone which was situated in the innermost sanctuary of the temple in historic times. Classical legend asserted that it marked the 'navel' (Omphalos) or centre of the Earth and explained that this spot was determined by Zeus who had released two eagles to fly from opposite sides of the earth and that they had met exactly over this place. We also saw the Athenian treasury, restored to indicate the many treasuries that were built by the various states — those overseas as well as those on the mainland — to commemorate victories and to thank the oracle for her advice, which was so important to those victories. Further up the hill is the ancient theatre which was originally built in 4th century BC. Beyond this is the stadium originally built in the 5th century BC but altered in later centuries. The views across the site were beautiful, totally worth the trip. There were beautiful flowers all over & the sights were totally captivating.

We then went down to the Greek museum where we saw several beautiful exhibits incl. an artist's visualization of the entire site. We then took off for lunch, at the nearest village. We were all seated around tables and the lunch of stuffed capsicum and Greek salad was filling. We then started on the return journey but faced a huge traffic jam on the way. Our driver skillfully drove on the shoulder (typical Greek driving according to most websites) and we got into Agora just as the shops were lighting up for the evening. We got off the bus, got ourselves some coffee & salted peanuts, explored the market & got our own souvenir. Dinner was at this extremely busy tavern where there was dancing & singing & loads of merry making. We had a wonderful time at the tavern before we called it a day.

The next day was our last in Athens; we were to catch the ship to Heraklion in Crete in the evening. We checked out in the morning, left our luggage in the hotel cloak room & caught the metro to the Acropolis. The main site was still quite a walk from the metro station and we followed the crowds towards the Acropolis. The main attractions here incl. the Parthenon are all located atop a hill which we slowly climbed. The whole place exuded history, it felt like we were physically transported to a different time, a different land. Each of the spots was so very interesting and each had its own little story. Most of the major temples were rebuilt under the leadership of Pericles during the Golden Age of Athens (460–430 BC). Phidias, a great Athenian sculptor, and Ictinus and Callicrates, two famous architects, were responsible for the reconstruction. The entrance was a huge gateway called the Propylaea. To its left are the ruins of the small temple of Athena - the Greek goddess of Victory. Concurrent to the completion of this temple was the construction of Erechtheum - a combination of sacred precincts. The main attraction of course is the Parthenon - the temple of Athena. The construction began under the supervision of Phidias in 447 BC and work on the decorations continued at least till 431. Although the Parthenon is architecturally a temple and is usually called so, it is not really one in the conventional sense of the word. It never hosted the cult of Athena Polias, protector of Athens. Nevertheless it was and still represents a significant architectural landmark in the Greek history. Like most other temples of that age, it also functioned as a treasury. The most characteristic feature in the architecture and decoration of the temple is the ionic decoration running around the exterior walls. The pediments of this structure both narrate stories - the east pediment narrates the birth of Athena from the head of her father, Zeus. while the west pediment faced the Propylaia and depicted the contest between Athena and Posideon during their competition for the honor of becoming the city's patron (quite competitive gods here!). Another important site is the Theatre of Dionysus and the now partially reconstructed Theatre of Herodes Atticus. It took us a good 3 - 4 hours to explore each of these sites & the experience was extremely fulfilling. We were also immensely hungry after all the walking around & did not want to go very far in search of food. So we went into the hotel opposite the Acropolis for lunch - expensive but good. Also it was a great feeling to sit there & look at the Acropolis, as if we were very much a part of that historical monument. After lunch, we hung around at Syntagma square for a while before we left to catch our cruise to Crete. We took the metro whose last station was Piraeus, the port of Athens. We had booked tickets on the Anek Lines & I was extremely excited about going on the cruise. A bored looking travel agent handed us the tickets in the office which was not too difficult to locate. Then we waked a few miles to reach the correct quay in the harbour where the ship was anchored. Once we entered the ship, we were directed to our cabin by a steward which was a small but self sufficient room. We decided to get some coffee & then explore the ship. Once we set sail, we sat on the deck until it got really cold taking in the calm, quiet beauty of the sea. Dinner was being served on board & while Shantanu went adventurous with sea food, I played it safe and had some pasta. It was a splendid moonlight night on the Aegian and we could hardly feel that we were on a sea voyage, so smooth and calm was the sea.

The next morning, we got off at the Heraklion port & took a taxi to hotel Kastro where we had reservations. The taxi driver apparently had been to Calcutta sometime back and was very warm and friendly. We got a room in the hotel even though it was early in the morning and also could get our breakfast. After freshening up, we decided to explore the city. We first ventured out to find the Knossos Palace. This took some time as we kept asking for "Nossos" palace (we thought that "Knossos" was to be pronounced thus, like "Know" or "Knave"). Turned out that the name was indeed a very nasal "Knossos" :-). Anyways, thanks to the helpful traffic police, we found the bus stop. On the way, we also paid a visit to the St. Titus church. We then caught the bus to Knossos palace. This is the largest bronze age archeological on Crete and probably the ceremonial and political center of the Minoan civilization and culture. The site itself presents a mazelike structure with many rooms linked by corridors. There were remnants of storerooms and elaborate drainage systems. We also saw the many frescoes that adorned the walls of this palace. The palace and the surrounding location have many legends attached to it, one of the most famous being that of the Cretan bull, whom Hercules or Heracles, defeated. From Heracles came the name Heraklion. The Cretan bull was called Minotaur, who was later killed by Thaseus. The mythical king in Crete responsible for much of the glory of the place was Minos, son of Zeus. We spent a really long time at the palace, took a bus which dropped us at Lion's square and had lunch at a local cafe. The proprieter of the cafe was friendly and asked our whereabouts and when we said we belonged to Calcutta, he said that he passed that region by ship sometime back. We then headed back to the hotel for some rest. In the evening, we explored the city. Crete is the largest of the Greek islands and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean. Our hotel was close to the Lion's square, a residential area & the local market provided an interesting insight into the Greek people, their food and lifestyle. We took a bus from the square to the Ammoudara beach. The approach to the beach was through a narrow lane & we spent a really long time seated on the beach chairs & basically doing nothing :-). We had dinner at a the same resturaunt where we had lunch and went to bed.

The next day was our last day of the trip. We checked out & since we had some time before our Hapag Lloyd flight to Stuttgart, we took a taxi to the Harsonissos beach. However the approach to the beach was very rocky and so we could not spend much time there. The drive in the mountain roads was splendid and the driver took us to really beautiful places. We got back to the hotel, collected our luggage & drove to the airport for our flight back home. All in all, a very memorable & beautiful trip!

Deshe Bideshe 11 - Paris

Devmitra:

Paris - of art & fashion

My parents were visiting us in 2005 and we tried to squeeze in as many trips as possible between our work schedules. On hindsight, I regret that I did not let them travel on their own or in association with a group; I guess I was too scared which was unnecessary as they would have been perfectly safe and also able to see a lot many places compared to what they actually did. Anyway, I did want them to visit Paris and Austria, but since we did not have that many free weekends, we had to give Austria a miss. We set off in early October to Paris via a 6 hour long journey by an IC. I had been to Paris in July to meet a friend and so was supposed to be the "more experienced" guide for this trip. This was indeed a first because for almost all of our trips, Shantanu dons this role :-).

By the time we got to Paris and checked into our rooms at the Hotel Savoy, it was almost dusk. Like I had witnessed during my earlier trip also, rooms in most budget Parisian hotels are small compared to what I have seen in other places. At Savoy, our rooms hardly had any walking space; as soon as we entered the room, one of us would have to plonk on the bed so that the other could walk about or use the bathroom. And it is remarkable that even these small quarters house almost all conveniences that are normally offered at hotels. Anyway, we did not have much time to bother about the room size or amenities. We left to visit the Eiffel Tower - one of the many wonders of the modern world. It was already dark when we got to the Tower. This is the tallest building in Paris but the economy of the design is extremely surprising - if the 7300 tonnes of the metal structure were melted down it would fill the 125 meter square base to a depth of only 6 cm (2.36 in)! (assuming a density of the metal to be 7.8 tonnes per cubic meter). However maintenance of the tower includes applying 50 to 60 tonnes of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. Did you know that in order to maintain a uniform appearance to an observer on the ground, three separate colors of paint are used on the tower, with the darkest on the bottom and the lightest at the top? The tower has 3 levels and the third level summit is only accessible by lift. As we stood in the queue to buy the tickets, the light show came on. It looked beautiful, as if hundreds of torch lights were flashing around hunting down an elusive secret. However when the tower was built in 1889, it was met with much criticism from the public, with many calling it an eyesore. The designer & engineer Gustave Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years. The city had planned to tear it down in 1909 but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiration of the permit. Today the tower serves as a landmark to Paris & France more than anything else. More than 200,000,000 people have visited the tower since its construction including 6,719,200 in 2006, making it the most visited paid monument in the world. We joined this bandwagon on that cold wintry night. By the time we reached the top of the tower, we were literally freezing in that biting wind. However no wind could dampen the beauty of the view from that height. The view of the lit up city was glorious, seemed as if multiple small fires burned across the land. As we came down, we were surrounded by hawkers selling some badly designed replicas of the monument. Mom started talking to them in jest, but we were all surprised when she managed to bring the price down to 5 Eur from the asking rate of 20! To this day, this souvenir serves as an introduction to a great story shared with family & friends :-).

Day 2 of our trip & on the agenda was a visit to the Musee de Louvre or the Louvre Mueseum. This is the national mueseum of France & houses exhibits ranging from 6th century BC to 19th century AD. When the construction began in the 12th century, this building was originally intended as a fortress and has been altered frequently over the ages. It was opened to the public in 1793. The present day mueseum houses more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 60,600 square metres dedicated to the permanent collection! Structure wise, the Louvre is an almost rectangular building. At the heart of the complex is the controversial Louvre Pyramid, above the visitor's center. This pyramid & the lobby under it actually serves a practical purpose of channeling the stream of visitors to the main mueseum buildings. Its cousin, the more easily recognised Inverted Pyramid is actually a skylight constructed in the underground shopping mall in front of the museum. The museum is divided into three wings: the Sully Wing to the east, the Richelieu Wing to the north and the Denon Wing to the south. With such a huge area & huge number of exhibits, we had our work cut out for us. Shantanu & I are not big fans of mueseums, but in case of the Louvre, we willingly made an exception. And Mom till today raves about the amazing beauty she witnessed inside to anyone who will listen to her :-). Why should that not be? After all, we are talking of the amazing Venus de Milo, one of the most famous works of ancient Greek sculpture. Then there is the Winged Victory or Nike, another celebrated Greek sculpture noted for its naturalistic pose & the fine rendering of the draped garments. Also Cupid & Psyche, a delicate & beautiful piece of art. And of course, a mention of the Louvre is incomplete without a mention of the Mona Lisa. The artistic significance and mysterious aesthetics of this painting contribute to its world reknown fame. Speculations abound on the origins of the subject and the reasons for the painting. One of the most valuable paintings in the world, it is heavily guarded at the Louvre. We do not claim to be great art buffs, but one fact cannot be denied. The mystery of this painting is infectious; as we walked away from the room, we felt we were carrying a piece of her history, her glamour and her secrecy with us. Of course, this is purely an individual perception; my three year old nephew, for example, had his own explanation for her enigmatic smile when he visited Paris later in 2006 - that she had found a candy & that she was hiding the treat from the rest of us :-).

By the time we got out of the Louvre, we were well past the lunch time. Hunger makes me cranky and the fact that we were not able to locate a restaurant of our choice only made me worse :-(. In desperation, we got in to the hop on hop off bus service. This system is prevalent in most European cities and is one of the best ways to see a city - flexible, informative and economical. We rode past the Arc de Triomphe. This arch honors those who fought for France, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. On the inside and the top of the arc there are all of the names of generals and wars fought. Underneath is the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War I. Construction of this monument spanned 30 years between 1806 when it was commissioned by Napoleon and 1836 when it was finally completed during the reign of King Louis-Philippe. Laying the foundations alone took two years, and in 1810 when Napoleon entered Paris with his bride Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, he had a wooden mock-up of the completed arch constructed. We passed by the Eiffel Tower, this time getting a good view from different angles in the bright daylight. We crossed the River Seine - a major river and commercial waterway in France. We then entered Les Invalides - a complex of buildings containing mueseums, monuments as well as a hospital and a retirement home for war veterans. The church at the Invalides was inspired by St. Peter's in Rome and is a superb example of French baroque architecture. Today this site houses many tombs, the most famous being that of Napoleon Bonaparte.

The bus then drove to Place de la Concorde, another main square in Paris. This square underwent a sea of change from a tribute to France's monarchy to the gruesome location for public executions. The notable to be executed here include King Louis XVI and Marie Antoniette. The center of the Place is occupied by a giant Egyptian obelisk decorated with hieroglyphics exalting the reign of the pharaoh Ramses II. It is one of two the Egyptian government gave to the French in the nineteenth century (the other one stayed in Egypt, too difficult and heavy to move to France with the technology at that time). On the pedestal of this obelisk are drawn diagrams explaining the machinery that were used for the transportation. We then passed by the Madeleine Church and the Palais Garnier more commonly known as the Paris Opera. By this time, all of us were famished. So we stepped into a French restaurant for a much needed meal. Ignorant of the true ingredients, I ordered French onion soup. For those of you with similar knowledge levels, this is a beef stock based soup. One look at the contents & I knew something was wrong. The taste confirmed my intuition and I could eat no further (I do not eat beef). Some luck! Here I was, suffering from pangs of hunger and even though there was food set before me, I could not eat! That's when my knight in shining armour stepped in - my dear husband who willingly swaped my soup for his omlette ensuring that I did not go on an empty stomach. Guess I was acting so cranky that he would have given anything to spare himself the ordeal of dealing with my mood :-).

After lunch, we headed back to the hotel by metro for some rest. The Paris metro is the lifeline of the city. The station nearest to our hotel was Marie de Clichy. Here we witnessed a choir perform in an attempt to cheer the otherwise gloomy subway. Truth be told, the stations at Paris may not be as polished like the ones in London or Germany, but the efficiency of the service is remarkable. Closer home, its cousin, the Calcutta Metro is equally impressive, but more about that later. Coming back to Paris, that evening we took off to visit another famous site - the Notre Dame. Not only is this a famous cathedral but also an example of fine Gothic architecture. Construction of this fine monument spanned over 200 years between 1160 - 1163 when the cornerstone was laid and 1345 when all the elements were completed! The cathedral suffered desecration during the radical phase of the French Revolution in the 1790s when many of its treasures were plundered or destroyed. Restoration from this destruction lasted nearly 25 years. During World War 1, it was feared that bombers could destroy the windows; so they were removed and then restored at the end of the war. Of the five bells that adorn this church, the great bell, Emmanuel, is located in the South Tower, weighs just over 13 tons, and is tolled to mark the hours of the day and for various occasions and services. When we stepped inside the church, we were immediately surrounded by an atmosphere of calm serenity. The stained glass in this church is among the finest in the world and displays a strong influence of naturalism. We gazed at the windows and the architecture for a long time; the wonder and admiration that this beautiful art inspired in us is beyond expression. The area outside the church was extremely busy when we stepped out. The entire place was lit up and looked very beautiful. Getting into the French mood, we sat at a nearby cafe for some coffee and chatted for a long time before finally heading back to the hotel.

Our last day in Paris & we planned to visit Bastille today. We took the subway and disembarked at the station. As is well known, this is one of the important sites of the French Revolution where the prison was stormed on 14 July 1789 marking the beginning of the revolt. Today, the location of the fort is home to the Opera Bastille. Some undemolished remains of one tower of the fort were discovered during excavation for the metro in 1899, and are displayed today at a nearby park. At the center of the square is the July column, a monument dedicated to the Revolution of 1830 that saw the overthrow of King Charles X, and the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe. We spent an hour or so at this historical site & then took the metro back to Champs-Elysees. This is the most prestigious avenue in Paris. with rents as high as $1.50 million per 1,000 square feet (92.9 square meters) of space, it remains the most expensive strip of real estate in Europe! The view on this street in the night, when it is all lit up, is beautiful; the scene in the morning was also nice. However we were running late as we had a train to catch. We finally made it back to the station & to Stuttgart content with a trip to one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Deshe Bideshe 10 - Interlaken

Devmitra:

Bollywood in Europe - Interlaken

My sister's family was visiting us in Germany in April 2006. They were on a Europe trip and since we had already visited most of the countries on their itinerary save for Switzerland, we decided to take a trip to Interlaken together. Shantanu & I booked the train tickets and reserved hotel rooms for all of us. We set off from Stuttgart on the 28th of April. The journey to the Hauptbhnof was chaotic! Shantanu & I got back home from work and by the time we collected all of us - my sister & my brother-in-law or Di & Da as I call them, my 3 year old nephew Sonu, Shantanu and me as well as our baggage, it was nearly time for the train. I had not missed a train in my 2 odd years in Europe & I certainly did not intend to start now; but the taxi seemed to take forever to get to the station. Finally we made it & all of us jumped into our train. When we crossed over to the Swiss side, we caught sight of the Rhine falls - Europe's largest waterfalls. We were supposed to change trains at Thun, but were informed that a rail bridge had broken and so we had to take a bus to Thun and then catch the next train. After all this interrupted travel, we reached our hotel Comfort Chalet late at night and so hit the sacks almost immediately.

The next day we woke to a glorious morning. The weather was slightly cloudy and all the mountains seemed to be shrouded in mist. Our hotel was more like a guest house and we had the corner rooms on the first floor that offered a beautiful view. The area was largely residential and this offered calm surroundings dotted with beautiful flowering trees. We had breakfast and stepped out to go sightseeing armed with leaflets describing all the local attractions. Interlaken is a small town located at 1870 feet above sea level with a population of just about 6000 people (source: Wikipedia) but is one of the oldest & most popular resorts in Switzerland. It gets its name from its geographical position between two lakes - Brienz see and Thun see. The main attraction is the magnificent Jungfrau which we planned to visit later in the day. For now we explored the city and did some window shopping. Nearby some people were celebrating Milk Day by handing out cups of flavoured milk. Tasted great, but Sonu was more interested in the balloons around the place. The volunteers tied one round his wrist, but unfortunately that flew away later. Boy, comforting a 3 year old lamenting the loss of a balloon is a difficult task! Later we took the bus to Mystery Park, but on reaching there, we did not find it very appealing and so decided to give it a miss. By now it was getting close to lunch time and so we headed to a desi restaurant called Shalimar. Turned out that we were the only people in that small place. Anyway we ordered for some samosas and aloo parathas. The person who took the order was the owner, cook, waiter, all rolled into one. Food took an infinetely long time to appear. Added to that, he asked Di to keep Sonu in check so that he does not disturb the setting and this put Di off. It was only hunger that kept us there till the end of the meal. Next on the agenda was a cable car ride to Panorama point. At a little height on the hill, there were some goats minding their own business and peacefully grazing. We got to the top by cable car but unfortunately the entire place was covered in mist. So we were unable to view any of the panorama that the place is supposed to offer. Anyway to warm ourselves, we stepped inside the restaurant located there. We ordered coffee & cakes and ice cream. Unfortunately the table that we were sitting at was wobbly and a sudden movement upset Di's coffee completely! Poor Di, it was just not her day! Once we came down, we went souvenir shopping. Later we headed back to the hotel. There was a small library in the hotel; so each of us picked a book & settled in for some rest.

Towards evening, we stepped out for dinner. A short walk brought us to a small restaurant that looked like a typical wooden lodge. Shantanu & Da ordered for local beer with their meal, while I, also trying to get into "experiencing the local flavour" mood, opted for Cheese Fondue. OK, a little introduction is required here. I like cheese but am not a huge fan. And I definetely do not like food that does not smell good. But little did I know that goat's cheese forms the main ingredient of cheese fondue & that smells like crazy! And to top it all, the cheese sauce was accompanied by a huge bucket of bread!!! God, help me! Was I supposed to finish the entire lot?! Well, I was'nt able to, did'nt even make it half way through. Till this day, my experience with cheese fondue is a standard joke at most family gatherings :-(. Da even offered to ship me cartons of goat's cheese so that I could make more of the sauce!!! Jokes apart, it is interesting to know that this recipe was originally devised more as a simple means of sustenance during the long Swiss winters - the staple food of bread & cheese made in summer would dry out & become tough in the cold and so some families and extended groups would gather about a large pot of cheese set over the fire and dip wood-hard bits of bread which quickly became edible (source: Wikipedia). By God's grace, I have never known such desperate times, and now was definetely not one such occassion. So I had to have something to clear my palate but was apprehensive about ordering anything from the same restaurant lest they top it with smelly cheese again! We started walking back to the hotel and came across another restaurant that was almost closing for the day. Unlike the earlier place, this had a more modern setting. Here we all feasted on ice creams. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was close to 11 pm and so we turned in for the night.

Next day was the planned trip to Jungfrau. Even before we got to the peak, our senses were filled with descriptions & pictures of this mountain, widely recognised as the "Top of Europe" - at 4,158 mts. it is the highest in Europe. The other two peaks are the Eiger (3,970 m) with its famous north face, and the Mönch (4,099 m). We took the Jungfrauochbahn - the cog wheel train that runs inside the mountain upto a height of 3,454 m. After the initial grasslands, the view soon gave way to the snow capped mountains. The sight of the Alps was simply breathtaking; every point seemed to be worth taking a picture of. But no picture can probably do justice to the beauty of the landscape - tall mountains cloaked in white and the clouds coming down on them. All seemed so pure, so calm. The train first stopped at an Ice Palace housing a collection of ice sculptures. It was fun walking on the ice trying to keep our balance :-). We were then carried to Eigerwand, which is close to the north face of the Eiger. Here there were windows from where we could look out and take pictures. After a five minute halt, the train moved to Eismeer for a second stop and then finally to the Jungfrauoch. Here we all got off to enjoy the beautiful surroundings. The cold was severe but we had a great time pelting each other with snowballs. We walked down another tunnel to a flat, snow-covered area and looked down to the Konkordiaplatz - a large flat area of snow and the Aletsch Glacier - which at an area of 120 sq.kms. is the largest in Europe, as well as the surrounding mountains. After having our fill of fun & games, we took the train back.

We had so much to see, but were running short of time. Post lunch, we headed to the Trummelbach Falls. These falls are noteworthy because they flow inside the mountain - these are the only glacier waterfalls in Europe inside the mountain & still accessible. The Trummelbach alone drains the mighty glacier defiles of Eiger, Monk and Jungfrau. The complete falls is a series of ten glacier waterfalls. The tunnel is lighted by multiple bulbs and a tunnel lift carries tourists to the sixth level from where they climb stairs to view the remaining levels. We reached the place almost at closing time along with another huge group of tourists. The lift operator was obviously not very happy at this and kept yelling at all of us that at 5:30, the lights would go off and the lift would stop after which it was upto us to make our way out if we missed the last trip. This made us nervous, but the desire to see the falls was too strong & so we decided to take a chance. We stopped at each level for time barely enough to appreciate the falls & take a few pictures. The roar of the falls as it cut through stone gave a very good idea of the force operating within that mountain. We were all really impressed and decided to head back to the lift. However just as we were leaving, tragedy struck! Di suddenly discovered that her platinum ear ring clasp had fallen off! We tried searching for it but the rough mountain terrain & the fear of missing the last lift down did not offer much hope. Sadly we made our way out but more trouble was headed our way. We missed the bus by a whisker and so spent more than 30 mins waiting for the next bus. Poor Di mourned her loss while the rest of us tried to comfort her. When we got back to the hotel, none of us was in a mood to go out for dinner. So Shantanu & Da went to a Chinese restaurant nearby & picked up dinner for all of us.

Next morning, Shantanu & I had planned to go cycling. Cycles were available at the hotel for rent. We took off early at 6 am & cycled for nearly an hour and a half. It is rightly said that the beauty of Europe can be best appreciated by road. Our cycling jaunt offered us some really beautiful views. Green lush farms, cows grazing with their bells making a familiar noise whenever they moved and tall mountains in the distance. We cycled till Neuhaus where we could see Lake Thun in the distance and then returned. After breakfast, we checked out of the hotel leaving our luggage in the cloak room. We then headed out to Boningersee which is a small lake. It was getting to be time for our train back so we split into two groups - while the men went to fetch the baggage from the hotel, Di, Sonu & I headed to a McD nearby to pick up lunch for all. We then took a wonderful tonga ride to the station, much to the delight of Sonu as well as the rest of us :-). The train journey was smooth and once we got to Stuttgart, Di & I decided to buy some yoghurt for lunch. Unfortunately the packet that we tried to stuff it in broke & there was yoghurt all over the station floor! Imagine our embarrassment when the cleaner came in to clean the mess! We prayed that we get home with as few more accidents as possible. But funnily today, these incidents are also part of our memories of this short but beautiful trip.

Deshe Bideshe 9 - London

Devmitra:

London - Dec 2006

By November 2006, we had both left the Daimler team & had moved to a different project with Amer Sports at Munich. We had lived for close to 3 years in Germany & wanted to head back to India. While we were in the process of working that out, we decided to spend Christmas that year in London. So we took off from Stuttgart on 23 Dec and reached Heathrow airport by 10 am. We took the tube to the Waterloo station as first on our agenda was a visit to the Hampton Court Palace. Waterloo was extremely busy & distinctly reminiscent of the railway stations in India sans the dirt & disorderliness. Unfortunately the next train to Hampton was only at around 2:30 in the afternoon and so we settled for a lunch of bagels & donuts from a Dunkin Donuts outlet. Once the train came in, we hopped on and set off. It was a typical December day in London - grey & slightly damp. We got off at the Hampton Court station, crossed a bridge and walked for about 10 mins before we finally entered the castle grounds. This castle was built between 1515 & 1521 and passed through several hands & reconstruction before it was finally opened to the public in 1838. Today it houses many works of art and furnishings, mainly dating from the two main periods of the Palace's construction, the early Tudor (Renaissance) and late Stuart to Early Georgian period. We went through these & then walked through the gardens to reach the Hampton Court Palace Hedge Maze. Planted sometime between 1689 and 1695, it covers a third of an acre and contains half a mile of paths. It was great fun navigating these paths and finally getting to the center :-). We left the Palace and took the train back to Waterloo. We then entered the main city of London & headed to the British Museum. This museum houses more than 7 million objects and was established in 1753. It was huge & encompassed so many rooms filled with so many interesting artifacts - from Egypt & the rest of Africa to Greece & Rome. The most interesting was the Rosetta stone. This was an ancient Egyptian artifact that was instrumental in advancing modern understanding of hieroglyphic writing. It includes text carved in three translations of a single passage - Hieroglyphic, Demotic & Greek. The Greek department also included many objects that we were able to identify - the Parthenon Gallery, Erechtion as well as some surviving slabs of the Athena Nike. We also entered the Museum Library which was huge, simply huge! It has a variety of books as well as audio visual aids to learning about the history of this world. The next item on the agenda was a trip to the Tower Bridge. This bridge is an iconic symbol of the city of London and is often mistakenly referred to as London bridge (remember the nursery rhyme?) which is further upstream. Tower Bridge is still a busy and vital crossing of the Thames; it is crossed by over 40,000 people (motorists and pedestrians) every day! Also the bridge can be raised & lowered using an elaborate system of hydraulic motors & gears to allow large ships to pass by. I had heard of similar bridges in Amsterdam & was very eager to see this in action. We had collected some pamphlets at Waterloo that detailed out the time that the bridge would be raised & lowered and so we hurried to join the crowds who were already gathered there to witness the event. Here are some video shots of this purely mechanical, but nevertheless so amazing happening. I found the whole event very remarkable; one moment you have this huge structure on which are plying heavy buses & other motor vehicles (there is 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) speed restriction, and an 18 ton weight limit on vehicles using the bridge), the next moment all traffic stops on either ends & the two halves of the concrete bridge, each weighing over 1,000 tons each, are lifted seemingly effortlessly to an angle of 83 degrees to allow river traffic to pass.

We had reservations at the Holiday Inn Limehouse which we were told is outside the city center. Also Shantanu had planned a surprise for me & so we thought we should freshen up before setting off again. So we caught the tube from the Tower Bridge & then changed to the DLR which brought us to Limehouse. The hotel was a 5 - 7 min walk from the station & the surroundings were not exactly amiable. During the 3 days I spent in the hotel, I half expected Jack the Ripper or some such crazed lunatic to jump out at me as I walked to the hotel & so I ensured that I stayed as close to Shantanu as possible. Once you get out of the area around the station, it is a pretty straight route to the hotel. And the hotel itself is nice - small rooms but comfortable. Sadly there is no restaurant inside or nearby and so meal times were a little bit of a problem. Anyways, we only had to check in, freshen up & take off on this wonderful surprise that Shantanu had planned for me. We took the tube back to Covent Garden and after some difficulty managed to locate St. Martin's theatre where Shantanu had booked tickets for us to see The Mousetrap! WOW! I was going to be sitting in a theatre in London & see the longest running play in the world! It was a great surprise! And the play itself was amazing! I had not read the book till then & so found the whole experience highly entertaining. By the time, the play got over, it was close to 10:30 PM & the area was pretty deserted. We stopped at a Subway & bought some sandwiches for dinner. Then on we caught a black cab & got back to the hotel. These black taxis are again renowed icons of the city. Unlike their counterparts the world across, they have only one seat in the front for the driver. The adjacent space is reserved for any luggage that the passengers may have. The rear seat is pretty much like in any other cab and the overall ride was fairly pleasant.

The next day was the day before Christmas & we had booked tickets with a tour agency to visit Leeds, Canterbury & Dover. Our guide was a friendly old Englishman & we set off in a group of about 10 people. The city of Leeds is located on the banks of River Aire in West Yorkshire, London. The Leeds castle was built in 1119 by Henry I to replace the earlier Saxon manor of Esledes and it later became a royal palace. The castle was opened to the public in 1976. A typical English tea was also included in our itinerary & so we were first escorted to a warm shack where we were served scones & hot English tea. Scones are something that I have always wanted to try; having spent most of my childhood reading Enid Blyton novels, I was eager to explore this dish. Our guide explained to us how we were to eat the same; we were to cut the small cup cake into two circles, spread jam & butter on the two halves, stick them together & pop the whole thing in. And the taste was too good!!! No wonder these are a constant feature in any English tea. The tea however may be a little mild for the Indian tastebuds who prefer a stronger & sweeter flavour. After this, we explored the beautiful grounds and the rooms with their baroque furnishings. We then drove down to Canterbury where we first had lunch - Grilled Chicken or Fish & Chips. The next stop was the Canterbury cathedral and on our way, we passed by the Greenwich observatory. As our ill fate would have it, both the observatory and the Canterbury cathedral was closed that day & despite our guide's best efforts, we could not go inside. St. Augustine founded this cathedral in 602 AD. A pivotal moment in the history of Canterbury Cathedral was the murder of Thomas Becket, who was the Archbishop between 1162 & 1170, in the cathedral by knights of King Henry II. The king had frequent conflicts with the strong-willed Becket and is said to have exclaimed in frustration, "Who will rid me of this turbulent priest?" The knights took it literally and murdered Becket in his own cathedral. The final stop was at Dover. This is a major ferry port in Kent & faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel. The town gives its name both to the surrounding chalk cliffs, which a form a gateway to the port. Sadly, the sight of France far across the English Channel as well as the famous white cliffs of Dover was not in our luck. The weather turned extremely cold, damp & foggy with the result that we had to contend ourselves with the sight of some lights twinkling in the fog - supposedly France & some not so white cliffs. We got back to the hotel at around 7 pm . As there were no restaurants close by, we ordered pizza for dinner.

Christmas morning dawned over London the next day - cold but slightly brighter than the previous day. We had planned to use the hop on hop off bus facility available to explore the city. On talking to the hotel folks, we were assured that the buses would run despite it being a holiday, albeit in reduced number & frequency. So we took a tube to the Tower Bridge & waited there for almost 30 mins before we finally concluded that no bus would stop there. It was around 10 am in the morning & we figured that if they had to, the bus service would start by now. We then decided to take a cab to Picadilly Circus hoping that there would be buses plying from there. Turned out that we were too early for the bus ride (it was Christmas morning after all) and that the bus service would start at around 12. The hop on hop off service is the quickest & easiest way to explore any city in Europe. Not only do you have the convenience of cheap travel, you also have the flexibility of planning your own itinerary. Also the on board commentary ensures that you completely understand the significance of the sights. Our bus took us to Trafalgar Square first. This is a very popular square in central London & has featured in most Hindi movies. Statues and sculptures are on display in the square, but the trademark is the Nelson's monument that stands in the center. Also the square used to be famous for its Rock Pigeons. Feeding the pigeons was a popular activity with Londoners and tourists, however given the facts that their droppings make the place look ugly, there are a few birds around today. We grabbed lunch at a Burger King close by & seated ourselves back on the bus. We then went to the Westminister Palace or the British Houses of Parliament. Here is located another legendary icon of London - the Big Ben. This clock is the world's largest four-faced, chiming clock and the third largest free-standing clock tower in the world. Big Ben is often polled as the Most Iconic London Film Location; a shot of the clock is the easiest way to transport a non-UK audience a generic location in Britain. Next stop - Westminster Abbey or the Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and later British monarchs. The Monument was our next stopping point. This is a 61 metre (202 ft) tall stone Roman doric column near the northern end of London Bridge. It was designed by Christopher Wren and Robert Hooke. Its 61-metre height marks the monument's distance to the site of Thomas Farynor, the king's baker's shop in Pudding Lane, where the great fire of London began in 1666 and burned for three whole days causing huge destruction.

What's a visit to London without a halt at the Buckingham Palace! The next day, we continued our journey by the hop on hop off bus that first dropped us close to the palace. This is the official residence of the Queen of England though, as we all know, the royal family actually stays at the Windsor Castle in Berkshire. There was huge security around the entrance & an even bigger crowd of people had assembled to watch the change of guards. Sadly we had to rush off as it was getting close to our flight's time, but I can now for sure say "I have been to London to look at the Queen" :-). Before we went to the airport, we paid a visit to St. Paul's Cathedral. This church belongs to the 17th century and is today the seat of the Bishop of London. It is here that Prince Charles wed Diana Spencer. We could not go inside as we had to rush to the airport but the sight of the cathedral was very beautiful. Then on we rushed to the airport & caught our flight back to Stuttgart. Thus concluded our visit to London - the city of royalty & history.

Deshe Bideshe 8 - Venice and Vienna

Shantanu:

Venice and Vienna

Devmitra is busy writing the Deshe Bideshe chapter 6 on our USA travel. That will be a long project because of the sheer number of adventures involved. And I have just started our fantastic voyage to Italy - Rome, Pisa and Naples; that should be chapter 7. So here is chapter 8 on Venice and Vienna. This travel, I must admit, was a flawed plan on my part, to visit Venice and Vienna at the same time, that too within a span of only three days. I still remember the incredulity on the face of the ticket booking Beamte of DB at Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof when she heard that I wanted a train ticket fom Venice to Vienna. Sounds incredible! Actually it's a 7 hour journey and that too quite picturesque, nevertheless stressful. In the process (and we still regret this) we could stay in Vienna for just one night! And we did not like Venice at all. But let the story begin.

Like I said, we booked a train ticket to Venice from Stuttgart via Milano, the fashion capital of the world. The overnight journey in DB was good, though we were cramped up with two other passengers and hence sleep was intermittent. We reached Milano at around 9 in the morning and found that the train was running late. 2 hrs straight gone from our short itinerary. Then came an even bigger jolt. We had an earlier experience in Trainitalia while travelling from Rome to Naples and back, and it was almost heavenly. So we had a great expectation this time which was totally misplaced! The train journey from Milano to Venice was a nightmare. The coach was thickly crowded, not even an inch space was available and people were jostling with each other - something that we had not seen in Europe so far. How we spent the 2 hours in that train is something we still ask ourselves. We were very careful with our belongings, esp. the camera because we were very much aware of the notoriety of Italy with respect to snatching, esp. in a crowded place. Anyway, all nightmares end. We finally reached Mestre, the station before Venice, where our hotel, Sirio was located. It was a long walk from the station, although the road was straight. We asked people for locations but they could not help. About 30 min of walk took us to the hotel even though the hotel staff said it was hardly 10-15 min on phone a day earlier when I phoned them to confirm our reservation (my usual practice before any travel, just to make sure there are'nt any last minute surprises). The hotel was a disappointment and a bit overpriced at 82 Euro per night, let me be candid about it. The rooms were okay but old fashioned and the place did not deserve a 4 star rating. We were cursing our luck on this trip so far. However to make the best of it we took a small nap and then collected all information from reception about Venice. There was a bus which went from a bus stop very near to the hotel which we caught to go to Venice downtown.

Venice or Venezia in Italian, is called the queen of the Adriatic as it encompasses a whole array of small islands on the Adriatic sea, a part of the Mediterranean sea. Venice was a major maritime power in the middle ages as well as a major commercial centre and a city of immense historical importance, notwithstanding Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. Marco Polo was one of the most notable sons of this soil. Among others were Titian and Tintoretto, the prominent figures of Italian Renaissance, and Vivaldi, the composer. Lido near Venice is a popular beach resort, though we did not have the chance of visiting the same. Venice is world famous for its waterways, since it is situated on a shallow lagoon on the Adriatic coast and is composed of so many islands. In the old city, ferry is the most popular means of transport since most of the houses are on the waterway. Gondolas are a major tourist attraction. Now there is a roadway connection to the mainland over a bridge and Venice is also connected by train. The main attraction of old Venice is the Piazza San Marco or the St. Mark's Square with its Basilica and Doge's Palace. Along with tourists, there are lots of pigeons in the piazza.

We reached the main square near Venice central station and bought two tickets for the ferry to take us over the canal. Then we had lunch at a nearby restaurant on the banks of the canal - a sumptuous lunch of Pizzas and pasta in true Venetian style after which Devmitra settled for an icecream. Italian gelatos are renowed the world over for their smoothy, great taste. Then we took on the ferry which was already too crowded, being the only means of transport on the waterways. We got ourselves some space, however it started raining. But all the same, we could see the old Venetian buildings on the waterfront, narrow bylanes covered with water, even traffic signals and signages with speed limit :-). Most of the buildings had flowers on the veranda. They looked as if they have been standing for aeons. We watched the gondolas floating by, but they were not open to tourists since it was raining. We saw the parking bays of the Gondolas at various points. We saw embarkation and disembarkation points of the ferries. Some houses, esp. those that were inside the lanes and bylanes, were so much into the water that the only means of travelling between them was by boats. Venice reminded me of some parts of waterlogged Calcutta during monsoons, sans the excellent carriageways, bridges and arches and the beautifully and artfully lanscaped houses on both sides. We returned after an hour's voyage and did not venture out to Lido as is the conventional practice. On the way back we bought some Venetian masks as souvenirs and Devmitra showed her bargaining prowess by reducing the price of each by about 50 cents from the originally quoted price which was probably 2 times their fair market price :-D. We returned to the hotel by catching the same bus. Next morning we needed to travel to Vienna by train and had to wake up early in the morning, so a good night's sleep was essential.

We woke up early in the morning and no breakfast was awaiting us (it was 5 AM). We were not sure if our train touches Mestre station, so had decided to go to the main Venice station. There was one bus at 5.30 AM, but we decided to take a cab. We asked the reception to call for a taxi at 5:45 AM which came promptly at 5:30 AM while Devmitra was not yet ready. The taxi could not wait so long and so after some argument with our receptionist, we decided to walk to Mestre. We missed the bus in the process and when we reached the station we were nervous that the train would not stop here. We did not have time to verify, so we took a cab and went straight to the main station. It cost us 22 Euro and it was a pure waste (from our pespective) and a godsend money (from the taxi driver's perspective) as the train did stop in Mestre :-(. Anyway, we were desparate to leave Venice, so bore the loss silently. The train compartment was empty except for us and Devmitra promptly fell asleep. Could'nt blame her as 5 AM in the morning is generally midnight for her. The train journey was extremely scenic. We crossed the Italian countryside and entered the hilly region, crossed the mountains and streams and entered beautiful Austria.

When Devmitra woke up, she was hungry; so we went in search for food on the board Bistro and bought ourselves croissants and coffee. And finally we reached Vienna, Wien Suedbahnhof. We took a metro from Suedbahnhof and went to Westbahnhof wherefrom we could take our tram to our hotel (as directed by the map of Vienna which we promptly collected from the information centre on our arrival).

Vienna or Wien is the capital of Austria and also one of its states. It has been a very important cultural, political and economic centre of Europe from the middle ages, when the Hapsburg dynasty of Austro Hungarian empire had a fair share of the fortunes of Europe. During the 1920s and 1930s, it became a socialist capital and was known as Red Vienna. During the German Anscluss (annexation) of 1938, however, Vienna lost much of its prestige and special status, only to be recovered after fall of Hitler and the Third Reich. It is to be noted that (for the benefit of those who are not so familiar with history) the assassination of Hapsburg prince Archduke Franz Ferdinand, triggered the world war; although the background was set for this war many years before when Bismark established the supremacy and hegemony of Prussia beyond all doubts by conquering Alsace and Lorraine from France. The Prussian empire under Kaiser Wilhelm 1 dented the prestige of the Hapsburgs and made the Russian Tzar extremely uncomfortable and British empire nervous. All these events did have a contribution to WW1.

We arrived at our hotel Kavalier which was a 4 star booked through hrs and cost only 55 Euro a night. While the Venice hotel was a disaster, this hotel was an excellent one, rated only second to the hotel we stayed at Rome on our personal hotel rating scale. The room was large, had a balcony and though the view was not that great (a railway line), it was open, airy and spacious with all the modern amenities and comforts, neat and tidy. The lounge and dining area were also impressive. Overall, we rued the fact that we are going to stay only one night here.

It was around 2 PM in the afternoon that we reached here. After some rest,we decided the explore the city and make the best of our available time. We were supposed to catch a Germanwings flight back to Stuttgart the next day, so we had only a few hours to spend in the city of Freud, Mozart and so many other worthy sons of soil. Vienna, being the erstwhile seat of Hapsburg monarchy has much to offer in terms of art and culture. You can get far more detail information on wikitravel - http://wikitravel.org/en/Vienna, about the city's transportation, culture, sights to be seen etc. We had mostly consulted lonely planet, and we had recieved some help from the hotel and information counter. So first we walked down to Schloss Schoenbrunn and the adjacent garden. Schoenbrunn was the summer palace for Hapsburg monarchy. The palace was the place for a meeting between John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khruschchev at during Cold War. The Palace Park offers a lot of attractions, such as the Privy Garden, a Maze and Labyrinth, and the top-of-the-hill Gloriette with its Panorama Terrace.

There was some cultural event which was taking place in the garden but it was in German, so we walked further to explore the palace gardens. We saw the panorama terrace, the glass dome in the garden but did not have inclination to explore the palace, as we had seen too many palaces in Europe. Moreover we did not have suffcient time to see things at leisure. So we jumped on to a tram to city centre. On the way we saw the Technische museum which is quite reputed. Finally we arrived at Stephanplatz, where the famous cathedral of Stephan or St Stefen's is located. Stefan Dom is a landmark in Vienna. The main altar has a Baroque panel showing St. Stephen, Christianity’s first martyr. The baroque architecture was amazing, like in almost all old cathedrals in Europe. We met a guy who sang 'Shaba Shaba" by seeing us Indians and attempted to sell something to us. Apparently Bollywood films are a craze in Germany and some other parts of Western Europe. That's because, as one of the immigrants of Iraq with whom I had a discussion on the same said, they are culturally closer to Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa than Hollywood films.

We had an option of either doing a city tour on foot or take a horse driven cart. The later would cost us 64 Euro and we found a German couple willing to split the cost with us, so we set ourselves on a cart and began our journey.

We went through much of the old city downtown along the Ring strasse , saw the opera house and the monument of Holy Trinity, the Fountain of Marriage, passed the square where Mozart gave his first public performance at the age of five, the Parliament house, the Hofburg palace of the Habsburgs, Burgthetre or imperial court theatre which was created by Maria Theresa, Der Grabn, one of the most famous streets, Peterskirche or St Peter's Church, and finally came back to Stefans Dom. There we got down from the cart and payed our fare. Then we went our way on foot to explore the inner town more effectively. We went through the Graben and came into the Hofsburg palace. This was the seat of the Habsburgs, the Austro Hungarian empire, one of the most powerful empire of Europe during the middle ages which survived until the first world war. This palace was also the birthplace of Mary Antoniette. It also contains references to the empress Sissi or Elizabeth of Bavaria who married Franz Joseph of Habsburg monarchy. She was considered as the most beautiful woman of Europe during her time (late nineteeth century). She was killed in 1899 by an Italian anarchist. Her biography can be viewed at http://www.angelfire.com/ma/mayerling/sisibio.html. Germans still love this Bavarian beauty and drama and operas on her life are quite popular. From the Hofsburg palace we hopped on a U Bahn and went straight to Danube or Donau, one of the largest rivers flowing through Europe. On the other side of Danube and accessible by U Bahn is the new city, also called UNO city, connected by Reichsbruecke. The bridge is 528 m long and crosses over the River Danube, the Danube Island and the New Danube. You can get to it by U-Bahn-Linie U1, Station Donauinsel. There were some cruise ships standing on the banks of Danube. Beyond Donauinsel is the Alte Donau or old Danube. The “Alte Donau” in Vienna is a shallow lake, more of a dead end of the former river branch of the Danube . Danube originates from the Black Forest in Germany at the town of Donaueschingen and flows eastwards for 2800 km. It flows through much of the central and eastern Europe before emptying itself in the Black sea. The Danube is mentioned in the title of a famous waltz by Austrian composer Johann Strauss "An der schoenen blauen Donau" (On the Beautiful Blue Danube). This piece was composed as Strauss was traveling down the Danube River. We sat for sometime on the banks of this beautiful river and then decided to walk back. On the way we came across the Assisi church at Mexikoplatz. It's a beautiful church. "Kirche zum Heiligen Franz von Assisi" or "Trinitarierkirche" is an enormous church in Vienna’s second district, the Leopoldstadt. It is situated on the Mexikoplatz square just by the Danube river. The Mexikoplatz was so named in honour of the fact that Mexico was the only country apart from Soviet Union which protested against the Nazi anschluss of Austria in 1937, when eminent powers like Britain and France were almost ready to serve the country on a platter to Hitler, in order to placate the Nazis.

We jumped on to a U Bahn to go to Prater. Vienna's Prater district has a large amusement park containing various attractions like ghost train ride, games, go cart ring, but the most famous of them is the giant ferris wheel or Riesenrad. It was erected in the years 1896-97 by the English engineer Walter Basset. Ferris wheel was very common during nineteenth century in the major cities of the world, Chicago had one, so had London and Paris. However today Vienna's Prater's Riesenrad is one of the famous tourist attractions. We bought tickets and sat on the giant wheel along with others. It moved very slowly but we could see clearly the skyline of Vienna as well as watch the sun set on the banks of the Danube. It was a spectacular sight .

By the time we got off the prater, it was almost dark (around 8 PM). We returned to the city centre and tried to find a good restaurant to satiate our hunger but could find none (perhaps we were looking at the wrong places). We then came back to hotel. The hotel retaurant was closing; so we had a hasty dinner and then went back to our rooms for a good night's sleep. In the morning we woke up, took a taxi and headed straight to the airport after checking out.

Vienna was a most memorable piece of stay and we would love to visit Vienna again.

Deshe Bideshe 7 - Italy

Shantanu:

Italy (Rome, Pisa and Naples)

I was goading Devmitra for quite some time to come with me to Italy; it would be our first trip together. She however was not very enthusiastic. As a last resort, I told her firmly that the offer of 70 euro round trip from Stuttgart to Pisa on HLX is going to expire and that this was a chance of a lifetime to visit Rome. That worked and she finally gave in. I was looking for a companion for this trip as I already had done my own bookings. So when she agreed, I chalked out the detailed, point by point plan, including train travels, travel schedule, travel budget, hotel booking in Rome, means of transport, places to see etc. Rome was a major spot on the agenda and out of 4 days, 2 full days and 3 nights were reserved for Rome. The onward flight ticket was booked from Cologne Bonn airport to Pisa, while the return was from Pisa to Stuttgart, both using HLX (Hapag Lloyd Express, a low cost German carrier). To go to Cologne Bonn we needed to go to Cologne first and who would want to miss the magnificient Cologne dome? Devmitra had never gone to Cologne or Koeln, though she had visited Duesseldorf, which is another 30 min by train. Bonn was the capital of erstwhile West Germany and is very near to Koeln; on a sunny day Bonn can be seen from the top of the Dom or the cathedral. I had gone to Cologne dome twice before, both times with my friends, Sujoy da and family. The first was in April 2004 when I went to Paderborn to meet Sujoyda first time (he was working there in an Infosys project with Benteler) and the next time in August 2004 when Seshadri visited Germany. The first time I was there, I bought my digital camera (Konica Minolta, 4 MPX with which all these pictures are taken), from the camera shop near the cathedral. It was a bright sunny day of April, though a little chilly. I remember my handshake with the silver coloured statue who did a "namaste" to me and my photo with him, the fountain in the square, the beautiful walk along the river Rhine, me ascending the 510 steps to reach the top of the Dom to have a fascinating view of Rhine and the huge bell at the top. I had also bought an Eau de Cologne for 10 Euro. It was the Easter Saturday and I had travelled to Paderborn at 5 AM in the morning. I remember that trip vividly because at 4.30 AM, still groggy eyed, I had boarded the ICE, worn out from my return the previous day from Utrecht accompanied by Lutz and Rituraj (client and project manager resp.); our flight from Utrecht to Stuttgart had got cancelled and we were flown to Munich on an alternate flight. We then took a rental car and drove all the way from Munich to Stuttgart to reach my place at 3 AM in the morning. Thanks to Ritu's help I could get a taxi at 4.30 AM for the Hauptbahnhof. What a life! But I reached Paderborn alright, without any mishap.

This time it was late October 2004, already cold in Germany and it was almost evening when we caught the ICE to Koeln. The ICE was running late and we reached Koeln at around 7.30PM. The Dom platz was dark with very few people roaming around, but still we could see and appreciate the beautiful architecture. However the life that I had percieved in the summer daytime during both my previous visits, was missing. Still, a thing of beauty is a joy for ever. The Dome of Cologne which was built from a period of 1248 until 1880 is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. This is under the Roman catholic church. Apparently this cathedral took 14 hits during WW-2 but never succumbed. Repair and maintainance work was still on progress. The 24-ton St. Petersgloecke ("Bell of St. Peter"), was cast in 1922 and is the largest free-swinging bell in the world, which I saw during my first visit, when I climbed to the top.

Even in the darkness the fine gothic architecture was still very discernable. We crossed the street and went to a Chinese restaurant to pick up a parcel dinner and hopped on to a taxi. The hotel was quite far from downtown and it took nearly 20 min and approx. 23 Euro. The taxi driver was a nice and friendly chap who handed us two lozenges. But thanks to our Indian upbringing where we do'nt trust anything offered by strangers, esp. when moving @100 khmp through an autobahn in an unknown area, we did not eat them then and there (probably a disourtesy). I definitely ate mine at the hotel, do'nt know what Devmitra did with hers. The hotel was small but neat and tidy. We paid upfront in cash (35 bucks per room). Our flight was at 6.30 AM. We woke up at around 4.30 AM and were ready by 5.30 AM. The taxi arrived duely and the lady taxi driver assured us that we would reach the airport in 5 min, which indeed turned out to be the case. At the airport we had quite a struggle in locating the HLX counter. We went sleepily from one place to another and finally managed to find it. Cologne Bonn is a smaller airport compared to Frankfurt, may be a little larger than Stuttgart and yet, given the short timeframe, we were a little nervous. The boarding was uneventful and we arrived in Pisa by 8.30 AM. Pisa airport is a very small airport. But, here we were, at Pisa, the site of one of the seven wonders of the world. Scenery around the airport was beautiful, warm and clear southern sky above, and some hills could be seen afar. We collected our checked in baggages and headed for the information counter. At the information counter we got the schedule for the bus which leaves for Pisa tower from the airport, came outside and after a short wait, got the local bus in about 20 min. The journey was nice, we crossed the Arno river, saw the not too crowded streets of Pisa, touched Pisa station and finally reached the bus stop for Piazza del Duomo from where we could walk down to the tower behind the cathedral. Pisa is a very old city, lying on the mouth of two rivers, Arno and Serchio. Pisa also rose into prominence under Romans as a colony, port and Naval base for expeditions. It is in the Tuscany province of Italy. The city became a very important power during 11th century. It had a big naval fleet on mediterranean and also a commercial centre. Pisa was also the birthplace of Galileo Galilei. Learn more about Pisa from wiki at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pisa. .

The leaning tower of Pisa is the bell tower for the cathedral of Pisa and is located in the Piazza del Duomo or the cathedral square. It was constructed in 1173 AD but soon afterwards it began to lean owing to the pooly laid foundation. Since then the tower is leaning progressively. It is said thatit was here that Galileo conducted his famous experiment of dropping two canon balls to prove that the speed of their fall is independent of their masses, i.e. gravitational acceleration or g is constant. There has been much restoration and prevention of further leaning efforts after the tower was declared a UNESCO world heritage site and now is considered stable in its current position. The tower together with the Baptistry and cathedral form the famous structures of the town of Pisa. There is a big archway through which we entered the Piazza or the square. It consists an impressive array of buildings, a predestrian thoroughfare and nice souvenir shops on one side. And surely the leaning tower was peeping from behind the cathedral. Devmitra's first expression on seeing the tower was "It actually leans!". And she kept repeating it at 5 min interval till we reached the main Basilica which is the leftmost structure. The cathedral has beautiful relief structures of Biblical figures. At the rear end, there is a statue of Remulus and Remus suckling a wolf. As the legend goes, these brothers were the founders of Rome. They were born around 771 BC. Romulus, who slew Remus, served as the first king of Rome. As far as the leaning tower goes, it seems that the Italian dictator Mussolini tried to prevent its leaning by instructing his engineers to construct concrete structures at the bottom. Unfortunately this did nothing to alleviate the situation and resulted in further leaning of the tower. We now came very close to the tower. The tower is about 187 feet in height and maintenance work is going on, so part of it is fenced. We bought tickets to climb to the top and see the bell as well as the city landscape. The steps were pretty steep and the corridor was dark and narrow. However at each level there is a balcony and the views from each are amazing.

After coming down, we walked back, to take a train to Firenze or Florence. This was my first encounter with a wonder of the world (I have'nt seen Taj) and Devmitra's third (she had seen the Taj and Eiffel tower) and both of us were dazed with the experience. Coming back to reality, we were a little confused with regard to the bus stop and the correct direction that we should head in. Finally we could find one bus that would take us to the station. We bought the tickets to Florence from the automatic ticketing machines. The train was due in an hour and a further hour long journey to Florence lay ahead of us. The station was small but neat and clean and not too crowded. This was our first experience with Train Italia and we were happy. No further event during the journey except for the fact that Devmitra was carrying the train tickets and chose the precise moment when the ticket checker arrived to head to the rest room. However the checker did not trouble me (either I looked very innocent or as a rule, they trust tourists).

We reached Firenze past noon and planned to spend half a day here, the prominent seat of Renaissance in Italy and Europe. Florence is the capital of the Tuscany province of Italy and is also called the Athens of the middle ages. The city lies on the banks of Arno river and is specially noted for its ascendancy and leadership during Renaissance periods.

The city was also the centre of European trade and finance in the middle ages. During the medieval ages the most powerful family in Florence was the Medici family who were also great patrons of art and culture, esp. Lorenzi Medici who patronized Michelangelo. A trip to Italy without having a dekko at this place is unimaginable. A replica of Michelangelo's David is located in front of Palazzo Della Signoria, also know as Palazzo Vecchio. Florence is also the city of Dante and Leonardo Da Vinci, apart from Michelangelo. So there are a quite a few attractions and remnants of medieval golden period. Another major attraction of the city is the Uffizi gallery, which Sujoyda (one of my closest

friends who had visited Italy earlier) told me to visit, but since it would involve an advanced booking and neither of us were major art buffs, we decided to skip it. Also we had very little time on hand. However one thing that we did not miss (and could not miss) is the Duomo or Santa Maria Del Fiore.

We arrived at the Firenze Santa Maria Novella station. This is located near the old town. We got a map from the information centre and proceeded to walk towards the historic old town. While walking towards Piazza Del Signoria we saw a vibrant and lovely town, people painting portraits and sketches, people attired as Roman soldiers posing with tourists, beautiful fountains, and pigeons. At the heart of the Piazza is the fountain of Neptune, which is a masterpiece of marble sculpture and was constructed in late sixteenth century. We walked towards the Duomo which is flanked by the Campanile and Baptistery buildings. Campanile is the bell tower of Duomo. The basiclica of Santa Mari del Fiore was constructed between 1296 to 1493. We walked towards the church of San Lorenzo which contains the Medici chapel, a mausoleum of the Medici family. We went to several nearby alleys and found the narrow alleys a reminder of the medieval period, dark, intriguing, vendors peddling their wares, people walking by, houses and shops bending over each other, a stark contrast to the vast open space and sunshine in the Piazza. We walked further down and immersed ourselves in the gaities and fest

ivities around us, folks singing and strumming a guitar to get money from tourists, people generally sitting and basking in the sun, restaurants abuzz with people having pizzas, pastas and wine. We walked towards the statue of David which is situated in front of Palazzo Vecchio. Palazzo Vecchio is the townhall of Florence and was originally called Palazzo della Signoria after the erstwhile ruling body of Florence.

By now it was past 2.30 PM and we were royally hungry, so we settled for the nearest posh pizzeria and ordered pepperoni pizza with elan. To our dismay, we learned that pepperoni was nothing but beef and so our hunger evaporated. I still could eat them, poor Devmitra had to satisfy herself with pizza crumbs. We also had a glass of cognac each. The pizza and cognac left us poorer by 45 Euro. Now we began walking towards Uffizi gallery lane which ends at the Arno river and Ponte Vecchio, the old bridge on the Arno. Uffizi is one of the oldest and most famous art galleries in the world and is located on Palazzo degli Uffizi. It contains some of the most famous collections of the Medici family. Some of the most famous artworks include among others- Caravaggio's Bacchus and Medusa, Botticelli's La Primavera and Birth of Venus, Rapahel's Madona del, Michaelangelo, Rembrandt, Titian's works, in short many of the masterpieces in the world. We passed by Uffizi and saw artists on the pavements selling their wares which were good sketches and caricatures of tourists and imitations of famous artworks, locals adorned themselves as cupid and other mythical characters to lure tourists to click photos with them, and a huge crowd, moving towards Ponte Vecchio where there are plenty of shops. We sailed through the crowd and came near the Arno, sat at the banks of the river for sometime and enjoyed its beauty. This river has a love hate relationship with the people of Florence - it being the mainstay of commerce and its devastating floods destroying lives several times. We went to Ponte Vecchio to enjoy the shops built upon its edges. Present shops are mostly jewellery and souvenir shops. It is said that the concept of "bankruptcy" originated here (source: wiki), bank from banco - the table on which merchents sold their wares, which was broken by soldiers (rotto) if they were unable to pay the debts. During world war 2 this bridge was mercifully not destroyed by the retreating Germans.

By now it was time to catch our train to Rome. We walked back to the station, bought the tickets and reached the Italian capital at around 8.30 PM. We went straight to the information counter and got the directions to our hotel and a city tour map. When we stepped out of Roma termini we were approached by taxi drivers, who offered to take us to the hotel for 40 euro (literally taking us for a ride). Not being swayed (we are from India, remember! we have seen enough swindlers) we went back to catch a metro. The metro in Rome is a relatively easier way to travel around the city and covers almost all important tourist attractions. There was not much of a crowd at that hour. However we were cautioned against pickpockets and snatchers in the metro (their skills are nothing compared to pickpockets in Calcutta buses though), so we clutched to our belongings with our life and hopped on to Line A towards Ottaviono San Pietro. We later discovered that San Pietro stands for St. Peter and that this station was very near St. Peter's and Vatican. But that night, we came out into a dark, unknown junction with buses plying in all directions and people not knowing a word of English. Fortunately we got a cab and from there the trip to the hotel took 10 min and 10 Euro. Have forgotten the hotel name, but it was a 4 star, classic hotel with very beautiful rooms and splendid staff who spoke good English and were courteous and helpful. The hotel also had a good Italian restaurant where we dined for the rest of our stay to our heart's content. However, that night we decided to first check out the area, if there was any MacD or any other cost effective food available as neither of us were too hungry. Finally we decided to ditch the search, went back to the restaurant, and Devmitra had pasta while I had grilled lambs. The lambs proved to be too heavy for me. Probably they had cursed their eater before dying. Anyway, once I prayed for their souls, it became alright. Probably now they are grazing on the heavenly grasses shepherded by angels.

Next morning we were supposed to do a "Roman holiday". But it startedwith a fiasco. I had forgotten that the day light saving time in Europe starts from the last Sunday of October, which was that day. We got up at 6.30 AM as per our watch, but it was really 5.30 AM. When I came to Devmitra's room I found that she had somehow locked her safe and was unable to open it. Trouble, because the safe contained all our belongings, cash, camea, and passport. So we took help from the reception to sent a technician. They informed us that the technician would only be available at 7AM (which was just the time by my watch). That's then we realized our mistake, adjusted our watches and tried to get that elusive 1 hour sleep. When finally we were ready to go out, we asked in the reception about places to go. His first choice was St. Peter's and Vatican, but he cautioned us that there would be a mass and it would be very crowded in the morning, so it would probably be better to visit in the afternoon. We decided to take the risk and came to the bus stop for the bus to the Ottaviano but were unable to find the bus stop. So we asked a Bangadeshi flower vendor Alibhai who had just opened his shop in the morning. Bengali Bengali bhai bhai, so initially when we asked in English his response was cold, but when we switched over to Bengali it became very cordial and he even gave us the bus timings and arranged for the bus tickets. Soon the bus came and we hopped on and arrived at the last stop - St. Peter's, Sistine chapel and the Vatican. It was really a huge crowd that had gathered in front and we saw no way of entering St. Peter's and Sistine Chapel amidst that ocean of humanity. So we decided to ditch Michelangelo's frescoes and instead had a good look at Vatican city from outside the walls and went to the huge square in front of St. Peter's. The Vatican city came into existence in 1929 and is a country on its on with its own laws. It is the smallest country by population and by area. It is ruled by the Pope and other dignitaries (cardinals) of the Roman catholic church. The Pope's palace is known as the Apostolic Palace. The huge square in front of St. Peter's basiclica is known as San Pietro Piazza after the Pope by the same name. The holy Pope during our visit was Pope John Paul 2, fondly called in Calcutta as "Poltu da" when he first visited the city (Poltu is a popular nickname in Bengali and "da" is the address of respect and love). Swiss guards are the traditional bodyguards of Pope. At St. Peter's Piazza there is an obelisk at the centre. Obelisks were very prominent among Egyptians and they symbolized the sun god Amon Re. The Ancient Romans were strongly influenced by the obelisk form, to the extent that there are now more than twice as many obelisks standing in Rome as remain in Egypt. This Obelisk is made of red granite supported by bronze lions and was bought to Rome by emperor Caligula. There were lots of tourists, many balloons floated in the square and there was an air of happiness and joy all around. From St. Peter's Sqaure we moved on along Via della Conciliazione or the road of conciliation (set up by Mussolini). On the way we realized we just couldn't walk around the entire day, so we decided to go for hop on hop of service. Actually it was Devmitra's idea as she had already experienced hop on hop off in Paris (and she abhored the idea of exploring the city by walking :)). The bus came on time and we comfortably seated ourselves on the top deck and went on seeing the sites along the road. These buses are run by a company called Viator and like other hop on hop off tourist buses comes with an audio system which provides information about all tourists spots in multiple languages, you need to select the right language option. The tickets are valid for the day and any time you can jump off the bus and explore a site. We boarded the bus from PONTE SANT'ANGELO, the bridge on the river Tiber, near Piazza Sant'Angelo opposite the Castle. We crossed the Tiber via Ponte Umberto. Tiber is also believed to be the same river into which Romulus and Remus, the twin infants, were thrown.

We saw the castle of St. Angelo. Begun by Emperor Hadrian in 128 AD as a mausoleum for himself and his family, it was converted into a fortress for the popes in the 6th century AD. It was named by Pope Gregory the Great in AD 590, after he saw a vision of an angel above the structure heralding the end of a plague in Rome. We passed several other prominent structures till we came near Piazza Navona. The baroque buildings now surrounding the oval barely disguise the fact this was once a Chariot Racing track, the Stadium of Domitian, built in the first century. Even today, the central area is a dramatic sight, with the obelisk of the Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi in front of the church of Sant’ Agnese in Agone as the focal point. Bernini was the architect of this famous fountain. This piazza is also lined with cafes and restaurants and is a famous tourist spot with lots of street vendors (many of them Bangladeshis). There were many budding artists doing sketches and caricatures of tourists. We saw the fountain which depicts four rivers - the Nile, Ganges, Danube and Rio Plata. There is also an obelisk at the centre. Devmitra boldly posed as queen flanked by two guys dressed as Roman soldiers. There is another fountain at the end called Fontana del Nattuno. From there we walked on towards Pantheon. Pantheon was orginally built at around 125 AD as a temple of all gods of Rome. The term pantheon is now applied to a monument in which illustrious dead are buried, i.e. a tomb. It was later converted to a Catholic church. Among those buried here is the famous renaissance painter Raphael. There are also royal tombs here - of Vittorio Emanuell 2, Umberto 1 and his queen. Pantheon is still used as a church and masses are conducted here (source: wiki). We walked to the Piazza Dela Minerva which contains the basilica of Minerva. Pulcino della Minerva is another Bernini structure of elephants supporting an obelisk. There is a fountain nearby and also a drinking water source. Such drinking water sources are ubiquitous in Italy, mercifully, because in Germany we had to rely extensively on bottled water. Near the fountain a newly maried couple were having their wedding pictures taken. The tall structure of the Pantheon with its portico resting on the huge Corinthian column is one that draws attention but actually there is a concrete dome at the top with a great eye, the Oculus, as a central opening on the roof. There are so many famous paintings and sculptures inside. We are not art lovers and hence did not realize the significance of many of them until we read about them later - works of Raphael, Caracci and so many others. There is a bust of Rapahel above his tomb.

From the Pantheon we took the bus again and got ourselves dropped near the Trevi fountain. We walked for about 10 minutes (followed the crowd actually) to reach the Trevi fountain. And there it was, suddenly sprang from nowhere, such a gorgeous and beautiful architecture. The Trevi fountain is at the end of an aquaduct constructed in 19 BC to bring water to Rome from around 20kms away. It supplies the fountains in the historic centre of Rome with water. The current Trevi fountain was designed as a large basin in a semicircular shape sunk slightly below pavement level. This creates a natural amphitheatre for visitors. The fountain has had several versions. It took three centuries to complete and is often attributed to Bernini, but for the most part it is the work of the Roman architect, Nicola Salvi. The central figure of the fountain, in front of a large niche, is Neptune, god of the sea. He is riding a chariot in the shape of a shell, pulled by two sea horses. Each sea horse is guided by a Triton. One of the horses is calm and obedient, the other one restive. They symbolise the fluctuating moods of the sea. On the left hand side of Neptune is a statue representing Abundance, the statue on the right represents Salubrity.
The water at the bottom of the fountain represents the sea. Legend has it you will return to Rome if you throw a coin into the water. You should toss it over your shoulder with your back to the fountain.
Approximately €2000 is thrown into the Trevi Fountain each week and the coins are collected at night, and used to subsidise a supermarket for Rome's poor population. We however did not throw any coins, but went near the water to get a very close view. A lot of Bangladeshi hawkers were peddling stuffs. There were many tourists crowded round the fountain but there was enough scope for a good view.

Now it was almost past midday and we were hungry. The city tour bus stopped at its destination, the Roma Termini station, where it would wait for 20-30 min. Devmitra, who can't withstand hunger, got down and walked towards Termini to get some pizzas or burgers for us. And she was gone for more than 20 min I got restive and thought that the bus might depart without her. I informed the bus driver about the situation and the driver asured me that there was still enough time. Then she came back, with some burgers and fries, junk food, but saviours in times of hunger. The bus then took off from Termini. The first stop was Piazza Venezia. We were dropped near Piazza Ara Coeli and we walked down the street to reach the staircases of Piazza Venezia. The Piazza Venezia is at the foot of the Capitoline Hill and near Roman Forum. At the front is the monument of Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of unified Italy. The piazza takes its name from Palazzo Venezia which lies on the western side -- at one time ambassadors from the Republic of Venice used a part of the building. This impressive building was constructed in the fifteenth century by Cardinal Pietro Barbo, who went on to become Pope Paul II. Built around the church of San Marco, the palazzo underwent many changes before reaching its present form and was used as a papal residence by several popes. (Popes lived really good lives!). It was from the balcony on the first floor of Palazzo Venezia that Benito Mussolini spoke to the crowds that filled the piazza in his heyday. We went up the stairs, saw the busy intersection and the Italian flag, the wonderful decorations in the palace and the ruins of Roman Foum. The construction of the immense white marble monument - built on the side of the Capitoline Hill - completely changed the appearance of the square, which at the same time was drastically enlarged. Many historic buildings, including a convent located on the hill were demolished.

One building - the Palazzetto Venezia - was even moved so it wouldn't obstruct the view of the monument from the Via del Corso. The Palazetto is now left of the Palazzo Venezia seen from the Vittoriano. On the right of the Palazzo Venezia is another palace, the Palazzo Bonaparte. It was named after Letizia Bonaparte, mother of emperor Napoleon I.

We began our walk towards the Roman Forum and the Colosseum. The Roman Forum is located between the Palatine hill and Capitoline hill. It's the area around which ancient Roman civilization developed and prospered. The forum was the "city centre" or downtown of ancient Rome, containing several temples and other important structures where councils were held by citizens and people came here for justice. Now the entire place is in ruins. On the opposite side there is a museum dedicated to the Roman Forum. We saw the ruins, though not from close quarters and went to see the museum to learn more. Then we went oward to the Colosseum. The Colossseum or Coliseum was the amphitheatre which had a capacity of 80,000 spectators and was a symbol of Roman barbarsim and beastliness (to my mind), as well as an engineering marvel. We however did not go inside the Colosseum as we were tired and hungry and wanted to return to the hotel. As pure fun, we posed with swords with couple of people dressed as Roman soldiers (who earn a living by doing so) and were lighter by 10 bucks in the process. Then we took the metro and returned. Next day would be even more hectic as we needed to travel to see the great volcano, Vesuvius, and the ruins of one of the great towns, Pompeii. We had dinner at the hotel restaurant.

The next morning our train was at 6.30 AM and its about 3 hours journey to Naples from Rome. We we got ourselves prepared and took a cab to the Ottaviano metro station at 6 AM in the morning and reached the station by 6.20 AM. We bought the tickets and the superfast train (300 kmh) was waiting for us. We also managed to get a reservation. The journey was nice. There was another Italian couple in our compartment. Devmitra slept most of the time and missed the scenery outside. Finally when I could see the Bay of Naples, I woke her up and we arrived duly in Napoli or Naples, had some breakfast there and set off for the Circumvisuviana railway. But to our surprise, no such railway existed near the station and nobody could tell us where it is. After some more enquiry and remembering my reserach from internet sources, we finally located it. You need to walk along the main road in front of the Napoli station, go straight towards the left (from the station), cross two intersections, and then you can locate it at the left. Circumvesuviana is a narrow gauge rail line connecting towns on Vesuvius with Naples. Its tracks run around the base of Vesuvius. We bought our tickets and got the schedule of the train. The stations passed and the train slowly got crowded. Not a scenic ride except for dusty countryside of Naples and dingy slums. At last, after about 40 min we reached the station "ruins of Pompeii". A few tourists including us got down. Pompeii is in the Italian region of Campania. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed in 79AD by the rage of Vesuvius. An account of the destruction of the twin cities is available from the account of Pliny (junior), a great scholar of that period. His uncle Pliny the senior was the admiral who was also a great scholar and who died while rescuing people from a ship on the Bay of Naples during the eruption. The entire city and its inhabitants were submerged under thick layer of ashes and lava. We walked along with other tourists, bought the tickets and entered the ruins of the unfortunate city whose remants have been excavated in the last century and is now a major tourist attraction. Before coming to Italy I had bought and read a novel called "Pompeii" by Robert Harris, a fictitious but thrilling account of a corruption unveiling, a love story and death and destruction of Pompeii, with glimpses of Roman barbarism and debauchery prevalent during the period. The novel centred around Aqua Augusta, the aquaduct which was real and which supplied water to 8 cities in Bay of Naples including Pompeii. The Piscina Mirabilis which features promonently in the novel is a terminal reservoir of the Aqua Augusta and remains intact even today.

The excavated town offers a snapshot of Roman life in the 1st century, frozen at the moment it was buried on 24th August, 79 AD - the Forums, temples, baths, many houses with sprawling courtywards, the amphitheatre - all beautifully preserved under mounds of ashes and pumice for centuries. Even the smallest details are carefully preserved - cobblestoned roads, wine jars, pots and other household utensils. They used to preserve urine in big pots, supposedly for laundry works (Devmitra exclaimed, ewwww!). The aquaduct provided water to the street fountains, public baths and swimming pools and was a marvel of engineering of the Roman period. There are well preserved mummies of human beings and dogs, buried under ashes and lava. There was an earthquake in Pompeii in 62 AD which devastated many parts, till the final blow came in 79 AD from Vesuvius. It is estimated now that those smaller quakes were actually the symptoms of volcanic activity which went unnoticed at that time.

We spent about 1 and a half hour exploring the ruins along with other tourists. By then the sun shone brightly on our heads and it was time to get ready for another trip - to the destructor, the Vesuvius. The bus was supposed to leave at 1.30 PM. So we hastily took some snacks and waited for the bus on the other side of the station. It was a mini bus containing loads of tourists, including us. We went uphill along the Naples Bay and saw the Bay of Naples and adjoining town. The foothills are covered with wild vegetation but as we moved up vegetation became scarce. Vesuvius last erupted in the 1940s and we could see the remnants of the ash scattered all over the place on the hills. It was about 30 min bus journey after which bus comes to rest at a place where there is an Italian souvenir shop. The owner speaks English and German and French apart from Italian and soon made friends with the American and Britih tourists. From there we had to take a 20 min ardous walk to climb on to the top of Vesuvius to see the crater. But since Devmitra was suffering from motion sickness, we decided to give it a rest and stayed back till the bus started its journey back to Pompeii. We missed the crater of Vesuvius, but saw the great active volcano very closely and it was a real thrill. The journey back to Naples station was uneventful except that we met a talkative British tourist who was apparently searching for prostitutes of Naples (Naples is quite notorious for its crime rate, flesh trading, and dirt).

We got our train on time and came back to Roma Termini and eventually to the hotel by 7 PM in the evening. We celebrated the success and end of the Italy trip with a sumptuous meal of pizza and pasta and a jar of red wine and returned to our rooms quite tipsy. In the morning we woke up, checked out and caught the train to Pisa. The train stopped at Pisa airport station. Nothing worth mentioning except for the fact Devmitra had almost forgotten her bag containing our passports and money on the train, probably being sleepy and too dazed from our too lovely trip.

We got the HLX flight and returned to Stuttgart by noontime. I had taken a leave to rest myself while Devmitra rushed to the office taking a taxi.

Deshe Bideshe 6 - USA

Devmitra:

USA - San Francisco, Dec 2004

2004 marks a very significant time in my life for various reasons. First & foremost, because this was the first time I was venturing out into the big, wide world all by myself. Having never lived away from home for more than 3 months at a time, this assignment with Daimler AG (then DaimlerChrysler) in Stuttgart, Germany scheduled to be at least 6 months long was, to me, a chance to spread my wings and break free from the cocoon of a safe and secure home environment (too poetic?). This was also the year when I met Shantanu. I knew him before, but now I recognised him to be more than my office colleague, possibly my life partner...And finally this was the year when I travelled half way across the globe, all by myself, to visit my Di, Da and my brand new nephew! The last bit was the most exciting because it would be the first time I would be meeting Sonu since his birth almost 2 years before!

Of course, I first had to secure a US visa which required me to fill in half a dozen forms, schedule an interview at the US consulate at Frankfurt and then just hope! Hope that the person at the other side of the counter at the consulate is kind enough to grant me a visa without great hassle. My appointment at the consulate was in the early hours of a Saturday and so I tok an evening ICE from Stuttgart to Frankfurt. I had booked a room in a girls dorm at the Frankfurt hostel http://www.frankfurt-hostel.com/. My only aquaintance with a hostel in Europe prior to this was at Salzburg and, to be honest, I had expected a similar ambience and setting. That was not to be; the reception at this hostel was packed with people, the room was more like a looong corridor with beds arranged across the place and the showers were all outside the room about 200 steps away :-(. Anyways, it was a question of only one night and I was too anxious about the interview to pay too much attention to my surroundings. After a dinner of some bread that I had carried from Stuttgart, I checked and rechecked my papers to make sure I was missing nothing and then went to bed. Next morning, I quickly freshened up and hastened to the consulate. Frankfurt, like any other German city, has a superb network of trams details of which are also available on the internet http://www.rmv.de/coremedia/generator/RMV/Sprachen/SPRACH__ART__en.html. Thanks to the route planner, I was able to make it to the consulate without getting lost. There was a small stall at the head of the lane in which the consulate was located, run by an enterprising Indian. Why enterprising? Well, you are not allowed to carry anything inside the consulate - no phones, no bags, nothing except the papers that you will need. So this man played good samaritan & offered to look after all my stuff at just 5 bucks by the hour - Cool! The interview itself went well. Without so much as looking at the innumerable documents Di had sent, the only quesion the consulate officer asked me was why I wanted to visit the US. I still remember he was impressed by the fact that I work for Infosys and Daimler! The norm is for them to return the passport via mail, but I requested that I be allowed to collect the same by hand as I need to travel on business. That was also easily granted and I returned at around 3 in the afternoon to collect my passport - stamped with a US visitor visa! Yeah! Round 1 successfully accomplished!

Round 2 was a different ball game - securing a leave of 2 - 3 weeks and planning the trip. The system that we were designing and building for Daimler was scheduled to "go live" in September and that being the case, me getting 3 weeks off aound December seemed to be difficult in case there are HUGE problems. It took some negotiation before I could convince my boss; but finally I had it - I was to leave Stuttgart on 16 Dec 2004 & return to work on 10 Jan 2005 - 3 solid weeks of vacation! I wasted no time in booking my tickets and managed to get a very good deal from Opodo http://www.opodo.de/. Since I was going to be seeing my nephew for the first time, I could not afford to go empty handed. Thanks to my colleauges, I discovered Bartsmith - a toy store at Utrecht and shopped up a storm, well at least as much of a storm as my luggage limit would permit. I was all set, packed and ready to go...or so I thought until I was in my seat on the plane when the fear factor set in. Had I taken the time difference into account while giving Di my arrival date? Would she be there at the airport to pick me up? On hindsight, the whole thing seems so funny but back then I was petrified and my brain had counjered up all sorts of images of me having to spend the night at SFO airport. In order to "salvage" the situation, I hastily made calls to Shantanu asking him to write to my sister and convey my correct date of arrival. Not content with that, I also tried to call my sister using the phones on the flight between Atlanta (my port of entry) and San Francisco, but to no avail. I got off an SFO more or less mentally prepared to spend a night at the airport. But my luck had not run out, at least not yet. Di was there, so was Da and of course, my nephew! Of course, he was all shy & sleepy but who cares! I was jubilated to see him! We got home and the evening was spent in sharing presents as well as the latest news from our ends.

Our first day trip was to Point Reyes. This is a prominent cape on the Pacific coast of northern California. Unfortunately the weather was extremely damp & foggy. So hiking to the Light House was out of question. We spent some time in the Visitor's Centre. The exhibits there are extremely informative. Lunch was oysters at a local restaurant (yeah, WOW!) and it was delicious! We decided to head out to Drake's beach; sadly it started pouring cats and dogs on the way there. But the drive was extremely thrilling! We could'nt stand for long at the beach as there were gusts of wind threatning to blow us off our feet into the ocean. The ocean itself appeared extremely rough, as if it were extremely furious at us for stepping out in such weather. Pacific ocean is known to be the calmest, but the ocean at Drake's beach that day was anything but calm. We fought back bravely and attempted to go as close to the water as possible to get some pictures; but finally Mother Nature beat us into getting back into the wamth of the car and drive back home.

The next trip was to San Francisco & Fisherman's Wharf. The latter roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco and houses famous locations like Pier 39, Ghirardelli Square as well as restaurants that serve fresh sea food. We drove to Jack London square and then took the ferry to San Francisco. This would be the first time that I would be seeing the Golden Gate bridge, but as my ill luck would have it, the weather turned extremely bleak & wet with the result that all my pictures showed the bridge wrapped in a shroud of dense fog. Likewise I could barely make out the Alcatraz prision & for the moment had to contend myself with the sight of the sharp red light flickering from the light house on the island. Luckily the weather cleared a while later and I had my first look at the San Franciso skyline. The ferry was about an hour long after which we got off at Pier 39. The place distinctly reminded me of the gay fairs that we see on the television. There seemed to be an air of happy "touristiness" all over the place. We walked around for a bit and then visited the sea lions at Pier 39. We could hear them barking from a distance even before we saw them and boy! were they a sight! There were probably hundreds of them, huge lumps of fat and they seemed to literally own the place, as if we were unwanted guests that had wandered into their domain. Di told me that these sea lions had wandered in completely on their own and have made that spot their home ever since. It was great fun to watch their antics and I am not ashamed to say that I was thoroughly captivated by them, just like my 2 year old nephew :-). But I was not the only one, everyone there seemed to be enjoying the sight. Anyways we moved on and went shopping. We bought loads of chocolates, some Ghirardelli stuff, mostly for all my colleauges back in Stuttgart & of course, Shantanu. Lunch time was drawing near & so we popped into one of the sea food restaurants where we feasted on fried calamari & clam chowder. The latter was a thick, creamy soup served in sourdough bread bowls, a signature dish of San Francisco. It was fun & extremely filling! On the way back, we drove past Lombard street, the curviest street in the world. However Di was not feeling adventurous enough to attempt a drive there!

After a few days, we went on a trip to the Napa Valley, which was an almost 2 hour drive away. This region is famous as the wine valley in the US and comprised more than a hundred and forty wineries by the end of the nineteenth century. Of those original wineries several still exist in the valley today including Charles Krug Winery, Shramsburg and Beringer. It was to the last one that we were headed because my brother-in-law or Da as I fondly call him wanted me to take the tour of the wine cellars as well as go wine tasting! How very...posh ;-). Sadly though, we were late in reaching the place and the tours were closed. But the wine tasting was still on & since Da was driving, me and Di happily indulged ourselves :-D. We tasted three different wines - one was red while the other two were white (sadly, I do not remember the names today :-(). One of the white wines was of German origin & I remember the sharpness of the taste. Novice that I was in this area, I tried hard not to show my excitement and pleasure at being able to try my hand at a task that is considered so eclectic. But Da till today teases me of the "glint I had in my eye" after the whole experience :-). Since he could'nt join us, he bought few bottles of wine that he would no doubt enjoy at home later. By this time, it started raining again & the sight of the vineyards amid the light showers was extremely beautiful. We visited some other wineries including the Niebaum Coppola Winery owned by moviemaker Francis Ford Coppola. This particular winery is also a mueseum and offers a delightful array of displays from the movie world including some interesting tidbits and exhibits from his all time famous movie - The Godfather.

I was nearing the end of my trip & yet there was so much that Di & Da wanted to show me. Unfortunately unlike me, they were working & so our trips needed to be planned around the weekends. One stop that they did not want me to miss was the Monterey Bay & Aquarium. The drive to the aquarium was close to an hour long. It is basically a huge aquarium that opens out into the ocean & so offers a kaliedoscope of sights of sea life. I would have probably encountered more than a hundred different species of marine life there including the jelly fish, the sting rays, the otters and the fish. I distinctly remember the million-gallon Outer Bay exhibit that contained a huge shoal of fish including some tuna that weighed upto 400 kilograms! And they looked huge! Also there was the Great White shark. This was the first time that a Great white was brought into an aquarium (of course, it had to be released later). It looked so ferociously beautiful inside the enclosure, mean & cruel and beautiful at the same time. Another exciting display were the Touch Pools. This was my first experience with the these pools where visitors are encouraged to view & touch fish and sting rays. Also we managed to catch quite a session of Kelp forest feeding. The Kelp forest here is 28 feet high & is one of the tallest aquariums in the world. Sardines, leopard sharks, wolf-eels and a host of other fishes weave among the fronds of kelp as the diver doles out their food. We had lunch at the aquarium & then took off for the 17 mile drive. This is a scenic drive along the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses and mansions. There are quite a few scenic spots along the drive. Luckily the weather held up that day and the view of the ocean was absolutely stunning. I also loved the beautiful houses, the bird rock and the cypress groves -the trees were so close together that you could not spot the land that they were actually rooted in.

Couple of other fun trips that I had - a trip to a Krispy Kremes outlet where we watched tens of doughnuts on their journey from plain flour & yeast to yummy glazed doughnuts (Check out a video of how doughnuts are made here http://in.youtube.com/watch?v=56Fkaqcd9SA), a trip to Starbucks where we ate & brought home a variety of bagels & dips and yeah! a trip to Macy's. This was the time when I had a phobia for escalators & Di understandably had no patience for that. So she pulled me on the escalator with her & I was so scared that I clutched at the arm of the guy standing next to me! That REALLY took him by surprise! Sadly all good things come to an end & so did my trip. I did not know then that I would be returning to the US within a few years and that too as a married woman! For now, I packed my bags & returned to Stuttgart filled with happy memories of a great trip.

Feb 2007

By early 2007, we had planned to return to India. My parents were at my sisters' in California & we thought it would be a good chance to pay them a visit before we left Europe. We got our visas from the US consulate at Berlin and left for the US on 18 Feb. The flight was long as we were flying directly to San Francisco (SFO) from Frankfurt, but uneventful. We got off the plane at about 5 pm local time and Di & Da were at the airport. We set off on the drive home, but Di & Da wanted to show us some sights before we reached home. So we first stopped over at the Oracle office at Redwood city. The most remarkable thing about the offices here is that they are all shaped as databases, which was the company's initial line of business. Once we had gotten over our initial fatigue, we turned tourists again. Few days later, we took a trip to San Francisco. My parents had visited SFO before & so had I on my last trip there, but for Shantanu, this would be the first. We took a cab to Jack London Square; the driver was a Sikh & as is somewhat common between people from the same country, we warmed up to each other. At the square, we paid the driver & asked him to meet us at the Barne's & Noble's store nearby at 4:30 the same evening & drop us back home. We needed to cross the road & walk a little distance to reach the ferry departure point. Unfortunately an Amtrak train was passing by & we had to wait a good 10 minutes before we could finally cross. We took the ferry to Pier 39, saw the sea lions, then took a bus to the Palace of Fine Arts & finally visited the Golden Gate Bridge. The Palace of Fine Arts was constructed in 1915 based on the designs of Bernard Maybeck who derived inspiration from Roman & Greek architecture. A single dome remains from the eight identical structures that were originally constructed. Towering colonnaded walkways linked the buildings on the site, but only a few remain intact. Shantanu & I had an argument about the architecture style but then we decided to bury the hatchet & have fun. After all the weather was beautiful & we were on our way to the Golden Gate bridge. The last time I visited the bridge, it was wet & cold but this time, my good luck held & there was bright sunshine accompanied by a strong wind. The Golden Gate was designed and supervised by Joseph Strauss, an ambitious engineer. The bridge earned its name, Golden Gate Bridge, after a mention of it in 1927 by San Francisco city engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy. The construction took a litle more than 4 years & cost more than 35 MUSD. The famous "International Orange" colour was originally used as a sealant for the bridge. Many locals persuaded Irving Morrow, the architect, to paint the bridge in the vibrant orange color instead of the standard silver or gray, and the color has been kept ever since. This bridge is widely considered one of the most beautiful examples of bridge engineering, both as a structural design challenge and for its aesthetic appeal. Sadly, it is also the most prevelant place in the USA to commit suicide :-(. Another key landmark on our ferry was the Alcatraz prision. Thanks to the glorious weather this time, I was able to spot the hill & make out the prision building on the island. It served as a lighthouse, then a military fortification, then a military prison followed by a federal prison until 1963 after which it became a national recreation area in 1972. It has also featured in the famous Hollywood film "The Rock".

The highlight of this trip was the 7 day tour that we took of Death Valley, Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Disneyland & Universal Studios with my parents. It was a bit of a dilemma deciding between a shorter version to only Death Valley, Vegas & Grand Canyon and the longer trip; but finally we decided for the latter; after all, who knows when we will get a chance to visit the other places. We booked our tickets with Lassen Tours http://www.lassentours.com/and set off on the 24th of Feb. Da dropped us at the pick up point, the New Saigon Supermarket at Oakland, at about 7 in the morning, he would be back at the same place a week later to pick us up again. The group comprised only Indians & Chinese folks and so our guide, Andy, kept swapping between English & Chinese as he told us of the different sites. First & foremost, he lay down the ground rules.

• Our driver, Richard, was the final authority on the trip & his word HAD to be adhered to.
• Time was of the essence; we HAD to be very punctual, else we would be left on our own.
• Seats were not fixed; instead they would be assigned on a rotational basis so that everyone got a chance to enjoy the front seats.
• The bus driver would try to stop at decent restaurants (food was not included in the ticket), but we could not be too picky about what we eat.
• Ample rest room breaks would be provided which everyone was supposed to avail. Even though there was a toilet on the bus, it was reserved for the exclusive use of Richard (Hmmm...this was going to be interesting...).

As we started on the trip, we all fell asleep. After all, we had woken up pretty early. Also, I suffer from motion sickness & since I did not want to ruin this trip for all, I took an anti emetic whichmakes me drowsy. We went around to Cupertino & other local countys picking up different passengers & finally took off. We drove almost the entire day (with frequent rest room breaks as promised by Andy) through California's central valley and into Mojave Desert. Mom had packed sandwiches for breakfast & we had lunch at a Mc. D. It was almost evening when we finally reached Barstow. We stopped at a mall after which we made a stop for dinner at a Chinese restaurant. We sent Ma & Bappi inside while Shantanu & I decided to head out a bit on our own in search of a telephone as we had told Di we would let her know of our safety. Unfortunately we could not find a phone; the whole place was deserted, there was only a gas station and a Mc. D in sight. We gave up & hunted around for the restaurant that there rest of the group was in, but could'nt find it. Finally we asked a few folks at the gas station & they directed us to the restaurant. It was basically a hotel & the adjoining restaurant had a buffet. Our telephone search had eaten into our dinner time & so we decided to pack dinner. So we filled in boxes of noodles, rice & fries & then rode with the rest of the group to our first night halt - the Red Roof Inn at Barstow. My parents had the room adjacent to us & we found the rooms extremely neat, comfortable & well provided for. There was even a microwave where we could heat our dinner. We settled down pretty early as Andy had told us we would be leaving at the crack of dawn the next day.

We rose extremely early the next morning, none of us wanted to be left behind. By now we were convinced that Richard was an extremely rigid man who would not think twice before he abandoned us if we were late. While Ma & Bappi got ready, I ran down to a Mc. D nearby & bought us a breakfast of hot pancakes with syrup, honey, butter (YUM!). The bus ride started again & we drove through the Mojave desert. This is locally referred to as the High Desert and is bordered by mountainous ranges. We were on our way to the Death Valley National Park & as we neared the place, Andy told us many interesting facts about it. The eerie name was bestowed by the non native American prospectors in the winter of 1849 who entered the valley thinking they would save time by taking a shortcut to the gold fields of California. It took them an infinetely long time to cross the place & apparently as they left it, one of them turned back & said "Farewell Death Valley" and so the name. This park is the hottest and driest of the national parks in the United States; the exaggerated rainshadow effect for the Death Valley area due to the mountains of Sierra Nevada, the Argus Range & the Panamint Range makes it North America's driest spot. It also features the second-lowest point in the Western Hemisphere and the lowest point in North America at Badwater, which is 282 feet (86 m) below sea level. When we got off at the Badwater basin & stepped into the valley, we felt a deep silence all around us. Even though we were a group of about 20 people incl. kids, we all fell silent as we walked ahead; it was as if the area had cast a spell on us. There was practically nothing for miles together, just a vast strech of damp land surrounded by distantly visible mountains. A cliff had a mark on it which indicated the height represented by mean sea level & we were standing a good distance below it. In wetter times the lake that once filled Death Valley was the last stop for water flowing in the region, meaning the water there was relatively saturated in dissolved materials. Thus the salt pans in Death Valley are among the largest in the world and are rich in minerals, such as borax and various salts and hydrates. These deposits turned out to be very painful to us as we headed back to the bus. Our good driver was extremely particular about the cleanliness of his bus & so stood at the door inspecting the bottom of everyone's shoes before allowing them to board. For those who had not cleaned their feet well enough to meet his stringent criteria, he had in store a hard woodden brush which he used to brush, push, hit, in short do whatever it took to remove the salt. Unfortunately I was one of his victims & I still remember the whacks I got on my shoes as he brushed off the salt :-(. I was honestly uncomfortable with having a grown man touch my shoe, but Richard seemed to have no qualms about it, he only had the neatness of his darling bus on his mind :-).

From Badwater, we drove down a little further to Zabriske point. This is part of the Amargosa Range and is noted for its erosional landscape. It is composed of sediments from Furnace Creek Lake, which dried up 5 million years ago — long before Death Valley came into existence. As the lake dried out due to the rise of mountains, and subsequent widening and sinking of Death Valley and the additional uplift of today's Black Mountains tilted the area. This provided the necessary relief to accomplish the erosion that produced the badlands we see today. The sights at this viewpoint are amazing. It feels as if the earth there is actually an extremely old woman & the badlands are actually the wrinkles on her face. No picture can adequately describe the beauty & wonder of this natural phenomenon.

We left Death Valley & proceeded on our way to the net stop on our itinerary - Vegas. We entered Vegas close to 4 or 5 in the evening. Rooms were reserved for us at the Vegas club. This hotel was not as neat as the one at Barstow but was pretty comfortable. Before we got off the bus, Andy gave us 2 options - either we could explore the city on our own or we could join him for a night tour of the city that would also include some free shows at some of the casinos. We opted for the latter & re entered the bus an hour later and set off on our night tour of the Sin City - Vegas! As we set off, Andy popped a quiz - what are the three things you never see in a casino in Vegas? Answer: a clock (because they never want you to know what the actual time is), an exit sign (cos' they never want you to leave) and windows (so that people cannot see outside whether it is bright or dark) :-). We first stopped at the Rio where we saw a spectacular show. The performers were handing out bead chains as souvenirs & sadly I could not get any. But that was ok; as I stepped back into the bus, Richard handed me one from his collection :-). From Rio, we moved to the Venetian. The entire hotel was set up to resemble the city of Venice including the canals & the gondolas. When in Italy, however fake be the city, one HAS to have ice creams & so we feasted on some ice cream & coffee as we caught another show. The next stop was at the Bellagio. This is another one of the famous casinos in this city and forms a critical part of the popular movie Ocean's Eleven. In honour of the Chinese New Year that was round the corner, they had a huge conservatory set up and decorated with beautiful flowers. As we drove around the strip, Andy pointed out some more famous hotels - Wynn, Paris, New York New York, Excalibur, MGM Grand...it was amazing! There were lights all around & it seemed to be bustling with people. After a while we were let off from the bus, told that we were free to explore the city & either meet the bus at the Bellagio at 8:30 PM or return to the hotel on our own whenever we wished. Of course, the early start the next day was a given fact. So we went around the city at our own leisure. Sadly none of us felt enterprising enough to gamble - a fact that Da laments even today! As usual Shantanu & I had an arguement about where we should eat while my parents watched on helplessly. We finally entered a nice restaurant for dinner. Our little hunt for a "suitable" place to eat left us with less than 15 minutes before we had to meet the bus at the Bellagio for the trip back. So we placed a hasty order & requested the steward to hasten our food as we had a bus to catch. The urgency was understood & we had eaten & left the place in time to catch our bus. We were extremely glad & conveyed our sincere gratitude to the steward. Finally we found our way to the bus & called it a day.

The next day was the part of the trip that I was most looking forward to - a visit to the Grand Canyon. We set off early morning again. Poor Dad! he was having a tough time in keeping up with this schedule - sight seeing the entire day, surviving on fast food, late nights & early mornings; for a person like my Dad, who prefers it laid back & simple, this was extremely difficult to cope up with. Also the long bus hauls played no mercy on his back. Nevertheless, he kept up his tempo as far as possible & ensured that he neither ruined our fun nor missed out on any of it himself :-). We first visited the Hoover Dam. This is on the Colorado river on the border between Arizona & Nevada. This dam is of extreme importance to cities around; it is the only source of water to these places which are otherwise surrounded by miles of arid desert. Like Andy told us, if anyone wished to bring down the pomp & glitter of a city like Vegas, all they had to do was to destroy the Hoover dam. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks there are actually significant security concerns & so a group of search personnel entered our bus & searched it thoroughly to ensure that we were not carrying any explosives or anything. We spent about 15 - 20 mins. at the dam & then took off again. The drive to the Grand Canyon site took about 2 hours more. We stopped at the Information centre where some of the folks went out for a short television show on the canyon. We used the time to catch up on our souvenir shopping. After the show, we took the short ride to the main site. Once the bus was parked, we walked for a short distance, crossed a road & there it was before us - the Grand Canyon! In very basic terms, this is a steep sided gorge carved by the Colorado river over six million years! The canyon is 277 miles long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles and attains a depth of over a mile; the river is barely visible from the top. Nearly two billion years of the earth's history have been exposed as the Colorado River and its tributaries cut their channels through layer after layer of rock while the Colorado Plateau was uplifted. Today it has two rims - the North & the South rim (we were standing on the South Rim); apparently it is possible to trek across the canyon from one rim to the other. Standing there, one can actually see the forces of nature in action. To behold something built over the years, something so beautiful is a very humbling experience. No matter how far mankind progresses, no matter how many beautiful buildings we put up, nothing can even remotely equal this creation! Andy had told us that as per statistics, an average tourist spends about 7 minutes looking at the canyon (!) and so all of us hung around there also to ensure that we beat that time scale :-). Jokes apart, the views that the site offered from different points left us spell bound & we could'nt seem to get enough pictures. Finally we had to leave the place & go have lunch that was arranged at the restaurant in the park, again buffet style. We ate to our fill & then entered the bus again. Andy informed us that we would be dropped off at the hotel & were free to explore Vegas on our own; apparently the drive to & from Grand Canyon had pretty much eaten into the permitted daily driving distance in the US. We spent the evening catching up on some rest & going around the city.

Day 4 of our trip & we were to change buses today. It was time to say good bye to Andy & Richard as those of us who had opted for the 7 day tour were to join another group on the trip to Disneyland & Universal. We checked out of our hotel & drove into Los Angeles. At around noon, we stopped at for lunch at Bakersfield. Today we had two options - Chinese & Indian. No points for guessing where we & the other Indian families headed to :-). Over lunch we got to know some of the other people on the trip. There were 2 elderly couples obviously visiting their children in the US. We found one of the "uncles" extremely loud & obnoxious; he displayed no qualms of discussing the ordeals of a road trip over the phone loud enough for all to hear & for some of us to even understand :-(. Also he bored Andy & the rest of us with stories of his mushroom cultivation (am dead serious! that's what he said). Further as we drove to the point where we had to meet the other bus, Andy clearly explained how much we were to pay him as tip (the Americans are pretty open regarding this as opposed to people from any other place) and this man either did not understand him well or was just plain cheap to give him less. Andy promptly corrected him and asked him to pay the correct amount :-). At around 3 in the evening, we stopped at a gas station & Mc. D where we got off our bus, identified & carried out our luggage, said good bye to Andy & Richard and boarded our new bus. Our co passengers here were all Chinese & we were the only Indians. Our guide for the second leg of the journey gave his name as Whisky :-) while our driver was introduced as Joe. We set off on our way to Hollywood. We got there at around 5 in the evening & went around Hollywood Boulevard, Chinese Theater & Kodak Theater. The Hollywood Blvd. houses the Hollywood Walk of Fame which is embedded with more than 2,000 stars featuring the names of not only human celebrities but also fictional characters representing the who's who of the entertainment industry. The Kodak Theater is the home of the Oscars since 2002 & is adorned with huge placards announcing the names of the winners across the years. Grauman's Chinese Theatre, on the other hand, is a movie theatre which opened in 1922. It has since been home to many premieres, birthday parties, corporate junkets and three Academy Awards ceremonies. Among the theatre's most distinctive features are the concrete blocks set in the forecourt, which bear the signatures, footprints, and handprints of popular motion picture personalities from the 1920s to the present day. As we went around these different places, we were careful not to lose sight of our guide. But we had nothing to worry, Whisky had this unique sing song call which went something like "Lai Lai Lai Lai Lai" that he kept using occassionally to get our attention. It was extremely funny & one of the kids in the group started copying the same :-). Whiskey did not say anything, but he must have been annoyed! We had dinner at a Mexican restaurant nearby and finally checked into hotel Crystal where we were to spend the remaining 3 nights of the trip. Much to Daddy's relief, Whisky asked us to be ready by 9 the next morning giving him enough time to catch up on his sleep :-).

The next two days of this trip were dedicated to rides, shows & loads of fun as we visited two huge amusement parks in this part of the world - Disneyland & the Universal Studios. And our biggest achievement is that we rode every single ride in both these places! This is big considering the fact that of the four of us, one is a scaredy cat and prone to motion sickness & two of the others are pretty senior folks. Today when I look back, I wonder how on earth I decided to take Ma & Bappi on all those rides - falls of over 80 feet, rides where your seat is subjected to jerks & all other stressful forces. But back then, these thoughts never entered anyone's mind. It was like we were there to have fun & we intended to have nothing else. I guess this attitude helped us get through all those rides with no untoward incidents.

Disneyland Resort or Disneyland is located in Anaheim, California and was set up by Walt Disney in 1955. Once we reached the gates of the park on the 5th day of our trip, we got into a long electric trailer that carried us till the entrance of the park. We still had some time before the park opened which they finally did accompanied by music & volunteers standing at the entrance giving everyone "hi-fives" so as to live up to the park's reputation of being "the happiest place on the earth". The park is divided into realms each with its own unique environment. There is Adventureland, Fantasyland, Tomorrowland & other places including Mickey's Toontown. We started off with Adventureland & went up on "Indiana Jones & the Temple of the Forbidden Eye"and "Jungle Cruise" (the commentary on this ride was too good!). At Critter County, we rode the "Splash Mountain". This ride basically tells the story of the adventures of Br'er Rabbit and how he thwarts the attempts or Br'er Fox & Br'er Bear to catch him. At the end of the ride there is a big drop into the briar patch, mimicking Rabbit's fall from a hill, into a long splashdown that sent loads of water into the logs. Bappi hates getting drenched, he wo'nt even get his feet wet at the beach; so he would try & avoid these rides :-). The next part was Fantasyland where we flew with the boy who never grew up - Peter Pan. We got into these small airplane like cars, two in each & these were driven over a beautiful set up of moonlit London. It was so beautiful & dreamy! New Orleans Square is home to two of the park's most popular attractions: "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "Haunted Mansion". The latter was too cool - at one particular point you are actually sitting at dinner with ghosts! These are just a few of the multiple rides that we took. In addition, there were also many shows to catch - "Who framed Roger Rabbit?", "Honey, I shrunk the audience" among others. Towards evening, we entered Toontown. It was remarkable seeing the awry crooked houses that miraculously survive the worst of calamities :-). We entered Mickey's house where we went through different rooms getting a peek at his kitchen or his laundry room before we finally got to meet Mickey himself! Call me a baby, call me immature, I do'nt care! Those 5 odd minutes with Mickey as we took a picture with him & as he kissed us goodbye - those were like the best 5 minutes ever! Childhood dream fulfilled! By now it was starting to get dark & people had assembled on the Main Street, USA to witness the Parade of Dreams. And that is what it was exactly! The parade featured all of Disney characters that we have grown up reading about - Snow White, Beauty & the Beast, Alladin & the genie, Simba the Lion King and finally Mickey & Minnie Mouse! The whole environment enthused not just the kids but each of us standing there & somehow made all of us smile! By the time the parade got over it was close to 8 in the evening & we were ready to go back to the hotel. However we had a long wait before all members of the group returned to the designated spot & we finally got back to the hotel. That night, we discovered a restaurant inside the hotel where we gladly had dinner & turned in for the day.

The next day we drove down to Universal Studios. This day turned out to be as much fun & enjoyment as the previous day if not more. While the ones at Disneyland were more tame & "goody goody", the rides here were more action packed & adventurous. We saw many shows including "Universal's Animal Actors", "Shrek 4D", "Terminator" and the explosive "Water World". "Back to the Future" was another interesting ride based on the plot of the movie by the same name. Eight of us were put into a car which actually only shakes & moves in its place. But the visuals & the sound make you believe that you are flying the craft along with the Professor aiding him in his attempt to defeat the bad guys. The "Studio Tour" was too good. We got to go behind the scenes & see actual sets of some of the biggest movies ever made. We got to know many secrets of the trade - how a quiet little street can suddenly be hit by a tornado, how cars are suddenly blown up & how huge sets that we see in the movies are actually fashioned out of small props. But none of this was instructional - no sir, this was all actually happening around us as our bus drove round the park. At one time our bus got stuck at a point and we even came face to face with King Kong. We barely got out of the place unhurt :-). The four most interesting rides were reserved for the last - "Jurassic Park", "Revenge of the Mummy", "Backdraft" & "Special Effects stages". "Backdraft" showed us how scenes that involve pyrotechnics are actually filmed. "Revenge of the Mummy" was another cool ride. We got into this jeep like cart which drove in & out at an extremely high speed & while we were in it, it was like we were being chased by the Mummy! The best was "Jurassic Park" though. The ride starts off pretty smoothly where your car bobs along in a small pond as it moves along the park. Initially you meet the herbivorous dinosaurs who seem pretty friendly, but as you enter the depths, the bad guys appear & the effect is too good! The climax is an 80 feet straight drop before the car is brought back to the real world. The drop had us all literally clinging on to dear life!

Day 7 & time to return. Today we were to drive to Santa Barbara & a little Danish village called Solvang before we were dropped off at our respective points. Those who have watched the popular soap opera by the same name will remember that Santa Barbara is home to rich & famous people. In addition to being a popular tourist and resort destination, the city has a robust economy which includes a large service sector. We strolled around the beach for a while after which we drove down to Solvang. Solvang was founded in 1911 on 9,000 acres (36 km²) of formerly Spanish land by a group of Danish educators. The buildings here do have a Danish look to them and the city is home to some bakeries, restaurants, and merchants offering a taste of Denmark in California. We sat at one of the bakeries & had danish pastries & coffee. While we were there, we called Da & informed him of the time that we would be reaching Oakland. It was close to evening when we finally reached our drop off point from where Da drove us home. We were tired & glad to be home, but we also carried fond memories of a wonderful trip, memories that we discuss even today!