Ok!, so I tried naming this travelogue with twisted alliterations, but stuck to simplicity. Why do I want to write this travelogue? – ‘Coz basically, I am a forgetful person and would like to retain my memories of this trip in written manner. I remember talking to this Canadian girl in Rome who was making trips to Europe every year and claimed to never take pictures. I found that weird, since I am the kind who clicks pretty much every moment and my reason for doing that is because, I tend to forget the places I went to or the stuff that I did around. She claimed she remembered, every moment that she had spent on all her previous trips. “Aha?!” , I said to that, making a mental note to write this blog.
Before, I get into the details of the trip, let me paint a bit of a background. This Euro trip was a long impending plan ever since we graduated. “We” being me and two of my friends from IIMB. But our work schedules and personal calendars never seemed to make way for a long vacation. So, I just had to take a call and decided to do it alone. After all, its Europe right! I mean, you’re going to meet people anyways and most importantly, I had wonderful friends around almost everywhere there.
Sep 30
With that inane digression, let me attempt to pen down my experiences of this trip. I was due to fly by Kuwait Airlines to Frankfurt. I booked this airline without a second thought coz it was Cheap! I hadn’t started wondering so much about the service till the day I was about to fly out, and the online reviews did nothing to reduce my worries. Nevertheless, on the morning of 30th September, I reached the airport very groggy due to lack of sleep all night. As I went to check in I saw hordes of workers heading to Kuwait from India. The service was mediocre, I mean , given the price of the ticket, it was alright. I had to change flights at Kuwait and was relieved that there were no delays and I was well within time for the connecting flight. The travel from Kuwait to Frankfurt was peaceful and I had to make do with watching “Luck, By Chance” for the third time(I donno why I’ve seen that movie so much!). I finally landed at the busy Frankfurt airport at 14:30 and soon bought a train ticket to Nuremberg. As I waited for the train, I met a Gentleman from India . He was in charge of a factory that their Indian company bought out in Germany. Smelt a bit like reverse colonialism!
Nuremberg is just 2.5 hours away from Frankfurt and pretty soon, the train chugged in to the station. Carina was already waiting to pick me up and it felt nice to have finally arrived at Germany. Nuremberg is a peaceful town and was apparently Hitler’s favorite place. Obviously, it took much more bombing than necessary in the world war . I and Carina took a walk around the city in pleasant weather. I had to buy a mobile connection to survive in the continent for the next couple of weeks. It was an interesting exercise, since the idea was to buy a connection with cheapest roaming rates. Surprisingly, most of the sellers weren’t really aware of the rates and didn’t even appear keen to make a sale. I say this, coz in India, if you enter a shop, you can be rest assured that the seller will try to make a sale at any cost and will even buy it from some other shop and give it to you. I was not in India and still don’t know why I am trying to make parallels. Anyways, I did get my Ortel Connection which appeared to be a good bet(it was). Amongst all the sights in Nuremberg, I loved the Kaiserburg castle the most. You can just stand for hours on the top which offers a good view of the entire city. I absolutely loved the place. My day ended with some potato soup(that’s the best vegetarian food I could get :) ) . It indeed was a long day, starting at 3 am India time and ending at 11:30 pm Germany time!
Oct 1
My body was still working on the Indian time and I was up at 6:30 am feeling fresh. After all it was the day for Oktoberfest. Munich is just 2 hours away and we planned to be back to Nuremberg by night. Abbey , Corrina and Henrik joined us at the station and we were all set for the trip. The train was filled with people dressed in the traditional Bavarian attire heading to Munich for the celebrated ritual. There were different varieties of the Bavarian apparel which apparently signified the regions that they came from. I also saw some slutty versions of the Bavarian attire and was promptly reminded that they are not authentic. It was a weekday and we could be sure we would get a good table although we entered the tent only at 11:30 am. For the uninitiated, Oktoberfest is basically a huge fair complete with large tents serving beer, fun rides, crazy rides, dashing cars , candy stalls…..I guess you get the picture. The tents are by no means the regular tents that you usually imagine. They can accommodate thousands of people eager to down gallons of beer. We chose the “Lowenbrau” (brewery) tent and settled into a nice place around the stage. The next seven hours were spent guzzling beer in liters and swaying to the German music raising the jars for “Prost” (Cheers!) every 10 minutes. The coolest part is, I found Vegetarian food at Oktoberfest! And no, it wasn’t some boiled potato or onion rings, it was a fully vegetarian German dish called Kai** something. It is similar to pasta and a favorite among Germans too. This year there was additional security around the fest because of terror threats, but the poor cops had to deal with the bigger terror of handling drunk revelers in the evening that kept falling around! Amidst all the chaos, I also got the best souvenir one can bring from Germany. Abbey was at her “Winona Ryder” best and flicked the beer jar from the tent for me. I now, therefore, have the authentic Oktoberfest Lowenbrau beer jar!
Oct 2
A new day! It was time to move to my next destination – Berlin! . Before leaving for Berlin, I had breakfast with Irina and Tami, who had missed out joining us for the Oktoberfest. It was nice to catch up with friends after a long time. I boarded my train to Berlin and got comfy in my First Class comfort. (Ok! – I don’t want to brag, but I did not choose First Class. It’s just that Eurail decides you are an oldie if you are 26+ and thus gives out only Adult pass involving First class travel everywhere). I had paid for it, so what the hell, it was time to enjoy it. I reached Berlin Hauptbahnhof by noon and headed straight to the hostel I was gonna stay in. When, ‘Lonely Planet’ recommends a place, it truly is highly recommendable. I stayed at the “Circus” hostel located in the center of the city with a wonderful atmosphere, clean rooms, friendly staff and a great crowd. I checked into my dorm and got hold of all the maps and the city tours available. Coincidentally, I was there on the weekend of the ‘Unification Day ‘ and it was the twentieth anniversary of the unification, hence a lot of stuff was happening around the city. I was hanging around in the lobby, when I ran into a Sardarji with his wife. The obvious “Namaste” introductions happened and I learned they were there for a medical conference. Our conversation is summarized below
Sardarji : Aapki family kahaan hai ? (Where is your family)
Me: My family (thinking of my parents) is in Bangalore
Sardarji : Bahut naainsaafi hai bhai, Aap biwi ko chhodke akele ghoom rahe hai! (Unfair, you are travelling alone leaving your wife behind in India!)
Me: Huh! No No, I am single, I meant my parents when I said family!
Sardarji was then relieved!
I hung around Alexanderplatz and walked around the Jewish area around Rosenthalerplatz in the evening. The hostel had an amazing bar in the basement and as it turned out, there was a “Courchsurfing” party. (Check out www.couchsurfing.com) . The club is very active in Germany and a lot of people turned up for the party. Since , I am registered on couchsurfing.com, I made my way into the party too. I met all kinds of people from different countries and it was a fun evening of drinks and dance. For people who know me, I am a “Foot in Mouth” star. I think Kulki and the phrase “foot in mouth” will soon be added as synonyms in the English dictionary (if they could do that).
So, amongst the key hosts of the party, there was this very pretty girl in a mini skirt when everyone else was shivering in the cold of Berlin. She had black hair and was extremely pretty. We got talking and she asked me my name. This is how the conversation went
Hot Turkish Girl(HTG) – So, Whats your name?
Me – Amit
HTG – Wow! That’s my dad’s name too!
Me – Really! (I was surprised they have Amit’s in Turkey)
HTG – Yea! My dad’s name is Ahmed too!
Me – (Sheepishly) My name is A-m-i-t, not Ahmed.
HTG – (Losing interest!) Oh ok!
That was the end of the conversation. I kept kicking myself about why I had to correct her! It wouldn’t have mattered if I was Ahmed for the evening!!! But then, the rest of the night was fun, in either case, enough to forget the HTG start earlier.
Oct 3
It was a bright morning and the sun was out. It was the Unification day and one could feel the excitement in the city. I chose to join the Walking tour of Berlin which covered the key sights in the city. Berlin is a tremendously overwhelming city with so much recent history One cannot assimilate the place in just a couple of days because there is so much to see and do at this beautiful city. The Walking tour was fun and interesting nonetheless. The tour guide was this unbelievably energetic lady who put up an awesome performance and made the 5 hours so much fun. We walked around the Berliner Dome, Das Museum, War memorial, the zone of the famous book burning incident, Hitler’s bunker area, Checkpoint Charlie, Nazi headquarters, Berlin Wall(they have left just a small stretch standing), the Parliament and finally the Bradenburg Gate. There is so much historical baggage in this city and each of these sights has a big story behind them. We were also shown the hotel and the window, where Michael Jackson infamously held out his baby dangling like he was playing with a toy! Not so important really, but Berlin is an awesome place. Period!
In the evening, there was a free concert around the Unter din linden area in front of the Bradenburg gate. The bands were mostly German and winners of some MTV Competition in the country. I got back to my hostel and hung around the bar in the night.
Oct 4
It was time to head out and I took the morning train to Koln. I caught up with Tami later in the noon and we hung out around the dome area. We were joined by an Indian friend of hers at the Dome. The Koln dome is magnificent and an architectural marvel. All over Europe, there are so many beautiful architectural wonders which took years to build back then. I am sure for an architect/designer back then, one participated in only one or two major projects through the career!
Koln is again a small city with a strong party culture. We walked around the riverside and Tami did her own version of the Koln city tour walking us through all the small streets and explaining the history. The evening ended with some Thai food and running behind trams to make it in time for the next one!
Oct 5
It was time to head to Amsterdam. I reached the city around noon and the train journey was quite uneventful. Amsterdam is a small beautiful city with many hues. I checked in to the Bob’s youth hostel where a pissed off Asian guy greeted me at the reception. The whole hostel smelled of dope and there were stoned junta hanging around in the basement bar. The city has its crazy rule where you are not allowed to smoke cigarette indoors but you are welcome to smoke pot indoor. All in all a fun city!
Oct 6
I rented a bike and decided to go cycling around the city. I really love the culture of this city and found it so much fun to ride around everywhere. I visited the Van Gogh museum and roamed around the entire Museum area. Sipping coffee by the vast green spaces was blissful. The city is quite small and one can cover most of the sights in a short period of time. Later in the evening, I headed out towards Paris, the next destination!
I reached Paris late in the evening and caught up with Alex. We had some beers in the ESCP campus bar which serves cheap beer because E&Y sponsors the booze. I wondered why we could never have a bar like that in our very own IIMB. Farfetched thought, I realized, given the curbs on the current L^2 parties anyways. The campus was bustling with some event and they were serving free food. It felt nice to be on a B School campus again.
Oct 7
My first morning in Paris! I was lucky to get some sun and the weather seemed pleasant. This is the most beautiful city I have visited. There is something about Paris that makes you fall in love with the city. One cannot point out why specifically, but you just love the place. Again, there is so much to see and do in this city that one needs a few months of stay to actually enjoy Paris.
I went around the Il de la Cite area. This is a beautiful part of the city with famous historical structures. There is so much detail to all the structures in this area that I cannot possibly attempt to describe the place. This area was the early settlement in Paris and also consists of the famous Notre dame. Il de La Cite is the zone of medieval settlements and the place where the French glory reached its heights. The Palais Du Justice and Louis St Chapelle are beautiful structures and it is just a pleasant experience to walk around the entire area. Then, of course the beautiful view from atop Notre dame.
Post lunch by the riverside brassiere and some interesting conversations with some Italian tourists, it was time for the Louvre. When I was about to enter the Palais du Louvre, there was a mad crowd of photographers running to cover someone. I didn’t know who that was, but it was two guys, holding each other around the waist. One of the guys was wearing a skirt and acted like the important one. I took pics anyway not knowing who that was. The two guys got into a spunky Maserati and drove away. Some British ladies told me that he was the celebrated designed Mark Jacobs. It was him in the kilt!
The Louvre is astounding. According to statistics, if one were to spend 30 seconds at every painting/sculpture/artwork in there, it would take 3 months and a few days to cover everything. I spent 4 hours in the museum and of course covered the Mona-Lisa!
In the evening me, Jennifer and Alex went out for dinner and laughed over IIMB incidents,especially over the apparent fear of the French girls (on exchange) that Mr Gundu Rao had :) .
Oct 8
It was day 2 in Paris and it was time for Tour de Eiffel. Went up the Eiffel and did all the touristy stuff. Headed to Champs Elysses in the evening. This is the coolest part of the city with shopping arcades, high end car showrooms, multiplexes etc. The place makes you want to work and live in Paris.
Oct 9
It was time to move on, and I headed for Milan. Taking the TGV is quite a pleasure as the train rips across the country at a rocking speed. Milan is the most stylish city I have seen. I met Fulvio who came to receive me in a business suit (well, actually he came straight from work) . The evening was about Italian dinner and gyaan around the Neapolitan culture. I have heard so much that I can now explain it to any non Neapolitan Italian!
Oct 10
After having traveled continuously for more than a week now, I thought I needed a break. I just slept most of the day and went out for ‘biretta’ (Italian term for going out for beer). Before the Biretta, we organized an Indian dinner party at a friend’s place where five of us got together. I made some Indian rice and Dal while the Italian friends kept pleading “Please..not spicy!” .
With all due respect, the Neapolitans(with few exceptions) suck at English. That leads to funny sentences and words while communicating with them. Amongst the dinner troupe, 2 of the Italians were really trying hard to communicate in English. It led to sentences like
“Amit, in kitchen if you not like Fuck we off” – What he actually meant was – Amit, if you don’t want us in the kitchen feel free to ask us to fuck off
“Limoncella, good, hope it likes you” – What he meant was – Limoncella is a good drink and I hope you like it!
These were just a couple of sentences amongst many more that led to loud outbursts of laughter. Really was a fun evening!
As we headed out for the biretta, I noticed that people like to drink outside on the streets in Milan around the central area. The place is supposed to have some history behind it , but is now filled with bacchanalia on the weekends. Nobody sits inside bars or pubs, everyone is on the streets.
Oct 11
After having gotten good rest, I headed out to Rome. Arriving at Roma Termini at around 12, I noticed how hot it was outside. It felt like Mumbai. I checked into the Yellow Hostel (again, a Lonely planet recommendation) . The coolest part in this hostel was that they rent out laptops for free to use the internet. Of course only the first hour is free, but you can sit around in the bar next door or the coffee shop and browse the internet.
Like Berlin or Paris, Rome is a place where one needs to spend at least a week’s time to actually know everything and see all the places. This place has been the power center, politically and religiously(continues to be so) over centuries and one can just feel it. It is actually a small city in terms of size, but there is immense history as we have all read. I checked out the Colloseum, Palantine hill, Fora Roma at the first stop. The colloseum is magnificent and when one enters it, all those scenes from ‘Gladiator’ come alive. You can just close your eyes and feel the place in its full glory. The Palatine hill and Fora Roma have the ruins of the erstwhile Roman glory and you can just sit there and reconstruct the visuals in your mind taking you two millennia behind.
Next up, I went to the Pantheon and was fascinated to see all the locations filmed in “Angels and Demons”. The Pantheon was constructed in 50BC! It’s been 2060 years and the structure is standing tall and strong. It is an architectural marvel . Apparently, it was the first ever structure to incorporate the dome (hemisphere). It has a big hole at the center of the ceiling allowing natural light into the church. I headed to the Trevi fountain next, which I am sure everyone identifies with. I did the usual two coin throwing routine into the fountain making all kinds of wishes and moved on. Next up was Piazza Navona and Piazza d’Spagna.
With such heavy sightseeing for the day, I got back to the hostel and joined into the party happening at the bar next door. I met a lot of people and witnessed the power of “Jai Ho” in Europe. I must say, Rahman has put India on the map with the song. Everyone went crazy dancing on it and loved the song. Me being the only Indian around, got all the attention post that, with all kinds of queries around Slumdog, Mumbai, music etc etc.
Oct 12
It was a day for the Vatican! The place is true to all the descriptions and I dare not attempt doing my own version. The entire place takes up a full day see and is an extremely overwhelming place.
I need to mention about the Vatican museum though, especially because most of us have read about it in Dan Brown’s creations. According to the stats again, a person would need more than 4 months to exhaustively view everything at the museum!
I took the night train to Vienna, and this was my first overnight journey in a City Night Line train because this was the longest stretch of journey in my entire trip. In the train, I got talking to a co traveler who was on her way to Florence to collect her Doctoral degree. I was surprised to hear that her thesis involved “Communication within Al Qaeda”. On asking the obvious question, she said that she chose this topic because she was actually scared of this terror organization and wanted to understand in detail about them and get rid of the fear. We got into the topics of religion, humanity , wars, politics etc and I could sense that she had become so pessimistic about the world. According to her, there was no difference between religions and although all preached that killing is a sin, every religion had groups of people killing in the name of religion. She had concluded that we humans are a self destructive species and we will all destroy each other in the name of religion. Possible! – I thought to myself and went to sleep.
Oct 13
I woke up to realize that the train had stopped at some random station and the announcer said that the tracks had been blocked with some fallen trees. The train would not move ahead till further announcement. I got down to see that it was snowing outside! Although, I have seen snow and enjoyed it at many places earlier, I must admit that I love snowfall. I didn’t really care about the train delay and enjoyed my large cappuccino in the snow outside. Pretty soon there were four buses arranged to transport us to the next station bypassing the blocked track and we joined a connecting train out there.
Vienna is a beautiful city and is somewhat peaceful. It is devoid of the hustle bustle characteristic of metros around the world. It is a city where one could settle down into and reminded me of Bangalore ten years ago. Of course, the history is in no way comparable. I visited the touristy spots and enjoyed some good food too. Kim took me to this Café Central which is well known for its coffee and desserts. We ate the “Kaizeshmal” or something sounding similar which is a freshly baked dessert and served with a bowl of jam. Post the tummy treat, we went around the Sisi palace and museum, the Bibliotheque and Stephan’sdom. We also drove around the famous Castle in the city. The European emperors sure led a life beyond imagination!
Oct 14
In the afternoon, I headed to Prague – the only East European country on my itinerary. It was snowing in the city and was extremely cold. The place is unbelievable and is quite cheap compared to Western Europe.
Prague or Praha is beautiful, has a great history, nice people, is safe and has a crazy night life. I checked out the Charles bridge area and later headed out for the pub crawl. The night life in Praha is famous and it sure was one wild night, better left unexplained!
Oct 15
I went around some of the other famous spots in Prague and realized that this city definitely deserved at least five days of stay. I made a mental note to plan return to Eastern Europe again in future and enjoy this place lot more. I was to fly back to India the next day and hence chose to return to Nuremberg for the night.
The night was Indian dinner night as I made some rice, dal, sabzi and pakoda for friends who calimed to enjoy the food.
Oct 16
The day was just about shopping duty free at Frankfurt and flying back to India. As I flew out, I looked back on the fun filled fortnight and told myself “Jai Ho”!
