Rome was not built in a day but it sure can be visited !!!!

Venice – Florence – Siena – Tuscany– Pisa – Cinque Terre – Rome – The Vatican

With Nice, the French episode of the Euro tour got over. We took a train from Nice to Milan and then with just a 15 min stopover, had a train from Milan to Venice. Crazily running with our bags, stumbling, shoving off others - we somehow managed to catch the train. The Italian trains are very nice. Of course, a big improvement over what we see here. They even show running speed and for the first time, we experienced zooming at the speed of more than 300kph.

Venice by night !

Now Venice is a difficult city. No vehicles sounds amazing but it becomes a tad bit difficult to carry the luggage across the numerous bridges. At first, from posh, well-dressed France to Venice was unpleasant. And Gondola ride seemed overrated, the canal looked like sewage. But imagine a city which you can walk through in a day. Walking through the narrow lanes of Venice and exploring the “tutto” shops, we fell in love with the city.  There is something about Venice, which makes you feel cheerful.

Burano

And what we loved the most - was the colors of houses at the Burano Island. The bright yellow green pink makes it a beautiful sight. The lonely Torcello island and the glass factory at Murano were OKish.

Next we traveled to Florence. Florence is famous for the artist Michelangelo among other things. No, we could not see the original David (the museum Accademia closed by the time we reached) but we saw "3" of the replicas. The view of the city from Piazza dei Michelangelo was mesmerizing.

Florence City

From Florence we had two tours, suggested by our tour planner. First was Tuscany full day tour. We went to Siena first. This little town is divided into 18 districts, each represented with one symbol. And the whole town prepares the entire year for the horse racing competition. It is known to be one of the fiercest competitions and the celebrations in the winning district continue for about 3 months !!!!!! I never knew people compete for anything other than ranks.

Vineyards

Tuscany has these huge green farmlands that we see so many times in the movies. The tour of Tuscany vineyard was one of the most amazing experiences. We had a 4-course meal, with four different types of wines. Here, for the first time we tried what they call a “Dessert Wine”, and it was delightful, savored with a "Biscotti".

Worlds Best Gelato

We visited San Gimignano next, famous for its towers. We had the best of the gelatos here. We did try to explore as many flavours as we could but there is so much you could eat. My suggestion to someone who is travelling to Florence- have a dinner of gelatos - avoid all the bread and have gelatos, especially the wild berries flavor. You won't find anything comparable in India.

And finally Pisa for the leaning tower. So our tour guide explained that the sand in Pisa is not so stable and if you look carefully, even the trees are tilted. If you ask me view of Leaning tower of Pisa vs view of Eiffel Tower, I will choose the view of Tuscany country side over both.

Next day we had Cinque Terre Tour. It is a group of 5 villages at Mediterranean Sea shore - bright coloured buildings, best place for photographs. We had the most amazing pesto sauce pasta here. The mood is set by the blue water and the amazing musicians on the streets making the passers-by dance. We used trains to travel between villages. But there are hiking trails also available here and something tells me if I take that trail I might never return :)

Cinque Terre

Our last stop was Rome. Rome was not built in a day but we had only a day to visit it. There is a reason why people study Roman architecture – you will be lost in the marble art. The structures are magnificent. Other than the Vatican City, what I cannot forget is the Trevi Fountain. The wish fountain, throw a coin and make your wish come true. The Neptune in the middle of the fountain was a huge structure carved in marble. I don’t think I have enough words to describe it. We had a day in Rome and we tried covering most of important tourist points. 

Trevi Fountain

And with this our little European journey came to an end. With loads of memories and promises to ourselves that we will come back for more!

An evening in Paris – Apr 2016

Paris – Nice – Monaco – Monte Carlo

We were planning our Eurotrip since 2013. Multiple reasons kept us from following through – wedding, other's weddings, winters, blah blah…...frankly, I thought we would never be able to find long enough vacation to go through the extravagant itinerary we had in mind. Finally, we found our tour planner. He helped shape the itinerary to fit in 10 days and still include the most important cities we wanted to cover along with some places we hadn’t thought of and which came as a pleasant surprise. After many days of research, advise from CherishTrip and advises from friends and family members, we were finally set. 

Worth it !!!

We started from Bengaluru to Paris with a stop-over at Mumbai. It is very important to mention the huge queue at the immigration counter at Mumbai international Airport. The employees at immigration desk were taking their own sweet time, making us anxious. But we somehow made it on time. I think the Jet airways crew is aware of this and they did make the flight wait for some time beyond the accepted delay. Lucky us!!!

Montmartre Square

The flight journey was long – 9 hours long. We reached Paris in the evening. It was drizzling. We started at 40 degrees and landed at 10 degrees. The streets, the buildings, the cafes are just beautiful. At every corner there is a musician with an instrument, every free wall is painted. The air in Paris also smells of art. You can spend all your time just appreciating people pursuing their dreams. 

Sacra Coeur

The Eiffel Tower, Sacra Coeur, Louvre – Mona Lisa, each of these is worth hours. You can spend an eternity in Louvre and if you have read Da-Vinci or watched “White collar” you can relate to many of the paintings. We could spot some exceptional artists making replicas of some of these famous ones in Louvre hallway. We did not have time to visit Notre Dame or Pompidou center - maybe on our next visit. Tip: People travelling to Paris, don’t worry about the travel within city - the local metro, buses are very well connected.

Nice Square

From Paris to Nice. Above is a picture of Nice square, I do not think I have words to describe the feeling when we saw the interplay of pastel colors at the various buildings there. At Nice, we were introduced to the European yogurts in breakfast and we just fell in love with the multiple fruit flavors (apricot to berries). We used to carry yogurts for the early morning train/flight trips in Europe. Here, we had lovely dinner in an open cafe with Chef suggested white wine which was delicious.

Nice View

Nice is a city on French Rivera with the most amazing pebble beach. I am a beach person; I can spend hours on the beach just listening to the waves. The clear water just adds to the perfectness of a clean beach. In the morning, there were people cleaning the beach, picking up the leftovers, an effort well appreciated. Nice had a small hill with a breath taking view of the city.

Monaco

We had a one-day tour to Monte Carlo and Monaco from Nice. Yes, we drove the Monte Carlo grand Prix race track (took 2 hours with all the sightseeing). And yes we saw the Monte Carlo Casino. On the left, is the view of Monaco from hill top.

Eze

Saint-Paul de Vence

As part of this tour we visited two French villages Eze and Saint-Paul de Vence – I think these were the highlights of our Euro trip, the narrow cobblestone streets with medieval houses. 

Har Ki Dun – Dec 2015

Ye hasin waadiyan ye khula aasama

Aagaye hum kahan ae mere Sajana!!!

I can do it! I don’t think I can do it! Will I be able to do it? How cold can it be? (-22 degrees apparently)

There were millions of such thoughts when we (me, my husband and few friends) decided to sign-up for our first Himalayan Trek. I think somewhere at back of my mind, I always thought we would cancel the trip. But I am so glad we did not.

We travelled from Bengaluru to Delhi, and from there took a train to Dehradun. It is important to mention the Indigo flight experience. Unlucky for us, some guy was travelling with a not so properly packed whiskey bottle in the check-in baggage. And what should happen, the bottle broke and the only backpack kept next to it was OURS! The backpack which we had to carry for next 7 days (both of us are non-drinkers). The airlines compensated with Rs. 500 /- for dry cleaning, when we had to start trekking in next two days. urghhhhh!!!

Most of the fellow trekkers in our group met at Dehradun railway station. We had breakfast “north Indian parathas” and started for Sankri. No cell signal here on. We stayed overnight at Sankri. We were introduced to each other and to basic etiquettes of trekking. Next day we started our journey. The first day was the most difficult part of the entire trek. The ascend was much steeper which became even tougher because of the huge boulders. After that we either got used to it or it really got simpler. We would walk through the day, know each other better, discuss heaven and hell, sing songs, admire the untouched mountains, encourage each other and relax/play when we reach the campsite. The food was just amazing; we would forget all the day’s fatigue when rajma chawal or gulab jamun or fryums were served. Indiahikes is known for its food. Evenings would include sharing stories, singing, dancing, playing uno and the most awaited ginger tea. With no technology around we had to resort to actual human communications. We would share plates and mugs for dinner so as to avoid washing in ice cold water. We would dance to avoid frozen toes.

Photo credits : Raghu

I think the most amazing thing was when we reached the final campsite. We walked three days to reach there. And it was snow all around. The wind was icy, the view was majestic. We were tired, we were shivering but we felt accomplished. After a night at the “Har ki Dun Campsite”, we were done and we just wanted to go back. All trekking, all enthusiasm was taken away by cold. We wanted beds, hot water baths, proper brushing. If I could go back, I would tell myself to enjoy till it lasts – because now I would say it was one hell of an experience.

Trekking at that height (13K feet), with that temperature (-22 degrees) is probably the most physically challenging thing I have done. And I made lasting friends in those 7 days, as if I have lived eternity with them. When I look back at those days what I appreciate the most is the mountains untouched by technology, filled with innocence. It was one hell of a sight.

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
-Lord Byron

Leh – June 2014

Probably the most extensively planned trip by far till date (as of June 2014). This was the first long trip with friends which involved flight travel and that too to Srinagar! We took flight to Srinagar and then drove to Leh in a 4 wheel (yes I agree 2 wheel it shoudl have been). In Srinagar we enjoyed the view of Dal lake from our House boat and loved the hospitality of the people. Our driver to/from Leh and around Leh “Mr Rigzin” was an amazing driver. We used to often ask him is it snowing in Leh, is it cold enough. He used to say “as we go up, the weather will cool down and so will the people”.

The view during the Srinagar – Kargil – Leh ride was breathtakingly beautiful. I have heard the Manali – Leh route is equally gorgeous. Next trip will be through Manali for sure! When you reach Leh (height –around 10k feet above sea level), it hits you – India is so damn beautiful. The low oxygen did not affect us as much, as we had a gradual ascend. This would be my advice to travellers, please don’t land in Leh directly. Let your body adapt to change in the air, instead of taking Diamox. If timing is an issue, return in a flight.

The sparsely populated Leh has a different rythm to it. People are courteous and less inclined to technology, the houses are prettier, food is delicious and weather is pleasantly cold. Due to time constraints, apart from exploring Leh we just covered Nubra Valley – the cold desert and Pangong Lake – the “3 idiots” movie lake. We did see lot of monasteries, the magnetic hill and visited the school again from the movie “3 idiots”. We drove through Khardungla - the highest motorable road in the world (around 18500 feet above sea level). We drove up the hill while it was heavily snowing. Maggi never tasted better than the one we had at the hill top military canteens (Khardungla as well as Changla).

The first site of Pangong just takes your breath away. The blue water, the cold wind, the snow white cranes in abundance. I still remember the view, as if it was yesterday. At Pangong, for the first time we experienced negative temperature (around -10 degrees) and we were not prepared at all.

The 2 hump camel ride in Cold dessert of Nubra Valley was one of the kind experience. And the tents we stayed in were just wonderful. At that height, in extreme temperatures whatever you get is comfort.

We live in luxury of ACs and heaters and soft beds with easily available groceries but when you leave all this and look beyond, the real luxury is to have morning tea with fresh air and the view of the Himalayas.