Hitchin's got talent !

Mango passion !
This is Raghav displaying his Mango peeling skills - he got the entire mango peeled in one go - It's really all connected !!!!!





Neem hakim khatraye jaan !
A really cool electronic piano in the hands of a novice can be a pain in the ears.





Kids on the bikes !
Smita and Raghav biking around London. A really nice sunny day spent in a perfect way.

Viennese surprise - Final day

As with every other trip, we wanted to take day three as a more relaxed one. We started off day three pretty much like day two with the nice breakfast. We packed up our luggage, checked out of our hotel and headed on towards the two things on the agenda today, Grinzing and Naschmarkt.

Grinzing was the first stop. This little village style suburb on the outskirts of Vienna still retains the charm of the old Austria. It was a 45 minute fun ride by the tram to get to Grinzing. The old style tram only added to the charm. This area still has the houses structured very much in the traditional Austrian style. Of course these houses have been turned into little shops, restaurants or cafes. Situated on sort of a top of a hill, this place was very beautiful to walk around in. A nice walk and a coffee later, we were on our way back to the city to our next stop, the Naschmarkt.

Naschmarkt loosely translates to Nibbles Market. Just south of central Vienna, this market is a long street lined with little speciality shops and cafes. The shops offer fresh fruit and vegetables from around the world, exotic spices, meat, fish and ecological foods and the cafes serve everything from traditional Viennese food to amazing desserts. Bargaining is the rule of the land here and the fittest survive. Saturdays are supposed to be really crowded and buzing with people. We went on a Monday :-).

Saying our goodbye to Vienna was pretty hard. On the whole this city has a lot to offer to anyone, no matter what their interests are. Everything from a great cultural and cullinary experience to easy access to the fantastic alps for the nature or outdoorsy types. Hopefully we will be back one day to see more of Austria.

Oh! just to make sure: Austrian airlines have the best food and service I have experienced in Europe. In a time with Alitalia wouldn't serve water to save money and frown to save energy, both amazing food and great service is abundantly available on Austrian Airlines.

Viennese surprise - Day 2

A fairly filling buffet breakfast (but not quite as good as the one in Stockholm) kicked off day two. The hotel receptionist was very helpful in guiding us to the right spots to visit. It was not so much as "visit this place, its great" as it was "Don't go there, it's shit!". It helped and we were on our way to Schönbrunn Palace.

The Schönbrunn Palace was built as Vienna's answer to Versailles. Nice big palace with a large garden encompassing a few fountains, many different statues, a Gloriette on a hill, a maze and labyrinth and a zoo amongst other things. Of course in order to go through everything it would have taken much longer than a day. We almost missed most of it. We entered through the main gates, walked around the front of the palace for a bit and thought of heading on to other things in Vienna as it started drizzling a little bit. But something prompted us to walk around the back of the palace before heading out. This is where most of the action was.

The path around the palace is lined with about 32 large very Greek looking statues. As we came around the back, we were greeted by the big french garden facing the Neptune Well and the Gloriette on top of the hill. The fountain seems pretty small from the palace but as you go closer to it, its humongous size becomes more and more dominating. After a nice hike up the hill, we got to the Gloriette, which houses a very nice cafe and provides a magnificient view of the palace with the city in the background.


After making our way down from the hill, we walked in the maze and labirynth. An hour of fun and games later, we were ready to head out to the other sites of Vienna.

Next, we travelled next to the Opera, the Ruprechtskirche (about 1200 years old) and other sites and other local tourist hotspots. Finally it was back to our room and we ordered some Indian food delivery, ate in our room and retired for the evening.

Viennese surprise - Day 1

I was pretty sure I would find interesting things on offer from a country which has been home to people like Mozart, Strauss, Beethoven, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Hitler. On one hand you expect Wein to be culturally super rich and on the other you expect to find freaks of nature.

The trip over to Vienna was very standard. Flight from Heathrow and then public transport in Vienna. Once in Vienna, we were greeted with a very warm and sunny day. We made our way to the hotel which was located in one of the most affluent residential areas of Vienna, right opposite a nice big park. The hotel itself was very fancy but comfortable with small number of really big rooms and good service. We checked in, dumped our luggage and headed out. There was a big party going on in the park just outside so we hung around there for a bit, eating some food and enjoying the band playing.

One of the things that never ceases to amaze me is how good the public transport is in any european city we have gone to so far. Wein has a, extensive network of overground trains, underground trains, trams and buses. Travelling to and fro anywhere in the city was a breeze. Our hotel was outside the Wien Ring Boulevard. Ring Boulevard is 4 kilometres long and circles the entire city centre with Trams plying every 5 minutes in either direction. It is amazing that the need for a ring road was foreseen and construction started about 250 years ago.

Day 1 continued on as we travelled on the trams 1 & 2 looking at the numerous sites on offer. The ring road is lines with important sites such as the Parliment, the Hoffburg, the Karlskirche, the Staatsoper, the Museumsquartier (6th largest cultural complex in the world) etc. The Karlskirche was being setup for the Life Ball 2008 celeberations and there were lights, speakers etc. everywhere. Working our way along the ring, we got to the HoffBurg. Once of the many parks of Vienna, packed with people eating, drinking and chilling on a warm weekend afternoon. There was a nice statue of Mozart in the park and of course we decided to take a Patel shot.

From here, we moved into the city to StephansPlatz which is centered around the 1157AD built StephansDom. This area is also adorned with high end shops and cafe's and is a good place to hang out at. There was a little street show going on with a group of young punks showcasing their breakdancing abilities. A fun show that lasted for about 10 minutes.

We took the subway to the modern, hi-tech Vienna. A dramatic change from the historical center and spent a bit of time walking around the tall buildings putting the finishing touches on the day. Tired and weary but happy, we got back to our hotel room to the comfort of our bed.

Then there was Germany... Chapter 5

Dusseldorf has the best standard of living in Germany. It has a sweet Altstadt, third largest Japanese community in Europe after London and Paris, and a funky waterfront.

We started off by heading out towards the Altstadt but stopped by the famous Königsallee (King's Avenue). This is the capital of the Dusseldorf high end shopping scene. The canal and the bridges over it are built based on Seine in Paris. The "Kö", as its affectionately called, is the highest rents for shops in Germany.

After circling around the Old town for about 20 minutes, we found the parking. Old building and streets lined with cafes and small shops. The Dusseldorf Altstadt is known as the longest bar in the world (längste theke der Welt). This small Old Town has more than 300 bars and discotheques and there is one street which has bars lined up opening to the streets.

We walked around for a bit, got into a chocolate shop and had some really good hot chocolate from a local cafe and proceeded on to the waterfront. The water front near Altstadt was also lined with cafes and bars. Had this been summer, I am sure it would packed with people, but we could walk traffic-free on this cold Sunday morning.

Walking on the waterfront, we had an amazing view of the modern Dusseldorf. The waterfront is further highlighted by the tall tower and the weird looking Frank Gehry buildings down at the Dusseldorf harbour. We had a great time spending the day walking on the waterfront, stopping by the local cafes and shops.

Finally, it was that time in a trip again. We were on our way back to the airport, but not before the last hint of drama. We took the airport exit and then realized that we hadn't filled up the gas tank. Frantically looking for an airport, with a near empty gas tank, we came across this old deserted looking gas station. Of course it being Sunday, there is no one at the station and its credit card only with all instructions only in German. Don't know what we did or how much we paid, we did manage to get to a full tank.

Dusseldorf airport is the third busiest airport in Germany after Munich and Frankfurt and is much better looking. We returned the car at the rental car place and walked around the duty free shops for a bit, grabbed a bite to eat and boarded our plane. Before we knew it, the pilot announced the landing and we were back in English speaking land. Well, almost. We were back in London.

Little did we know that our trip was still a few hours away from ending. We got home around 10:30 at night only to find out that we were locked out since our lock was acting up and our key no longer worked. We spent the next couple of hours, being very well taken care of, at our next door Neighbours' place waiting for the locksmith. Finally it was 1am before we were able to get into our apartment.

Quite an eventful end to an eventful and fun trip trip and it was nice to be back home.

Then there was Germany...Chapter 4

After the backpack escapade, today was expected to be a calmer day. As usual we got ready, grabbed some breakfast and drove off towards Luxembourg. We hadn't heard much about Luxembourg before and didn't quite know what to expect. Luxembourg was about an hour ahead on the same route as Aachen. It was a fantastic, sunny day with temperatures of about 23 degrees. A very scenic 2.5 hour drive later, we got to Luxembourg city.

Before we go into Luxembourg, here's a bit of history. Lucilinburhuc (Luxembourg fort) was setup in 963AD and the town started building around that. Over the years, Luxembourg has lost territory to the French, to Prussia and the Belgians. But today, Luxembourg possesses the highest GDP per capita in the world and is the worlds most industrialized nations. It has one of the best standards of living in Europe. More interestingly, it has less than a 1000 people army, no air force or navy!

It was nice driving into this calm, well laid out city, past the Spuerkeess, towards the Notre Dame cathedral. After driving around for a few minutes, we found a good parking spot in the old city. Standing next to the Gelle Fra monument, you can see that the Luxembourg fort, dismantled in the 1860s, once an imposing site is completely integrated into the old city. We decided to take the road-train tour around the fort. It gave us a nice talk-through historic tour of the fort and the old streets.

After the tour, we walked around the local shops and cafe's grabbing something light to eat before heading out towards the extremely modern UN/financial center of Luxembourg.

All in all it was a very good day spent in a very sunny and pretty Luxembourg.

Then there was Germany...Chapter 3

Passport passport... where are you ?

One of the incidents that happened to us while we were on this trip confirmed to me that my brain is in my stomach.

It was about 9:30pm by the time we made it back from Antwerp to Dusseldorf. Of course we were hungry and we had decided that we will stop by a McD or a Burger King and pick up a burger or something.

We pulled up at the McD's on our way and as usual, I carried the "backpack". The "backpack" is usually an extension of my back. It had the laptop, camera, ipod, cash, passports. Basically everything important. So rather than leave it in the car, I usually carry it around.

So we walked in into the McD, looked at the menu, found nothing vegetarian, and walked out. Simple - 2 minutes flat. We got back into the car and drove off to our hotel to eat at the indian restaurant opposite. Once there, Anusha got out at the restaurant to reserve us a table and I made my way to the basement to park the car. It was when I was locking the car that I realized that I had left the backpack at the McD. Running like crazy, I found Anusha at the restaurant. Both of us ran back to the hotel reception without paying the restaurant bill (but promised the guy that we would be back to pay take care of the damages). Back in the reception, I was rambling incoherently to the reception desk fellow, partly because of the panting and rest because of this choking senstation that usually occurs when you have done something really stupid.

As with any other city, there are umpteen McD in Dusseldorf and we had no idea which one it was. All we knew was that it was close to the big tower and tram lines. With the reception desk dude calling every McD in Dusseldorf, Anusha calmly suggested that we try to trace our way back. We left our mobile number at the reception desk and drove off trying to find a place we both knew we couldn't find. We headed out trying to retrace our steps but no breadcrumbs to lead us to this place.

Fortunately for us, the hotel called a few minutes later. He had found the right McD and they had informed him that the bag was safe with all its contents in place. Thanks to the GPS, we found our way to the new address, found the bag and all its contents intact.

What was most noticeable was how calm Anusha was during all this. I know it's easier to be calm when you are not the one who has made the mistake, but her being calm was exactly what we needed. Needless to say, Anusha never let me forget this incident for the rest of this trip or the next one.

The stupidity-of-the-day was enough to drain us every ounce of energy we had left after a full day of travel. We went back to the Indian restaurant, ate, paid our bill this time and went back to our room for a good night's rest.

Then there was Germany...Chapter 2

After a sweet night's sleep in our fancy hotel suite, we woke up to unlimited cups of cappuchinos :-). Definitely made my day. As with any other trip, we were pretty much planning as we were going along. Today we decided we will go to Aachen and then Belgium.

We made a pit stop en route to fill our hungry pits. Finding vegetarian food in this country, where people seem to eat only sausages for breakfast, lunch and dinner, is a little bit of a tall ask. We ended up at this local roadside restaurant/cafe thing where the owner didn't speak any English. Of course we tried using a few words from our German translations handbook but to no avail. Fortunately for us, one of the other customers spoke English and ordered our breakfast (Fried Eggs and bread) for us.

Beautiful Aachen
Back on track and with our tummies full, we sped along towards Aachen, one of the prettiest cities in Germany. The Aachen Altstadt, old town, is lined with huge gothic buildings, modern art fountains, old roman style streets etc. Aachen seems like a happy mix of Roman and Gothic Architecture. The Gothic city hall and the cathedral face off, forming a very buzzing and pretty square. Walking about the pretty Altstadt, we came across, what is very common in most european cities, various street performers. The pick of them was this classical band performing right outside the city hall.

The one factor that makes Aachen unique is the fact that the city is on the border of three countries. One of the restaurants on the German border in Aachen pretty much has a door leading to Belgium, another to Netherlands and the final one to Germany. After walking around for a bit in this beautiful town, grabbing a hot chocolate and something quick to eat, we were on our way again to explore new worlds.

Boring Belgium
Driving into Belgium, our first stop was Brussels. To be honest, Brussels isn't the prettiest city we've been to. It seemed quite bland and devoid of character. In fact, the city reminded us quite a bit of Paris minus the coolness factor. We visited the Palace, the cathedral and town hall in Brussels. As you can see from the picture of the Brussels Cathedral, its very French in design. Kind of looks like the Notre Dame but relatively tiny and far less impressive. Unsatisfied with Brussels, we finally drove off towards Antwerp.

In Antwerp we visited the Grote Markt, Guildhouses and the Town hall in Antwerp. Antwerp seemed like a city that, given some time, would have impressed us quite a bit. However, as things would have it, we didn't do Antwerp justice by just driving through most of it.

Before heading back home though, we had to get a souvenir, or in this case, eat a souvenir. We filled up nicely on REAL BELGIAN WAFFLES. Plotting our trip back to Dusseldorf, we realized we were actually driving through the Netherlands to get to Germany. Netherlands wasn't on our agenda since Anusha had another trip planned to Amsterdam with her cousin Anita later the same month. Our extent of The Netherlands experience was limited to waving at any Dutch folks and windmills we could see :-)