Munchausen Adventures

Road trip to Rajasthan

2011-12-31T06:53:00.001+05:30

We started from Lucknow at around 8:10am for Jaipur. Though we had planned to start earlier. We had food packed, courtesy mom & dad with us so that we would not loose time for food.
The four of us enjoyed ourselves immensely, entertained by the lovely songs which were being played on Nalin, my son's iPod.
Enroute we crossed Ferozabad

We took the route via Agra. It took us around 8hrs to reach our destination and at 4:10 we had reached Hotel Ganguar

Gangtok 1st day sight seeing

2011-08-19T23:33:00.000+05:30

In the morning we got up early and looked out from the balcony to behold a beautiful breathtaking scene. From all the three rooms, we occupied the view was fantastic.

We enjoyed tea on our balcony. And then went down for a leisurely breakfast, to the restaurant. At around 10:45am the taxi came for our one day local sightseeing in Gangtok. We got one Alto and one Wagon R for the day-trip, as SUVs are not allowed for local sightseeing in Gangtok. Our first stop was Ganeshtok temple which wasn't far from our hotel.

After that we went to the Himalayan Zoological garden just opposite the Ganesh temple. And we really enjoyed ourselves there. It was a nice trek as well, as we walked from one huge enclosure to the other.

The red panda

The Tibetan wolf

A viewing tower which we did not climb, near the enclosure for the snow leopard.

There were refreshments available in the zoo and also toilet facilities were there at two places. Weekly off for the zoo is Thursday. The zoo is a must see.

We then proceeded to Tashi point, from where the Kanchenchunga peak is visible. As it was a cloudy day we just saw a few snow laden peaks. The children wore the local dress and we took pictures.

We had lunch at the restaurant near Tashi point. It was average fare. We had momos and chowmein and manchurian.
Next on the itinerary was a monastery, though we decided to forgo that and went on to see a waterfall.

Here Samya did some adventure activity at the waterfall.

From here we went to see the flower exhibition. It was drizzling by now. This was a lovely place to visit. The ambience was good and lovely flowers too

This photo some how misses the crowds that were present at this sightseeing point. It was really crowded. We also purchased some bulbs of these beautiful flowers.

After the flower exhibition we went for the ropeway which we could easily have missed.
The ropeway was no great experience and certainly not worth the one hour wait.

From here we went to the office of the person who was arranging this trip for us, for the balance payment and to give him the papers regarding issuance of permit for North Sikkim, photo ids etc

We requested the taxi driver to take us to the market as we had to purchase woollens for my son. The main market was closed that day, so he took us to another market, Lal Bazaar . The market was dirty but we found some good shops on the second floor. As we were short of time we shopped in a hurry. In one of the shops we left our handycam behind by mistake!!

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The Royal Demazong, Club Mahindra, Gangtok

2011-06-21T11:12:00.000+05:30

We reached Gangtok by road from New Jalpaiguri, where we reached by rail on the Dibrugarh Rajdhani express, which goes via Lucknow, two days a week. We booked tickets from New Delhi to New Jalpaiguri and converted them to boarding from Lucknow. Return tickets were bought from Guwahati to Lucknow, boarding from New Jalpaiguri.
I was travelling AC 1st class for the first time. The cabins were very good and we had a nice journey except that the train's engine developed some problem and had to be replaced hence our train was delayed by 2 hrs. The train which usually arrived early was delayed. We reached at 1:30pm

The road trip from the station (New Jalpaiguri to Gangtok) was around 125 km but it took us 6hrs. The road was in a bad condition and at one place, road construction activity held us back by 2hrs. Usually it takes around 4hrs to go from NJP to Gangtok, the road is not very good.

Entrance to Sikkim

The Club Mahindra hotel in Gangtok was not seen on my map my india GPS map and neither was it correctly marked on the google map on the mobile.
We had arranged pick up from the station through Tamu travel and treks. We had to depend on the Taxi drivers. By the time we reached our destination it was 7:30pm.

Checking in to Club Mahindra was a breeze as usual. This property has been leased by Club Mahindra. Hence the hotel did not have that feel which we associate with a Club Mahindra property, but it was a comfortable stay and we enjoyed the food.

Our room

Activity centre

The activity centre was good. It had the provision of borrowing DVDs as well as books, Table Tennis and Carrom etc. Restaurant was pleasant.

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Location:Kazi Rd,Gangtok,India

Dewitt Place, Chicago

2011-05-03T04:35:00.003+05:30

We landed in Chicago at around 4pm on 20th October 2010. The aircraft was on time. Clearing the customs did not take a lot of time. Away we were in a taxi heading towards Dewitt place our residence for the next three days. Dewitt place had elaborate arrangements to prevent unauthorized entry into the building. A room key was required to enter the building. We changed and headed out We were living next to the John Hancock building so after we purchased a net 10 set and phone connection from Best Buy in the Hancock building only we went up to the observatory after purchasing the Chicago city pass. The chicago city pass covers 5 main attractions in 69$, each of them alone costing around 30$. One has 9 days to see all these attractions.

There were no queues for going up to the observatory and we went straight to the elevator and unto the 94th floor. Along with the pass we got a free coffee each at the cafe over there. We bought some snacks with the coffee and sat down to enjoy the view.

The hotel in which we were staying was very well located. The trip advisor review written by Shaleen on Dewitt place.

Location is the best part about this place. You are right in the centre of everything. All the attractions and shopping was within walking distance or easily accessible by public transport. The place itself is average and maintenance was below average and can use a renovation. We had opted for a lake view room, however all the lake we could see was from one window only that too through the space between two buildings between the Dewitt Place and Lakeshore drive. While booking also our experience was not very good as the Hotel site did not offer booking for three nights we wanted, hence I booked it at booking.com for USD495, after a few days, while looking for one night booking for the return trip, I found that the same room was available for USD 405 at booking.com only, hence I cancelled the previous booking and booked afresh at lesser rate.

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Ramoji film city, Hyderabad

2011-01-11T17:35:00.004+05:30

The day after we reached Hyderabad we had almost the whole day on our hands, so we decided to go to Ramoji film city. Though it is advisable to reach early in the morning but we first went to register at the conference. It took us close to two hours to reach Ramoji. Soumya fell asleep on the way. Once there we took a special package of Rs.1200/- per adult and Rs.1000/- for child which included lunch at the buffet restaurant, free bottle of water, coldrink, free caps and some Snacks. We were allowed to take our private car farther inside. From there we were taken in buses. Each bus load of around ten guests had a guide allotted to them. Our guide Vijay took our mobile no. As we reached there at nearly 12noon. We went for the "Spirit of Ramoji" first. That was a stage show with some indian classical dancing. We caught it midway.

From Hyderabad 2011

Then we went for the "Stunt show" which was good with all the shooting and all. The wild west was made well.

From Hyderabad 2011

We then went for lunch, it was a great crush, especially with so many delegates from the conference. The lunch was at the restaurant "Superstar". Lunch was just OK. Met three of my postgraduate colleagues/friends here at Ramoji, more than I met in the conference.
Soumya did bungy trampoline jumping just outside the restaurant.

"Filmy duniya ka jadoo" was a ride on the lines of "it's a small world" of Disneyland. But it was good copy.
We went for "Movie magic" which was an excellent show, where they showed how behind the scenes, people are working hard to make the movies which we see. The selection of the famous scene of 'Sholay' in which Basanti is being chased by dacoits on her tonga, is interesting. We went for the earthquake experience which was also good. The falling elevator. Here they had made a mini Hollywood.

Then we were taken for a bus ride around the film city. There were lovely gardens where we could see the locales from many of the hindi movies. Esp. The gardens where Shah Rukh and Kajol shot for 'Kuch Kuch hota hai'. The building which was an airport from one side and a hospital from the other side. "Munnabhai MBBS" had been shot here. A village road, a street in London. Houses with different elevations from two sides, one side the hero's house from the other side, the heroine's house.

Many of Govinda's movies have been shot here. The guide told us that the director could walk in with script and walk out with the movie, all post production work could also be taken care off here.

In the end we went to see the caves which had closed down but the guide got it open for us, I really liked this place.

From Hyderabad 2011

After this we went back to the hotel, a long drive. There was some unrest in the city as there was the issue of a separate state for Telangana. We took a different route back and reached safely. We got biryani packed from 'Paradise' for dinner this evening, as we all wanted The takeaway was very fast. They provided disposable plates also for which they charged extra. They had a meal of chicken, and mutton biryanis, butter chicken and rumali rotis for Rs.350/- The helpings were extra large. Food was really good.

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Location:Hyderabad

The Westin mindspace hotel, Hyderabad

2011-01-11T10:10:00.005+05:30

We were in Hyderabad in Jan 2011 for the annual OBGYN conference. It was a welcome escape from the chilly weather in Lucknow. FOGSI is always a veritable academic feast. We stayed at The Westin Mindspace.

From Hyderabad 2011

A lovely hotel in the high tech city. It has a huge central atrium into which all the rooms open.

Taj has three properties in Hyderabad, Krishna, Deccan and Banjara, of these Taj Krishna was the best. Taj Deccan was pretty run down. We initially checked into that hotel, then later decided to shift to Westin as it was closer to the venue of the conference.

The interiors of The Westin were uber modern, but the service was not that good. Once we had to ring four times to get our plates from room service cleared and in the end, we put the plates out before going to sleep. The staff is friendly. Breakfast was good everyday, though it was served separately for the conference delegates, than from their regular breakfast, on the last day we had the regular breakfast that was better than the one served for the conference but it was catering more to the international guests. The view from the room outside the window was nothing much.

But the twin queen beds were good for our family. If one is going to attend a conference in the convention centre then this is a very good hotel to put up in.

Taj would be a good choice if one wants to stay in the centre of the city near shopping areas.

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Location:Hyderabad

Five amazing travel photographs

2010-05-30T20:07:00.001+05:30

I was just going through my favorite blogs and found the mention of this Travel Photo contest on Blogadda in association with PringOO, in two of the blogs. That's how I got here.

This is a photo which I took enroute to Fort Williams, Scotland. It was a breathtaking view to behold.

It was so cold when we reached Edinburgh and cloudy. The buildings looked lovely with the play of light on them

A memorable evening along the river Ness. It was so lovely. The light on the bridge and the tranquility.

This an almost postcard perfect view of the Uruqhart castle

We could have spent the whole day loitering around here. It was so picturesque.

Coral Island - Pattaya

2010-05-04T05:14:00.000+05:30

The next day in Pattaya we had booked a tour to the Coral Island. While coming back from the Tiffany show we had booked this tour for 450 Baht per person. The taxi came to pick us up from the hotel at 10:30am.

We were taken to the beach and from there we went in a small boat and later on jumped into a larger boat on our way to the Coral Island. Enroute there was a stop for parasailing 500Baht per person and Ocean floor walking 2500 Baht per person and CD separately. We negotiated for the rate and got it for 6000 Baht for Ocean floor walking for the four of us with the CD included.

Para Sailing
The ocean floor walking was a new experience. In this they put a helmet on our head which had compressed air flowing into it through a tube which remains connected to the boat. Its a long tube and the helmet is very heavy and helps to keep us at the ocean floor. They guide us to the place on the ocean floor where we can see the coral and fish. One by one we reached the ocean floor and spent an appreciable amount of time on the ocean floor. It was something new and novel and kept the adrenaline rushing. Once on the ocean floor which was hardly at any depth after about five minutes the confidence returned and I became comfortable. Looked around there was some coral. They gave us bread to feed the fishes.

Ocean floor walking
We did some jet skiing as well. That was 1000Baht for 1 hour. It was fun. The sun was relentless and it was quite warm. We had lunch there, it was average stuff. Just relaxed on the beach and had a foot massage. Whilst on the return journey the boats which we used were glass bottomed though it was not possible to see anything very clearly through it. The water was crystal clear at the Coral Island and we had a fun day there.

returning back to Pattaya from the Coral Island. See the beach along the beach road, with all hotels lined up on the other side beyond the beach.

Pattaya, Thailand

2010-04-19T00:07:00.001+05:30

We planned to attend the ASPIRE (Asia Pacific initiative on Reproduction) this year in Bangkok. At the last moment i.e. just three days before the conference the venue had to be changed to Pattaya because of the agitation caused by the red shirts.

PATTAYA BEACH ROAD AT SUNSET

Our initial plan of spending two days at Pattaya and then three days at Bangkok was canceled to all 5 days in Pattaya.

We reached Pattaya from the Suvarnabhoomi Airport on the 7th of April. For the visa on arrival we had to pay a fees of 1000 Baht ( Rs. 1.4 = Baht 1) and needed one passport size photograph. Visa on arrival was a smooth process took hardly 20mins including immigration. Then we searched for the Aspire help desk at the airport. We found it easily and there was a shuttle taking us to Pattaya in half an hour.

We bought a sim card from the airport for 99 Baht which was valid for 40 days only and had a talk value of 39 Baht. Later in the city we got another sim card from a Family Mart store for just 49 Bahts having a talk value of 15 Baht and one year validity. Later on we could top up these cards by buying top up value cards. To call India we had to add 009 before country code and phone number otherwise the talk value would disappear in one phone call to India. But adding 009 to the phone number led to a lag in the conversation while talking to India. Adding 009 before the country code made the sim card much more economical when calling India.

It took us around one and half hours to reach Pattaya the road was excellent, but once on reaching there, the driver could not locate our hotel Siam Bay-view. He took us around 2 to 3 times before finding it. Once inside the hotel we were served a welcome drink and wet cool perfumed napkins, which felt great in the heat. In the hotel we got the bay facing rooms. The view was great. The bathrooms were exceptionally small and so was the balcony.

After resting we ventured out. Pattaya has a beach road along the beach and across the road are all the hotels. parallel to the beach road are road 2 and road 3 and then Sukhumvit road (the Highway). Beach road is a one way road from north to south, or towards the Walking street at one side. Many small roads connect these main parallel roads. Road 2 is one way to the other side.

We went for a walk on the the Walking street. It was amazingly crowded and bustling.

WALKING STREET

We decided to go to the Tiffany Show and walked down. It was a long walk. The Tiffany show cost us 800 Baht per person. The show was nothing great, except for the dresses. Neither the content nor the sets were anything great.

OUTSIDE THE TIFFANY SHOW

The Blue Country resort, Panchgani - Club Mahindra affiliate

2010-02-23T01:50:00.002+05:30

In October my parents had to go to Mumbai. We planned a short trip for them to Panchgani. The stay was at The Blue Country resort.

In my mother's words "Panchgani is a beautiful hill resort not far from Mumbai. The Pune expressway is the best route to take. Once you reach Panchgani the sign boards that you expect of the Blue Country resort are missing. One has to keep asking at the crossroads. A sign board at the crossroads would be very helpful. The steps down from the reception were cumbersome, esp for senior citizens. The swimming pool was great, accessible from all the rooms. The Gujarati food was good at the resort. In October we did not get strawberries but we got custard apples which were delicious. Mahableshwar is one hour from Panchgani. The tableland is a good place to visit."
My parents had a great time at the resort.

Amsterdam to Edinburgh and The Low countries

2009-11-16T23:10:00.003+05:30

The sovereign states of Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg are loosely known as the Low Countries meaning thereby the countries lying for the most part below sea level. When I first visited Amsterdam I was struck by the three storey high, cycle parking filled with hundreds of cycles and roads with separate tracks for cyclists. Then slowly I came to know that this and other low countries are some of the countries which are most worried about the environment and most aware of the effects of global warming, because a fraction of the rise in sea level, spells doom for them. These countries have learnt to fight with the sea and conquer it or may be they have befriended it and have learnt to live with it. They have successfully reclaimed land from the sea for ages and have learnt to keep the sea at bay with the help of dykes.
The route which we had mapped out, was from London by Eurostar to Paris and from their by Thalys train to Brussels and again by train to Amsterdam. From Amsterdam the initial plan was to take an overnight crossing across the sea and reach Hull in England. Due to lack of time we later decided to fly to Edinburgh from Amsterdam. This was our costliest flight in this trip. We had to pay extra for the checked in baggage also.
This time on my agenda in Amsterdam was Anne Frank house, a canal cruise, eating pancakes and doing whatever else we could manage because we were really short on time.

The queue for Anne Frank house can be really long and it can upset your plans of further sightseeing, so it is best to book in advance on the net. It was an experience going through this house and I wanted to expose my children to this part of human history. It seems almost unbelievable that humans can do such ghastly acts against there own kind.

A canal cruise is a must in Amsterdam. The best way to see the city. There are glass topped boats which take you through all the major canals. The number of houseboats in the canals is strictly regulated and when one retires only then is another allowed to enter the canal.
All the houses in Amsterdam have a girder with a hook attached right at the top of the house .This is to lift things from the ground with the help of rope and hook through the window, as the staircases are so narrow that there is no place for larger things to be taken up by the stairs.
As we were in Amsterdam in June, it was not possible to see the tulip gardens so instead we went to see the Tulip Museum, which is near the Anne Frank House. This museum can only be used as a filler. I did not think much of it, but as we did not have time for anything else it was good enough. The first image is a photo of a photograph in the tulip museum.

Kohinoor Restaurant

We had great Indian Food at a restaurant called Kohinoor near Anne Frank House and later the next day we had pancakes from Sara's Pancakes. Sara's Pancakes was expensive. We just took one Indian Pancake, the filling was Indian. Nevertheless we enjoyed it.

Notre Dame de Paris

2009-10-29T23:04:00.005+05:30

The silhouette of Notre Dame in the setting sun

A single post on Paris (my first post on Paris) does not do justice to this lovely city. I found a video which we had shot in the summer of 2004. That had been our first visit to Europe. We had taken a tour from Cox and Kings. It covered Italy, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Holland and England. We had taken great pains at that time to shoot videos, to show it to the family back home. We had fallen in love with Paris during that trip.
The advantage of going on a guided tour was that we were provided with the services of a qualified guide, at all the places. We had a nice guide in Paris. She gave us insight into the lives of the parisians. I particularly loved the Cathedral of Notre Dame. It has innumerable stories attached to it. This video shows Cathedral Notre Dame from inside also.

The Notre dame de Paris ('Our Lady of Paris' in French), also known as the Notre Dame Cathedral, is a Gothic, Roman Catholic Cathedral on the eastern half of the Île de la Cité in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, France.
Besides the cathedral there is the Cathedral tower visit The Notre-Dame tower visit is a trip through all of the upper parts of the western façade, dating from the 13th century, where visitors can contemplate the gargoyles and chimera built by Viollet-le-Duc in the 19th century and the 17th century Emmanuel Bell. 387 steps (there isn’t an elevator) to the top of the South Tower. It’s best to be in good shape !

Crypt of Notre Dame de Paris

Under the square in front of Notre Dame de Paris is one of the largest archaeological crypts in all of Europe. Before the 1860s, the area in front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame was filled with buildings, some dating to the middle ages. When the buildings were torn down remnants of foundations and artifacts dating back to pre-Roman times were discovered. This area on the banks of the Seine has seen human habitation since the early Paleolithic Period, some 500,000 years ago.

If you like this post you will also like Paris - I love this city

Traveling to the moon

2009-10-23T17:49:00.005+05:30

This is a video we shot at the Kennedy space centre in the summer of 2007. That was our last day in Orlando. Shaleen drove us in our rented car to the Centre. After 6days of covering the theme parks, one on each day, we saw the Space Centre on our last and seventh day. It was a fantastic experience. I am sharing this experience of the Apollo 8 launch with you.

The furthest destination for a human spaceflight mission has been the Moon, and as of 2009 the only missions to the Moon have been those conducted by NASA as part of the Apollo program. The first such mission, Apollo 8, orbited the Moon but did not land. The first Moon landing mission was Apollo 11, during which—on July 20, 1969—Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first people to set foot on the Moon. Six missions landed in total, numbered Apollo 11–17, excluding Apollo 13. Altogether twelve men walked on the Moon, the only humans to have been on an extraterrestrial body.
Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight mission to achieve a velocity sufficient to allow escape from the gravitational field of planet Earth; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to planet Earth from another celestial body - Earth's Moon. The three-man crew of Mission Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders became the first humans to see the far side of the Moon with their own eyes, as well as the first humans to see planet Earth from beyond low Earth orbit. The mission was accomplished with the first manned launch of a Saturn V rocket. Apollo 8 was the second manned mission of the Apollo Program.
After launching on December 21, 1968, the crew took three days to travel to the Moon. They orbited ten times over the course of 20hours, during which the crew made a Christmas Eve television broadcast in which they read the first 10 verses from the Book of Genesis. The crew timed this reading to coincide with a full view of planet Earth hanging in the empty blackness of space, clearly showing the rich diversity of the living planet, as indicated in Earth's colors, seas, landforms, and weather patterns, rising over the dull gray horizon of the lifeless Moon. At the time, the broadcast was the most watched TV program ever. Apollo8's successful mission paved the way for Apollo 11 to fulfill U.S. President John F. Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon.

Problems with Indian credit cards while traveling esp. in Paris.

2009-10-16T04:36:00.001+05:30

Special chip missing in Indian credit cards

While boarding from Paris' Gare du nord we almost missed our Thalys train to Brussels because of our credit cards not being accepted by the ticketing machine. During international travel we usually ensure that we reach the airport or railway station well before time.

Gare du nord, Paris but this is a photo while arriving via the Eurostar from London

But somehow we got delayed the day we were leaving Paris and barely managed to reach the station about half an hour before the train was scheduled to leave. At the station in Paris one usually does not come to know the platform at which the train would be arriving till the very last. So the kids and all our luggage was near the ticketing windows and we had to walk a bit to reach our train and the reserved compartment. We had bought our tickets in India through the net and now we just had to retrieve our tickets from the machine. We tried to get our tickets from the machine without any luck and we panicked as there was very little time left and we were carrying loads of luggage.

Meanwhile Anupam, our friend had already joined a queue at the ticket window as he had lost his wallet with credit cards to a pickpocket in a parisian metro!! Yes a man had taken advantage of Anupam as he was traveling with family, a baby and a stroller and was a tourist - yes this also happens in Paris and we thought that rogues were mainly confined to Italy!. The story goes like this - As Anupam with family was entering the metro station his paris visite card got folded in his pocket and the machine would not accept it and would not allow him to enter.

This particular man helped Anupam with his card and the stroller and all. He walked with them till inside the train. Now most Paris metro trains open from one side only. At this particular station the doors on both the sides were open. At the last minute the man picked his pocket and ran out from the other side. Meanwhile Anupam came to know immediately he got his family out fast and followed the man. But he lost him in the crowd after a while. It was a planned and targeted pickpocketing.
Coming back to the original story, Anupam joined the queue immediately as we entered the station and so he got his tickets just in time. Meanwhile we tried at the machine and lost precious time. Then we joined a queue and were literally going berserk at the slow pace with which it was moving. It seemed that no one was in a hurry except for us. The clerk would exchange pleasantries with each person first. We were literally jumping up and down with frustration at the etiquettes which the parisians were observing and we were wishing that alas they would behave like Indians. (Do Indians need lessons in etiquettes?) There was no provision for providing tickets to people whose trains were leaving first. We would have stood on the station and watched our train going by. But it was not to be so and we managed to get tickets in the nick of time. With our friends help we got our luggage and children near the train and literally threw our luggage in the train and got in.

We could not get our tickets from the machine because our cards, which rely on magnetic-stripe technology for transactions, lacked an embedded microprocessor chip, which stores and processes data and is now commonly used in Europe. Such chip-based cards — commonly referred to as chip-and-PIN cards because users punch in a personal identification number instead of signing for the purchase — offer an extra layer of protection against the theft of cardholder data and counterfeiting, and they are designed to replace magnetic stripe technology and signature payments.

The chip-and-PIN technology usually isn’t much of an issue when making purchases at a store, or paying for a meal in a restaurant, as most of those merchants still have credit card terminals that can read the magnetic stripes. Likewise, A.T.M.’s typically recognize and accept many cards whether they have a chip or a magnetic stripe. We could easily draw money from the ATM almost in all the cities we visited.

But Indian and American cardholders have had their cards rejected by automated ticket kiosks at train stations, gas pumps, parking garages and other places where there are no cashiers in Europe. Yes americans are in the same boat as us. It is also important in so much as we had no problems whatsoever in travelling across America in 2007, our credit cards worked everywhere.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

2009-10-13T18:21:00.007+05:30

Yesterday we were searching for travel videos to upload to a website as an entry for a competition to travel to Philadelphia. As usual it was the last day, when we got round to doing it. But in this confusion I discovered a treasure of travel videos very carefully shot in 2004. I am posting one of them here.
This was a trip to Europe. We started from Rome to Pisa, then Florence and onto Venice. This video has been taken in the field of miracles.

The Stonehenge tour

2009-10-08T00:51:00.001+05:30

It was possible for us to visit Stonehenge this time in UK, because of The Stonehenge Tour. Most of the tours going out from London leave in the morning as a full day tour usually also covering Windsor Castle and Bath. But as we had to reach London from Hull, it was not possible to reach London early in the morning. We decided to take this tour from Salisbury.
We faced the toughest part in London (which is usually so easy to move around) because of a metro strike. We reached London - King's Cross Station. Here we deposited our luggage in the cloak room at 8 pounds per suitcase, there were four pieces. Then we took a taxi to Waterloo station @22pounds.
On reaching there we bought our tickets from the counter as the ticketing machine was not accepting our credit cards. The ticket to Salisbury which the machine was selling us was costing us 88pounds for a family of four, where as at the window we got it for 55pounds because of discount for the family. This option is not available in the machine. If you are traveling as a family preferably buy at the ticketing window you will get at a discounted rate.

On reaching Salisbury the bus was standing just outside the station and left exactly on time. Salisbury is a quaint town, most famous for its cathedral but we were did not get down to see the cathedral. Inside the bus there was a recorded commentary about all the sights we crossed.
At Stonehenge we got down and had ample time to explore at our own pace. The audio guides provide a wealth of information. It was quite windy over there. We sat down on the grass and enjoyed a snack as well. In the summers there is a bus almost every half an hour back to the station. It has a stop at Old Sarum, where one can get down and then again catch another bus back. The tour is well organized and punctual and we enjoyed ourselves on this trip.

Oyster card London

2009-10-01T01:30:00.002+05:30

We went to meet my husband's colleague who is working at Royal London Hospital, London. When we reached the tube station 'Whitechapel' and came out of the underground it seemed like we had stepped in Aminabad of Lucknow. Inside the tube station the officials were extremely helpful as Shaleen had to swipe his oyster card twice to come out. An official came forward immediately and checked his card in a hand held machine and told him that he had been charged twice for the same journey. At the ticket window he requested the clerk to return the money to Shaleen's card and meanwhile he saw that we had been charged extra for our first trip from the Airport to Embankment that was because we did not know that the card had to be swiped again at the exit and with a lot of luggage we had got out from another gate meant for luggage and handicapped people. The nice clerk at the ticket window returned the money back on all our cards. They also told us that we need not have bought an oyster card for my eleven year old son. We could have bought a one pound ticket everyday for him for the whole day. If you are traveling to London and plan to use the metro a lot, its best to buy an oyster card from the VFS-UK. The card extracts the minimum fare from you for every journey you make and a maximum of five pounds in a day.

Despite the surroundings the Royal London Hospital itself was an amazing piece of architecture. It was beyond what we thought possible inside especially the labs and the lecture theatres.

Below are the labs and there are lecture theatres above, suspended, all in the shape of organelle's of a cell.
From the Royal London Hospital we went to St. Paul's cathedral. The cathedral was grand and I was particularly awed by the crypt which is the cathedral's foremost burial place, and the place where those who have made an outstanding contribution to Britain now rest. Chief among them being Admiral Nelson.

The ceiling of St. Paul's Cathedral
From St. Paul's Cathedral we walked across the millennium bridge to Shakespeare's Globe theatre.

We were lucky to see the rehearsal of "As you like it" which was going on at that time, but we were not allowed to take photographs of the rehearsal. The guide at the theatre was very amusing and told us some remarkable facts. One of them was that the costumes which the actors were wearing had never been washed and that the actors wore a slip next to their skin which was washable and the costumes were never washed. The Globe theatre was strange because the stage had no props no background scenery. The actors costumes and their dialogues were the only things available, for the rest you have to use your imagination. This is one theatre where the audience is fully visible to the actors and if you fall asleep you may be pointed out by one of the actors in the middle of the play. The people standing in the front are very close up to the stage, so much so that they run the risk of being sprayed by saliva.
Then we went to Kensington Palace and gardens. I loved the palace it had an exhibition on debutantes and many of Lady Diana's dresses were on display. The exhibits at the palace gave a closer view of the life during Victorian times.

The ceiling of one of the rooms in Kensington Palace.

This was clicked by Shaleen in the gents toilet at Kensington Palace. I on the other hand had found a very sweet notice stuck on the door of the Ladies toilet which related the details of the first meeting between Queen Victoria and prince Albert as entered by the queen in her diary.
We enjoyed the gardens as much as the palace. They were amazing and everybody seemed to be having a gala time there cycling, skating, etc.

London Pass

2009-09-27T02:06:00.001+05:30

Our second day in London. We had already paid for London passes from the VFS-UK centre in Delhi, but they had to be collected from the British Visitor centre at 1 Regent Street. In our previous trip also we had taken London passes but I think this time, with children, it may not have been such a good idea. Anyway we started from Trafalgar square towards Piccadilly Circus and the centre is just walking distance from the circus.

Piccadilly circus

The Criterion theatre is south of Piccadilly circus

British Visitor Centre

After getting our London Passes from the British visitor centre we also purchased tickets for a musical "WICKED",I had really wanted to see a play this time in London. We went straight for Tower of London, using the tube. The London Pass helped us to just walk through without standing in line for tickets. We went to see the Kohinoor and as this time it was not so crowded we could go round and see it again. We came out from the Tower of London towards the Tower Bridge and there was an exhibition of Bridges which we decided to see, but the elevator was out of order and it was not such a good idea with a stroller. The exhibition was good and going up the Tower bridge was a unique experience but we got exhausted going up the stairs. The entry fee was included in our passes.

After crossing over from the Tower bridge and walking towards HMS Belfast

Photogragh taken from HMS Belfast as the Bridge is being lifted

After coming down from the bridge we went to see the HMS Belfast a world war II warship which has been converted into a museum. The children enjoyed themselves thoroughly. We even met a sailor on the ship who showed us how things had been during the war times.

As we were walking towards an underground station we came across Borough Market London's oldest food market. We bought some fruits and vegetables from here and decided to call it a day as we had to go for a play as well in the night.

Borough Market

London - a home away from home

2009-09-22T19:22:00.001+05:30

For Indians traveling abroad to the western world, London is like another home, for me it seemed a bit like Mumbai. You can easily hear hindi being spoken on the roads at various places. Saree and salwar suit clad women are seen at shopping areas in plenty. Numerous small general store sort of shops being managed by Bangladeshis who on first appearance look like Indians.
You can roam all over Europe but once you come to London you feel relaxed and at home ground, the reasons maybe loads of relatives and friends in London, familiar language, lot of asians around and friendly english people. I have experienced this thrice that when I am standing (with loads of luggage) at the bottom or top of an escalator in a tube station an englishman would come and help me with the luggage of his own. If you are looking lost and trying to decipher your way around with a map invariably the passers by on their own try to help you out - this happens only in England believe me.

Our stay this time was at Citadines Trafalgar Square Aparthotel, quite centrally located and walking distance from the tube station. We took the underground from the Heathrow airport to our hotel, which I thought was too much adventure considering the amount of luggage we had and a baby on stroller. We had our Oyster cards with us which we had purchased from VFS-UK,Delhi. We had even got one for my son who was eleven at that time and
the officials at the tube station in Whitechapel told us that we need not have got one for him, we could have got a day ticket worth one or two pound a day for him which would have been cheaper or us. We caught the Piccadily line the only one from the Heathrow Airport it was a rush and we changed from Hammersmith to the District line (green). Luckily we had to just walk across the platform for a change in line and not go up and down on escalators or stairs and the station was not crowded, phew! that was really lucky!! Though we had got down on the station after seeing that it had facilities for handicapped people. Then we got down at Embankment and just around the corner was our hotel.
It was chillingly cold that day and it had just rained. We settled down in our rooms which were miniscule, as compared to other aparthotels where we had stayed esp in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. After that we wore our jackets and walked across the pedestrian bridge to London Eye and took a flight.

Pedestrian Bridge

Inflight London Eye
After that we again crossed the bridge and went across to Trafalgar square. It was lovely.

Nelson's column

Just before going back to the hotel we bought some provisions from TESCO. We were staying in London for 4 days and we had to arrange our own meals.

Paris - I love this city

2009-09-04T00:22:00.004+05:30

There is something about Paris (पैरी) which bewitches me, despite the snobbish french people, the language barrier, the difficult to pronounce street names or maybe its because of all this. Outside of India the one place which feels like home in the western part of the world is London. I adore London, but the fascination with Paris is much more.

This second visit to Paris was different from the first as we tried to cover the places where we had not gone before, chiefly Musee de Louvre, Chateau de Versailles, Musee d' Orsay and The Moulin Rouge.
Then there was some which we had done last time also, Seine river cruise was as mesmerising as before

The Notre dame at sunset

and Notre dame was as fascinating, Eiffel tower looked great and this time round I appreciated the view of Eiffel tower from Trocadero much more than the last time.

The Eiffel tower from Trocadero

There was so much we could not do, which we had planned. But thanks to Shaleen I managed to buy a purse from Galleries Lafayette, also something which had been overdue from last time. We were overawed by the dome at the Galleries Lafayette

The dome at Galleries Lafayette

The major let down was Eurodisney, we went there because it was here that we had sorely missed our children last time and almost cried for them at the gates of this amusement park and we had promised ourselves that we would get them here surely, but in all this we forgot that we have already been to the Mecca of theme parks and nothing can beat Orlando.
We loved walking on the Champs Elysses (शौंस एलिसी ) and standing at the Arc de Triomphe like the last time. We found our way around Paris using its metro but I think the stations were undergoing renovation, and if not they surely needed to be renovated. The musicians in the train were a novelty and I was fascinated with the different instruments which they used, with which I was not familiar except for the Piano Accordion. The french people we met on the train were mostly forthcoming and strangely we struck up more conversations with strangers on the parisian metro than on any other metro in the world. If you're planning to visit Paris the "Paris visite" is a must, it is the metro pass and it fetches discounts at many tourist attractions, we got a discount at Eurodisney.
A museum goer should get the museum pass. The Louvre (लूव)museum was all that I had expected and more.

The glass pyramid is the entrance to the Louvre Museum

It is a great museum, though we were living at walking distance from the museum we managed only a single visit there much to my disappointment, that too we just made a beeline for Mona Lisa and after that we saw a few more galleries. Musee de Orsay a railway station converted into a museum starts where Louvre leaves off. It was a beautiful museum with lovely paintings.

Musee de Orsay

Going to Versailles (वरसै)was also something which we had planned for days and stupidly I had booked the tickets for Versailles on the net for a week earlier than when we actually reached, so when we reached Versailles the tickets were of an earlier date. Shaleen had done his homework well and right at the entrance where hardly anybody was going, was a small office for redressal of problems with internet tickets and there our tickets were validated for the same day. The palace was magnificent and the gardens were huge we had to take a golf buggy on rent to see the gardens and we also saw the Marie Antoniette's palace.

Versailles

The Moulin Rouge (मूला रूज़ ) was a great show. I enjoyed myself immensely and it had the distinctive french flavour which is not possible in other shows however great.
The most beautiful building in Paris is the Opera house.

The Opera house

Brussels to Brugee

2009-08-11T00:35:00.007+05:30

The best way to reach Brugee (the most visited town in Belgium) from Brussels is by train, an intercity train. There are numerous trains and tickets can be bought at the station at the time of travel, as advance purchase is not cheaper and there are no reservations on the train and children travel free!!
This leg of our journey took the most time to plan and we still were not able to purchase tickets beforehand. We would have bought the tickets at home on the net, except for the unpredictable Belgium railways website. Contrary to our expectations we saved money on the journeys where we did not book tickets from before at home. As in Belgium, so also in England ,while going to Stonehenge. The people at the ticket windows in both places were very friendly and helpful, though I cannot say the same for France. In Belgium, the trains were good and we were issued a ticket on which we could make 10 journeys from anywhere to anywhere in Belgium, just fill up the details with your pen and the let the ticket conductor punch it. When we were going by train to Amsterdam from Brussels we saved money by traveling till the last station in Belgium on the same ticket and had another ticket from that last station till Amsterdam which was little costlier than traveling in Belgium. And this was possible even when the train did not actually stop at that last station in Belgium, from where our onwards journey supposedly began.
We reached Brugee and en route we spoke to an Indian settled in Belgium. He told us to take a horse buggy to see the town. The horse buggy cost us 45 Euros and frankly I thought Brugee was a let down, considering the amount of money and time we spent to go there.

On reaching Brussels and the Grand Place my thoughts were reinforced, I found it better than Brugee. Maybe a previous visit to Switzerland had taken away from the old world charm of Brugee. Maybe the lovely waffles and chocolates we had in Brussels had something to do with it.

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I can say the same for myself. We studied the locations we have to go to in such details that we memorised the names of quite a few roads and places in distant countries. Google maps has made distances disappear and the uncertainties of travel can be reduced drastically. The level of confidence is much more after studying the satellite view of a location you are planning to travel to.
Sitting at home you can map the distance from your hotel of various locations and the easiest route to it.
In our trip to US in 2007 we used the google maps extensively to get directions to various places.
Another thing which we take care to do is to study the metro map nicely of cities where the network is good.
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Letterfinlay Lodge and hotel

2009-06-30T02:32:00.006+05:30

The journey by car from Inverness to Fort Williams via Eilean Donan castle was picturesque. We were three cars going one after the other. As we passed through the lovely countryside

From Fort Williams

we wished we were staying at one of the lovely hotels in the shadow of the mountains, besides a loch. We could not almost believe that the lodge where we were staying, the Letterfinlay lodge and hotel could be at such an amazing location. It is on the A82 about 7 miles from Spean Bridge and 17 miles from Fort William.
Everybody told me that they wished that we were staying at Letterfinlay lodge for more than one day. We revised our plans for the next day but all of us had prebooked connections and accommodations from Glasgow the next day, when we would be dividing into three groups and going to London, Hull, and Windermere.

After checking in the hotel, we drove to Fort William for dinner. We had traditional scottish food Haggis, neeps(turnip), tatties (potatoes).We shopped from tesco and also got Indian food packed for people back at the lodge.
We were fortunate to see the Lochaber school band performing that day at the market square.

From the lounge at the lodge we could see the sheep up on the hills. The lounge had recliners where one could relax.

The other side looked over Loch Lochy. It was an amazing view

Jacobite cruise - The Lochness experience

2009-06-28T18:15:00.000+05:30

We went to Fort Williams from Inverness. Left our hotel, Express by Holiday Inn after having breakfast. We decided to take a Jacobite cruise on the Lochness. It was enroute so we decided to do it on our way to Fort Williams. The route was beautiful. We stopped to take photographs on one of the layby (space next to the highway where you can stop the car)

Except for a wrong turn due to some confusion because of the GPS, we reached Clansman Harbour situated opposite the Clansman Hotel. It cost 34 pounds for a family of five for the cruise. The cruise was a great experience.

There is a stop at the Uruqhart castle where you can get down and the ticket costs 10 pounds per person, and take the next cruise back. We did not get down at the castle, instead we came inside the boat from the deck it was warmer inside and enjoyed a cup of warm coffee. As most of the passengers had disembarked at Uruqhart castle we had more space to ourselves, on the way back, in the boat.

Uruqhart castle
After the Jacobite cruise. I thought we might as well may see the Eilean Donan Castle. It was about an hour and a half away. We set our GPS to Eilean Donan castle. The route was beautiful but the castle was a let down especially as we had come a long way to see it. It seemed very small and not at all grand.
Most of our group did not go inside the castle. There was a family ticket of 13.5 pounds and five of us went in. The inside of the castle was interesting and well preseved. The kitchen was especially good.

Eilean Donan Castle

Inverness - area around the river Ness

2009-06-20T03:15:00.001+05:30

Our Guide in kilt told us the literal meaning of the word Inverness, the highland capital. It is one of the most beautiful places in Scotland. We reached Inverness by car and the route was beautiful.

The best part of going to Europe in summer is that one has a very long day at one's disposal. The sun rises very early in the morning and sets around 10pm. It looks like its evening time from 4 pm right through to 10pm an endless evening especially for us Indians for whom the length of the day hardly varies with seasons and very often we do not need to see the watch to find out the time, we just look outdoors and can pretty much guess what time of the day it would be. In Europe, in summer your times sense goes awry and many a times you have to draw the curtains to go to sleep at what seems like 4pm time here. In the birthplace of Golf you can tee off at 12 midnight there is still enough light and usher in the sun at 3am by the time you finish your game.
The delay caused in the car rental meant that we reached our destination quite late in the day. The day or rather the evening we reached there we took our cars along the river Ness. We walked along the river, enjoying the beautiful scenery and the crystal clear water. As it was a weekend the parking along the river was free.
The banks of the river Ness beyond the Inverness Castle were known as Ladies walk and the Ness Walk. It was a very picturesque area. On going futher away towards the Eden Court theatre it became lovelier with a number of small islands accesible by small pedestrian bridges, this area we actually explored the next day. The air was chilly.

There were numerous rabbits (and there burrows), living wild on this slope.

We walked upto the Primark store. The market was closed at that time. We saw an Indian Restaurant here. It was called the Shapla ( meaning Lotus?) Indian Restaurant. We had dinner there. It was not excellent stuff but good enough.
Next day we took our cars into the city and parked in the multilevel car park which charged 20pence per car for two hours. The catch was that you could only increase the time of parking after 2 hours. So at the end of 2 hours Shaleen and Anupam had to rush back to increase the time. We walked down to the town centre from the car park but missed the 11 am Happy tour. The Primark store was just 2 shops away so we all went on a shopping spree. The clothes were even cheaper than what we get in India. A shirt with tie for 1 pound. Children's jeans for 3 pounds. Unfortunately we did not buy much due to lack of time and space in our suitcases.
We then went on a walking tour of Inverness - Happy Tour.

Walking tours are fun. A good way to get a feel of the city and also a chance to interact with a local . We did not walk for a long distance but we came to know a lot about the folklore, the history of the city. He told us about the Mac Donald clan. The guide was friendly and humorous.
We headed back to our hotel Express by Holiday Inn which was outside the city towards the Culloden Battlefield. Our group being so large we had not been able to procure accomodation at a B&B as had been our plan initially. The hotel proved comfortable, as Tesco was nearby. For the first time in a hotel we saw that a Microwave was provided for the use of the guests in the common area, where the breakfast was served daily, and there was crockery and cutlery with it. Guests could get food from outside, heat it and carry the food to their rooms from this area if they wish.
Next we went to the Culloden Battlefield. Where the Jacobites had fought with the british army. The battle lasted for about 2hours and there is a tour there now which lasts for almost the same duration.

The tour has GPS facilitated audio tour. On reaching a particular spot the audio guide automatically tells a story related to that location. Here we realized how the golf buggy which we had taken on rent in Versailles used to give us automatic commentary on reaching a particular place.

Scotland one of the most beautiful places on earth

2009-06-19T02:27:00.002+05:30

We are back from a great vacation. We had planned to see Scotland in the latter part of the vacation. It was a novelty for us, Shaleen and me, rest of the cities we had already been to before, (except for Brugee). So that part we planned to visit in the end.
To keep the anticipation going till the end. I think when you plan a vacation, the sequence in which you plan your holiday locales is very important, if you are covering more than one place. If you see the best in the first go, the rest pales in its comparison. During our USA trip the trip ended in a grand finale, the best, the Niagara falls.

I found Scotland quite overwhelming. As I had mentioned in my previous post we took car rentals in Scotland. We were three cars going one after the other. Shaleen had purchased a GPS from London with maps of the European union. His colleague Amrita helped us with the selection of GPS which she had already purchased on the net at Amazon.com.
The car rentals gave us more freedom as we were not bound by any particular schedule, except that we had our hotel and apartment bookings done from before. We got the best deal from Alamo and it got better with Etihad Airways Partnership.
We reached Edinburgh from Amsterdam by flight. It took us quite some time to get a taxi for 8 persons as we had a lot of luggage. On reaching Grove street Apartments, we met the rest of our family. They had arrived the same day by train from London. Grove street Apartments proved to be a great stay. It is a daily serviced apartment!! After Citadines stay everywhere else --London, Paris, and Brussels. Grove street Apartments exceeded expectations.
We were so hungry on reaching Edinburgh. The one and a half hour flight had been without any service and the costliest leg of our journey at 80 Euros per person. We feasted on fried Bhindi and Theplas from India and by that time Suhani and Nalin had convinced us to go to the Ghost walking tour. In retrospect I think that was one of the most enjoyable and happening excursions of the trip.
We met our guide outside the Starbucks cafe on the Royal mile. 10 pounds adults and 8 pounds child was the cost and we got a free torch and a drink at the local pub each. He was a good story-teller. We came to know that suicide is legal in Scotland. He told us about the witch burnings, and about Mary Queen of Scots .

The pub where we got a free drink each

He told us that a Scots believe that after death their souls come back to Scotland and therefore at the graveyard there were many memorials of scotsmen who had lost their lives in other countries, made by their kinsmen so that their souls would have a resting place in Scotland when it came back.

We walked a few kilometres and saw few of the greatest views of the city.