My Experiments with Travel

Europe Weekender - Italy4 - Florence

2013-05-07T00:48:00.004+05:30

Day 2 :

Yesterday was sunny, but it has gone really cloud today. We started our day with breakfast in the hotel itself. We asked if we could go to the terrace, and one of the serving ladies guided us to the same. Then only we realized we were walking through their living room on the floor above to climb the steps to the terrace! It was a bit surprising as normally Europeans will never let you enter their living areas so easily. Italians are more like Indians in this respect as well? It was a nice view of the Duomo from their terrace, but it was in covered by mist.

Cloudy, and misty, not a wonderful day! Started walking by 9:50, towards the Duomo, and walked through the route we walked yesterday night to Piazza Della Signoria, and then further towards Arno River, walked through the road along its banks. We passed through the entrance of another museum, but I didn’t get a feel that neither Krithi nor Pranav were interested. The bridge in front of us - Ponte Vecchio (meaning ‘the old bridge’) - across Arno River gave a feel that we are on a pilgrimage! The feel as when I was walking through Hrishkesh or Haridwar….!

We crossed the river through Ponte Vecchio bridge to the southern side of Florence, walked to Palazzo Pitti. This building, Pitti Palace as it can be called in English, was constructed in 1458. From initially being a residence of the ruling families of Tuscany (the state where Pisa and Florence are situated), it was used as a power base by Napoleon in late 18^th century, later became the Royal Palace of the newly United Italy. Currently it is one of the largest art galleries in Florence. The description about the palace also mentioned Boboli gardens behind the palace. Initially I got it confused with the famous hanging gardens of Babylon, which was one of the wonders of the ancient World J. Anyway, all of us voted unanimously to not to pay money for entering the same, Pranav as usual taking this initiative with maximum protest J.

The plan for us was to go to Piazza Michelangelo. We continued in slow pace as Krithi and Pranav were tired (already!) with the walk. A steep climb awaited us, to the top of a hill, where this wonderful square is situated.

We reached the top at 12:30, a gelato to cool us down. The view from the top of the square was really the most memorable sight in Florence! The piazza (square) is filled with tourists, vendors (mainly selling souvenirs) and a bronze replica statue of Michelangelo’s David. If only the Sun could come out for a few minutes….!

It was 1:15. We took a bus back to the hotel. Bus took 30 mins to reach where we started our walk in the morningJ ! Took a 10-15 mins break in hotel, then went out for lunch. Hotel had kept our passports with them for some reasons to verify or something. They gave it back in the afternoon, when we informed them of our checkout next day morning. That was another restaurant we found on the way in one of the narrow cut roads around the Duomo. We were again left impressed with the service and food!

Time was 3:30. Reenergised, walked around some of the streets, the Sun is out now! When these two told they really want to take rest, I had no second thoughts. As Krithi and Pranav walked back to the hotel, I took the bus again around 4 PM, to the Michelangelo square. I also was tired to again walk all the way and climb the hill!

It was heavenly! I took enough snaps walking around the square, returned in the same bus, back in hotel by 5:30. We were satisfied (or I should translate it as really done with, for Krithi and Pranav) and done. Pranav had become a pet for the family running the hotel. And he also started feeling at home, was asking for hot milk! Krithi translated it as, ‘could we boil some milk if we buy it from outside’. The answer was a smile, followed by a cup of hot milk from their kitchen! I was really impressed with this place and the family!

We stayed back in the hotel for the rest of the day except for an hour of dinner.

Europe Weekender - Italy3 - Florence

2012-07-08T15:16:00.007+05:30

The traffic in the main road was blocked and we saw a huge demonstration escorted by Police (with helmet, shield and baton) ! What a welcome !

We quickly cross the road, got off the road to the cut roads, and walked to the hotel. It was a small hotel in 2^nd floor, run by a family. Checked in, left our luggage and came out. It was getting dark.

Walked back to the station, the demonstration has passed peacefully and life is back to normal. Had a coffee in one of the shops there, and then started our walk through the heart of the cultural part of the town. First to reach, was the Duomo (Basilica of Saint Mary of the Flower), a building made in 15th Century. The exterior of this building made in Gothic style, is faced with marble panels in various shades of green and pink bordered by white. This building as well has a baptistery and a campanile. This three buildings together standing in the historic centre of Florence, are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The whole place looked like an old World by itself… narrow streets, old buildings, stone paved roads…. It was still reasonably crowded, minvan-like buses plying around, which are the best possible public transport in these streets…

I felt it very similar to my experience in Udupi, where it is a normal town except you enters the heritage part of it! There, it is narrow streets, cows walking along with you…I felt that I am here on a pilgrimage!

But for Pranav, it was a hard day. He was getting really frustrated, started crying out of the extreme protest…And we were just getting helpless. We had just begun and this guy is not cooperating ! We at last settled him for a MacQueen magazine, after a reasonable amount of protest had already shown.

We walked to Piazza della Signoria. It is an L-shaped square( J ) in front of the Palazzo Vecchio (Old palace), the town hall of the city. This square more gives a feel of the Italian art with a dimly lit open museum with Michelangelo’s David, Hercules and Cacus, Perseus with head of Medusa, the rape of the Sabine woman and many other beautiful sculptures and the Fountain of Neptune in the middle of the square.

Then, it was time that we were also getting tired. We were planning to walk back to the hotel, and were planning dinner in one of the restaurants we had found in the street nearby. Time was around 7:30.

But instead of heading back, we took a wrong turn in the narrow maze, and were in another wonderful square, Piazza Santa Croce! This is another historic square in Florence, overlooking Basilica of Santa Croce; this is the place where famous Italians Michelangelo and Galileo are buried.

The square in front of the Basilica was full of chocolate stalls, a complete festive atmosphere. There was so much of variety in chocolates! Pranav was not keen, or rather his interest was focused on the candies, and he picked only the ones which has gelatin, specifically pork gelatin. I agree kids love it and he is no exception, but I take it as I have no other choice than to say no. We had to walk back quite quickly to the restaurants we were planning to have our dinner, as we saw many of the restaurants were closing by 8.

We had, again Penne Arabiatta and Italian pizza at a very traditional looking place, with wooden oven. Wood was cut beautifully and arranged all over to almost look like the restaurant has wooden walls J.

I was feeling like going back in to the Duomo square and just spend more time walking in these narrow streets, but my legs were not cooperating. We were back in hotel around 9:30 to end a long and hectic day.

Europe Weekender - Italy2 - Pisa

2012-06-30T02:18:00.003+05:30

We started with our walk to Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), which consists of the Duomo (Cathedral), the Campanile (the free standing Bell tower of the Cathedral), the Baptistery (of St.John) and the Campo Santo (meaning holy field). It looks nothing special for any other town centre, except for the fact that the free standing bell tower is a bit tilted. And, it is interesting because it is still standing with the tilt for last 800 years!

The walk was pretty eventless, except for a few observations. One, we felt as if we are walking through a University campus! We knew that it is student-dominated town, but not to the extent that we only see teenagers in groups or as couples. Then, we noticed the diversity in the small food shops selling cheaper. I was joking to Krithi that it won’t be a surprise if we find a biriyani shop… almost to even my surprise we saw one within less than ten seconds I made this remark

!It was clubbed with a Pita Shop, serving biriyani. We ordered for a falafel and a biriyani, as Krithi was pretty sure that we won’t get a biriyani even close to our taste or quality. She was right!

We continued our walk after lunch crossing the bridge across Arno.

It was more of an empty place afterwards, till we reached Piazza dei Miracoli. We also took a turn away from the straight route, walked through some empty areas, cross a fort, walked through some meadows and then back in to the main street leading to the world famous square, our destination for the day.

With the Sun shining, clear sky, the whole place looks marvelous! The famous Tower was covered from all angles, I was enjoying the architecture and works on the Baptistery as well. Then, the place was crowded as well, ironic to the empty streets we saw on our way! There was lot of Chinese groups, taking photos of holding the Tower, eating the tower, etc. One of them helped us to get a ‘normal’ picture of us three…

We spent a couple of hours there, and then took a bus back to the rail station. Collected our luggage from cloak room, and bought tickets for Florence from the counter. The clerk at the counter specifically told us to validate the tickets near the machine. It is a little odd practice. In Italy, all train tickets bought from the counter (not the ones booked in net with seat number and date on it) should be validated before entering the platform. If you are spotted in the train or even at the platform with out a validated ticket, you would be fined for ticket less travel.

I remembered an incident occurred to some of our colleagues caught and they were not aware of the validating tickets, were fined 60 Euros each (about 10 people). There, they ‘settled’ the ticket examiner for a 100 Euros ;).

We took train starting at 3:54.The train journey was a nice experience. In to the countryside of Italy, we quietly passed Navacchio, Cascina, Pontedera, San Ramano, San Miniato, Empoli, Montelupo, and Signa to reach a much-bigger-than-expected station, Florence SMN (Firenze Santa Maria Novella). Some aspects similar to traveling in India - small stations with dusty roads, the beggar with a card distributed to every passenger depicting his/her ‘misery’, ticket less travelers coming in and getting out. It was not crowded, again I would say there are many train journeys in India which are not crowded. We were passing through plains, then some hilly areas, reached Florence SMN (Firenze Santa Maria Novella) station around 5:15.

Out of the station, we walked to the hotel. It is a much bigger city than I thought. SMN station has bullet trains going to national/international destinations, has a reasonable good set of shops in the station building itself. A three-four lane bus bay in front of the station, and our hotel was 5 mins walk across the road just in front.

Europe Weekender - Italy1 - Pisa

2012-06-13T02:29:00.002+05:30

We were done with the Rome trip, what followed was a horrible winter with a lot of snow pouring down unexpectedly in this part of Europe. It followed a white Christmas for people who managed to be back at home, but it was a ‘black’ Christmas for people who planned their flights to and fro Europe during this time. Lot of airports in Europe closed down due to the runways filled with snow… And this was because it was unusual and unexpected in these parts of the World to have so much snow in winter!

I had no choice to travel anywhere till the winter ends…except looking at the Southern Europe, which will not be so bad in winter. Moreover Krithi and Pranav gone to US for 4 weeks left me with a lot of time to research and plan the trips.

I was browsing through the Ryan air rates for January, found 7 Euros tickets for Pisa and Venice! That means, another 5 Euros added for tax, three of us can fly both ways for 60 Euros! Even with the overhead of airport transfers on both ends, it will be 150 Euros… not very bad. I didn’t think too much, went ahead and blocked the tickets.

* * * * * *

There were three places planned – Pisa, Florence and Venice. One of the main reasons to choose this combination was, the first two are close by and Venice is reachable by bullet train in 2 hours from Florence.

Pisa is a place which is known for its Leaning Tower, and other than that there is nothing very special about it. It is like any other small town in

Italy

, with a huge student population. So it is not worth to just go all the way to just see the leaning tower and come back. You sit in a local train for an hour, you are in Florence.

Florence (Firenze in Italian), located on the banks of the River Arno, is famous for its history and especially its importance in the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance, its art and architecture and, more generally, for its cultural heritage.

And Venice, don’t need introduction.

* * * * * *

Our Pisa flight was at 10:30 from Charleroi Airport, which is 60kms away from Brussels. We started around 6:45, and got Charleroi shuttle bus from Brussels-Midi (maybe I would have mentioned before - Midi means South) railway station. It was the first time I was trying this option, location the place where the bus stops was a bit tricky. We missed the 7:30 bus by 2 mins. Then, we waited for 8 AM bus, to reach the airport by 8:45.

The airport was not crowded, even after being a Saturday! So we cleared the hurdles of air travel more quickly, but the airport staff used their extra time to do the checking twice or thrice to keep them busy, we just lost one moisturiser bottle saying the bottle can hold 150ml.

As usual, Pranav started asking for things (as usual) like he has been starving for many days, once we crossed the security check :). The flight took off on time at 10:30. It was a clear sky, and we could see Swiss from the flight, snowy mountains and trains moving like a worm in between them...

We landed in Pisa on time too, at 12pm. I was wondering how they flew us across charging 15 Euros for 3 people, all happening well on time !

There was police standing at the arrivals randomly (though it is not just ‘random’) checking the passports. A bus then to Pisa’s rail station, and kept our luggage in the cloak room there. It is rare to see a man-operated cloak room in Europe. In most of the places, I have seen unmanned cloak lockers with a simple automatic paying mechanism.

Rome Weekender 7

2012-02-12T19:27:00.003+05:30

Day4 : It was a normal morning after an eventful night ! At breakfast in the hotel terrace, the maids were worried with Pranav’s situation. A couple of them spoke English – one was from Philippines talking about her son of the same age she had left behind for her to work in Rome. Pranav just like a hero sat between them explaining how it all happened in his ‘English’.

We walked to Republican square through some residential looking areas. We walked through some random streets, enjoying the Sun. Pranav was happy sitting on our shoulders and walking at times. After a 90 min walk, almost till Trevi fountain, we took a metro back to be back in hotel by 11:45.

Checked out around 12 and thought the same Brussels ‘jump’ principle will work in Roman metros, which allows you to travel one hour unlimited in metros, trams or buses for a jump. The Roman jump allows it only from metro to bus, not taking two metros once you have broken the journey and come out. So we ended up taking another ticket to otherwise walk-able Termini.

We took the airport bus to Ciampino at 12:30 and reached the small airport by 1:30. It was hot inside the bus, we were sweating! The trip till it crossed the city looked like India, with crowded roads, and a lot of people and the heat too!

We had lunch in the airport restaurant; there were couple of good pasta vegetarian choice. Then waited in the lobby after the security check. The queue for boarding started building up by 2:15 itself.

We also joined one of the ‘branches’ of what looked like a single queue! We waited in the ‘crowd-cum-queue’ till 3:30, no information of the flight getting delayed! The twist came when the flight was ready to board – they opened another boarding check desk, and half the crowd from back ran to the new desk! It was typical Indian situation that you will get a lucky entry!

Again, getting in as early as possible is important here as there is no seat number allotted. We were not prepared for that twist, but still managed to get three continuous seats.

The flight took off by 3:40, only a few minutes late. After all chaos, still I appreciate Ryanair for the things getting done quickly, still perfectly safe! We landed in Brussels Charleroi around 5:45. It was -4, and in the middle of heavy snow. It was another wrong decision to try a bus to Charleroi South railway station, and then get the train. The trains were late; we had to wait in the waiting rooms in the station for more than an hour. The train then took more time than usual to reach Brussels Central by 7:50. Our bus 63, then, to our home didn’t stop (he didn’t notice the stop-request button pressed or may be intentional?) in our stop. We ended up walking more than 400 metres back, in snow to end our journey!

Rome Weekender 6

2011-11-18T02:42:00.004+05:30

We were in a dilemma. I know it is not fatal – Pranav cried, he is conscious, and fine. But the wound is big, and open, infection can prove dangerous. On the other side, we are in a place where we don’t know the language, no idea on where or how we can reach a medical centre. We need to find a doctor who can analyse the situation and stitch the wound.

Another fear also was that if we were asked to stay back for taking some tests, scans, and get admitted; I could surely expect if this had happened in Chennai for a tourist and he goes to one of the big hospitals. It may be necessary, or may be just a way to make a little quick money.

Both of us lost our appetite and were thinking over and over. I think I should appreciate Krithi for her maturity and for her trust in me to think through the problem we would get in to than just screaming out to save ‘her’ child! I would expect that from a normal Indian mother, not to blame!

We decided to check at the reception what to do. Already two hours past the incident, it is 10 pm now. I went down to the reception leaving Krithi with Pranav who was still fast asleep. My biggest challenge at reception was to tell the gentleman at reception, a very approachable man in his early 50s. He couldn’t understand a single word, except blood and I hope he understood it is for my little son, and the blood is from back of his head.

He took me to the pub next door, pulled out the barman there and asked me to explain to him the situation. And then, it was easy. Once he got the story, he told me to not to panic and just bring Pranav down.

I thought he is planning to have some first aid, and the way he told also looked like ‘I will take care’. But I was surprised to see an ambulance with lights blinking waiting for us!

We both were prepared to surrender myself to face any situation now. Pranav was cool; he was excited to enter the blue rolling light and siren, proudly sitting inside it! The journey to the hospital was around 5-6 kms. I was calculating the maximum I could pay with my debit and credit cards… and what to do if the bill crosses these limits…!

It went in to a small hospital, they call it poly clinic. None of the ambulance staff spoke English, none in the polyclinic too. At the reception, the ambulance staff explained something. The lady at the reception asked for Pranav’s passport, then checked ours.

‘Tourist?’ she asked.

‘Yes’.

Our conversation ended. Then, she was asking some questions to the person (in his early 50s) who was in the ambulance gang. She made entries in her system from the passport, and asked us to wait. There was another family who got a less than a year old baby who fell from the bed. There were only them waiting with us, who had to come with their baby at this late hour of a Monday. They spoke English. Pranav was sitting with half-sleep, and I could see the agony of uncertainty in his face also.

A 5-10 minutes wait, we were called in. A senior doctor and two post graduate junior doctors, all three females, welcomed us. We thought we will get an English response there at least, but no luck! They saw the wound, the senior doctor instructed something to the two, possibly post graduate students. They asked us to hold Pranav firm. With Krithi holding his legs, one of the students holding his hands, the other did the stitching, while I was holding his head firm. I was wondering why there is no local anesthesia. Krithi started crying seeing Pranav crying loudlyL. The students consoled her saying it will be fine quickly (this too is a translation I assume). Once it was done, Pranav was not anymore crying. He was happily up and was thanking the doctorsJ, my little brave boy! The senior doctor gave me a paper which detailed/proved about the treatment done. I asked them on why there is no local anesthesia used. They told some reason why they didn’t give anesthesia. She also told that the stitches will be absorbed, no more attention needed (But that too was my pick from her body language as she spoke in Italian). I didn’t understand a thing, but I nodded with a thankful smile as if I understood it all.

Then I was checking the papers of the treatment given, the bill was missing! I went to the reception asking where to pay! She didn’t understand, and on the contrary, seeing me looking for something, the lady suddenly ‘discovered’ that I am worried as to how to go back and she said (in English) ‘will call taxi for you’ and went in!! I was just stuck…not sure what to do!

Luckily met the English speaking family again and I put my question to him. He told me with a smile, ‘It is all free, no money’!

It is Free?! I can’t believe it! At an odd hour of night, you call ambulance, go to the hospital, and get your kid’s head stitched… all for Free!!! It is not so in any country I know!

The taxi was ready for us in less than ten minutes, and we were in our hotel in another 5-10 minutes. Actually, the taxi driver spoke better English. And all I paid was the 10 Euros for Taxi! We had a peaceful sleep back in hotel.

Thank you, Rome! I will never forget this night!

Rome Weekender 5

2011-11-05T19:27:00.014+05:30

Day 3 : Vatican and Trevi fountain

It was tough to get up in the morning. All our legs were paining. Started our day’s errand after breakfast, around 10!

Took Metro to Termini from Pretorio and changed to line A towards Battistini to get down at Ottaviano. The weather was cloudy, and had started looking like it could drizzle anytime. Rome, we had heard, will have rains during mid Nov till mid Dec.

The Skip-the-line teams caught us out of the metro station itself. Their theory was simple: normal route takes 1-1.5 hours for the queue for ticket for entry, 15 Euros goes for the fees, and then you are on your own. Now you skip the long lines (there was the catch, still there was a shorter line which was 15-20 mins long), a guide to take you through the history of history and importance of each part, and it costs 45 per person.

I had already planned to go with them as it had that knowledge with value for money. My only concern was if they will charge for Pranav too… but he was free.

The person who ‘got’ us took us to their office, we paid the money, and then another person took over as we joined a group, and we walked to the centre of Vatican. We crossed the ‘border’ in less than a minute walk, with no immigration checks.

The real guide was waiting for our group to join a group already there. So now, it was some 10-15 people in the group. She talked about the St.Peters, the pillars around the centre forming two semi circles. It looked huge and grand ! A huge Christmas tree was getting ready in front of us, with cranes around it doing the decorations !

After a briefing there, with all of us having an earpiece to tune in to the mic of our guide, took us to a souvenir shop and ‘gave’ us time for 15 mins to shop there.

Now, it started looking like going to an agent in front of RTO office for a learners licence in India J.

The guide started the tour again at 11:20. We walked outside of the border wall (now actually in Italy), walked around for entry through a side entrance. There was a queue there as well, it was drizzling now.

We waited in rain for some 20-25 minutes there and the guide had vanished. It was not as bad as I thought. This entrance is officially for groups. But the officials let the guides come with ‘groups’ take little more freedom than the normal groups.

At last we got our tickets and entered around 12. She took us to the top floor, and a lobby there used by guides to explain with some paper slides in a white board. There was a 30 minutes session on what is inside, how Michelangelo became a favorite for the Popes as he was very religious ad did all those works without asking for money. And Da Vinci was money minded, as he asked to be paid for the works.

But to leave the lighter side, there were a lot of things explained on how the Popes used to build their own part in Vatican, and trying to make it unique to become memorable themselves. Sistine Chapel was one of the examples. Again, she explained on what we will see inside Sistine Chapel, she took us through the Central painting, and the ceiling ones (many of them are famous).

Then, it was a fast walk through the museum corridors, the painting on carpets/ old canvas, the paintings on the ceiling looking like a 3D picture. She also explained the technique used by Michelangelo to paint one layer and let it dry to paint another layer on it, which may be the reason for the 3D feel.

Photos were not banned anywhere except the Sistine chapel. But in many places flash was banned (thanks to the ISO technology). But, people were using flashes to the frustration of the guards who sometime caught one or two and shouting,’ who is his guide?’ J.

The guide reminded of the instructions she had told for Sistine Chapel in her lecture, and left us in front of it. We entered, a small chapel with little high ceiling. It was crowded and most of the people were flashing through photography was banned. I also broke the law to take snaps, but without flash, if flash hurting the paints is the concern.

To come out of it, there is a door through which the crowd exits, but we were instructed to spot another tricky door on the opposite corner. The password for the security to open that door was to tell him the guide’s name or some mark of her (luckily, or unluckily for her, our guide had a fracture in her nose which helped us). Out of it, many of the group were there, but not the guide ! Some of us started even seaching her inside the corridors.

As earlier, she appeared after sometime. And she appeared to just tell us the way to enter St.Peter’s. She also gave us a brief of the three chapels inside, and spot the ceiling painted by Michelangelo.

Spotted a door, wonderfully depicting Jesus’s story, but there was a twist after his resurrection on the third day! The next one showed Pope standing with two juniors around one bowing with a candle!

St.Peter’s was massive, as big as looked from outside! We walked inside, snaps, it was a memorable experience inside the Sistine Chapel as well as inside the St.Peter’s.

The guards in Vatican still wear the uniform which was designed by Michelangelo in 15^th century! A colourful dress, beautifully simple!

We were done, by 2:45. Pranav was already gone crossing his limits of tolerance. We left the country of Vatican, looking for some food. An old man tried to invite us offering for ‘hot pizzas’. We ignored him and went ahead. Got a small shop which gave us some pasta, and Pranav picked some gelato as well. Later we saw the old man sitting in a panini cart, with the same ‘pizza’ which spoiled our lunch on the first day! Lucky we said No...

We walked out of the little country of Vatican, through the main entrance. An important thing I noticed was the simplicity inside the premises. Though the buildings were all grand and lavishly sculptured/painted, people were all down-to-Earth and simple. The sisters (probably the visiting nuns) also waiting in the long queue for entry tickets. The priests, nuns, inside the different areas we visited also were very humble and soft-spoken. This is inspite of the provocations of people breaking the rules to be followed in a Spiritual place. At the end of the day, I really appreciate the warmth and welcome Vatican provided.

Out of Vatican, we crossed the river over the bridge facing St.Angelo( the bridge is also named ‘Ponte St.Angelo’). It started getting dark slowly. Walked through some areas which has some museums, and around a place which the map said ‘Augustus Caesar’s Tomb’. But we could see nothing noticeable there than an unmaintained premises, with a broken gate! And none seems to take notice of the same as well. Almost the same state as the Domus Aurea...

After more than an hour walk, we reach Trevi Fountain. One of the most famous fountains in the World, Trevi’s water source was an aqueduct from as early as 19 BC. And it was just a source of water for the city, not a fountain. The current 26 metres high and 20 metres wide design is built in late 18^th century.

We had a gelato near Trevi, a wonderful small shop with so many varieties of ice creams! There also most of the employees were Bangladeshis with an Italian boss.

The fountain was pretty crowded, with tourists. There were couple of photographers too, who would take a digital snap and make a print with a small- battery operated printer. Then there was another old man, who was walking here and there with a thin-long stick. In the crowd, he was trying to get the coins people threw in to the fountain with that stick! He is little less stupid than I first thought, he had put some chewing gum at the dipping end J. And, he was wondering why the coins are not sticking to the gum when the gum is sticky outside water! Only if he knew chewing gum loses it sticky nature when wet J.

We, then, walked to Barberini metro station. It was Monday and only now realized that Rome is not a museum city, but a modern metro city too. The trains were very crowded and packed that we couldn’t even enter a couple of them. But I was amazed to see the next one coming in as one just left the platform, with just a few seconds gap! Took the third metro, which was a little less crowded. We could just move in with the crowd and stand, to Termini and walked back to the hotel around 6:30.

We were all so tired, except Pranav ! He was so much troubling while walking, saying his legs are paining. But back in hotel, he was happily jumping in the spring bed ! The bed was in a corner, and the French window had a marble slab. Pranav at one point lost control and fell down with the back of his head hitting the slab !

We kept the bleeding head under water stream… the cut was about 5 cm long, and deep enough that I could see the flesh. The bleeding stopped, Pranav also was back to normal, and slept as well in a few minutes.

Rome Weekender 4

2011-11-01T00:30:00.021+05:30

Day2 :

The day started around 9, we had our breakfast at the terrace of our hotel. From the terrace on top of the 8^th floor, I could see half finished, un-plastered constructs on the terraces, another small house itself made on the terrace with a portico, the dish TV / normal TV antennas, the clothes put for drying in the ropes, concrete water tanks, metal water tanks, split AC outdoor units and I couldn’t believe it was not India!

We started the day out by 10, walked to the nearest metro station, took two day tickets from the vending machine. Pranav was cribbing for a ticket so gave the previous day’s ticket to him. We walked to the entrance and were to just put our tickets for validation, the clerk sitting in the enquiry rushed to us telling, ’No ticket for kids’!

We told him it is not a valid ticket and then he gave a smile and went back to his seat. Pranav was not happy, to hear that he is not worth a ticket :). It was impressive; to see someone caring to make sure I don’t lose money!

We got down at Colosseo changing at Termini to line A from line B, that itself is confusion :) . I at least twice landed up in front of a safety freak, who will look in to my eyes and say ‘Hello !’ in a rude tone in a mix of fear and acting courage holding his suitcase more tight which is already held in embrace mode :)…! Second instance, Krithi noticed it and she started pulling my leg of my ‘thief looks’:)!

As usual, there was a very long queue in front of Colosseum for entry… and I had the best tip to jump this line… thanks to my colleague Bala! Actually, the ticket for colosseum is clubbed with Forum and Palatine Hill…and the other two also has counters. All the three counters issue the same ticket and the ticket allows one entry in all these three places within two days of issue.

Yes, you got the trick! The other counters are empty or just 2-3 people in the queue compared to Colosseum where there are at least 75 people! We walked in to the Palatine Hill counter, took tickets and seeing Pranav they said he don’t need a ticket. I had read in the site that 1meter above high kids need a full ticket. This guy has just touched 1m, and it was a surprise they said no tickets for him. I think the fat jacket and his looks would have given them a feel that he is shorter. Anyway, that then became a problem at the three entry gates to explain to the guy that we checked at the counter, she said no ticket…. Blah blah…Again, the adhoc ways worked here as well, similar to India. If it was rest of Europe, I would have been asked to go back and take a ticket for Pranav. But for Pranav, he was again angry for not taking tickets for him :) !

We took solid 3 hours walking through the old Rome, initially walking in between some ruins, and the major labeled ruins include the temple of Venus and Roma ( this is the first monument we noticed which is taken over by the Catholic Church and renamed as S.Francesca Romana), Basilica of Marcellus, Porticus Octaviae, Temple of Saturn, the Curia Iulia( the regular meeting place of Roman Senate), Palatine Hill, ruins of a huge stadium in Palatine Hill and the huge cricket stump-like (with bails) remaining three pillars of Roman Forum.

It was an interesting fact to notice that the cella (I would contextually translate this Latin word meaning ‘small chamber’ as Shrine) of the temple of Venus faces the East like all the Hindu temples!!! Pranav was more annoyed, he started asking us to take him back home and in the bargain he got the deal to be carried on shoulders… ! Oh God, not again!

We were done with the Forum and Palatine Hill around 1:30. We were exiting from the old Rome part through Forum gates to go to Collosseum. Pranav who was happy to hear we are finishing with this, ran ahead and lost from our sight ! We missed the turn for exit as well, eventually got lost ourselves! A little panic to find Pranav, we were not sure which way he went, and there were lot of people too. Pranav had actually taken the turn for exit and was stopped at the exit by the security lady. As we found him standing there and ran towards him, he was explaining to the security to not to get worried, as his parents are just coming behind ! Colosseum will close around 4:30, so decided go in before taking lunch.

Colosseum was much huge and sophisticated structure than I thought…multi level, multiple sections in each level, leading to a gallery… the seats used to be numbered with a combination of section of the gallery! The viewers can come in and go out freely like the current stadiums through the nearest exit…an underground level for the ‘entertainers’ (beasts, convicts, gladiators etc) which is also made in a sophisticated way. The underground level looks like a maze now when the top layer (the layer which was the entertainment ground) is gone ! Sadly, I saw the ‘cross’ had come in to the Colosseum as well, surely not there during its construction in 80 AD.

There were pulley mechanisms to bring the beasts to the arena level…there are too many things executed pretty well ! I think it may have been picturised well in the film ‘Gladiator’. We finished with Colosseum by 3. Pranav is having regular biscuits, but I think he was getting sleepy and so cranky too :( . I wont blame him, it was a bit hectic on him!

We walked to the standing restaurant annexed with the Colosseo metro station. We all had a gelato and Pranav was very happy to see that ‘lunch’!

Started walking again towards Piazza Venezia, which is around a km from Collosseum. This road was blocked for traffic so we could walk in peace. This walk was through a modern broad road with both sides full of ruins, columns and statues.

Had a view of the marvelous and huge Victor Emmanuel II monument from Piazza Venezia, took a bus to get down somewhere near Pantheon and then walked to it through the narrow streets. It was 4 PM.

It was high time that we should get some food, there was a McD in front of Pantheon, and we walked in for the one and only bad treatment in Rome! I was asking after ordering for finger chips and milk shake, for anything veggie is available in burgers or as salads… the response was a yell from the middle aged waitress, “McD DO NOT have anything veggie…!”

We were tired, and hungry, and not in a shape to reply; I paid for the rest and waited for her to serve the same. But I think, it was a punishment for me that I got carried away by the comments in net that Italians are rude and its advice look for McD! I got really a wonderful experience wherever I went in Rome except this multi-national!

We finished with our ‘lunch’, walked to enter pantheon; the entry to inside Pantheon was blocked for some reason. So took some snaps from outside. This is one of the oldest monuments of Rome which is still in good shape. The most interesting part of Pantheon is, its dome is still the World’s largest unreinforced concrete dome, after almost two thousand years it was built ! It is now nothing more than a converted church, from being the temple of Roman Gods!

Continued the walk, to Piazza Novona, it is getting dark already. Another grand piazza(square) with 2 huge, old fountains with a lot of artwork and it was in full festive mood - a lot of shops, balloons, toys, and Pranav is back with all energy, and fully confused as to what NOT to buy. But as he knows he will have to choose one, got away with a Winnie-the-Pooh hydrogen balloon J .

There were ‘performers’ as well, and one of them was very interesting. He, an old man, had a microphone and a sound system. He was ‘singing’ wonderfully with the sound system with karoke giving the musical support. I grew suspicious and went near him, to realize that this fraud oldie was just moving his lips … lol… ! His lip movements were not matching the high pitch song coming out of the sound system, which was my reason for suspicion.

Walked till Castel Sant’Angelo. It is dark already. This was built on the right bank of the Tiber in about 139 AD, by and as a mausoleum for Roman Emperor Hadrian and his family. But the building was later used by the Popes as a fortress and castle. The Papal state has also used it as a prison. Now it serves as a museum.

We then took a bus to Colosseum around 5:30. It was crowded and took a long time to reach; it took a real roundabout way for sure. We both were standing, Pranav got a seat. As usual, soon he started counting the number of people around him who is looking at him, and then try smiling at them. There was one old lady who was with her daughter and grand daughter (of Pranav’s age). She started the conversation with Pranav playfully asking if he can give away the balloon to her grand daughter, in Italian. A new country, a stranger, and a foreign language! I would have thought Pranav will look at me and then say a big No to her, and if she asks again, he will cry.

But, to my surprise, he softly said, ‘Speak in English!!!’ and the below conversation followed:

Old lady: ‘You …are in Roma… speak Roman’

P: ‘I don’t speak Roma, I only speak English. You don’t speak English ?’

Pranav’s job is done. He got enough spectators around, to enjoy his entertainment! The old lady was also nice enough to keep the conversation going, in spite of the fact that she couldn’t understand English. The only other part I remember is:

Old lady: ‘ See, this is my grand daughter…’

P: ‘Ya, she is beautiful’ !!!( * And, I was like …you know… :O !*)

Old lady:’ and she likes your balloon…’

P: ’Buy her one… ’

And it went on….the people around were enjoying the show…

We got down near colosseum, and the drama came to an end J . Now, there was only one item left for me to finish the day… taking a night shot of Colosseum with the lights on…Time was around 6:15.

I went on looking for some spots, and found some steps on the opposite side of Colosseum to get a good view of it. Found a platform to keep the camera still for a few seconds, and took some pictures. Krithi and Pranav were tired and sitting in the metro station steps when I came back. We took the metro to Termini, walked back to the room by 7:15, after a long, tiring day…!

Pranav was insisting to have dinner at the same restaurant we had dinner yesterday. We tried some grilled vegetables too, along with Penne Arabiatta and vegetarian Pizza. The grilled vegetables with mozzarella melted on it, was very tasty! With another tasty dinner, a very tiring, hectic second day came to an end.

Rome Weekender 3

2011-01-23T04:57:00.009+05:30

So my instinct was pushing me to explore more crowd-free Rome. I had the other side of an unexplored area in mind, Nero’s Palace…( Domus Aurea)! It was something I have not heard of anyone visiting in. We started walking in that opposite direction, entered the compound, climbed the hill, it was a beautiful, peaceful place to walk in. There was no tourist, some old people here and there, just in 200 meters of Colosseum’s crowd, there is absolute calmness!
I realized that it means there is no access the ‘palace’, and the compound belongs to the palace, is open for public…enjoying the evening Sun from that hill top…crossed over to the other gate of Domus Aurea…. lonely narrow streets, with walls of stone bricks on one side…it resembled to walking in the downtown areas of old Trivandrum( which is around the Padmanabha Swami temple), which will have either the high stone wall of the temple on one side, or the old wall made for the fortification of the downtown district itself…!
We got in to a main road, after another 10-15 mins of walk, now enough of peaceful streets… tried to see if we can get back to ‘site seeing’. Walked to the nearest bus stop, and saw two Indian faces…it is not only Indian…it is more specific…two priests(in ‘mufti’) from Kottayam…! Just said a Hi, and they were also happy to meet a mallu…they directed me to walk a little more to reach one of the three important Basilicas in Rome, Santa Maria Maggiore . We decided to take their direction, and passing through the big Basilica, we walked to Termini.
We were pretty tired, it was around 5, the walking tour at 5 also is ruled out ! We went in to the mall incorporated with the Termini station, and had cappuccinos, and Gelato for Pranav. That resembled the bakeries with a small serving area, and a few table + 2 chair setup, in India, it was good and the rates were same as anywhere else in the city. Took a metro to Flaminio… to come out of the station and see Piazza del Popolo. It was already dark… and darkness was something my old cameras didn’t like…Now I think I am in a better position to click as usual increasing its ISO. Then walked through narrow crowded ‘Via del Babuino’ to Piazza de Spagna where you can see the Spanish Steps. This is said to be the widest staircase in Europe, built in warly 18th century, a century after the Fontana della Barcaccia ( Fountain of the Old Boat), seen at the bottom of the steps, was built !
Imagine a square and a fountain in 1627… and then a French diplomat building a broad step from it to the church above, in 1724! If it sounds interesting, you would like Rome. And 1724 is something very recent, comparing to the structures made dating to BC… so for Italians, for them, it is modern Rome!
Climbed the steps, up to the church on the top, went in, I wouldn’t say anything amazing, the structures are made long back, the place existed centuries ago, and most important, the crowd was appreciating it! The same thing as Mona Lisa J, either it is so, or I don’t have enough sense or knowledge to appreciate it.
Climbed down, after taking some pictures of the view from the top, started walking a bit through much more crowded ‘Via Condotti’; it was too much a crowd, so came back and decided to walk through Via Due Marcelli (meaning Marcelli 2nd Street) to Fontana del Tritone( Tritone Fountain) situated in Piazza Barberini.
This fountain was executed in travertine in 1642–43. At its centre rises an larger than lifesize muscular Triton, a minor sea god of ancient Greco-Roman legend, depicted as a merman kneeling on the sum of four dolphin tailfins. His head is thrown back and his arms raise a conch to his lips; from it a jet of water spurts, formerly rising dramatically higher than it does today. The Tritone, was erected to provide water from the Acqua Felice aqueduct( one of the springs which brough water to Rome) which Urban had restored, in a dramatic celebration. So the purpose was different; public fountains in the city of Rome had been passive basins for the reception of public water.
So, the water coming out of all these fountains are (still) drinkable…and it is not something which goes to be pumped again….
Time was nearing 7 PM, we had started this walk around 1:30! And, except for a small coffee break at Termini, we have not sat anywhere. The lunch was also that junk pizza, in standing mode. We decided to take metro from Barberini station to
Termini and walked back to the hotel around 7:30.
I was still in thrill to go to Colosseum and try a night shot with long exposure… asked Krithi about the idea…she looked at me and asked, ‘don’t you have a conscience!’ I got my message and immediately dropped the plan. She had been a patient companion for my voyages (I remember even my classmates never use to come with me if I say ‘for a walk’). She, even while 4 months pregnant, had dared to come sitting in overnight train, and two full days of mountain drives and then return journey also overnight sitting… in Australia !
An hour of rest, we found a small restaurant around the corner for dinner… it was a very good pick, though random. We enjoyed a wonderful Penne Arabiatta, grilled vegetables seasoned with morzerella, and Pranav also quickly became a pet for the two servers… we really enjoyed the meal, and ended our first day in Rome.

Rome Weekender 2

2011-01-13T05:33:00.014+05:30

Day 1: The condition in Brussels was bad, with all roads full of snow…the traffic was moving slow… the snow still falling down… I called up the taxi guy and preponed the booking by an hour. So, we were to leave by 4:30.
I was already excited because it was 9-14˚C in Rome, compared to my -4˚ to -6˚ and full of snow ! But I was still visualizing me stuck in the middle of the trip with my wallet gone… and still working out how to minimize the risk! Anyway, looked at my debit card, credit card (like I may not see them again) ! Believe me, that is the impression I have got about Rome from the time I am seeing people who visited it and even what , website, and therefore most of the people as well say....
So, our day started at 3:30. The airport is 60 kms from here. The driver promptly rang our bell at 4:15. And we were off…
He dropped us at the Charleroi Airport around 5:30… and he was speaking English !
The airport was crowded… 6 long queues( I would compare it to same as Chennai central station general ticket queue), we were just wondering how to fit in….and then, an announcement came saying the systems are down and move to counters 1-12, which were already crowded. Everyone pushed to crowd around that…. Good that I didn’t understand the announcement, went near to check what is happening … the system came back to normal again and we skipped the lines …. !!!
So I, who feared would miss the flight due to this crowd, got almost the security seal on my boarding pass almost immediately.
The security check gave us the first surprise – they asked us to remove the small water bottle, Pranav’s sipper, our moisturizer creams, all to be dumped as no liquids allowed ! I knew this law, but overlooked unopened Nivea pack going to dump ! Atlast they agreed to return the sipper after emptying it !
Then there was another queue to board the flight, and as no seats reserved on boarding pass, it is the same run to catch our intercity-interstate buses… it is a run because from the gate to the flight, there is about 100 metres in the open! And in the cold, we ran to get in to the flight and got a window seat. Now, it was a bus! Everyone trying to put the luggage in the top rack, push everyone else to get a better seat… holding seats with handkerchiefs … and shouting from one end to another!
The stewards, patiently watching, and at times loosing their temper trying to not show it in their words…
The boarding pass, which we have to print 10 days before doing an online checkin, said that the gates will close at 8:30… but I think it just opened at 8:30 ! But the packing in to the flight was quick… The good part was we got one window seat, and obviously Pranav took it over... only to just continue his sleep as soon as the flight took off !
It took off on time, and landed as well on time! I think for 20 Euros, I should not ask for more! The flight was not peaceful – the stewards were selling breakfast, some books, and were making sure no one sleeps, whether people buy or not!
Rome was proving easy… the desk at the exit was selling the ticket for the bus to termini, and the metro passes too. Pranav was free (unlike Paris), he was not happy with the situation though ! He was insisting on having a ticket…complaining ‘you are not even buying a ticket for me’ J!
The one hour journey to Termini gave me the same feel as being in Malaysia or Mexico… and at times somewhere in North India… - the moist air, non-photogenic scenaries (mainly because the greenery is covered with dust), old buildings here and there, rusted-and-dusted Hotel boards… an overall the real tropical feel!
We got down in front of the Termini station, walked a little here and there to figure out with my map where we are and then go the road, to walk to our hotel, a 10 mins walk away. I could see old pieces of broken walls all around….between the new buildings. The road which I have to take itself was covered with a huge wall and I thought that it is some old premises, where the wall ended around the corner!
It was 10:40. The hotel checkin time was 2PM. We were planning to leave the luggage there and go. But the hotel was fine we checking in after 15 mins. So we left the luggage, and walked back to a park which we saw on our way. Krithi had made idlis and packed at 3:30! We sat on the bench and had the breakfast :) ! First thing to do in Rome(picture)!
After checking in, we proceeded to take the first metro to Colosseo( the station for Colosseum). I was extra cautious inside the metro area, it was crowded, and Termini metro station was confusing as well! There were only 2 lines( A and B), but still the confusion is because of a lot of temporary structures made for repair work or reconstruction.
To get out of the station and see Colosseum just in front was stunning! The Sun was also playing hide-and-seek, and giving a good challenge for me to click when He is on…
We walked through the crowd in to the ‘what-I-thought-would-be’ centre of tourist Rome! But except the long queue for the Colosseum entry, some postcard-sovenir shops, and a couple of mobile pizza-panini-other junks shops, I couldn’t find anything(picture).
Pranav immediately sensed that it is all old junk around, and he has nothing to enjoy in it. He started putting his demands, from the pop corn packets to the balloons and whatever he could see!
We walked along the road in between the Old Rome ruins, and Colosseum, to what is shown in map as Circus Maximus …It took almost 15-20 mins walk to reach there and it was like a plain ground covered around with tin sheets so that none sees it! I could not see a single human being also around. I looked at the map, it matches the place! And as in the map, there is the metro station as well, ‘Circus Maximus’( Picture)! I think it was me who overestimated Circus Maximus… Astrix influence :) ! (Later back home, I realized that it is now a ground just used occasionally for some concerts)
I was a bit upset with my expectations shattered…took metro back to Colosseo from Circus Maximus. It was 3 PM already. We have started feeling hungry… The station had a couple of shops, and just outside that station there was another ‘small restaurant’( the Italian version of our thattu kada/kayyendi bhavan)… but I (wrongly) chose to try the mobile shop pizza. They cost 3 Euros each, a sheet of cheese sandwiched between two semi-circular bread bases with a splash of tomato sauce. He warmed it and gave…served by a Bengladeshi (obviously acting as if he met his lost Indian brother and eagerly trying to convey that he is also from India J to sell this damn piece of…..), an Italian lady (owner) sitting supervising ! It is a wonder how the little van is accommodating all this! I would just say that the ‘pizza’ lunch was a mistake… would suggest none ever try it !
Now my stomach also joined Pranav rejecting whatever I give, and asking for something I can’t.
In the plan, I had put 3 walking tours to be taken up on day 1. Now, we have missed the two walking tours at 11AM and 2PM. The 11’s one was tough arriving at 10:30. And the 2PM’s, we missed with my Maximus ‘Circus’( translated as maximum goof-up). Now, we finishing the lunch by 4, we could have rushed up for 5PM ’s walking tour.
But as always for me… all plans, strategies stop the moment the actual journey begins, and then I follow my instincts :)( that means I do whatever I like at that time according to what we feel). That makes any trip more exciting and with a lot of surprises (all preparations and homework is to make sure some of the obvious unpleasant surprises are avoided)…..

Rome Weekender 1

2010-12-25T02:05:00.003+05:30

Rome needs no introduction…. the influence of Latin words, proverbs, quotes…in our daily life … whether we realize it or not. From the broad gauge’s width, to the radius of some of the payloads, will you believe if I say are influenced by size of ass of ancient Roman horses ?

I will start with what I went through before the trip,

Fix the Duration: It was much more than a site seeing trip for me, to just see colosseum, a couple of important spots…the Vatican… and it will not take more than a day or maximum two. And you have all your lifetime to go through your photos back home J.
I wanted to feel Rome, walk through the streets, the non tourists streets especially. I wanted to give a try to get a feel of an Italian…though I know Rome will be different with its cosmopolitan nature, from Italy. And provided I loose all my money pick pocketed on the first day, I wanted to do it as good as possible.
To fix your durations for a quick tour, check this suggestions by national geographic:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/travel/city-guides/rome-walking-tour-1/

Book the Flight: Ryan air – it worked out cheap…
Ryan gave me a very good deal for a morning flight (7 am) which I later realized, was because reaching there by public transport from my place at time is impossible. There are shuttles from Midi station, but till Midi station I can’t reach before 6…So only choice, get a taxi for that 60kms… at 4-5 AM ! Still it was cheaper…
Book the Hotel: Booking.com – I could pick a few hotels, looking for near the Central station ‘ Termini’, and looking for reasonably good reviews. Ratings lie sometimes… for example, I will ignore a ‘the hotel staff was rude’ if it was written by an American. So, it depends….
There are many more sites as well to book hotels… I am just telling what I did… need not be the best way…
Climate: It is winter start in Italy( Dec first week), and it will be dark by 5:30. But the temperature ( 12-16 C)compared to Belgium(-4 to -6 C) is much higher… it was a good reason to choose this time.

Risks/ Mitigations:
Pick pocketers and bag snatchers: This was a very high risk as told to me. I had a lot of colleagues who had such experiences atleast one in their gang. And a quick fix from me; if you keep your purse in the front pocket and the pants is tight enough that you can feel it, your risk is reduced by 70% or more…Then comes the cellphones, laptops etc. But you don’t go with them for siteseeing. If the camera is always in your hands or around your neck, it is tough to take it out without you knowing it.

Preparation: I got some very good maps and books, from my colleagues. The best site I would suggest if you are going to explore Rome: http://www.enjoyrome.com/tourist/cityguide/main.html
Else, just take a Hop on hop off bus and enjoy 2 days… he will tell and show whatever you need to know as a tourist. It is safe too… hardly pick pocketers get in to them…
http://www.viator.com/Rome-tours/Tours-and-Sightseeing/d511-g12
If you are alone, or with no restriction to walk and walk fast…. Use this: http://www.romefreetour.com/

Budget Estimate: My budget estimate came to 1000 Euros, for 3 people, 4 days and 3 nights – including airport transits, flights, accommodation, food, siteseeing… everything… but atlast we finished it with 750 Euros… so for me it was cheaper than I estimated…

4 day Itinerary: I was to reach there on a Saturday morning 10:30 and fly back on Tuesday afternoon flight. It was a derivative from a lot of info from web, books, and then some discussions with colleagues:
Day 1: See if I can walk around, see if old Rome can be finished. Go for two of the three freewalking tours.

Day2 : As it is a Sunday, Vatican is not possible( they are closed except the last Sunday of the month). So if Saturday was fruitful, and Rome proves so small as I hear, and we could finish everything except Spanish Steps, trevi area and Vatican, then I was planning to take a bus day trip to one of the nearby places – Florence, Pisa, Naples, Capri…
Else, keep old Rome, for this day, as this was the day predicted with least chance of rain.

Day3 : Obvious choice… Vatican… and then walk to Trevi fountain… see the areas spotted so that though we take a little longer route… see much more….

Day4 : Don’t keep anything for this day… use it to go to the place where we feel like going once again, or somewhere we had to rush back.

Belgium Weekender 8

2007-10-09T22:32:00.000+05:30

I am walking through the red light district! I think, may be, it is the first time in my life I am doing this. Time is around 4PM on a Saturday. It is canal on my one side(snap), and the street consists of ‘tools’ shops, ‘CD’ shops, houses and hotels on the other side.

I had one instance of a little difference – one middle aged female chasing another one, both nude except for the ornaments pierced all over the body; all I had to do was to just ignore them.
Otherwise, most of the people walking with me are tourists; just finishing their city visits with the red light district walk. As for the part of the ‘red’, all I could see now will be the old or outdated ones; the main characters will be sleeping after their regular night shifts. So it is much safer and better to walk through these streets in the early evenings. But it may be a little tough if you are unaware where you are, and take a room in one of the small hotels here. Prostitution is legal here and so you may not end up in Police station, but you may have to see a lot of sights in your life, which you are not used to and not sure how to react to.

I am in a city, which is represented by black ‘xxx’ in red background in its flag – the boats with ‘xxx’ flag, the bridge having embossed-shield written ‘xxx’ on it (snap) (I think the x ratings got termed from here)! A city, where the visit is incomplete unless you get the ‘feel’ walking through the red light district! The red light district is, just opposite to the Central railway station!

The city otherwise, is known as the capital of the country of the Tulips and Windmills, I am in Amsterdam!

I am very sure that this city of canals and museums will never be known to many of us by its famous (or we say infamous) reddish tint.

* * * * * * *
Once Paris was done, Amsterdam was the next most accessible destination in terms of another European capital, which needs no reservation, and close enough to be reached in 3 hours (actually it is closer than Paris, but as there is no high speed lane, the train can’t go faster than 150kmph. Again the slowing down for stops, picking up, all kills time. So it takes 3 hours to cover the 230kms.

I was of two minds, whether to plan a stay or not. Due to budgetary constraints, I decided that unless I am too much impressed with the city, I would not stay back. Now, if I start early I will get a full day there. There lies the problem. I didn’t have the thrill of going to Paris and so have to negotiate with my Saturday sleep.

And as always, the sleep won. I got up around 8:30. The only way I can make it up is by skipping the breakfast. That gave me enough time to take a shower and take the 66 bus to the city, at 9:01. There is one train per hour, at all 39 minutes of the hour.

The bus takes 30 minutes during a weekend to the city. I got down at Central Metro stop at 9:30. It was a dash then, thru the tunnel to the Central station. It was 9:34 when I reached the International tickets queue. I was at the counter in another two minutes. The lady at the desk realised the moment I told ‘Amsterdam weekend return’ that I am rushing for the 9:39 train. She quickly finished filling the details and it was 9:37 when I got the ticket. Ran piercing the crowd, down the steps, I was inside the train at 9:39. The doors just closed behind me!

It was settling down, the train was not crowded though not empty either. Through Antwerpes, it was crossed the Dutch border, stopped at Rotterdam (after Antwerpes), it reached Amsterdam by 12:30. Except the bottle opening incident (see the tailpiece), it was a pleasant journey : ).

It was bad news immediately, the sky is fully cloudy and it started raining too! It was pretty cold compared to Brussels, and I had to take my sweater out.

Half the day is lost in sleep and travel, and the rain seems to spoil the rest! At least, why to keep hungry :)! Looked for food inside the Central station food court, and found a New York Pizza shop, which had a couple of veggie pizzas and one ‘tandoori pizza’ also, to my surprise! I quickly realised that English works well in Holland than Belgium; I mean it works well in Amsterdam better than Brussels : ).

Things were better once I finished the brunch and came out. It was still cloudy and dark, little bit of drizzle too. The first thing I noticed was the cycles; the three-floor parking lot for cycles, packed with cycles was a real surprise (snap)! The next thing was, as I expected, there was a canal just in front. I spotted one office, which offers a hop-on-hop -off boat service and it costs some 18 € per day. I took a day ticket, which is valid till next day noon. That means, even if I chose to stay I can use the boat tomorrow also.

Here also, there were three routes defined for the boat –red line, green line and blue line. They are start from almost the same area, the first available was the green line. The frequency is less, once in 20-30 minutes and they take 90 minutes to complete the loop. So I was sure that I would have to skip one route.

Greenline started at 1:50. It went under a couple of small arch bridges and it was the outer harbour area. It moved in to the canals again. The buildings on both sides, a narrow road on both sides separating the houses from the canal, and there was one more important thing – the boathouses(snap)! I could call them houseboats too, but feared it may convey a different meaning. These are boats turned in to houses, and registered to the local municipality paying tax for mooring. So the place for a given boat is stationary, they are all homes floating on water. It is estimated that there are 2500 boathouses in Amsterdam across all the canals, and the government has stopped giving permission to ‘park’ any more ‘houses’. Imagine, people living their whole life with all their assets floating on water!

I got down at one stop after the Museum stop, to see it later. A little walk around taking pictures, the most surprising ones were seeing the same sight as in Chennai – husband and wife going in a cycle (snap)!

Back in to catching the next Green line boat and got down at the Town Hall stop and walked through a flea market to only realise that the souvenirs are much costly than I could ever imagine. I just made sure I am not overspending, and took the next Greenline to Central to finish the red light district walk.

It was 5:25 when I took the redline boat, which also goes to the Museum. It reached the same by 6, by which they had closed down. Anyway, roaming around in a museum was not in my plan, including the Van Gogh museum. I walked around the area taking pictures of the buildings, and had a snap done with myself in front of Van Gogh museum (snap).

It was another Aussie surprise while I was taking pictures in front of the Museum; this time it was a familiar face coming towards me smiling! It was Chris Nicoles, a business analyst in Woolworths! He had left the firm before I left Sydney.

I got the 6:30 Greenline to reach the Central by 7:20. It was another run to cross the road and run to the station. Got the 7:29 train to be back in Brussels by 10:30. It was mere coincidence that while nearing the Brussels Nord station, the red streets of Brussels was to my right. I could see a lot of houses having glass walls, lighted inside with neon lamps where 'Live' models were trying to tempt the 'window-shopping' customers. Later only I knew that prostitution is legal in Belgium as well. Anyway, I got down at Brussels Central, and took a bus to Evere, reaching home by 11:25.

Tailpiece: (1) You know the difference between ‘Eau de source Bronwater (plat)’ and ‘Eau de source Bronwater (Bruis)’. If you are planning to come to this part of the World, better you should know. The first is mineral water, and the second is soda! Both look the same. Imagine you picking up soda for mineral water from a vending machine during run for the train, and opening the bottle after your run sitting in the train! I don’t have to imagine, it took two hours for my dress to dry from the mess!

(2) You want to know about the auctioning of bicycles and boats sunk in the canals. You know what an owner or a boat did when he found that his boat is sunk and someone else have moored his boat in that place. Check out this site: http://gezonken.wordpress.com/ . I was looking for some information in google and bumped in to this site. I have to really appreciate this guy for picking the lighter side of Amsterdam so sensibly.

Belgium Weekender 7

2007-09-28T00:55:00.000+05:30

Day 2.

Another day fighting with sleep, I couldn’t get up before 9. Had breakfast in the hotel itself, which was included in the rent.

10 AM: Checked out, kept my bag at the hotel for taking it back in the evening. Got the yellow line again to change to Green bus, and the plan for the day was clear. I want to finish off Louver museum, and then may be a bit roaming around the other routes.

11:30 AM: I got down in front of the Louver Museum. The queue was not big enough except for the security check outside.
I collected a map of the huge museum (snap) with the ticket. I could easily compare it with The British Museum for the space, but I will have to praise the latter for the diversity of things they got!

So, I had no plans to see the whole museum. My main aims were to cover the sculpture and painting galleries, for they are the European special! I accept my lack of sense to appreciate the paintings, as for me, the oil painting of our old school master (that is the first I am seeing as a painting) is as complex as Monalisa :) ! Even for sculptures, I can’t boast my taste. I have seen enough in Kerala and Tamilnad temples, which for me as so complex. So just a single sculpture of Venus (it is also broken a bit by time) doesn’t appeal that much still I took its picture with the crowd around so that I won’t be blamed for my stupidity:).

My main aim was to see that picture which became World famous because of its publicity, and something else which I don’t understand. And for me, if I am compelled to look and pay for something I can’t explain why, it is a trick of publicity :). It was amazing(snap), a small photo and a huge crowd around it, like Aiswarya Rai surrounded by photographers! They were allowing to take snaps, so I think it may be a fake picture also! How do any of us know?

I could see people taking pictures everywhere, even at places where there is a board which says no photos.

I finished up, and went in to many other parts of the museum and saw many more things in my attempt to find an exit :). I think it is another French trick!

1:30 PM: At last, I succeeded in finding an exit to come to the main area, under the pyramid (I think, u may have seen it in the film Da Vinci code).

Another blunder under the pyramid as I got some romance fever from around, and decided to buy a perfume under the very Museum Louver. There were some shops selling them, and got in to a very classic one. I saw some incense candles and perfumes. My romance started melting by the heat of Price tags. As I was almost about to leave, I saw a small gift cart sort of a thing to my surprise priced at € 22,50 ! It had four pieces, one flower and one candle and two more containers-sort-of near each of them. My creativity told me that the perfume near candle will smell like the candle and the perfume near the flower smell like the flower. I asked the shop keeper, ‘Is it perfume?’ and he nodded Yes. I very clearly tried to tell him in English as well as by actions that I want to buy a gift for my wife, and looking for perfume. I want to make sure that the perfume is feminine.

As he started packing, I was back to Earth noticed the so-thought-container near the candle look like a cap for the candle and the other, cap for the dry flower. The shop-keeper was busy packing it with the gift thread and all(snap).

I jumped on him and again showed another mime to ask if they are just caps, no-spray-no-liquid perfumes for body? He broke my heart saying that it is a candle and flower set!
I apologised and he got the message :).

1:45 PM: Took green bus again, to get down at Notre Dame church. Roamed around there, it was a long queue again, to go to the top. I skipped that, went around buying some souvenirs. I spotted a pancake shop, and for lunch had one pancake (snap), lemon and sugar and ate it standing on the road side.

2:30 PM: I am done with my main items. There may be many things in Paris which is a must see, but I don’t know. I took another bus route (the blue one) to just go for a full round, sat inside sipping a pepsi(from the vending machine inside the bus). I also had the Milk Bikis bought yesterday from Indian stores. That completed my lunch. It started raining outside and so I remained inside the bottom floor of the base than going to the open top deck.

3:30 PM: I shifted to Green bus and it went again through Eiffel Tower and Arc De Triumph, for having a last look. It got redirected in between due to some demonstrations and the driver couldn’t communicate back to my query that he will take another route and drop me at my destination to catch the yellow bus. But anyway he did.

4:50 PM: I shifted to the Yellow bus at Opera, after one round to be dropped at the Nord station.

5:40 PM: I got down at Nord, walked to the hotel, and collected my bag. Had a glance in to a couple of shops for seeing if I can get any gifts.

6:00 PM: I was at the station by 6. I took a handful of pics to make a stitched long landscape shot, a policeman came to me and said no photography allowed. Though there were no signs on this anywhere, I apologised and kept the camera back. The train started at 6:22 PM and left me at Brussels Zuid by 7:40 PM. Back home, uploaded my pictures, again to office tomorrow morning…. :(. Slept around 1:45 AM.

Tailpiece :

(1) Novelist Guy de Maupassant — who claimed to hate the Eiffel tower — supposedly ate lunch at the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where you couldn't see the Tower :)

(2) Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years, meaning it would have had to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiration of the permit.
(3) Just putting a snap of the dustbins in Paris. I didn’t mean anything. If it resembles something to you…… I will say ,’you dirty mind’ :p !

Belgium Weekender 6

2007-09-14T02:37:00.000+05:30

It was only 9:15 AM Saturday when I came out of Paris Gare du Nord station (snap). I had the route to an ibis hotel nearby from my colleague. So walked towards it only to find that the ‘cheap rate’ he mentioned was €79 per night! This would have been a place I would have confirmed if I were with Krithi. But now, as a bachelor, I need something just better than a dormitory. I went out on room hunt, and kept checking all hotels in all cut roads on my random route. Most of them were €89, €129, €119, and €99…

But my hunt didn’t last long, before I got a place for €59. I went in actually seeing €45, but that was rate for a common bathroom accommodation. I would have gone for that if it was London, but I was not that sure how this would have been maintained. Also, if I take the €59 room, he offered me an immediate check-in. And once I kept my luggage and came out, I realised that I am just 100m away from the Nord station (I had come around completing a full circle in my search) where I have to again catch the train Sunday evening.

Now, the main constraint for me was time, and I was always monitoring and planning with the time. So better thought it will be worth to continue based on time.

10:00 AM: I started from my hotel for exploring Paris and my plan was to finish Eiffel Tower today for sure and then get around Arc de Triumph. There are these hop-on hop-off buses; I think I had mentioned how they work when I tried the same in London. They become the best choice when you have very less time to explore a place, say, a couple of days, or only one day.

I got one in Paris, which works with four routes (four colour coded buses for each route) and charges €29 for two days to explore Paris in all four buses routes. Their frequency was less than 15 minutes, and so you never have to wait for a bus. It works this way: their yellow bus covers the Nord (means North) rail station, some areas like Moulin Rouge and have a common point to share with their green bus. Green bus covers the Museum Louver, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, Notre Dame Church and some key areas of Paris. This is the bus, which has common point with other two routes: orange and blue. So basically, you can see that the mainly used one will be the Green and the others just form connections to the rail stations or to have a look some extra places in Paris in case you have time.

So for me, I have to take the yellow one, find the common point where I will get the Green, and change for Eiffel Tower. This was my highest priority not just because I just wanted to see that for sure; but the fact that there is a lot of waiting time to get in and I don’t want to take that risk tomorrow.

12:30 PM:I reached the Eiffel Tower (snap). There are four counters on the Tower’s four base pillars, and a long queue at each one of them. The last time I have seen such a long queue (outside India) was in Sydney during the New Year fireworks. But that queue was for getting their liquor ration, inside the Botanical Garden premises.

The average wait time was written as 30-45 minutes. But that wait gave me enough time to feel the surroundings. I could see a lot of couples than the lone wanderers like me. They are all, except a very few, in the excitement of standing at the bottom of this World Wonder. They were enjoying excitement with the togetherness, the ‘French’ way! At this point, I have a suggestion to anyone going to Paris – never go alone if you are married!

1:00 PM : Almost reaching the end of my wait for tickets, I noticed everybody walking to the counter with some money and then taking the purse out and fetching more money. I realised the reason only after reaching near the counter. The fare written in front of the counter and also displayed in the electronic board is 4€. It is written in small fonts that the fare is 7.7€ for going to the topmost point! So this 4€ is to go till the 2nd floor, that is the second horizontal line (if you remember the rough structure). Now, I will introduce you to Eiffel Tower before I start climbing:

The building of a 300-meter tower was conceived in preparation for the Universal Exposition of 1889. The assembly of the pillars began on July 1 1887, and was completed in only twenty-two months (snap below)!

Now, I can take the 700 steps to climb the first 115 meters, that is, till the second floor. That is, climbing our Pazhani malai paying Rs.200! Or, taking the steps to climb the Sydney Tower! I can as well wait in another queue for an elevator to take me up till that.
But there waits another much longer, unavoidable queue at the second floor to take me to the top most point another 276 metre high. There is no steps up there, elevator is the only way up.

I started climbing the steps. The only food I had was a waffle with a coffee in the train’s restaurant! So it was almost like a pilgrimage. I straightaway stood in the other queue up in the second floor and that was another 30 mins! I reached the top by 2:20.

2:20 PM : I reached the topmost point of Eiffel Tower.Enjoy the view, the couples ‘French’ing around you, take a view snaps, and then time for another queue to go down! I took the elevator from the second floor to the ground too, as I was too tired and hungry to come down the 700 steps.

3:15 PM: I came down. Tried to find something to eat, and got some French fries and coke – right under the Eiffel Tower, for 6 €!

4:00 PM: I finished walking around the area of Eiffel Tower and bought some souvenirs from the young Indian guys and took the Green bus

4:30 PM: Got down at the Champs-Élysées. The Champs-Élysées is the most prestigious and broadest avenues in Paris. And with its cinemas, cafés and luxurious shops (you know of what), this is said to the second most expensive strip of real estate in the World just next to New York City’s fifth Avenue. The rent goes to around Rs. 6 crore per year for a 1000 sq.ft of business space !

Again, it has nothing to do with me and I never knew about this place before . So it doesn’t matter. I got down here since I felt the place is glamorous with the Arc De triumph at the other end (snap).

Before starting the walk towards the Arc, tried get in to divider the middle of the road to take a snap, and two guys busy taking pictures behind me greeted, ‘Mate, where are you in Australia?’ in a typical Aussie accent !

I was amazed. How do they know I have an Aussie connection? I put the thought aloud, and they had caught me with my Aussie Open cap! Now you know what an Aussie is! I just introduced myself, and didn’t forget to convey my love to Australia especially the Aussies. They helped me to take my snap with the Arc behind me at distance. They are from Sydney itself, had come on an European trip.

I continued with my walk to the Arc, it was pretty crowded – the walkway (snap) and the road too (snap)!

5:30 PM: I reached the Arc taking pictures and doing some window shopping. It was also crowded for going to the top, and dropped that plan. I had to take the next Green bus to get the last Yellow connecting bus.

The yellow bus’s return journey consists of Moulin Rouge and those areas too. Moulin Rouge also had a long queue for entry, for the Saturday night ‘show’(snap).

7:00 PM: I got down at Nord and walked back to the hotel. Back at the hotel, left souvenir load, and out then for another walk. Just opposite to the hotel, the street slowly started looking like some downtown street of Pondicherry(snap). I am seeing confused desis, ladies in ‘western attire’ (they think so) to meet the local competition, and some ‘malligai poo’ on the hair and hard lipstick and a heavy coat of talcum powder, which will tell the whole story how confused they are :).

And obviously, the pram drama is always there. The prams are meant to keep the baby freer and give him so freedom to enjoy the ride with out distraction from the main conversations, and give the couple also some more ‘privacy’. Again it keeps the dress and hair out of mess.

We use it to show off that we got one, the baby is always with us and the pram mostly becomes a shopping cart. So, I could see only the mess worsens! Now, imagine the baby sitting in the pram with grocery bags hanging all around him! I also saw a guy struggling with a pram at the Eiffel Tower where the mother and kid were enjoying the views. I couldn’t stop laughing!

Now, I tried some Indian shop, tried to get a couple of pickle bottles (to make up for my loss at Frankfurt). Then, seeing a board ‘Hotel Saravanah Bhavan’,I tried to peep in for some food (as my only food was one plate of French Fries). I was tempted with the menu and ordered dosai and poori (2.5 € each). I also ordered for a filter coffee too! I did two mistakes: I forgot it is Paris, and I forgot this name ‘Saravana Bhavan’ (an extra ‘h’ makes it no better) never go well for me. I had to pay for it. The dosai was not very bad, but the poori spoiled the whole show. It was like the whole dough has fallen in to the hot oil while making the dough! For my hunger I ate the dosai, and poori seemed to take more energy to eat than what it could generate.

I wasted the poori almost all, in spite of my hunger; Mr.Hotel owner-cum-waiter-cum-maybe-cook-also doesn’t seem to be bothered about it. He is in his World, speaking dirty Tamil (with a proud expression in his face that say, ‘see, I speak Tamil’), serving the two-three customers this junk-old-food. Any French guy eating here to get a feel of India will have a ‘good’ impression for sure!

10:00 PM : Walked around again, bought one bottle of water (here also it is only bottled water you can drink. Again, no cans or drinking water sources available other than the bottle-packed in shops or vending machines) and a pack of Milk Bikis from one of the Indian shops (Rs.10 pack costs 1.5 €) and came back to the hotel.

11:00 PM: I was too tired and slept almost immediately.

Belgium Weekender 5

2007-09-11T03:13:00.000+05:30

It was a sunny day, my second weekend starting. The Thalys train took off from Brussels-Zuid (Zuid just means South in French) station around 7:40AM. I realised in a few minutes that I am going at a speed, which I have never travelled in land before! I could see the cars in the freeway are been overtaken like a bus overtakes a pedestrian (Later found out that, the train use to go at 200-300 kmph, and this is not the fastest around here)! In less than 90 mins, covering 310 kms non-stop, I was in Gare du Nord station, around 9.

I got down the train and was walking towards the central platform, one of the police officers from the group who were randomly checking, stopped me and announced: ‘Passport, please!’
Once I showed my passport, he started asking an immigration officers’ regular questions, and at last asked,
‘Do you have your hotel address where you are going to stay?’

‘He got me’, I thought, and politely replied with a smile,
‘I have come here for a weekend, yet to see if I could get an accommodation somewhere’

The smile returned with my passport, and I am cleared for being in Paris!
* * * * * * *
Paris was something I would have loved to visit while I was in London, given that I had the permission to enter France without any more paper work. But they needed an extra visa, and that means I have to skip my working time, which was not possible in my 3 months stay.

Now, when the Belgium trip was finalised (that is, once I realised that I can’t say no to this trip, but only can decrease the term from a proposed 3 months to 6 weeks), my first place in my mind was Paris! The biggest hurdle for me was the ‘white card’, which came in the middle. If it were a business visa, I could travel around freely in Schengen countries, but I heard it is not possible if I am going in Work permit unless I get my white card. I am here in Work permit as per company rules, and as I mentioned it takes minimum 4 weeks for getting a white card. So again, I was thinking I will have to plan some travel inside Belgium and come back.

Then one day, out of curiosity, I went in to the government sites for reading the condition of how they define the importance of White card. It was a pleasant surprise for me to see that white card is required to roam around in Schengen countries only if my visa is Single Entry! Then I realised that many of us have single entry visas and that is why it became a general rule that the person travelling on Work Permit can’t travel out of Belgium unless he gets the White card! It was a Tuesday and I had no doubts that I am going to Paris at the earliest.
Booked my tickets on Friday evening after checking and making sure that no deal is on and I will have to pay the same amount if I am going next weekend or the weekend after that. The only unplanned part was, as I mentioned to the policeman, the accommodation.

Belgium Weekender 4

2007-09-05T00:51:00.000+05:30

My first weekend in Belgium! It was a Sunny Saturday! As usual, the earliest I could start on a weekend is around 10. I have an idea on where all I have to go, but all according to a couple of Dutch maps I have. I couldn’t find a detailed map in English, all in Dutch or French!

The only way I can reach city from Evere is by bus. I took route 63 around 11, and got down at De Brookeré, its last stop around 11:30. I had no plans other than wandering around for the first 2 hours just following the pointers and then see how far I have covered. I saw a couple of Pizza huts on the way, and that relieved me of my tension for lunch.

I was following pointers for Grand Place, which is a sort of old Brussels Centre place. The pointers seem to vanish when I reach one point and then I go in another direction looking for the same pointers! Again I will come around the same area and the pointers for Grand Place vanish!

In that looping, I walked through some of the shopping streets with chocolate making shops, Fresh Waffle shops, etc. The same waffle piece if I buy in packed form from a supermarket will cost less than 25 cents; here it costs € 1,60 – more than 6 times! I decided to try it once, to taste the hot Belgian waffle and I think I fell in love with it! Fro, that moment, if for any reason, I happen to pass a fresh waffle shop, and I get the smell, I loose €1,60!

Another surprise I got during the walk through the shopping areas was a lot of beggars, Turkish girls, roaming around with an empty Coke can begging for money. I also got a painful site of a fair lady sitting with his about 7-year old son in the middle of the street, with an empty can in front of her ! I couldn’t really believe it! You can see them and say they had been thrown out to the streets from a far better condition and her face says she is not yet adjusted to this state! The other Turkish girls – sometimes women with infants – have no hesitation in begging! I am not sure what reason, but they would have to flee from their homeland and end up as refugees here. Anyway, I made up my mind saying why not I sympathise to any beggars in India who is in a worser situation.

I decided that one of those funny junctions is what is Grand Place, and even convinced that Brussels’ best glory is that small junction :)!

Then followed the rest of the pointers to see the symbol of Brussels – Mannekens Pis. It was a statue of a little boy doing what the name says. The statue is been there for centuries and there are many stories behind the making of this status. The story I liked is : ‘a man had lost his little son. He found the child after two days near the place where now the fountain of manneken-pis can be seen. When the father spotted his child, the latter was peeing. As a token of gratitude the father had the fountain with a statue of a peeing boy constructed.’

There was a huge crowd taking snaps in front of it, and they led me to the real Grand Place! I had no way to photograph its full glory in one shot! I miss my 28mm lens of my SLR :(. I enjoyed the place and stood there for more than an hour!

I was actually always coming very near to this place, so near that I could see this through a narrow street entry. Being built and preserved for more than a couple of centuries, its entry roads are all narrow.

Had my lunch in Pizza hut, it cost me around €10 for a medium pizza with coke. Now, I had one more thing to be finished for sure today – the atomium. I could see it from our apartment (as we live in 8th floor) far away. So just tried to find out what it is, and found its name is Atomium - that is all I know about atomium J!
* * * * * * *
I have seen all cities build a tall structure for people go up and have a look at the whole city. I think, this is Brussel’s version of the same. The only difference is that it is outside the ‘downtown’. Also known as the ‘Eiffel Tower of Brussel for the fact that this was also planned to originally last for only 6 months, below is what Wiki says about Atomium:

“Built for the 1958 Brussels World's Fair (Expo '58), the 103-metre (335-foot) tall Atomium monument represents a unit cell of an iron crystal (body-centred cubic), magnified 165 billion times, with vertical body diagonal, with tubes along the 12 edges of the cube and from all 8 vertices to the centre.
Nine steel spheres 18 metres in diameter connect via tubes with escalators as long as 35 m, among the longest in Europe. Windows in the top sphere provide a panoramic view of Brussels. Other spheres have 1950s exhibitions. Three upper spheres lacking vertical support are not open to the public for safety reasons”
* * * * * * *
This was the first time I ever got in to the metro train and tram (which sometimes go underground on layer above the trains), my jump card could be used anywhere.

I had almost concluded that the trains are pretty slow here, before trying this metro train. Though Evere is only 10kms from the city centre, it is outside the metro network and the only way to reach the city, is by bus.

I tried to see the dutch map and made out the station where I can get a direct train to Atomium, and took a tram to the station. The train was going fast enough to my concept of European standard. It dropped me in Atomium’s nearest station……. in 10 minutes! This train also changed its direction in between, as my Evere-Halle local train.

A few minutes walk to the bottom of the structure, and a queue to get the ticket costing € 9, and another queue for the lift to the top. Had a view of the Brussels city, came down and tried to go in to the other molecules climbing the steps. After coming out, I just had a walk around the peaceful greenery. Took a train back to the city, continued walking seeing the Palace, and some more of the old structures in the downtown.

Had another waffle before taking 63 back to Evere.

Tailpiece: The electric female plug sockets are of this configuration:

That means male pin will look like our Indian one with no earth pin, and will have a hole for Earth. The shaded dot is a pin in the female part, which really looks funny! They had just intentionally done this to make it unique. And it is all in a small projection inwards and none of our plug with Earth will get in there (that makes it not follow the standard usage of electricians – male and female pin :D). I got a European adapter, which won’t work here!
Then had only one way of getting out of the dependency for using others’ pins – trim one of the Indian multi pins I have to fit in to this; It all went fine, and the first testing, unexpectedly the metal parts touch each other in between and it dripped! No power! We tried to reset our internal drip boards; and it is not working. After a little bit of panic, we found there is another main board in the basement and reset it!

Belgium Weekender 3

2007-08-28T01:50:00.000+05:30

As anyone can easily guess, food is surely a problem for a vegetarian in most of the places in Europe. I am talking of real starving, starving for most of your taste buds :). If you are in your apartment, you can cook something, which can keep you happy. Anyway, it is good that I got used to Cornflakes, and that too with cold milk. Else I would have only had one option of bread with jam/butter.

But my lunch at office is a problem. Mostly I imagine as if I am having Veg:Biriyani or aviyal, and eat up the only vegetable salad available, which tastes almost grass. But there also I opt some bread, butter and banana with some chocolates, which keeps me happy at the end of the meal.

Night again, we will have cooked food with the limited varieties available. I have not fully explored the Indian stores, but have heard that nothing much is available here – like our pickles, or powders etc. So it is mostly rationing with what is been brought from India. I repent on the pickles I lost to security in Frankfurt airport :(. I couldn’t find pizza bases here; they have only ready to make pizzas, done with cheese and toppings! It irritates, really!

I am so much explaining it because I use to have a better food available in Sydney. I was feeling there, it is not as good as London. Now I am in a place, which is hardly a three hours journey from London, and it is all a different story here! Funny World!

Now, about the Traveller’s cheques: They are changed on a commission in most parts of the World, but you will have at least one option to convert them without commission. It may either crediting to your bank account or crediting at the counter belonging to the issuing company.

Here nothing works out! It varies from 5% at the airport to 1.75% at a place, which opens Mon-Fri 10-4:30 :). The normal other places charges from 3 to 4.5%. I at last made up my mind to pay 3% for converting some of my TCs with minimal loss of time at office.

Commune reporting is another drama I had to go through if I come here with a work permit (to be done in 8 days of landing in Belgium). I reported to the local commune (like a panchayat office, gave my details of residence, got my work permit verified. Then, they initiated a process charging me around € 23,00 (it varies from place to place in Belgium – from €5 to €40). That process includes police verification and will issue a white card in 3-4 weeks if all goes fine. There were some rumours that I need a permanent address to register here (that is I have to be part of the housing lease; or the lease should be in my name). As the lease is minimum for 6 months, I have look for costly options like Business apartments which signs lease for a month at a higher rent. My application was accepted with no question on whether I am in the lease agreement, it depends on the person sitting there. Till I have a white card, I have to carry my passport always as my ID. The fun part of my particular case is, I will have to cancel it by the time it is issued :D, as I will be here.

Commune has more powers than I thought, when I realised many things later. All work permits are issued in the Schengen Visa stamped will be for 3 months. The white card issued for an extended period serves as a Visa after that! So local commune can decide on whether a person can stay in their country or not!

Tailpiece1:- Tap water is not suitable for drinking – calcium contents they say. So we have to buy water bottles for drinking, though we use tap water for cooking. The bad part is, water is available only in bottle (max 1.5 litres) and no cans! We have a big box in each floor of our office to collect the bottle caps (I don’t know why not bottles). That is sold to raise money, which the firm donates to an orphanage!

Tailpiece2:-

Astrix: It is only afternoon and you are taking supper now ? Then when will you take lunch ?

Belgian: Immediately after the breakfast !!!
(taken from Astrix in Belgium)

Belgium Weekender 2

2007-08-21T03:21:00.000+05:30

The weather here also is similar to London for its uncertainty. The day will sunny and all of a sudden it becomes cloudy and rains! So better always keep an umbrella and be ready for the rain anytime. And when it rains, I am seeing a lot of snails on the roads and the pathways, sadly half of them crushed to paste :(.

My first day to office, I partially made up for the loss with taxi. There are no counters or ticket machine in Evere station; it is so small. The train will have one conductor who will be walking across the train to check your passes and give tickets, like UK trains. It is not a tough job to walk across 3-4 compartments (that’s all this train consists of) and check the passes, and issue tickets to one or two people. Even in the peak hours, it will have very less people. The whole train will contain less than 10 passengers by the time it reaches Halle. The conductor didn’t come, and my first Belgian train travel became a ticket-less travel! There are no checks at the stations. Evere station doesn’t even have a single employee, not even a sweeper!

Applied for a train pass at Halle station, you have to come out of the station for the counter. Sham helped me with his memory on what he filled in a few months ago, as the form was in Dutch (I assume it is Dutch). For unclear ones, we cleared them with the person at the counter, who speaks English like an outline story. We mentioned that the pass is needed for bus and train, and he noted that also down. It came around €84 for a month which was much less than what Sham paid a few days ago. Then we tried to check why it is, and realised on comparison that the pass doesn’t include travel in Metro trains and buses running in and around the city (like Evere). I can only use it in the train to Halle and the buses in Halle! It is all so confusing; I have to take another so-called jump card for using in the city transports. The card is issued for 10 jumps costing around €11.

Now, what is a jump? Whatever trains, trams or buses I take in one hour will be counted as one jump. So if I have to go to a place taking a bus and then a train and it took me 20 minutes to reach there, finish my work and make it back to my destination with my last boarding within the next 40 mins, I will only be using one jump!

But that was all theory; I was initially not fully clear on its usage and successfully showed the pass in a wrong bus (it needs to be showed to the driver, not the scanner. As except for what is included in the pass printed, it is the same pass) and later when I learnt it; I was more confident that I can use it comfortably, I did it some more times when Sham was warning me I have to pay €50 if caught. I was just showing off my frustration in my helplessness to understand their system and was planning to explain it clearly if caught (surely was keeping a €50 note in my purse always). I stopped it when I got through the frustration, and did stop before I was fined :). Now Sham travels with me much more relaxed :). But I am also relaxed on being able to fully make up for my loss with the taxi.

Office is different from my previous offices, onsite or offshore. They are made of many cabins, and some are big to contain 10 people and some for one person. I am sharing my cabin with 2 others, looks far better in terms of non-distracted work. I have to swipe to enter as any other offices, but here the system updates my entry and everyone (including Chennai office) can see if I am in or not. The card’s use doesn’t end there. If I fire a print out in the central printer, I have to swipe my card to get my printout. It is security for me, none will see my documents, and traceability for the management.

Tailpiece:-
There is a solution I found here to make sure the buses doesn’t start before time from their starting point. There is a digital board kept at the station, which displays the time, then a random number. This random number changes every minute. The driver have to note the number at the time he has started from that point and report it as a part of his trip sheet. The route supervisor checks this number with what would have displayed for that time and confirm if the bus has not started before time. We could use this for our clock rooms, which is there to avoid over speeding.

Belgium Weekender 1

2007-08-15T00:44:00.000+05:30

I was looking at the map in the corner of the street. The good news is that it is in three languages, and the bad news is that none of the three is English! It is not just the map, but most of the pointers, train timings, announcements are non-English. As long as it is not English, whether it is in three languages or ten, it doesn't make much difference :)

I am in Brussels, capital of the Kingdom of Belgium. I am doing many things first time in my life. This is the first country I am visiting which:

-doesn't have English as one of the official languages
-have driving on the right side of the road( on safer side I look at both side before crossing, wherever I cross); and
-was never a British colony ( and so, casual in office daily, and all non British ways which are again new to me)

It was a peaceful flight till Frankfurt where I had to leave my pickle bottles at one of the security checks because no bottles allowed in hand baggage having more than 100gm contents. The airport people spoke English, but most of the traveller's didn't. Again, the airport was big enough (much bigger than the other hubs I have seen, Dubai or Singapore) that I was walking a lot inside through no-activity areas, which was the right way to the gates, but it looks like I am walking to Brussels :))!

Landing in Brussels, my walk started straightaway. I was just wondering why someone should make such a huge airport to leave it so vacant, just to make sure that anyone landing there will walk 1km for baggage claim and another 500m for the 'uitgang', I mean the Exit!

I had trusted all taxis abroad so much, and this short guy exploited it well. For a charge of €22,00, he made it €25,00 with tip, and then vanished with €30,00 for dropping me in his jet black Mercedes so professionally!!!

I checked in to my apartment, I am fourth person in that two bedroom flat. It was spacious except for funny observations. In the place where we have a shoe rack - just as you enter - lies in the only wardrobe of the apartment!

I had landed on a Sunday, and shops including supermarkets will be open on Sunday!

I am staying in Everé, a suburb of Brussels (which means around 8kms from the centre of the city) and have to travel further another 20kms to reach the office. Going to office means, 15mins brisk walk to Everé station, catch a train to Halle (peak frequency is 3 trains per hour!), 35 mins train travel (it stops at a station and changes its direction and all - so much drama), and at last a 25 mins walk to office (I would be mostly be sleepy getting down after that slow train and so no brisk walk). So if I start at 7:40 and everything goes fine, I will swipe the card registering my entry at the gates at 8:58.

The best thing in the journey is the green part of the walk; and with the temperature also in tolerable limits (without a sweater), the walks are pretty refreshing. The walk from Halle is through a riverside for 300m, with houses on one side and trees on the other.

So my normal day starts around 6:30 and it will be 8 by the time I come back home if I get out at 6 from office. The days are longer now, the Sun sets only after 9.

Just waiting for the first weekend to come, many more things to do during my 6 weeks - commune reporting and getting the white card, changing my traveller’s cheques (normal commission ranges from 3 to 5 %) etc.

Let me take a week and will explain what they are.

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 32

2007-06-10T02:39:00.000+05:30

Day2 : The main day of site seeing in Cairns ! We packed up our swim wears and started by 8. The pickup van dropped us at the tour office near the boat.
We were amazed to see a lot of Indian couples in the group, which we had seen in none of our previous tours. We spoke to one of them: one couple taking a vacation after both being at onsite in different countries and meeting after 2 years :) and there was one more couple enjoying their honeymoon came as a part of the ‘dowry package’ ( that is just what Krithi and me gossip J ) .
Then started the funny part of the show. Snorkelling comes as a free package with the tour, provided we don’t a person to take us for a snorkelling tour. We had a session in the basement part of the ship on what to do and what not to do while snorkelling. It went like this: there will be an area marked with floating balls tied with a wire, for snorkelling. The snorkelling materials will be available at the place we anchor, and people can choose the materials according to their fit. He warned us not to touch or try to pick a piece from the reef. If someone catches us with it, it can result in a fine of AU$ 5000 ! And again, he warned to not rest on the reefs if you feel like resting.
This somehow gave me a worry on what we will do if we feel tired in the middle! Krithi also had the same concern (and that whole night we were laughing on this worry, I will tell you why as we go). After an hour gone, this small ship of ours started swinging a bit more and there goes Krithi….:).
We reached a portion with some floating spots, in the middle of the sea. The ship settled there, and we were excited to get in to the swim wear and run for snorkelling. We were the first to grab the equipments and get down the steps. Then I got the first hit: I can’t see the bottom of the sea. I was somehow of the impression that it will be shallow waters, and was worrying about how I will manage with out touching or disturbing the reef. We got a shock when someone told that it is ‘only’ 30 feet deep at this part! I think I know swimming, atleast I can manage without drowning unless my towel flips out of my waist (I can see some of my REC classmates laughing now). But this is sea, and even with a floating suit, all my ‘bravery’ had gone. I tried to jump in to the water once, but I sprinted back in double speed than I went, in less than 5 seconds. Krithi didn’t give up. She was pushing me to start and with her half swimming skills, she was enthusiastic about snorkelling. I too am, but there is this humming sound of the sea if I get my ears go down in water and doing the breathing thru the pipe, the water somehow getting in to the pipe blocking the air, ‘I am afraid’ ! All we could do is, then, just put our face in to the water standing in water at leg’s level and take snaps with our ‘underwater’ camera. We still finished that roll of 26-27.
I gave up in half an hour; Krithi also came back with me half heartedly. We had a lot of friends to stand in the shore and looking at this 2/3rd of the World with fearJ, which were mostly Indians. Some people got the instructor’s assistance to go a bit and come back. That was about another 30-40$ per head.
We had a lunch served in the ship, all those salads for vegetariansJ. We had hope with the reef rides with the glass bottom boat and the semi-submersible boat. They were taking people in turns for their 30-40 min rides through the reef. Semi-submersible boat allows you to sit in a compartment under the surface and see under water through the glass walls. Glass bottom boat will just have a glass bottom in the middle where we will be sitting around and viewing like an aquarium.
After the boat rides, Krithi again went alone for another try, I was not even thinking of getting that failed-feeling again. I was just watching her again struggling to get in to the water. We were done by 4 and the ship started back. We were trying to console each other, but I could see Krithi was upset with her reef-snorkelling dreams going for a toss. But we couldn’t stop laughing thinking of our worries in the morning of how we will manage without standing in the reef!

Back home by 6. We spend the rest of the day cooking and having a leisure dinner and proving to ourselves that we can swim, trying in the swimming pool in the hotel.

Day3: We had nothing more to see in Cairns, but we have got a day left. Again, we need to check-out by 10. Most of the hotels, anyway, allow keeping the luggage in their store room and picking it up in the evening.

We were just free birds, nothing to do, by 10. Took a bus (it is a mini bus running around the town, with a frequency of once an hour) to the city centre, walked through the shore to see a place where small motor boats were available for rent. We will not be allowed to enter the reef areas, but we will still have some of the extended waters. I was thinking on what surety he will give on to us. But he was more confident than us. He showed us how the steer-handle and the accelerator fixed at the grip (like that for bikes) works. Rent was about 25$ for 2 hours, pretty cheap compared to the prices here. The two or three seater boat had a life jacket kit in case of emergency. And that was one of the best we enjoyed in Cairns. Alone in the middle of the salt water, in a small boat! It was not a very powerful boat to fly in 60-80 kmph, all it could do is a 40 maximum.

We had on both sides a lot of anchored sail boats for sometime, and then we were alone with the Shipyard on one side. We saw a couple of warships in the naval base, that too hours were peaceful.

We were back in two hours, had a pizza lunch at one of the Italian restaurants in the Town Centre. It was 1PM. We have 3 more hours to go. We walked to the meadow by the side of the sea, and sat under a tree peacefully. The lack of crowd gives it a very relaxing sensation.

By around 4, we took another bus to the hotel, and then a taxi to the airport from there. The flight gave us some stunning views of the sunset, and flying above the reefs not so high was also memorable. We also got some aerial video shots of Sydney CBD (they call downtown as Central Business District). Landed in Sydney by 10 PM. It took another 90 minutes of travel to reach home, tired.

Tailpiece: I am not sure whether it will be a surprise to hear that of the most stolen items in a Supermarket is condoms!!! The report of the loss prevention team says most of the people are shy to scan their condom packs with the girl at the counter, and they choose to hide it in their pockets and walk away scanning the rest of the items purchased! I couldn’t believe it in Australia, this happens!

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 31

2006-04-25T14:21:00.000+05:30

I am not sure if anyone has ever heard of Cairns. I was thinking that Cairns is in New Zealand, because Chris Cairns was from New Zealand! So, you know where I am coming from :D. Krithi’s Thomas Cook exposure made her to put Cairns to the most would-like-to-visit place for her in Australia. She was talking about the Great Barrier Reef when we were coming to Australia itself.

Thus we made Cairns plan for last December, and made the bookings in November first week. The bookings were made in a hurry when we have diagnosed Krithi’s pregnancy. This time my lack of knowledge in biology did the damage. I was thinking it will be tough after 6 months and I was planning to finish off all travelling by first 6 months. As you know, in actual, the first 3 months is the sensitive period. I was in a hurry to finish off her priority places before it becomes impossible for her to travel.

Stupid me! We realised the mistake after 2 weeks, and the travel agents showed their colours when they declared no reimbursements if you cancel. They gave an option to postpone the trip charging some 100$ for that! Money never goes with me L !

Talking about Cairns, the coral reefs are the only visible natural reefs from space. The sites define Great Barrier ref as the World's greatest reef system, stretching more than 2000km along Queensland's north-east coast. As the World's largest and most complex reef system, it has thousands of individual coral reefs and hundreds of continental islands, reef islands and cays, small bare sand cays, and permanent vegetated cays.

So we were sitting tight for the first trimester to be over, and then tried the test our capacity to travel by trying the New Year fireworks. Then we went on to reschedule the trip to February first week, with a small change. We booked a furnished apartment instead of a normal hotel room. The rent was more, but we had reduced the days to be 3 days instead of 4 days, so the impact was little less.

Day1: Our first domestic flight in Australia. It was an amazing experience of technology to do e-check-in at the scan screen at the airport. It displays the available seats from which you can choose too. Cairns. I am first time trying this cheap type of flights which has converted air hostess to sales girls. We all had a list of available food and drinks with their price, and these girls were moving selling them. Cairns, though, in our same time zone won’t go for the daylight savings and so is an hour behind Sydney. So, we took off at 10, had three hours flight and landed in Cairns at 12. We had no processing time for anything while going in or coming out. Took a taxi to the hotel, it was a narrow road from the airport leading to the city centre. It took hardly 15 minutes to reach the hotel. The tropical climate was visible with the greenery, and the types of vegetation- with the narrow roads, it gave me a Goan feeling.

We checked-in by 12:30. The apartment was spacious, and I became very nostalgic when I opened one of the windows in the kitchen, and a coconut tree leaf peeped in as if it was waiting for me to open! We had a home-made lunch with a tropical view of palm trees and hills. We had no plans than just staying back and slowly explore the tours for tomorrow. The hotel itself has got all those leaflets and we chose one of them which came with a free underwater camera. I realised that there is a bit of cheating here also. They have the tour price highlighted on the leaflet and when you try to book it, comes the hidden prices – pickup-from-hotel fee ( I have never ever heard of it ), reef tax( I have no clue why they keep it separate and cheat) etc. ! Actually, I realised later that we were better. There was this hot air balloon flight, which charged some A$275 or so, and in small font was written ‘ excluding the compulsory insurance fee A$25 ! The cruise had a whole day itinerary including the trip to the reef, snorkelling, and trips in a semi-submersible boat and a glass-bottom boat (all are same, just making money putting in all these jargons).
We went for a walk towards the city centre. It was a deserted peaceful place with lot of houses and broad roads. They got hills all around and sea on one side co-existing with some mountains in the middle (forming small small islands). There was a long walk on the sea side- called the Esplanade (this just means a pathway in Dictionary) walk. We could see the day trip cruises bringing back tourists after their day out snorkelling and diving. It was not forming a beach, so they made a park and pathway to walk. The cruise was expecting us to get the swimming costumes, and we went in to an evening market (which opens at 5pm and closes by 9pm! I have never expected I will find such a thing in the whole of Australia). After our shopping, we walked to the artificial lagoon made near to the city centre end of the Esplanade. Sat sometime there, and it got dark by 7:30 itself as there is no daylight saving in Cairns (it is 8:30 in Sydney then).

We walked back home, doing some window shopping at the Opal shops and other souvenir shops. It all looked costly than our Souvenir shops in Sydney!

That ended our first day in Cairns. We were excited about tomorrow, seeing and doing something we are going to do for the first time.

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 30

2006-03-06T19:07:00.000+05:30

Day 2 in Melbourne:
Imagine a drive through the cliffs for some 600kms! Imagine huge pieces rocks standing in the middle of the sea some 100 feet from the shore! And that is what you experience in Great Ocean Road!
We checked out of the hotel and waited outside for the pick-up at 7:40. Most of the tours have got a free hotel pick-up if you are staying inside the city. The streets were so empty on a Sunday morning (Picture 1). Our tour started by 8. It was 20 seater minibus, but with more comfortable seat and air-conditioned. We were around 14 people- a German and a few people from Tasmania (the beautiful island territory of Australia on its North). We headed to Geelong where the Great Ocean Road begins. The guide-cum-driver, Craig was telling us about the population of Melbourne, the growth, and ‘preparedness’ for the future growth showing a set of huge flats which has got no takers at all !
We were in Geelong in two hours. We got a walk to the sea shore, and met some elephants in a local circus to Krithi’s excitement (Picture 2)! Then, started the Great Ocean drive, the dream drive through the cliffs, cliffs and cliffs (Picture 3)! Craig was stopping at times for taking photos. He was asking Krithi every time, ‘are you fine’ (We had to give our lunch choice from the menu so that he can call and book them. Then, I had mentioned that Krithi would like to eat something she has brought because of her taste buds’ conditions in this situation). Slowly the other passengers also know it and all were so concerned about her. The German sitting near us was suggesting her to keep the head up and straight and never look down, to avoid vomiting( he had a bag bought from Wimbledon souvenir shop, and so I think he had come here in association with the Australian Open!). I think his tip worked well for us!
Even with the best of miracles, I was sure that Krithi will vomit. Even I was getting uneasy feeling at times. It takes a bend and you can see the next three to four bends! She vomited once; we handled it professionally, and dumped the same in the bus dust bin with no smell or mess! My idea with the freezer bags worked! She got candies, tips, tissues and a lot of care from around. I was getting jealous J !
The bus stopped for its regular petrol filling. He dropped us in a shopping area and went to fill the gas (just using gas for a style, none here uses that term for petrol/diesel). Before this point, the Great Ocean Road was taking a turn away from the sea in to the inland. It was suppose to be inland drive for another 50 kms before it goes back to the cliff-chains again.
We resumed the journey and in another 10-15 mins, he got off the main road and gone in to a muddy road, stopped after a kilometre. Craig had taken us to show Koalas in wild. He gave us some 15 mins, and we could see some Koalas in their usual nap (Picture 4). Wonderfully, one of them was moving too J !
Starting from there, we went another 20minutes, and Craig stopped for a rainforest walk. A 20 min walk through a shady rainforest in the afternoon which is full of bushes and huge Eucalyptus trees, gave us a good appetite for the lunch. Landing at the restaurant by around 2, Krithi again did vomit, for the last time!
It was hot in the afternoon, and we could feel it whenever we come out of the bus. Many of our fellow passengers, who were from Tasmania, were enjoying the heat. They say they never get a hot day back in Tasmania (which is an island located north of the Aussie mainland, and is a part of Australia).
It was just 30 mins drive after the lunch, and we could slowly feel we are nearing the sea. Slowly, we could see one of the rocks at distance and we are at our site of the day, the Twelve Apostles! Craig gave 20 minutes to walk to the view point and come back. But we were planning for a helicopter ride. Craig agreed to come back to pick us after leaving the others at the next view point which will give us an additional 15 minutes.
The place was full of flies; full of flies means at any point of time at least 10-15 flies were sitting of everyone! We walked to the helipad, paid A$180 (90 per head) and waited. They need three people for a flight, and we had one more old man. We both sat in the rear seat and the other gentleman sat near the pilot. It took off giving us a spectacular view of the twelve Apostles (Picture 5), I kept my camera was blinking non-stop. I had put it in the continuous shot mode. It was a breathtaking flight to move over the sea from the land at such a low altitude. Krithi was enjoying her first helicopter flight! It was a 10minutes flight, but those 10minutes were so exciting and memorable!
We, then, ran to the view point through the tunnel under the road. Took some snaps standing at that view point (Picture 6), spend a few minutes there and then back to the point where Craig came and picked us up. The next part was really exciting: we could walk down the steps (around 200 steps) to the beach to see this huge rocks standing in front of us (Picture 7), and enjoy the ice cold water. I would have preferred to spent a romantic evening in that place, with a small tent and a lantern, and just two of us J. The setting Sun leaving its orange light would have made it perfect, but for the clouds L.
We moved to the third spot which is called the London Bridge (Picture 8). The Great Ocean Road extends to another 400kms, but this part is the cream of it. It was around 4:15. We started back to Melbourne. It was another route, which is more of a straight route. Craig was entertaining us non-stop telling us of a hell lot of ship-wreck stories, one of which was about a person who survived 6 ship-wrecks, and his sons died later in different ship-wrecks, but he died on normal death at last! He also got in to explaining about the people who have their faces in the Aussie currency notes – most of them are either journalists, or novelists.
Craig was telling that there is some bush fire and we have chances of getting diverted or blocked. But that didn’t happen. We could see the smoke at distance (Picture 9) some half an hour before Melbourne.
Craig dropped us in front of the Southern Cross station by 7:15. We had become close with others in the tour. One Tasmanian had been calling me Bollywood producer. While saying bye, he said we will meet when you come across to Tasmania for your next film :D.
We realised the real heat when we got out of the bus! It was just like landing in Ranigunda in mid May! We walked in to the station to get another bad news; the trains are all delayed due to the bush fires! They were getting caught up or were running in reduced speed in this extreme heat conditions and bushfire. They were more than 1 hour late. That means I won’t be able to make it to the office on time tomorrow :(.
But for now, this heat was horrible inside the station with asbestos roofing. We came out of the station; Krithi had a place she wished to visit given an hour more in Melbourne, a place near Federation square where there is a huge waterfall-glass-door. We missed it yesterday because we couldn’t find it. We got in to the next tram in that direction, and suddenly found ourselves in trouble. All I had was currency notes and the ticket machines in the trams will only accept coins! I just ignored it and noticed that less than 10% of the people are using those machines (may be they have a day ticket). I think I am trying a ticket-less travel after years :). Krithi was a bit afraid, but anyway we had to go.
We got down, and walked across the places we wanted to see. To avoid the same tension, we took a taxi back to the station. And believe me; it was cheaper than the cost of tram ticket for two!
The weather had changed by now! A strong wind was blowing cooling the air. It was so strong that the dividers were flying. So, ran in to the station before getting hit by something flying in the wind! The train was again delayed. The station was in a place where there were no restaurants around as I mentioned. I had to search a bit to get a place where I got a fresh huge 2’ Vegetarian Pizza (it was large enough for us to eat till end of next day).
The train at last started by 10:30, two and half hours late. We both were tired enough to sleep well. The train continued to go slow with the speed restrictions. I remember seeing the train stopped at around 1am, and some fire engines moving around.
It took one more hour more than the delayed time, to leave us at Strathfield by 10:30(where it should have been 6:40). I took off because it was a very tiring situation now to go to work.
Thus ended our Melbourne Adventures!

Tailpiece: Aussies got seasons for everything – bush-fire season, fly season, pest season, and so on.

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 29

2006-02-17T14:38:00.000+05:30

The train didn’t make up at night as it does in India. It just took its own time stopping in the middle and slowing down at times, to reach Melbourne- Southern Cross station by 8:30 instead of 7. Southern Cross station? I couldn’t find Southern Cross in any of my maps! All said Spencer Street station is where the long distance trains arrive and depart including our Country link timetables. So one more nail added to our crown of issues! I was still in sleep, sort-of got down at a strange station, left my tickets in the train.

The confusion got over when I saw the name board in the station saying Southern Cross (formerly Spencer Street). So R K Narayan’s street name changing story works here also :D. Now out of the name confusion, realised my tickets are missing! Ran back to look for them, and it was on the floor in front of our seat itself.

Now, I had to tackle the other problems, first the accommodation. As I mentioned earlier, all railway stations and airports have this automated helpdesk for accommodation. You will have a big screen containing some 10-15 hotel details with some rent details, and a receiver. All hotels will have a 3 digit number. You can pick the receiver dial the three digit code and you are connected to that hotel/ B&B. Started calling the numbers from the helpdesk (these are free calls). The first two places had vacancies only with shared baths. But as always, the third one clicked! It was near the station, some 20 minutes. We chose to take a taxi as we were not able to see many trams and we were tired too.

Booked the room, paid the deposits and rent, left our baggage there. We could check-in only at 1, so as we know we have to roam around till that. We finished our breakfast in the McD nearby. Went through the maps, and proceeded towards the Federation Square, the city centre. Our plan was to take some small trips or visit some areas which may be relaxing. We checked at the station to get a day ticket to use the trams and trains, for 6 dollars per person. It was almost one-third compared to the 15 dollars in Sydney!

The city centre was the junction with Flinders Street Station entrance (Picture) on one side, and SBS building on the other. SBS had a free area around their building for the public to sit and view their big TV screen. SBS (Special Broadcasting Service) is a major Australian Channel which brings us all diverse programs from different parts of the World. It focuses and boasts a multicultural set of programmes. We get so much exposure to documentaries from Africa to America, including the uncensored documentaries of US’s war histories and smuggled Chinese tapes showing their breach of human rights.

The best thing being stuck in between issues is that you will learn to appreciate the small things which you would have never noticed otherwise. You always go with no expectation in such a situation and whatever comes by, positive and unexpected, will be excitingJ.

The city which looks very quiet all this time looked crowded in this part of the city. It was sunny too, contradicting the weathermanJ ! A huge crowd was queuing up to enter a tram. All other trams are running empty and the trams from one stop are full! We got the answer quickly, Australian Open! All were heading towards the Melbourne Olympic park, where the Australian Open is happening!

I had got no clue on where Krithi got the idea to check the ticket rates at the helpdesk in front of SBS building. I would have just thought that tennis is a costly sport. But when we found out that it is only 27$ per person, and that too for a day with multiple entry, it was cheap. It was cheaper than the worst available city tour! We purchased two tickets, and joined the crowd. We got hold of a fan someone was distributing with ‘The Lion King’ logo on it. Then we knew that Melbourne got a good drama theatre environment too!

It was festive atmosphere inside the fully-packed tram – packed like our buses in India. The heat was on, which had triggered sweating, and it was an Indian experience! People were in different costumes to make it evident where they are going to (Picture ).

It was a 20 minute ride to be dropped at the Melbourne Park. A security checking and we are a part of the Aussie Open festival crowd (Picture ).

I was never a big fan of tennis with the exception of Steffi Graf J. But I never wanted to leave a chance to see Australian Open. We had no plans for the day and till 1 we can’t go to the hotel also. But there was this fact that I can’t recognise between the No.1 and the beginner, it was all the sameJ. The two three names I could make out in the schedule is Martina Hingis, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi, and Leander Paes. But of them, all we had today was a match for Mahesh Bhupathi and one for Leander Paes, both playing doubles.

But they were all for evening. Now, any match was same for us. So, we both saw tennis at the stadium with the crowd for the first time in our life! We peeped in to one or two women’s singles, sat for a couple of game or for a single set and then moved to the next. People were obeying the unwritten rule to not move in between the play. After each game, whoever wants to go out will stand up and slowly move, and once the next game starts, everyone make sure they are sitting. Again, the heat was becoming worse, and we could visibly see the crowd choosing the shadows leaving the sunny areas literally empty (Picture ). We came out of the ground by 12:30 to get a tram back to the city and another tram to our hotel (by this time we knew how the tram system works). We saw one of the electronic temperature board showing 40 degrees! Checked in and just got fresh, as we were as on yesterday night :D.

We had spotted an Italian restaurant near the hotel for lunch, while walking in the morning. We went there by 2:10 and they have closed lunch at 2! It looked stupid, but he was telling that the heat was one factor. We got to the other side to get a tram to a shopping mall two stops away and spotted a Pizza hut!

Back in the hotel, we started looking for a tour for Great Ocean Road. The lady there was telling that most of them come back late, by 8 or 9. We had to catch the train at 7:55PM! Though a couple of them say the tour timings as 8 AM to 7PM, none is ready to commit to us that they can drop us before 7:50. There goes another problem! This was the main part of our trip, so we could not help but take a risk. There was a good part of it. We got a backpacker deal for the trip which was telling 128 dollars pp(per person) in our leaflet. For the backpacker, it comes at 78 dollars pp! I was amazed to see so much difference in rates for the same tour. It was the same package and the next day we could see many paying 128!

We booked the tour, and got a short nap back in the room. Started the evening by 5:30 again and went straight to the Melbourne Park. One the way we calculated and discovered that our Indian doubles matches would be over by 6! The heat was still there, but it was little windier. We were surprised to see the entire crowd retired to the shades, taking rest. We walked to court 6 where Leander was supposed to be playing. We found it deserted! It took time for us to realise the problem, the plays have been stopped due to severe heat(Picture)! So the good news was, both the Indian games are not even started. But the bad news was the play have been stopped so early that the game before Leander’s is also not begun! Now the play will start at 6:30 means they can’t have Leander’s game today (and that means we can’t see it at all).

The play started at 6:30, and we slowly moved around to other courts checking the court where Mahesh Bhupathi’s match was planned. We were lucky there to see that match was just starting! There were some Indian people here and there (Picture). We saw his team loosing the first set and didn’t want to see India loose after all this pain. Just took some snaps (Pictures), and I think I am seeing him first time.
We started by 8, back to the city, it was only starting to get dark. Took some snaps of the Federation square in Twilight(Picture), and tried dinner in an Indian restaurant. Again, it was a flop! Some run away guys putting names like ‘Flora’ and running an Indian restaurant in the heart of the city. It becomes worse when people like us choose to eat Medu vadai at a Sardarji’s restaurant! I took rice and some curry which was safe, but Krithi’s masala dosai and vadai( Medu vadai made with wheat flour)were still in crude form L ! A 20 minutes walk to our room, a long day and eventful day comes to an end for us.

We have overcome some of the threats like accommodation and weather. I will say we survived today, but what tomorrow… ? Weather is again very critical for our trip tomorrow. If Great Ocean Road tour gets washed out by rain, I will say we have spoiled the Melbourne trip. We also have this risk of missing the train as the tour returns just on time. But leaving it all for tomorrow.
Closing off the day thanking God for today and hoping the best for tomorrow….

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 28

2006-02-10T15:26:00.000+05:30

I am not sure how many of you have seen calendars having this wonderful picture of a set of huge rocks standing in the middle of a beach, and with projections of a hill range on the shore. It will look as if the hills have split-up from their parents and gone in to the beach! Otherwise, how many of you have seen the film songs where the hero/heroin is shouting standing at the tip of a huge piece of rock with beach underneath it? If you have seen that, you have seen Great Ocean Road some 100kms near Melbourne!

You would have heard of Melbourne for the cricket ground, or Australian Open or at least in one of my weekenders. They call Melbourne the cultural capital of Australia and if you remember my story, this beautiful city on the banks of Yarra River was as good as Sydney to be considered for being the capital of Oz! May be if Melbourne would have been this good, Sydney would have become the capital!

It was a peaceful Wednesday evening. I was sipping a coffee back home, and casually asked Krithi on what can we do this weekend. As usual, she put the ball on my court. I asked, ‘What about Melbourne?’ She was looking at me like ’are you mad?’! It is 880kms away and takes 11 hours to reach by overnight train. A weekend will be enough if all goes well. Again, provided that you have to sit and come on the train whole night and go straight to office.

Krithi was excited of the place, I had shown her what is Great Ocean Road and she was dreaming of having her first helicopter ride above this natural wonder! But now, because of her present situation, we have to see that she is not suffering sitting the whole night, we are ready to face her vomiting while travelling through Great Ocean Road, which is obviously hilly, and nearly 600kms long!

I was ready for taking care of her provided she is fine with the travel and she was ready! We checked the country link, and booked the ticket. Checked for accommodation and forecasts, both didn’t look that great. But it is all done in an hour time!

Now comes budgeting. We had the big Cairns trip the week after next and I will have to book for my return tickets to India for March. So we were tight on finance. We took all the available booklets on Melbourne, and started budgeting. We had to choose between two tours – a penguin parade (which happens at night, along a coast where small penguins comes out of their dens in bulk and go in to the sea) and our dream Great Ocean road. They both won’t fit in, as the first one’s timing is from 3:30pm to 12 midnight. Again we may have to leave next day early morning at 8 for the Great Ocean road tour, and catch the train at night straightaway and me, end up in office next day morning. So it will become a hectic schedule. We dropped the Penguin parade at last, because of financial and time constraints.

The only part missing now was the accommodation. We need one night stay, which is tough to find in net. Most of them insist on minimum two nights stay during the weekends. By Friday night, I realised that I am not going to find any accommodation in Melbourne in net. That is something we had to risk. But even for the long weekends, I have seen people getting down at the station and trying the accommodation desk and get through with one! So I was sure that we will get something.

We started Friday evening. I was surprised to see that the train was an hour late! May be this is the first time ever I am seeing a train getting late by an hour outside India. It started by 9:30, took another one or two hours to finish off the ticket checking and to switch off the lights. We had tried two neck pillows from a Chinese shop, both were punctured L ! But still, I think we could sleep without much disturbance. Krithi also was not as bad as I thought, may be, we got some leg space between the seats.

All sort of negative things happening to us – no accommodation, negative weather forecasts, and now the train getting late and our sleep arrangement also flopped! But it is too late to rollback !

AUSSIE WEEKENDER 27

2006-01-27T20:21:00.000+05:30

Chinese all over the World synonymously means cheap! Even for travel, it was surprising to compare the Chinese company’s rates with the local rates. A normal site seeing trip costs 100 AU$ minimum for a full day trip and 50-60 for a half day trip. It will mostly have hidden prices again like the entry fees and food charges. It is almost same across Australia with a difference of + or – 10%.

There is a Chinese tour company who organises tours for less than half of the same rates! You have to pay 40 AU$ for a full day trip. Again, the conditions apply is there, but they spell it out clearly that these are the extra costs which you may opt for not paying. They even specify that 5$ tip to the driver in the leaflet. Then, why is it not so crowded? Why people still hesitate to take it? The answer lies where the Indians are ahead of Chinese, their English! The basic commentary and jokes provided by the driver during the trip will be in Chinese! He will only use English to inform you or summarise in between! He will talk 15 minutes non-stop in Chinese and it is a 1short sentence in English!!! It reminds me of my old roomie Avi’s English Drama teacher’s story (story at the bottom).

Anyway, I am an Indian (or let us make it I am still that old Venki) and still not comfortable with dollars. I have enough tolerance to listen to Chinese for a day if it saves me some 100 dollars!

They have this flat rate for many one-day trips. Those trips comfortably challenge the public transport itself including trains! For example, if you take a train to Canberra, it costs 25 $ per person one-way if you get hold of the apex ticket which you need to book early. Then it is a problem to go around in Canberra as you have to depend on the funny bus services which will again cost 5-10 $ per person. But the day-trip to Canberra which includes seeing the important places and sights there, will cost only 40 $ altogether!

We saw a different trip to places which we were something totally unknown of – dolphin cruises, and lavender gardens! That also includes a waterfall on the way. We booked the tickets two days ago, and the only worry was to go to Strathfield from where the trip starts. I went to whereis.com.au which tells us how to go given a source and destination. For me, I had to check from Strathfield station to Churchill Avenue, which was actually just outside the station. This funny site gave me a route to get out through the other side of the station and to walk 200 metres before taking a left to cross the bridge and walk back! I also trusted it thinking that there will be some block on this side of the station!

We just managed to reach there by 7:20 and we were the only pick-up from Strathfield (it starts from China Town) and so he started immediately. He warned us first itself that the commentary will be in Chinese and he will tell in English for us (Picture 1).

It was a 15 seater mini-bus. We were the last to get in; only the last seats were free! He got in to the freeway getting out of the suburbs. His short English said he was first heading towards the waterfall. It was around 9:00, when we took an exit to some hilly roads, and reached a forest area. Krithi who was silently sitting, ran out to give me the first unexpected! She started vomiting! I never even in dreams thought of her vomiting. We had travelled through the same hilly routes in a Countrylink bus some months ago, and even in India she was not vomiting during our hilly trips.

Anyway, we were not prepared for that. I still thought it was one time, but when she vomited again in the bus, I knew she is not going to enjoy the trip todayL !

The journey continues. By 10:30 we reached our next stop, Lavender farm. We walked through this small farm and took some snaps too (pictures). Then had a honey-lavender flavoured tea and to their plant to see the process of manufacturing lavender oil. The lady was telling like our road-side sellers – it will smell all day, it will relieve your tension if put on back-neck, it will relieve headache, it will cure even wounds! Good!

I bought the smallest bottle of lavender oil. We started again around 11:15 AM, our next destination was the Jervis bay for watching dolphins in the sea. We crossed through a castle like bridge on the way, the guide told that this is the oldest in Australia (Picture) ! It was another 90 minutes away and again all hilly routes. We could do nothing but just sit on the back seat and suffer.

By the time we reached Jervis bay by 12:40, Krithi was fully exhausted. If we could find a single railway route on the way, we would have stopped the van and gone back home. We spent our time trying to get fresh during the so-called ‘lunch break’. The cruise started by 1, which was a normal one which we have to pay separately. The ferryboat had an under water camera inside. So you can choose to sit inside and watch the TV taking your drink, or stand in the Sun waiting for the Dolphins! We were very excited to hear English around after hearing so much of Chinese, and ‘Chinglish’! We both were at the deck taking pictures of the Dolphins (Pictures), which went on for the first half an hour. The dolphins came around our boat jumping here and there like they are excited to see us! It travelled along the boat then disappeared. Slowly we left their area, and the boat went on in to the sea.

Krithi again got back to her ‘sickness’ and it is good that most of the ferries have got toilets inside. It was another 2 hours before we came back to the land, by 3:30.

We had done with the trip, and it is straight back to Sydney now covering some 200 kms. It was a sort- of non-stop journey. Krithi was too tired slept for the whole return trip. The return was a straight freeway route and we were back by 6:30. Back home, it was like in-heaven for Krithi. The trip was good by itself, but I am not sure whether we enjoyed it.

Cheers
Venki

Avinandan’s Story: It was their English drama class. It is Macbeth! The whole class is sitting with text book and the teacher will read one sentence and interpret it in simple English and the pupils note down the meaning on the side or available free space in the text. The font becomes smaller and illegible as it progresses, on each page. That is the normal case.
On this particular day, the scene was just after Macbeth has killed the King. The thoughts in his mind is been beautifully elaborated by William Shakespeare. The teacher, on the contrary to the normal habit of interpreting each sentence, is keeping on with the reading. Students look surprised and worried on how difficult it will be to note down the meaning for the whole page together!
Shakespeare finished his description of what went through Macbeth’s mind after killing his King in a page. The teacher finished reading it. Class is silent.
The teacher looks up from the book, looks at the class almost with a wry smile, looks back at the book and then again at the group of eagerly waiting adolescents. Then with a profound assurance in his voice, proclaims to the world - "Macbeth is afraid!"