Stockholm : Like a pearl in the sea

Maybe one of the not-so-hot destinations in Europe, and an amazing find - Stockholm!! We went there in the start of winter 2006,
expecting it to be very cold (we just found cheapest tickets to this place and decided to go there) and were pleasantly surprised to find the weather pleasant, and the days pretty long too!

The city is made up of islands, with waterways in between. The old city is on a small island, surrounded by water. It houses many museums, and the palace (which we did not get to see!). Its great to just walk around the city, pretty views of houses next to the sea, the canals, and no people on the road!!


They have a floating restaurant too, is great to have hot chocolate there, as long as the weather is pleasant, that is!


There are a couple of cruises which start from the center of the city, and take you around the archipelago, from days long cruises, to just dinner on the ferry and back. A good trip to go on would be one with live music playing on-board. The people on the cruise though are all old couples, having a nice evening out. Its nice to see them all dance, and the music is English as well as Swedish. The sky is clearer here though while on the cruise, the food for vegetarians is non-existent though!









The cruise may also stop at an island somewhere in the middle of nowhere where they dock and then play the music under the moonlight.. fascinating....















The waterways also offer some watersports, like hiring a boat and taking off to the islands (you need a valid license for that though!) We just chose to do some kayaking. Here is a pic of my friends trying to kayak. They failed badly though:))

Mesmerising Switzerland

No wonder so many Indian movies are shot in Switzerland, the place sure has breathtaking beauty! Most of you would know what to expect when you go there, we've already seen it enough in movies, not to forget in 'Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge' which may be one of the best marketing the country could have asked for! 


AtJungfrau, the highest point of Europe, all you see is Indians. And the starting point for the cable car, a small village between two lakes, called 'Interlaken', is sometimes dubbed 'Indialaken':) So I can't understate the popularity of this place amongst Indians. And believe me, you get what you expect for or maybe more there.

Geneva was where we landed from London. The city has two attractions, banks and watches! You see clocks installed everywhere within the city (is actually quite a funny sight)! And the second thing you see everywhere are the bank billboards. We cycled a bit in Geneva, next to the lake. Nice cycling track,and this small part of the street is fasinating.The plan was to cycle upto Lausanne, but that never happened. Instead, we drove up to Interlaken. The drive is scenic, green hills, blue skies, lakes, and the typical quintessential small wooden houses.

Interlaken is a small village between two lakes, and the youth hostel there is a recommended place to stay. Food may be tough to find, if you land up late, the only vegetarian option left for you may be bread and butter:) There are couple of adventure sports options there: canyon jumping and sky diving among them the most interesting.You can take the cable car to Jungfrau, we didn't do that, so dunno what the expect.

and this is where we jumped into the canyon from...)











Most girls would understand this and guys wont, but if you can buy the cowbell that has been made famous by the movie DDLJ, its sweet, and a good hang for your door when you are back, believe me:) 

Breezy Barcelona

The liveliest city in the world for sure (Rio may come close though from what I have heard, can decide between the two only once I go there though!), Barcelona is a city which makes you feel alive! Have been there twice, but the first trip was definitely memorable!! Its a city which deserves longer than a weekend to discover it though! The city is modern and traditional, old and new, it has the hills and the sea, the dance and the music which is what the Spaniards are famous for, its just mind-blowing! The first time, we stayed in a village 60kms out of the city (not because we wanted to experience the country life, but because of friends who dont check before booking the accommodation:)) ). So every morning, we used to take a one hour train to the city, it was like living in the suburbs!!

Anyways, it was sunny weather, and a long weekend, so the place was really alive! We took the tourist bus for two days, and I took my friends to each and every touristy place there is in the city! Gaudi uncle was a favourite though. You see these funny looking buildings, built in curves interspersed within the city. They look straight out of a fairy tale.

One of them is this temple called Sangrada Familia, which had been under construction for years! Someday it will get completed. The temple really looks bizarre..

There are a couple of other such funny looking buildings, being used for residence and commercial purposes, have put some pictures.

Las Ramblas is the place to be in the evenings! The street is lined on both sides with eating places, which you can savour sitting outside in the sun. There are street artists, in fancy dress, or dancing or showing magic or painting on the street itself. Lost money to one of those 'which bowl is the dice under' game, and not once but twice! so beware...!! At the end of this street is a mall, which has three clubs on the top, open till late at night. Believe me, partying is gooooood in Barcelona. Another famous place, is the Razzmazztaz club, its has 5 dance floors, and the place opens only after 10pm! Must-go! Flamenco is the famous dance, quite different and I would say aggressive too. Should watch that if you get a chance.

The Olympic village is a good place for the view of the city. The palace with its huge gates,is magnificent......

Barcelona has a beach, which I am not a fan off. Too much crowd, nothing much to write about.

Its a pleasure (yet again!) to walk on the roads. The lanes are huge, with a complete lane of just parks in between!

Haven't seen it anywhere else in the world. Lot of the usual, churches, old temples, Gaudi buildings to check out in the city. If you are a Barca fan, should definitely catch one of the football games of the home team in the city. Shopping is interesting, especially because Spain is the home to Zara, my favourite.

Spanish people are friendly and very very lively. English isn't as easy to go by though. Food is good, try the tapas, especially the different potato recipes they have. In fact, the Mcdonalds happy meals in Barcelona offer beer as one of the free drinks, that's also something I have never seen before.

Scary Sicily

Not really the best vacation of my life, but one of the most interesting for sure! Sicily is definitely one of the most notorious places in the world, and it takes you 10 mins on the island to figure that out! Well, when we landed at the airport, there was clapping in the plane, maybe thats a sign too, but I would leave that out :)

Our first stop was Palermo, and while going to the hotel, everyone on the way told us to not walk where there is no light! I think that was what did it, we were scared throughout the rest of our trip. The shop windows have iron bars on them, and people don't speak much English either. People seem scary too, and please never ever land up there on the Christmas weekend. You wont be able to do anything then!

Palermo is fine, an average town, some old architecture there. And please tip the waiters, else they come after you (well we managed to dodge them somehow but we did have some tense moments!). There are a couple of beaches , and architectural and historical sights nearby, but its important that you drive. Else reaching those places isn't as easy.

We took a cab across the island, from Palermo to Catania, on the way to Siracusa. The landscape was fascinating, with huge highways built over hills, standing fully on platforms. The drive was refreshing (thankfully) with all kinds of landscapes, hills, plains, rock formations etc. We got swindled by the cab driver though, he left us outside the city in Catania, next to a flower market, where it was pouring cats and dogs, no one understood English, there were no cabs and we were there for more than an hour (as I said, interesting vacation!)

Siracusa was good though, famous for its Greek and Roman history, small town, nice to walk through again.. Wish we had more time there, was so much better than Palermo.


A place which is a must visit is Mount Etna, especially when the volcano is alive. Surprisingly, when the rest of Sicily was warm, there was snow and skiing on Etna. The place almost seems magical, with smoke coming out of the fissures, giving it the mystical look. Apparently, its visible from the plane also, so if you ever fly past Sicily, look out for Mt Etna.

All in all, an interesting vacation, but if you ever want to go, plan the trip better: where you want to go to, how to reach there, and book your own car!

Barbados : The ideal vacation

You learn the true meaning of a vacation, where you relax, away from the world, where you dance, where you lay by the crystal clear water of the beach, where you see people sitting and staring into space and seeming happy, where you see the fisherman dance in the evenings, where a local leads you on his cycle, exclaiming when you want to go to a place 20 kms away...ohhhh... its sooooo far, where you wake up and have the all day breakfast at 12 noon, and you think you have the whole long day in front of you! Barbados offers it all and more... I guess the other Caribbean islands also may have the same atmosphere but then I would'nt know! Had gone to the Caribbean for a week, and never got time to go island hopping to another island. In fact the vacation was planned based on the Cricket World Cup 2007, and even though the world cup was a let-down (for India at least!), the vacation beat all expectations.

Cricket was there too, as an after-thought though! We managed to see the Bangladesh-Ireland match, which could have been the India-Pakistan match! Don't think anyone in the stadium was interested in the match at all! Everyone there was there because they expected an India-Pak faceoff, so all they were interested in was having a good time, and which they did! People with drums making noises, and carrying out processions within the stadium, actually turned out to be a fun affair. (The match was btw won by the Irish team, which was actually another upset of the tournament! Not that anyone was interested in it...)And the festive atmosphere outside the stadium was fun too, local dancers and musicians on the streets, just what the Caribbean is famous for!







The island is small, and any two points in the island are not more than 40kms apart. The capital is Bridgetown, where the locals reside. The tourists stay in the southside of the island , where the party area, St Lawrence's gap is located (which has one of the best beaches of the island too!), and most of the posh resorts are on the east side of the island, while the west is the unexplored part. You can travel within the island in the local mini-buses, which are actually small private vans running on the main roads of the island. They cost a Barbados dollar (the Barbados dollar is pegged to the USD, 2 BD = 1 USD).

There is not much touristy stuff to visit on the island, but still lots to do. St Lawrence gap is the famous party area, with a row of interesting pubs and restaurants, on the sea, with music and dance in the evenings. The service at these places is sooo slow, it takes 3 hours for a dinner to finish, but that's what you are there for, right? not being bound by time... There is a club called Harbour lights, near Bridgetown, where they have all-you-can-drink-for-25USD parties during the week. The parties are on the beach, its a big and open place, a nice place to spend quality time.

Water sports on the island is in abundance. It includes snorkelling, surfing (you can easily take classes), kayaking, jet skiing, parasailing and any other sport you can think of. The beach on St Lawrence is heavenly, which is difficult to imagine as it is at the centre of the tourist residential places. Still the place is not as crowded, the water is crystal clear, an ideal place to relax and just read a book! You can surf at Bath Sheeba beach, or try to discover a new beach hidden somewhere! The eastern side has some resorts and good beaches. There are some caves too on the island, we went there thrice, but always too late:(. Somehow when on the island, its very difficult to wake up early! Driving through the island was fun though, through mango groves and sugarcane fields, stealing unripe mangoes from the trees while the owner was chasing us.

Food is easy to come by, vegetarian not that easy though. There is a famous Oistins fish village, near St Lawrence, where every evening you can go and eat the most delicious fishes the island has to offer. Its informal, with small shacks which cook the tasty fare. Flying fish is the fish delicacy for this region. On certain days of the week, you can also see the fisherman get together, and dance to the samba. Its quite a scene, seeing them all dance spontaneously! Music on the island is lively, alcohol is free flowing (rum punch is one of the famous ones, as is the mount gay rum) The most famous words on the island are 'yo mon', the people are very very tourist friendly, always willing to help, and it takes some days or so to get used to the pace of the island. The slow pace, with no hurry, taking each day as it comes, and living it to the fullest! Once you get into that mode, is difficult to come out of it though!

P.S. there are very less photos of Barbados, we were too lazy to take more!

Luv de Paris

A city you will fall in love with, a city where you would want to fall in love in. Its true what everyone says about this city, you have to be there to know why the whole world is crazy about this city (in spite of it being French:) ). Be it the food, or the history, or the fashion, or the art and the artists, or the architecture, or just walking around the city, it has everything. A city where you can spend hours just exploring its lanes and the art and fashion and style there.

Have spent two birthdays in Paris, and one of those was a whole week that I was travelling there, and that too alone, and I absolutely love the city! Don't really know where to start and where to end!

Champs-Elysees (or 'Shauzeleeze' as its actually pronounced as) is the high-street of Paris. A wide boulevard, lined with trees and the best branded shops on either side is a must-do. Just walk along the road, up to the Arc de Triumph. You can get a good view of the city from the top of Arc de Triumph.

You can window shop at Champs Elysees for sure, some of the best and some of the most expensive stuff is available there. Shopping in Paris is abundant. There is the Galerias Lafayette, a super store, with everything and anything under the sun. And not as expensive either.

Or just walk along the Seine, you may find small shopping areas, with small designers selling their (absolutely stunning) stuff.

Paris is a shoppers paradise, even for someone who hates shopping. You may find unique dresses in small shops which you wouldn't even notice, beauty and creativity is there just everywhere in the city, you cant miss it!

Go up the Eiffel Tower, the experience is good. The best time would be in the evening, when you can see the whole city in daylight, and as you reach up, the city lights up. Paris turns out to be quite a well-planned city given how old it is.

The roads are straight, the squares are actually hexagons (i think!) with 6-8 roads meeting there. The architecture is similar, all in the light brownish colour of Paris. The climb up the Eiffel is interesting, and scary for some too.

There is a restaurant too, at the first level of Eiffel Tower I think, should be a nice place for dinner, with a view of the city. From the top you can also see most of the monuments of the city, the Arc de Triumph, Invalides, Louvre, MontMarte etc.

Also in the evening, Eiffel is lighted up and every 15 mins, it sparkles. Is a nice sight!

Spend a day in Louvre. Its huge, and if you like history and art, you will love this place. It was earlier the French royal palace, and now houses one of the biggest collection of art. The famous Mona Lisa is also housed in the Louvre itself.

Louvre has a varied art collection, paintings, sculptors and other art pieces from across the world, and some of the Da Vinci Code pieces too.

You may not be able to do justice to Louvre in a day. If you can, go there multiple times, the place is worth it.

And spend a day at the Versailles palace, its the royal grandeur at its best. Its a huge complex, with hundreds of art pieces, and wealth at display. The garden at Versailles is majestic too, once of the best have ever seen. You can see a small French village created there, and sheep grazing around and fountains and garden landscaping and of course, flowers. A grand sight, and a good place to spend time if you have the luxury of time.

Walk along the Seine, enjoying the sights of the city. Its one of the best ways to explore the city, you can catch the younger sister of the Statue of Liberty also if you do that;-)

Notre Dame is a imposing church, inside as well as outside, just next to the Seine. Then there are the other usual places to visit, Montmarte (a church in white, on top of a hill),

Disneyland park (slightly outside the city), Bastille monument, walk on Rue-de-Rivoli (the street is so alive, it peps you up also!), couple of museums here and there and

then the opera house.

The French are actually more helpful than they are credited with.

The English spoken in French could be worked on though. It was funny my friend discussing with the cab driver, "no-no-no, i don't want to go to toureffel, I want to go to Eiffel Tower:)". Helps in many many ways to have a local French contact, they can give you many tips which can help you get around the city easily. If you can get the name of the place you are going to, plus how its called in French, saves a helluva lot of time! Also the food in the city is amazing, if you know where to go to!

There are many lesser known restaurant and cafes, with absolutely fantabulous food (will list some once I remember what they were called and how they were spelt!) And please please please, try the cheeses there. Even someone who hates cheese will freak out on the variety there, one for every taste.

Specially people like us from India who have grown up eating just Amul cheese, such a spread is difficult to imagine and even more difficult to not love! The open air cafes are a pleasure to sit in, just to enjoy the view of the city (when the weather is good that is!!) and the spread is tasty bakery items, simple but tasty! You can even get South-Indian food next to the Gare du North station if you want. Getting around the city is easy, with the Metro. The Paris map is also very helpful, most of the places to visit are all located close by to each other and its a pleasure to walk between them.

Beauty in Green : The Lake District

Wordsworth wrote about it, and once there, you know why! The beauty of the place, cannot be described in words, however much you may have heard, seeing is a different experience altogether! The green round hills, the varying hues of greens, the lakes anywhere and everywhere you go, the small English towns or should call them villages, the sheep and the cows grazing.. Its a place of beauty, and I really don't have words to write about it.. Just the photos say everything there is to say about this breathtaking region of UK...

We went to Lake District on a long May weekend, unfortunately the weather wasn't what it should have been in May! It started warm, and the entire weekend then turned chilly and rainy! arghhhh! It was the first terrible summer weekend of 2007, and that was how the whole of 2007 summer went..

Anyways we had hired a car, and drive down from London. Stopped for lunch at Buxton and then reached Kendal where we were staying in a bed and breakfast.

Windermere is the main town in lake district next to the Windermere lake. Its a huge lake, calm and serene and Winderemere has tons of places to stay in too just next to the lake!!
This is Windemere town and a park there with the view of the lake. Would love to exercise and play in such an exotic location!


This is a painting like view,in a garden just next to the Windermere lake..


Would'nt you also love to take your daily evening walks at a location like this?


and another painting view.. was so un-real, sometimes I still wonder how can it be so dreamy a place??


and here again, another view from the same park, of the same Windermere lake.. The colours change completely, the entire view changes...!


Winderemere lake again.. You can boat there, or do water sports if keen enough! Given the weather at that time, we sure weren't:)

Just some scenes while driving around the region...Here you can spot the sheep grazing...

...and here is the sheep in focus! At least it was the focus for our trip photographer! Experimenting his new and expensive camera in Lake District... Sure was a good one, both the camera and the photographer!!

This was another of the lakes that we just drove to, don't remember the name. The place was cloudy and freezing, and we had a 100 GBP bet on whether one of us can out his head into the freezing water or not!

.. one guy did it here!! Ram ka naam liya and paani main sar daal diya..! all for what? 100 pounds:)



This was the view from our hotel in Kendal, apparently this region was covered by the sea earlier and then the water receded.


this is the view of the villages that we drove through, sometimes aimlessly.. just taking in the air, the atmosphere of the place..

Here is another lake in the farway view...