Mexico: Mexico city

Our trip to Mexico started with spending 3 days in Mexico City and my first impression was of total amazement; at its size, spread and the huge number of people all around. Even at first glance, it seemed huge; when I looked out of the plane and could see lights spread out till wherever the I could see. And even after landing, when we reached our hotel (which was in the historical center), there were people all over. One reason was of course that it was Christmas time, but even then, its such a crowded city, thats the one overpowering feeling that I was left with.

Post Office at the Centro Historico

In fact, I even wondered if I had booked the hotel at the wrong place, given how crowded the whole area was! But the hotel turned out to be a good one (nh Centro Historico) and within walking distance of all main places of interest. It did prove tough though, getting in and out of that part of town, and I would suggest its better to stay in other less crowded parts of the city.

Before going to Mexico, I had heard that it was not a safe country. Though my final view is that its pretty safe, but the first couple of impressions about the city did nothing to help build that view.

One thing which surprised me when we got out of the airport at Mexico City was that the guards check each and every luggage going out, matching the luggage with the customer tags! That is something I have not seen before, and definitely did not help in building confidence about safety in the city!! Also, we were cheated by our very first cab driver (he charged us 3 times the normal rate, even though we had got his reference from a friend) and so we were careful of everyone in the city going forward.

Second was that in the Mexico Centro Historico, there were policemen on every corner of the streets. I am not kidding, there were anything between 5-20 policeman standing all time of the day and night on every street corner. It doesn't help to allay the reputation Mexico has of an unsafe place.

The whole feeling in Mexico City was mixed. Some places felt very rich, almost like Europe. And others felt very run-down, like a third world country. The differences were too stark to not notice. Also there were many old Spanish colonial buildings across the city, not all of them maintained well though. Plus the wires running all over did not make the sight any better. And then the new Mexico was like any other city, malls, restaurants, shopping areas, wide roads etc. The contrast was all too obvious everywhere.

Coke shop

One unique thing about Mexico, which surprised me about the country was the amount of coke people drink. I have never before in my life seen a shop selling only Coke!




The weather at Mexico City was pretty cold, and apparently its like that throughout the year as the city is built at an altitude of more than 7000 feet! That is pretty high anyways, and one of the reasons that the first couple of days there, we felt a lot more tired than we should have been.

Pyramids of Teotihuacan


The first day of our trip, we took a local tour to Teotihuacan, the site of one of the five major civilisations that had been in Mexico before the Spanish conquest (the others were the Olmecs, the Toltecs, the Mayans and the Aztecs). It was a well organised tour which took us first to the site of Tlatelolco within Mexico City, which is a prehistoric Aztec site containing ruins from before the Spanih conquest.

Image of Lady of Guadalupe

Then we visited the 'Basilica of the Lady of Guadalupe', a church dedicated to Mother Mary, which is one of the main churches of Mexico. It is famous for the portrait of Mary which was found on a sack cloth years ago, and even after so many years has not deteriorated a bit. This image of Mother Mary we later found all over Mexico and looks like this church has a big following across the country.

Old Basilica of Lady of Guadalupe

It was a pretty compound with many other churches located all nearby. This was the first church we saw in Mexico, and the beginning of trips to multiple churches, each prettier, grander, colourful and even more beautifully decorated than the previous one.

Old and new Basilica of Lady of Guadalupe

Slums of Mexico

After the Church, we drove till the Teotihuacan village, which was about an hour away. To be honest, it felt like Mexico City extended all the way till there, so huge it is! While driving, we also got a glimpse of the outskirts of Mexico City, the slums of the city, with houses built all the way up the hills, on either side of the roads. These people were called the 'squatters' by our guide.

As we neared Teotihuaca, the landscape slowly changed and was now dotted with cactus plants everywhere (which I learnt is used to make tequila!). The view was actually like what we sometimes imagine deserts to be like, with different kind of cactus everywhere...

Before the pyramids, we made a stop at a local shop which showed a couple of things which were used by the Aztecs in this region. One was the local plant agave, which was used by the Aztecs to make their Pulque alocohol. After the plant is 8 months old, the center is scooped out and provides about 4 litres of honey water for the alcohol, and then the plant dies away! The plant is useful in multiple ways actually, the leaves of the plant were used to make paper in the times of the Aztecs and its pointed tips were used as a needle to sew clothes!

Obsidian

We also saw the stone, obsidian. This stone was used by the Aztecs for trade as it had unique properties - although black in colour, it shines like gold depending on the angle of the light which falls on it. It was very tempting to buy sculptures made of obsidian, as its unique to the area but the hefty price tag makes that tough!

Pyramid of the Sun

Thereafter, we visited the biggest remaining site where the Teotihuacan people had resided, from about 300BC to 800 AD - the Teotihuacan village. The Teotihuacans used to rule this area thousands of years ago and then they vanished. As their site came in view, I could see two huge pyramids, connected by an avenue - the Avenue of the Dead, and raised structures on both sides of the Avenue. Of the pyramids, the bigger one is the pyramid of the sun, and the smaller one is the pyramid of the moon.

The whole ruins are made of stone, blackened with age; the avenue is well laid out, symmetrical, with proper water and waste management system on the sides; there are very few paintings remaining on the structures but in its heyday, it would have been fully painted; and of course these structures are strong - to have lasted more than twenty centuries!

Avenue of the Dead and Pyramid of the Moon

These beautiful structures were built ages ago and we don't know much about those people still, what they did or where they went! No one knows what the use of these pyramids was, or much about the life of these people. and its surprising to know that all this had been hidden for centuries from all people (including the Spaniards - else it would not have remained till today!). The pyramids had for centuries been covered by mud and looked like hills!! And then they had to be re-discovered.

Stone carvings

Earlier, this site thought to be just a place of worship but then when the historians discovered the building now called 'the palace', they realised that people also lived around this site. The 'palace' still contains stone structures of those times, images of birds and humans carved in stone. The words 'carved in stone' suddenly take a new meaning, and its makes you feel different when you see something in front of you, which has stood the test of time (of centuries)!

I don't really have the words to describe what I saw and felt when I visited the site. These pyramids today stand as memories of what those civilizations must have been ages ago. Its a view, am image to take it, and make your own.. You can sit there for long, just taking in the feeling of the place, and imagining what it would have been like two thousand years back!!

It also made me wonder if there was any link between these Mexican pyramids and the Egyptian ones? There has to be, otherwise how would people in the BC years make similar structures, but in places continents away. I asked our guide this question, but he just chose to ignore it:).

Aztec warriors

There are a lot of people selling local handicrafts here, beautifully painted wooden warriors, obsidian pieces, stone jewellery and other knick-knacks which catch your attention. What I found unique here though were the jaguar wooden pieces they were selling, which if you blow air into, made the sound of a jaguar!! It was actually scary with all the sellers showing off their products, but quite a unique thing to buy too (for adults and children alike!). I really regret the opportunity of not buying it when it was so plentifully available!

After the visit to the pyramids, we had lunch at a local restaurant, called 'El Jaguar' where there were some dancers wearing local dresses and using local instruments for music. After the trip to Teotihuacan, I hated coming back to Mexico City, as the crowds and noise hit us more than we had expected! It brought out to the forefront how huge and crowded the city was!!

Mexico city tour

The second day, we took the hop-on hop-off bus tour of Mexico City. We did the central and south route and that itself took us more than 5 hours, without even getting down off the bus. To be honest, we did the tour because we had time, but I would strongly suggest not spending more than 1 day in Mexico City as the rest of the country has a lot more to explore and appreciate, than Mexico City - which in the end is just a crowded city!

Polanco

Anyways, the tour was still impressive as we got to feel the expanse of the city - it houses more than 20 million people!! Mexico City is spread out all over, till wherever your eyes can see. And everywhere in the city, two things caught my eye. One was the stark difference between the poor and the rich - the upscale areas of the city were pretty, not less than and sometimes even grander than Europe - with its huge palatial houses, beautiful gardens and exquisitely decorated exteriors.

The shops were luxurious, filled with brands of the West, the avenues were lined with trees, and there were parks to sit and enjoy; there were amazing restaurants in all these areas, which looked very inviting and high-end. And there were many such exclusive areas - Polanco, Reforma, Chapultepec area, Tlalpan, Cayoacan, Condesa... To be honest, these nice areas felt extremely nice to live in! And just next to these areas, you could see the poorer parts of the city which were more crowded and not as clean as these. But I guess these are very common sights is all third world countries..

Murals

And the second thing I noticed was the importance given to art, paintings, sculptures and architecture across the city. Everywhere you could find grand artistic buildings, painted murals and squares decorated with beautiful sculptures. All across the city you can see these displays of art, and so many museums that you would lose count. We did not get a chance to visit these museums though. One of the museums which is said to be worth a visit, is Casa Azul, the 'blue house' museum of Frida Kahlo, a famous Mexican painter.

The hop-on hop-off tour was informative about the city, but honestly as I said, I would easily give it a miss.

National Museum of Anthropology

Mexico City houses one of the largest number of museums in the world, given the amount of history and culture it has, plus the importance given to art. I generally avoid museums nowadays, but I would definitely suggest a visit to the Museum of Anthropology. Its located in the Chapultepec park, which is a huge park housing many museums within it.

Mayan books

As I mentioned before there were three major civilizations in Mexico - the Teotihuacans, the Toltecs and the Aztecs. Plus there were the Mayans, the Oaxacans , the Chichimecs, the Olmecs and many other smaller civilizations in other parts of Mexico at the same time. This museum gives a brief insight into each of these civilizations.

I was honestly in awe when I left this museum, there was just so much to explore and take in. For one I did not know earlier, that so many civilizations had existed in Mexico itself, or how developed all these civilizations had been or even how much of that had survived till this day. Here are a couple of impressive exhibits I saw in this museum.

Head gear

Hanuman ji?

Teotihuacan decorations

Mexico city before Spanish conquest

Headgear

Headgear

Apart from this, there was an entire section devoted to how these civilisations had each evolved due to the Spanish influence. How their religious practices changed, how their dressing and living changed but how they retained some of their original identities. What I found interesting here was that even though the Spanish did impose their way of life and religion on the Mexican people, some aspect of their original identities was still retained. And the Mexican people don't really grudge their Spanish conquerors as much as the Indians begrudge the British which I found that very interesting...

On the whole, we spent about 3 hours in the museum and I left feeling I had barely touched the surface of all there was to the museum. So much to see, explore and feel for yourself. It also made me a bit impatient, to start my cultural and historical tour of Mexico as soon as possible...

After the tour, as it was Christmas Eve, we spent some time in the Zocalo, or the city square but even though it was full of people, and felt festive, there was nothing really to see and do. The square was well lighted up, all around, but guess that was it! Also a tip, on Christmas Eve, have your meals as early as possible, because after 830 pm, everything shuts down - restaurants, subway, hotel restaurants, everything!! Which we did not know, so we spent Christmas Eve eating desperate stuff from the one 7/11 that was thankfully open at 9 pm!!




Centro Historico

Artistic rendition of Centro Historico

We had an extra day in Mexico City, so spent some time in Centro Historico, just exploring the places nearby. The whole area was empty as it was Christmas morning, and so we finally got to see what the buildings really looked like without hundreds of people blocking the view! It felt almost eerie like a ghost town, especially seeing how we had seen the area in the last 2 days! The police on each of the crossroads was still working though!

Cathedral on Christmas Eve

There are a couple of impressive buildings nearby like the Cathedral, National Palace, the Museum of the Arts, remains of an Aztec temple (on top of which the Spaniards made the cathedral), the Post Office etc.. They are all pretty colonial buildings, and worth a look if you have time. But, by this time we had had enough of Mexico City and wanted to just get out to see the real country! So weren't too impressed with what we saw..

Continued...
San Cristobal de Las Casas (Chiapas)

Merida (Yucatan)


Impressions of Mexico

Mexico: Trips for travel

Skiing resort at Kitzbuhel

I spent a week in Kitzbuhel, Austria on an official training and would rate it as one of my most disappointing trips as it was a waste to be at such a pretty place and be inside the hotel all day in a training!

Kitzbuhel is a popular skiing resort in Austria, about 2 hours drive from Munich or 1.5 from Salzburg. Its like any alpine village in the Alps - beautiful wooden houses, amazing green/white mountains, and summer and winter activities to do. We stayed at the hotel which was right next to the ski slopes; all day we could see people skiing.

The village is pretty, with the main street having multi-coloured houses. We also went up a mountain one day, for dinner at 'Rosie's'; a popular restaurant in Kitzbuhel, where an old lady by the name of Rosie sings and entertains in the evenings.

One of the days, we also ran into the Krampus Santa, or the bad Santa. Apparently on that day, people dress up in demon masks and animal skin, and beat up bad children! We saw some of them in a club too; they all had black paint on their faces and were rubbing paint on other peoples faces too!

Other than that, there was skiing: multiple slopes with alpres options. A place that's definitely worth visiting later...

Finnish weekend

One of the long weekends this year, we spent in Finland, in the city of Helsinki and then driving around to Turku and Lakeland. And I must say, I am not surprised that people rarely visit Finland. I would rate it as one of the rare places where I was not impressed by what it has to offer! Everything felt so un-different, so unimpressive. Maybe it is the understated style of Finland or I went to the wrong places, but I was not impressed at all..

The first day we were there, we drove to the town of Turku about 2 hours away. It had been the capital of Finland before Helsinki and apparently has a historic aspect to it. The drive was pretty, all green and woody all the way, dotted by wooden houses.

Turku castle

In Turku, we visited the Turku castle and cathedral which were pretty small and simple by European standards. We also walked along the Aura river, in the area called the Turku marinus which ran from the cathedral to the castle. On the way, we ran into a free concert being held on its bank, which was more interesting than the cathedral and castle!

Concert

The concert was being performed by the army band. It was fun, and most impressive was to see how the Finns dance. It is so understated, with limited hand and body movements that you don't realise that they are dancing! Of course, the movements increased when gangnam style played, but it was still minimal especially given my Indian taste in dancing:). Another impressive thing was that the concert ended at 11pm, and it was still daylight! First time I have ever seen that!

Waterfront

There were a couple of good eating places along the river too, especially the ones on huge ships! They seemed fun...Apparently during summer, there are dinner cruises which run towards the Aland archipelago from the Martinsilta bridge along the watrfront. But even though we went in August, which was still warm and summery, all summer activities had already closed down for the year. I found that pretty surprising, given how short the summer would be in this part of the world, it makes sense to extend it as much as possible rather than shorten it! In fact, some restaurants had even stopped offering their expanded summer menu by Aug end!

Savonlinna castle

The next day, we drove to the lakeland area, to the village of Savonlinna which is about 4 hours from Helsinki. Lakeland is exactly what its name means, this area is full of lakes, everywhere. If you look at the map, you will see more blue than green. The landscape was pretty again, water, woods and quiet! We first stopped at the Savonlinna castle, which though beautiful again felt like a let down. It wasn't as grand as we've come to expect European architecture to be. After a brief stop there, we drove some more to find a place which runs water activities, since most places were closed for that year already!

Rafting in Lake Saima

We found a place renting kayaks near Oravi and spent 4 hours kayaking in the lake Saima. We really enjoyed this part of the trip, the lake was huge and the edges pretty and green. The photographs we took here were almost magical, it was so pretty. The blue sky, the green woods and all reflections on the water, very mesmerising...

Lake Saima

Helsinki cathedral

The last day we were in Finland, we spent in Helsinki. We saw the senate square and the cathedral, walked around the harbour and generally chilled. By this time we had already given up on finding interesting stuff to do!! Helsinki was nice, feels like a small city, with about 2 million people, which is almost 30% of Finland's population! It is very modern and clean and with very less traffic. A nice place to stay but not too exciting!

Esplanade

The city center, around the Esplanade was where we roamed around, and it seemed more lively than the rest of the city. With green park in between and shops all around, its perfect for for spending a good Finnish summer day. People were picnicking there all day, as it was one of those rare sunny and hot days in Helsinki. There are cruises running from the harbour here too, to the islands nearby.

One place I really liked in Helsinki was Zetor, a rustic club plus restaurant just near the city center which was fun. Also Karelli is a restaurant in Esplanade which has a very nice ambience.

A church in Helsinki

I must say though, that even though I wasn't impressed with what Finland had to offer as a tourist, I am very very impressed with Finnish people. Although they don't talk much, they are very nice to interact with. During our trip, plus otherwise too it was a pleasure to interact with them.

English was easy to communicate in, as most people learn English in school. The architecture as I said was very simple and straight, almost like a communist country stressing on uniformity. The sky remains lighted even at night, which I found different. Also, I was in Finland in fall and the colours were pretty. Yellow everywhere, especially given how green it is was pretty too.

There were a couple of other places which might have been good too, like Poorvoo, a small city which has a wooden downtown. Then there are a couple of archipelagos which are fun to take cruises in. And of course, Lapland, the northern part of Finland, home of Santa and northern lights:). All for the next time we go there!

Relaxation at Koh Samui

Thai temple

I have been to Thailand a couple of times before, and I must say it has become quite a favourite country of mine. Most of it because of the variety of options it offers. Culture, shopping, beaches, water activities, nature, relaxation, luxury.. You could be looking for any of these ways to have a vacation, and you can find it all in Thailand!

Relaxation

On this vacation, we wanted to relax, and so decided to spend a couple of days on the island of Koh Samui. And as always, we were not disappointed! We were in Koh Samui for about 4 days and had an amazing time. To be frank, we did not do much, and our plans for diving also got spoilt because of communication issues, but still it felt that we had an activity filled vacation as well as relaxed completely.

Koh Samui is quite a small island, almost roundish in shape and about 20-25 kms across. The popular tourist areas of the island are all around the coast, while the interiors apparently has mountains and forests. The terrain throughout, even next to the islands is hilly with dense green forests everywhere. The whole feel of the island is very tropical, dense green vegetation all around, plus lots of mosquitos (and loud toad noises) at night.

Chaweng

The popular beaches on the island are Chaweng and Lamai, both located near each other, on the east coast of the island. Both these areas are pretty commercialised along the main streets, which run parallel to the beaches. Other than these, there are beaches all along the coast which are slowly getting populated, but for now don't have as much of shops and noise there yet. Also, even though partially commercialised, the overall atmosphere on the island is still pretty relaxed which makes it very easy to unwind.

Lamai at night

Both the Lamai and Chaweng beaches are quite similar - long stretches of white sand, with restaurants on the beach and multiple water activities available. Other than that, the parallel streets offer many shops to browse through, and massage shops to get different treatments everyday. Honestly, as I said we did not do much, just walked around, ate, got massages daily, swam and ate some more!

Chaweng

On a Sunday, we also walked into the local Thai market near Lamai beach. It was a street full of vendors selling all kinds of foods - meats, crepes, insects etc.. The interesting thing though was how cheap it all was! All the restaurants which seemed very cheap compared to London rates, now seemed like a rip-off! Also made me realise how much our sense of prices has changed while staying in London.

Koh Nangyuan snorkelling

One of the days, we took a day trip to two islands, Koh Nangyuan and Koh Tao, for a snorkelling trip, and had a great time. The first thing we were impressed with was how their process worked very efficiently. People going on different trips are picked up from multiple locations, by different vans. All assemble at one location, and after check-in sorted into different ferries based on the colour of the ribbon on the hand. Each tour runs efficiently with lunch, food, equipment well taken care of. When you come back, again based on the drop off locations, everyone is assigned a van and dropped back to the correct location. Many small things were so very well co-ordinated throughout the trip, it was very impressive!!

Koh Nangyuan

Koh Nangyuan was a pretty island, small but self-contained. It had good beaches with sun-beds, corals for snorkelling just off the beach, a small trek up to the viewpoint, a restaurant on the island and lots of sun - all making for a fun-filled day! Both these islands are more famous for diving though, but that's for another time:).

One thing I really liked were the spirit houses (or little temples as they look like) that you could see outside all Thai homes and businesses. They are very small and colourful temples that are built outside every building. They look so cute and beautiful, caught my eye everywhere.

Thai spirit houses

There are a couple of other things to do on the island (which we did not), you can go to see the Thai boxing matches, or visit the touristy places like the Big Buddha temple or go diving to the island of Koh Tao and Koh Nangyuan. I would also suggest if you want to travel around the island, hiring a scooter is a very good option. Its comfortable, easy to park and good fun especially given the weather is so great. The mornings and evenings are pleasant with a cool breeze blowing most of the times. The afternoon does get sunny and hot and humid, but then thats what the sea is for:).

Renaissance

We stayed at the Renaissance hotel, between Lamai beach and Chaweng, which was a nice resort away from the noises of the main areas, and had a tropical hilly feel to it. Everyday, we would take their shuttle to one of the other two beaches and chill away the day. Other than that, we did not do much else. Food was tasty and spicy! People were helpful, though their English wasn't as good. Bargaining is key while shopping. Other than that, just sit back, relax and enjoy:)

Europe road trip: From Paris to Munich... (Part 2)

Europe road trip: From Paris to Munich... (Part 1)

The trip continues...




Drive to Beaune (Burgundy region) 

The next day was mostly spent driving to Beaune, a city in the Burgundy region. We started out late from St Emilion and then decided to stop somewhere midway for lunch. This time we drove through the smaller non-toll roads of France, and realised it was just not worth it as the speed limits were too low!

We stopped for lunch at a random town in the middle of the drive, called Angouleme. We had decided to have an Indian lunch but since the Indian restaurant was closed (as were the 10-15 other restaurants nearby, all closed for lunch at 2pm itself!), we ending up eating some non-descript stuff. The town again had a beautiful cathedral which we could not spend time at again (why do you never ever have enough time on vacations to explore all you want? There is always less time than you need irrespective of how long your vacation is!)

Anyways, the drive was mostly uneventful but the scenery improved when we neared Burgundy; we drove next to a canal, though beautiful little villages. Sadly it had become dark by then! And Beaune was a welcome surprise, it looked like a cute little town, well lighted up at night. We went to the city center which looked charming at night, to the only restaurant which was open at 9pm at night for dinner! It was called the [ ] and the waiter took a lot of effort to get us something vegetarian to eat! Was a welcome surprise, given how less we has been able to eat the last few days! Also apparently, Beaune has a lot of Michelin rated restaurants too, quite a surprise given how small the town felt!

Beaune

In the morning, we walked around a bit, to the cathedral, the old hospital building, wine museums, the village square etc. Frankly, Beaune had seemed a lot prettier and alluring at night than during the day! The area around Burgundy is also known for its wine, and visits to wineyards, we however did not get time to do any sightseeing.

Drive to Munich

The next day we drove from Beaune to Munich and this was an amazing drive; for two reasons. One we drove through the Blackforest region; the winding roads through green hills, all around covered with trees provided a very relaxing and energizing view. We drove through some small towns, some countryside and it felt all magical everywhere. The houses looked like what we see in Hindi movies, cute little wooden houses with flowers growing on the terrace. It felt so surreal, I can't find words to describe it.

And the second reason was that we got to drive on the Autobahn (finally!). Driving without speed limits has a different feel to it. Not that you drive much faster than you normally would but it still gives you the feeling of complete freedom which is tough to describe. We did drive upto 160 kmph a couple of times, but it was a humbling feeling, when even at that speed, cars would go swooshing by!! I finally saw what I had heard earlier, that drivers in Germany can drive fast and drive well at those speeds too, just because they get regular practice. And how frustrated they would be feeling, when people driving at 160 kmph think they are fast enough to drive on the left most lane!

On the way to Munich, we had planned to stop for dinner in the town of Ulum but then we got hungry and found the nearest Indian restaurant in a small ski town called Singen. We had dinner at the Sher-e-Punjab, and even though the food was average, it felt nice to have hot chai and speak in Hindi in the middle of Germany:).

Munich - Oktoberfest

Oktoberfest during day

We reached Munich late at night and got a glimpse of what Munich looks like during Oktoberfest, late at night. There were people dressed in lederhosen and dirndls walking and crowding the whole of the central area, and you could see so many people walking around aimlessly as they don't realise where they are and why:). The place looked so different than what I had seen it otherwise, all crowded and disorganised. And I also understood then, why people of Munich don't like the time around Oktoberfest: There are just too many drunk tourists everywhere!

Anyways, the next day we went to the Oktoberfest where a couple of colleagues of mine had already booked a table at a tent. I wore the dirndl to feel a part of the fest. Once at the fest grounds, the whole festival felt much smaller and much more organised than what I had expected it to be. There were rides and foodstalls everywhere, and everyone, especially the tourists were all dressed up. And then there were the big tents on both sides and people waiting in queues to get in.

Armbrutschutzenzelt tent

As I mentioned, we already had tent bookings, so we just sauntered in to our tent, sat down and started eating and drinking! I heard that you need to queue up from 7:30 itself to be able to get in the tents. We were in the tent called Armbrustschützenzelt for about 6 hours from 11-5pm. I was quite surprised to see how well organised the whole thing was!

Oktoberfest at night

There was a stage in the middle where musicians in German costumes were playing music, and all around people were eating, drinking and having fun! They had a huge food menu too, and I got to eat some pasta, so I was happy. The whole feel felt like a fun mela and we were so tired at the end of it, that we couldn't even stay late. We did however come back to the fest to sit in one of the rides at night.

After the ride, we just walked around to the Marienplatz area, which felt a lot less crowded than the area around the fest. Its the main touristy area of Munich, with a wide pedestrian shopping street, the city hall and the church.

Trekking around Munich

Alps near Munich

The next day, I would call it one of the high points of the trip, and I guess that is what makes me realise that in terms of vacations, I am not a beach person neither a wine country person but a mountain and forests and nature person! We decided to do a small trek around the Munich area, searched for the closest place we could find for a short trek and then left for the Hirschberg mountain. First the one-hour drive from Munich was so picturesque in itself; mountains, wooden houses, cows with cowbells, lakes.We drove around the Tegernsee lake, and it was so stunning there, I almost wanted to ditch the trek and just sit by the lake. A place like this feels so magical in itself!

Sea of clouds below

We started our trek from the Scharling village. The village was appealing in itself and we could see people paragliding in the sky there. The trek up Hirschberg mountain was 5 hour long (3 hours up and 2 hours down). When we started the trek, the weather was completely cloudy. For the first hour of the trek, we were walking in the clouds, and then we came above the clouds. And the whole view changed! Once at a height, you could see a whole sea of clouds all around, with only the peaks of closeby mountains peeking up!

The view around

The trek was pretty all throughout, walking through lush green forests. And a lot of scenes on the way felt straight out of a Yash Johar movie, very pleasing and magical, especially with the clouds playing with the trees... It was not a very strenuous trek, though it did get steep at times. At the top of the mountain, you are met with a solitary inn, called the Hirschberg inn. It was tough to get anything to eat there, since we did not know enough German. But after such a long trek, even bread with butter felt tasty:).

Alps!

By this time, we were on a high given the trek we did, and we had almost forgotten the visit to the French countryside. Given how much I had heard about it, the French countryside failed to impress me. Maybe its the French Riviera, or the Brittany area which is worthwhile, but Bordeaux (except St Emillion) was definitely not one of those. And of course I have now decided that the Alps, whether in Germany or Switzerland or Austria are definitely my favorite haunt in Europe!

Anyways, with the trek we finished our weeklong vacation. We ended up being late while coming down and then had to drive fast (and without limits) on the Autobahn. The efficiency of Munich airport saved us though. From the time we reached the car rental parking, to the time we were in the airlines lounge was not even 15 minutes! So a positive end to a fun vacation!

Europe road trip: From Paris to Munich... (Part 1)

We recently did a long over-due driving trip through Europe, starting in Paris, through the wine country of Bordeaux and Burgundy and ending with Oktoberfest and trekking in Germany. There were parts of this trip that I have wanted to do for long - like drive through Europe, visit the French countryside, attend Oktoberfest and drive through the Alps as well as on the Autobahn. It was fun to do some of the things I have dreamt of for so long; though I would say that only some and not all of them met my high expectations!

Bridge on the Seine

It was a week long trip and we drove about 2500 kms across Europe. I have divided this article based on the different places we visited. We started in Paris, drove to Bordeaux where we stayed for a couple of days in the village of St Emilion, then drove to Beaune in Burgundy, ending with attending the Oktoberfest and trekking up a mountain around the Munich area.

Paris

Bridge on the Seine

We have both been to Paris before, but still I thought it would be nice to spend some time there. To be frank, Paris did not feel as grand this time as it had the earlier times I had been in the city. Maybe because everything that had to be seen had been seen already. Still, we were there for a day and spent most of our time, just walking though the main touristy areas.

Eiffel Tower

We walked from Arc de Triomphe towards Eiffel Tower along the roads of Paris. We tried climbing up the Eiffel Tower but then realised you can't walk up all the way to the top, so ditched the idea as not worth it. After that, we walked next to the Seine, through the Concorde and the Louvre gardens, and ended up shopping in Rue de Rivoli. The weather was amazing when we were there, bright and sunny even though it was September. But as I said, it all felt too old and boring, not mesmerising anymore.

Arc de Triomphe

We stayed near the Arc de Triomphe, in hotel Armoni. The hotel was quite a disappointment, even though it is rated very high on tripadvisor. I would say the comments for Armoni are rigged, as the hotel though not bad wasn't great either. Its location was ok but the rooms are so small, it cannot be rated so high. One good thing about the hotel though was that we found a very good Indian/Pakistani restaurant called New Sanna, very near the hotel. It was one of the best tasting Indian food I have ever eaten in Europe. If you ever land up in the restaurant, I would recommend trying the Sanna kofta, its definitely worth it.

Drive to Bordeaux

The drive to Bordeaux was our first experience driving in France. The drive was mostly on the highway, so we did not get to see much of the countryside:(. The speed limit wasn't much either, so we felt that we were driving too slow. We passed through the region of Loire Valley, which is famous for many of its castles, we did not stop there though but would be a great stop if you have time to spare.

On the way, we saw an amazing sight, something I have never seen before; the clouds' edge. It was completely cloudy when we were in Paris but somewhere on the way to Bordeaux, we could see the sun shining over the edge of the clouds! It was a picturesque view, of dark clouds till a point and then clear blue sky, with the sun shining bright! And then onwards for the next few days, we had bright, sunny and warm days.

One thing we did find unexpected though was the amount of tolls on the roads: for a 5-6 hour journey, we paid more than EUR 50! It was quite a big surprise for us, especially because the roads were not really something to write home about!

St Emilion at night

The approach to our next place of stay was interesting. We reached Bordeaux at night, and were driving through country roads with villages and wineyards all around. There were a couple of well lighted chateaus in between which looked worth a visit sometime. And then we saw a well-lighted spread out castle and wondered, how cool would it be to stay here. And lo and behold, that was our destination, the old village of St Emilion. We entered at night, wondering how we can take a car within this fort like village, but we could and on top of that, we found parking next to our hotel too!

Bordeaux - St Emilion

St Emilion

We stayed in this village for the next 3 days, and they were idyllic days. St Emilion is one of the few scenic villages in the Bordeaux region, the rest being very modern and usual. It is a historical place, dating back even earlier thanthe second century and also a declared World Heritage site. Its a very small village with only about 2,000 people staying there. From afar, it looks like a fort, and within it has tiny narrow streets. Staying there almost felt like we were in a different era altogether.

St Emilion at night

The village is very pretty, all made of yellow stone, along small hills, so that you get a great view of the rest of the place from any other point. There are a couple of places to see within St Emilion itself, the church, the kings tower, the clock tower, underground churches and so on... For its size, it has a lot to see!  The village is well equipped with all facilities too, multiple restaurants, a square to eat in the open, shops, wineries etc.. And all around are wineyards and chateaus till wherever you can see.

Underground church

Wine wine everywhere....

We visited two chateaus and wineyards while we were in Bordeaux. One of them was Pape Clement in the Pessac region. Its an old wineyard (apparently the first in the region), was once owned by a Pope and now by Bernard Magrez who owns many other wineyards in the region. The other was the Mouton Rothschild chateau, in Pauillac village in Medoc area, which is owned by a Britisher, the Baroness Rothschild. We took tours at both the wineyards and they were both such a different, yet similar experience....

Pape Clement

Pape Clement felt like a smaller, cosier and more traditional wineyard. We were taken around the grape plantations, the room where the wooden vats are kept and then the underground cellar where the wine is allowed to ferment in barrels.  After the grapes are picked, they are fermented for over 6 months first in the vats and then in the cellars in the barrels over a period of 12-18 months when the wine finally gets made. Most of the wine from the Bordeaux region is red and that's why the grapes are all the black ones. (I ate some of them too while taking the tour, they were really tasty!).

The tour through Mouton Rothschild felt grander, more modern and commercial than Pape Clement. They had proper tours organised at regular times, and the whole tour felt very impersonal and long. The tour included many different things; a movie showing how great the wineyard and its owners were; a tour through the grape plantations; a trip through the vats and underground cellar; a guided tour of the Rothschild museum; and finishing with a history of all the labels that have been used on their wine bottles.

Underground cellar

Mouton was the first wineyard which started a trend of putting paintings made by famous artists on their wine bottles, a different painting every year. There is a complete one hour tour taking you through the history of these labels. What was interesting that one of the painting had been made by Prince Charles (I did not know he was a painter too!).

Savignon Blanc

The process of wine making felt quite involved and technical, and of course, the way the guides talked about it, it was clear that they love talking about their wines. The guide explained the wine making process in detail plus a lot of gyaan about how even minor changes in the process affects the taste of wine. Most of it did not make sense to me, but of course made me realise how much the French love their wine:). And one thing I missed seeing was what they always show in movies; how wine is made by crushing grapes with your feet. Wish I could have seen and experienced that, but alas that's not a process they use anymore:(.

Wine wine everywhere...

Going in these tours made me realise how complicated wine making and preparing is. The whole hoo-hulla about wine and wine tasting feels a little bit artificial to me but then what can I say, its a big business! I also realised that when people talk about wine becoming better with age, this aging is not done at the wineyards itself. It is after the wine is bottled, that it can be kept for many years to age.

Also, while visiting the wineyards, we drove through some of the other villages but they seemed too modern! The area around the villages was pretty though, with wineyards laden with grapes till wherever you can see. But in terms of villages, we were always happy to come back to St Emilion, which felt like a different world altogether.

Wineyards...

Dune du Pilait

Other than the wineyards, we visited Dune du Pilait one of the evenings which are a couple of huge sand dunes next to the sea on one side and the forests on the other. The dunes developed artificially somehow and now seem to be growing and eating up the forests. But I don't think anyone minds it, it gives the feeling of being a sandy beach which is always welcome:). Such dunes were something new to me though. something I haven't seen before!

La Victoire at Bordeaux

We also visited the town of Bordeaux one evening. Even though we did not explore the town much, there are a couple of cathedrals and other such buildings to visit. The walk next to the river is pretty too. We had dinner at a place near La Victoire and it felt like a nice happening place to spend an evening.

In terms of food, it was a bit tough to get good vegetarian food most of the time. In St Emilion, there were lots of good options. We went to Girondines, which had tasty fare. And of course, New Sanna in Paris.  Plus in case you are a Mc lover, there are McDonalds nearby if you really crave those:). But on the whole, it wasn't as easy to get good vegetarian food as we would have liked, one because most of the dishes would be non-vegetarian and second because it was tough to convey your requirements without knowing French. So we ended up eating crepes and salads most of the time:(.

Europe road trip: From Paris to Munich... (Part 2)