Euro Trip - Part 6

Day 10 :

Today was the visit to The Netherlands .. The Netherlands or Holland is a very low lying country .. There are lots of dikes and dunes to protect the low lying areas from flooding .. Had we gone before May 21 we would have been taken to see the famous flowers of Holland but this was unfortunately not the season for it

Instead we went to a smallish fishing village on the coast called Volvendham .It was full of fishing boats and picturesque colourful houses



The docks had a power line for every boat's pier .. Somethin i hadn't seen before ... The skies were ominously dark as we began strolling around the city .. The houses here were boxed together tightly so as to maximize the available space





Some of the houses even had a level below the road height .. In The Netherlands , lot of commuting is done by way of bicycles .. So much so that , all the roads have a separate lane for cycles complete with little traffic signals for them .. Some cars are even equipped with overhead racks to carry the cycles



Just as we were completing the tour of the city , it started pouring .. We took shelter in a roadside stall selling , as luck would have it , hot dogs :P .. We had some hot fries and hot dogs while waiting for the rain to abate ... When it showed no sings of doing so , we took the umbrella ( The attentive and regular reader will know it was bought in Germany :P ) and proceeded to look around a bit more

We left this place after about an hour there and drove to a cheese and shoe factory .. Netherlands is famous for its cheese and its wooden shoes .. The wooden shoes used to be worn by farmers when they were workin in the flooded fields .. After some explaining of how cheese is made and some quite delicious sample of the various types of cheese ( This included even non veg cheese ) we were shown a demonstration of how wooden shoes are made.. These days they are bought just for decorative purposes by tourists , and so they even have multi coloured shoes


After buyin some cheese ( which I'm enjoying to this day ) we left the farm and went for a photo stop in front of a huge windmill, which the Netherlands is quite famous for




The windmills were used in the olden days to dry the flooded fields .. These days these huge structures are little more than decorative figures on the landscape.. Quite a few of them still around though

After this we headed into Amsterdam , the capital , and headed straight for lunch .. Was local dutch meal .. Fries and Croquettes .. After this we went on a cruise on some of the many canals of Amsterdam ... The city was founded when the dam on the river Amstel was built , thereby leading to its name as well and it is full of canals and waterways

There were cycles galore on the streets of Amsterdam as well and lots of rails provided to park them next to and lock onto .. Sometimes even that is not enough though as depicted by this photograph



At one point on the cruise , we could see 7 bridges in one straight line , one behind the other .. We also saw the Dutch coat of arms ( The XXX )




After the cruise we were let off at Dam square , the main square of Amsterdam .. Walked around there for a while , saw the palace and generally hung around the area



A magician was starting to perform in the square , but it was just as we had to leave though :/ .. From here we drove to Madhuradam where they had Miniature Holland , models of all the important buildings of Holland on a scale of 1:25




All the models were remarkably detailed and took many years to build .. Even the shrubs surrounding the buildings were miniatures , grown especially for this park .. Some of the buildings even had miniature people in them .. Like, a miniature castle would have tiny soldiers gathered in the field .




We were given a map which had information about each model and its number to go by

Some of the building even had moving mechanical parts to display the working of them .. Some models, on inserting a coin would move around and perform various actions .. Eg : On a model of a fair , the roller coaster would go for a ride around the circuit , the merry go round will move etc etc .. On a model of a bridge , the bridge will rise everytime a boat passes underneath and come back to position once the boat has crossed etc , In a ship repair yard , the ship will come out after the repairs ..... and so on





They had moving automobiles on highways , an extensive railway setup complete with bridges over obstacles that trains would ply on ,mini cable cars and even a model of an airport where planes would move up and down the runway




They also had a mini football field , lookin down on which u would get the feeling that u were up in a blimp flying over the field making the people look like ants




After takin a LOT of pictures here , in the process depleting all the memory as well as draining the battery of the camera , we left Madhuradam and went back to Antwerp and to the hotel .

PS : It was indeed fortunate that we had taken the laptop along as we could transfer photos from the camera when the memory would run out , as it quite frequently did , what with the sheer volume of photos taken ..

PPS: I'm only including one day in this post as this was unnaturally long with lots of pics by itself and also cause the next day is Paris , which will be equally ,if not more , lengthy

Euro Trip - Part 5

Day 8 :

Went first to the Rhine falls this morning ... The Rhine ( Rhein in German ) river is one of the most important rivers in Europe stretching for 1300 km and is a very important trade facilitator

The Rhein falls as such is not a very steep or big falls .. Juz pretty looking




But the cool thing is that they have viewing points on a rock which splits the falls ( denoted by the flag flying ) and a staircase to get up there .. So we got on a boat and proceeded to that spot .. While we were on the boat it started raining .. Rainfall on Rhein falls :-)

Anyway we got onto that rock and climbed up .. and the view was indeed spectacular .. seing a waterfall from above it was pretty cool




Went to another view point after that from where u can see the falls side - on . .After a few more pics here went back to the main dock and back onto the bus

From here we officially entered Germany and into the Black Forest .. This is so called because the density of trees in the forest is so thick that sunlight cannot penetrate through the tree tops and reach the forest floor .





This is a huge forest and is clearly visible from the air as well , as we noticed while flying over Germany .. Also obviously visible was the Swiss Alps .. But i digress ... We went to the small town of Titisee in the heart of the Black Forest for lunch .. The local meal .. Steak , Salad and potatoes and some local beer .. Germany is well known for its beer .. They have over 1200 breweries in Germany and the regulations for these was laid down way back in the 1500's


After this we went to the Drubba Cuckoo Clock factory ..The black forest is the place of origin of the Cuckoo clock .. In the winter months when it becomes too cold for farming , the farmers of this region resort to making Cuckoo clocks from the wood found in the Black Forest .. We were shown a demonstration of a small part of and an explanation of the making of the Cuckoo clocks .. They had many varieties for sale as well there ranging from simple clocks which emit the cuckoo sound to musical clocks that perform a whole host of actions in tune to the music which cost exhorbitant amounts .. We bought a small clock with just the cuckoo and also an umbrella cuz it was starting to pour

After that we proceeded to the town of Heidelburg .. Heidelburg is known mainly for its famous university renowned for its printing technology and its castle .. Its castle is situated on a hill from where one can get a nice view of the city .. We proceeded to go into the castle and look around




Apparently the castle had a Huge Wine vat which was as big as an entire room .. But it was closed when we went :/ ... Here, inside the castle also, they were making arrangements for a concert to be held :o .. After spending some time here we drove to our hotel .. Travelled by the famous Autobahn ,the highways of Germany, where there is no official speed limit .. The drivers are cautioned to drive around 120 kmph though .. After dinner at the hotel Ramada , we walked around the place a bit and made fun of the long German names :)





Day 9 :

Started off with a cruise on the river Rheine on a huge cruise boat .. Apparently the Rhine is a deep enough river that pretty huge and long cargo ships , which i thought were in operation only in the seas were plying these waters





Also the water of the Rhine was not like the green in Switzerland but more greyish like namma ooru water .. Every 2 mins or so we could come across a castle built on some hill in this region




As there was quite a chilly wind blowing on deck , we went down below and spent the rest of the ride there .. Also saw monument to a legendary lady who used to sit on a hilltop and sing .. The sailors , mesmerized by her beauty and voice would forget everything else and crash into the rocks .. Also saw lots of caravans and trailers on the banks as this was a popular getaway place

Came back to shore and drove to Cologne ... This is the birthplace of the famous ' Eu De Cologne ' .. First we went to the Cathedral in Cologne .. This is built in the Gothic style of architecture with lots of spires n stuff and lot of sculptures on the walls .. Beautiful to look at though it is covered in black grime




Apparently during World War 2 , 14 bombs were dropped on this by The allies and still it survived without any major damage .. My theory on this is that 14 bombs were dropped , but none of them exploded :D

Went inside and saw the huge pillars holding it up built layer upon layer .. Also they had lots of stain glass painted windows inside



The grandeur and size of these old European churches is quite stunning




Bought a bottle of Eu de Cologne in a shop nearby , had lunch and left Cologne and drove to Belgium


We first drove to Brussels , the capital of Belgium and went straight to St Michael's Square , where ,again preparations where on for a concert



Strolled around a bit and saw some of the things Belgium is famous for... Chocolates , especially the Godiva ones .. Lace works and lace tapestry stores ..Also Tintin Snowy and Captain Haddock painted on a wall and at the bottom , the signature of Herge , their creator who hails from Belgium .. And of course saw & ate some Belgian Waffles



They have so many varieties of Waffles and toppings and on a chilly day such as this , it was bliss to eat one of those hot waffles

Also saw the statue of the mannequin Pis - the symbol of the city of Brussels




The story behind this is that one day the young prince went missing .. After searchin for a lot of time , the King said that whenever and wherever the prince was found , he would erect a statue depicting exactly what the prince was doing at that time .. As luck would have it, the prince was found in a street cornet , urinating , and hence the statue


Also saw statue of a famous Army general which it is rumoured ,if u rub , will bring u good luck



Also saw a glass roofed building which kept the entire interior warm and was full of shops




Left brussels after this and drove to our hotel , The Hilton Scandic , with a photo stop at the Atomium along the way



This was built in 1950's to commemorate the Trade fair held in Brussels that year and is obv, in the shape of an atom .

The hotel was in Antwerp , famous for its diamond cutting .. Had local dinner that night ... Soup , Fish , rice and salad .. Went for a walk after dinner and if you thought German names were long ....

Euro Trip - Part 4

Despite great temptation to write about the Simpson's movie which i saw yesterday and was brilliant , i will persist and continue the account of the euro trip

Day 6 :

The day began with a visit to Trummelbachfalls ie Glacier falls .. The river cuts its natural path through the mountain and they have cut out parts of the rock to allow tourists inside to observe the falls - the only such type of falls in the world . There is a path up the mountain and various view points on the way from where the falls can be observed



This path ^^ was on the outside of the mountain to come down .. While goin up we took a lift to one level and then took the steps cut into the mountain .. The water from the falls was very cold and was flowing with a great force making a deafening noise as well .. With the dark conditions inside the mountain and the constant water splashing onto the path it dint make for very good photographic conditions though






After spendin bout an hour here we left and proceeded to the train station from where we were to take a mountain train upto Jungfrau

Jungfrau is called the top of Europe .. It is a mountain peak at a height of 11,782 feet above sea level .. It was and still is considered one of the harder peaks to climb up ... In fact only a week after we were there 6 mountaineers died trying to scale it .. Keeping this is mind it is quite an engineering marvel that they built a railway line all the way upto the top as far back as the 1920's or so .. So we got onto the first train and went upto a intermediate station from where we had to switch trains .. On the way up of course we were treated to some astounding views of the countryside and i couldn't stop clickin pics



Got out at the inter station and switched trains to get us to the top .. This train stopped for 5 mins at two viewpoints each on the way up so that people could get off and look down the mountain face .. Unfortunately the weather was very bad the day we went and all we could see was fog :(

Reached the top of the Peak .. Here they have a huge indoor complex which contains all the restaurants , shops , train stations etc and there are exits from where people can get out onto the snow itself ... We first proceeded for lunch where we had out local meal with champagne :) .. After that we went around and saw the places of interest .. There s an ice palace , the whole structure being made of ice which has rooms , ice sculptures etc inside it



After this we went out via one of the exits onto the ice shelf ... It was freezing cold , especially with the gusty winds .. Spent about 2 mins there and could not take it anymore and returned to the warmth of the indoor heated complex



On a fine weather day one would get a fantastic view of the neighbouring mountains and the entire mountain range from out on the ice shelf .. But all we saw that day was fog and ice .. The temperature high that day was -0.5 degree centigrade and it was at -1.2 degrees when we were there with winds blowing at speeds of a maximum of 62 kmph

From here we proceeded to the Sphinx View point ... another place where ,as the name suggests , one would get a good view of the mountains .. Also in this place were snow dogs , snow plows and people working to keep the path safe .. Wanted to go for a ride on the sled pulled by the snow huskies but the bad weather did not permit it



Went back , rejoined the group and went down the mountain and back to the bus after this

From there we drove to Interlaken . As the name suggest it is a city situated in between 2 huge lakes and is very picturesque .. It is also a place where a lot of Bollywood films are shot against the backdrop of the mountains .. Strolled around the place for a while and had some Swiss coffee and took some pics .. Officially the currency of Switzerland is the Swiss franc but most shops also accept the Euro



After this we returned to Engelberg and to the hotel .

Day 7 :

Started off the day by going to Mt Titlis .. This was reached via a set of cablecars .. The first one being a steep inclined climb in a 4 person cable car followed by a Rotair Cable car which rotates 360 degrees while moving up so that a person gets a panoramic view of the mountains .. The weather on this day was sunny and afforded good visibility of the magnificent( yes , im running out of superlatives ) view




On reaching the top we were greeted by bright sunshine on the snow .. I had never understood why mountaineers needed sun glasses but appreciated them now as the sun s rays beat down really brightly at that altitude and also off the snow .. took a few more pics from the top



Played around in the snow for some time , which was exactly the right constituency , not too hard nor too soft .. Threw Snowballs , plodded knee deep in snow etc etc ..
After this we took the ice flyer down to an area where they have snow rides .. Kind of like the water slides in amusement parks , but on snow , going downhill .



They even had a ' magic carpet ' built into the snow , kind of like a travellator to bring u back up the hill .. Went on all the various sleds , losing balance and falling off twice as well on a chair like sled :(



Time flew by unheeded here and after a LOT of fun , we proceeded back up to the main mountain via the ice flyer ..The shade that the clouds cast on the snow led to brilliant interplay of their shadows juxtaposed with the pristine white snow below us making for a beautiful view as me moved up

Once back up we took a photo next to a snowman someone had painfully constructed ;) and back in the main complex we took a family photo in the native Swiss clothes and settings and then proceeded back down via the same way we had come , ie the cablecar
The contrast in setting from the snow covered mountains to the verdant valleys could be clearly seen as the descent proceeded .. All in all , a quite beautiful and enjoyable experience

Side Note : After we came back down from the mountain , I realized the sides of my sneakers had lost their brownish hue and had become sparkling white .. The snow must have had quite an effect on them , takin away the dirt and cleaning them for me :-)

From there we drove to Lucerne .. Once there we first visited the Lion statue , One of the symbols of Lucerne .. This was commissioned as a tribute to the soldiers who had laid down their lives in some battle ( forgot which one , this is why i shud have written this earlier :-/ )



Once the sculpture was completed though , the King did not pay the artist the full payment that had been agreed upon .. To show his displeasure the artist made the cavity that the lion is resting in resemble the shape of a Pig .... If u look closely u can clearly see the snout and ears of a pig being carved on the cavity to the left and top of the lion

From there we proceeded to the Wooden bridge , Another one of the symbols of Lucerne .. This bridge was adorned with flowers on the railings and paintings on the ceilings .. Half of them were destroyed in a fire many years back though .. It also contains a huge water tower .. Walked around the town for a bit , went into a chapel , strolled around the lake . As it was a Saturday most shops were closed thought

Another amazing thing about Europe is that people take their dogs everywhere .. Into shops , into restaurants along with them etc .. Saw lots of people walking their dogs around the lake here , some which were growling and snarling and looking to fight the ducks :))

We were then taken for a cruise on the lake of Lucerne



After the cruise , we left Lucerne and drove to the Marriot in Zurich .. That night there was Zurich fest goin on which was a once in two years thing .. With music , dancing and general merriment going on in all the the streets of Zurich .. The city was about 15 mins ride from the hotel we were in .. Badly wanted to go for the fest but no company , so skipped it and spent 2 hours browsing the Internet , watchin you tube clips :-/

Euro Trip - Part 3

Day 4 :

Got up ,& after the usual morning activities , left for Venice . Got to the quay and got off the bus and onto a boat

Venice , Venezia in Italian , is a city made up of 170 islands and numerous canals .. Transportation is either by foot across the bridges (Venice has 400 bridges ) or by boat . So we got into the boat and entered Venice .. Marvelled at the way the place is constructed as we entered . . As everything here is transported by boat all the houses on the waterfront have landing docks and steps to enter the house from the water .. Some even have water garages .. They have public bus boats , police boats , gondola's etc etc .

Started the tour at the Bridge of Sighs .. This was so named because this was the bridge that the prisoners had to cross when they were about to be executed and they would sigh as they caught a last glimpse of the city



Then we were taken for a Gondola ride .. Nowadays gondola's are hardly used by the locals for transportation , they use motorized boats instead .. So the gondola's are used for ferrying tourists primarily




We were taken past the main waterfront and into the side canals that dot Venice . The gondola boatman was so skillful that all he had was his single long oar and not once did he collide any part of the gondola with a building or another boat .. Sang an Italian song on the way too .. In the narrow canals they even have speed limits .. 5 Kmph .. Tough to go beyond that anyway cuz of all the gondola traffic as its a very popular tourist attraction as seen from this traffic jam




After the gondola ride we went to the Murano glass factory where they showed us a demonstration of how to make glass works of art . Bought a red glass vase there .
After this we went onto St marks Square which contains the cathedral , baptistery and the bell tower .. St marks square is a big open space famous for the number of pigeons that can be perennially found there

For a fee one can ascend the bell tower and while we were waiting in line to do so , we bought one of the famous Venetian masks



Went up the bell tower and had an AmaZing aerial view of Venice .. From up there u can see the shoreline , the neighbouring islands and how densely the buildings are packed together so as to maximize the available space




Right when we were up there it turned 12 pm and the bell started ringing with a deafening noise. After takin lots of photos up there we descended back to St marks square

A great thing about Europe is that , anywhere they find a open public place or square they hold concerts and other events there . St marks square was also being prepared for a concert at that time




Got on the boat back to the quay after strolling around Venice a bit more . On the way back , we were served lunch and had live Italian music in the form of a musician playing an instrument

Got back onto the bus from the quay and had a 5 hour drive into Austria as we bid farewell to Italy .. Passed a few vineyards and as we got closer to Austria the scenery was breathtaking with lush green valleys nestling among the snow topped mountains in the background on either side of the road



Many of the hills had Castles and forts sitting on the top of them , all of them centuries old , used nowadays as private holiday bungalows. Also saw a few ski jump places and ski elevators , not in use presently but very popular in the winter

Reached Innsbruck in Austria at around 6 pm and proceeded for the city tour

Innsbruck is a small , very picturesque city with huge snow capped mountain ranges lying just a few kilometres away and visible from the town itself . Language spoken predominantly is Austria is German . Bruck in German means ' bridge' and the river running through the town is called the Inn and so the town literally means " Bridge on the river Inn "



The center of this city too had cobbled stone roads . As it was almost 7pm when we went for the city tour all shops and museums were closed ..Apparently they all close shop @ around 4 -5 pm itself . Saw the golden roof building so called because when seen against the backdrop of the mountains it shimmers as if made of gold



Also in Innsbruck is the worlds oldest existing restaurant as recognized by the Guinness book of World Records dating back to the 13th Century.. Went for dinner after this and had our local Austrian meal that day .. Soup , Steak and mashed potatoes .. After a nighttime stroll around the area , went back to the hotel and to bed .


Day 5 :

Left Innsbruck and went to the Swarovski Kirstallwelten . The entrance certainly was impressive with the Swarovski demon hanging over the entrance spewing water from its mouth



Inside there are a few displays and exhibits made of crystal for the visitors to look at before proceeding to the main shop. They also have the worlds most expensive wall made up of millions of crystals ... 2 rather boring shopping Hours later, our bags heavier with a few crystal articles we left the Kristallwalten and drove To Liechtenstein and out of Austria passing on the way the third longest mountain tunnel in Europe - 14 kilometres long .

We reached Liechtenstein and were taken for a small tour of the city of Vaduz ,its capital .

The Principality of Liechtenstein is a tiny, doubly landlocked country , bordered by Switzerland to its west and by Austria to its east.
It has no army of its own and is looked after by Switzerland .. For this reason the border checks to enter into Switzerland are done on entering Lichtenstein itself .

The tour of Vaduz was in a mini road train basically taking us to the few places of interest like The 15th century Red House and the vineyards owned by the prince.




Only confusing part abt Liechtenstein was the question of what its population actually was .. Our tour manager said 32,00 , the recorded tour tape on the train said 35,000 and the train driver said 34,000 .. Unless there were 1000 people dying and being born every minute there ( ie 3 % of its population ) there was no way of explaining it :)) .. My dad put it in perspective .. "Whatever its population is its less than that of Adyar "

After the 45 minute tour of Vaduz we left Liechtenstein and crossed into Switzerland

Switzerland's official name is Confederation Helvectia . It has a population of 7 million but gets almost 20 million tourists a year .They speak 4 languages there .. German, French, Italian and the lesser-known Romansh . It is one the few countries in Europe that has its own border controls and visa instead of the Shengen visa which gets u into most countries in the region and has made border checks between countries redundant .

On the way to Engelberg where we were to stay that night we passed the Wellen See (See meaning lake in German ), a huge lake with water the colour of dazzling green emeralds , the likes of which i had never seen before



Reached Engelberg , checked into the Scweizerhof hotel , had dinner and went for a stroll around the city , which , like a lot of Switzerland, is visually stunning .



We even tried blowing one of the traditional Swiss horns , the long Alphorn to no avail .. After trying for a bit we gave up and the professionals took over and gave us a mini concert :)



As it was getting quite chilly , came back to the hotel and went to bed .

Ps : Hope these posts are long enough for Haresh :P