Travel : Trip of a Lifetime - II

The cruise....

Too excited to go on a cruise, we three musketeers reached the spot 4 hours before the departure time. Unfortunately, even the cruise was late that night. Whatever might be the case, it was worth the wait. It was the first time in our life, we had dined, partied and slept (of course individually) on a ship. 24 hours later, we were heading towards the train station to our very next destination, “The Eternal City”, Rome.

Roaming in Rome...

Adventures started as soon as we reach Rome. We forgot to validate our ticket and were dead scared that we might get caught by the officials. Getting down at the railway station, we helped an old lady who was struggling to come out of the train. It took us 2 hours to reach our hotel even though we were roaming on the same street and finally arriving at a disastrous room. I regret not checking the reviews for this one. Of all the places, Rome turned out to be the cheapest and our little stint at Rome and Vatican took us to an entirely new era. We all love Italian food and as they say, “When in Rome, do as Romans do”, so we had a brief Italian cuisine experience there too. One day at Rome and then we were already heading towards our next destination, “The Floating City”.

Khuda Jaane...

I always wanted to do a Ranbir Kapoor in Venice. I wish I had met my Deepika Padukone there. Sadly, the excitement we had before we reach Venice got washed. We did expect rains though but not so heavy. We had a sloppy Venice Trip but an awesome stay. The biggest worry we had was whether our time on our phones will go back by an hour or not? It was Daylight Saving and we had our train the early next day. Though I was saddened that I could not go on a Gondola ride, the experience was just perfect. My suggestion, do take the camps at least in one place and live the way of the wild.

Its Bollywood time...

Chugging away from the land of Pizzas and Pastas, we were moving towards our last destination. Instead of finding saree clad heroines singing around the trees, we were tortured by railway officials as to why we did not print our tickets. God!!! Why do they give e-tickets if we had to print it? Everything was forgotten; when our eyes fell upon the mesmerising view of the hills that can be nothing less than a heaven.  No wonder it is called as Heaven on Earth. It was Easter Sunday and we found ourselves at the mercy of the maps as the entire city was deserted. It was fortunate in one way but unfortunate in other too. Mother Nature had aptly chosen Zurich to be the most beautiful of all (Though I’m yet to see Kashmir). The final bus journey brought us to the end of our Easter trip and we were back to same old boring classes, but surprises awaited us. There was a heavy snowfall in Warsaw during the Easter period and the winter just got extended. It turned out to be one of the longest winters seen even by the Polish citizens.

Time for history lesson...

A weekend trip to Krakow, Poland, one month down the line was then planned. For those who have never heard of it, Krakow is known as the cultural capital of Poland. Krakow is famous for Karol Wojtyła popularly known as Pope John Paul II. Apart from that, the Wawel Castle which tells us the legend of the Wawel Dragon is also admired here. My recommendation would be to go and have a look at the Wieliczka Salt Mine, one of the world’s oldest salt mine in operation until 2007. Steven Spielberg fans would surely recognize Krakow as the place where the film Schindler’s list was set in. One of the central hubs of surviving Jewish community, Krakow was a wonderful experience which was entirely opposite to that of Warsaw.

Hello Hitler...

Days went by and finally the spring arrived. Two more weekend getaway trips still pending before my return to India. The first one was the destination which is also one of the sister cities of Warsaw. The largest city in Germany, Berlin was nothing less than an architecture marvel. The 11^th most popular destination of 2013, Berlin is a place to look out for. Though the city was dampened by rain during our weekend trip, our spirits weren’t. As we say, ‘Kadam Kadam Badhaye Jaa’, we bravely faced the rains of Berlin to check out the city. My favourite was the Sony Center as it was the technological hub for me. Indian food at its best was found in Germany when we arrived at a famous restaurant which was not only cheap but also delicious. A Dutch lady with a dog in our metro ride scared me to wits, not because I was afraid of the lady but actually I was afraid of the dog.

Hawa Hawa...

The final weekend getaway reminded me of Nargis Fakhri a lot. To those who have seen the movie ‘Rockstar’ should remember Nargis Fakhri running on the Charles Bridge situated in Prague, Czech Republic. Yash Raj’s quote should have been for this city, ‘Come, fall in love’. The home to the oldest medieval castle in the European Union and also the city of one of the largest Jewish Community, Prague was the best among my entire destination list. I remember one of my tour guides mentioning, his wife’s grandmother who hailed from Czech has lived in seven countries in her entire life without even moving to another place. Such a mesmerising history this country has. A short trip to Kutna Hora, 75 kms from Prague, known for its Bone Chapel was also worth a visit. Here you could see chandelier and a coat of arms made from real human bones shocking you out of your wits and reminding you that come what May, we all have to die some day.

Goodbye...

The Trip of a lifetime came to an end on 8^th of June 2013 and taught me a lot of things. This was an experience worth sharing and will always remain close to my heart. To people out there whom I have met, I just want to say, that I will always remember you and hope to see you soon again in my life.

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