Experiences in Europe - Part 1

KamJo asked me to share some of my wonderful experiences from the Eurotrip. I think its high time I did.

But since there was so much that we saw, I will first talk about what we saw. And this post will be full of links to photos that illustrate all the superlatives that I am going to use. We all know how many words a picture can speak!


Beautiful Natural landscapes: Switzerland is by far, the most beautiful place in Europe, especially if you arrive during autumn. There's something about European trees that gives them leaves of vivid colors. And when fall comes, you can see just about every color hanging from the trees. Put a blue lake and a beautiful and snow-capped mountain in the backdrop and you would know what I am talking about.
However, more vivid and beautiful colors can easily be seen in Scandinavia. In the northern regions of Finland and Norway, especially if you drive in the country side, you will feel like you are inside a giant rainbow. Only, the colors are all intermixed making it the among the most beautiful natural kaleidoscopes. Similarly, though not quite equally beautiful scenes are to be seen in the BlackForest region in Germany.
Recommendations:
The bus ride from Haparanda to Lulea, both in Sweden. Quite easily among your most endearing view of Mother Nature's colors.
The train ride from Lucerne to Interlaken in Switzerland, called the 'Golden Panoramic Pass' and dubbed the most beautiful train ride. Hop off at Brienz and stay there for 2 days, doing nothing except gazing at the scenery, and I assure you, no landscape will ever look beautiful enough.
Close in competition is the train ride from Oslo to Bergen in Norway. As the train chugs along, the landscape keeps changing, and you see green mountains, golden forests and snow covered regions in this one ride. And to top it all, you reach Bergen which is famous for its fjords.


Beautiful Urban Landscape: If I were to call one city beautiful, it would be Venice. For the weak hearted, it is enchanting to say the least. Canals and pigeons abound in this city, as do gondolas. A ride in a gondola with your loved one is among the most romantic things ever [along with Parisian adventures]. And if you come to Venice and don't notice the special things about Venetian masks and Murano glass, you must be incredibly stupid or completely blind.
On the more modern side is Stockholm, which is beautiful for the magnificient juxtaposition of the old with the new. Walk along the seaside, venture into the museums or watch the Royal Guard Change ceremony at the Royal Palace. Or gaze and marvel at the modern buildings. For those who are still wonderfully single, it would be interesting to note that Swedish ladies are amongst the most beautiful in Europe, alongwith Greek, Spanish and Italians.

Imposing Architecture: Quite clearly, a city which has a history of many millennia can be tough to beat on this count. Rome stands out as the city with innumerable imposing monuments. From those that are old enough to be ancient, may be even prehistoric, to the newer ones. From St Peters's Square to Collosseum to Acropolis. While the Basilica is simply stunning, other lesser known monuments are also very big and beautiful.
Paris and Rome are architecturally the two most well endowed cities in all of Europe.


Mercedes Museum: The multi-storeyed museum in Stuttgart is simply among the best structures in Germany. Technologically advance and aesthetically well designed, its the mecca for Mercedes lovers. It houses a dazzling variety of cars - from the first ones degined by Otto to the concept cars.

This is what I saw. In a next post, I will talk about how I felt.

Meanwhile, through a noble but sudden scheme of things, I realised how awfully bad I am at impersonating people, even through the web channel. To my credit, the impersonation was across genders :O and I was talking to Strato, so I was excited and typing at supersonic speed! :))

Also, I am almost done with the gift shopping. For myself, I have bought a plaster of paris statue which I liked, but needs to be clothed a little before I can put it up for public display in my room.

And here's one of the best quips I have heard in some time :
Me: But I put in so much effort to produce these PJs and you don't even appreciate that.
X: Arrey yaar, "in constipation, even crap is hard to produce"