Trip to the Norwegian Fjords - Aurland, Flåm and Gudvangen

If you’ve read Slartibartfast talking to Arthur Dent in Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy, you would have heard that he received an award for designing the Broken Coastline, full of Fjords, of Norway, when they designed the Supercomputer called Earth to find the Ultimate Question to Answer (Meaning of life). Now having been to the Fjords myself, I can say that maybe he really deserves such an award even if was reality. Such a wonder, these Fjords are... Truly amazing!

Day 1(Friday-Aug 04, 2006): Having been in Norway for the last 8 months (oof time flies!!!) and spending the best part of summer in Oslo, we decided not to waste any more weekends in Oslo and planned a trip to the Fjords in Norway. We initially decided to take the Famous Tour called “Norway in a Nutshell”, provided by a tour operator. Then looking at the humongous costs involved and also the time involved, we decided to rent a car and go to the same places and do the trip on our own. So we rented a car and left for a place called Aurland on Friday evening.

The idea was to cover the best part of the ‘Sognefjorden’ (Second largest fjord in the World and largest in Norway) called ‘Nærøyfjord’ or 'Narrow Fjords' and the surrounding areas. It is also listed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 2005. The entire route was so scenic that we had to make quite a few stops to take plenty of photographs. This whole stretch of roads was in the mountains and plenty of sharp corners and slow speed zones and single lane traffic. In some parts there were no lanes at all. It was so narrow that one small mistake, you would be flying from the mountain side and a crash land at the bottom of the mountains and can kiss goodbye to your dear life (and dear wife, if you had one!Very bad PJ :-)

We passed along some of the wonderful sceneries and finally drove though a Tunnel at Lærdhal, which is supposedly the ‘World's Longest Road Tunnel’ stretching for almost 25 Km through the mountains. Norwegians, as they say, are one of the best tunnel builders in the world. After seeing plenty of similar tunnels, I am not very surprised at that. Very smooth, spacious and very safe tunnels with emergency stops, SOS telephone booths and Fire extinguishers every Km. Finally around 23:30, we reached our destination Aurland and we went to our Cabins. They were a nice set of cabins with 4 bunker beds in each and a mini-kitchen with a mini-fridge. So we cooked our dinner at mid-night trying hard not to make too much noise and wake up the fellow tourists.
Day 2(Saturday-Aug 05, 2006): The plan for the day was to wake up early and drive to a place called Voss, where the Fjord tour starts. The Fjord tour consisted of a train journey from Voss to Myrdhal and then another mini-train journey down the Mountains from Mydhal to Flåm in Flåmsbana (Flåm train), then a Ferry Trip from Flåm to Gudvangen (Ferry on the Nærøyfjord) and then a Bus journey back to Voss with a stop at the top of the mountains at Stalheim to get a neat view of the valley and mountains yonder.As usual, it’s always difficult to wake up early in the morning as planned and there were a few late risers, like yours truly!, much to the annoyance of his fellow Fjord hunters. As I woke up and came out of my cabin... Lo.. Behold... There I was, treated with one of the best views... What a View to wake up to!!! Our cabins were on the Mountain slope and overlooking the Aurlandsfjorden and the Mountains on the other side of Fjords... There was a tinge of Mist all over and it seemed like a Majestic View to wake up to. We had a nice breakfast with some Bread toasts and a cuppa tea/coffee. Then we left Aurland for Voss to start the train journey. We were just in time to catch the train to Myrdhal. It was a very quiet journey and the train was full of International tourists.

Flåmsbana - Then we took the Flåmsbana down the mountains. It is one of the steepest Train journeys. This journey was fantastic and we went through some of narrow tunnels and beautiful sceneries. We stopped at a waterfall in between to shoot some photos. Infact this whole region of mountains are full of waterfalls and streams that trickle down from the mountain tops due to the melting snow. This was a very wide waterfall and we were greeted by some singing Norwegian blondes in the rocks near the waterfalls. We continued the train journey all the way to Flåm with lots of beautiful natural spots along our way. It was a truly wonderful train journey.

Boat trip on Nærøyfjord - We had our lunch in Flåm and then caught the boat for another magnificent journey on the Narrowest Fjord in Mainland Europe. For a moment, I felt like I was inside the Tolkien's Fantasy "Lord of the Rings" going on a Boat ride with the company of the Fellowship on the River Anduin in between two scenic mountains. Maybe Tolkein visited Norway to get some inspiration! The view on both sides of the Fjords was just breathtaking. Lush Green Mountains with plenty of waterfalls all along, cities below the mountains on the Fjord side and some lonely houses and cabins on Mountain tops. Now I can guess what Norwegians mean, when they say 'I went to my cabins in Mountains for Summer Vacation'. We passed some of the cities along the Fjords and entire journey lasted 2 hours and we could not enough of it. The View just kept getting better. Finally the boat trip ended in 'Gudvangen' and we had to switch to a Buss that will take us back to Voss.

Bus Ride through Stalheim: It was a nice and Comfortable Volvo Bus. We didn’t quite know the real power hidden inside the hood of that bus, until we started climbing up the steep mountains of Stalheimskleiva. It was one of the narrowest and steepest climb with plenty of Hair-Pin bends (13 to be precise!). That took us all back in our memories to the Bus rides to Ooty or Kodaikanal or Tirupathi and the reckless driving of some of the private and state bus drivers in these places. This ride was so smooth on a Volvo and we didn’t even feel a thing at the hair pin bends. We were taken to the top of the mountain there and the view from top of the mountain overlooking the ground below and the Mountains beyond into the Fjords was just beautiful. After a brief halt, we were taken back to Voss and we drove back to our Cabins after visiting the nice Bordal gorge on the way. After a tiring but fantastic day, we treated ourselves, to a nice dinner, the Indian way... We had some nice Pulau with Dhal, Aloo Capsicum Sabji and Raita. Sumptuous Dinner… It was the result of a good team effort from an extremely hungry bunch of people. This was the best part of staying in a cabin as compared to a Hotel. You could get a fantastic view outside the cabin and also a kitchen where you can cook your own food (worked out much cheaper than Restraunts) and also a bit isolated from the city lights so that you can enjoy the night sky.

Day 3(Sunday-Aug 06, 2006): After waking up to a nice view and making some French toast with Desi style Chai, we had to clean up and vacate the cabins. We got some information about some hiking spots and nice sight seeing areas around Aurland from the Caretaker of Cabins and headed to one such spot.

Aurland Look-out View: This road was a scenic drive up the mountains, straight above where we stayed. This is the same road which is an alternate route back to Lærdhal instead of taking the Tunnel back again. This is a long and winding road going all around the mountains and taking us back to the other side of the mountain through the roads which go on mountain top and descending on the other side. Extremely narrow roads just enough for one car and few spots for letting the cars in the opposite direction to pass by and full of Hair-Pin bends. Some spots were so scary that, it was steep down into the fjords and also lack of any railings on the side made it worse. We stopped at a look-out viewpoint at Stigastein, which provides a great view of the City below and the Mountains and Aurlandsfjorden. It’s a celebrated look-out point constructed by Canadian architects has received many praises. It’s a structure resembling a ski-jump which just dips abruptly giving a fantastic view of the Fjords. There is a small pane of glass to prevent people from falling. But if you dare look out from the edge, it’s quite a view. It’s truly a bird's eye view from there... Photos will give you a better description than my words! We spent almost an hour clicking tons of photos.
Undredal: Then we decided to climb down and go to a place called Undredal, another Norwegian city along the Fjords which gives a Ground level view of the Fjords. As usual, the drive was full of scenic spots, waterfalls, streams etc... I know it’s becoming too Clichéd. But believe me, it was beautiful scenery all around. This very quiet town Undredal is famous for Norwegian Goat Cheese and an old church called 'Stavkirken' pronounced 'Stavchirken'. It has 86 inhabitants and 1400 Goats. We spent quite sometime refreshing ourselves in the Fresh Cold waters on a stream, which joins the Fjords at Undredal. We sat down in the beach and chilled out for a while. Then we also had some Goat Cheese.

After leaving behind Undredal, we started heading back to Oslo through the scenic Mountain road instead of the longest road Tunnel. We climbed through the same road we did in the morning and drove on top of the mountains. It was a bit cold high up on the top and we found plenty of lakes formed due to trapped water from snow melting in summer, and also found lots of pockets of Snow which made it look snow clad mountain top. We stopped along the way and hiked up close to the Mountain peak called Prest Summit. It was a strenuous trek all the way and we decided to get back after sometime. Then we drove down to a place called Borgund to see the Historic 'Stavkirken', another one of those Old Norwegian wooden churches. By this time, it was very dark in the night and we decided to head back to Oslo without stopping anywhere. The drive back was a bit strenuous down hill, trying to control speeds at the steep corners and negating some dangerous turns. It needed at least couple of hot coffees and loud and cheerful music to keep myself awake and concentrate heavily on the drive back. Finally we made it back, safe and sound, in the wee hours of Monday Morning.

Now sitting here and back in reality, the weekend looks like a journey into one of the fantasies filled with scenic wonders, which makes my normal life look so boring and makes me want to become a mountain dweller.

More Fjords to visit,
Many beautiful mountains to explore,
So little time in one lifetime to see them all...

For trip Photos, click HERE

Helpful Links and Tips:

http://www.alr.no/

http://www.aurlandsfjord.com/

http://www.norwaynutshell.com

http://www.visitflam.com

http://www.fjords.com

By Car to these Fjords:

To go to this area from Oslo, Take E-18 from Oslo towards Drammen and switch to E-16 towards Hønefoss at Sandvika. Take E-18 all the way to Lærdal, Aurland, Flam, Gudvangen and Voss. This will take you through the Lærdaltunnellen. It is approximately about 4-5 hours drive from Oslo. Alternatively, you can take the same E-18 towards east from Bergen. Look at the first link for more travel details.

London Trip - April, 2006

Time line: April 1st and 2nd, 2006

Took my own sweet time to write this ... Infact the previous post on Lord's Cricket ground should be associated with this post...

Another training and another weekend to spare.. where to go... when the training is in Milton Keynes, UK and an hour away from London, there wasnt much of a debate there... to London obviously...

Highlights of the trip... Saw the Aston Martin Workshop from the outside on a dull and rainy evening in Milton Keynes, Big Ben and the House of parliaments, Lord's Cricket Ground and Baker Street... if you have played the board game called "Scotland yard" you will be even more excited to follow the map and make your way through the Undergrounds and buses to get to your destination quickly in London...

Day-1: On Saturday, I traveled from Milton Keynes to London by the fast train... I was staying in a Regent Hotel/Hostel in the Center of London near Piccadilly Circus. Damn.. it was so expensive.. 50 quids for a night.. thats a lot for just a room with shared facilities... I dumped all my stuff in the room and started to roam around..
My first stop was Piccadilly Circus fountain. It is said that if you haven't seen anyone in a longtime, chances are that you will bump into that person, here, if you stayed for around 30 mins... As always I bought a day pass for the tubes in the Underground. These undergrounds were amazingly well connected.. They are not numbered or called by alphabet, but by names such Victoria line, Piccadilly line, Jubilee line etc.. Sometimes I had to wait for the lift to come up to the ground level or take a winding staircase... It was so cramped up and claustrophobic. No wonder it became a target for bombings... But they are being renovated, keeping in mind that 2012 Olympics will be held in London. Some main stations are already renovated with lot more space and more escalators and the platforms were shielded from the tracks by glass doors which opens only when the trains pull up on the platforms. Pretty cool eh...
Went to Leicester Square Garden and the square, where there are lots of theaters and movie halls. Proceeded to Trafalgar square from there. The Trafalgar square boasts the Famous Nelson Column, honoring Admiral Nelson for his famous victory at Waterloo against the French General Napoleon Bonaparte. The square had a couple of fountains and overlooking this square is the National gallery, which also has a Shakespeare's gallery. From Trafalgar square, I walked towards the Buckingham palace. But suddenly I got this strange brain wave and took a tube and proceeded to see Abbey road.
I am sure you must of heard of the famous Beatles album, "The Abbey Road" featuring the fab four walking on a zebra crossing on Abbey road. The nearest station was St. Johns wood on Jubilee line. So i went to the Abbey road just to catch a glimpse of the famous Beatles history. There was a wall outside the Abbey road recording studio, which was filled with graffiti, all tributes to the famous band by its fans. Owing to the heavy traffic, I couldn't take a snap of me, walking on the crossing. Then I walked down to the Lord's Cricket Ground which is nearby the St. John's wood underground station. I have written about this already. So please click on this. Then I walked the famous Baker street, only to see that there was no real 221, baker street (which i already knew :)). But there was a Sherlock Holmes memorabilia shop and a Statue of the great detective in front of the Baker street station. Close to this station is the famous Madamme Tussaud's Wax gallery. I didn't have enough time to go in. So I took the tube to Oval and walked to the Oval Cricket ground. But the security wouldn't let me inside the ground. So I came back to Charring Cross Station and started walking towards Westminster Abbey and then to Big Ben and House of Parliaments. The Big Ben looked beautiful in the night with all the lights and so did the London eye. I decided to come back to Piccadilly Circus only to find that the trains were so fully packed with people heading towards Piccadilly Circus for a wild Saturday night. Apparently Piccadilly circus is the place to be on Sat. night as it if full of night clubs around the area.
Day-2: The day started off a bit late due to laziness and tiredness from previous day. I decided to but a ticket for the famous London open top tour bus and take the guided tour of London. But this damn bus was so slow and needs a lot of patience. So halfway through I just got down and bought a tube pass and started to make my own way. I went to some famous roads like Bond street, Oxford street etc. which has some of the big fashion brands. Though I didnt have enough money to spend on these extravagant stuff, it was nice to look at those yuppy shops with ridiculously prices items. Then I went back to Lord's Cricket ground to take the guided tour of Lord's. Later I came back to Charing Cross station and walked to the Big Ben and lingered around Thames river and House of Parliaments for a while, then went to the Buckingham palace. They did not allow anybody to get inside the gates. Since I went in the evening, i also missed the change of guards, which is a main tourist attraction here. I dint have enough time to visit No: 10, Downing street and say Hello to the bloke who lives there or even go and see the famous London tower bridge(I even bought tickets fo these which are a total waste now). Again pressed for time, I couldn't see much of London. Maybe next time, if ever go there again... But it was lot of fun to go around the great city of London.. It would have been more with some company than roaming alone... :)

Photos of my London trip

Photos of my guided tour to Lord's Cricket ground

For upto-date info on London Underground click on this link http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/maps/

Another useful link http://www.visitlondon.com

Paris trip - March, 2006

Bon Jour.. Mesdames et Messieurs..
I am just very lazy when it comes to new posts and this sorto post takes quite sometime to put together... Finally, I have logged my trip to paris a month back...

Timeline: March 4th week, 2006

I had a great time this week. Last time when I came to attend a training, I had very little time to explore this wonderful city. But this time around, I had plenty of time to walk around and see some of the famous monuments in Paris and just roam the streets of Paris, hop on and hop off the Metros and RER's(Fast trains) from Point A to Point B. It was just fascinating, that you can go anywhere with very little difficulty with just the help of a map. Its like a dream come true, though I really never dreamed so much of visiting Paris, dunno why and pls. dont ask me, why not. Def. Heard from friends and read in a few books, but being there and seeing it, was totally a different experience.

Veni, Vidi, Felix Sum... (rough translated as I came, I saw and I am happy).. Blame google, if this translation is wrong :-o)

Let me try to summarize my visit in Chronological order...
Day-1: Since we(Fellow trainees and I) were staying in Robinson near Clamart, and this happens to be in Zone 3 for RER, we bought a weekly pass for RER Zones 1-3(works out cheaper this way). In Paris, it seems, you need a ID card with the Weekly and Monthly pass with your photograph on it and you need to write the card number on the ticket so that only you can use it. We didnt take it so seriously, for which we were fined later, which cost us more than the ticket itself. The train system is so good in Paris just like London. You can use any combination of Metro trains or RERs to go from one place to other and signs are so clear that its very easy for tourists. Though I cant say the same about French people. Sometimes they come off as very difficult people because you are an outsider and you dont speak french, but there are very nice people too, like one of our fellow trainee, who guided us in the city, though her guiding skills were still questionable, at times :-o).
Well anyways.. we took the RER to St. Michel. There is a fountain at St. Michel, which is very famous rendevouz point and a common meeting place just like Piccadily Circus in London. Its the start point for many a dates and many meetings and get togethers. From there we walked the Latin Quarters or 'Quartier Latin' as it is called in French. This is bunch of narrow streets of cobble stones with lots of eating places and curious shops all around and cafes etc etc. Its a very intersting place. You can find diferent cuisines fo different budgets. We walked the whole place and dined in one of them. French wine with dinner is a must. I would highly recommend. On our way back, we had the famous French streetside Thin Crepes. Those Sweet Chocolaty Nutella Crepes were so delicious.
Yummy.. the taste is still lingering on...
Day-2: This was a very interesting evening. The company had arranged a special evening for the trainees. We were taken for a boat cruise along the river 'La seine' and dinner on the boat. It was a nice boat and had a posh feeling to it. Apart from us and few others, we could not find many young people in there. Either it was too boring or very expensive. Anyways, the start point was the Eiffel tower and we go from there on the river on one side , come back and go on the other wide and finish at Eiffel tower. So we pretty much see many of the monuments along the river incluing the smaller version of the Statue of Liberty(the bigger version was gifted to the USA by the French after American Independence). The Eiffel tower was so majestic and glittering in the night, as it usually does. It was a full course meal on the boat, starting with champagne and some salad for starters. Then we had main course and later bread and cheese. All along we had a steady supply of Rouge(red wine) and Blanc(white wine). I would say that was the most stylish dinner I have ever had so far in my life, the french way. The way back to hotel was pretty interesting with some 'spirited' conversations.
Day-3: It only gets better, as they say... Some of the trainees(pretty girls:) who work in the Paris office had arranged for a Dinner and Salsa night for all of us that evening in a very trendy Latin Bar. Before the dinner we decided to walk "Avenue des Champs Elysees" (the Main street of paris - within quotes).. Pronounced as "chanz elisees" If you are in paris, you ve got to walk this street and ofcourse see Eiffel tower and all the others. We started off at "Arche de triomphe". This structure looks somewat like our India gate in New Delhi. The art work on the pillars were fantastic. The view from top of this is really magnificient. All roads converge on to this center point. You can see the planning and vision of the architect back in the 18th and 19th century when they sketched it. These roads are really wide even by todays standards. The street Champs elysees is such a nice and big street where you can see many famous shops like Mercedes, Peaugot and big fashion names. Only the rich shop here. Walking along the street, we came to "Place de la Concorde". Its the famous center where they used to have the Guillotine executions in the past. Then the roads leads us straight to the Famous Obelisk before the "Musee de Louvre". We walked the Garden of the museum known as "Jardin de Louvre". It was really huge place and big garden, Tuileries garden. People say you need many days to see the entire museum. We saw the Glass pyramid of the museum from outside, took a few photos and then walked towards "Bastille", the place famous for French Revolution. Then we went straight to the Restraunt for Dinner. It was a nice and trendy place with three levels. We had a sumptuous meal with good french wine and then we danced Salsa until they closed for the night. It was pretty late when we got back to Hotel.
Day-4: Since this was the last day of the training, some of them left in the evening. Some of us outsiders stayed back until the weekend to see more of Paris. We went to famous Montmartre district to see the "Basilica of the Sacré Ceur". It was really beautiful in the evening. We had a great view of the entire city from the steps of the Sacre ceur. We went inside this chapel and then walked the streets of the Montmartre, where many painters were there trying to sketch the beauty of Paris from the hill and also the basilica itself. We had a nice dinner in a Italian place there and we walked down to the Pigalle-known for its rather infamous sex shops and the Moulin rouge. We had to take couple of photos in front of the famous Moulin Rouge. Afterwards, We took the metro back to the Center and then RER back to the hotel to prepare ourself for the next day. Most of us took Friday off so we could tour paris a little more.
Day-5: I had to change hotels because it was my day off and I had to change out of the Company Hotel to a cheap Motel near La Defense, business district of paris. Couple of my friends helped me carry my stuff to my new room. Once I dumped my stuff there, we went to see the "Grande Arche de la Defense". It is one of the newly constructed Modern arch. It doesnt compare with the Grand Arch de triomphe, but gives a different view of paris city from its top. From the top of this arch, we get a clear view of the city. The road that leads from here goes all the way to the Arch de triomphe and then becomes the Champs elysees and then to Louvre. Then we went back to St. michels and met others and we all started walking towards the "Jadin de Luxembourg". This was really big garden with many statues and palace of luxembourg nearby. We walked around, took a few photos and relaxed for a while. Then we went to Montparnasse district, known as intellectual and artistic life according to Wikipedia. We went on top of the "Tour Montparnasse" to get a better view from the top of this sky scraper. From the top of this skyscraper it was just a magnificient view of Paris-Le magnifique. Unfortunately weather was not so kind to us, clouds and mist hanging around and having a evening party all by themselves hiding the wonderful view. Once it cleared a little bit we got a clear view of the city in the night and also a beautiful view of the glittering "Tour Eiffel". The tower is lit up all through the evening and night. At every hour, for 10 mins, they set the sparking lights on and it looks like a magnificient glittering tower. But the best moment to me, was when it stopped glittering and then there was peace all of a sudden, just the fully lit Eiffel tower. We just stayed on top for almost close to 2 hours just to savor this fantastic view. Finally we got down, had dinner and headed back to our respective hotels.
Day-6: Almost all the trainees had left by now except for 5 of us. We decided to walk through the St. michel and Chapel Notredame and then went to the Chatalet to see Pompideau center. This was just a museum and few shops. We did some shopping near busy Chatalet Les Halles and couple of them left to catch their flights back home. So that left 3 of us to continue on our adventures in Paris. We went to a cafe shop and had a quick lunch and sat there watching different people walk by analyzing their fashion. It was so amazing that no 2 women were dressed alike. No wonder Paris is the fashion capital of the world. Then we went to "Les Invalides", the burial place of the greatest French General of all time, Napoleon Bonaparte. His tomb is supposed to be under the crypt of the beautiful dome of Les Invalides. From here we went back to the Eiffel tower. Since it was evening, we just stayed on for a longtime at the foot of the tower and walked around and enjoyed the beautifully lit tower. Somehow I coulnt quite get enough of it. Everyday we seemed to come back here spend sometime. Then we went back to Latin quarters for one last drink with the remaining few. Then we headed back to the hotel
Day 7: of the remaining 3, 2 were leaving today. We had to adjust our clocks one hour behind for Day light savings and somehow we managed to have enough time for the 2 guys to catch their flight on time. As to me, I was accompanied by one of my fellow trainee from Paris to catch up on few more places, which I had missed out earlier. We went inside the famous Chapel Notredame. This chapel is very important in the french history. All important coronations for kings, hapened here. General Napolean was Coronated as the Empire in this Chapel. The big hall, stained glasses on the large windows and different worship places of Jesus and Mother Mary, the legendary gorgoyle of Notredame and the architecture of the entire chapel are just some of the highlights. It was just a beautiful chapel to visit. After that We walked to the Famous Pantheon, yet another old and beautiful chapel in Paris and then went on walking the strets of paris until my feet gave away due to fatigue (continuous walking for the past week took its toll) and I had to catch my flight back to Oslo.

Thus endeth, great journey to the land of famous monuments, gardens and museums - the beautiful city of paris. Now I can sense, why its called the Most romantic city.... but, I still havent seen the Musee de louvre and other famous impressionist museums and the Palace of versailles... Maybe I need one more trip, just for the museums... and maybe I can see the Eiffel tower once more. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and my fellow trainees made it even special with their constant supply of Humor.

Wow.... What a Beauty !!!

Check out for more photos HERE


Some of the links which would help before making a trip to paris are: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris
http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/Paris/Paris_monuments.shtml
http://www.ratp.info/orienter/cv/cv_en/carteparis.php
for the interactive map of Paris Trains and metros..

Trip to Luxembourg

After so much of confusion and indecision, I finally made the decision of buying the train tickets to Brussels from Paris upon my friend's insistance. He was nice enough to offer me a ride in his car from Brussels to Luxembourg and back to Brussels, in time, so I can catch my train back to paris. After lot of considerations, what if my plane gets delayed, what if there are strikes in France (which is so common these days!) and lots of other what ifs, I booked my tickets in Thalys for the TGV train from Paris airport to Brussels.
I was quite excited to make this trip. I was traveling in a TGV and average speed of that train is about 250 kmph which is almost double the speed limit in most highways except Autobahn in Germany where there is no speedlimit . I know I sound like a small kid out of rural village saying 'oh. thats a train. I would like to go on one of those'. That was precisely my feeling back then about TGV. I realised the high speed only after we zooming past a few cars in the adjacent freeway or motorway(however u call it).
After reaching brussels, I went and parked at my Friend's colleague's place for the night. Just went out for a couple of hours in Brussels city late in the evening, but did not get enough time to see the city properly. Old and typical European buildings, Some palaces and Museums in the city center are the main attractions. It was quite amazing that they have about 3 languages spoken there and most official business is done in 2 or 3 languages (French, German and Dutch). Just had enough time to walk the streets for an hour or so and headed back.
Next day, we started early to Luxembourg. Having lost the way initially and losing some time enroute, we finally reached luxembourg. As lonely planet describes, it is a tiny country on the map with not enough space to contain the letters of its name. Considering the size, you can easily travel north to south or east to west of the country in about 2 hours time. As expected it was a very beautiful city. We took the map and started making our way through the streets, full of fellow tourists. We went to a old Fortress which consisted of 2-3 levels and long corridor which was mainly a hiding place and a bomb shelter during the WW2 from the German attack. We then walked the market place and saw the Grand palace from outside and a few old cathedrals.
We were then told that there was a beautiful old Castle in a place called 'Vianden', an hour's drive from Luxembourg city. The drive through the country side was the most fascinating part. Those Valleys and Lushgreen countryside was very picturesque. Maybe it seemed even more so, bcos I was just starving for a change from snow. However the Castle trip didn't let us down. It was a very beautiful Medieval Castle with lots of old artifacts and armours, swords etc etc. We went inside and on to the top and got a good view of the entire areas surrounding it. They also lots of Wineyards nearby that area. Thanks to my friend, we were back to Brussels intime for me to catch my train back to Paris.
Click HERE for more Photos

My date with Lord's Cricket Ground