Ram's Travelog

Baltic Tour

2009-08-02T10:58:00.001+02:00

My Baltic Tour for this summer... More to follow...

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Bus for early morning flight out of Rome Fiumicino airport (FCO) Leanardo Da Vinci

2009-01-02T00:33:00.022+01:00

Ok.. I put this up because there is very little information about the public transport to the Roma's main international airport at Fiumicino (Leanardo Da Vinci airport) for early morning flights. Even if you ask around all the bus drivers or information center, not many people know about it. The information center inside the Roma Termini train station knows about it and can guide you. So also check with them to make sure the bus service is still on.
Leanardo express: There is a fast express train from Roma termini to the airport. But the first train starts only at 5:58 AM and reaches the airport at 6:30 AM or so... So what if you have Flight very early like 6:30 or so ??
COTRAL Night Buses: There are buses run by a company called COTRAL that is more like Night buses to the airport. The last of the night buses leave Roma Tiburtini Bus station and also stops at Piazza dei Cinquecento in front of the Roma Termini train station at 3:45 AM. Since I recently took this bus and found no information whatso ever about where the bus actually stops and its so easy to miss it, I have marked it on the map (Blue baloon on bottom left corner of map indicates the actual bus stop). Its almost the North west corner of the Piazza dei Cinquecento and just right outside Roma termini. Basically it is very close to one of the exit point of the bus station, where most buses exit and the this bus turns right onto Via Cavour after exiting the Piazza. You will find a small board at the indicated location on the side that says COTRAL and also the timings of the night buses. The color of the bus is BLUE contrary to the usual city buses(AMT buses) which are RED in color. If you get confused ask the small shop owner(shop that sells coffee, snacks etc.) in the pizza bus station and he can direct you. The 3:45AM bus leave Tiburtini at 3:45 and comes to Termini within a few minutes and reaches airport by 4:30 AM or so. So be there by 3:45AM and if the bus doesn't show up on time, dont worry.. its Italy.. you just need some patience. It will come.. :).. It costs about 7 EUR (as of Dec 2008). Prices may vary and you buy tickets in the bus itself. Hope this helps.. What if you miss this bus too ?? well.. then.. take a TAXI which easily costs about 50 EUR or more. :)

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Buses to Roma Ciampino airport: There are regular buses for all flight timings from outside Roma Termini to Roma Ciampino airport. These buses leave from Via Marsala (Top right corner blue baloon on Via Marsala). There is an exit to Via Marsala from inside the Train station itself. It is to the right side if you leave the train station facing Piazza dei Cinquecento. You can even find these bus informations even from the Ryan air website as Ryanair flies out of Ciampino.

Booze cruise to Copenhagen

2008-09-01T19:11:00.009+02:00

I have been in Oslo for almost 3 years now and have never been to Copenhagen so far. So me and some friends decided to take a weekend trip to CPH. There is a ferry service between Oslo and Copenhagen which is highly recommended. So we decided to take the ferry for the onward journey and take the night train back to Oslo.
I have heard a lot about this ferry being the booze cruise and fun trip. The reason for the booze being associated with it is due to the fact that the ferry is operated by Danish company and booze sells at Danish prices and the moment it starts steaming the booze sells at duty free prices. Since taxation in Norway is quite high, anything lower than Norwegian prices are great for the locals. Hence, the booze cruise..
So we boarded the ferry and started steaming from Oslo harbour. It was a good experience to view Oslo from the sailing ferry. You get a totally different view of the place. we just explored this huge cruise liner that has about 12 or 13 levels (floors). They had outdoor swimming pool, jacuzzi, cinema, lots of bars, dance club, discotheque and even Karoake bar. The moment we went on the ferry half the people were already through to their 2nd or 3rd drink. So being on top deck and watching all these people acting funny was an interesting experience. After a while it started getting cold and then we went indoors and started getting ready for our dinner. We had pre-ordered a buffet dinner at 7 seas restaraunt which was supposed to be good. It was indeed a good buffet with so many vareities to choose from even for Vegetarian like me. After the dinner we went to check out the duty free shopping on the ferry. It was quite a vareity of stuff. Then we were just hanging around in the bar that was playing some 80's pop. Most of the people on the ferry were so drunk by then they didnt have a clue what they were upto and looking at some of these people dance on the floor was very funny... Although I shouldnt be making fun, it was quite funny to watch... then we just went to bed to get some good sleep before 2 days of roaming around the city.
The next day we got off the ferry around 9:30 and caught the bus to the city. First things first, we had to check out the famed Danish pastries:-). So we picked up some for breakfast and went to a cafe to get some gourmet coffee to kick start the day. After a tasty breakfast and awakening strong coffee, we headed to our hostel which was like 4 km from the city to drop off our bags so we can walk around with little stuff and a map ofcourse..
We started off our Danish tour by taking a Canal cruise or Canal boat that goes all around Copenhagen's canals and Harbour. The guide was quite good explaining all the historical landmarks and it was definitely worth our money and was quite cheap too. They compare these canals to be as good as Amsterdam's canals.. Lots of nice boats along the canals and intersting landmarks to see from the canal view...
Then we stopped by one of the city squares to grab some lunch. Some had a quick hot dogs and some others had a nice gourmet salad topped with cheese :). After being in Oslo, we could see that Denmark had plenty of options for food and quite cheap too. Guess going from Oslo, any place would be cheaper. Then we just walked around trying to figure out where we were going next. We decided to hit the Ice bar. Aquavit has a nice Ice bar, which is fully made of Ice blocks and you also get the drink in a Ice cup. It was interesting to go into it wearing a big warm wooly jacket and have a drink in a ice cup.
The gimmick was "Why bother putting ice into your drink, when you can drink from the ice" :). I made that up. Isnt that cool ??
Then we went to check out the Tivoli gardens which is the oldest amusement park right in the middle of the city. There were so many games and rides to choose from and we headed for the Roller-coaster ride. Since I was refusing to sit in the 1st row, my friends made it a point to make me sit in the front row. Since this was my 2nd time, I didnt have much of the 1st timer fear, but still... its roller coaster... Halfway into it, i was just hanging on it to it and too stunned to even open my mouth and then it all came screaming out loud... :)... It was lots of fun... It was total adrenalin rush.. After that we were stuck having to choose between nice dinner at a mediterenan place and laser show at Tivoli gardens... we had to settle for a greasy not so exciting chinese dinner and Laser show... But atleast the Laser show on the lake at Tivoli gardens was well worth the sacrifice for the good food... After we had another day to have a good dinner.... Then we went back to our hostel for a decent night's sleep.. atleast we didnt have to deal with annoying n screaming drunken booze croose tourists... :)

Next day started with us wanting to go and see many interesting landmarks... We did a walking tour to go through some of the intreresting landmarks in the city. It was nice day out to be walking and we had quite a few stops for drinks, ice creams etc. Then we headed off towards Christiania .. If you are in Copenhagen you should go to this place.. it is like the free town.. where they have their own rules and regulations or atleast try to have it that way... it is like the hippie town.. full of graffiti everywhere... 60's or 70's rock playing on and ppl rolling and smoking joints on pusher street and gives u a feel of woodstock.. it was meant to be a free town with people of free will... pretty interesting place to visit while you are in Copenhagen and should never miss out on that... After that we had a good dinner buffet at a nice Mediterenean restaurant and wound off the day and headed straight to the train station to catch a long over night train back to Oslo... So much for a wekend... We didnt really manage to see many touristy places though because we spoent so much time on the streets trying to decide where to go, we never actually got around to seeing many of the place :)... Nevertheless it was a fun trip with friends and good way to spend the weekend in a different city... and when u have Danish pastry shops around every corner, you dont have complaints.. :)

My travel map... :)

2008-06-17T13:18:00.031+02:00

Check this out !!! This is cool... You can map your travels easily...

Polska travels..

2008-05-05T21:58:00.017+02:00

Poland... the country that took the brunt of the Nazi brute force tactics during WWII and later by Stalin's Russia... Always an interesting place to go and check out the history of Poland, days under the Nazis, Holocaust memorial sites at the biggest concentration camp during the WWII, Jewish Ghettos etc... So I decided to embark on a 5 day journey to check out capital Warsawa and also the historic old town of Krakow. Since Wizzair had cheap flights from oslo and back, it was good in terms of budget...
Warsaw: the city that was fully flattened by the German tanks and artilleries during the WWII as a result of the Warsaw upring in 1944 and also when the German were retreating, while the Russians just sat there at the other end of the river to let the Germans flatten it and do nothing. The Red army didnt care much for Poland either.. As a result, the Polish couldnt say for sure whom they hated the most.. atrocities of Nazis or the communist Stalin's Red army... Both were terrible in the Polish WWII history.. Since I had only day and half, I didn't spend much time in Warsaw. Some features of Warsaw were the workman like working class residential area built in the communist times with Russian help, Culture center built by Stalin as a gift to Poland, Jewish Ghetto, Old city (newly recreated after WWII to resemble the Old city), Old (new) castle etc... Warsaw is also home to the famous music composer Fredrick Chopin. If you have the movie, Pianist, most of it was filmed in the old jewish ghetto in Warsaw.. So I spend my day walking in the old city and market square.
The old city or the 'old' new city... is completely recreated after the WW2 to represent the past glory of warsaw... It is so nicely done that u wont beleive it is only 50 years old... it was fun to walk around on a nice sunny day with lots of ppl outside .. music, drinks and food all around... After a coffee, I headed towards the station to catch my train to krakow...
Krakow is one of the most beautiful cities in Poland and probably in Europe too... Almost untouched by the WW2, it is one of the most oldest and beaituful cities with a rich tradition and culture... Krakow is home to the Wavel castle, one of the oldest castles with Wavel dragon as their emblem... It was great to walk down to the Old city and huge market square called Rynek Glowny... It is one of the biggest market squares in Europe..It was a nice square with a towering basilica which gives a great view of the entire city and beyond...
I also took a trip to Auswitz and Birkenau to witness the atrocities from the times of holocaust..
Auswitz was the biggest concentration camp ever built by Nazis and they estimate about 1.5 million ppl to have been killed at this camp. It was really a harrowing experience to be there looking at the remaining camps that have artifacts from the times of holocaust and memorials to all the murdered jews... Then i went to Birkenau which was also a part of the camp, which was specifically built as an extermination camp to solve the jewish problems as the Nazis called it. After a sad trip, I went back to Krakow to have a quiet evening and had dinner with a friend I made from the hostel I was staying at. After dinner we went and caught a techno playing in Krakow. It was fun...
Next day I visited the Jewish part of the town called Kazimierz and went on to see the Jewish labor camp in the days of Nazis called "Podgorze". Some parts of the movie "Schindler's list" was actually filmed at several locations in this neighbourhood. I took a small tour of the neighbourhood to explore the remains of the walls of the Jewish ghetto and different memorials to the Holocaust and also saw the remains of the Oscar Schindler's enamel factory... It was little sad to walk the place where many crimes were committed by heartless people...

Next day I had to take a bus to the Katowice airport and fly back to Oslo. All in all it was total fun in Poland... Lots of good memories, some good Polish vegetarian food :) and zywiec beer...

Hostels I stayed in: Nathan's hostel
Krakow information center: www.krakow.pl/en

Vegetarian food in Krakow: Bar Vega I really like this place.
Recommended dishes: Zurek soup(Sour beetroot soup), Pierogi - dumplings(cheese & Onion, Potato & sourkraut), Soy Goulash ...

My photos from trip: Warsaw , Krakow

Malta.... Yalta...

2008-03-28T17:31:00.001+01:00

Maltese falcon is the first thing that comes to my mind, when I hear the word Malta.. and to be honest I had very little idea about Malta until I visited Malta... Interestingly Malta has a rich history and has had lot of influences from different cultures across the Mediterenean. Smack in the center of Mediterenean it has always been a strategic location for all the powers of Europe, Africa and Persia in olden times. A place known for clear and sandy beaches is a great tourist location.

After sailing for almost 10 days and having finished our work, it was time to get off the boat. The boat was going in port to Malta for a crew change and supplies in Valetta in Malta. So that was our opportunity to get off before the boat sets sail again towards the North sea. It was then I realised Malta is such a small Island. You can easily drive along the coast of the country easily in a day or so. Since I had the opportunity, I took a couple of days off and stayed back in Malta to do some sight seeing. My bad luck, a depression set in mediterenean and it was cloudy and raining. and more depressingly.. my camera broke down... and I had no way of fixing it until I reached Oslo...

Malta is a very nice Island with lot of influences from the Romans, Byzantines, Phoenicians, Templar knights during the crusades, Napolean's French army and later became a British colony. It was heavily attacked by Zeee... Germans during WWII due to its location between Italy and North Africa. Most of these history is seen in its language 'Maltese' which is a heavy mix of Arabic and Italian. Quite frankly it is a very funny sounding language. Neither here nor there... They also speak English very well due to British influence. It has lots of beach resorts and tourism is a big money generating industry. Scuba diving and water sports is a great attraction.

Since I had very litle time, I explored the historic places of Malta, old chappels, factories from the last century fully preserved, catacombs from the Roman times etc. I went and checked out the night life in St. John's bay and St. Julian's bay which are known for the trendy bars and night clubs. These places thrive with huge crowd of college crowd hitting the bars late at night.

All in all it was a good and relaxing break for a couple of days before I headed back to Oslo.

I only managed to take a few photos.

More info on Malta: http://www.visitmalta.com/main

My date with ancient Egypt

2008-03-17T21:57:00.011+01:00

Egyptian civilization, as they say, is one of the most ancient civilizations in the history of human beings and is well recorded too through heiroglyphics and no trip to Egypt is complete without a trip the great pyramids and sphinx. The pyramids, mummies and sphinx are the outstanding examples of the their culture, civilization and their architecture. Being history lover, I would love any opportunity to go and see lengths and breadths of Egypt, travel across river Nile, go to Cairo, Memphis, Abu simbel, Luxor etc etc... This time I atleast got a chance to visit Cairo .. the rest will have to wait...
I had to travel to Cairo for work. This was the best oportunity for me to see Cairo. I had a day off before I join the crew. So I took off with a pre arranged taxi to go and see the pyramids of Giza. I had imagined that these pyramids would be quite a long way off from the city. But it was actually not too far, just half hour drive to south. My taxi driver took me to a Perfume shop (Its the oldest trick in the book :) who fixed me up with a horse and guide. All of this is a big hoax. They take u on a ride, take u back to perfume shop and make u buy perfumes at a ridiculous price and also for the horse. Anyhow, This guide who knew very little english started with his usual monologue... "My friend, First time to Cairo... I show you around Giza.. I make you happy, you make me happy" and I can't remember how many times he would have said that...
Having come from cold,dark and cloudy Oslo in March to Cairo and seeing the bright sun was a welcome gift for me... and on top entering the historic Giza was a great experience... Once we entered the main area of pyramids, there they stood.. three huge pyramids... I couldn't tell which was bigger... They say 2 of them are almost the same sizes, but look a bit different bcos of the level ground they stood on... It was just amazing... Standing in front of the historic monument, some 4000 years old, standing symbol of an old civilization, just felt really great... I came across this on the internet... "Soldats! Du haut de ces Pyramides, 40 siècles nous contemplent" (Soldiers! From the top of these Pyramids, 40 centuries are looking down upon us) - Napolean to his soldiers before the battle at giza against the mameluks... How true!!
No wonder all the greatest empires there after always had ties with egypt due to the pharoic ages... Alexander created his own Alexandria in Egypt, Romans had their Cleopatra, Arabs conquered Egypt, Salahuddin of Egypt was a leading figure in the holy crusades and finally even the British empire saw Egypt as a strategic location due to the Suez canal and a way to travel to the East quickly...
I had a slow horse ride all around the pyramids and then I walked on foot a little bit around the pyramids and even climbed a little bit.. Over the years, they have definitely lost some sheen off them, rocks stolen away by people to build their houses, the stones eroded due to sand and wind, but they havent lost their beauty or glory... It was just an amazing experience just be there among these pyramids. You wonder how they built these huge structure so many thousand years ago, when rest of the human world was still living in caves fighting the animals for their survival. If one wondered how the mankind could built a magnificient structure like coloseum in the Roman era, you would have to reserve some thoughts for these pyramids and the Egyptians who built them...
Since I didn't have enough time to go inside the pyramids, I just wandered around and moved onto the Sphinx. I wonder who came up with this mythological creature with the head of a human and body of a lion(just like Lord Ganesha I suppose). The one in Giza, for sure, is the great sphinx... It is huge and beautiful... It was quite a sight to see the huge sphinx stand tall with the great pyramids in the background...
With that sight registered in my mind, I had to move on to the Egyptian national museum in Cairo to see the old artifacts from the era of pharoahs.. I even skipped lunch so I have some time in the museum before they close for the day. The highlights of the museum were the Royal mummy section (preserved mummies of great pharoahs few thousand years old) and King tutenkhamen's (a.k.a King Tut) tomb artifacts. The museum was full of old artifacts from the Ancient Egypt. The Royal mummy section was quite chilling literally... 1. bcos they maintain a very cold temperature and 2. well preserved bodies of people who died few thousand years ago and you can still see the nails, black skin and hair(very creepy)... King Tut's burial chamber artifacts shows how much wealth is placed inside the king's burial chamber in the pyramid and no wonder the robber's were constantly at it to steal it all... The inner coffin of king were made fully of gold and so was the king's pharoah mask.. and rest of the coffins and ornaments had gold platings.. Also makes you wonder how much time it took to complete the project of a pyramid(the whole burial, making of these coffins in gold, building the pyramids etc....
All in all it was a tiring, but a great day for me... having been to the pyramids and Sphinx and seeing the King tut's burial chambers and the royal mummies... I couldn't have asked for more on a day's trip... I finished my day with tradition Egyptial Kushari from the best Kushari shop in town. Oh... I loved that Kushari... I would love to go back to Egypt for a week long or maybe 2 week long trip and travel along the Nile to see the historic sites....

Trip to Lisbon

2008-01-28T22:00:00.001+01:00

I write this long pending post almost after a few months... So i really dont remember much of it anyway... except that i went to Lisbon :) ... hehe
Lisbon is a lovely city.. warm and sunny... esp. when u travel from oslo in winter.. :)
i stayed for almost 4 days and i really dunno how, but time just flew by... i did a lonely planet tour of lisbon.. pretty much covering all the important aspects of the city... One thing i noticed was that of the vibrant portuguese culture.. people are very lively, warm and upbeat.. reflective of the warmer weather in lisbon. You would always hear Ola's and Obrigada's almost everywhere.. One thing you should remember going to any restraunt is that, you never take anything for granted.. you pay for everything on the table.. I remember taking a small box of butter thinking it was complimentary and realised i had to pay 1.50 Eur for that.. how crazy is that... Food is supposed to be very good if you like Fish.. but that didnt suit my dietary requirements and so i had to put up with whatever i get, which wasnt much anyway.. so that was just sandwiches and odd Indian restraunts...
I know this isnt much of a trip diary, but honestly i dont recollect much of my trip except having been to some nice cathedrals, monument of discoveries on the river side and also watching hot air baloon show, crowded narrow streets of Lisbon and also the old city and fort... a very nice place to go and visit and a good change from cold weather...

What i remember most is the beautiful sunset by River Tejo... I just stood there frozen until the sun set to move from the spot where I was standing.. It was so beautiful... wouldn't have missed it for anything else... What was even more amazing is that most of the Lisbonians were there with their families and kids to watch it.. Just felt like standing on Marina beach in madras in the middle of so many familes and watching the sun set...

Photos

Hike to Bessegen

2007-09-28T19:54:00.000+02:00

Hike over and along the Besseggen mountain is one of the popular hikes in Norway. Besseggen is a part of the Jothunheimen mountains, one of the biggest mountain ranges inside Norway. These mountains are surrounded by beaufitul lakes and scenic valleys. The hike along besseggen w/o a stop usually takes about 6 hours. It is a quite a steep hike in parts and long stretches on top of the mountain with great views all around of the mountains, lakes and glaciers. The hike starts from Gjende and ends in memurubu. The mountain itself is between two lakes called Gjende and besvatnet. Its quite a view when you walk along the ridge sticking out between the two lakes. I think it is one of the most interesting hikes I have done in Norway so far. Challenging and tiring, yet satisfying.
Day 1: We had a group of friends who drove to Valdres, where our company has a cabin. We stayed over the night. Cabin experience is something one must really experience in Norway. When you drive along these mountains all you see is tons of cabins everywhere. Its almost as if every Norwegian has a cabin for summer and winter retreats. They are such a nature loving people. Anyway, we woke up early got ready and went to Gjende to take the ferry to memurubu and start our hike back to Gjende. You could do otherway around but we didnt want to risk missing the ferry on the way back. It was steep hike from Memurubu all along to the top and I was the last one left behind trying to catch up with the other fit guys. But i wasnt complaining and everytime I stopped to catch my breath there was always this fantastic views on both side of the mountains. Snow capped Jothunheimen mountain ranges all around and the green color of the Gjende lake was just mesmerizing. However it was very cold that day and windy as well. It became more windy as we reached went closer to the top. Then we came to this small ridge sticking out in between the two lakes and it was so beautiful. Green color of gjende lake due to the glacier runoff containing clay on one side and the blue color of the Besvannet lake on the other side was just beautiful. Then we climbed the rocks and went to the top of the Besseggen mountain and walked the trail along the top. We stopped here and there to take pictures, catch our breaths and to replenish our salts and energy. Finally almost at the day break we reached Gjende, where we caught the ferry. We were so tired at the end of it, but we truly enjoyed the hike. We had a drink in the coffee shop and went back to our cabin for the night. The guys were treated with a fantastic curry for the night, courtesy Yours truly!
Day 2: Since we were done with the tough hike on saturday, we decided to take it easy on sunday so we could have enough time to drive back home. So we decided to go to Bitihorn mountain very close to Beitostolen, a ski resort near Valdres. It was nothing spectacular, but a small mountain with so clearly marked trail. So we had to kinda figure out the directions to the top. We reached in about 2 hours time. Spent some time in the top, ate our packed sandwiches and rested for a while. On the way back, we decided to take a bit of adventuruous route down and started making our own trail down the mountain along the bushes. it was actually nice since we were trying to race each other to see who reached the bottom first. All in all it was quite an interesting hike and best 2 days of hiking.

Check out the photos from the hike.

Some links:
http://www.besseggen.net/engelsk/index.htm

ferry timings
http://www.gjende.no/en/rutetider.htm

Preikestolen and Kjerag

2007-09-25T23:51:00.000+02:00

Having lived in Norway this is a must do hike to Preikestolen or otherwise called Pulpit rock and Kjerag. Both these are fantastic view points of Lysefjorden which goes through Stavanger. they are pretty much located on opposite sides of Lysefjord. However Preikestolen is easily accesible from Stavanger city, Kjerag is quite the opposite. You definitely need a car to go to the base point to climb up to Kjeragbolten. Michel and I decided 2 days before the weekend that we had to go here and made all arrangements. Turned out quite expensive but we were upto it anyway. We decided to rent a car for the weekend and drive so we dont waste time waiting for buses. We took the night train from Oslo to Stavanger and rented a car next morning in Stavanger airport.
Preikestolen (Pulpit Rock): Off we went by the car towards Preikestolen hytta, base point for the hike. We had to first cross the Fjord by a car ferry and then started out hike from the Base point. Unfortunately weather gods werent smiling upon us. It was very foggy and full of clouds that day. It was a beautiful sight to see the mist hovering over the lake on the way. Slowly the hike became a very steep climb. It was crowded despite the fact that it was very cloudy. Maybe everyone was as optimistic as were. It took us almost 3 hours and bit more to reach the rock. It was quite a sight. The Pulpit rock is steep rock face jutting out of the mountains. You can appreciate the steepness from the pictures. On a clear day you could see the Fjord all the way below and around. Quite scary to actually peep and look down from the rock. Still we sat at the edge and took a few photos for our memories and decided that we need to come to this place again on a clear sunny day to enjoy the full view. We were waiting for the fog to clear up, but in vain. So we just walked all around the place and started our hike back to the base point. It was a bit strenuous, but manageable and we reached the hytta and took our car and went to the Three Swords monument near Stavanger. It was 3 Huge swords stuck to the ground with hilts up in the air commemorating the Battle of Hafrsfjord and the King who united three districts into one kingdom.
Kjerag: We had a good rest the night before and started very early to Kjerag. The drive to the base point itself was about 2 hours. It was a beautiful though, through the low clouds sometimes as we were climbing and also the sheeps all along the way and magnificient natural sceneries all around. By the time we reached Kjerag it was quite foggy up there. We knew this was the toughest of the two hikes, but little did we know that it was going to be very steep climb all the way. The initial climb was pretty much on a slippery rock face with no trails, but just a chain to hold on. All along the view just kept getting better. After a particular elevation, we were actually high above the clouds and view became much clearer. We could see the whole mountain ranges covered with snow caps, water falls and the clear fresh water streams from the melting snow. It was just beautiful. Then we saw Kjerag. It is a big rock or Boulder stuck between 2 mountains. its almost like a round marble stuck inside the bottle neck. The scary part is that it was 1000m deep below into the fjords. It was still cloudy and we were again robbed off the view of lysefjord. Having decided to push ourself to the edge we stepped onto the Kjerag and took a few pictures. One slip and we would fall 1000m below. Quite scary!! Thinking back, I dunno how and why I did it.. These mountains were a good place for Base jumping for the sky divers. Because of the bad weather we couldn't see any. We hikes around a little bit to explore some untouched areas and drank water from the clear stream, we tarted heading back to the base point. Just after 3 hours we reached the car and headed back to the airport to catch our flight. We just made it in time and by a stroke of luck were offered to take the later flight back in exchange for airline vouchers. We weren't complaining at all. :). This almost cut our expenses into half. So all in all it was a very good trip and would def. love to do it all over again.

View Photo Album

Weekend trip to Hemsedal

2007-09-23T01:00:00.000+02:00

Another late blog.. :)

Hemsedal is a popular Ski resort during Norwegian winter. Plenty of Ski slopes and Cross country tracks means that Norwegians don't have to spend a whole lot to go to the Alps. Ofcourse this is not winter, but Hemsedal is still a nice place to visit during summer for activities. So we decided to go there and stay in a cabin for the weekend and do some hiking and kayaking. Turned out that our weather prediction got a bit screwed up and we had the most shitty weather you can ask for. It was raining, cold and cloudy. Not a hint of sun. But that didn't stop us. After stocking up the groceries for the weekend, we went to the ski slopes, took the lift up onto the top of the slope and then hiked a bit firther to the top. It was quite a view from the top. After a while it was just getting too cold and windy and we decided to take it easy and get back by the lift. During summer most of these slopes are turned into mountain biking tracks for the extreme sport enthusiasts. Pretty cool to watch them in action. We got back to the cabin and prepared a small pool in the cold stream nearby. Then we hit the sauna to get sufficiently warm and then take a dip in the real cold stream. Thats a part of the scandinavian culture. In winter, most people do the sauna and rolling over the snow or jumping into the cold lake covered with snow (ofcourse only for half a minute or so). Initially I thought you must be out of your mind to do this, but I did quite enjoy it although I was the first one to run out the cold cold pool. :). Then we had dinner and wound off the day with some marshmellows on grill.
Next day, we left the cabin and packed some lunch with us for a day full of kayaking. We couldn't get kayaks for everyone instea we took some kayaks and some canoes. We kayaked/canoed for a few hours and then got back and had lunch and then started heading back home. It was a lot of fun to be in a very diverse group of people doing fun activities together. Would love to go back to Hemsedal during winter.

Photo Album

Trip to Bruges and Brussels

2007-09-19T17:44:00.000+02:00

Another late blog... :)

My trip to Bruges and Brussels in Belgium during end of May 2007.

Bruges: Took Thalys (Belge version of TGV) from Paris to Brussels and then caught a local train to Bruges. Bruges is a beautiful small city towards north of Belgium. They speak a language called Flemish, very close to Dutch. Called Bruge' in French, Bruges in English and Brugge in Flemish, it is the Venice of Northern Europe. It has beautiful canals going through the city and some lovely buildings along the canals. One should not miss out on the canal tour of the city. Also famous for its Bell tower called Belfry and the Chapel which has Michael Angelo's sculpture 'Madonna and the Child'. The sculpture is a real beauty. There was a shop dedicated to Tintin, the local comic hero. Then went to the City hall which features a beautiful Gothic room full of paintings and carvings on the wall and also the Basilica of holy blood where a vial carrying a drop of blood supposedly of Jesus Christ. Interiors of both these buildings had a rich artistic feeling to it.

You cannot miss the chocoloate shops selling Rich Belgian chocolates, then Belgian waffles with whipped cream and choc sauce and the Fries with many different toppings. I bought a few belgian chocolates, some of which I still have, whoch were heavely once you put them in your mouth. I loved this concept of mixing many different sauces as toppings for the fries. I tried a couple of diferent vareities and also had Fresh Belgian waffles. Belgium is also renowned for its beer. So i had to try some vareities of Beer with every meal. It was a day well spent doing the walking tours with a lonely planet in one hand and a yummy waffle in the other :). I had to leave for Brussels after this to meet up with a friend to explore brussels.

Bruxelles: Brussels or bruxelles is the capital of EU. It is such a huge city full of modern buildings and some parts which has lots of beautiful old buildings like Grand Place. Since we had just one day, we decided to first take a guided bus tour to cover the most important tourist landmarks and then explore some on foot. Since the city transportation was very nice, we also took a pass just in case. We sw different landmarks like EU buildings, Atomium, Place cinquintinairre, Royal palace, Court of Justice and finally ended up in Grand place. Grand place is a beautiful city square with some beautiful buildings and the most visited place in Brussels. It is full of nice restraunts, eating joints, pubs and chocolate shops incl. the famous Godiva chocolate shop. Right around the corner of this square is the 'Manekin Pis'. Legent has it that this is the statue of the boy who pissed on a bomb fuse and defused the bomb and saved many people. The boy has diferent dresses for different occasions. Then we wound off the day with a yummy Waffle with whipped cream, strawberry and choc sauce. Yummy...yummy...

Click below for the photo album.. ( I love this flash player :)

Trip to Germany - Easter 07'

2007-09-18T23:07:00.000+02:00

Finally I am updating my blog which hasn't been touched in a long time...

As usual i did last minute planning and booked my tickets and hostels 2 days in advance for a weeklong trip in Germany. I got lucky with the train tickets inside Germany and got cheap tickets and reservation during the holiday season. My plan was to fly to Bremen, take train to Hamburg and then go to Berlin by train and flu to Munich and finally spend a day in fracnkfurt. Seemed like a long tour, but I somehow managed to get the different booking done in time to make it not so expensive trip.

Bremen: Just spent one evening in the city square with a nice dinner and Bremen's own Beck's beer. Also saw the Brother's Grim fairy tale about the Bremen's musicians - Donkey, Dog, Cat and the Rooster statues.

Hamburg: I spend one whole day in Hamburg. the harbour town. Hamburg has the second largest Harbour in the Europe next only to Rotterdam. I took a guided boat tour of the harbour and was amazed at the sheer size of the harbour and how many ships it can cater to at the same time and also the docks where the ships are repaired or maintained. After the tour, I just took a stroll all around the city to different touristy spots and did what a regular tourist would do i.e take plenty of pictures :). I slept that night in Hamburg and proceeded to Berlin the next morning.

Berlin: What a magnificient city!! The modern buzzing city with the scars from the past... This picture speaks of it clearly... I took the free guided tour of the city along with several other toursists. The best part about this guided tour is that it is free and the guide is usually an american, brit or aussie and if you are happy you pay them tips for their service. I think its a fantastic idea. http://www.neweuropetours.eu/
I went to the Berlin's most famous monument, the Brandenburg Tor (gate). It served as a victory monument under several kings and leaders. It was even a monument that stood right near the Berlin wall. Then we went to see the Holocaust memorial for all the holocaust victims all across the Europe. We then proceeded to a car parking place beneath which lay Adolf Hitler's Bunker in which he spent his last few days before he shot himself. We then went to see the remains of the Berlin wall which fell in 1990 when the communist East Germany united back with West Germany to become unified Germany. Some sections of the wall has been preserved and the rest of the wall has been demolished and replaced with brick lines along the road to remember the history. We walked along the wall to come to Check point Charlie which served as a check point between the East Berlin and West Berlin for the people to cross the border. We also walked along several other monuments which included Bebel platz, where Hitler urged the students to burn the books written by jews, the Berliner Dom, Opera house and Museum island. All in all it was a great guided tour with lots of historical information. I also went to the Berlin Olympia stadion to see the football pitch where Italy beat France in the FIFA Worldcup 2006 and Zidane headbutted Matterazzi. Its the same stadium which hosted the Olympics in 1936 which was inagurated by Hitler himself. I finished off my tour with a trip the Reichstag - The German Parliament. Its a bit strange that I ve been to two parliaments one in Germany and one in Norway, but I still havent been to Indian Parliament. I hope to do it at the earliest available opportunity.

Munich: The city of Monks, the city of beer and breweries... The history of Munich is that Munks from the monastries started brewing beer to the weary travelers and thus the city became famous for its pure beer and the munchs who started the tradition. Hence the name Munich or Munchen. I took the free guided tour in Munich too and went all around the city to see the beer garden,s Hofbrauhaus - the famous brewery in Munich, English gardens, the city market and Allianz Arena, home to Bayern Munich footballteam. Next day I went to the saddest place I ever been to. I visited the Dachau Concentration camp or whats left of it. I ve seen in pictures and movies, but I never imagined what it would be to enter one of these camps. The enterance is the iron gate in which it was written "Work shall set you free" in German. What a tagline to fool the entering prisoners and duping them into lifetime of servitude and death afterwards. It was so poignant to walk on the hallowed grounds of the camp. There were several monuments to the murdered innocent jews inside the camp. I also went and saw the living quarters where the jews stayed in the small bunk beds, used the common washrooms etc etc.. I felt a shiver when I walked into the Gas chamber where many jews were murdered in cold blood. It felt like a nightmare just being there and then you appreciate the cruelty and injustice done to them. I walked out of there with great sadness... After that I took the train to Frankfurt

Heidelburg: Since I didnt want to spend much time in Frankfurt I took the train to Heidelburg which is a small city by the river an hour south of Frankfurt. Its such a beautiful city with the ruins of the castle by the river. Took a castle visit and then a stroll along this beautiful city...

Thus ended my tour of Germany which lasted a whole week and by the end of it, I was so tired of walking that I really longed just to go home and crash on my bed.. Someday I will go back and continue my journey and see other cities that I ve missed out the first time... Dresden, Cologne, Dusseldorf...

My photo album from the trip

Free Guided tours: http://www.neweuropetours.eu/

Italia Tour - Xmas 2006

2007-01-08T16:51:00.000+01:00

Wow.. Awesome... That's all I've got to say about the whole trip. I was so in awe that I really don't have better words for describing my feeling. Another amazing adventure and experience in a whole new world!!!
Three days off and I get a whole week's worth of time on my hands and I had to go somewhere instead of staying back in this dead city of Oslo. I mean really, Oslo is completely dead during Xmas time with everybody packing their bags off and going to their family or to Mountains to ski or go some place else. So I had to do something or I will go crazy and first thing that struck me was Italy tour. Been thinking of this trip for such a long time and trying to coordinate with a friend of mine, who was also interested in going along with me. I tried to plan the trip with my friend but unfortunately he backed out due to other reasons. So left on my own and 3 days to go I had really get my act together.

Fortunately I got some cheap flight tickets (not so cheap actually but cheaper for this busy Xmas season) with Ryan Air for my onward journey and new Low cost carrier called Wizzair for my return flight. Luckily I also managed to get some Hostel booking at Hostelling International at some cheap rates, as I was a HI member. So with that done, I was all set just 2 days to go. So then I went to my local library and borrowed a Lonely Planet book about Italy. This is the mother of all Tour books with all the neccessary information for a budget tourist. Since this post could go really long, I ve split this up according to my trip diary for each city I visited. Enjoy the trip diary... To visit the Individual blogs, please click on the City names and for photos Check out the link next to the each Blog..

Milano Blog - Milano Photos
Firenze Blog - Firenze & Pisa Photos
Rome Blog - Rome Photos

Ciao

** Still working on the invidual blogs and photos.. so please check back later.. Should be up soon.

Italy Tour - Milano

2007-01-08T16:50:00.000+01:00

Following is my trip diary from Milan. Enjoy!

Day 1 (24-10-06) - Milano: My plan was to fly to Milano from Oslo by Ryan Air and take the tour from there. My flight was to Bergamo International airport which is a small city right close to the Italian Fashion Capital. I took a airport shuttle from the Bergamo airport to Milan Central Station(TerraVision Shuttles). First thing I did was to go and buy my train ticket to my next destination Firenze (otherwise knwon as Florence to English speaking people). There was an option of taking a Intercity train which was a bit cheaper and longer time or to go for the fast Train Eurostar(eqv. of French TGV's) which was much faster and bit more expensive. I wanted to experience the fast train experience and chose the Eurostar and it also gave me a bit more time in Milan on an otherwise tight schedule. That done, I had to go look out for a Train pass for the Metros and Buses. I went to the Hostel and refreshed myself and came out on the streets to start my tour. It was almost so late in the evening that I had to just go out walking and catch a bite. So I went straight ahead to Duomo. Since it was Xmas eve I didnt really expect so many people outside, but to my surprise there were lots of tourists walking around. This Duomo is a cathedral which is an amazing piece of architecture and art. Read more about this wonderful monument from this. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duomo_di_Milano. It was so well lit up and so was the adjacent Vittorio Emanuel II Monument. It is the symbol of Milano. Together it was such a spectacle in the night with a huge Xmas tree in the Piazza(square). Spent sometime there and went ahead to eat some Italian food. I went to a nice restraunt and ordered a Pizza with a fancy name. Turned out Anchovies is a horrible smelling fish that almost made me puke. So had to just bit off the edges so as not to waste my my moneys worth and sipped on some nice Italian wine to wash off the horrible smell of the Fish from my mouth. They must be wondering why the hell did he order a fish pizza and not eat the fish. But this restraunt had a fantastic Home-made Tiramisu. It just melted in my mouth and was probably the best Tiramisu I ve ever had so far. Yummy.... After not so great meal, but wonderful desert I headed off to my Hostel to get a good nights sleep after a tiring day.

Day 2 (25-10-06) - Milano: Since I was leaving the city that night I checked out my Hostel in the morning and left my luggage with the Hostel reception. Since this hostel was run by a chinese family, I felt much safer to leave my luggage there. But I would suggest to leave the luggage in a locker or Left luggage in the railway station esp. if you are planing to catch a train later to avoid all the tension of going to hostel to pick up your bags before catching the train. Anyway, I first went to have a proper breakfast the Italian way. I thought Italy being predominantly a christian Majority, the roads would be empty. On the contrary there were lots of people and cars on street much like a bigger city and so unlike Oslo. I went and had a Cappucho (Cappuchino) and a Brioche (Chocolato). Ofcourse I had to say Ciao and Gracie and Ciao again. Quite Funny, Ciao goes for both Hi and Bye and then throw in some 'Prego'(Its Ok, You are welcome) everywhere and you can speak perfect Italiano. Then I started walking along the streets and look what I found, a Vespa Scooter. There were tons of Scooterists in the streets of Italy. I went straight to Castello Sforzesco. Just walked inside the Castle and came out on the other end. Nothing great about it really except that there was a map inside which showed that in Olden days this Castle was the center of the entire city and whole city was built around this castle and the Duomo. Apparently Milano was the capital of Napolean's Italy. He even built a big arch right behind this castle to celebrate his big empire. Then I went around to the Opera Center and found that closed on the Xmas day(obv.). Then as I was walking from the Caslte towards the Duomo I was treated with a set of pictures of Italy taken from above. These splendid photographs taken from above the different places showed how wonderful each and place is how much historic importance is attached to it. Then I just had a look at Duomo in day light and then walked to a Museum called Cenacolo Vinciano which has the Fresco of the Famous painting by Leonardo Da Vinci 'the Last Supper'. It was also closed and I couldn't get a glance of it. That was about my time in Milano and I had to catch my train to Firenze to continue my adventure.

Click here for full set of Photos in Milan

TIPS:

Whenever you go to any city always look out for a 24 hour or 48hr/72hr/week pass whichever applies to your duration of stay in that city. Works out cheaper than individual tickets most of the times. Ask for Metro Train passes at the counter just before the Metro Trains one level below the Milan Central Station or you can even try the automatic machines.
You can book Trenitalia train tickets using Credit card with reservation on their website and pick up the tickets at any Automated Ticket Machine by entering the PNR number.
Hostel I stayed: Hotel Durante. It was more or less a hotel offering shared rooms for a cheaper price. You can also look at http://www.hihostels.com/ for Hostel booking in Milan.
Make a small list of all different food vareities and names of different pizzas, pastas in italian as not all restraunts will offer English Menu. Might be easier for you to choose.

** Contd... Look at my next post for my trip to Pisa and Florence.

Italy tour - Pisa and Firenze (Florence)

2007-01-08T16:49:00.000+01:00

Trip diary of my visit to Florence and Pisa. Contd.. from Milan

Day 3 (26-10-06) - Firenze & Pisa: I had decided to go to Pisa (Home to Enrico Fermi, Galileo and Fibonacci among others)) this day to see the famous Leaning tower or 'Torre Pendente'. So I took a train from Firenze to Pisa, which takes only about an hour, and started walking towards the tower. There is nothing much to do in Pisa except the tower and the Basilica next to it and the other museums nearby in the same place Campo dei Miracoli(Field of Miracles). It costs quite a lot of money(15€) to go up to top of the tower, but whats the fun in not going to the top after being there. So I had to do it just for the heck of it. It was a very nice experience climbing the winding stairs which goes around this leaning tower and when climb you can actually feel the lean on one side. It was a great view from the top of the tower. I bought a collective museum pass(8€ for 3 Museums) for the nearby museums and went to see the Camposanto - Monumental cemetry which had a collection of some really wonderful and artful sarcophagi of many unknown people and one of the Well Known Mathematician Leanardo Fibonanacci of the famed Fibonacci series, Battistero(baptistery), Musei Opera Del duomo which has some of the old models for the tower and the Basilica and the Battistero and some frescoes and sculptures by the same person(Pisano) who was involded in building the tower. Then I went inside and saw the Duomo, a cathedral. That done, I had to go and buy some mementos and postcards to send it back home from Pisa. Then it was time for a good Dinner with 'Chianti Classic', popular red wine from the vinyards of Tuscanny. After that I took the train back to Firenze and roamed the streets locating some of the Museums which I planed to visit the next day.

Photos from Pisa

Day 4 (27-10-06) - Firenze: Crappy Breakfast at the Hostel which included a dry and hard bread with butter, a cold cappuchino and a glass of orange juice. I checked out of the hostel and went to Firenze Santa Maria Novella Station and left my luggage at the Left Luggage counter to be picked up before my evening train to Rome. I had got a 24 hour bus pass the previous night and so it made my job easier to jump between different interesting places by bus. My First destination was Gallgeria dell'Accademia, Obviously because I did not want to miss out on the world famous masterpiece by the Genius Michael Angelo, The 'David'. The Gallery also had some unfinished Sculptures by Michael Angelo. Unfortunately I dont have any pictures as they did not allow anyone to take photos inside. For its full collection, please refer the link above. Most of the visitors were swarming near the David Statue. It was so gigantic and beautiful as they all describe. It must have been 10 feet tall on a very high pedestal. It was so pristine white marble and just amazing. As history goes, it was displayed outside Palazzo Vecchio and then brought to the Gallery to preserve it. There is a copy of the same in Piazza vechio now and also a broonze copy in the Piazza Michael Angelo in the city. I also saw a copy of this same sculpture in Caesar Palace in the Vegas.

After the gallery visit, I went to see the Duomo. It was undergoing some restoration on one side. But we were allowed to enter the Duomo and also the Museo dell'opera del duomo, which ofcourse costs an entry fee. This museum had some of Micheal Angelo's works including one version of Pieta which he intented to have it for his tomb and also some sculptures of Donatello. MA was unhappy with his pieta and broke one piece of it and was later restored by one of his students. Quite a history eh, of the genius renaissance artist. I was never very arty meaning so much into all the art stuff.. but after seeing some of the wonderful stuff in Florence it was very difficult not to spend time and appreciate the art. This trip, I realised, was turning out to be a Michael Angelo tour.

Next stop was Basilica di San Lorenzo which was a very beautiful chapel which had couple of bronze pulpits designed by Donatello and apparently Donatello is buried in this same chapel. Then I went to see the Capelle Medicee (Medici Chapels). The Medici family was a big patron of the renaissance art and the likes of Donatello, Michael Angelo, Raphael all flourished during their period. This chapel has the tombs of the Medici family with some exquisite architecture and very beaituful and elaborate Sarcophagus. One of the room was Capella dei principi which is decorated nicely with marbles and precious stones and was the principal burial place of the Meidici rulers. The next room is Sargestia Nuova (New Sarcistry) which was fully designed by the Michael Angelo for the Medici's and has his beautiful alleghorical sculptures Night and Day, Dawn and Dusk and also the Madonna with the Child all of which are placed on top of the tomb of the Medici's, Lorenzo and Guiliano, along with their sculptures. Just in the presence of these masterpieces and this amazing rich rooms full of marbles and wonderful art and architecture made my day.

I decided to take it easy and just walked to Palazzo Vecchio and the crowded Piazza Della Signoria and its Fontana de Neptuno and Loggia Della Signoria in front of it which has Replicas of famous renaissance sculptures incl. David by Michel Angelo, Donatello's Judith and Holofernes, Perseus by Benvenuto Cellini, Rape of the Sabine Women and Hercules beating the Centaur Nessus, both by Giambologna, Menelaus supporting the body of Patroclus and many other Greek Myth related art work. Wonder How it must have been in its hey day during the Renaissance Period of 16th Century!! I didnt have enough time to go to Bargello Museum or Uffizi gallery, both of which are very renowned and I so wanted to see. Oh.. Well.. Maybe Next time...

Then I walked to the other side of River Arne along the famous Ponte Vecchio, Florence's oldest surviving bridge has Jewellery shops on both sides of the street. It is open only for Pedestrian walking. it connects the Old Medici Florenti Palazzo(Palace) Vecchio to the New Florentine Palazzo Pitti. I crossed the River Arne towards Palazzo Pitti and found that it was closed and I took the Bus to Piazza Michael Angelo to get a fantastic view of the whole Firenze city from there and also saw the Bronze copy of David by Michael Angelo which adorns the Piazza. Then I literally ran back to the station to get my luggages and caught the Eurostar to my next destination 'Roma'. Quiet and an express journey which costs quite a lot of money, I reached the Roma termini- Central station. Main problem after that was my Hostel was very far away from the Station and I needed to take the Metro and then a bus to reach there. The Metro lines were closed as they are constructing a their line (Rome has only 2 underground lines and every effort of their to dig deeper gets them to someething historical and then the archeological dept takes over and work is stalled). So after a bit of effort i reached my hostel which is far away from the city center and a bit closer to Vatican.

Photos from Florence

**Contd... Look at my next post for my trip to Rome.

Trip to the Norwegian Fjords - Aurland, Flåm and Gudvangen

2006-08-10T11:30:00.000+02:00

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

2006-05-05T15:42:00.000+02:00

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

2006-04-27T16:01:00.000+02:00

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

2006-04-27T15:08:00.000+02:00

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

2006-04-04T15:39:00.000+02:00