EUROPE THROUGH MY EYES

             Europe, a dream destination for many and so it was for us too. We love travelling around the world and Europe was always on top of the list. But it took us many years of planning before we could make it.

My daughter works for the IT industry and her job requires her to travel often. In the year 2004 she was in London and insisted us to visit her. At that time, my leave didn’t get sanctioned and so we could not visit her. During her stay in London, she took a trip to Switzerland and she said it indeed was heaven on earth – incredibly beautiful and scenic. We loved the pictures she shared with us. It was serene. But we could not plan the trip until another decade due to various responsibilities.

My retirement was in the month of May 2014 and so in February 2014, me and my wife decided to visit Europe after retirement. My wife started scrolling through the newspaper as always and saw the most popular Euro trip colourful advertisements. Our aim was to see both London and Europe together whereas most advertisements were for Europe only. As they say, “Jaha Chah waha raah” (English translation – “Where there is a will there is a way”). One day she saw an advertisement from Thomas cook wherein they were offering a London tour along with the Europe package tour. We immediately booked a visit to the Thomas cook M.G road, Bangalore office and in no time did our bookings for the month of June 2014. Here we were all set to visit United Kingdom, the nation which ruled all over the world for so many years.

              So now comes the planning phase as the tour was in the month of June. Now that I was retired I didn’t need the NOC or leave sanction letter by employer, one document less on the list! Our passports were getting expired and thus we renewed our passports ahead of the tour before getting the visa stamping. London is not part of the European Union, so we had to apply for United Kingdom visa separately. UK visa has special specifications for the photograph, so we had to get that taken and along with all the paperwork we went to the visa office as per our appointment as it involved taking biometrics. For Europe, we needed Schengen visa. We gave our paperwork to the travel agency for this and they were able to get the visa for us. Now that the paperwork was done, we were invited for a one hour session at the Thomas cook office one week prior to the tour date for briefing. They also gave us bags and caps as souvenirs. We met other fellow tour mates and it seemed like a fun group, we were sure to have loads of fun on this trip! We were given instructions on how the tour will be structured and that our tour guide will meet us at the London airport. We purchased prepaid multi currency card and also exchanged Indian currency with Euro and US Dollars.  Then began a shopping spree, another few thousands spent for reasons I am still wondering 😉! The one useful thing we bought was the electrical adapter, as in Europe, the electric voltage is different from that of India, so the electrical appliances like phone charger, watch charger etc needed an adaptor if we were to use them there, so money well spent there!

 

On the day of our journey, we took flight to Doha by Emirates airways at midnight. The flight was very comfortable, and we reached Doha early morning. No prize for guessing that we were surrounded by desert.  We are in habit of taking  bed tea in the morning. So as soon as we landed, we searched for a coffee shop. We did not have Dhiram currency, but the coffee vendor accepted US Dollars, which is a universal currency. After having tea, we strolled around the airport, visited the shops and while doing the same, my very social wife made some new friends at the airport. She got into a conversation with a Sheikh couple, Who were waiting for their flight to Bahrain. They were in awe of Indian movies, which we took extreme proud in 😊, in that moment we felt like we were the one’s making all the Bollywood movies 😉. We told them all about our popular movies and actors and they were all ears! I suddenly remembered that my jacket was missing. We then took leave of the couple and started looking around for my jacket, we found it lying on the coffee shop at the table we were seated. I must say, very nice people here. We then walked around the car exhibition that was displayed on the airport and also put our name in for the lucky draw, although like always, we never got any call back! We then headed to board our 1:30 PM flight to London.

Our flight reached Heathrow airport at 5.00 p.m. London time. I have heard so much about the Heathrow airport, it is a major international airport and is capped at 480000 annual movements. Every day 213000 passengers land or depart with a plane taking off every 45 seconds. True to what I had heard, it was very crowded. There was a big poster of the queen of England just as we entered the airport. There was a long queue for immigration, It took us about two and half hour to finish immigration and collect our luggage and exit the airport. It was 7.30 p.m. but the sun was shining like it was 4 PM in the evening in India. Our guide was waiting for us holding the Thomas Cook flag at the arrivals. We were very relieved to see him. His name was Daruwala and he was originally from Mumbai. He welcomed us and took us for dinner. After dinner, we checked into our hotel. The room was comfortable and like most European countries, the room was carpeted and had wooden walls.  My wife wanted to speak with our children, so I went to the reception and took the  wi-fi details so we could use whats up to call them. The internet is such a relief these days, you can call anyone through internet and not have to worry about buying a local sim card while on vacation. After talking to both our son and daughter, we hit the bed all excited about the London tour the next morning.

Next day morning, we started our trip very early in the morning with an introduction of the history of UK from our guide. London is the capital and the largest city in United Kingdom. It stands on the river Thames in South East of England. United Kingdom is made up of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is an island nation. England is also the birth place of Shakespeare. Our guide told us that history goes back to Roman time. Our first stop was the Shri Swaminarayan temple in Neasden , London. This is the largest Hindu temple outside of India. The temple is made from Indian marbles, Italian marbels and Bulgarian limestone. It was a beautiful and peaceful place. We sat there for some time and prayed for the wellbeing of our children and their families. We could have stayed there for hours but had a long day ahead and thus had to head out for our next stop, the most famous Buckingham Palace.

 

Buckingham Palace is the residence of the monarchy of UK. It is located in the city of Westminster. We were lucky to make just in time for the most popular changing of guards ceremony in the front of Buckingham Palace gate. We were awed by the costumes of the guard and their synchronization. We then walked to Big Ben, the clock tower. The tower is 315 feet tall. Big Ben is nickname of the great bell of the Striking Clock at north end of palace of Westminster.  We also saw the Westminster Abbey  a royal church in the centre of London. We grabbed a quick lunch enroute. Then we walked to the London Eye, which is also called the Millennium wheel. Its diameter is 120 metres. We had to wait in a long queue to get onto the Eye. The ride on the eye was magnificent. We were able to see the entire city when the Eye capsule reached the top. After the ride we went to the famous Trafalgar square, yes you got that right, the same spot where Mr. Amrish Puriji fed the pigeons in the legendary movie Dilwale Dulahaniya Le Jayenge. We saw a whole lot of pigeons there. After the stroll, we headed back for dinner and then to our hotel rooms for the night.

The next day morning went to the London bridge through a ferry ride. I had been seeing the London bridge is falling down rhyme offlate with my little granddaughter and that was playing on my mind through the ferry ride. It was a nice experience and after the ferry we went to visit the London museum. We even saw our own Kohinoor diamond in the museum and the title read “Gifted by India”. The museum showcased dresses from the olden era and their history. There was also a torture chamber in the museum which showcased how they totured their colonies. It was really sad to imagine we were one of their colonies too. After seeing the museum we went to an Indian restaurant for lunch.  He served rice and curry (Rajma), a favourite Punjabi dish. After lunch we went to see Madame Tussad’s  wax museum. There are more than 250 life like wax statues in the museum. We took photographs with our favourite Bollywood star wax statues - Amitabh Bachhan, Salman Khan and Sachin Tendulkar. Some of them looked very real. We loved the visit there.

    

           

In the evening we went to Oxford  Street. This is a major road in the city of Westminster. It is Europe’s busiest shopping street. The street welcomes half a million visitors daily. We went in a couple of stores and they were super expensive. My wife picked up some clothing from Zara and I do not even want to do the conversion 😊. After seeing the amazing city of London, we were back in our hotel for a good night sleep. Next day we were to head to the glamour capital of the world, Paris. Paris is known for its fashion houses, art museums, beautiful monuments and exciting cabarets. We boarded a mini bus from London to Paris. The bus was taken aboard the Euro rail.  London to Paris is about 286.6 miles. We had to cross the English Channel by tunnel under the sea. It was a wonderful experience. We played Antakshari with our group in the bus enroute. After we arrived at Paris, more people from other Thomas Cook troops joined us from Delhi, Gujrat and M.P. We were all gathered in front of a mall and there was some event happening at the mall for which people were dancing. We enjoyed the show, ate lunch and took a stroll in the mall before heading to our hotel in Paris.

Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It’s19th century cityscape is crisscrossed by wide boulevards and the river Siene. Paris is called the city of lights. Paris is also called the city of love because each year millions of people come here to spend romantic time. Paris is considered the most beautiful city in the planet. The people here are very stylish true to its word of being the fashion capital.

During the 18^th century France became the center of autocratic monarchy. Poor administration, expensive expenditure was the political cause of French revolution. The word liberalism traces its roots to the Latin word liber meaning free. The concept of liberalism was born in France. The French revolution was a watershed event in modern Europe. It started in 1789 and ended in 1799. Napoleon Bonaparte seized power in1799 after overthrowing French revolution. Napoleon ended 10 years of war with Great Britain.

The next day morning we got ready and we went for breakfast at our hotel. There were boiled eggs on the dining table. But when we touched the eggs, they were very cold. We called the waitress and requested her to get us hot eggs. But she knew only French and could not understand the word “HOT”. We then went to the manager and he did not understand English either. In France weather you speak Hindi or English, it doesn’t matter as they don’t understand either 😊. We had to manage with cold eggs for breakfast. After enjoying the cold eggs for breakfast we headed for a city tour early morning. Our bus was very big. it had refrigerators in the bus to provide cool drink and  chilled water bottles. We went to see the Notre -Dome de Paris referred to as the Catholic Cathedral. The Cathedral was considered to be Virgin Mary. This is a masterpiece of Gothic architecture. In France many visitors come to visit this popular monument.

We then went to visit the Eiffel Tower. It is named after engineer Eiffel whose company designed and built the tower. Its construction started 1887. It has become global cultural icon. Its height is 324 metres. Due to addition of the broadcasting aerial, it is taller than the Chrysler building in New York. The tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on first and second level. The third level is the Summit. Although there is staircase, elevators are used by visitors. The view from the glass floor was amazing. We could see the entire city.

After Eiffel Tower, our next stop was Lourve Museum. This is world’s largest art museum located inside the palace Louvre. It is on the right bank of river Seine. We saw the world-renowned oil painting – Mona Lisa. It is considered as an archetypal masterpiece of Italian Renaissance. It is described as the best known and most visited Portrait. We walked through the museum exploring more artworks. Then we went to see Palais Garnier Opera. The Opera house was designed by Charles Garnier, commissioned by Napoleon in 1860. This is a symbol of Napoleon’s regime. It features classical columns and eight sculptures representing - Poetry, Music, Idyll , Recitation, Song, Drama and Dance. It has a beautiful architecture.

After the Opera house we went for Seine river cruise. It was pouring heavily when we were headed for the cruise. The cruise took us around Eiffel tower, Notre Dome Cathedral and Laurie museum. After sunset the city’s landmarks are illuminated and we could now understand why they call it the city of lights. The cruise was a wonderful experience. We took the beautiful memories from our day visit back with us for a goodnight sleep.

Next day was even more exciting as we were to go to the Disneyland. There are two parks directly across from each other - Parc Disneyland and Walt Disney Studios. We decided to go Walt Disney Studios. It is huge and has various rides like the the tower of terror also called the twilight Zone, the Rock “n” Roller Coaster, Toy story playland and “Lights, Camera, Action” stunt show. We enjoyed Big Thunder Mountain in snow. We also enjoyed the train ride. It was taking us around some dangerous places. There was also a fire show during train ride, it was very interesting. We had a blast on the train ride, the effects were very real. Then we went to the theatre for a show. There was a long queue. It was very terrific inside and we enjoyed the hour long show. We were suddenly falling and jumping off the seats. It was an amazing adventure.

In the night, we went to the Lido show in Paris. Lido show is a cabaret show and is known for exotic dancers, singers and other performers. It was a 90 minute show where various performers danced and sang. A good way to end a beautiful day in Paris.

The next morning brought in more excitement as we were headed to the most beautiful place on Earth – Heaven on Earth – Switzerland. We took the bus ride from Paris to Switzerland. The scenic views enroute were mesmerizing. It was a long but beautiful journey.

We rested in Interlaken that night. Next day morning we were all set for an adventurous journey to Jungfraujoch, the highest peak of Europe. The upmountain was very scenic. We saw the ice palace on Jungfraujoch , it was very cold up there. We also played in the snow. We even tried to do skiing but couldn’t ….was fun trying though. An awesome snowy experience!

                        

The next day was another adventure when we visited Mount Titlus. We had to board the cable cars to go up the hill. It seemed like we were flying in the air. When we reached the top of the mountain we were pleasantly surprised to see cardboard cutouts of Kajol and Shahrukh Khan from the DDLJ movie. We took photos with their cutouts. Bollywood is everywhere 😊. The famous song “Jara sa jhoom lu mein” from DDLJ was shot in Gstaad, Switzerland. It’s a very popular tourist place for us Indians. All the Indians in our troop were super excited and we all took a group pic as well. After spending a good few hours we made our way down as we had more exciting places to cover in Europe. I will continue the Europe trip part 2 in my next blog. Happy reading!