The Big Trip

It's been a long and tiring, but totally enjoyable 11 days !! There were a couple of very very minor hiccups, and the best part was that most surprises were pleasant ones !!

Here is a chronological account of what I did in Europe during the Christmas vacation, interspersed with my comments and criticism.
(Disclaimer : Shashwat is too lazy to write in his blog, so he claims that he will simply put up the URL to my blog, in his blog. All views expressed here are personal, and have no relation to the those held by Shashwat.)


Venice - 22/23/24 Dec 2006

Shashwat arrived in Grenoble a day early, and we made out last minute arrangements. Copies of passports, visas, permits, bank documents etc etc... in case we take the wrong train and land up in the eastern part of Eastern Europe, or beyond. (ok, just kidding). We took the train from Grenoble to Chambery, and then the TGV from Chambery to Milan. Now i must tell you what Italy can do the best train in the world. Italy slows it down. I have no idea why, but once the train crossed the border into Italy, it crawled. It stopped at every goddamn village and hamlet, the names of which i bet half the people in the train could not pronounce ! Also, the lack of speed forces you to notice the Italian countryside (or rather the lack of it). "Italian Countryside" is an oxymoron. It does not exist. Throughout the train ride, spanning the width of Italy, all we saw were bulldozers, heavy industry, big cramped up apartment buildings and garbage cans.

We got to Milan half an hour late, and promptly missed our connecting train to Venice. Great! The next train was an hour later, and when it arrived we were not thrilled. Less space than Indian trains, and more crowded than them! Hardly any luggage space, and Shashwat and I had a lengthy discussion about our new found pride in Laloo and his establishment.

We got to Venice by 6pm that evening, but the sun had set long ago. We walked along the canal(s) to the hotel we had booked, and had a nice Italian pizza for dinner.

The next day was to discover Venice. Before i left, people warned me that i will get lost in the streets of Venice, and that i should keep my eye open to ensure I don’t end up in a canal, given my inability to swim. I did keep my eyes open, and it helped. We did not lose our way, for most part, and we explored most of Venice on foot. We even took a "taxi boat" ride, just for the heck of it. Venice has no metros or tramways. The only form of transport is the boats, that are organised like buses and actually make stops every 100 metres along the Grand Canal. We also strolled into a cafe at Place San Marco, and was it a wrong choice ! A cappuccino for 6.3€ !!!

I must also tell you something about Italians. I follow a Canadian-born Indian comedian Russell Peters (you can find his videos on Google Videos). He's a guy who makes fun of races. Chinese, Whites, Blacks, and of course (mostly), Indians. Now, in one video i saw, this guy said that Italians will approach you and speak to you like you are a native speaker of the language. I cannot agree more !! In just 2 days in Venice, i have lost count of the number of times people walked up to us, only to hear us say "No Italiano". It's totally bizarre....

Anyway, we explored a bit more on the morning of 24th, and that afternoon we took another train out of Venice, towards Munich. This train was empty, some kind of ghost train.... we were the only 2 people in our compartment, and i don’t think i heard anyone else in our bogie !!

Somewhere in Austria - just 2 minutes (24 Dec 2006)

So the train crossed the Italian-Austrian border at a place called Brixen, and we decided that we can claim to have been to Austria as well. So we jumped off the train at the station, got into the next bogie, and came back to our seats, feeling victorious. I've been to Austria as well... (read : stepped foot on Austrian soil, breathed Austrian air)


Munich - 24/25/26 Dec 2006

Our train then crossed the Austrian-German border at Innsbruck, and this is where we got our first taste of German efficiency. The station was totally deserted, with piles of snow outside. (Ardent gamers would know of a game called "Medal of Honor", which has a mission where you infiltrate a German train station and sabotage a stockpile of explosives. Lots of sniper action. This station reminded me of that.) Then suddenly out of nowhere, the so-far-dead public address system crackled to life and the captain announced that a German crew had just taken control of this train, and within seconds a stewardess was giving us the complete details of the scheduled arrival and departure of the train at forthcoming stations. Along with the names of the stations, were the different connecting trains you could take from the respective stations. To top it off, the train arrived and departed from each station at the EXACT time written on the booklet. It was unbelievable to see how they could be organised like that !!

We were already dazed when we arrived in Munich, only to realise that Munich was so far the most modern city either of us had seen in Europe. It was freezing, and we made a short walk to our hotel. The guy at the counter already had our bill printed, and only wanted our signature ! We crashed, feeling so happy that our room was worth much more than the 22€ we were paying for it....

The next day, also Christmas, was freezing... with the mercury standing (or sinking) at -3°C, we set out to map central Munich on foot, making regular stops for adequate intakes of coffee, but mostly to bring the core temperature back up. We later met Shane, a Singaporean colleague from Angouleme, who was with his girlfriend in Munich at the same time. We set out to the Olympic Park and the BMW museum...

I have one word for Munich's metro rail system... rocking !!!
Very very modern, very very fast. Unlike other European cities i have visited, Munich almost has a complete underground city, running parallel to the one on the surface. You have the option of taking the metro, or the underground pedestrian passages !! Along the passages are shops, eateries and other essential services... brilliant !

Also in the Munich metro, i saw one of the most creative advertisement mediums ever.. an Adidas ad, with a series of still images along the metro tunnels. As you go past in the metro train, you look out and you see an image of a woman running alongside the train, thanks to persistence of vision... it is so simple, and yet to creative. The images had to be planned according to the speed of the train !

All along the day, we kept getting tastes of the German efficiency and the "Achtung" attitude, and I totally loved it. But the best one came when we went to the train station to try and change our next train, given than we had to change trains at Mannheim within a gap of 7 minutes. We explained to the guy at the counter, and he looked at us in disbelief, with a look of "How is that a problem?"... I'm sure he was going to have us arrested for proposing that 7 minutes was too short, because he kept telling us that the train can never be late. He reluctantly changed our ticket, in utter disbelief, and increased the transit time to 20 minutes !!

Germans don’t talk much. Shashwat and I developed a theory for that. We think Germans keep a tab on the efficiency ratio (information transmitted / words spoken) and are obliged to keep this value above a certain threshold. They always answer to the point, no tall stories, no beating the bush. This way, this efficiency ratio is maintained, and all is well. I don’t want to find out what happens when this ratio goes below the threshold value.

Germany is also quite cost-effective, as compared to my adopted home, France. I don’t know if it’s the habit of being in France or something else, but when I bought something in Germany, I feel I’m getting the same quality for much cheaper. Maybe someone can tell me why (!?!)

On 26th, around noon, we took the train to Amsterdam. The world “train” is an understatement to describe this machine. I thought the French TGV was good. The German ICE (Inter City Express) puts it to shame. The interior is like an aircraft, far more comfortable than the TGV, and every seat even has a display that shows from where to where it has been reserved. German efficiency. The train touches 300kmph, and a display screen lets you keep a tab on it !!

The train from Munich to Frankfurt was spot on time (why did I think otherwise?) and we made our transit in 2 minutes. That’s when we realised why the guy at the ticket counter looked at us like we were lunatics. However, the train from Frankfurt arrived at Amsterdam 2 minutes late, and we expected to see German guards whisk away the train crew for lack of efficiency….

Amsterdam – 26/27/28 Dec 2006
(Warning : Read only if you are above 18 years of age)

Well well well… What can I say about Amsterdam. This is not a city that can be described. It needs to be experienced, to be believed. Beautiful canals, very different buildings, lots and lots of “theme” musuems (including a Madame Tussaud) and a very liberal lifestyle.

I think most people know Amsterdam as the world capital of sin. But once you get there, you realise that even the wild side has a spin in Amsterdam. We spent the first day visiting a couple of museums, like the Torture Museum, which turned out to be very interesting. We also hit the Heineken Experience, a museum right beside the first Heineken Brewery in Amsterdam. It was nice to see the process of brewing, and all the old Heineken ads, and even a souvenir shop.

Later that evening was when we got out first taste of the wild side in Amsterdam. Let me tell you a little bit about the history of Amsterdam’s attitude to what the rest of the world calls sin. Amsterdam used to be a big stop for sailors and traders, looking for sex and drugs. Once upon a time, prostitution was rampant, and the Dutch legalised it somewhere down the line. Soft drugs are legal as well. You can walk into a cafe and order a strong coffee or a roll of cannabis !!

Amsterdam has a quarter called the Red Light District. In it, are rows and rows of full-length windows, lit up with red lights, with prostitutes standing inside, attracting passers-by to come in. It’s quite amazing to walk past, and see a scantily clad woman throw kisses at you, or tap on the window with her lipstick to attract your attention. Some are dancing inside, and when they manage to find a customer, they simply let him in, and pull a curtain over the window ! These women come in all shapes, sizes and colours, to match every possible taste. The people who walk by are quite diverse as well. All kinds of tourists from all over the world. But they all have one thing in common : a shocked look on their face !! You can talk to any of the women, with no fear at all, and a cop could be 2 feet away from you !!

To add to this, there are “Sex Shops”, selling all kinds of gadgets and accessories. Then there are the live cinemas, where you can pay 30€ to watch a “Live Show”. No points for guessing what that is ! To add to that, the Museum of Eroticism showcasing the history of eroticism and the Sex Museum, talking about the history of sex, and how this side of human nature has never changed throw thousands of years of evolution. Everything around the Red Light District has an innuendo. We even had dinner at an Indian restaurant called Kama Sutra !!

I know, I know. The whole thing sounds shady and demented. But believe me, when you walk through this area, it sets your mind thinking about a few things. In this place, there is such an excess of “bad”, that crime isn’t a problem at all. Prostitution is legal, but pimping can get you into trouble. That way, the women are not exploited. As shady as it sounds, the whole environment is quite classy. Personally, some of those women in the windows were bloody beautiful !!!

Brussels – 29/30 Dec 2006

We arrived in Brussels on the morning on 29th, and we hit the city right away. Had lunch at a Thai restaurant, and headed out to a place called Mini-Europe, where every big monument or spectacle of Europe is modeled in miniature. It was great to see, and I have a few ideas for my forthcoming travels ! Right beside the Mini Europe is the not so famous Atomium. A splendid steel structure built in the 60s to show Belgium’s industrial development.

We went back to the city centre to watch a great lighting show at Grand Place, and some good food ! Enjoyed some great Belgian chocolate before going to sleep.

The next day we visited the Belgian comic strip centre, and the Tintin Boutique. Great to be at the home of Tintin, the stuff I grew up reading. I was like an excited child in a candy store !

Later in the day we took a sightseeing tour in a bus, which lasted a while. Quick way to go around a city, especially after 10 long and tiring days.

Paris – 31 Dec 2006 / 1 Jan 2007

Arrived at Paris on the morning of 31st, and watched Casino Royale again. Hmmm, the movie is not so bad on the big screen. Maybe I should have seen it on the big screen, but unfortunately the English version is not released in Grenoble.

We spent New Year’s Eve on Champs-Elysees, where there were an estimated 400,000 people !!! Now that is something I will always remember. What I will also remember is that the French do not know how to make noise. Believe me, 50000 cricket fans in Chinnaswamy stadium can make more noise when Tendulkar comes out to bat, than 400000 people of Champs Elysees !!!

Made a great start to 2007, by visiting the grave of one of the greatest musicians ever – Jim Morrison. He died in Paris in 1971, and is buried in Pére Lachaise. The grave is almost a tourist spot, and at any time, you can find atleast 50 people there. Some leaving flowers, some saying a prayer.

Got back to Grenoble that night, by the last train from Paris. Exhausted, drained… but very very happy !!

photos : http://www.flickr.com/photos/swaroopsrinath/sets/