Easter Trip 2008- Part 2

Day 3: Our first stop was the Buckingham palace. The change of guards at the palace is touted as a must see and so we set forth to catch the action on time. By the time we reached the palace, it was teeming with tourists and finding a vantage point seemed impossible. The group split up and for a while each one seemed to be on his own. Somehow all of us managed to individually find spots from where we managed to see the entire ceremony and it was definitely worth the hype. From here we walked out towards Trafalgar square. As was the case on my last visit, this time also I did not have the time to visit the National Gallery situated right opposite the square. After a quick lunch nearby, we proceeded to Baker Street, not to meet Mr. Holmes, but to the equally famous Madam Tussauds wax museum. Inside the museum, the group was like kids inside a candy store; totally delirious and wanting a piece of everything around. Kiran, am sure, got his photo clicked beside every single celebrity statue inside, giving special attention to the ladies. Hollywood/ history/ royalty/ sports / science/bollywood music all sections were covered. The newly unveiled Salman Khan statue seemed quite popular, so did Jack sparrow and Gandhi. I found George Bush to be hideous and the one of the British royal family splendid. But other than statues, there was something else in the museum which we ventured into – the scary dungeon which is a walk though a dimly lit, narrow path, with unexpected scares expected around the corner. On my visit earlier with Rusa we had chosen not to try this, but this time with a larger group I was bold enough. We thought we might be looking at more statues of murderers and infamous men, but had not bargained to run into live actors impersonating devils/ vampires/ and killers and scaring the living daylights out of us. Kiran had his eyes closed the entire stretch and yelled out howls which would have woken up his ancestors from their grave. Shubhada started questioning the logic of live actors coming too close for comfort, little realizing that logic was the last on their minds. I was bringing up the rear and I was scared to my wits. The only unfazed person seemed to be Kirti who returned the cold stares of these actors. This testing experience aside, the time spent in Madam Tussauds was enjoyable.

Day 4: We were due to catch a morning train from Paddington station to go to Bath. For some reason the underground s operation was suspended and we had to catch a bus to get to Paddington. We got into one of the famed Double Decker London buses and soon we were at Paddington. Previously, I have run into Tamilians at unexpected places like San Sebastian and this time as me and Kiran were deliberating about something at the ticket counter, we heard a Tamil voice addressing from behind the counter. An ex Loyolite now settled in London, he helped clear what ever doubts we had and directed us to the platform.

After a short uneventful train ride, we alighted at Bath amidst pouring rain and dampness. Our YMCA hostel was about 10 minutes walk from the station and with the rain showing no signs of abating; we trundled on in the rain to the hostel. By the time we were ready to move, the sun had come out and we made our way to the Great Bath, from which the city has derived its name. A Roman discovery, this place was established as a spa resort in the ages gone by thanks to the naturally occurring hot springs. Today the Bath is one of the most visited tourist places in Great Britain and a UNESCO world heritage site. An impressive audio guide helps you to understand the history and significance of the bath and you can visit the museum, temple and also the spring. Tourists are not allowed to enter into the water though there is enough history in the place to keep you occupied. Right next to the Bath is the majestic Bath Abbey. A quick tour of the Abbey followed after which we caught a hop on hop off bus which was to take us on a tour of the city as well as the surrounding hills of Bath. The live commentary given by a raconteur of a man was enjoyable as we were told about famous sons and daughters of Bath, celebrity guests and residents. At the end of the hop ride we alighted at the Royal crescent- majestic building housing flats, museums and offices. As the name suggests, the building takes a shape of a semi circle that extends across what seems like a small hill and it is simply a spectacular sight.

Day 5: We left Bath early in the morning back to London via a short hop at Oxford. The weather was typical English – cold, gloomy and with intermittent rains. We really could not enjoy our stay at Oxford due to the conditions, but still managed to take a bus ride around the town and catch a glimpse of the various colleges that make the city what it is. By nightfall we had reached Stansted. It made sense to book hostels at Stansted with early morning flights to catch. Most of the hostels offer free pick up and drop to the airport and that’s such a boon as finding public transport in the early hours was going to be impossible. By next day noon all of us back at our respective cities and now I don’t recall if I did manage to go to work the same day. Knowing me I would have, at least to upload all the photos.

Easter Trip 2008 - Part 1

Easter weekend is a sought after holiday period in Europe. Given that you have a long weekend stretching to almost 5 days and that normally spring is around the corner during this period, Easter vacations are looked forward to. Last year I had flown down to Antwerp and explored Antwerp, Brussels, Gent, Rotterdam and Amsterdam. This time, the general consensus from the Junta was that Easter 2008 was to be spent in UK. All of us Maersk expatriates by now had been told that we were going to head back home during summer and we felt that it would be a shame to have spent close to 2 years in Europe and not visit UK. I had already covered London a few months back, but one visit doesn’t do justice to the great city. So a plan was chalked out covering London, Bath (Thank you, Jane Austen) and Oxford.

Day 1: Me, Kiran, Jigna and Shubhada reached London by 7 in the evening and checked into our hostels. Given that I and Kiran were dying for south Indian food the first plan was to visit the Saravana Bhavan restaurant at Rayners Lane. We were at Stamford Brook and we left around 8ish in the evening in search of Saravana Bhavan. But due a mistake in reading the underground map, we found ourself on a tube to Heathrow. By the time we got down and changed trains it was already quite late and trains were also not too regular. With a heavy heart we had to postpone the plan and returned to Stamford Brook for a sedate dinner.

Day 2: Kirti and Kamal joined us overnight. Their flight from CPH was delayed; they missed the Stansted express and managed to somehow reach the hostel by a combination of buses, taxis and walking in the biting cold. After breakfast, we headed out towards the most iconic symbol of London- the Big Ben. After the customary photo sessions with the Big Ben and the Parliament house in the background and on the Thames Bridge, we walked towards London s newest big attraction- The Millennium wheel. I had been on this earlier, back in cold January and the ride had been uneventful as the rain and clouds hampered any decent views. This time thankfully the sun was out and we could look out of the space capsules and spot various London landmarks on all four directions. A definite must visit.

The waiting time for the tickets / the q for the ride and ride itself took close to two hours, after which we decided to walk down along the Thames walk for a while looking at the street performers and mingling with seemingly endless tourists. On my visit I had been to the Wagamama restaurant at Piccadilly and found the food to be very good, and so suggested that we have our lunch at the Wagamama on the Thames Walk. We were not disappointed; the place is value for money.

We retraced our steps back to the Big Ben and further down towards Westminster Abbey. The scene of various coronations and famous burials ( think Da Vinci code- “The Knight A pope interred” ), Westminster is a UNESCO World heritage site and rightly so. From here we made our way to the Tower of London. With a history of more than a thousand years and having enough stories about it to fill a library of books, the place radiates history all around. It has been a fortress, a castle, a prison, a torture chamber and much more. Now it is a historical monument with a royal armory and most famously the seat of the crown Jewels including India s own Kohinoor. We walked around the Tower listening to stories of the Kings and Queens gone by, of betrayal and savagery, of ghost sightings and famous prisoners. We watched in awe at the crown jewels on display and spent time at the chapel inside. Next stop was the Tower Bridge, which almost everyone unfamiliar with London, mistakes to be the London Bridge. A suspension and bascule bridge which allows for small vessels to pass through it, the tower bridge is a widely recognized London symbol.

With the visits for the day being done, we turned our attention again towards Saravana Bhavan. From Tower hill we made our way all the way to Rayners lane. By the time we got there it was already dark and the cold was biting, the strong winds not helping us either. We had to walk a small distance in the cold to locate the place, only to find that it was full and we would have to wait. But the moment we entered, the familiar aroma of the place came back to me in a torrent, and Id have gladly waited all night to have a seat. We did get our corner and were ready to order everything on the menu. Among the 6 of us we ordered enough food to feed a village. Blame it on a year of Scandinavian food. After having devoured idly , dosas and uttapas of various size and shapes, there was still place left for the ubiquitous thayir-sadam ( curd rice), that must eat dish for any self respecting Tamil.

London trip - Jan 2008

Phew... Finally, have managed to put some keystrokes to MS word after almost 2 years. This post is to be read as a sequel, to my earlier one “New Year. Old habits” and half of it were written while I was still in Sweden.

The Ryan air flight from Gothenburg to Stansted, London was scheduled to leave at 9 15 pm, and perhaps as is the case with all the low cost airlines in the world, it took off 30 minutes late. Among the host of things that they sell onboard the aircraft, the most useful thing to buy is a ticket for the Stansted express - the train that you need to take from Stansted to London. It comes cheaper than the counter price at the airport and also you save time as you can head straight off for the train after you have finished your passport stamping. The trip from Stansted to London Liverpool Street took 45 minutes and from there, another 45 minutes before I could finally reach my hostel, which was located at west Kensington. It would be good to keep in mind that the underground stops after 1 am and so if you are dependent on it for reaching your hostel, plan accordingly. As I traveled on the tube and started hearing the public talk in English and noticed the signboards and announcements in English, I realized how much of a difference the knowledge of the language makes. It instantly puts you in a comfort zone and you tend to relax even though I was in a new city at it was half past midnight. While almost everybody in Gothenburg can speak in English, it is not the first choice. The announcements, the advertisements and the idle talk are not in English.

The hostel I was put up in was located in a good locality and also was extremely comfortable. It was a far cry from the small and slightly shady hostels I had been in some parts of Spain. This one had 80 percent rating on hostel world written all over it. The next morning as I drew the curtains out, I was half expecting sunshine and as I had thought it was raining. I had time till the evening to kill before my friend Rusa joined me from Gothenburg. Like a true tourist, my first stop in the morning was the Big Ben. The most definitive symbol for London , located right next to the Thames and with the Parliament house and the West minister Abbey nearby The most popular attraction of London this century - the London eye was my next stop. As luck would have it, they were closing it down for maintenance and I managed to get onboard the last flight before it shut down for 2 weeks. But it was still raining and in effect the so called spectacular view of London was ruined. After an uneventful 30 minute ride, I was back on terra firma and started walking further down along the Thames.

As the rain started getting heavier, I needed a place for shelter and I went inside the Tate Modern - the museum of modern art. A modest and ordinary looking building from outside, the Tate has about 6 levels of art and other exhibits inside its cavernous interior. As the name suggests, it comprises of modern art and I found it difficult to understand what on earth most of the paintings and art work meant. I remember seeing one huge canvas hung on the wall, entirely blue in color with a reddish line drawn through it. How much ever I try to interpret it, I could not come up with any meaningful ones. I continued my walk along the Thames covering the Globe theatre, the Millennium Bridge, the St.Pauls cathedral, then further down towards the HMS Belfast and finally the Tower Bridge. There was an exhibition of some fantastic sports photographs on the walkway near to the HMS Belfast and I spent the maximum time looking at them.

After Rusa checked in by evening, our first stop was the Piccadilly Circus. As we stepped out into the street up from the underground station, the first thing that we saw was the famous neon signs that have come to symbolize Piccadilly Circus. We walked along the public space, past the fountains and onwards towards Leicester square. The box offices were in full swing selling tickets for the weekend shows. We walked around the various by lanes, dipping in and out of china town, having a look at the various listings for musicals and movies playing and walked our way towards the Trafalgar square. Since it was quite dark and the rain had not abated, we quickly made our way back towards Piccadilly and further walked on to the Hard rock cafe. After a couple of drinks and some wasted food (thanks to a wrong decision with regards to ordering the food) we were back in the hostel.

Day 2 was a day of glorious sunshine. This made me believe that it doesn’t actually rain everyday in London. We started the day at the Big Ben again, and walked through the St.James Park towards the Buckingham palace. Since the palace interiors were closed for visitors during this part of the year, we had to make do with just a peep in through the massive gates and generally walk around. From the palace we walked along the red colored road called ' The Mall ' down towards the Admiralty arch and onwards to the Trafalgar square. Before getting to the square we stopped over at the Horse guards’ parade, where a change of guard ceremony was taking place. We had missed the more famous change of guard at the Buckingham palace, so had to make do with the one here. Trafalgar square was our next stop. This site celebrates the British naval victory in the battle of Trafalgar. The national gallery (a place which I have sadly missed, in spite of two trips to London) is at one end and the imposing Nelsons column is in the centre which is guarded by 4 giant Lions. It was interesting to note that the fountains in the square were designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, who later had designed New Delhi.

We walked towards Leicester square and after a quick lunch, we reserved tickets for Les Miserables later in the day. Since we could get tickets only for the afternoon show, we had to postpone Madam Tussauds for the next day. Colloquially knows as Les Mis, this is one of the longest running shows in the London west end - 22 years and counting. The story of Jean Valjean, Javert, Cosette and others set in 19th century France had us captivated and I was bowled over by my first experience of watching a musical.

Next was Oxford Street. Considered to be Europe s busiest shopping street, it was packed to its seams on that Friday evening. We walked the entire length of the street, gaping at the various marquee names that had their flagship stores along the way. Virgin, Disney, GAP, Marks and Spencer, UCB, Selfridges among others. Meanwhile Rusa s long running search for a new Digital camera continued in London as well, and as has been the case for a long time, the search ended with no purchase.

Next day was Madam Tussauds day. Guess for any first time visitor to London, this is a must visit place. And it certainly did not disappoint me, living up to the massive hype that this place has. Right from the moment you step out of the elevator to the light and sound of flashlights welcoming you like a celebrity ,till you come out of the place a couple of hours later, this museum does not disappoint. For me of particular interest were the Indian film stars, with SRK s statue placed right in front as one enters the Hollywood section!! Sports, movies, music, leaders, and royalty they were all there and sometimes we had to wait for a few minutes to get an opportunity to click a picture next to one.

By the time we had covered Tussauds it was too late in the day to get to the Tower Hill. We had to make do by just walking on the Tower bridge and taking a view of the city from there and retired to the hostel as we had an early morning flight to catch back to Gothenburg next day. But the drama was not over yet, the next morning we had to be at Liverpool street station early morning around 4 30ish in time to catch the Stansted express to the airport. We had to change buses twice to get to Liverpool Street, and we ended up missing one of them thanks to the fact that we are a stop where the buses stop only if you put your hands out and signal. Probably the bus driver mistook us for two homeless souls taking shelter in the bus stop from the rain and drove straight past us. We had to go through some tension filled minutes before the next bus came along. Thankfully we reached in time to catch the express and subsequently the flight to Gothenburg.

Kung Fu Panda

Am a big sucker for animation movies. I have enjoyed every single movie of that genre that I have watched. Be it all those wonderful movies that come from that fail safe company called Pixar or the blockbuster Shrek and Ice age series, animation movies are the best in the business in my opinion. This year Dr.Seuss's Horton hears a who has received rave reviews and also is a box office success and needless to say i enjoyed it.The next big thing this year would be Wall E , which going by its trailers looks a sure shot pixar winner all the way. But then yesterday I stumbled upon another animation movie that is releasing this summer and I died laughing watching its trailer.

It is called Kung Fu Panda and it is about the laziest Panda in Ancient China that has to be taught Kung Fu , since it is the chosen one. Cool plot eh ? Check out the trailers here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMeA9Jvf3TU&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR4TIYEAmIk&feature=related

I cant wait for the movie to come out. It has an impressive voice cast comprising of Jack Black as the Panda, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan and Seth Rogen and looks all out hilarious. I died laughin watching the trailers.

Prepare for Awesomeness. Go Panda.

Talking of Seth Rogen, also check out "Pineapple express" trailers on youtube. http://youtube.com/watch?v=AZ07JO-SaBc

The guys who gave Superbad and Knocked Up are ready with the next offering and this one promises to be quite a ride as well.

Wish i was there...

I got the idea about this post last year, while up in the skies on an airplane flying towards Helsinki. It was a September evening and I was proceeding towards the Finnish capital for a meeting the next day and my mind was somewhere else. Not even the cold, dry and tasteless sandwich served aboard the SAS flight could shake my thoughts. And my thoughts were in far away Johannesburg. It was the day of the 20-20 world cup finals. India was taking on Pakistan in cricket’s newest show piece event and I was here in this damned aluminum tube with no freaking way of knowing what was happening in the match. Oh, what I would have given to have been there that evening in Johannesburg to witness the drama unfolding live. A once in a lifetime chance. That got me thinking about some other sports events which I would have loved to have been a part of and witness it real-time. Just a fantasy thought. Since I don’t want to travel too much farther back in the past, I start from the turn of the 90s. And tried to cover as many different sports as possible. Wish i was here..

90- Tokyo. The biggest upset in boxing. The ‘Buster’ing of the Iron Mike. Tyson probably never recovered from this fall.

91– Chicago.His Airness Jordan’s first NBA title with the Bulls. The world’s first sports + commercial superstar?

92- Barcelona. To see archer Antonio Rebollo fire the burning arrow to light the Olympic flame. Tough to match this breathtaking start.

93 - Old Trafford. Manchester. Shane Warne. Ball of the century.

94 - New York, US open tennis. An Unseeded Andre Agassi winning his home slam. Also the last one before he turned bald, en route to being the elder statesman from the rebel.

95 - Melbourne, Australian open QF. Sampras vs. Courier. An epic match: when Sampras won it for Tim.

96 – Atlanta. Michael Johnson’s 200-400m Olympic double. The man with the golden shoes.

97 - Augusta. To see the Tiger roar into the world of professional golf. The man who transcends greatness.

98 – Sharjah. Sachin Tendulkar vs. Australia; the closest that ever came to Bradman. Cricket is my religion. Sachin is my God.

99 - Barbados. Brian Lara 153 no vs. Australia. 3rd Test. Perhaps the greatest innings in Cricket.

00 - Champs Elysees, Paris. Lance Armstrong winning the second of his 7 Tour de France titles. Don’t ask me why specifically 2000, I had to put him somewhere.

01 - Wimbledon. Wildcard Goran Ivanisevic finally winning in his fourth final. A fairytale script if ever there was one.

02 – French Grand prix. Yet another Schumacher special. He completed a hat-trick of titles and equaled Fangio’s record of 5 titles, with 6 races to spare.

03 - Sydney. To see Johnny Wilkinson kick England to the Rugby world cup.

04 - Boston. To see the red sox break the curse of the bambino. A game I don’t follow. But the history of the 86 year curse and it being broken is too interesting to be missed.

05 - Istanbul. Liverpool´s champions league victory - the Reds renaissance. A game I do follow and a team I support. A magical night.

06 – Berlin. The world cup final .Zizou’s last waltz. Yes, the head butt as well.

07 – But of course, Johannesburg, the 20-20 Finals. India – World champions. Happens once in a generation.

For the love of the Tube...

“You are fascinated by the metro, aren’t you '? That was the question a friend of mine asked me , as she noticed that I was lost in the London underground map for a considerable amount of time, while the rest of the group were busy with other things. And my answer was a very energetic nod of my head. I am indeed fascinated by the underground transport system called the metro or subway or underground or tube or T bana or whatever in various cities of the world.

The first thing that I do after reaching a new city is to grab a copy of the metro map. The maze of different lines criss- crossing each other in the map captivates me no end. My first experience in one of these underground systems was when we did a Paris trip in April 2005. Initially the map looked all confusing, but after the first trip to get to the airport to our hostel, I already had got a hang of it. And when I compared the metro map to the over ground road map of Paris, the real simplicity and ease of the metro struck me. What was a labyrinth of roads and complicated routes over ground was filtered down to just 2 metro lines, taking me from point A to point B in 20 minutes flat. The metro system of course is as complicated as the roads in terms of the physical layout of the underground, but we are made oblivious of it. That for me was the beauty of it. That under the chaotic exterior, there is a big network underground, but which does not awe you with its complexity, instead making your travel quite simple.

Having had to use public transport in both Madras and Bombay as part of my work, and seen the trouble with them, perhaps my fascination for these underground systems only grew more. So much so that I used to frequent the Subway outlet in GN Chetty road, Chennai because every table had a different city metro map laid out under a glass covering. So if one day I was having a Chicken Teriyaki poring over the New York subway map, the next day I was devouring a tuna sub looking at the Tokyo system.

As my trips abroad increased and I started visiting more cities, I started becoming a metro devotee. I created imaginary metro lines that could run in Bombay and Chennai which solves the problem of the overcrowded suburban trains and make life easier for the masses in these cities who struggle no end everyday using the existing modes of transport. The fact that the unique elevated transport system in Chennai ( MRTS) was being criminally under utilized and not getting enough patronage troubled me no end. Every new government coming in to power in Tamil Nadu had a new idea. If someone suggested light rail, the other suggested mono rail while no one seemed to be bothered about the MRTS not functioning well

Finally some sane heads worked on it and now the subway plan is up and running. The routes have been finalized, the locations for constructing the stations identified and things going ahead. The project is being undertaken by the Delhi metro guys, who have given a world class metro system in Delhi and in quick time.

The Chennai metro is slated for completion sometime in 2014. More information and the proposed corridor can be found here.

http://www.chennaimetrorail.gov.in/Proposed_Corridors.htm

Add the current suburban tracks and the elevated MRTS to the metro network and Chennai will have a comprehensive transport system. The MRTS is getting better patronage now that it has been extended to Velachery and in the future if it goes up to St.Thomas Mount where it would meet the proposed metro line , then a circle gets completed which would cover most parts of the city. Three different rail systems would take the load off the roads to a great extent and also make travel faster. And I believe and hope that they day is not far off.

So here is for all the metro systems in the world and the one coming up in Chennai. You bet I would be one of the first to hop on to that when it starts functioning.

New Year. Old Habits.

Active when it comes to travelling. Lazy when it comes to blogging about it.

In 2008 , have been to 2 new cities, places which I have been on my list for a long time .London and Berlin. As per Wikipedia (bless it), 2 among the 5 most visited cities in Europe – Paris, Madrid and Rome being the others. My interpretation of make hay while the sun shines is travel as much while the expat lasts. But so far haven’t penned down anything about these visits. I will start today with how it all started for the London trip and then try to finish the rest as soon as possible.

The first trip was to London in the second week of January. And this was a trip that could have very well not happened if not for a flawed finger print recording machine at the British embassy in Stockholm. Let me explain.

The plan for London was on an extremely short notice. Till as late as Christmas there was no concrete plan. But availability of extremely cheap tickets and holidays and company of a good friend for the trip meant I was going to give it a shot. But there was the small matter of getting a UK visa. With some luck I managed to get an appointment in the British embassy in Stockholm 2 days before my flight. I took an early morning train and was there at the appointed time. The so called interview meant handing over documents to a person over the counter, answering a few basic questions and giving a scan of your fingerprints. After which I was told that IF my application was accepted, it would be couriered to me. I knew that some of my friends had obtained their visa the same day of application, so was not sure why I was getting this treatment. Also with just 2 days to go for the trip, waiting for a visa over the post was not what I wanted. Flight tickets, trip to Stockholm and all that would amount to zilch. My pleas about a confirmed flight ticket fell on deaf ears and so I trudged back to downtown with my prospects of a London visit bleaker than the Stockholm weather at that moment.

But then the luck turned its tide with a call after half an hour of so. The person at the other end was from the embassy and explained that my prints had not come out properly and I would have to come back to the embassy to give it. She profusely apologized for the fault in their finger print machine and the inconvenience I was being put in. she had assumed that I was already half way to Gothenburg. Little did they know that my train back to Gothenburg was at 8 in the night and I had another 9 hours to kill in cold, rainy Stockholm. I pretended that I was already in the station ready to board my train, put on my salesman hat and said that if I was to come there, then I wanted the visa to be given the same day itself. Since I was putting myself to inconvenience I needed this in bargain. Well, the deal was made and I returned back, gave my fingerprints and after a few hours had the UK visa in hand. That tells us another thing; they can indeed issue a visa the same day if the papers are in order, but they still want to courier it and also charge you 80 kroner for that.

Anyway I returned to GOT with visa in hand and was looking forward to 3 days in London. As my friend said when I told her the above story; Sometimes one should not be complaining about the inconveniences caused. Because it may lead to a greater good. Quite a cheesy line. But was true for me that day.

Scandinavia Trip - Bergen

The second part of the Scandinavia trip was the one we were most looking forward to. The trip to Bergen.We had an early morning train to Bergen. While researching for the trip, I had read that the Oslo-Bergen rail route was perhaps one of the most beautiful in the world. Naturally I was cock a hoop with excitement right from the time the train pulled out of Oslo around 6 30 am. The first hour and a half was sedate with the usual sights of pretty little villages, streams and rivers running along the tracks. But soon the scenery started getting better and better as the last traces of habitation seemed to go away. From the giant windows of our train we were seeing some breathtaking views ; pristine blue water stretching for miles on end, steep gorges and valleys, fjords, green covered hills, distant snow capped mountains, an idyllic village now and then. Basically, Mother Nature in all her unspoilt glory.The sun was shining bright and the spotless blue sky only added to the beauty that we were witnessing. The train passed through bridges and tunnels and each time it crossed a tunnel, it will come out presenting a scene more beautiful than before. Our eyes were glued to the windows and our cameras were always ready to take pictures. It was as good a train ride I had ever been on and all that i had read about were so true.

After 7 hours on the train, we reached the Atlantic coastal city of Bergen, the second biggest city in Norway. The main agenda in Bergen was to find a good fjord cruise tour, on which we could explore of the many celebrated fjords around Bergen. So soon we went checking for the right deal and managed to find one for the next day, which promised a cruise around the Hardaenger fjord.

We had the evening to spend, and we decided to explore the city on foot, which I belive is the best way to see a city, especially a smaller one like this. We walked to the Bryggen, a UNESCO heritage site, which is a series of buildings built close knit to each other on one side of the fjord which comes into Bergen. We were told that the best view of Bergen and the fjord around it was from atop the hill Floyen. We preferred to walk up the hill and not to take the funicular railway. As we walked up, we realized that Bergen was not only fjord country, but also Troll country, for there were statues and images of Trolls of various sizes and shapes along the way. After an hours climb we reached the top and indeed the view from there was mind blowing. One could see the entire city, the fjords coming into from the sea , the hills all around the place and the surrounding islands. Dinner soon beckoned and we found an Indian restaurant in Bergen, run by Tamils. The people running the restaurant were more surprised in finding Indian customers, and that too a Tamil speaking one, than we in locating an Indian restaurant in far flung Bergen. This was the second instance of me running into a Sri Lankan Tamil in the least unexpected of places. The previous instance being the one where we met a Tamil family from Berlin on the beach at San Sebastian.

After 2 days of marvelous weather, our luck ran out the next day. We woke up to a gloomy and rainy Bergen, not the right climate for a fjord cruise. But it was not any surprise, since we were told beforehand that rain is always in the air in Bergen and that we cannot escape it. Nevertheless we boarded the bus which would take us to the departure point situated an hour away. Being the off season, the boat was sparse and the rain had sort of dampened the enthusiasm inside. We were soon cruising on the Hardaenger fjord, which we were told was one of the biggest. Thankfully soon the rain gave way to partial sunshine and we could go to the top deck and have a look. With sloping hills on either side all along the entire length of the fjord and with many smaller fjords branching out at a distance, it was indeed a sight to behold. Also one could see small villages in the distance and it was in one such village that we disembarked after cruising for a few hours. Lufthus, as the village was called, seemed an idyllic sleepy hamlet which one reads about in books. The local tourist office had already closed down since the season was over and so we were left to chalk out a plan for ourselves. And the only plan seemed to be to walk up the hills and see whatever we could. As we moved out of the main road into the dirt track, we noticed that we were in a farm – an Apple farm. And a huge one at that. We learnt soon that Lufthus was the largest apple growing centre in Norway. It was a new sight for us, to see apples grow on plants, yes; they were not apple trees, just plants which grow to about my height and sprouts apples all over. Lufthus was also noted for having a glacier not too far from there, and from a vantage point higher up in the hill, we could spot in the distance some snow covered peaks which we guessed might be the glacier the brochures mentioned. With rain and shine alternating, our walk was hampered now and then and we took refuge at a few places and we were expecting locals to give us the quizzical look. But it seemed to be a ghost town because apart from the few people we saw on the main road, we could not see anybody in the village or anywhere else that we walked by. The sight of three brown people walking around without any purpose in their far flung village on a rainy September day did not seem to interest of the locals at all.

This was a trip quite unlike any of the previous holidays, wherein we had been always on the move from one city to another, racing against time often and hoping to check out as many sights and sounds of the big city we were in. Paris, Rome, Madrid, Amsterdam etc. But now we were in a village in a remote part of Norway, with no agenda, nothing to do, and amidst breathtaking natural beauty. And I liked this.

In a few hours, we had to catch the ferry back to Bergen. The fjord cruise was good except for the dull climate most of the day. I can only imagine how more beautiful the place would have been if there was sunshine and clear skies. Later in the night we had the night train to Oslo. We did not reserve beds and chose to sit and travel, it was considerably cheaper. And with comfortable reclining seats, blankets and the like, the night passed without much discomfort. Just like spending time on a long haul flight.

We were back in Gothenburg next day afternoon. Good old rainy damp Gothenburg. Some things never change.