Europe Trip - Day 6, Rome

Day 6: 22 April 2005

We had a long day ahead of us and the idea was to cover as much as possible in a day. It was impossible to cover 3000 years of history in a day, but that’s how it was to be.

Our first stop was the Colosseum, but of course. Perhaps the first image that comes to mind when the name Rome is mentioned. All of us had heard of the legend of the colosseum, about the gladiators and the bloody duels this historical place was witness to. And the many movies, books and even cartoons had furthered our interest in the colosseum. Here was a place which was a witness to a reckless sport, an inhuman barbarian game amidst the most advanced of civilizations of that era. The sight of the half destroyed monument was itself awe inspiring.

Over the years the colosseum had slowly disintegrated with restoration works being taken up only a century ago. We were listening to a guide who with her broken English was making an earnest effort to enlighten us on the history of the place. The 4 tier seating arrangements, the entry point for the gladiators, the gates through which the dead were taken away, the underground chambers all were for us to see. Surprisingly the arena, where the duels happened, was quite small in diameter. Maybe it was because we had imagined it to be real big after having seen movies like the Gladiator. The only flip side was the pot bellied 50 something urchins dressed up as gladiators and offering themselves to be photographed with for a euro or two. They were giving the legend of gladiators a bad name.

From the colosseum we walked up to the Palantine Hill, one of the 7 hills, which gives the city its epitaph. The Palantine hill overlooking the colosseum once housed the senators and other important functionaries of the Roman Empire. The Hill also gives you a panoramic view of the Roman forum which is a vast stretch of ruins dating to the golden age of the Roman Empire One could walk through it gazing at its half destroyed temples and buildings.

Unlike Paris, where we had taken the Hip hop bus, we decided to cover the city by foot. For there were monuments and churches on every street and also the best way to cover a city was by foot. From the forum we walked to the Venezia palace which towers above the surroundings. The palace was easily the most majestic of all the buildings that we had seen so far. The palace was giant in scale with even the fountain at the entrance dwarfing us by a considerable margin. This palace also houses the tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

From there we walked to the pantheon, the 8th century temple (or was it a temple, I am not sure) which is famous for its special architecture. Infact my architect room mate was telling me that drawing the pantheon was something that every architecture grad would have done in college. We did not spend much time there and walked towards the famous Trevi fountain. As we were walking through the various lanes/bylanes and roads what struck us was the sheer number of historical buildings and monuments we saw in every street. That the city has a long history was well known, now we were seeing it. The trevi fountain is famous for being a ‘wishing well’. Everybody who comes there throws a coin or 2 into the small well formed at the base of the fountain and make a wish. The coins are thrown facing away from the fountain and across. Meaning, hold the coin in your right hand and throw it over your left shoulder. Now we were already on a tight budget, and no one was prepared to throw away a euro. So out went the 1 and 2 rupee coins and with it the wishes of we 6 Indians.

The next stop was the Vatican City. We were going to the Vatican just 2 days after the new Pope had been announced. We were feeling excited to be there at such a historically important phase. But our fear was that the place would be too crowded. Thankfully it was not as crowded as we thought it would be.

We got down at the St.Peters Metro station and walked towards the Vatican. We entered into the huge courtyard in front of the St.Peters Bascilica.This place had witnessed the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II only a few days back. The chairs and the arrangements made were intact, for the inaugural mass of the new Pope Benedict XVI was scheduled for the next day. The courtyard is a huge circle with a fountain in the middle. There are giant corridors along the semi circle on either side. People are routed in through this past a security check and proceed towards the Bascilica.

As we moved in near to the main entrance, there were 2 Qs formed in front of us. One of them was for the main entrance and the other was to the tomb of Pope John Paul II. Since we did not have time we had to choose between either of the 2, we chose to get into the church since the Q was smaller for that.
It was exciting to be entering into one of the holiest of shrines of Christianity, the seat of Roman Catholicism. As we entered, to our right side was the ‘Pieta’, the celebrated sculpture by Michelangelo. This stunningly graceful work shows the grieving Mother Mary cradling the dead Christ in her lap. We were captivated by the work and were amazed to see that Michelangelo completed this when he was only 23.

From there we moved further inside towards the altar, where a mass was being held. We attended it, and then later roamed inside the huge hall. There were lots of arresting statues and sculptures inside. After spending a considerable length of time inside the massive St.Peters Basilica we stepped out, did some souvenir hunting and later took the train back to our hostel.

We had a train to catch the next day, a longish one, straight from Rome to Paris, reaching Paris at around 11 in the night and the day after was the return flight to India.
But things didn’t work out as simply as we thought they would …

Europe Trip- Day 5, Venice to Rome

Day 5 was mostly spent on traveling. We had a morning train to catch from Venice to Rome. This was a Eurostar train and hence a reservation (R) was compulsory. Even though we had the Eurail passes, to get into one of these R marked trains, one has to shell a few euros more. In this case it was a substantial 12 euros per person. The train was comfortable but shockingly sparse. We were wondering why on earth we had to get reservations for such an empty train, but we didn’t have much of a choice.

Our initial plan was to visit Florence on the way to Rome, but then decided against it, since we were not sure of the train timings and we did not want to land up in Rome in a very unearthly hour. We did touch the city on the way, but all that we saw was the railway station and whatever we could see from inside the train. It was sad missing what many call one of the most beautiful cities of the world. But we were on a tight schedule and a tighter budget.

We reached Rome in the evening. The Roma Termini was a bustling and modern railway terminus. It was crowded and noisy. Felt like being in a train terminus in India. We had to choose between hauling our backpacks with us and going for a tour of the city or retire to our campsite for some rest. We decided on the latter. The camp site was located in the suburb of Prima porta and initial enquiries told us that was pretty far away. Unlike Paris, which has like 8 metro lines, Rome has only 2 and a glance at the map revealed that we had to use both of them to reach our campsite.

Before departing to the campsite, we had food at a restaurant outside the station. The waiter was a Bangladeshi. I think I have failed to mention this before but we came across Bangladeshis in both Paris and Venice. And not just once, they were present in every place we visited. Most of them were street vendors or shop owners. Since we had two people knowing Bengali in Ruchika and Kamal , we never had a problem communicating with them and in the process driving a hard bargain. We also came across Indians here and there, but mostly as tourists or office goers /students.

After having lunch we walked to the Roma Termini underground Metro station and we were in for a shock. The scene resembled a peak hour Mumbai suburban station. There was a huge crowd and the train that came in was choke a block. Also the trains were old, painted with graffiti and also small. There was no way we could get into one of them. So we had to miss a couple of trains before catching one. I never imagined that in some European city I would miss a train for being crowded, especially since I am living in Mumbai and used to getting into trains where seemingly air also can’t enter.

We changed trains at the Fluminio station and took the over ground suburban train to Prima porta. The metro train as well as this one was small in size with a pair of seats on either side of the narrow aisle. Most of the metro trains in Paris were also small. Thankfully they need not take the kind of traffic the suburban trains in Mumbai take.

We reached Prima Porta after a 30 minute ride. We had to wait for sometime for the pick up bus from the hostel. The good thing about these European hostels is that, even though they are located far away from the cities, they have pick up buses running to the nearest station. The campsite at the outset looked better and more comfortable than the Venice one. The rooms were basically trailer vans and the whole place resembled one of those trailer parks.

After freshening up, we hit the campsite restaurant and helped ourselves to some delicious pasta. We were ready to explore the eternal city the next day

Europe Trip- Day 4 , Venice

Day 4: 20 April 2005

We woke up to be greeted by a gloomy and overcast sky which threatened lots of rain. In fact it had rained the previous night as well. Not at all the kind of weather one would want while on tour. Nevertheless, we got into the shuttle bus from the campsite to the City. We brought a city map and also a day long pass which enables us to take as many trips as we want on the city’s water taxis. We got into a taxi from the Ferrovia taxi stop which is the one opposite to the railway station. Since we were not much aware of any famous landmarks in Venice, we asked a cop, and he suggested we start from St.Marco.

Sitting in the boat, one couldn’t help but get amazed again at the sight of the canals and the city built around it. Much like we have major roads and small lanes branching out of it, here you have the Canal Grande and smaller canals flowing out of them. Apart from the water taxis which are the public transport, there are private boats, gondolas and also company boats. I saw a DHL boat cruising around delivering cargo.

St Marco was 15 minutes away and was very crowded. By this time it had started to rain as well. But rain or shine, it has no effect on tourists and there were a lot many of them there. We came across a large group of Indians, who were finding it difficult to listen to their guide while at the same time dodge the rain and not get wet. We learnt that they were from Australia, all of them, and had come on a tour to Italy.

St Marco has the huge Doge’s palace, a church and also a tall tower atop which you have a viewing platform which would give a panoramic view of the city.

Doges, we learnt were the rulers of Venice for many centuries. The palace was pretty huge, it had a museum, a prison, the living rooms, and many other rooms and galleries. After having seen the Louvre, this museum did not interest us much. Also this museum had more of artifacts like pillars and sculptures rather than eye catching paintings.

We entertained hopes of getting into a gondola and going for a ride, but the cost was prohibitive. Somewhere around 50 euros for a trip, that was not affordable at all. We had to be satisfied with the water taxis.

We also had perhaps one of the funniest moments of the tour as we were waiting in the Q to get into the palace. The rain was beating down heavily and none of us had any umbrellas or raincoats. Sid and Kamal decided that the only resort was to pray to the lord. So there, under a steady drizzle, standing in a Q surrounded by many and with many more walking past, they both decided to sing a bhajan pleading to God to let sunshine in.
Heads turned, people stopped and stared while the rest of us couldn’t stop laughing. The Bhajan went on for some time. But believe me you, as we walked out of the palace after couple of hours, the rain was gone and it didn’t trouble us for the rest of the day.

Most of the buildings in Venice look pretty old, especially the ones by the canals and the city is also full of tourists all year round. Hence most of the industrial establishments and offices have moved out to the nearby town of Mestre which is linked to Venice by a highway and a rail line. Mestre is the station we touched last before entering Venice on the train from Milan. Another primarily residential location is the island of Lido, which was where we went next.

Lido is about 20 minutes from St.Marco and to reach there the boat comes out of the canals and enters the Adriatic Sea and travels in the direction opposite to the main body of the Venetian islands. We got down and immediately we were struck by the stark difference between Venice and Lido. The island was modern with beautiful houses, tree lined streets, well maintained roads, hotels and shops. The streets had Porsches, Audis and the like parked on them. This was a world away from the hustle and bustle of Venice. This I guessed was the home for the rich and famous. We learnt that the annual Venice film festival was held in Lido.

The sun had started shining by the time we reached Lido. We had lunch in one of the restaurants there and then walked to the Lido beach. It was sparse, almost empty. The gloomy weather in the morning would have put off everybody. But am sure in summer this beach would rock. We strolled around for sometime, and had perhaps the best ice cream of the tour in one of the shops in Lido. After that we took a taxi back to Venice.
We also wanted to check out another island, where as per Ruchika a famous glass factory is situated, but we were told that it would have closed down by 5 pm and hence we dropped the idea. Instead we went for a longish boat ride, a circular ride starting from Ferrovia, through all the stops and coming back to Ferrovia. We covered the outer islands, the port and the cruise dock where a couple of giant cruise ships were berthed.

We took the last shuttle bus back to the campsite. We still had a few instant food packets with us, so instead of checking out the restaurant we cooked food in our cabin.

Take away the canals and maybe Venice has got nothing much to offer. True it has churches and museums, but the uniqueness is in the canals and how the city is built around it. Venice is definitely a must see…

Europe Trip - Day 3, Paris to Venice

Day 3: 19 April 2005

This day was spent mostly on travel. We had a train to catch from the Paris gare du Lyon terminal to Milan, en route to Venice. We had taken our Eurail passes from India itself, the pass that we had taken was a 2 country (France – Italy) one valid for 2 months. But you could use the pass on 4 calendar days only. This being the first day of the pass we had to get it validated from the ticket counter, by showing our passports.

Our train was at 8 am and we got our passes endorsed half an hour before. Luckily there was no crowd at the counters; otherwise we would have been in trouble since this was another huge station. Our train was one of those high speed TGV trains. I was always a train enthusiast and was really looking forward to traveling in one of them. We got into our coach, settled into our seats and were looking at a long train journey ahead of us. We were scheduled to reach Milan at around 2 in the afternoon. The second class coach was done up ordinarily, all the basics and nothing special. Sid, who has traveled before on a first class cabin said that there was a huge difference between a first and second class cabin and that the first class ones were pure luxury.

The train pulled out Gare du Lyon and soon the French countryside was flying past us. Gone was the city and the graffiti and all its hustle and bustle, the countryside was beautiful with unending stretches of fields and little villages here and there. These TGVs are known to travel at speeds of more than 300 mph, but sitting inside we had no idea of the speed we were going at. There were a lot of small villages and their railway stations that we were rushing past and I felt kind of strange looking at them, for my mental picture of Europe had always been the big cities and their landmarks and also images of the rich and famous. This was new and I was wondering how it would be to be able to spend some time in these villages.

As we were nearing the Italian border, we could see some mountain ranges (Alps maybe?) most of which were snow capped. For me it was the first sighting of snow in my life and I was getting excited about it. Most of us wanted to jump out and play in the snow. I’ve read and also have been told by many that any Europe trip is incomplete without a train journey. Now I realized why, I was getting to see miles and miles of beautiful scenery that was heavenly and topping that with mountain ranges filled with snow... Wow! And to think that this was not one of those picture perfect routes, like the Swiss or the Swedish routes.

We reached the Italian border, where the immigration officials made a quick check of our passports and we soon were on our way. The train stopped for a few minutes in the city of Turin, famous for the automobile company FIAT, the Juventus football club and also as the host of the next winter Olympics in 2006. We reached Milan by 3.30pm, a good hour and a half behind schedule. Never imagined that trains would run late in Europe, but guess maybe it was because we were in Italy.

Milan was just a stopover for us, we had not planned to see the city. It was a bit disappointing having to miss the San Siro but we did not have the time. We got down at Milano Centrale and had all of 10 minutes to catch the Inter city train to Venice. With baggage on our back and a huge crowd to dodge, we were on our foot running across platforms to reach the train on time. We got into the first coach and made our way through the compartments. This was an intercity train and by Eurail rules reservation was not compulsory. One may choose to reserve by paying a few euros more to be assured of a seat. We of course didn’t reserve (few euros more was the clincher) and for some time thought that it was a mistake. There was not a single seat vacant in the first few compartments that we passed by. The prospect of spending 3 hours on the corridors perched on our bags/suitcases did not enthuse us much. Luckily the later coaches were empty and we settled into a coupe.

The 3 and half hour journey to Venice was full of fun. We played that age old game of Antakshari which I believe has always been played whenever a group of youngsters are traveling/touring. Even with my little knowledge of Hindi songs I managed to pitch in here and there.

We reached Venice at half past 7. Known as the city of canals Venice is also hailed as one of the most beautiful cities in the world .But even the knowledge about the canals had not prepared me for the sight that I was to see as I stepped out of the railway station. Come down the steps and about 25 meters ahead, there was, not a road with taxis and buses, but a waterway with water taxis and passenger boats. That, for me was one of the most awesome moments of the tour. This canal, we learnt was the Canal Grande, the arterial canal which winds its way across the island city. There are only 3 bridges across this canal and one of them is the one we took as we crossed over to the other side.

We had booked ourselves into a campsite located outside the city limits. Camps came at a cheaper price and also were comfortable since they offered shuttle services to the city. We walked to the bus stand and got into our shuttle bus. And yes Venice does have roads. I had once imagined that the city would not have any roads, but there are highways which connect it to the Italian Mainland.

We checked into the campsite, and helped ourselves to a satisfying dinner, thanks to the discounted food coupon the camp provided us. We had Pizzas – but of course, we were in Italy.

Europe Trip - Day 2 , Paris

Day 2 : 18 April 2005

Started the day at the Champs Elysees. Ruchika wanted to buy a digital cam and taking Sid along out she went camera hunting. She took what felt like an eternity, while the rest of us sauntered about the place. The office of Publicis was located nearby and it looked magnificent with the huge Paris 2012 logo lighted up across its face. Infact this logo is visible where ever you go in Paris. Almost every major building including the Eiffel tower sports the logo. The fight for hosting the 2012 Olympics is between Madrid, London, New York, Moscow and Paris. That’s some list.

Ruchika meanwhile was still hunting, and Shubada looked as if she would mount a horse and gallop away to hunt down her. Finally the lady returned with a prized Sony 5 mega pixel digital cam .A pretty neat buy I would say.

From there we got onto the now familiar red hip hop bus and were on our way towards louvre. Again we passed through many landmarks, including the tunnel where Lady Diana was killed, the Invalides, the Military school, Tuileries etc.

Maybe it is the effect of reading the Da Vinci code but all of us were very much interested in visiting the Louvre. We got down by the Seine and walked our way into the building. I think the building must have been some palace, it was so huge. The glass pyramid was the centerpiece in the courtyard and we spent a lot of time walking along the perimeter of the buildings and the pyramids. We then took the staircase that takes us to the foyer below the pyramid, which houses the lobby and the ticket counters. Like most other tourists we were interested in watching the grand gallery (now more famous as the place where Jacques sauniere was killed) and of course the Mona Lisa. We purchased the tickets and got into the Denon wing. After climbing a few stairs and past many paintings and sculptures we entered the grand gallery. I was never a person who was interested in paintings and works of art, but I couldn’t help but get awestruck by the masterpieces that dotted the gallery. The paintings were almost life like. I kicked myself for not having done some research about the artists whose works were on display.

After having walked past innumerable masterpieces we entered the most famous room in the Louvre, the one in which the lady resides. Perhaps the most reproduced face in the world; the real painting looked small and vulnerable. We also chanced upon another masterpiece made known to us by Dan brown- Madonna on the rocks. We had seen just one gallery in just one of the wings of the museum; it would take days for a complete tour of the building. Also saw l’pyramide inversee, another work made famous by the Da Vinci code.

By the time we had come out it was afternoon. We walked towards the chatelet shopping district. Maybe we were on the wrong road or place, but I did not find the place very interesting .There were shops all right but nothing special to write home about.

Then once again we took the hip hop bus and got down at the Trocadero and walked the long pathway towards the Eiffel tower, at every step, drinking in the marvel of engineering that was standing in front of us. This time we were well in time to get the tickets to go to the top. Though we toyed with the idea of climbing up, better sense prevailed and we decided to take the elevator. There are 3 stages en route to the top. One has to change elevators at the second level. There are souvenir shops and also restaurants in these 2 stages. We stepped out of the elevator into a circular observation room on the third stage where the distances from that point to all the major cities of the world are given and of course you could have a great view of the city.

From this room we had to climb us a small staircase to reach the topmost level of the tower. The time was around 9 pm, the chilly winds were biting into our faces like thorns. At this level you have the refurbished office of Gustav Eiffel with real life models of the architect and his wife. The view from above was simply breath taking; the city of lights was decked up in all its glory. We could see the Seine winding along the city with illuminated boats lazily cruising on them, the various bridges across them, the circle around the Champs Elysees, the Notre Dame and Sacrecour in the far distance, and all the major landmarks of the city We spent a considerable amount of time walking around the place, one did not want to get back to ground level.

With great reluctance we got back to the hostel. The next day we had the train to Italy and so this would be the last day in Paris. We had spent just 2 days here; it was almost a crime –allocating only a couple of days to this capital of the world. Each one of us were so captivated and enthralled by the sights and sounds of Paris , that am sure all of us would want to return for more.

Europe Trip- Day 1,Paris.

Day 1: 17 April 2005

With the two weeks of module behind us, we set out for the long anticipated and long planned tour. The flight out of Copenhagen was at 7 am. We reached Paris Charles de Gaulle at around half past nine on Sunday the 17th of April. We had booked hostels from India over the internet in addition to taking the Eurail passes. The first thing we had to do was to get hold of a Paris underground metro map and make sense of it. The metro system is huge and complex, but at the same time very effective. We had to change a couple of trains to reach the hostel (the airport, like many other airports was located far away from the city).

The initial feel of Paris was not that great. The outskirts were very dirty with graffiti, garbage etc everywhere. I felt like being in Mumbai. The first sign of being in a big city was when we reached the gare du nord railway station and had to catch a different route metro to reach barbes-roucherout. The station was so enormous with around 5 metro lines converging and also many high speed and TGV lines. It took us a while to get to the correct platform. But thanks to the directions and maps in every corner of the station and on the platforms, we did not get lost. Our hostel, Friends international, was located bang outside the Barbes –roucherout station. We had taken a 6 bed room which turned out to be pretty okay. One interesting thing that I noted about the hostels that apart from advertising amenities like internet, swimming pool , 24 hours check in and stuff they also display that they have English speaking staff.

The first place we went to was the Notre dame church. It was related to the hunch back of Notre dame I suppose, some one told me the story but it has escaped me now. Anyway, it was a beautiful church...the vibrations inside was great. This was the first of the many churches that we would be visiting during the tour. There is this open top tourist buses for which u get a 2 day pass for 22 euros and which takes u to all the major attractions of Paris. We got tickets for them and hopped aboard one of them. We were on the road which was running parallel to the seine, crossed it and reached the Champs Elysees, which is the most famous road in Paris.

The shops lined along either side of the Champs Elysees read like the who is who in the world of fashion and luxury. Also this is the place where the Tour De France ends, with the cyclists thundering down the avenue to make a grand finish in front of the Arc De Triomphe – another of Paris’ picture postcard monuments. The building was built by Napolean the Great to celebrate his military might. The Arc is at the centre of a huge roundabout around which roads lead in all the different directions. This makes for an amazing sight from the top of the structure. Another thing that one notices is that the Paris skyline doesn’t have any skyscrapers. All the buildings are max 7 floors... it is a policy and that has made the city even more beautiful...

From there we went to the Eiffel tower...by the time we reached it was around 8 pm and the sight of the tower all lighted up was just breathtaking... that picture will remain in my mind for ever. It looked as if it was made in gold. There are blinking lights placed all over the tower and those are activated every half an hour or so for a few minutes. That adds to the magic, and u would be seeing in front of you a 300 foot tall dazzling, glittering and seemingly gold tower. It’s a sight to behold. Since we were very late...we couldn’t climb up the top of the tower. But we had another day to go. While on the way back to the hostel chanced upon a building, it was the Paris Hilton. Looked pretty much simple, quiet, unassuming, and non controversial. Couldn’t help but think about its famous namesake as I retired for the day.