Day 6- Chamonix, France & Switzerland

"Bon Voyage!"
- The Swiss officer at the border without checking our passports! ;)

 

Chamonix, France is perhaps going to stay as my favorite place. A lovely place, hidden deep in a valley surrounded by the French Alps, secluded from the rest of the bustling world with its river L'Arve running in rivulets calmly, can steal any given heart. For the very first time I had a longing to return to a place so much, no sooner than we left. Love at first sight, indeed.

What a view! What a sight! Into the oblivion till the horizons meet! 'Mountain clad' snow, melting white stuff creating falling waters and those infinite shades of green. I could starve to stare at it forever & ever, all my life. The two way cog wheel train ride with a single intersection point can equally mesmerize, as we watch those stretches of steep mountain land change from green to tall dark green to barren brown to thick milky white. Heaven! Even the cable car ride is available, if you wish, all the way to Italy!

Just yesterday, we rolled our heads high at the foothills to trace the bright bulb glowing on the peak and wondered how anybody could get there. Today, under the good God's warm Sun, we stood and stared from a 4,810 m high. All these interventions and pioneering began in these strange small lands in the beginning of the 20th century itself and by the way, who own the planet's highest peaks?! Oh boy! I ain't saying anything. I just feel so poor and backward.


In all those seemingly ending but 'still- an- hour to reach' bus rides, which the Cox & Kings called leisure drives, there was always, Michelle, our tour operator to comfort everybody, saying,
"Like in life, rather than the destination; it's the journey we undertake that makes the difference" to which we couldn't help but agree except for the ripened arse. Also, the wonderful vent for expression- 'Ooh là là' was something everybody took to and chanted day in and out, helplessly.


Switzerland is one supremely talked about place for its Alps, film shooting, honeymoons, neutrality, richness, quality of life and everything. Sparing the sarcasm in those dialogues of Ranbir Kapoor in the movie 'Bachna Ae Haseeno', yes! There were the grass and the cows, let's add dark chocolate to the list and let's complete the statement with the word 'imported'!


"It's what you have seen on the post cards and wall posters or perhaps may have dreamed of, in the wildest of dreams. It's picture perfect."
- Michelle, as we touched the Swiss border on the 'false perfect' count of 10.

After the visit to the Mount Blanc, we didn't dare to miss out any optional tours. Next, Jungfraubahnen! To Jungfraujoch, Top of Europe, a UNESCO world heritage of the Swiss Alps via Lauterbrunnen and Kleine Scheidegg stations by the Cogwheel train again, was another such visit. Quoting, 'The high Alpine tour, a simple stroll, skiing in eternal snow, the breath taking views of France, Germany and Italy from the Sphinx' and including half naked men Sun bathing in freezing temperatures, sculptures in the Ice Palace, 'moving frozen' glaciers and the hot Indian lunch.
Art flourished, may be because their tummies were already well fed to think about 'after food' unlike in the developing world. Signboards flourished, with the names of UNO, ECE, ICC, ILO, ITC, UNHCHR, WHO, WMO, UNESCO et cetera et cetera.

 

At Trümmelbach Falls, more than the sight of the series of glacier- water falls; what's remarkable to understand and notice is that these tons of water penetrated through the mountain forming crevices and how man decided to dissect open this huge chunk of rock and made it accessible. A marvel created when nature's best gifts are coupled with man's best efforts.


P.s Mahatma Gandhi lives in many gardens all around the globe.

All in all, from the fantastic view from the hotel window to the night walk with Dr. Adilakshmi and Dr. Ramanuja, it was an amazing stay.

DAy 3

Like all the other cities of Europe, Pari was different and stunning. Everybody knew it the moment they entered the trance. Each of these European cities apart from their lavish beauties and histories are known more importantly for how beautifully their history and culture is preserved. Though our India is good with the history part, not so good with the protecting part.

Parc Asterix was a great set up. It actually feels like you are in a different land.

Though we couldn’t get to interact much with the local environment, that day apart from “Hello sir! Do you speak English?” and running around for change for as much as 100Euros, I met a friendly group in the train to Paris. Also, took a stroll down the Paris lanes sipping cold drinks with a camera in one hand and an exotic dinner of crepes and pizza in broad evening light! I only wished if all this happened without the all panicky Sardars around! You know, the group changes everything; even pure crap can be fun! ;p

Even the junctions stretches to acres of land though the streets barely fit a bus and a car at once in a parallel row! Aah! What else! Perfumes! Fragrance! Fragonard.
Tour Montparnasse; the 59-floor skyscraper is one gothic black building above the rest of landscapes but offers some of the most spectacular views of the city of lights, love, romance, beauty, fashion & education (which we missed, of course, since it wasn’t getting darker any sooner).

‘View from the top is the most beautiful in Paris, since it is the only place from which one cannot see the tower.’
-Guy de Maupassant who loathed the Eiffel Tower and ate lunch there daily.

As we got down the bus to visit the Grand Louvre, this is what I could comprehend from what I heard from the tour manager.
“Welcome to one of the world’s largest museums. As you enter this most visited monument and continue to stare for a few minutes at each of these masterpieces it would take a minimum of your remaining lifetime. You have an hour and a five-minute buffer, please hurry up and if you miss the bus you know where to find us (which is generally followed by some unrealistic obsolete names of places and hotels; never mind). I then, ran through centuries of story telling art created by the greatest of artists like Michelangelo, Leonardo da vinci; the Napoleon apartments to the Egyptian ruins. It was beyond anything. By the time I returned thinking to have missed my bus, panting and holding my crumpled map I saw most of them back enjoying their coffee. I wish they didn’t miss the Monalisa at least, not that it was as great as it was meant to be; at least you get to tell you saw it to folks back home ☺ I wish I bought the duplicate Monalisa for 3 euros as a souvenir! So many times it was stolen and so many great eyes it stole in return.


The other things that were more shocking were the free education policy, how incredible no. of museums are constructed for encouraging tolerance among the young, how the old were taken care off, why no one begs though some rare people choose to live like that and how blandly she showed one of the finest places in Paris around the Arc Of Triumph and why they considered it unfit for residence. In her words, “ For us, there is no quality of life if there is not enough silence, peace, freedom and enjoyment in living.” That struck me.



That day as I lay in bed with my eyes closed, all I could see were no dreams but the great rich London, the canals, tulips and lush green lands of Netherlands without a patch of bareness, the beautiful city of Brussels with all its palaces and streets warned for pickpockets and Paris with its great stretches of Rapeseed fields for bio diesel, old ancient architecture on the same stunning level as modern while the narrow streets being modified to suit the present day needs; so organized and well managed.
Napoleon’s loot was indeed a great one.
“Hail Napoleon!”

P.s Where are the electric wires?!

A dam in the river Amstel. Euro Trip- Day 2

The people of Amsterdam are relaxed. Easy going. Chilled. They are spiritually inclined and they smoke weed.

- Michelle, The tour manager.



The world's legal capital, popular sex capital stormed with sex shops, vodka palaces, sex and cannabis museums; Amsterdam apart from all the hoax is in fact a charming place to lay the eyes upon.

The voyage on the cruise ship from London to Netherlands was brilliant, especially the variety of seafood, just the variety. Not the taste. I hardly felt the cruise liner move the entire night. The rare times it shook, all I had to remember was to stay calm and remind myself that it was an acceleration or a turn and not, not an earthquake.
I could hardy catch any sleep. I could hardly eat what I imagined to be the most delicious food as I boarded the flight in India. Although it tasted different and sometimes convincingly yummy, it was raw and mostly sugarless. The fish scales and fins were conspicuous and the name plated had no use except to help with the name of the species it belongs to. I chewed, swallowed and closed my eyes to recollect the taste. Lame.

I was spell bound as we entered Netherlands. It was very different from London and I hardly could believe that people actually live in a place (I didn’t spot many, either) with such green grass, colorful flowers, quacking ducks and houses far apart adjacent to lovely lakes and canals.
Where is the noise? At least, don’t the boats have engines? Actually, they don’t. They are electric. Don’t the vehicles have horns? Well. They don’t use them, either. Where, where is the pollution? Yeah, as many as 465,000 bicycles exist and as many as 54,000 bicycles get stolen in a year. Think B!KE.
It’s unbelievable, I know.

It may be used, as a synonym for heaven except it’s hard to imagine what would happen to such a low- lying land if Global Warming took a toll.
The trip to Keukenhof Tulip Gardens was spectacular too. The same descriptions of flower apply to all of them or maybe better. It’s the result of the finest deal between every possible color shade on a painter’s palette and the most intriguing genetic principles known to man. Indigestible.
The ferry will take you across many narrow leaning wooden houses, houseboats decorated aesthetically and large adorned windows that welcome the warm sunlight is a thought beyond geographical choices.


P.s. Of course, we spotted the same windmills, both, old and new.

Great London. Euro Trip- Day 1.

“Poor people. Pooar people. What is this?! They rule half world and now, look, look; they pick up dog poop on roads, tap water drinking and coffee no milk, and, by the way, look! Soo old cars and they riding cycles! Waht is this!
- Somebody in the bus, after the stop at the gas station.

“
Patchy shades of green from the skies,
so is the land near by.
Small streets yet so smooth,
rich palaces and economical bikes.

The cars, very different.
Smart, black and sometimes color on sides.
The queen is old and their families, older.
The whole world’s looted treasures slammed into one small yet gigantic land.

“
As the bus passed by this highly populous metropolitan area, I couldn’t help noticing, how much people enjoyed having a smoke, strolling in those big parks, jogging and exercising, anywhere and everywhere. The blue sky had numerous dissipating white contrails. The stunning architectural beauty and how seemingly more beautiful they appear on the silver screen is something really annoying. Men here have very long working hours, visibly seen where all the sweat in the cold is going into.

“A great part of the world might have been exploited by the Great Britain, I agree.
But it wasn’t anything more than that of the people of Britain itself. “

-Mark, our London tour operator.

Then, all of a sudden you find yourself in a moment of madness when you are clicking the camera button not any less than a child enjoying the click, each time as the first time.

Each time you discover something, something different in color, tradition and culture and it strikes you with speechlessness and you wonder, is it even possible?

Very visibly, the people here pay great importance to mannerisms. Thank you, sorry, excuse me are chanted in and out. Nobody needs to tell another to stay in queues or let alone say anything for that matter. It just moves very smooth, a smoothness undisturbed by squeaking horns. Fines are heavy too but I guess, you wouldn’t want to litter a perfectly spick and span green garden not even with your dog’s poop. Or would you?

P.s. I am thirsty. I am starving. Man, they eat raw!