Recently I included eastern city of Germany, Dresden in my European Voyage...In my opinion, Dresden is definitely different from rest of the German cities...most of the German cities more or less looks similar....Rathaus, Bahnhof, TV tower, Tram running across the city....but Dresden was totally different from other German cities....thrashed in the second world war...Dresden was built completely new and named Neustadt....but the altstadt(old city) was simply amazing...old picturesque architectural buildings with elbe river flowing across those maginificient old buildings...Dresden, the capital of saxony...I could see east European culture in Dresden...quite different from west Germany.....the weather stayed absolutely fine....and it was sunny all along...A day to remember!
World is a global village....World has shrinked a lot...World has become small.... all these statements are true because of one great internet application ORKUT ;). Million dollar thanks to the Standford University Phd guy Orkut Buyukkokten from Turkey who has done a remarkable job in this century...He has united people from different corners of the world...brought people under one umbrella...I got all my school, college and corporate friends from wherever I left...Could you believe...I talked with my 10th standard crush girl yesterday;) ...its all because of this great internet application....I am so addicted to this site where I couldnt resist myself of not logging everyday...Yes ofcourse for a person living in Devil's workshop, Ghost native (Germany), Orkut is definitely the best place for keeping in touch with all the friends in different corners of the world....Hats off to great Orkut Buyukkokten!!
Mitfahr is an excellant concept and cheapest means of transportation between the cities in Germany...The person who owns the car when he is travelling from one city to another city advertises in the website mitfahrgelegenheit.de, the other travellers who wish to travel in the same day just contacts the person who is willing to accompany and travels with him/her...Its a dual benefit concept where the owner of the car gets his share of fuel cost from other travellers and for the mitfahrers(travellers), its definitely the cheapest means of transport when compared to air, buses and trains...I loved travelling in mitfahr a number of times between Berlin and Hamburg and had a chance to meet really nice people...I am not sure whether this concept can be implemented in India...If you ask me...I wouldnt do it in India...because I am not sure whether I will safely reach the destination....;)
Recently a funny incident happened to me during my visa extension in Hamburg. When I was giving the passport and my passport size photographs…the visa officer was saying in German…I need a new photo and not the old photo…then I decided to take a new pic in the automat nearby. I just sat and took in the automat, unfortunately the photo came too dark…where I couldn't see myself in the picture…;) I thought machine didn't work properly then I thought…well…machine can take whatever is there…;) it cant create a new face…heheheeee
Photo without flash which visa officer rejected:
Then I gave this wonderful beautiful photo to the visa officer….after half an hour he called me and said…oh man…this photo is too dark….put some flash on your face and take another picture…heheheheee…Then I had to go to nearby photoshop, asked him to put more flash on my face and showed the previous photo and pleaded him not to repeat what the automat did….Thank god he managed to get a decent one which goes into the passport….In one way he is right…the picture has to be clear in the passport….but there is another moral to this story….can you guess what it is…never never choose bride or bridegroom by looking into the photos….simply because the bride or bridegroom can apply the strategy of applying flash on their face and make them fair…heheheeee…so always choose after meeting them…ok? ;)
Whenever I saw some big mountains, wonderful landscape in Tamil and Bollywood movies, I used to wonder whether is this place existing on earth or in some other planet…but people next to me says…oh thats Switzerland…Yes it was always my dream to explore this beautiful place on earth….then I thought before I complete 25 years on this planet, why don’t I push my self to explore this wonderful place on earth…Thanks to Andreas, the American, my MBA classmate who was doing his internship in Switzerland provided me the accommodation and motivated me to visit Switzerland. I made so many trips with my parents, with my friends, but this trip which I made alone is one of the best trips of my lifetime.
Jungfraujoch:
The top most point of Europe situated at an altitude of 13,638 feet above the sea level. To be honest, I was standstill for few minutes at this place. There are various moments in life which one cherishes and for me Jungfrauhoch was definitely one of the lovely, sweet, memorable moments I had in my life. Ofcourse, I had many disappointments, I sacrificed many things, I lost many things to reach this point but this Jungfrauhoch provided me a great healing to all those words mentioned above….ya…at the end of the day…life is a compromise….Ok..no more sentis and emotions..lets get back to Switzerland…;). The train from Interlaken to Jungfrauhoch is a masterpiece of human brain. The train passes via huge mountains, valleys and finally to the glacier. Actually the train pierces in to the mountains and reaches the top…Jungfrauhoch is bit expensive, but if one doesn’t make it to Jungfraujoch after coming to Switzerland, then they are missing something.
Movie Jungfraujoch
Gornegrat:
Of all the mountains I saw in Swiss, Gornegrat is a rocky mountain. No ice, no trees, no greenery…just rocks…rocks rocks everywhere…but Gornegrat is really a huge tall mountain…Andreas accompanied me to this mountain and he termed it as Afghanistan type of mountains…and he didn’t like that mountain somehow….oh he is an American na..thats why he didn’t like Afghanistan type of mountains…heheheeeee….We traveled in his car to reach this place…it was a nice experience of traveling in a car with scenic mountains and valleys all around and one more great experience…in order to cross a huge mountain in Goppenstein, they pierced the mountains and built a tunnel and interestingly only trains can travel inside this tunnel….so what….we had to travel by car in the train…heheheee….
yes…the car gets into the train and the train pierces in to the mountains and gets back to the road…that was a new lovely experience I had….I liked Gornegrat, this mountain gives panoramic view of the neighboring mountains like matterhorn which appeared to be funny for both of us for some reasons hehehe and it was damn quiet out there on the top….ate spaghetti on the top of mountain at an altitude of 3136m…the train ride from Zermatt to Gornegrat is also a great experience…we decided to trek between one station and ultimately ended between long stations…heheheee…that was also a nice experience of trekking and had a chance to practice American accent with Andreas…heheheeeee ;)
Movie Gornegrat
Pilatus:
Pilatus is a funny little mountain of all the mountains in swiss just 2132m above the sea level, this reminded me of our little Kodaikanal, Ooty type of mountains….the ride to Pilatus is an interesting one….a cable car runs from Luzern to Pilatus….Pilatus didn’t fascinate me much….but top view from Pilatus was good…could see the city of Luzern, the beautiful lakes…there are two ways to reach Pilatus…one way is cable car…nother one is the Train….this train reminded me of the mountain train in Palani hills in Tamil Nadu….quite similar to that….I loved traveling on that train…traveling in any mountain train is always a great experience…
Movie Pilatus
Titlis:
I would put Titlis next to Jungfraujoch…in my opinion, Jungfraujoch and Titlis are the two places which one should never miss in Switzerland. The ride to Titlis is simply amazing than Jungfraujoch…because its not reached by train…its reached by cable cars…oh god…how did they construct that…I have no clue whatsoever…I could see German mechanical Science in all of the cable cars, mountain trains etc…you know cable car was revolving while going into the top….Hats off to the German mechanical brains…its just few brains which is making millions of people happy….Thanks to Science and innovation….well research always works…. I am not for research even though I am doing my thesis in a research institute…heheheee
Movie Titlis
Interlacken:
Nature at it best….with two mountains converging and a lake across the mountain…oh god…one of the pleasant sceneries and sites I saw in my life….The ship ride from Thun to Interlacken is a must ride. Oh god, I have no words to explain. I am not exaggerating anything probably if you see the pictures then you will agree to my sentences…I even thought of writing the article about Swiss during my ship ride….but I was only halfway through….there is a express train running from Interlacken to Thun called Goldenpassline…my goodness…one of the best train journey I had in my life….its just a feast to the eyes….Nature at its best…
Movie Interlacken
Niederhorn:
Niderhorn gives the panoramic view of the Thunerlake. I don’t want to repeat by saying the cable cars, the mountain trains which takes to the top…its implicit by now….all those rides are simply incredible…I loved Niederhorn for some reasons….I prefer greenery for ice…with two mountains converging, the lake piercing the mountains….and u get to see that from the top of the mountain….I loved it…I simply loved it. Once again Nature at its best….!
Movie Niederhorn
Zurich:
After seeing big mountains, glaciers, landscapes, lakes….big cities didn’t fascinate me much…any typical swiss city has a lake surrounded by mountains….there will be boat rides across that lake…and there will be architectural buildings across that lake…hehehheeeeeee.. Zurich is really huge….the airport looked really huge and gigantic…Just sat on the tram and had a city tour….Zurich nothing much! ;)
Movie Zurich
Luzern:
Nothing much difference between Luzern and Zurich…almost the same….lake, mountains, boat rides, architectural buildings..hehehheeeeee…I just had a feeling Luzern reflects swiss culture…with the buildings being very historic and it’s the commercial capital of Switzerland…had a chance to see some watch showrooms which were breathtaking….
Movie Luzern
These are the places which I explored and to be honest I just covered 60% of Switzerland.. still places like St.Moritz, Torino and Geneva are worth visiting….but after three to four days of traveling to big mountains, glaciers, lakes…you end up saying every part of Switzerland is same…..heheheeeeeeeeee…I should mention about the Swiss transportation system…I thought German rail transportation is the best connected system but Swiss rail system definitely surpasses its neighbor. Amazing connectivity between the trains, mountain trains, ships…
In my opinion, those who spent some time in Germany, for them exploring Swiss is a cake walk….the transportation system is just the replica. I shelled out money like anything…they use Swiss franks and not Euros but they accept Euros in some places. My wallet got a lot of beating...never mind ...I didn’t even think of whats the exchange rate and what are those denominations…well…when you have something pleasant before your eyes…currency notes are just paper notes….if I don’t spend in Switzerland, I wont spend in any part of the world…well earning is all for happiness….ok no more fundas….heheheeeee…
Could you believe I took 1000 pics, I couldn’t even have a gap of 5 minutes between the shots…I was damn crazy clicking with my camera….if you are interested to see the pics…just get back to me….More importantly out of all the things….Weather stayed absolutely classic….in any European Voyage, if the weather stays good…half of the trip is successful…I heard from Switzerlanders that this week is the end of Summer and Autumn and after this is all about rain and cold….Thanks a lot to weather god infact I bribed her I guess for five days ;)
I always find Switzerland as a unique place on earth…they didn’t involve themselves in the second world war, now they are not part of the European Union, they use their own currency…and why not they have one of the best landscapes on the earth…so they have every reason to be unique….In my opinion, Switzerland is one of the richest countries I have seen….it looked so grand in all the places and more importantly its damn expensive country in the world I guess.
Switzerlanders speak dialect of German. I never thought one day I would visit Switzerland and I will communicate with Switzerlanders in their native language…its really fun talking in that dialect….it remembers me of Srilankan Tamil heheheeeeee…..language is not a big problem because all Switzerlanders speak decent English than the Germans…..heheheheee and ofcourse its an international tourist spot and they have to…
After all these great experiences, came a big shock while returning to Berlin…when I was doing my check-in, the receptionist said, your name is not in the flight…boom…my heart just stopped for a moment…the reason is simple…she typed satish instead of sathish….missing the “h”…which most people do…hmm…that was a nice experience….If you have made up to this line of my article, thanks a lot for your time…and if you want to visit Switzerland…just get back to me, I will guide you to explore Switzerland at the maximum….I really thank god who gave me this opportunity to explore some wonderful places on the planet with my hard earned money during my student’s life.
Its been a long time since I took my back bag on my shoulders to explore some beautiful parts of Europe….All of a sudden, Belgium came in to picture. Belgium is a small bubbling country of Europe with interesting facts with population of just 6 million, with three different languages….northern part of the people speaking Flemish which is similar to Dutch, southern part speaking French and eastern part speaking little bit of German…
First we went to a city called Liege from Aachen, Germany….small city nothing really interesting in this city except for some few French chicks..;)….then we went to Ostende, the coastal line of Belgium…nice beach stretch….drenched ourselves in the freezing waters…more importantly had a chance to see the sunset on the coastal line…..it was simply amazing….the last time I saw the sunset was in Kanyakumari before 10 years….then came the important problem of accommodation….we haven’t booked the room…it was totally a last minute plan….googled around in the eleventh hour ;) and found a youth hostel in Brussels which was pretty good
Brussels, capital city of Belgium….in my opinion, the city looked quite rich…with some sky scrappers….old picturesque artistic buildings…I use this three words for every city in Europe ;)…well….Europe has a culture na….hope the people living in America agree to this…;) hehehe…Royal palace, EuropaWorld are some of the important spots…and the city looked amazing in the night…Then we went to a great historic place, Battle of Waterloo…this place is definitely worth visiting…they created a huge conical artificial mountain with Lion on the top….and the Battle field is now a paddy field…heheheeeeee
This place was in outskirts…and there was no proper transportation to reach this place…we tried for some lifts….with the cars coming on the highways….where the people ended up looking at us as if we were from another planet…heheheeee…ultimately we ended up in a taxi….heheheeee..while returning back I had to take nachtzug(night train)…this was the first time I traveled in night train in Europe with sleepers …is Europe so big to be traveled in a night train…hehehee ;) All in all, a very nice trip and Belgium will reside in my memory in the years to come…
One fine morning on saturday, a man with two kids knocked my door....and asked me......excuse me sir...will you be in a position to rent ur room for our film shooting?.....oops....I was standstill for a moment.....I am totally new to this place.....I hardly know anybody.....I just said to him give me one day to decide.....he was so pleasing which made me to think twice.....after discussing with couple of friends here....then I thought whats wrong in giving the room....I vacated the room and kept my articles in my friend's room.....at the end...more importantly I received 200 Euros for it which is my monthly rent....:)
Atlast a test victory abroad.....oh no....series victory.....that too in England....definitely one of the most cherishing moments for Indian cricket after their worldcup debacle in Carribean. Weather god released them from the jail in Lords but clearly outplayed the English team in all departments. There were many speculations about Dravid's decision of not enforcing the follow-on....but at the end of the day what it mattered is a series victory....The quote from Cricinfo was absolutely right..."After some years Dravid will not be remembered for his decision of not enforcing the follow-on but remembered with the likes of Ajith Wadekar and Kapil Dev who have snatched victories in English soil....2-0 or 1-0 series victory is purely academic". Kudos team India! Definitely moments to cherish on the eve of India's 60th year of Independence!
Many Criketing pundits have been criticizing about the behaviour of Sreeshanth......Oh he shouldn't have done this....that....But in my opinion....I was very happy that he has world of guts to do that....Hats off to you Sreeshanth.....Nobody comments or talks when f**king aussies(Warne or McGrath) or Mr. Great Pietersen does some sledgging.....but poor Sreeshanth gets most of the blame when he shoulder barged with Vaughan and when he danced against Mr.Nel ....I am sure those comments are nt going to stop Sreeshanth....and why should he stop....I thoroughly enjoy Sree's retaliation to the Whites....Whether you take wickets or not, but always entertain us with your retaliation...Keep going Sree.....!
When I look at the calendar, it says 15th August 2007, oh 60 years of Independence….where are we standing in the global world….definitely far ahead where one could have imagined before twenty years….Thanks to IT revolution and globalization….Kudos to the space programme….Hats off to leaders like Kalam who instigated some fire in the bloods of youth…Well Well...India moving...marching foward ...Great...Amazing...Wonderful....Excellant!
Just one side of the coin…..on the other side….there are many things which I think have to be addressed…
When are the caste system going to be abolished…..When will a situation arise when there is no column for caste when one fills form for Engineering Applications….When are the reservations going to end….?
When country will be ruled by scholars, intellectuals, brainy guys…..cant we not survive with out the presence of karus, jayas, laloos and sonias…. When the shitty politics will change to ganges….?
When are we going to stop fighting with our neighbour …stop spending huge Vitamin M for weapons and siachen glaciers…(Money spent for Siachen glacier in hour = Giving monthly salaries for 1000 teachers)
When can one get a situation where he/she doesn’t have to pay extra Vitamin M for getting their driving license ;)
When are the traditional horrible superstitious myths (dowry) going to stop ?
When are the people going to stop dying because of hunger and starvation ?
Last but not the least, When are we going to get a situation where one can choose his own girl to marry…heheheeeeeee ;)
In my opinion, long way to go…..I want to be realistic…..Unless the present social, societal and political system changes, one can not expect anything miracle. I experienced the pain of leaving the homesoil for the purpose of education, money and career, I hope my grand children will not face the same situation and they should be here just for vacation! Will it happen ? It all lies not in the hands of politicians but with one billion people!
Recently I read an article about Indian Rupee getting stronger against US Dollar and how is it beneficial for us.....Amazing article.....thought of publishing it here.....Hats off to the author!! Here it goes.....
Let us answer this question first.
What type of economic strength is preferable to India?
A) A strong Indian economy, fueled by its cheap labor due to a weaker rupee against dollar, where the Indians end up working in shifts, late nights, whole nights and what not… Only doing low profile jobs which foreign companies want to offload to India, so that they can concentrate on high end works and become even better. For instance in the IT field -providing BPO services, support and maintenance work for products…
OR
B) A strong Indian economy, fueled by its strong innovations and products, no matter whether the rupee is strong or weak against the dollar… Where Indians work only in regular office hours of 9 to 6, developing cutting edge technologies and solutions, selling our world class products both inside and outside India. For instance in the IT field - developing operating systems, compilers, databases, etc. all coming out of India…
I do not deny the fact that the IT boom in India came to a large extent because of (A). Well and good, we have had the benefits of our cost being cheap in western markets due to a weak rupee against dollar… We have had our share because of this advantage in the past two decades…But at the same time, doesn't it make sense to move towards (B), instead of crying foul against rupee becoming stronger against dollar…?
What a pity…! Indian IT companies are feeling bad because rupee is becoming stronger against dollar…!Reason, their profits will go down when the value of rupee is stronger, as every single dollar that comes into their account now means lesser rupee than earlier… ( If for instance, earlier they used to get 47 rupees for every dollar that comes in, but today its about 40…! )
But isn't this a matter of celebration…?
Our rupee is gaining importance internationally and is becoming stronger again… How many of us know that in 1947 when India got independence, 1 Rupee was 1.2 U S dollars…? These Indian IT companies instead of relying on a weaker rupee for their profit should now look at coming out with innovative products and technical solutions.What have these companies done in the arena of core system products…? Why don't we have any operating systems, compilers, database systems, development platforms etc coming out of India…? Why don't we develop tools like Photoshop or Flash? We have talent, but they all are working in American companies on these products…
Can not our Indian IT companies setup at least small teams to develop such products…?
Instead they are planning to make their employees work on saturdays too…! So that their profits can increase due to extra hours the employees put in… As if India doesn’t have any other option other than cheap labour, workaholic labor…!!!Are there no brains in India who can setup companies developing products and make money just by printing out more serial numbers and burning their product DVDs? If Indian companies continue to depend on its weak currency, then how would Indian economy survive in a world where allcurrencies have equal value?
Survival of the fittest… Only greater innovation can help us in that case…
We need to have knowledge and technological advantage if India wants to become a superpower, not low cost based cheap labor advantage…! Let the Chinese do it… I hope that rupee becomes more and more stronger so that Indians are forced to use their brains and come up w ith innovative products and next-generation technologies, than to provide low end services… We need to create a situation where other countries line up to buy our F-16s, to buy our operating systems, to buy our mobile phones and I-pods, to buy our Boeing, to buy our own Mercedes…! And a stronger rupee means we can easily afford foreign trips…! A stronger rupee means Indians can buy things anywhere in the world on par with developed economies…!
We don’t have to spend crores of rupees then to buy a Boeing. W e don't have to pay tens of thousands of rupees for international air travels. A stronger rupee means greater international exposure…There won’t be a difference between buying a Maruti and buying a Mercedes…! One can go on a trip to the Grand Canyon just like the way one goes to Ladakh or Nepal…! How do you think American citizens are able to tour all over the world…? Because, they earn more…? N O. But because, their currency is stronger…
And this is where a strong rupee will lead us to…!
Providing low end services is definitely not wrong… It gave us a very good start in the 90s…But that should definitely not be the bread and butter fueling our economic boom indefinitely in the future… For the simple reason that it can't continue to do so any longer… Other low cost destinations, cheaper than India are already coming up in the world…
Past three months has been really tough for me to handle some disappointments....as a result frustration at its core...as the saying of Murphy's law goes...."Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong" (or, alternately, "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and at the worst possible time," or, "Anything that can go wrong, will," or even, "If anything can go wrong, it will, and usually at the most inopportune moment").....this is very true...
1. I didnt get selected in the lottery for H1b US visa...damn...there wasnt any lottery in the previous years...just from this year the number of applications grew....
2. My thesis at Lufthansa Systems got cancelled because the supervisor changed to other department.....
3. The scholarship grant for my final year thesis got rejected...I was damn sure I will get it....well Murphy thought it other way...heheeeee
4. Now the present thesis at Fraunhofer Institute, Berlin....too early to say about it....but hoping it doesnt get included by Mr. Murphy....;)
5. A million dollar question of job search in Germany....:((
I am just fighting hard to pass this horrible time....I dont want anything.....just results for my simulations for my thesis and defending the thesis well......I hope and pray Mr. Murphy doesnt sit in front of the chair during my thesis defending....;)
Oh god please take me out of this horrible time! Sathish Kumar S
A day has come to move out of my lovely city Hamburg...for my Master Thesis in Fraunhofer Research Institute, Berlin in the field of Hybrid Networks. I am going to definitely miss Hamburg for six months....a lovely city with amazing transportation....scenic elbe river...picturesque artistic buildings and not to forget Reaperbahn.....;) Berlin, the capital city....new life...new people...new work....bit excited....but bit concerned about the new challenges...lets see how it goes....when I write an article after six months my experiences in Berlin....I want to make it memorable....:)
Life for me is nomadic But that has made my time fantastic!
Atlast the last day has come for me in my student job CIS-Solartechnik.....the job which gave me a great satisfaction, a great intelligent boss to work with.....lovely caring colleagues and not to forget the penny it gives for my bread and European Voyage....it was really emotional on the last day....when my boss Juan gave me a gift and congratulated me.....I certainly couldnt control my tears...one of the best satisfying thing happened for me in Germany is this job...Certainly a day to remember.....!
Every year in the month of July, our university celebrates Sommerfest ......it can be called as rainfest since it heavily rains all the time during this day....but other than that its a nice setup of food stalls from different countries....cultural programmes from different sections of people....my friend gokul sang a song from Bollywood....it was well received by the audience..the food and the mango lassi was awesome...typical south indian food....all in all a day to remember.....!
Recently we had a chance to go to South Germany, city named Barmberg to visit one of the sponsors of our MBA studies, Brose Automotive....It was a nice drive in the autobahn(German National Highways) from Hamburg to Barmberg.....with scenic landscape, picturesque valleys and mountains....stayed in a good hotel and ofcourse had a great dinner(free...hehehe)....Definitely South Germany, Bayern is god's own land......a trip to remember!
Recently we had a chance to go to a castle in the North Eastern part of Germany, Schwerin......a beautiful castle located in a small island.....the members for this trip were really awesome.....with Phd guys, their parents from India....their wives......kids.....more or less a family trip.....there were some situations where the son has to open and drink the beer bottle in front of the father.....:D with some matured Phd guys preparing some lemon rice...heheheee finished all in one stroke......all in all a very funny and interesting short trip.....
The much awaited Shivaji movie by superstar Rajinikanth was released atlast. We had a great opportunity to see the movie in Hamburg on the first day....thanks to Ayngaran distributors...honestly in my opinion, the movie didnt meet the expectations....there was a great hype given to this movie....may be for Rajini fans this movie would have been so great.....nothing special about the movie except for Shreya's beauty and Rajini's style......Out of all the Shanker's movie I would give Shivaji the last rank....heheeeee....Shivaji....NO LOGIC ONLY RAJINI MAGIC....
Recently I had a chance to go a beach in North East of Germany named Puttgarden with my MBA classmates....In my opinion not certainly the best of beaches in Germany....but decent enough to hang around when the sun shines....many funny incidents happened in this trip...one of my friend got drunk to the core and we have to take him in the cart....barbie queue was good....the youth hostel provided a decent place to spend some time....and more importantly the weather stayed amazing most of the time...
I totally forgot to narrate a funny incident which happened to me in recent times. We were scheduled to go to Stockholm on 05.04.2007.....we were busily preparing for the trip...with everybody in excited enthusiastic mood....we were searching for our bus to Stockholm....unfortunately we couldnt find our bus to stockholm.....we thought oh god we missed the bus....and we asked the concerned officials....the guy asked us the ticket and saw and said....guys you came so early.....I asked immediately...how many hours before.....he said 24 hours.....I couldnt control myself laughing on that moment....we returned back home with full of comedy by eating all the stuffs which we packed for the trip....An incident to remember!
Recently I included eastern city of Germany, Dresden in my European Voyage...In my opinion, Dresden is definitely different from rest of the German cities...most of the German cities more or less looks similar....Rathaus, Bahnhof, TV tower, Tram running across the city....but Dresden was totally different from other German cities....thrashed in the second world war...Dresden was built completely new and named Neustadt....but the altstadt(old city) was simply amazing...old picturesque architectural buildings with elbe river flowing across those maginificient old buildings...Dresden, the capital of saxony...I could see east European culture in Dresden...quite different from west Germany.....the weather stayed absolutely fine....and it was sunny all along...A day to remember!
Pilatus is a funny little mountain of all the mountains in swiss just 2132m above the sea level, this reminded me of our little Kodaikanal, Ooty type of mountains….the ride to Pilatus is an interesting one….a cable car runs from Luzern to Pilatus….Pilatus didn’t fascinate me much….but top view from Pilatus was good…could see the city of Luzern, the beautiful lakes…there are two ways to reach Pilatus…one way is cable car…nother one is the Train….this train reminded me of the mountain train in Palani hills in Tamil Nadu….quite similar to that….I loved traveling on that train…traveling in any mountain train is always a great experience…
I would put Titlis next to Jungfraujoch…in my opinion, Jungfraujoch and Titlis are the two places which one should never miss in Switzerland. The ride to Titlis is simply amazing than Jungfraujoch…because its not reached by train…its reached by cable cars…oh god…how did they construct that…I have no clue whatsoever…I could see German mechanical Science in all of the cable cars, mountain trains etc…you know cable car was revolving while going into the top….Hats off to the German mechanical brains…its just few brains which is making millions of people happy….Thanks to Science and innovation….well research always works…. I am not for research even though I am doing my thesis in a research institute…heheheee
Nature at it best….with two mountains converging and a lake across the mountain…oh god…one of the pleasant sceneries and sites I saw in my life….The ship ride from Thun to Interlacken is a must ride. Oh god, I have no words to explain. I am not exaggerating anything probably if you see the pictures then you will agree to my sentences…I even thought of writing the article about Swiss during my ship ride….but I was only halfway through….there is a express train running from Interlacken to Thun called Goldenpassline…my goodness…one of the best train journey I had in my life….its just a feast to the eyes….Nature at its best…
Niderhorn gives the panoramic view of the Thunerlake. I don’t want to repeat by saying the cable cars, the mountain trains which takes to the top…its implicit by now….all those rides are simply incredible…I loved Niederhorn for some reasons….I prefer greenery for ice…with two mountains converging, the lake piercing the mountains….and u get to see that from the top of the mountain….I loved it…I simply loved it. Once again Nature at its best….!
After seeing big mountains, glaciers, landscapes, lakes….big cities didn’t fascinate me much…any typical swiss city has a lake surrounded by mountains….there will be boat rides across that lake…and there will be architectural buildings across that lake…hehehheeeeeee.. Zurich is really huge….the airport looked really huge and gigantic…Just sat on the tram and had a city tour….Zurich nothing much! ;)
Brussels, capital city of Belgium….in my opinion, the city looked quite rich…with some sky scrappers….old picturesque artistic buildings…I use this three words for every city in Europe ;)…well….Europe has a culture na….hope the people living in America agree to this…;) hehehe…Royal palace, EuropaWorld are some of the important spots…and the city looked amazing in the night…Then we went to a great historic place, Battle of Waterloo…this place is definitely worth visiting…they created a huge conical artificial mountain with Lion on the top….and the Battle field is now a paddy field…heheheeeeee
This place was in outskirts…and there was no proper transportation to reach this place…we tried for some lifts….with the cars coming on the highways….where the people ended up looking at us as if we were from another planet…heheheeee…ultimately we ended up in a taxi….heheheeee..while returning back I had to take nachtzug(night train)…this was the first time I traveled in night train in Europe with sleepers …is Europe so big to be traveled in a night train…hehehee ;) All in all, a very nice trip and Belgium will reside in my memory in the years to come…
