Breakfast in London, Lunch in Paris

I took the 7:30 Eurostar train to Gare du Nord, one of the international train stations in Paris. This train actually tunnels across the ocean between UK and rest of Europe. Out of the 2:30 hrs journey, you will be under the sea for half the time. You will feel the air pressure playing with your ears. Once the train entered France, I was so in love with the French landscapes. France has its own mesmerizing landscapes and no wonder the world’s very famous artists are from France. Lush green farms, small hills along the way, and picture perfect countryside with cows will make you breathless. I enjoyed the rest of the journey and arrived at Paris around 11 am. Subways (Call it Metro here) at Paris are pretty old. The connections between various metro stations were not very easy since the lovely river Seine divided the city.
























I took a metro to my hostel (St. Christopher’s Inn, near Lumiere metro station, a very decent hostel, however, with more luggage, the walk from the station would be strenous), checked in and my craving for Indian food was partially satisfied by an Indian restaurant near my hostel. Food was not that great but atleast something is better than nothing. I got a map from the hostel, planned my trip for the next 2 days, made a list of places to visit and I was on my way to the very famous Eiffel tower. I got down at the Eiffel tower station and looked around to see if I can get a glimpse of the tower with much excitement. There are clear signs in English that direct you to the famous landmark that you wish to see. My first look at the Eiffel tower was breath taking. Such a marvel, in the beautiful city of Paris was above and beyond my expectation. I went close to the tower, took some lovely pictures and sipped the velvety espresso from the café close by, watching the striking tower amidst the busy city.




















My next stop was Arc du triumphe, a huge monument built by Napoleon to commemorate his victory in a battle. The beauty of this monument is that, eight to nine major Paris streets converge here and it’s really worth it to watch the city converge from the top of this monument. The main street is Champs Elysees, where you have Paris’s flourishing fashion stores. Talking about fashion, people here dress really well. I could see that all the tourists were under dressed when you compare the fashion sense of the locals. Girls looked stunning and their clothing style spoke for itself. Almost everyone wears an expensive brand here. The view of Eiffel tower in twilight from the Arc was amazing. No other place has beat my expectation like the Eiffel. I walked along Champs elysees, sipped more espresso and headed back to Eiffel for the night view. I waited until it was completely dark and I am seriously running out of words to describe the Eiffel tower at night. I sat there for a while, admired the view, took more pictures and decided to head back in the super cold weather with just a fleece jacket. This eventually marked the start of me falling sick.



















Next day was dedicated to Museums and cathedrals. My first stop was Notre Dame Cathedral built during 1500s. The cathedral’s front looked kind of scary but the 300 steps climb to the top was well worth it. The ariel view of windy river Seine, with so many canals and arc bridges connecting either side of the river looked wonderful. This reminded me of the beautiful Paris they show in the movies. I saw scary gargoyles in the cathedral which reminded me of the da vinci code movie. My next stop was at Saint Chapel where they have 20 feet painted glass from 1400s explaining various chapters in the Holy Bible. The sunlight through the painted glass into the Chapel was a pleasure to watch. I headed directly towards a sandwich shop and Paris has one of the tastier breads and croissants. So crisp, yet soft and tasty, the best bread I have ever had in my life. I grabbed a veggie sandwich and munched on it sitting by the river, watching the old yet fresh city. The architecture here is very different from London. In London they have square windows but in Paris, they have a door sized window with patios. This looked very unique and interesting. I visited Parthenon and Pompidou (Modern art) in the next few hours. By this time, I was getting sicker and was not able to carry on with the same enthusiasm. However, I decided to make one last stop at Louvre museum (the glass triangle they show in Da Vinci Code) and watch it by the night.

The temperature outside was freezing and the cold wind made things worse. I carried myself to the museum and I would say, it was really worth taking the effort. I shot many pictures in all angles and the glossy triangle shined brilliantly at night. I never imagined this would look so impressive but yes it did. I went back to the hostel, with cold and cough and high temperature. I could not sleep well and had a tough time with dry cough. I woke up next morning, totally tired, unable to proceed anywhere. My friendly roommate gave me ibuprofen and it worked like magic. I slept few hours and I was ready to start my morning, well afternoon. However, the cold and cough prevailed.




















I visited Louvre museum and I guess I am not much into sculptures and portraits; I did not like Louvre that much except for the famous Monalisa painting. I proceeded to Musee D’orsay where they have impressionism and neo-impressionism painting which I loved. All high profile artists like Monet, Manet, Pissaro, Sisley and enjoyed every painting. I always wanted to create such lovely work of art! Looking at these, I wondered how talented and gifted these artists were. I proceeded to Picasso museum and found it closed for 2 years due to renovation. Then I stopped at the Opera metro station to visit some French theatre and ended up buying a sweater for myself.

I kept taking medicines and went back to the hostel, retiring for the day. I did not do much, blame it on my health but it was a well spent day. With all the beautiful memories of Paris, I got ready to visit the Medieval town of Bruges, in Belgium.

Au revoir Paris!

Historic London, United Kingdom

Finally, it happened! Yes, I am in Europe!! I always wanted to visit England. A country with such a rich history, stories about castles, kings, queens, knights, with so many old chapels and historic buildings, cultural heritage, this is a must-see destination. In this blog, I am not only going to share my experience, but also provide handy information to future London visitors, since European destinations are a mystery to most of us.




















I stayed at a youth hostel (Generator Hostel) with much prejudice. This hostel is very close to a major underground (tube)/international station called St. Pancras/King’s cross station. This is a 50 minute tube travel from Heathrow airport. Take the Picadilly line towards Cockfosters for this station. My hostel was at a walkable distance from the station. The hostel had shared bathrooms but they do a good job at constantly cleaning the toilets. I would recommend this hostel to all the backpackers out there considering the proximity to the international train station. If you are going to stay for atleast 3 days at London, buy a 3 day travel card from any major station. This saves some money and also comes handy at zipping through the ticket machines at the stations. After freshening up, my first stop was British Museum. I decided to walk to the museum so that I could enjoy some fresh London air and explore the area. I was totally impressed with the English architecture and all the buildings had this brick work that looked fantastic. There was a park dedicated to Gandhiji which was quite surprising. I took so many pictures along the way, got lost in the middle, and finally found the museum. This was one huge museum with items all across the globe right from 6000 BC! I spent couple of hours here, understanding the various civilizations. I was quite impressed with the history of Europe!






















The next day I took the red bus tour (which was pretty useful, I highly recommend this) and visited the royal Buckingham palace, where the queen resides. The palace indeed looked royal. With the guards outside, wearing the typical red uniform and black puffy hats, you will get the United Kingdom feel here. My next stop was at Westminster Abbey with Big Ben and it looked quite impressive. Built hundreds of years ago, this building looked vast and huge. The view of Big Ben with Westminster along the river Thames was beyond words. I took couple of pictures here and directly headed to the famous London Eye. Whenever I think of London, the first thing that comes to my mind is the London eye, together with the river Thames and Westminster/Big Ben in the back drop. This was one of a kind of a view that definitely needs to be visited. I got on to the London Eye capsule and from the top, the city looked truly beautiful. I wasn’t spared by rain Gods this time around and was caught in the drizzle (which is typical English weather during October I suppose). As crazy as it can get, the drizzle stopped and the sun appeared again to brighten the remaining part of my day. I met a friendly Australian guy in the bus and he gave me company for some time. I proceeded towards St. Paul’s cathedral that looked phenomenal. I could not go up the top since it was a Sunday and they were closing the cathedral in 30 minutes. I continued to enjoy my red bus tour and headed towards the world’s most famous bridge, the London Bridge. I got there around 6:30 in the evening and wanted to stick around until dark to capture the view of the bridge at night. My first glimpse at the bridge was honestly beyond explanation. A truly amazing, fantastic, stupendous view that is bound to steal your heart. I got the “Wow, I am in London” feel as soon as I saw the bridge from a distance. I spent few hours, taking photographs and admiring the view. It was cold in the night but warm roasted peanuts (so delicious) with the top-notch hot espresso kept me warm. I walked across the bridge, enjoyed the liveliness and with the images of the beautiful scene, I left to my hostel.





















I did not do much the final day in London. I visited the tower of London that is almost 900 years old and visited the King Henry VIII’s exhibition on his history. That was quite interesting to visit the old tower and I am really glad that the government is taking all the efforts to preserve such locations. I wanted to visit the infamous Stonehenge but due to lack of time, I could not do it that day. I thought to myself, maybe next time.
I left London the following day to Paris, the romantic city! Good bye London and Bonjour Paris!

Elk Mountain, Wyoming

This trip was totally unexpected. I had to visit a customer (Boulder, CO) that was evaluating our software. I got on a call in the morning, packed my bags in the next hour and was on my way to Boulder in the afternoon, that too on my birthday! Well, I spent my birthday in the flight and rental car. Anyways, the following weekend was a long weekend and it did not make much sense to go back home and return during the long weekend frenzy. So I decided to stay back at Boulder and explore the nearby places.

Wyoming is 60 miles north of Boulder. I have always wanted to drive through Wyoming after hearing about the Wyoming country side beauty from my friends. I opened google maps and made a list of random destinations that isn’t too far from where I was staying. Finally, I narrowed down to Elk Mountain, 176 miles North West of Boulder. I started around 2’0 clock in the afternoon towards the infamous mountain. The drive was very pleasant and there wasn’t much traffic once I entered Wyoming. The road was pretty straight and I could see miles of road ahead of me. Mind you, don’t eat a heavy lunch start driving on these roads; you are bound to fall asleep. However, if you are a nature lover and of course love driving, you will enjoy this drive more than anything. The weather was perfect, and it was drizzling a bit. I love music and I love to travel. To get the best of both worlds, I played my favorite songs in the car and headed towards my destination. There were so many barns along the highway and so many unpaved country side roads that lead to small towns. I saw herds of horses and cows and this reminded me of good old Kansas where I went to graduate school.






On my way, I stopped few times to capture the amazing beauty of nature. After making few such stops, I took the exit towards Elk Mountain and what I see? Miles of unpaved roads to reach my destination! I have never driven on these muddy, gravel roads and I was so skeptical about Subaru handling these roads. However, to my surprise, the car did pretty well and finally I reached my destination. The view of the mountain was fantastic and it had all the characteristics of the Rocky Mountains that are famous in Colorado. The mountain looked mighty tall and I would call it picture perfect. Any artist would immediately fall in love with this place.




I was so hungry and I saw one restaurant in this calm town. I checked inside and a friendly lady welcomed me with a big smile. However, she did tell me that they do not open until dinner and gave me some local maps if I wanted to explore the area. She also warned me that Wyoming is a very lonely place and if I get lost, nobody will be around to ask any directions and it might take days together to find the way out. I smiled to myself and thanked her for the advice. Since I was hungry, she pointed me to a café (yes, café) few blocks from her restaurant. A very funny thing happened at the café. The moment I entered the café, the people inside looked at me as if I were from another planet! The guys were wearing the typical cowboy hats and they were giving me this weird look. I sat at a table and looked at the menu, and found nothing vegetarian. In the next table, one of the hat guy said to the other guy, “I killed that deer in a single shot” and at that moment, I decided to make an exit from there.

The unfortunate thing was, visitors were not allowed to drive up to the mountain and apparently some guy owns this mountain (interesting). I really liked driving on the unpaved roads and decided to explore a bit more in that area. I drove few miles and the entire area looked like a typical zombie place in English movies. And yes, I never spotted an Elk during this trip!






The sun was setting and I decided to head back home. On my way back, I spotted an exit towards the famous route 66 and it was really worth driving on this road! It was so picturesque with corn fields on both the sides and the daunting Rocky Mountains ahead. No expensive camera can capture these moments and the two little natural cameras (call them eyes) can never delete these moments from the storage disk (call it mind).

Backpacking at Yosemite, CA

This trip definitely needs to be mentioned in this blog. My brother in law's colleague is an avid outdoor enthusiast. I like outdoors but nobody can match this person's love for outdoors. Anyways, he got us wilderness permit (back in February 2009) for backpacking at Tuolumne meadows, Yosemite, CA. After couple of meetings on route planning, the shopping began for backpack, compact sleeping bag, 2 person tent, 3 liter camelbak, rotis and ready to eat stuff. After buying these, we packed everything in the backpack and found it so heavy! It must have been around 40 lbs on day one. We packed 5 liters of water since you need water for everything in the wilderness.

We started on Friday around 2:15 PM and expected to reach Yosemite at 6:15 PM. However, we reached at 7:45 and kept our captain (brother in law's colleague) waiting for almost 3 hours. Meanwhile, our captain rented two bulky bear canisters to protect our food and ourselves from grizzly (cuddly?) bears. After we reached there, we redistributed our things evenly and we were ready to hit the trail. Our captain helped us a lot in adjusting the backpack to our torso in such a way that your hip bone takes all the weight and not your shoulders. This is the first lesson you learn from backpacking. If it wasn’t for him, we would have carried the entire weight in our shoulders and would have ended with sore shoulders. Thankfully he was helping us all the way along.

We hit the Glen Aulin trail at around 8:00 PM and the sun was already setting. We started with our super heavy backpacks into the wild! The beautiful meadows, scenic mountains and fresh running stream motivated us to see more. We crossed a tricky stream in between and chose our first campsite in the wilderness. Due to lack of time, we had to setup our tent in a hurry. With darkness surrounding us, we decided to eat quickly and hit the sack as soon as possible. Our ready to eat stuff helped us in filling our stomach. However, cooking/eating in the wilderness was totally a different experience. No light, no dining tables, uncomfortable weather and annoying insects took us way back into time. After dinner, we sat out for a while and enjoyed the beautiful, uncountable bright stars in the sky which you can never see from the city. When we decided to sleep, it was totally uncomfortable, both the tent and the new environ. We kept the bear canisters 50 feet away from our tents to protect ourselves. The pine trees amidst the dark sky were horrifying and the sound of wind, coyotes howling scared us even more. However, staying away from civilization was a wonderful experience.

After a disturbed sleep, we spent the night safely and got ready to proceed further. Nature calls were answered in the ancient way and we felt funny! The backpack did not feel light even after consuming water and food. It was damn heavy just like the first day. One thing we learned during the night was to conserve the precious resource, water. I was just imagining how carelessly we waste water back in the city. We freshened up a bit and hit the trail again. We passed through breathtaking Yosemite beauty, monstrous granite rocks, green meadows, thunderous waterfalls and everything looked like a place in heaven. You can never enjoy this if you hadn’t hiked the valley. No camera could capture this scenery.

We proceeded towards Glen Aulin and I was already feeling hungry. Couple of cereal bars here and there did not help much. The final 3 miles were really grueling and it took more time than expected to reach Glen Aulin.

A roaring waterfall welcomed us at Glen Aulin. However, all I could picture was lunch! We chose a suitable campground and pitched our tents. By that time, we had run out of some water and it was blissful to find drinkable water at this backpacker’s campsite. We kind of returned to half-civilization since we had access to water and compost restrooms. We had a satisfying lunch and drank so much water to quench our thirst. Our captain decided to hike 3 more miles to see a nearby waterfall. We left our heavy backpacks back at the tent and carried just a liter of water to the falls. The weight off our shoulder was so relaxing. But the heat almost killed us, especially me. I got dehydrated and could not carry myself forward. Our captain decided to head back to Glen Aulin and that was a good decision for all of us. Back at the camp, my brother in law and our captain decided to take a dip in the waterfall. I decided to take a nap. I decided to sleep outside the tent on the camp mat. With gentle breeze blowing, I felt so relaxing and calm. It was totally an incredible experience. I am sure my other two hikers would have had similar experience in the falls. We spent that night peacefully, without any fear of bears or coyotes. We thoroughly enjoyed the valley views, the stars and the sunset.

The next morning we started out early around 7:30 AM. It seemed like the backpack will never become lighter. In the wilderness, we were not supposed to trash. We had to pack in-pack out all our trash. Luckily, a small eat out (for the non-backpackers) accepted our 2 lbs trash. However, we could not get rid of the remaining trash and had had to carry it with us. Then we enthusiastically hiked back towards Tuolumne meadows. Again, we encountered the 3 grueling miles on our way back. A couple of cereal bars and an energy shot helped us to finish those 3 miles. The last few miles were pretty easy without any elevation. Our captain showed us how to use a compass and it was damn interesting to learn about it.

We made good pace and reached our trail head around 10:45 AM. We got those backpacks off our torso and were feeling wonderful! We unpacked everything, returned the bear canisters and headed back to the civilization. We learnt a lot of things during this trip. More importantly, we learnt the value of water and the worth of our valuable environment. This trip definitely taught us how to appreciate little things in life.

While returning, we stopped at a breakfast café and munched on pancakes and potato fries. Finally when we sipped the good old hot chocolate, we were in a different world altogether.