I enjoy traveling to new places across the world and one of my unfulfilled dreams was to see all the continents before I turned 30! I register the sights and experiences in my head and have not tried documenting them in travelogues. I believe so much in just enjoying the moment that I missed even taking pictures at several iconic places. With my blog going on for over a couple of years now, I have now documented the memories of my Europe vacation.
We booked for a group tour, famously covering six countries (including the tiny principality of Liechtenstein) in less than nine days. The thought of so many countries in such a short time span sounded exotic and hectic. The plan was to visit at least one new city every day, checking into a different hotel every evening for the first six days. With all the excitement, we boarded the plane to Delhi where we transferred to a flight to Milan, Italy.
Day 1 – Arrived at Milan, Italy:
It was 7:30PM local time when we arrived at Malpensa Airport. After immigration, we collected our checked-in bags and got a glimpse of the group of about 50 people with whom we will be spending the next week touring through Europe. After a quick Indian dinner, we checked into first of the four IBIS hotels we will be staying through the tour. I later realized that IBIS was the most ubiquitous hotel in Continental Europe.
Day 2 – The Leaning Tower of Pisa:
The drive from Milan to Pisa usually takes about 4 hours. While the plan was to reach Pisa by 1PM, we arrived only at 4 after being stuck in long-weekend traffic congestion enroute. Given the number of historical monuments I have seen in India, I was originally not very excited about the leaning tower. But that changed as soon as I stepped into the UNESCO World Heritage site and saw the beautiful white marble structure leaning towards my right! No wonder it is one of the wonders of the world!
After spending a couple of hours at the site visiting the Cathedral, Baptistery and the leaning tower itself, we got back in the bus for another 3 hour journey to check-in to a Novotel at Bologna. I later found out that Bologna was a historical city by itself, but we stayed at its outskirts and checked out early next morning to proceed to Venice. I did squeeze out thirty minutes for a quick run along Via San Donato.
Day 3 – San Marco, Venice:
We arrived at Venice around 11AM and took a ferry to San Marco. The tour guide gave the history behind San Marco and how the rising ocean levels poses a threat to its existence in the long term. I was excited to see the canal city and the vaporetto stations along the coastline were a treat to the eyes. I clicked several pictures on either side of the ferry as we arrived at the pier.
We passed by the Manhattan Fifth Avenue equivalent of San Marco to reach St. Marks’ Square. We took a 45 minute Gandola ride that was one of the best experiences of the tour and wrapped up with lunch at a pizzeria!
We now headed North towards the Alps – the most exciting part of the trip. As we drove up the Alps, it was delightful to see the landscape transforming. We arrived at Alpenkonig Tirol, the most awaited hotel stay during the tour! The sights from the hotel were blissful and the rooms themselves were luxurious. With the sun shining well past 9PM, I took the opportunity to go for a run along the Alps. That evening I ran 5K towards south along Auland and Reith bei Seefeld.
Day 4 – Swarovski, Vaduz, Rhine Falls & Zurich – Austria, Liechtenstein & Switzerland
The next morning, I ran a similar distance towards north. The views this time were even more spectacular and reminded me of DDLJ – a famous movie during my college days that ran at a Mumbai cinema hall for 20 years!
We then arrived at Swarovski World, Tirol. I am not big into jewelry but it was an impressive collection. More interesting was the history of the enterprise.
After spending ample time at Swarovski, we headed to the dream destination – Switzerland. One of the tunnels connecting Austria and Switzerland was apparently closed for maintenance, which increased our journey by more than an hour. Apparently, this was a blessing in disguise as the alternate route took us through some of the best views of the Alps.
We stopped enroute for lunch at Vaduz, capital city of a tiny principality called Liechtenstein. It was again time for some margarita pizzas and we proceeded to Rhine Falls. We got onto a boat that took us really close to the falls and I can still feel the spray of cold water as the boat hit the waves!
We then went to Zurich and had the best dinner of the tour at Hotel Tadka, followed by check-in at another IBIS. It was late in the evening but I still wanted to go for a run. When I found out that Zurich lake was just about 3Km from the hotel, it was enough motivation for me to try to get a glimpse of the lake!
Day 5 – Mt Titlis & Lucerne
Seeing snow was one of the motivations for the tour and the splendid views of Titlis glacier was something I was looking for. The rain at Engelberg turned into snowfall at Mt Titlis and the accompanying clouds hid the landscape. It was a little disappointing but I told myself that I would choose snowfall at the glacier to the views any day! It was quite cold but we got accustomed after about half an hour. We spent some unforgettable time at the glacier, cliff walk, glacier walk, ice flyer and skiing!
After a two hour drive, we arrived at Lucerne, a beautiful lake city. We were dropped at the lake front and given a couple of hours to spend at the lake. I pulled out my google maps to find out nearby places to visit and found quite a few of them. We started with the church of St Leodegar, then visited the Lion Monument and came back to the lake front walking along the Historic Wall.
After dinner we checked into another IBIS, this time at Mulhouse, France.
Day 6 – Lake Titisee, Germany
After a quick run in the morning at Mulhouse, we headed to Lake Titisee to get a glimpse of Germany. As we arrived at the lake, we were engulfed by a thunderstorm that left everything flying around us. We got into a restaurant and the rain stopped after 15 minutes or so. It was a good place for a few nice pictures.
We got into the bus for the longest road journey of the tour – over seven hours to Paris! We checked into another IBIS at Paris with some tasty south Indian packed dinner waiting for us.
Day 7 – Paris
We started around 10:30 in the morning and headed straight to Eiffel Tower. It was a magnificent sight and views from the top of the tower were spectacular! After a quick lunch, we got onto a quick bus tour of Paris. We passed through the Arch of Triumph, Champs-Elysees, Concord Square, Obelisk, Place Vendome, Invalides, Louvre museum, etc. It was amazing to see numerous monuments of historical significance within a small area!
We wrapped up the day on a cruise along River Seine with an expectation to see the Eiffel Tower under lights. Though we passed through the tower around 10PM, it was still not fully dark but the sight of Eiffel tower lit up fully was still an unforgettable view!
Day 8 – Return to India
We checked out late on the final day and given the flight to Delhi was only at 10PM, we got five hours to shop at Aeroville – a shopping mall near Paris airport. After a mediocre South Indian lunch and whiling away some time window shopping, we got to the airport and bid adieu to Paris!