Rajasthan literally means “Land of Kings” and is located in the north western corner of India. The state has a special place in my heart having spent four memorable years there for my engineering degree. Being aware of Thar desert from Geography lessons in school, people from South India typically imagine Rajasthan to just be a vast stretch of barren land. But a visit to the palaces and forts will make one wonder “Is this really a desert state”? And if one skips the western most city of Jaisalmer like we did, you will not even get to see sand!

OK – enough of the build-up, let me start with the itinerary. Given my busy schedule, I could only squeeze out 6 days for the trip and with my usual penchant of making the most of it, I settled on Udaipur, Jodhpur and Jaipur.

Day 1 – Udaipur:

Arrived at Udaipur airport around noon after some stunning views of the city and Aravalli range as we landed. The first stop was lunch at a restaurant famous for the local specialty “dal baati churma”. I should admit that I never heard about this dish during my stay at Rajasthan 20 years back! We were very hungry and the stuff that was served on our plates appeared doubly appetizing, even reminding me of Tirupati laddu. It was all great till we tasted it – while the looks were spicy, it was absolutely bland. Being a well traveled person, I have learnt to appreciate and enjoy local cuisines. So, while I proceeded with finishing my portion, it was a shocker to the rest of my family with calls for “KFC”. After the eventful lunch, we proceeded to City Palace.

It was the first palace in our itinerary and the guide narrated how the palace was built over the centuries by different kings. Not to mention, the luxurious life led by the royal family while the rest of the population worked for the king! For critics of capitalism, a peep into the royal life should highlight the stark divide that existed in this form of government and economy!!!

We then took a boat ride around Lake Pichola, passing through the bathing ghats and the super luxurious Taj property in the middle of the lake. We spent some time at Jag Mandir, an island in the lake and then proceeded to a temple on a hill next to the lake. The sunset view from the hilltop was amazing! We wrapped up the day with the some stunning night view of the Monsoon Palace, which will be the first point the next day!

Day 2: Udaipur

After a relaxed breakfast, we started with a visit to Monsoon Palace. The palace itself is not well maintained but its strategic location provided some breath taking views of the city. After a quick visit to the local zoo, which had nothing much to write about, we went to Hall of Heroes. It was all about the glory of Rajput kings of Mewar, as the region around Udaipur is referred.

After lunch, we went to “Saheliyon ki bari”, a park built by one of the kings for his daughter to play with her friends. And went back to hotel after a visit to Udaipur Aquarium.

Day 3: Kumbhalgarh Fort, Ranakpur & Jodhpur

The day was expected to be spent mostly on the road traveling from Udaipur to Jodhpur covering Kumbhalgarh Fort and Jain temple at Ranakpur on the way. Kumbhalgarh Fort is supposed to be the largest in Rajasthan but its location away from any nearby city limits the number of tourists. It was nevertheless grand with some stunning views of the Aravalli range. After a quick visit to the Jain temple at Ranakpur, we had lunch and proceeded towards Jodhpur where we arrived around 7PM.

Day 4: Jodhpur

Jodhpur is the second largest city in Rajasthan and capital of “Marwar” region. I vaguely remembered visiting the fort here about 25 years back. We then went to Umaid Palace, which is now largely a luxury hotel. We were once again served a good doze of past and present glory of royal family. After that, we started on the long road journey to Jaipur.

Day 5: Jaipur

We were at Jaipur in the middle of a long weekend and could see the city bustling with tourists. Jaipur is apparently a popular weekend destination for Delhi residents, particularly when it is a long one. We started the day clicking some pictures of Hawa Mahal on the way to the palace of the Jaipur royal family. Having seen quite a few of them during the last few days, we knew what to expect and were not disappointed. Next stop was Jantar Mantar, an observatory built by one of the kings who was a keen astronomer himself more than a century back.

We were now hit with a dilemma. Amber Fort is possibly the most famous destination at Jaipur and I remember it from my last visit long ago! With the holiday weekend traffic, Google showed the traffic enroute was bad. And having seen numerous palaces and forts, my family was not interested in being stuck in traffic for another palace. So, we decided to skip Amber Fort and proceeded to Jaigarh Fort. We then found out Jaigarh and Amber forts are indeed connected with Jaigarh offering a good aerial view of Amber Fort. After a few pictures, we proceeded to Nahargarh Fort. This one had some excellent views of Jaipur City. Finally, we clicked some pictures of Jal Mahal and proceeded back to the hotel.

Day 6: Back to Hyderabad

After a relaxed start for the day and sumptuous breakfast, we proceeded to Jaipur Airport. It turned out to be another busy airport bursting at its seams! While the massive growth in the number of domestic flights has made it convenient to travel across India, it has also made airports very busy. As I landed at Hyderabad, I saw billboards saying all international departures from Hyderabad will move to a new interim terminal. Anyways, it is good to get people across long distances closer!

After the trip, we are now able to relate locations where numerous Bollywood movies have been shot. Truly a land of the royals, a destination of dreams!

I was looking for a good destination to spend some time during the summer of 2018 and surveyed different European regions. Finally settled on the Iberian Peninsula, the land of Visigoths and Moorish conquests as I had read from Edward Gibbon’s classic on the decline of Roman empire and “The Crusades” by Thomas Asbridge. The plan was to spend six days in Spain covering Madrid, Valencia and Barcelona on a group tour and three days at Portugal covering Lisbon and Sintra on my own.

Day 1 – Travel to Madrid. It was a tiring 14 hour journey from Hyderabad including a couple of hours at Dubai. Got some good night sleep at a Novotel near Madrid airport on arrival and prepared for the long tour ahead!

Day 2 – Madrid:

I wanted to start the day with my usual morning run and did not have to look very far for a good place. Google maps showed a Juan Carlos Park beside the hotel and I was there right when it opened at 7AM. The large park beat my expectations and I could not cover the entire park with my 6 Km run. But could not do more as I had to get back to the airport and meet with the rest of the group to start on the Spectacular Spain tour!

After checking into a hotel at a south western suburb (Leganes), we started on Madrid city tour. We met the guide at Plaza Espana who talked about Spanish pride around Don Quixote and took us on a panoramic bus tour of Madrid covering the Bull Ring among other places.

We finally spent some time at the Royal Palace and wrapped up the day after dinner at a nice Indian restaurant.

Day 3: Madrid

One aspect I love about Europe and the US is the pleasant weather during summer and the running trails that show up even at the remotest of places. While the hotel at Leganes was in the middle of an industrial estate where you would not expect a running trail, Google Maps showed a trail about one km away. I followed the map and was surprised to find a lovely trail where you would least expect it! A 5 Km run prepared me for the long day ahead.

We started on Madrid city tour with the exciting news that Real Madrid has won the Champions League the previous evening. What a day to be in a football crazy city the day after they won a big cup! It was a great feeling seeing the celebration all around but that also meant extensive street closures and cancelation of night tour of the city.

We started with the historic Atocha station, Prada Museum, spent a couple of hours walking around Retiro Park and clicking some pictures of monuments around.

We then went to the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, that was getting decked up for the Real Madrid team to arrive later that afternoon for the big celebration for Champions League! It was a great feeling to visit on that special day!

After a short visit to the Egyptian temple that was reassembled at Madrid, we went on a walking tour along the old city shopping arcades covering Gran Via, Sol, Plaza Mayor and returned to Plaza Espana to wrap up the day and go back to out hotel.

Day 4: Valencia

Started day 3 with a run along the same trail as the day before and embarked on the journey towards Valencia – it was a 5 hour drive with a short break enroute.

Went on a short stroll along the vegetable farms near the hotel we checked-in and got a glimpse of rural Europe for the first time! Felt very much like India!!! I noticed that most of the shops were closed and it was around 2:30PM. I told myself that it should be siesta time and got to see it in action for the first time!

We then went on Valencia city tour. The guide walked us through how Valencia was settled first by early tribes, followed by Romans and Goths, all the way to modern times. As we listened to him standing next to one of the surviving city gates (Torres de Serranos), he pointed to the adjacent park with a few bridges and said it is river Turia. It was interesting to learn how Valencia had changed course of the river to city outskirts after a devastating flood in 1957!

We then walked through the narrow alleys of the old city listening about the royal palace, Spanish national dish paella, and spent some time at the Basilica, Cathedral and the fresh food market.

We wrapped up the old city walking tour and went to the new city where the imposing Opera and Oceanografic are located.

Day 5: Valencia

Valencia is on Mediterranean coast and it was a pity that the beach was not in our tour itinerary. So, I decided to do a long run to the beach in the morning. It turned out to be a 10K run but well worth it running along the farms again and also along the Mediterranean for a few kms.

We then spent half a day at Oceanografic, supposedly one of the largest aquariums in the world. It was interesting to see some exotic aminals, particularly from the polar regions, but nothing beyond to rave about. After lunch, it was time to drive up to Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia!

After a quick dinner, we went to the famous Flamingo show at Barcelona. For folks who were looking for flamingoes to dance, it was a disappointment. It was just a couple of agile and nimble dancers tapping their feet to some fast music, by no means an easy one. And with a few expert singers using their hands and vocal chords to create a variety of sounds, it was a great show indeed!

Day 6: Barcelona

As will be the case with all group tours at all locations, we stayed at one of the suburbs of Barcelona but I still managed to find a small park for my morning run. It was a bit of a hilly terrain and had to deal with some elevation during the short morning run of 3 km.

After breakfast, it was time for Barcelona city tour. If you were from anywhere else in the world, you might not have heard about Antoni Gaudi. But at Barcelona, it feels like the entire city belongs to him even almost 100 years after he died. His distinct architecture that emphasized on natural shapes and shunned other geometrical ones like straight lines and sharp corners has created a number of unique buildings in Barcelona. The fact that the Barcelona cathedral (La Sagrada Familia) continues to be built long after his death and expected to complete in 2026 to commemorate his 100th death anniversary and become the tallest religious structure in Europe speaks volumes for the influence he continues to have on the city!

We then proceeded to Parc Guell, another masterpiece that was designed as a villa community to the rich ended up becoming a park as the location was far from the city by 100 years back standards.

It was now time for us to visit the Mediterranean beach resort – Costa Brava! I have seen many beaches in my life but this one was among the most amazing of them. We were there on a perfect day for beach goers, pleasant sunny day and the crowds did not disappoint. I didn’t spend much time on the beach though. I found a trail along the beach meandering through the rocky terrain along the beach and it was a beautiful trek for about two hours. It was a privilege to enjoy some of the most spectacular views!

Day 7: Barcelona

It was the last day of the Spain leg and I was too exhausted for a morning run. So, after a relaxed breakfast, we packed our bags and went to the Olympic quarter of Barcelona. We took some pictures at the stadia built for 1992 Olympics and went to the Montjuïc Castle. While it was not an imposing castle, the events there during Spanish civil war were quite intriguing.

After a quick lunch, we went to La Rambla and the Gothic quarter of Barcelona for a stroll along the historic streets and shopping areas!

It was time to bid adieu to Spain and fly to Portugal! The view of Lisbon from the plane as we landed was fantastic with well maintained buildings of predominantly white walls and red tiled roof! We arrived at Lisbon late in the evening and could feel a distinct change in the climate and culture!

Day 8: Lisbon

We stayed at a Marriot near the University of Lisbon and Santa Maria Hospital and went on a morning run around these areas.

We then began our Lisbon city tour with the historic Alfama district. The old buildings with Moorish architecture and narrow alleys took us to a different era. We walked through Alfama streets for about an hour and also caught the great sight of Tram 28 slowing moving through the streets.

We then proceeded to one of the most historic places in Europe, Belem Tower at the mouth of River Tagus where it joins the Atlantic Ocean. This is the place from where the great voyages to the East, including Vasco Da Gama’s journey to India originated. Also walked to the nearby Padrão dos Descobrimentos, another waterfront monument opened in 1960 to mark 500 years since Henry the Navigator’s death.

The next stop was the majestic Jerónimos Monastery. The long line for tickets at Belem Tower and Monastery was annoying and as we neared the counter, it turned to surprise to see the agents were working at a leisurely pace. No one seems to be concerned at the inefficiency and it appeared that every one involved was happy to wait!

That wrapped up the itinerary with the tour guide and I asked him to drop us back at Alfama to stroll along the historic district. And it was easily the best part of the city!

The guide had showed us the George castle from a distance and said it will close around 6PM. It took a while to figure out its entrance despite directions from Google Maps and reminded that there is more work to be done by Google on their maps, particularly on hilly terrain where roads could potentially be layered one above another as they wind up the hills! It was a little past 6PM when we reached the castle and luckily for us, it was scheduled to be open till 9PM during summer. This 11th-century, hilltop Moorish castle & royal residence with palace ruins & archaeological museum was a breathtaking place and would have been a shame if we missed it! Finally, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant and took a cab back to the hotel.

Day 9: Sintra & Cascais

We were into the final day of our tour and the destination for the day was one that I had researched and selected over what the travel agency had originally proposed. We set off early in the morning towards the famous hill station near Lisbon – Sintra. As we neared the Palace of Pena at Sintra, the temperature and visibility dropped significantly with the entire area covered with fog. It looked like we entered the clouds and among them stood the beautiful Pena Palace! I was among the most beautiful places we experienced in the tour. We walked inside the palace with an audio guide in hand, listening to the impressive history of the place!

After spending a couple of hours at the palace, we proceeded to Quinta da Regaleira, a park with winding walking trails amid the hills.

After a quick lunch, we headed to the Western most point of Continental Europe – Cabo Da Roca. It is a very windy place in the middle of nowhere! It felt like the wind will lift me all the way into the Atlantic Ocean!!!

We then drove along the Atlantic Coast back to Lisbon, but not before covering a bit of Cascais – the beach resort beside Lisbon. After a brief stop at the Lisbon Basilica, I asked the guide to drop us off at Liberdade Avenue. It is the upmarket shopping avenue at Lisbon and wrapped up the day with a few pictures of magnificent statues along the avenue.

Day 10: Back to India!

It was time to bid adieu to the Iberian peninsula and head back home. I have now covered several places at South Europe and can see one thing in common – it is a region where people take pride in their glorious past and preserve it well while greeting you with great hospitality!

I have transit through the middle east several times while traveling to the US during the last 15 years. But my experience of the Arabian deserts was limited to aerial views while landing and takeoff from Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha. That changed this winter when we visited the UAE during Christmas time. And my dear friend Sudeep and his family made it a trip to cherish forever!

I usually plan my trip with day to day details well in advance but with my friend around for more than half the trip, I decided to take it as it comes. We landed at Dubai after a 3 hour flight, whizzed part immigration, collected our baggage and met my friend at the arrival. After a quick check-in at Towers Rotana in Dubai Downtown, we went for a fantastic drive around Dubai. It was a foggy day and with cold weather, it was difficult to imagine that we were in the middle of a desert!

The first stop was Atlantis and it was exciting to watch our progress through Palm Jumeirah on Google Maps. An absolute dream on a man-made wonder!

The next stop was Jumeirah beach beside Burj-Al-Arab. The fog that day made it look like a haunted tower!

It was then time for the show at Dolphinarium, a great experience seeing three dolphins perform some amazing tricks! After dinner at Saravana Bhavan, which became our regular dining place for the entire trip, we wrapped up the day for some well deserved rest!

I woke up the next day keeping my fingers crossed on fog conditions! I had booked tickets online for Burj Khalifa at 10:30AM and it would be worthwhile only if I could see the city from the top of the Burj! I went for a run on the treadmill and saw the dawn through a bit of fog. I hoped that the sun would clear-up the fog but it turned out to be wishful thinking. As we headed out to Dubai mall, the fog got worse and as we got to the top of Burj Khalifa, we only got to see the shadow of Burj Khalifa on the clouds below! Still, the experience of traveling up the tower on high speed elevator and just being inside the top of the tower in itself were moments to cherish. I have seen several tall buildings around the world but I should admit that Burj Khalifa is the epitome of modern architecture. The sight of a thin tower rising beyond the clouds is awe-inspiring!

We spent the rest of the day at Dubai mall – a true shoppers paradise. You name a top global brand and you will find it at this mall in all its glory. Dubai mall is not just about shopping – the gold BMW, Fashion Avenue, human waterfall, dinosaur display and a lot more makes it an indoor theme park! We watched the Dubai Fountain and called it a day.

Having covered modern Dubai for two days, it was time to explore old Dubai on day three. We headed towards Dubai creek and started with Gold Souk. It was a fascinating sight to see rows of gold shops with display of huge gold jewelry, they were not ornaments but full size dresses made out of gold! A 5-kg gold ring with a Guinness certificate accompanying it was the highlight. We continued onto Spice Souk. I could not recognize most of the spices from all over the middle east that were of all vibrant colors. We then took an abra, a traditional boat across the creek and walked along the creek to the sight of a heritage village under construction. We then walked through Textile Souk and surprised to see a Hindu temple beside a mosque. We spent some time at Dubai museum and walked through beautiful lanes in Al-Fahidi historical area.

After some rest in the afternoon, we headed again to Dubai mall for dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and night view of Burj Khalifa.

We headed to Abu Dhabi the next day and my friend drove through a foggy morning to pick us up enroute to the capital city of UAE. We had booked an overnight stay at the Emirates Zoo, for what promised to be an exciting stay beside the giraffe and zebra enclosure! But before that, we headed to the Emirates Auto museum to take a look at the fabulous collection of cars owned by the Rainbow Sheik! The drive along Sheik Zayad Road or E11, the most important highway running North-South along the entire length of UAE was amazing. It was an experience driving through the newly widened road with Google Maps still showing the old exits. And that led to us missing an exit and we ended up driving an extra 100Km in pursuit of the next exit! I felt guilty as the failed navigator but we saw some extraordinary sights of the barren desert during this drive!

After lunch at Yas Mall and a sneak peek into Ferrari World, we were back at the zoo to enjoy the rest of the day. We started early the next day to Ras-Al-Khaimah to get an amazing insight into real Arab heritage. As we drove through E11, the white desert sands of Abu Dhabi gave way to the red tinge of RAK sands! I have seen stray dogs and stray cows on Indian roads but never stray camels!!!

After spending some time at my friends place at the beautiful Al-Hamra village, we headed towards Jebel-Jais, the tallest mountains of the UAE. It felt like we landed on the moon, it was moonscape at its very best!

We then headed for the final program of our trip – for an evening in the real desert at Bedouin Oasis. Had a great time with dune bashing, sand boarding and some belly dancing!

After a long morning walk with my friend along the coastline of Ras-Al-Khaimah, it was time to head to the airport to board my flight back to India. A great winter vacation to one of the largest deserts in the world made prosperous by global oil-economy!

I was looking for a destination to relax and reenergize while wrapping up Dussera vacation. After exploring a few options, settled down on Goa – a place that always has something new to offer even after several visits during the last fifteen years. For the uninitiated, Goa is a narrow strip of land sandwiched between Arabian Sea and Western Ghats, boasting a combination of pristine and party beaches. With its history of being a Portuguese colony for several centuries, you get a very different feel from the rest of India. It is truly an Indian paradise for visitors with its tourist friendly environment and the small state being entirely dependent on tourism helps as well.

Goa has two distinct halves. North Goa with the beaches of Candolim, Calangute and Baga is highly commercialized and ideal for party goers. South Goa is relatively quiet with the beaches of Colva, Benaulim and Mobor ideal for a family vacation. The only time I visited North Goa was almost ten years back as part of a business offsite. South Goa was more familiar to me and I decided to explore a bit of the North this time.

We landed at Goa airport on a Friday evening and surprised to see the relatively new airport already bursting at its seams with holiday crowd arriving for the long weekend! it took almost two hours to cover less than 35 Km from the airport to my hotel at Candolim with bumper to bumper traffic particularly around the Goan capital, Panaji. It was past 9:30PM and was wondering if we will be able to get some dinner but how wrong I was! The night was still young and as we were enjoying dinner at a Grill with a live band, we could see young couples on ubiquitous Honda Activas riding towards their party destinations.

I am not the party type but a runner! I had planned to run along North Goa beaches during the two mornings of stay. Covered 5 Km on the first morning running from Candolim to Aguada and back. After breakfast and a break, decided to walk along the beach again to Aguada fort. Stopped at one of the beach side shacks for a tasty lunch of fresh seafood. It was the fag end of monsoon season and rain was always in the air. While the sun held on all morning, it started drizzling towards the evening and had to hurry up to cover Aguada fort before the rain. I remember the fort from my visit ten years back and the imposing views made it a worthwhile visit again.

Took a local bus back from Aguada to Candolim and it was an interesting experience seeing how the local transport economy worked. Finally, had dinner at a trendy restaurant on Candolim Beach Road with the highlight being the Goan dessert called bebinca.

The next morning was time to cover the other side of Candolim – ran about 7 Km from Candolim covering Calangute and Baga. The persistent drizzle made it a bit difficult but more painful was the sight of garbage strewn all along the beaches. I wish the tourists are a bit more sensible and conscious about keeping the surroundings clean. I hope we learn this aspect from the west even as we adopt other cultural and aspirational aspects.

After breakfast, it was time to wrap up and head to the airport. The same distance took much lesser time now. Said good bye to Goa with some memories to cherish till the next visit – hope it does not take another five years like this time!

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!