Its been few months since i made a blog update. So i have enough material to share with you ;)
Some time ago, i and Shan decided to go to Cologne (http://wikitravel.org/en/Cologne) for weekend city trip. Its a big city along the bank of river rhine and almost at the border of netherlands and germany. We had heard a lot about it as its very famous in netherlands for its christmas markets. Honestly we didn't found it so special. It just seemed like a big commercial city with some very old churches. But regardless, it was a nice break for us from our everyday life.
In front of Cologne Cathedral, a very famous gothic church
Happy shan and Köln Hauptbahnhof in the background :)
Posing with the love padlocks @ Hohenzollern Bridge :)
Posing with the love padlocks @ Hohenzollern Bridge :P
If there is one place i have to recommend for an authentic local experience, it will be Päffgen brewery (http://www.paeffgen-koelsch.de/). Just go there. Its an experience! Good food, good beer, big and grumpy waiters, greasy walls and old school look makes it a classic german beer house!
Päffgen!
enjoying Kolsh @ Päffgen brewery ... they serve beer like tea is served in India
The happy couple shot ;)
Then on one weekend, we went to the Texel island. There are 5 islands in the north of the Netherlands. They are Schiermonnikoog, Ameland, Terschelling, Vlieland and Texel. Texel (http://www.texel.net/en/) is the biggest of these 5 islands and also most touristy. Its 20 minutes by ferry from Den Helder. We stayed there in a very pretty small village called Den Hoorn. It was an amazing trip. We cycled around the island, had some great food and spend some quality time together. A tip: If you plan to to texel for a weekend trip during summer, book your accommodation in advance. Germans and dutch are crazy about this island. On most warm summer weekends, not even a single hotel room is available!!
Cheers! :)
Eagerly waiting for food!!
Those panda eyes, I tell you, are like tequila shots...
Beach time @ De Koog
Recently, betiya visited me in Wageningen. He was in norway for work and on his way back to Houston he planned to visit me in holland for few days. Well, long story short, he had not even reached Wageningen yet when he was called back to Norway! Anyways, we spent few hours together and next day morning, he took a flight back. It was great ... thanks to all the effort he took to visit me, we met after 6 years.
no comments :)
At India Port restaurant in Utrecht with beti, shan and my colleagues Elia, Stephane and Pierre
Food and beer, yummmmm ;)
Recently, i went to Parma in Italy for few days to visit my ex housemate Giuditta. It was my first trip to Italy, so i was pretty pumped. Parma is a small town in between Milan and Bologna. I stayed with her for 4 days ... in which we spent 2 days roaming around parma, made a day trip to Venice and another day trip to Monterosso, one of the 5 villages in cinque terre (http://wikitravel.org/en/Cinque_Terre). Well, Venice needs no introduction. The entire city is a world heritage site. Cinque terre consists of 5 amazingly beautiful villages along the west coast of Italy, just north of Tuscany. And you might have heard of parma from the famous parma ham and the parmigiano reggiano cheese. The whole parma region is crazy about ham and they use it literally in everything. It was hard to find bread without pork fat!! So it can be a nightmare for strict vegetarians.
smile please :P me and Giuditta in a castle just outside Parma
Probably the only available sparkling red wine: Lambrusco, typically made from grapes from parma region
My portrait, drawn by a famous painter from parma :P
Dinner with Giuditta's family and friends
Italians are crazy about their tomatoes, no really, they are!!
Venice!!
For most Indians, first introduction to Venice was via a super hit bollywood song from 1979 movie The Great Gambler:
Do Lafzon ki Hai Dil Ki Kahani ....
Ye kashti wala kya ga raha hai? :)
No city in the world can be compared to Venice, and dont ever tell anyone that its similar to Amsterdam!
What a beauty! Probably the most beautiful city ever ...
Venice will not be the same without its small and decorated waterways
Just another beautiful balcony, imagine living there!
The "i was there" pic :P
Another one at Monterosso :)
with Victor, my colleague who came to visit us in Monterosso from Genoa
With Victor, Giuditta and her friends @ Monterosso
Just keep looking .... so beautiful ...
One amazing thing about Italy was the culture of Aperitifs. Basically after work and before dinner, you go to a bar and order a drink. And then you get unlimited small side dishes to eat with the drink for free. The best places for aperitif are generally bars with best/large choice of food. People sit here for hours drinking and eating, before they go for the real dinner :P Its really impressive. See this article for more details.
In the mean time, Sayantani went to India and met my parents for the first time!! I was so scared, but thankfully, it all went well.
Papa greeting her with flowers :D
My mom and Shan ... so much love ... i am jealous :P
So, as you can see, i am keeping myself fairly busy. The coming few month are going to be quiet, before the big storm in January 2015 ;)
Until then, keep travelling, keep smiling and keep loving!
