An evening in Paris, Dec 2009

I suppose everyone has a dream to see Paris, I had it too. Here is a brief description of my experience in that wonderful city.

Tanzila, Jeff, Prema, Sid (from left to right) 

Paris at night

Tanzila in love with the weather

The Court

The court of commercial issues

Notre Dame

Stained glass inside the church

Interior of the church

It was Dec 2009 when I got a message from my friend Jeff about the great Ryanair offer to Paris. He booked his and Tanzila's flight tickets for 28 Jan 2010 and was asking me to go with them. I asked Siddharth and then we booked as well. We booked our accommodation in Blue Planet youth hostel but Jeff and Tanzila were late to get an accommodation in that youth hostel so they booked in a different one. Soon it was the day to fly, it was very cold at that time of the year. We were five people - Jeff, Tanzila, Tanzina aka Prema, Siddharth and me. Our flight departed in the afternoon from Stockholm and landed in Paris in 2 hours. The bus trip from Paris airport to the city seemed longer that the flight trip. Finally we reached Paris in the late evening and parted our ways to our hostels. Sid and I were excited enough to rest in our rooms that evening so we went out for a walk and had some light dinner while walking. It was 1 am when we returned back and called it a day.

Pantheon

Luxembourg garden

The Eiffel beside the Seine

 

Champs-Élysées

 Place de la Concorde

The Louvre

The Louvre

Monalisa

Painting gallery in Louvre

La Défense

The grand arch in La Défense

La Défense

A view of Arc de Triomphe from La Défense

Arc de Triomphe

Next morning we all met as planned, bought 3 days metro pass and started our sight-seeing tour in The capital of France. Paris is divided into 20 arrondissements (administrative blocks) starting from the very centre towards the periphery like a snake. We started from the very centre and started walking along river Seine. We saw the markets, the Courts, Notre Dame church which is huge and beautiful decorated with stained glasses, University of Paris, Pantheon, Luxembourg garden, the Palace, Sorbonne. Next day we started from the point we left, we went to La Défense, to the Eiffel tower but didn't climb up as it was a long queue and we had a lot to see. We walked along Seine to the Arc de Triomphe then walking through Champs-Élysées to  the Louvre passing through  Place de la Concorde, it took the whole afternoon to see through the Louvre, its a huge museum with enormous paintings and sculptures, the main attraction was Monalisa painting but nothing was negligible. At the end of the day we went to the Arc de Triomphe and climbed up to see the city and the Eiffel at night. It was just amazing to see the glittering light of the Eiffel and the busy capital of France. Next day we went to Père Lachaise the biggest cemetery witnessing almost 300,000 burials including the important people of Paris, it took the whole morning to see it completely, some graves are very elaborated and decorated with monuments. The afternoon was spent on walking through the market area finally reaching the Opéra Garnier. That was our last night in Paris, next day we were returning back.

Monumental decoration of a grave in Père Lachaise

Père Lachaise

Market area

Market area

A view of city from Arc de Triomphe

The Eiffel from Arc de Triomphe

The Opéra Garnier

We

This was for sure not the last trip to Paris because I have not seen many places like La Sainte-Chapelle which is full of stained glass decorations and a Gothic architecture, La Madeleine church built to the glory of Napolean's army,  Montmartre, Moulin Rouge and Disney world. All these are a must-visit in Paris. We stayed there for 3 days and missed half of the places to visit so next time it will be atleast a five days trip. Paris is really the city of romance, the city of joy and peace. Apart from visiting the monuments, buildings, churches, a walk along the Seine is something not to be missed. The company of friends I had with me made this trip memorable. Those non-veg jokes of Prema, those comments on people and laughing like crazy, pulling leg of Sid over stupid things and making fun of "SID" (a hilarious personal joke), Jeff's french accent and the love of Tanzila for the cold weather.. Altogether the trip was one of the most cherish-able trips I have ever been to.

Grenoble - Capital of the Alps, Nov 2009

Do not have much to say about this trip as it was a short work trip which was transformed into a short leisure trip. Nov 2009 I was asked by my supervisor in Karolinska to accompany him to Grenoble for data collection. I am always ready for a travel, doesn't matter if for work, meeting, conference or just vacation so I said yes. We had a flight on 3 Dec 2009 from Arlanda airport that flew through Zurich and landed in Lyon in the afternoon. From the Lyon airport we took a bus to Grenoble.

Alps from the flight

Bus station of Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble

In almost 1.5 hour we reached Grenoble, it was almost dark then. Since we were there for work, we were given rooms in a guest house and we received coupons for lunch and dinner. After getting fresh we had a walk around in the campus and checked out the time allotted to us for the experiment, it was from 10 pm to 2 am next day. That means we had two full days free for us. While having dinner my supervisor told me that Geneva (Switzerland) is around 150 kms away from Grenoble and a day trip is possible. After the news I decided to wake up early next morning and get a bus or train to Geneva.



Next day started really early for me as planned, had breakfast and walked to the bus station to check for the bus to Geneva. During this walk I saw the beauty of the city, the Christmas decorations made it more charming. The walk was not long enough to appreciate the beauty of Grenoble and I was at the bus station. Fortunately, there was a bus leaving to Geneva in 15mins. I quickly bought the two way tickets and boarded the bus. The bus departed, I couldn't have stopped appreciating Grenoble when the enticing beauty of Swiss green lands with hills and cattle appeared all the way to Geneva.

Swiss scenery

Geneva

Lake of Geneva

Lake of Geneva

Along the lake of Geneva

 At around 10am I was in Switzerland, took a map of Geneva from the stop and started walking. Walked walked and walked until I reached the city centre and the big Geneva lake. A long walk along the lake with a Swiss milk chocolate is an experience I can never forget. After seeing the city on foot for the day I decided to return back as I can not risk being tired during the experiment at night. Caught the bus and I was back in Grenoble by 7 pm.

Along the lake of Geneva

French Alps

French Alps

View from the Alps

View from the Alps

View from the Alps

That night after having dinner we went to the lab to spend the night in experiments. Fortunately we were free earlier than expected and that gave me time to sleep as I was tired and I could not have afford missing the beauty of Grenoble. So the next day I again started walking towards the city at 9.30 am after breakfast. While I was walking I saw a cable car way uphill and I went to the cable car stop but it was supposed to start at 11 am. Instead of waiting for it I started looking for the way to walk up the mountain. After almost 1 hour of walk uphill I was at a point from where I was able to see the whole city and then I realised the serenity, the divinity of the city. I was on one of the mountains Alps and in front of me was the huge snow-capped mountain range that surrounded a valley on the lap of which Grenoble was resting. When I tried to look at the city through the clouds from there, I saw the two rivers Drec and Isere entering from different directions into the city, meeting each other in the city and leaving as one. It was a mesmerizing  heavenly and spell-bounding moment. After enjoying that long moment I decided to leave, took the cable car while coming down and after a few more hours walk in that beautiful city went back to my room had dinner and slept.

Next day early we had to leave as we had our flight from Lyon back to Stockholm. While the whole return journey I just couldn't stop thinking of Grenoble. It is a heaven for nature lovers as it has nature at its best. I wish to go there several more times.

An experience in Berlin, Oct 2009

After successfully completing the theoretical part of my masters in Uppsala and just before starting the degree project in Stockholm, I planned to travel some where. While doing research for the vacation, I found a great offer of Ryanair from Stockholm to Berlin. And that was it, I quickly called up my friend Siddharth to ask if he was interested and he said yes. We booked the flights and youth hostel named Generator Hostel.

We flew from Stockholm on 23 Oct 2009 early morning and reached Berlin in almost 2 hours. We knew which train to take from the airport to reach our hostel. We took the S9 line of S-bahn and got off at Landsberger Allee station. The hostel was nearby so we walked and checked-in, but soon we came to know that the room we have booked was getting cleaned up and we could only get it after 2 pm. We were very excited to wait, so without wasting time we kept our bags in the luggage room, got fresh and went out to see "The City".

Walking around the city

Canal through the city

Ruins of the Berlin wall

The Parliament

The Court

The Brandenburg gate

We had a map of Berlin from the airport, following it we started walking towards the city but soon we realized that the city is too big to cover on foot. We decided to continue walking as its the best way to see a city. We got very tired by the evening and decided to return back to our hostel. It was 8 pm when we reached back to the hostel and saw Burger King just across the road. We were tired and hungry enough to think of anything else than hopping in it and having dinner. Returned back to the hostel, went to our room and collapsed.

Humboldt University

Cathedral

Shopping center

Graffiti 

 Next day started early for us, we decided to use the S-bahn (metro) and bought a day ticket. Now the city was small enough for us to cover. We saw the famous Berlin wall and its ruins dividing the east and west Berlin, Graffiti, the Opera house, Parliament house, Court, Brandenburger tor,  Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche (in a ruined state), Siegessäule, Spree river, Cathedral, Humboldt University, Alexander platz, Castle and parks. The castle was very big and beautiful. Being in academics, I always have an attraction towards  the University of the place (didn't dare to go inside.. saw it only from outside) and since my dad works in a court in India, I tried to see and capture the court in my camera.

The Castle in Berlin

Technical University

Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche

Siegessäule

 The city was celebrating "Festival of Lights" at that time and it was decorated with lights that made it more beautiful. I loved the hot dogs from the local vendors at Alexander platz and the walk from Alexander platz to Brandenburger tor, which I think is a must-do. I think it is surprising to still see the difference between the east and west Berlin. The west part of Berlin has comparatively new buildings and east Berlin has ruins and dilapidated buildings. The city looked very liberal as we witnessed lots of gay couples of different age groups showing affection (just like straight couples). I always like liberal places like Stockholm, and Berlin was one !

Spree river

river Havel Potsdam

Town hall Potsdam

 After seeing Berlin for 3 days we were left with one more day before we leave for Stockholm. We got the suggestion of visiting Potsdam which is in the outskirts of Berlin and is the last stop of C-zone of S-bahn. We took the train early morning and we were there in an hour. Potsdam is situated near river Havel and is a very beautiful place. We walked around the city and saw the St. Nicholas church, town hall, the palace, Sanssouci (the summer Palace of Prussian king) , the University of Potsdam and the gardens of Sanssouci. It is a beautiful place with many things to see, especially the palaces, they are enormous and beautiful. We returned back to Berlin late at night and called it a day as we had to leave next day.

St. Nicholas church

Old market Potsdam

the gardens of Sanssouci

University of Potsdam

The Palace

 Next day, 27 Oct, we boarded the flight and were back to Stockholm from a great fun-filled vacation. It was an awesome experience and I would love to go there again !

Sanssouci