OvEr & OuT!!!

Hello All,

Its been a couple of days since I am back... to count in hours almost 50 of them are through....
SO I write this post to share my feelings about my journey as a whole!

Though I dont have the exact stats yet.... I visited maybe a dozen countries... saw a around 25 cities.... spent almost 40 days travelling around Europe.... its UNLIMITED memories for liFE!!!

Can never forget these days and will always look back upon them as fun, exposure, learning and a great opportunity well used.

Thanks to the French Embassy and EGIDE for their help and scholarship! it was godsent and truly made our stay there a pleasure... cant thank everyone at EM Lyon enough for they made us feel very comfortable right from day 1.

Now its time to move on to other things... better thngs.. an upcoming placement season.. a career and a whole new set of experiences... CAnt WaiT to GeT StArtEd.......

You can all email me anytime at pranav10@gmail.com

Au revoir!

You KnoW iTs FRANCE When...........

Travelling every weekend, Sunday's I feel like I wanna be back home (in Lyon) so that I can sleep peacefully, check my email, share the photos we just took....and the works....

Each time.. there are a few things which tell me.. that .... Voila! France is Here!!

The TOP 5 Things that mean you are in France are

1) The gurls just get a lot lot prettier and sexier..... NO doubt on that :-)

2) The boys are seen wearing pink, yellow and light pastel shades.....

3) The people are holding baguettes (french Bread, the long hard types) and eating them as they head to work

4) Guys! kissing cheek to cheek to greet each other,...though you do that with the gurls too ;-)

5) Every 2nd person in the bus, train or metro has earphones in their ears....

there you have it.. i said it.....
Now the next time you spot these 5 things at the same place... Welcome to France,!! Bonjour Monseur!! :-)

PAR ad IS e ViSiTeD!! Wanna go back....

If someone asks me how PARIS got its name I would probably say its derived from the English Word PARADISE!!! and this is just seeing it in the day, for a day (if you get what I mean, reminded of CAT?? :P)

A day trip to Paris for always planned and chucked out because of some reason or the other but today it finally happened and Boy AM I HAPPY!!

Leaving early today morning at 6 am was not easy especially after having worked on a case solution most of last night. But its been worth the effort and the wait!

We began our day with the Catherdral of Notre Dame and it was a nice way to start off visitng Paris... mainly because the place has a calm which was very nice, reminded me of the beautfiul churches in Italy.

NExt we headed to the Louvre, now the Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown were responsible for bringing this very famous and hugely popular museum into common knowledge globally and let me tell you its ............. oh chuck it, I aint trying - SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT!!!

IT houses amongst other things the MONA LISA and boy is it Tiny! hehehehe,,,, yes it is really really smaller than what I expected it to be. Beautiful no doubt :-) and the smile was really ..... what can i say.. Nice ;-)

From the Louvre we headed to the Champs Elysees and this is one of the most important streets in Paris, reasons are many, mainly commercial and political cause all major brands have huge stores here and political cause the parades and other ceremonies happen here often.
I wouldnt say it was something unique probably because today, a standard mall would house almost the same brand width and depth. Some years ago I would have liked it more..... the famous Parisian cabarets, moulin rouge and Lido both happen here and are awfully costly at 100 Euros per head .....


The Arc de Triopmh is where the Avenue des Champs Elysees comes to an end! Its a memorial with its very own version of the Amar Jyoti commemorating the unknown World War I soldier who is buried beneath it.


Next on the itinery was The Eiffel Tower, probably the most popular symbol of Paris. Surely one of the first things you recall when you think of Paris. The Eiffel tower, to say the least was BREATHTAKING!!

The reason is not only its beauty but also the fact that we chose the cheaper tickets up which only allowed us staircase use... huge number of stairs over 500 for each level and then we reached level 2. At level 2 chaos reigned supreme and the lift to the 3 level was just 2 mins :-)

The views from the top can only be expressed in pictures and for that you must visit my web gallery on http://picasaweb.google.com/pranav10/PARAdISE


Another wonderful thing was the timing we visited the tower, on our way up it was daylight and we could experience it in natural light and when we made our way down it was lit up those giving us many more photo Ops :D and great views...

However to point out 2 things,
1) At many places they had these signs that said DO NOT LEAVE ANY OBJECTS ON THE EIFFEL TOWER!... and i wondered whether it was just bad translation or had people in the past really left back "objects" on the visit to the tower! if yes, then i wanna see a list of the most bizzare and funny ones... sure to be a good laugh....

2) On the top level they have important cities of the world charted in the direction they are in from the tower along with the distance. Now Delhi and Mumbai were most likely going to be there but I was pleasantly surprised and happy when I also saw Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad which takes the toll to 5 Indian cities probably second to no other country there, which had a maximum of 3 cities (USA)

Also I personally suggest, one spend a little extra time and walk as much as possible in Paris as it sure is beautiful and the people there are really very helpful.

Thus came to an end a great trip to Paris....right now back in Lyon and cant wait to crash... have had a long day and a longer week awaits us ahead....

Au revoir till then...

One Of ThE BeSt HoL(a)iDAy!!

HolA ALL,

THis post is delayed but trust me its much deserved. It comes straight from the heart and is bound to be a long one.

We always thought and heard that Spain would be nice but I personally feel it was better. Better and I believe it could have been more fun :-)

We planned this trip for 6 days on a very special week in France, the French transport employees were striking and we were out holidaying.... We headed straight to a city just across the border from France called Irun, where we caught a train to madrid.

A pleasant surprise when the train stewardess gave us an earphone set each. Expecting its for music, we noticed the TV screens light up for Garfield II and then another movie called the Skeleton KEy. Though they were both in Spanish we were very happy with the change and the surprising welcome to Spain.

We got to Madrid at around 3 and were told there is no Night Train to Sevilla, we finally found a hostel and then headed out to see the city and the lights. Now people may calll me crazy, but I think Madrid was more like any other London or Paris or Major city. Lotsa mayhem, tourists and fun :-) Though we couldnt see much, we walked the entire centro of the city and liked it quiet a lot.

A peculiarity in Spain were the large number of fountains everywhre and that began from Madrid itself. We slept peacefully that night to catch an early train to Sevilla, further south. Now the train we took was the AVE which is the best Spain has to offer and I sure felt out of place.

We were 2, 20 somethings in a compartment full of executives and professionals. The best part about this train was they showed an English Movie in ENGLISH!! which was really nice.... :-)

Sevilla was bound to be super and it really was, catching the cathedral we saw amazing things there and also the palace. Starbucks was there to help us and the weather was perfect. Not Hot ans surely not chilly, it offered the perfect background for the day out in the sun and we surely enjoyed a lot. Just walking by the city, we saw several street cafes, flamingo dancers, fountains and gardens... plus those tiny shops which sold loads of stuff from spanish dresses to Tshirts.

We wanted to go out and party in Sevilla but unfortunately we ate a very heavy meal and fell asleep. Only to head to Granada next morning, which in my opinion was a let down mainly becaue the Alhambara is the main attraction there and rather the only attraction. It was not something unique for us as we have seen Arabic cosntruction back home in parts of India.

From Granada we headed to barcelona by the Tren hotel which sadly didnt have a TV or the movie. Reaching barca next morning we hit the streets early to catch up on the Cathedral, Gaudis creations and the Sagridia Familia. Now barca is a place that desrves a more detailed
mention....

It has beautiful beaches, a port full of yachts of all sizes, cobble stone streets in the Bari Gothic and an amazing night life... at 2 am people were shouting and partying on the streets... something thats rare in Europe atleast... and surely Illegal in Mumbai :P

From barcelona we had a train to Montpellier on Saturday only to realise its cancelled cause the strike is still going on...we took the Eurolines bus there ans amazingly it had the same travel time as the train though we took 2 halts for a total of 1.45 hours.

By afternoon 3 we were in Montpellier and it felt like home, France surely feels good and familiar now. The bonjour and Merci Aurevoirs are now strongly a part of me :-)

We took a train to Valence in the evening which is just an hour away dfrom Lyon, but however once we got there , there were no trains or buses to Lyon that night and we put up in a nice hotel to take the nest train in the afternoon on Sunday.....
I was very impressed with Valence considering its size and the gardens and fountains they had. A great city !!!

MY pics are uploaded and all there to view on http://picasaweb.google.com/pranav10/BarcalonedFoReVeR

Getting home in 2 weeks... the countdown is on and so is exam season.....
Love you all and thanx for reading....

PrAnAv

HAIL ROMA!!!

What better way than to spend the Diwali weekend (Happy Diwali Everyone!!) in a city that houses one of the most studied civilisations of ancient times and the smallest country in the world (VaticaN) which is Home to none other than the Pope!

In one word all that i can say for ROME is WOW!!!
Its one thing to have ancient ruins and another to make them look beautiful probabaly as much or even more than when they were made...

Our trip started with a whirlwind visit into Modena enroute to Maranello which is the home of Ferrari and the Ferrrari factory!
After getting kicked outta there we headed back to railway station and took an overnighter to ROMA!
Hitting rome early in the morning we checked into the hostel and then moved on to the vatican, the world's smallest country!

Once there we caught up on the church and the museum of the vatican which has the sistine chapel painted by Michelangelo on the ceiling amongst many many amazing things :-) but it took a grueeling waait and a loong time to reach the chapel through sevral exhibits and halls all over the museum.

After the museum we moved on to see the anicent Roman civilisations, main amongst them being the Colloseo, The Pantheon and The Tevori fountain!
All this was on Diwali day and it didnt feel like it at all, though we were constantly remimded of it by each other.

We headed home totally tired and exhusted as it was wasily the biggest city and the one with max number of places to see and a lot of tourists!

The next day we took a train to Pisa to see the Leaning tower of Pisa (what else) ;=)
This was a small detour but toally worth it as the city was gr8 and there was a HUge street market to go through when we walked back to the railway station!

and just by the time we had picked up some Italian, with our share of Ciao, Grazis and Statiozione we had to take the train back home

Italy was beautiful with a great mix of cities like Rome,Venice, Pisa and Milan..... fast cars, beautiful girls and a great sense of fashion along a backdrop of ancient structures and churcches that dont cease to amaze!

I love the country and its pplaces.... (hope the coin in tevori fountain brings me back there soon ) :-)

EvEnTfUl DaYs!!

The reason why this post doesnt begin with the destination of my weekend trip was because this week has been really fun and really full of stuff:



To begin with on Wedensday we got our tickets preponed to the 5th of December, mainly because our classes get over on the 3rd and to get 20 days back home would be great.

Also cause we are broke and we cant afford to travel for 10 days towards the end.



Then came a gret weekend in London (yes, I went across the channel agaiN) taking the same ferry and all... but this time the interesting part was I met a lot of great people.

On my way there I met a British Firefighter who had been backpacking in mainland europe the past 1.5 months, a german girl whose boyfriend lived over in Britain, 2 American girls backpacking in Europe and a older couple from Serbia who had settled in the UK but had gone to France just to shop for the day :-)



I reached London and met up with my great friend and cousin Vishal and his colleaue who were over from India on an assignment for their company plus 2 other colleagues from their company who were over for Indian dinner. :-)

On friday I headed out alone to look at the parts of London I couldnt last monht... So I trodded along to London Bridge, Tower Bridge , Tower of London and the liverpool area. Surprisingly it was sunny, with no sigh of the wind or the rain (quite unlike London and it remaiend that way all weekend)

Saturday we headed out shopping to oxford street , bond street and Picaddily circus, also paying a visit to leicester square and trafalgar square.... Thos lions at trafalgar were a challenge but i managed half way....

I left early sunday morning... and got home only 22 hours later on Monday1!!!

Then began the most eventful week in E M Lyon....

Monday : Midterm exam in the morning class followed by a presentation in the afternoon session folowed by cooking till late at night as we were hosting some friends over for an Indian dinner considering its Diwali

Tuesday: Presentation in the only class for the day, plus a visit to the grocery store and the post office for other work... and the entire evening was a great one with 3 of our freinds over for dinner. Had a good meal and I swear anubhav is now a great cook, no doubts! The dude made the best kheer possible in the situation....

Today we again had a presentation in the morning session and now have to head to a CHampions League match in Lyon.... where the home team takes on Stutgart....

Cant wait!

PLUS : A good weekend in sight with a planned trip to the cities of Rome and Pisa and a possible detour to the ferrari factory at maranello.

love you all and miss u all too

PrAnAv

BENELUXury

The last weekend was a fun filled one, we had a party from the city of Lyon, for all the foreign students in Lyon. Yes, thats true, the city (the local government) here threw a party with DJ, drinks, in a nightclub for the foreign students, even offering us free invites and a complimentary drink.

NOW THATS WHY WE LOVE FRENCH UNIVERSITIES !! :-)

So that was a great start to the weekend... a day of rest on Thursday followed by the party and a 06.20 AM train to Amsterdam.... hehehe... even we didnt know why we did this.


ON our way up North we crossed Belgium where we decided to stopover at Antwerp for a couple of hours and enjoy our first taste of waffles, which ofcourse are a Belgian speciality.

The trip truly began with the visit to Netherlands, and a night in the city of amsterdam. Amongst other things whats most popluar there is the RED LIGHT DISTRICT which we just had a glimpse of. Otherwise the city has some great night life and awesome pub culture. Though again we had to steer clear of the cannabis vending "cafe".

The next day we headed to Belgium again and visited Brussels, getting a quick glimpsse of the Mannekin Pis (yes Pun Intended) which is a 1-1.5 feet bronze statue of a 2-3 year old boy PISSING!!! YES YES
PISSING!!!

and believe me almost every tourist to brussels visits the Mannekin pis to top it all we also heard that they have in the city somewhere a pissing girl and a pissing DOG! however I think I had filled my quota of urinating idols.

The main square was absolutely amazing with great architeture all around us and we also walked past the Royal palace which was shut for the Public.

The rest of the time was spent visiting the area which is a huge shopping district similar to the Champs Elyss in Paris. It was great to see huge brands vying for my wallet (though it didnt have any money) :-P

Next we hoped onto an hour long ride to Bruggs which Is the highlight of pur trip and was easily one of the best cities I have visited on this Euro tour. A small place, a quiet place, great food, canals and Italian restaurants give it a huge Italian flavour. To add to it they have great chocolateries which dressed their windows with the most amazing artwork all made from chocolate ofcourse!

Next day saw us leave early and run to catch the train to Luxemburg and 4 hours later we were there at the GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBURG!
bang in the centre of Luxemburg city, only to know that the whole city and its shops would open at 2 pm.


We checked out the Royal Palace and the Town centre which are great pieces of architecture no doubt. AT 2 on the second, we started barging into the shops, picking up perfumes ( my friend bought many) and I just tested a couple of dozen :-), buying candy and eating at the Oberweiss pastry and chocolate shop. IT has the most amaxing choclaote mousse pastry with a mix of chocolate sauce, chocolate mouse, macroons and biscuits in the centre.. something that I dont mind goingback to Luxemburg for!!

All in all it was a smaller weekend and the cities we covered desrved more time by all means, however I feel I did justice to each city I visited and that the BENELUX countries are surely a great place to spend some quality time with friends and family.

The Hills & the SnOw!!

Well this post is a very very special one... reasons are aplenty....



1) Its my dearest brother's Bday today

2) We just completed 1 month in Europe yesterday

3) Had a blast on the swiss trip

and a few more here and tehre.....



Swizerland was always going to be great, i knew, we knew it and I am sure all of you reading would have expected it to be too..

Our trip began early this time, primarily because the French Rail Network was going to be on strike for 2 days. Wednesday evening we took a train to Geneva, missed our connecting train to Zurich only to take a later train and reach the Youth Hostel



Expecting a cold weather was not enough for us and we were surprised by how cold it was. Spending time is Zurich was wonderful and I loved the city. It was a vibrant place with awesome night life, exteremly tempting restaurants and very very nice people.



The swiss francs we used there were also interesting made up of different colours and veery beautiful to see. That gave me one more reason to save on my money :P
Next we headed off to Interlaken which is at the base of the mountain region Jungfrahoch where there is the highest railway station in Europe at a height of 3000 m +

Interlaken was a very very peaceful and quiet town and the best part about it was my visit to HOOTERS. Now anyone who knows about this american chain knows about its concept and the place lived up to its reputation. Had a great meal of Nachos, Qusedillas and Burgers there.

I also caught up with my great friend Ankita and her office colleagues who were vacationing in Switzerland and would like to thank them for carrying all my stuff ffrom home, the homemade theplas were to die for :-)

Nothing compares to mom's cooking, We also went on to Montreaux where we got to visit the Chateau de Chillon which was recently nominated to be one of the 7 wonders of the world. The place was extermely nice with a great tour around the castle. Montreaux as a city was nice and charming situated along the lake and an hour away from Geneva.

The next day we headed up to the hilly regiona on a trip to First which is a place around 2000 m above sea level. It was white and snow was everywhere, the view from there was mindblowing with a point from where we could see the peaks of Jungfrahoch, Mount Titlis, Schilthorn, Etc.

A great and well deserved soup and pasta were the best meal of the day at First. The most exciting was the hour long cable car which took us more than 1000 m above sea level from the sleepy town of Grindelwald.

All in all I missed out on some swiss fondue, primarily cause it was too costly or we were not too hungry to have it. But, I dont mind one more visit to switzerland to try my hand at Fondue and buy chocolates for friends and family on my way back home.

THis weekend we seem to be heading out to Benelux countires (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxemburg) perfumes are surely on the list :-)

As always my pics would be up soon on the link

love you all and Happy Birthday to Vinay (miss u bhai)

At YoUr SeRviCe YOUR MAJESTY !!

This trip was always going to be special and it didnt dissapoint one bit. Completely and 100% more than what I wanted it to be. A great great thanx to Dipti for all the help and company when I was in London.

Yes, London it was.... the land of the queen, a land of dreams and A Land of DESIs!!! SO MANY of them, for a while it almost felt like home.

My first reaction was the conversion rate, as if the euros werent tough enough on me at 1 @ 57 Rupees, the Sterling just kills you with its 1 @ 85 RUPEES conversion rate. I dunno how much the Londoners earn but they must do it pretty well or you sure cant live in that city.

I travelled alone this weekend, taking the scenic, longer and MUCH cheaper route to London by crossing the English Channel on a luxury steamer. The total trip there took me 12 hours and the one back took me 20 with little help provided by the TGVs in France which had no reservations on Sunday.

I was excited from the very beginning, knowing that I would meet 2 people who meant a lot to me. Divya and Vicky, for those who know me well both names are not new and for the others, ill just leave it at this: they are both as important as family.

I reached London on thrusday and put up at the Youth Hostel in Holland park, a gret place the park has a football ground, a small chateau and the huge youth hostel. Its amazing how much greenery London has packed into itself.

It was one of the best youth hostels I have lived at and also the most expensive at 22 Quids. Hoever my stay there was worth it as I met 2 students who were Indian and had just graduated from Oxford completing their MBA and about to start woking in London. Sunil and Gaurav were both were nice, even offering me home made parathas and gave me a youngsters perspective of the city and what I can see and what I can miss

With so much in store in London, you need to first decide what you WONT see, then squeeze in what you wanna see into the time avaialble. I was sure about one thing, no paying to go to any of the OLd Man's attractions.

So my day began Friday with a gr8 breakfast comprising beans, cheese, bread, cereal, juice, yoghurt...easily the best of this trip. Heading straight to the Portobello road street market, I took my time having a look around the entire area with people selling fruits, antiques, chcoloates, clothes, jewellery and a flea market of its own.

After this looong looong walk, I headed straight to her Majesty for the FAMOUS Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, which in my opinion could be done simpler :p, just get the next shift on and get them to start working, why all this taam jhaam in the first place :)

After thi I felt my calling were the banks of river Thames, rounding it up with the London eye, the Westminster Abby, BIG BEN (how can we forget that) and London bridge. All of which were as beautiful as they are in the thousands of pictures, though I thought Thames was very dirty and I mean really dirty.

NEXt stop, HARRODS. A visit to Lodnon for me was incomplete without a visit to this GIAnT store, which I felt was heavenly. Every window shoppers dream and parents nightmare... you just wannna buy everything they sell and Believe me when i say it THEY SELL EVERYTHING!!

From a pencil set to a Ferrari, Toys to Food, Clothes to sports goods.... you name it and they would have it. Exteremely beautiful on the interiors and toilets that are Oh la la.....

My trip to Harrods was also empty handed with me choosing to tide over a couple of very very tempting buys.

I then headed back to the hostel and waited so I could meet Divya who was on her way back from Manchester and Dipti at whose place Divya was putting up. We met and headed straight to Rasa Samudra, which I musst say is a a great Indian restaurant and of you ever throw in a visit there do drop in to speak to the owner Mr Das. A great person and a perfect host. He could not be more warm and welcoming. Its one of 8 Indian restaurants the Rasa chain has in London.

After that we headed to Leacester square and trafalgar square to go clubbing and see the night life in London and I personally think that Mumbai tops it all. WE guys really rock and London was slightly disspaointing though I must say , I can hardly say I even checked out the clubbing scene there with just this single visit.

NExt day was spent in running around from one hostel to the other, a great day of roaming around Hyde park, which are old hunting grounds. visits to Starbucks and burger king for great great food as always. Btw the spicy bean burger at Burger king is gr8 and so is the hazelnut Hot chocoloate at Starbucks, Than again to Dipti for introducing me to them :-)

NExt we hit Oxford Circus and the entire Oxford street, picking up some cheap stuff from here and there along the way and topping the trip with a Ben & Jerry's Belagian Waffle alongwith Hot chocolate and whipped cream. That was my dinner :-) During all this our very own Vicky had landed in London and gettin ready to hit the city with all he had

We headed back and met up with Divya who was free and again sat up chatting away tilll late talking about how we were in London and not Lokahandwala.... :-)

next morning saw me leave early to catch up on Vicky and his colleague Soumil who were slughtly lost and a final cup of starbucks hot chocolate and Burger King burger, which was my lunch for the day :-) . It was really nice meeting him like we do back home in Matunga or worli and just hanging around for an hour at the coffee shop. A truly special memory

An AWESOME AWESOME weekend, a gr8 city and gr8 people. A trip which will be hard to top over but lets see... right now I have held my breathe for Switzerland, cause after all have seen and heard about it, its sure to take my breath away...... and welll I am all prepared........... ;-)

My online photo album remains on picassa and you can always login to see the pics I took in London, though most are simply London through my eyes as a majority of the weekend I wasnt carrying my digi with me.

Smile Please

Hi and sorry for putting this up seperately,

my album online is http://picasaweb.google.com/pranav10

logon to view the latest and older pics of the trip as and when they happen

thanz for all the love and wishes

miss u all too

Luv
PrAnAv

PS: Do leave your comments :-)

V for Venice or Vienna!! tuff to choose :-)

Another week flies by .... another post comes up :-)

Writing or rather updating my blog is something I look forward to on trips now.. making mental notes of the places I would mention or the sights I would describe..

This weekend saw us take a tour of north Italy and Austria... beginning our trip with a stopover at Milan.. a gr8 city, with nothin much to see except the Duomo which is a huge huge church. What made my trip was the 5 storey FERRARI store. IT was a dream come true especially after last weekend's stopover at the FERRARI showroom and workshop...

A fabulous store with great great stuff and sections dedicated to Kids, Fans and Books amongst others. They had the 2006 F1 car on display, a pic of which shall be up soon.

Worth a mention is the Youth hostel here as it was the bigggest we have seen and one of the best maintained.

After Milan we took a train to Venice which as many would know is the city of canals...the city is really small and that tempted us to save some money and choosing to walk rather than the water buses which are exteremely pricey. Its extermely romantic and we walked all the way across town and back to the Piazaa S. Marco which has a Palce, a church and a huge bell tower.

I bought myself a Mask and a Fan! Dunno who gets those though yet ;-)

We can definitely learn a few things from things, after all not a single NAALA in Mumbai is worth seeing.. though I must admit the NAALA park at Koregaon Park pune is worth a visit :-)

Venice by the way also didnt have any place for us in the Youth Hostel there forcing us to take a night train to Vienna, Austria :-)

This train was a gr8 one as it was similar to our 3 tier AC train and we met a couple of Indians with us making it 5/6 Indians. SO it just felt like Home :-D
the early morning sun brought us into Vienna, a city full of museums, the opera and palaces. The place with performances by Mozart, Beethoven and the likes, AMAZING is the best word I have for the Grand Opera House here. (Once again wait till my album is updated)

Its amazing because of the size, the technology, the art, the theatre they showcase and the sheer scale of things that happen there. A true true Gem of my visit. One that I wont forget for a looo ng time. The guided tour was the perfecct way to see it and for a few moments I felt I should have stayed the night to watch an Opera here.. but tats reserved for Paris now
Another feaure of Vienna was my first visit of starbucks... which lived up to every word I heard about it, because It served the MOST AWESOME CREAMY CHOCOLATE PASTRY!! A touch expensive but awesome!!! worth every penny

Also at Vienna was the Belvedare palace and the Hosburg palace both of which are huge and very well maintained... its a great blend of old architecture with modern technology and all things latest. THe highlight definitely being the Opera house.

Taking an overnight train home was extremely happy to bump into an old freind from pagalguy.com (Maverick for those who know the place and the guy :P) heading into Paris to finally takea train home to Lyon.....

Final word for this trip would deifnitely be that after just 2 weeks France and French already seem familiar and Italian and German in Italy and Austria respectively were just like greek and latin to me and we missed our Bon jour and Merci :-)

Ooh La la!! The French Reviera

Back after almost a week.... its been an awesome week... much much better than anticipated.

We got our accomodation arranged by EGIDE (the agency here in France) PS: I love them for the house they gave us.

Its a service apartment with my own Plasma TV, Internet, Bathtub (yes u read right!!) and cooking area complete with Microwave, gas and utensils.... whats more the housekeeping ensures the house is clean and for me when I am back from class...

Last weekend saw us take a trip down south to the Cote d Azur which is known to us all as the French Reviera..... hitting cities of Marsailles, Nice and Cannes plus the country of Monaco!

Marsailles: This is a great city with the hallmark being the Cathedral of Notre Dame which has a huge bronze statue of Mother Mary with baby Jesus perched atop the cathedral which itself is above the city on a hill...

Cannes: It is more than what I expected it to be, extremely classy and coool.. it makes us feel like paupers in the land of the rich... but I was still to see Monaco then...

Monaco: Yes , its the second smalles country after the Vatican... this place takes the cake when it comes to royalty and all things cool and classy.... a beach front lined with golden sand and clear water on one side with casions, hotels and what not on the other....
Visited the royal palace and saw the funny changing of guards ceremony
HOWEVER THE BEST was my visit INSIDE the FERRARI and MASSERATI Workshop there....
yes u read it right the first time, my very first Ferrari showroom and workshop.
The Formula 1 race track was the other high point of the day, cant forget Monaco this lifetime or the next few atleast! Hope to have a yacht there someday ;-)


Nice: I stayed here very little and just the night, but I thought it was a nice (pun intended) city :-)

Am in college now for my first class on services management... its been a good class so far jsust wrote this in the middle of the class

Au revoir!! as they say it here...

My First Weekend in France

Its been 2 days since I left home and believe me it feels like I am in the movies :-)
truly a magical experience. A great flight to Venice that was surprisingly comfortable and served great food. An experience to remember was ourr flight to Lyon from Venice in a small 50 seater aircraft that flew so low we could count the homes below us, also offering breathtaking views of the Alps.
Checked into a hotel provided by my scholarship from the French EMbassy, its a nice small hotel very very french. Been travelling all weekend through Lyon. Went to the pubs, the old part of the city, St Johns Cathedral all are amazingly pisturesque and beautiful. It feels like a postcard.
Its a beautiful constrast in this city.... on one side we walk on cobblestone roads, lined with roadside cafes and baristas while on the other we have all the international cars one can think of whizzing past us. You get amazing cycles here parked that one can ride and leave at their destination however we need a bank account to use those. so maybe by next week we have that.
Also went to a small pub in the clubbing district here and heard a band play likbe rock for a while, was a great way to end my saturday.
Its been an amazing weekend and a great start. looking forward to visiting OKTOBERFEST this weekend in Munich.
Its ciao till then...
love
PrAnAv

EuropE CAALllllllinn!!!

Writing is good!
Travelling is great!
Sharing your experiences is the best!!

Here I am ... with my very own travel log!! or should I say Travel 'Blog'.

I start off on my journey tonight just after midnight... heading off to the French city of Lyon via a small stopover at Vienna , Austria.

My number in Europe will be 0044 7924037562.

For in uninitiated I am a 2nd year student at IIM Indore, India and am going to Ecole de Management, Lyon for a 3 month student exchange program. Armed with my Eurail Global Pass, Digicam, the French Embasssy Scholarship (thank you !!) and a spirit to discover, learn and enjoy my journey begins in a few hours from now!

Regular posts and updates.. pics and anecdotes... surprises and let downs.. you can expect it all on this blog.

Wish me luck :-)