Re: London 2 Jammu

Nicely done.

Sent from my Xperia L.

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 2: Breakfast in Paris, Tea in Luxembourg & Dinner in Belgium----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Day 3: Belgium & NetherlandsFYI----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Day 4: Netherlands & Germany----consecutive posts auto-merged-----

Day 5: Germany

We finished our breakfast, got all the paperwork ready and left for Iranian Embassy. It was a 10-15 minute drive. We reached and approached a counselor, we passed them our approval codes and to our surprise they replied that they have not received confirmation on any of our approval codes. They told us that nothing can be done unless they receive the confirmation and they were going to close as their work hours are only till 1200 hrs.


The guys at Iranian Embassy were very supportive and helpful, one counselor who was dealing with us took our number in case they need to contact us, we took his number as well.


No began countless calls between Aarti and Travel Agent in Uzbekistan (whose services we have been using to get approvals from few countries), we checked again in another hour and Iranian Embassy confirmed that they have received approval code for me but not Aarti. We thought lets apply for mine at-least and will see if we can apply for Aarti’s from any other country.


We requested the Embassy guys and they were kind enough to accept my application after work hours (very sweet of them). By the time we reached there, Aarti’s approval had arrived as well and we were all happy. Catch was that they would need a day to process the Visa, so we had to stay another day in Frankfurt and we were more than happy to do so
Went back to the parking and settled there for sometime as i had to take some office calls. While we were sitting there, one Uncle Ji approached us and asked if we were from India. Chit chat happened and he was sweet enough to offer us Tea, to which we jumped with a BIG yes. He brought us the tea and it was one of the best tea’s we have had in recent times and the snacks were super yummy as well.


He invited us to his house, and we spent good 10+ minutes with his family. Goes without saying that he saw “Comedy Nights With Kapil” sticker on the car and approached us, so obviously he was a Kapil Fan and we did our customary Fanpage photo shoot





Mrs. & Mr. Surinder Pabla’s warmth and hospitality brightened up our day and we went up and checked into Radisson Blue Hotel to go on with our rest of the day.


I had quite some work from office, so started clearing my backlog and spent rest of the day inside. For dinner we explored one of the Hotel’s restaurant and it was a great dining experience.

Re: London 2 Jammu

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We take our selfies very seriously.

Our food was followed by cup of coffee and hot chocolate. The cafe we had our drinks had lot of flyers lying around regarding para jumping, there were videos also being played on big screen and it was quite luring. Me and Aarti looked at each and decided to give it a go but when we spoke to the company who did this, they mentioned the weather was not great and they cannot really confirm if they will be doing the jumps today. We got out of the cafe and clicked few pics.

Some videos from our time spent on the beautiful roads of Switzerland (ignore the wind sound please ;-D):

Re: London 2 Jammu



When we woke up in the morning, we were really excited and glad as it was a bright sunny day (looking at the weather a day before and weather forecast suggesting that the sun will be on leave), we indeed were feeling lucky.


[In front of hotel entrance]


[No .. That's not a Monkey! That's Aarti for Christ's sake :-p]

Plan was to go check out Jungfrau, so we left for the train station. We parked Dhanno in the parking lot, and in an effort to receive a phone call while trying to get stuff out of Dhanno i dropped my phone and cracked the screen :-/


If that was not enough, 2 tickets for a return journey cost us Euro 250+, man were they expensive.




We tried exploring the idea to drive up there but i guess there are no roads! Train had nice clean glass windows giving maximum view of the outside and with the weather being absolutely clear, the views were breathtaking.


The train had an interesting mechanism to pull the coached to such great heights, and if i am not wrong Indian government did seek guidance from Swiss authorities before starting the train to Srinagar.


[Grindelwald Station]


[Notice the straight metal gear in between the tracks]




Once we reached the top, all we wanted to do was click, click and click. It was just beautiful.




The tourist center at the top had many spots setup to enjoy your experience at Jungfrau.


1. Ice Museum





[Yup .. That's the squirrel from the Ice Age series]

2. Outpost

Re: London 2 Jammu

Finally you are updating the pics. I'm glued to thread

Re: London 2 Jammu

Woha !! Simply brilliant !! Glued.

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 9: Italy (Cinque Terre)



After a good night sleep, we woke up charged up as “Italian Riviera” was on the list for quite some time. Aarti had already started blabbering in Spanish which only she could understand :-p

We got ready, had our breakfast with whatever was available in the house. The moment we stepped out, we were welcomed by a nice, bright and warm sun. What else can you ask for eh!

Plan was to hop on a boat and check out all 5 coastal villages that constitute Cinque-Terre (The Five Lands) i.e.
• Monterosso al Mare
• Vernazza
• Corniglia
• Manarola
• Riomaggiore

We hopped into Dhanno, the point from where you board a ship was not too far. Finding a spot to park your car be a hassle though. Luckily we point a place a little far from the actually location of the boarding point and then started walking towards it.

There was still some time for the boats to start so we decided to grab something in the meantime and click some pictures :-)

Thanks to us waking up late in the morning and then spending a good amount on clicking photographs, we were only left with 2 – 3 hours before we could catch the last boat to our starting point. There was an option of taking a train on the way back, and that’s what we did in the end.

When the gate opened, we bought two one way tickets and boarded the ferry. In about an half an hour or so, we were at the first stop i.e. Portovenere. This was not one of the villages but a stop for the ferries. There were so many tourists and places too crowded, so we just took a stroll, clicked few pictures and boarded the same ferry again for the next village.













In another 15-20 minutes we were walking to get down at village Riomaggiore. The moment you get down the ferry, you have to walk through a narrow trail which is already occupied by people standing in queue to board the ferry. With the sun shining bright, and cool breeze blowing, at least I wasn’t complaining. We could see plenty of people getting sun baked, swimming i.e. having fun. We had no plans of doing either, after confirming from the visitor help-desk we decided to take a stroll in the village market and explore some shops. Although, i keep using the term “village”, these were more like small towns and less of villages.

With so many colourful shops on the either side of the streets and restaurants having their full menu displayed outside, we finally gave in to the temptation and took shelter under one restaurant which looked promising. We had our lunch and it was about time to board the next ferry to the next village.


[Hop-On Hop-Off ferry and people waiting in queue]


[Village of Riomaggiore]



Next village i.e. Manarola, had almost the same feel. Thanks to some tall rocks next to the shore, we saw many people jumping into the water from those heights. Looked very tempting but again we dint come prepared for this and next time will see if we can spend a night or so, in order to enjoy the village the way those people were. There was a nice looking “Gelato” store, we grabbed one each, relished it, click few more pictures before it was time to board the ferry again.


[Village of Manarola]






We skipped getting down at Corniglia as it was already getting dark and we dint want to miss Vernazza. Vernazza was more popular as compared to other villages because of more picturesque location. We too captured few at the famous spot, no way were we going to miss that :-)


[Village of Vernazza]

It was getting darker, and train that we were supposed to catch for our return journey was from Vernazza. So we decided to skip Monterosso al Mare as well.

The train station was jam packed. We bought our tickets and started waiting for the train. Almost all the people on the station were tired, seemed like they had been hopping on and off the ferry whole day. Traversing through all these villages can be quite tiring actually but if you have a smart wife, you dont have to do all the villages and just visit the important ones .. ahem ahem .. no i am not trying to show off

After letting go quite a few overcrowded trains, we finally got into one and got down in La Spazia. Got into Dhanno, reached our hotel and called it a day :-)


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Yes, Each post has limitations for both images & videos, I am trying to post as much as I am allowed to :-)


Thanks Shreen :-)

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 10: Munich (Via Neuschwanstein Castle)

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 11: Czech Republic



After giving our bones much needed rest, we had one of the better breakfasts of our trips here. The hotel staff was kind enough to let us park Dhanno right next to the hotel entrance as the underground parking was not high enough to accommodate our car.

Aarti loved the tea that was served on the breakfast table, and the waitress was amazingly kind, she packed few of those for the trip.

We got all the stuff back in the car and started for Prague. Climate was really nice and warm, what can one ask for when on the road! :-)

It was already noon and Prague was roughly 400 kms away, which meant we would not be able to check out Prague today and will have to do that tomorrow morning.

Road were as clean and clear as you would expect from any country within Europe, enjoying the beautiful scenery along the twisting and turning roads we reached Prague in the evening. Aarti had booked us a nice palace converted hotel, Mamaison Suite Hotel Pachtuv Palace

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 12: Prague To Linz, Austria



We woke up a little early as yesterday we arrived in Prague when the sun was going down. The beautiful place it is, it deserved some quality time from us but before that we checked out our hotel which itself was quite mesmerizing :-)















We had our breakfast in the hotel, got out stuff in the car, requested the hotel guys to keep an eye on the car as we were going to check out nearby places on foot. Prague is prone to theft (like any major tourist destination is) so be careful where you park your car filled with all kind of stuff!

It was beautiful day with sun shinning bright. We walk to the famous Charles Bridge (14-15 Century) and there were hoards of people (tourist) enjoying the views and performances by local artist. It was more like a festival going on, people smiling and laughing, vendors displaying their stuff to lure in customers. The bridge was indeed beautiful as were the life size sculptures on the bridge walls.

















































We wanted to spend some more time there but it was already afternoon and we wanted to checkout few more things before we exit Prague. Aarti guided me through narrow streets to old town square which did not seem motor-able, there were infinite people walking, eating out, shopping, clicking photos. Although we could not see any sign which suggest not to drive on this street, to be on a safer side i just parked it on the side and sat inside, while Aarti got out to click some pictures of the o this Prague Orloj, which is a 15th Century astronomical clock, third-oldest and the oldest one still working!













Our next stop was Slovakia, but Aarti remembered that she had one relative in Linz, Austria. It was a detour but we did not want to miss this opportunity to meet them especially after Aarti told me that they own an Indian Cuisine restaurant in Linz .. he he

Our destination Restaurant New “Namastey” India was 250 kms, and i could already feel my tongue pissing thinking about a nice cup of Indian Chai, Daal, Chappati, Tandoori Chicken etc.







Driving within Austria is a beautiful experience, wide and excellent roads, beautiful sceneries, greenery all around, nice fresh air. By the time we reached Linz, it was already dark, we parked our car and walked in the Restaurant. We were warmly greeted by Aarti’s cousin and his business partner. I finally got my hands on to a nice cup a chai after a loooong time, i will let my smile do the talking :-D

After we enjoyed a nice Indian meal, we visited Aarti’s cousin’s place to meet the family and then called it a day after reaching our hotel for the night.

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 13: Breakfast in Austria, Lunch in Slovakia & Dinner in Hungary



Read Review
Dob Utca 63,
Budapest
1074, HU

Re: London 2 Jammu

Those are beautiful pictures you have shared. This is truly an epic journey that the both of you have undertaken.

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us

Re: London 2 Jammu

Thanks Monk. It is my pleasure :-)

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Day 14: Hungary to Croatia via Slovenia

We woke up to another bright beautiful day, this time it was Budapest. After realizing how cheap it was to have a good time in Budapest, we decided to get our bones the treatment they deserve. You guessed it, massage it was :-)

Aarti found a place nearby our hotel, and we were excited. For an hour of massage each, you will be shocked to know how much we paid, the total came out to be GBP 6.00, and we tipped her another GBP 2.00.



Plan for today was to reach Vinjerac, Croatia via Maribor, Slovenia. A total of 725 Kms, so was going to be a hectic day. We had our breakfast, and after a relaxing back massage we were back on the road.







Let me take a moment here and let you guys know that Budapest is an amazing city and will get you more bang for your buck, and if you are looking for a place to have a good vacation, take our work and come to Budapest :-)

Even though Slovenia was not on our route, we wanted to check it out as well. The closest town was Maribor, so we headed towards it. Once at the border, in addition to regular insurance that we had to buy there was an additional permit we had to spend our money on. We reached Maribor post noon and it was a nice little quiet town. We bought some bakery and tea from a local shop. Stayed there for some time, clicked some pictures and started towards Zagreb.







It was getting dark already, and rain had started to trickle down as well. Even though we were on the coastal road now, because it was dark we could not see the amazing views running with us :-(

We reached Vinjerac a little late in the night, there was no shop open at this time, so we had to eat some fruits and call it a day.

We stayed at:

Tamarix Residency (Review for Tamarix Residency),
Vinjerac, Croatia

Re: London 2 Jammu

Day 15: Vinjerac to Cavtat via Mostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina)



The host of Tamarix Residency is a very nice and warm lady, we woke up on time as we did not want to miss her hospitality during breakfast hours ;-)

We couldn't see much of Vinjerac as we got pretty late in arriving here last night. So, after having our breakfast, we got our stuff back in the RR and decided to explore the surroundings. Hotel has a nice view in the back, we spent quite some time enjoying the fresh air and the view.





How can we miss the selfies ;-)









Plan was to reach Cavtat and check into Hotel Croatia, and on the way we wanted to check out the oldest bridge in the old city of Mostar (Bosnia & Herzegovina), a UNESCO heritage site. It was a 3+ hour journey till Mostar and we wanted to reach before the sun sets it because it was a must see destination and light plays an important role in bringing the beauty out of anything!







One thing that we noticed was, be it any place we visited, whether famous or a remote hidden location! Our friends from China were always there, mostly groups, these guys definitely know how to travel and where to travel 

After enjoying the views from the bridge and wandering through the streets selling stuff which had resemblance with stuff in India as well, we decided to settle down for a meal.

Hotel Croatia - (Review of Hotel Croatia)
Frankopanska Ulica,
20210, Cavtat
Croatia

Re: London 2 Jammu

Amazing pics, this is an experience of a lifetime and a million thanks to you for uploading videos and pictures. You're an inspiration for people like me who wants to do this once in their lifetime.

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