Something to keep this blog active once in a while ;-) I thought it is high time I wrote about our trip to Germany. For those of you with infinite patience, use the following link and check out our snaps, not to mention my narration :) This blog is lonnnnnnnnnggggggg...so please read at leisure and dont complain about the length ;-)http://picasaweb.google.com/psomnath/Germany0825200609032006
Highlights from our trip which lasted from Aug 26 to Sept 3rd-
1. Somnath and I went to Frankfurt, Cologne, Konigswinter & Linz Am Rhein(you bet!!)
2. Took an overnight train from Frankfurt to Paris, spent the day in Paris and took the night train back to Frankfurt
3. Went to Heidelberg
4. Took the Romantic Road trip by bus from Frankfurt all the way down to Fussen
5. Checked out Neushwanstein and Hoheschwangau castles in Fussen, saw a musical named 'Ludwig II' in Fussen(the musical was in German but the visual effects are what makes the play world famous) Titbit to add - first musical we have been to with a 45 minutes interval in between :) Walk from Fussen to the theatre was supposed to be 'just' 20 mins if the locals were to be believed. I dont know whether the German strides are very long but we took about 40 mins to get there ;-)
6. Moved on to Lindau and Lake Constance
7. Spent time in Triberg in the Black Forest - saw the highest waterfalls in Germany(i remember some of you guys had gone to see waterfalls and had spoken about reaching a parking lot-dont know whether its the same one) and also saw the world's largest cuckoo clock(which unfortunately said a single 'cooo' when we were there...well couldnt expect too much since it was 1pm in the afternoon...though i had hoped to get 13 coos ;-))
8. Travelled back to Frankfurt and back to the US
Conclusions - Germany is as beautiful as ever...we intend to go back to the Black Forest area and ofcourse the other cities like Munich/Berlin etc.
Fun fact - Or is it horror?? ;-) Guess whom I met in the streets of Linz...I was trying hard to recollect Joel's name...thinking...its a small town, maybe I will meet him if he is still there....but you guys wont believe it...i met none other than MR JEFFREY SAM!!! :-)) Mr Sam has 2 little daughters now. His parents were visiting from India and he had taken his entire family to Linz for the weekend though he was alone when we came across him. Seems he is working for a Frankfurt company, had quit Mastek, joined Mphasis and quit that to join some German company. He was asking about all of you....Anyway...its a small world I guess and no matter where you go, you can expect to meet someone you know :)
The Linz apartment is still Pink in color and the so called Haunted house on the adjacent street for those of you who remember, has been torn down and construction is going on to build some building there. Met a very old German couple on the street there...tried my long forgotten German on them ;-) He was very very nice...gave Somnath and me a big hug :) The street on which Kaizer was located has become a very very busy street and I could hardly recognise the place.
Economy - Everything is damn expensive. Toilets charge a fee no matter how small the town :) Trains and stations sadly are no longer as spic and span as they used to be. Still quite good but you see some trash and grafitti which was not seen around Linz before.
Food - For those of you who eat non-veg...Turkish eateries have sprawled out everywhere. They sell Doner Kababs(big chicken 'Turkey' :)) and are the cheapest and tastiest of foods available in Germany right now. Also tasted the BlackForest cake(finally!!) See all the American fastfood chains there like Starbucks, Dunkin Donuts, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Mc Donald's and Burger King.
Language - Everyone speaks English and that too fluently. Only in the Blackforest did we come across some senior people who didnt speak English but its amazing how easily you can speak to people out there now.
Ok...bored you guys enough...but I hope it refreshed fond memories for our 'Fatherland' ;-) Do take some time out of your busy schedules and retrace your steps back to all the places that you have been to with your loved ones. Believe me, you wont be disappointed :)