Well to begin with, visiting these places was a very different experience. What I really found enthralling was that though these places are geographically closely located, every place has a different look.
Wien uff Vienna, to begin with, is absolutely beautiful. The cool non-polluted air to breathe, the open spaces in the middle of a market areas, the cathedrals, museums, palaces are refreshing sights to see. We visited St. Stephens Cathedral which is in the heart of the city built in 1147AD. A huge, amazing monument. What really fascinated me was that the interior & the exterior gave a very gothic feel to it. You know, when you see it, that it has a lot of history to it. I felt like the impressions on the wall had a been changed over the period of time to cover some
secrets. Or maybe I felt that because I am reading a lot of Dan Brown lately :) Outside the cathedral is a huge area where people mingle, performers perform to earn money, students do a skit or dance for the public.They are so liberated and express themselves in really different ways. We also met some performers dressed as kings and queens selling tickets to opera shows. And after a short conversation with one of them we did end up buying tickets to one of the show. Also, another amazing monument which we visited was the Schonbrunn Palace. The palace covers an enormous area which includes gardens, parks, zoo, a maze and is also in the list of Unesco World Cultural Heritage sites. Besides that we saw a lot of the city on foot and also went for a chariot ride where they take us through the city explaining the major sites. Oh yes, and Mozart at the age of 7 had his first performance in Vienna.Salzburg is an hour and a half away from Vienna by rail. A very small town. Initially, Salzburg was not on our itinerary but eventually we did go there realising that if we wouldnt have visited this place - it would have been a major miss. Scenically, the best out of all, it is also on the list of Unesco World Cultural Heritage Sites for its breathtaking beauty. During the day, we had hired
cycles and we pretty much saw the whole city by reading the maps and finding places. We visited the Mirabellagarten, a garden famous for its mystical figures and also one of the sites where the movie "Sound of Music" was shot. We had also taken an excursion through the lakes and mountains which was an experience never to forget. I saw snow and we clicked lots of pictures as every angle we saw was worth capturing. There was a stop at a small village called St. Wolfgang where we saw a lake, Mozarts mother's house, a gothic church. Salzburg also gave us a temporary souvenir: Bum ache from riding the cycles. For the next 3 days we looked physically challenged. But at the end of it, it was all worth it.Munich also known as Munchen in Germany was, well nice. To describe the city in one word: Eerie and grey. Not a very active city. It has a lot of really really huge monuments starting from the airport. Also, a city with a lot of museums. We did visit one museum known as the Bayern
Krones or something like that. Dont remember the name clearly but it gave us an insight into the Bavarian kingdom. In the palace was a huge 5 room vault which was known as the treasury which had tons and tons of gold, silver, diamonds and the most mind boggling was the Crown. The Crown actually worn by the King during the era was showcased with extra security. Felt like I was in a movie set with robbery as the base theme. The city is gearing up for the FIFA 2006 coming up in June.Amsterdam. Very colorful place. Will explain to you why so. It is because there are loads of
beautiful places to visit. Madurodam, a place where the entire Holland is in miniature.Its in a city called Hague. A must-see. Kuekenhoff which is the tulip garden spread over 50 acres of land. Madam Tussad's Museum- just like the one in London. We clicked snaps with Pierce Brosnan and Robbie Williams. But we were a little upset to know that they dont have the statue of Amitabh Bachchan and Shahrukh Khan.Kya hai ye? The beautifully lit canals give a different feel to the city at nights. One major event we had the priviledge to experience was the arriving of the Queen of Luxemberg as she was visiting the city. We saw the guards, police, soldiers, students and public waiting for the royalty to arrive. We eagerly waited for like 45mins with our cameras in our hands. Its a different story that we never got to see the queen as the convoy of cars came, passed us and went. Though I did happen to see a lady in the car with a feather hat. It think it was her.The nights in Amsterdam are the highlights of the entire trip. While visiting the pubs and roaming the streets, we came to realise that soft drugs & well, to put it in nice words "pleasure"
activities is legally allowed by the government. And even more surprising is that when we visited the much heard about Red Light District we realised that its a tourist spot i.e. the tour operators actually give a tour of the place. Cool huh? Women along with their men freely roamed the place. No children allowed ofcourse. A couple of men seemed awe-struck, so I am sure the kids will be in a state of coma after seeing the half-naked women dancing in the windows.During the whole trip, we used 9 types of transportation: Airplane, train, bus, tram, bicycle, sub, horse cart, boat and walking ofcourse. A very fulfilling experience.
