🇫🇷 🇫🇷 🇫🇷 After coming to UK , this was my first trip outside UK. Four of us planned the trip, I, who came to work in UBS from a consulting company called Polaris, Jayesh from Infosys, Gopi and Vinay from Wipro. First step was obtaining a Schengen. Those days embassies used to deal with the Visa applications directly and typically you would get back passport end of the day or next day. Nevertheless , my visa was approved only for 7 days just enough to cover the itinerary. We took the…
🇬🇧 🇬🇧 🇬🇧 Last adventure in our lake district was Go Ape in Grizedale forest. We booked our slot in advance but was running late , finally somehow manged to hitchhike a ride to the forest. "Go Ape" is an outdoor adventure company . From their website "The origins of Go Ape lie in France. Back in 2001, Tris and Becs Mayhew were on holiday in the Auvergne with their six-month old baby and came across a French family swinging through the trees. From the looks on their faces, it was clear both the kids…
🇬🇧 🇬🇧 🇬🇧 This climb was part of our Lake district and Blackpool trip. We started early from Ambelside Youth hostel. It took only 20 mins from the hostel. This mythical mountain, standing at 950m, is one of the great mountains of the Lake District. Helvellyn offers walkers the chance to step back in time to rocky terrain and narrow glaciated edges. It is one of England’s four 3000 ft summits and is home of the best ridge walk in Britain – Striding Edge. We began our walk in Glenridding and made our way up…
🇮🇹 🇮🇹 🇮🇹 I left for Pisa from Naples . This was 6 hrs train journey . I walked from station to the complex which was 30 mins walk. Construction for leaning tower of Pisa began in 12 century . This was the place where Galileo conducted his famous experiment by dropping two spheres of different masses to demonstrate gravity. The tower started leaning because of defective foundation and soft soil on one side. Eventually in 1990 restoration work begin and it was stabilized by correcting tilt and further improving the foundation. Florence was 2…
🇮🇹 🇮🇹 🇮🇹 Only reason I visited and stayed in Naples overnight was to arrange my visit to Pompei and Mount Vesuvius. Though there are few tourist spots within the city, I did not have any time to visit any of those places. Next day my first visit was to Mount Vesuvius. I arranged the trip from official tourism center, however the bus started late and then on the way driver stopped the bus and spent 1 hour smoking an talking over phone. Nevertheless it was a nice little hike from bus stop to…
🇮🇹 🇮🇹 🇮🇹 It was almost the end of my trip. I reached to Rome by train from Florence. Rome was one of the very few bad travel experiences in my life. I was defrauded £500. I spent 2.5 days in Rome. The the most romantic of all Roman fountains. It was designed by the outstanding architect Nicole Salvi in 1732. The statue in the middle is the God Ocean with winged horses drawing his cockleshell. The old tradition says that throwing a coin into the fountain ensures your return to Rome. Capitol is the…
🇻🇦 🇻🇦 🇻🇦 This is the world's smallest independent state and headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church lying in the very heart of Rome on the west bank of the Tiber river. It is a walled city with six tremendous gates comprising of the Vatican Palace, St. Peter's Square, St Peter's Basilica and the Papal Gardens. I walked from my hotel towards Vatican. I crossed Ponte Sant'Angelo, the bridge which spans the river Tiber. The bridge is faced with travertine marble and spans the Tiber with five arches, three of which are Roman; it was approached…
🇨🇭 🇨🇭 🇨🇭 After Haut route trek I spent 2 nights in Zermatt. From Zermatt I traveled by Glacier express to St. Mortiz. There are four sections from Zermatt to St- Mortiz. Section 1: Zermatt to Brig The journey starts near the Matterhorn, in the car free mountain village of Zermatt, at an altitude of 1605 m. The Matter valley leads to the town of Visp and is quite narrow at many places, with massive rock walls rising up to well over 4000 m. The highest peaks of the Swiss Alps can be found in…
🇨🇭 🇨🇭 🇨🇭 I arrived in St Mortiz at the evening . It was a long train ride from Zermatt by Glacier Express. My home for next 2 - 3 days was St . Mortiz youth hostel. St. Mortiz is a luxury resort town which has hosted winter Olympic twice. Its frozen lake hosts cricket , polo during winter. The food was awesome at the youth hostel. Next day I went for a walk to Piz Nair. I took Funicular from St. Mortiz to Upper Corviglia station. From the upper station of the Corviglia…
🇨🇭 🇨🇭 🇨🇭 I took the first train from St. Mortiz to Zurich. It was a 3.5 hour journey with a change at Chur. From Zurich I took wrong train and realized this after sometime. So I had to come back to Zurich again to board the train to Schloss Laufen am Rheinfall. This is a frequent train and takes one hour. The falls are located on the High Rhine on the border between the cantons of Schaffhausen and Zürich, between the villages of Neuhausen am Rheinfall (SH) and Laufen-Uhwiesen/Dachsen (ZH). It is largest waterfall in Europe with flow rate 600 Cubic meter /…