Coming back from France in 2006, we had an Alitalia flight via Milan. Everything until Milan was fine - except one thing. This is an aside, but I must say this. In Milan, like in Vienna, I was asked to take off my belt and lay it in the tray to be passed through the X-Ray machine. That's okay, acceptable. Then, I was asked to raise my hands as I walked through the security gate. If I was comfortable enough to lift my arms wearing jeans without a belt, I would not wear a belt at all, I wanted to tell them. I now make it a point to wear a salwar kameez or tighter jeans.Coming back. Our stopover from Paris was at Milan - and there, we discovered that the flight ahead was cancelled. All kinds of reasons were given to us. 'Technical snag', 'staff on strike', 'no co-pilot'... We had no idea when we'd get a flight back and our visas were due to expire that day.That, we were told, was not a … [Read more...]
A Train to Vienna
Why do people like us? Why do random people whom we will probably never meet again come up to us and do things for us? I wonder if we look young and innocent and vulnerable - if so, how long will we stay that way?I remember our journey to Vienna from Venice. I have photos to remind me of it, even if I do forget.A lady on the train was immensely curious about us and naturally, about India. We spoke to her for a long time about everything. We told her about our exchange programme, about backpacking in Europe, and about how wonderful our experiences in Italy had been. We told her what we did in India and answered hundreds of questions about Indian culture. All this was normal - people have all kinds of questions all the time. Then, she invited us to eat with her at the dining car of the train. Knowing it would be ridiculously expensive for us, we refused. She insisted, saying that she … [Read more...]
Peach Juice
My sister and I coined a beautiful parameter for comparison. "It's like peach juice" means something special to us.Backpacking in Greece, we did something very smart. We realised that we were constantly thirsty and often in need of energy. So we took to buying large packs of juice, rather than shopping all the time for food, and hunting for water fountains. It was an intelligent thing to do - it saved money and kept us active. Both were equally important, and we felt good about ourselves for having thought of it. Later, we would use the same carton for water, filling it at fountains, carrying it around with us.Unfortunately, I don't like fruits much, and so, I don't like juice much. As a result, we ended up buying one particular brand of mixed fruit juice all the time. It was delicious, but repetitive. One fine day, we decided that we would try something different. We decided to buy … [Read more...]
Crisp Apple Strudel
When we went to Salzburg, we knew more about The Sound of Music than about Mozart. Now I'm mildly embarrassed about that, but when we went, I was just plain excited.Everyone wants to talk to young Indian backpackers, and conversation with a co-passenger from Vienna to Salzburg was natural. She told us she lived in Vienna and travelled to Salzburg regularly for work, so we asked her our excited questions: how easy is it to buy apple strudel? Is it a speciality of Salzburg/ Austria? What is schnitzel? Do you eat it with noodles?Vastly amused, she answered our questions before asking us why our questions were so pointed.We told her about the famous song from The Sound of Music, a little surprised that she had not heard of it."Yes, yes," she replied. "I've heard of the movie, I think. But not many people in Austria know it. It's the story of many Austrians during the war." She hinted … [Read more...]