The strangest thing about visiting Europe in the winter is how late the sun rises. In France, it was bewildering. Pre-dawn hours, to me, should be unearthly. But 8 a.m. in December is still pre-dawn! The lovely thing about the late sunrise in Luxembourg, however, was that I had a table at the window and […]
My Year in Travel
I’ve seen and experienced so much this year! I brought 2019 in in beautiful Pench, shivering in the cold and rejoicing in the sight of a jackal and a leopard amongst so many other wonderful wild animals. Later the same month, we travelled to Sikkim and Kolkata, a city I love. I also wrote a […]
Chambery to Torino
From Lyon, I went to Chambéry to meet my correspondent from the French exchange programme and her family. It was a lovely stay, though short. My ‘Maman’ in Chambéry is a boat-driver, and, as I was there in summer, she had long hours of work, so I did not want to impose on them for […]
Lyon
On the 15th of June 2006, I validated my second Eurail pass, officially valid for fifteen days. Maybe the official at the station was being nice; maybe he could not count. He marked the end date as the 30th of June, giving me 16 days of free travel. Building up to my departure from Grenoble, we […]
Paid Artists
I have been learning dance for 22 years. Yes, that is a lot. Often, people ask us whether this means that we have our own dance classes. No. That is not the only reason to learn dance. “How much would you charge for a performance?” is the next question. “It depends on what sort of performance […]
Cet espace …
“Yuk, what is that disgusting smell?” I asked. My sister chuckled and pointed to a board – “Ici, je fais ce que je veux” – “Here, I do what I want”, accompanied by the picture of a dog. I found that lovely. Not only were there designated zones where dogs could do “whatever they want”, there […]
Musée Dauphinois
“My parents loved the Musée Dauphinois,” a friend told me. “It was the best one of all.” Intrigued, I decided to go. As usual, I had nothing to lose – the museum was free for those under 25. It was farther than I expected, not being a fan of climbing the Bastille alone, but I […]
Seshan/XB
Nisha had a ‘Carte 12-25’, which entitled her to ridiculously cheap tickets on trains in France. When she went to buy tickets from Paris to Grenoble, she produced her card and booked a ticket for her sister and herself. Instead of asking for my name (bound to be a complicated Indian name, of course), the gentleman decided […]
Straight to the Louvre
The conversation I overheard while I was at CDG airport convinced me that I simply had to make the most of my youth and of being young in France. I landed in Paris on the 4th of June, 2006, a Sunday. It was the first Sunday of the month, and I was in Paris. That meant […]
Flying Alone
“Window or aisle?” “Aisle, please.” I took my boarding pass and boarded the flight. No sister with me this time. No one to hold my hand. No one to exchange sparkling glances of excitement with. Sure, I was going to meet her, but on this journey in 2006, I was alone. The journey to Milan […]
Backpacking through Europe
That year, we went from Salzburg to Munich. We spent a few hours at Munich and then went to Berlin. And from Berlin, northward to Amsterdam. Our night in Amsterdam was another night out, but after so many journeys and so many crazy backpacking experiences, we’d figured out a few things. We had Eurail passes that […]
Backpacking through Europe: Still in Salzburg
However comfortable a waiting-room may be, it is not a comfortable place to spend the whole night. With hard steel chairs with immovable handles as beds and backpacks as pillows, the night seemed endless. We waited forever for the sun to rise, growing colder and colder as the night went by. At 5:30 in the morning, […]
Backpacking through Europe: Salzburg
We hopped onto the 12:34 from Vienna to Salzburg, delighted as usual with our Eurail passes. At Salzburg station, though, we spent the most depressing time of all. I was 17; my sister was 19. We had spent a long time away from home already. We had little money and less experience. We had been […]
Backpacking through Europe: Vienna
I’ve already written so much about Vienna. The lady in the train, who warmed our hearts by taking us to the dining car and giving us tickets as if we were doing her a favour. Our crazy attempt to find the Burggarten. The Schmetterling Haus. Mozart and crisp apple strudel. Vienna was much more, though. […]
Backpacking through Europe: Goodbye, Italy!
We tried to feel sentimental about leaving Italy, but could not find it in ourselves to do so. Italy was beautiful, but we were going to Austria – the land of Mozart and “The Sound of Music”! (Both came later, though, because we went to Vienna before Salzburg.) With our Eurail passes, we did not […]
Backpacking through Europe: Venice
Venice was the place where we relaxed. When we got there, we were told at the information booth at the station that there was no way we would find cheap accommodation in Venice at the weekend. The best we would get was a place that cost €65 a night for three people. Okay, we said, okay. We’ll be […]
Backpacking through Europe: Still in Florence
We had nowhere except the station to spend the night, so we wanted to get there as late as we possibly could. We had dinner at a fancy Italian place instead of on the street: it took longer. After dinner, we walked slowly towards the bus stop and discovered that the next bus (which was […]
Backpacking through Europe: Florence
We spent just a few hours in Florence, but they were truly splendid. As with every place we visited, it took us about 45 minutes to figure out where to go from the station and how. Finally, we bought tickets to Piazza Pitti, which had the most interesting-looking museums according to our map. The bus-ride gave […]
Backpacking through Europe: Pisa
Tempers were frayed on that journey to Pisa. What was the point of going to Pisa at all? Pisa was just a tourist gimmick, like the Brindavan Gardens in Mysore. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was the only thing to see; it could not be worth it. We would spend just a few hours there. I […]
Backpacking through Europe: Rome
We didn’t visit the Colosseum. I get that confession out of the way right in the beginning. We saw the Colosseum from the outside, all lit up and magnificent at night, but we did not go there at all to visit the inside as tourists. And today, when I look back I don’t know why. […]