“An Italy Travelogue”

This is not a travelogue – I hate these kinds of beginnings.. This *is* a travelogue, at least I think so, but not the usual stuff – simply because I have forgotten how to write. I’ll just write random things I remember about Venice and Florence and sprinkle a few photographs within and try to pass this off as “An Italy Travelogue”

Italy is just few hours away from Munich and consequently I was thinking that the place would not be much different from Germany – how wrong was I?! Italy and and the Italians reminded me more of India then Germany. How? That is a long story, so instead of blabbering about that let me post a photograph from the city of Venice!

Venice from the boat

Venice is completely dependent on two things – bridges and boats. Actually add another thing – tourists. Without them I seriously doubt anyone would ever live there! Before a few Venetian people find my blog and vow to avenge their home let me post another photograph of this beautiful place.

How did they ever make a complete city on water?

But on the whole I enjoyed visiting Venice – a completely unique experience. And when booking a hotel for Venice, I would recommend *not* booking in Mestre (the mainland counterpart of Venice) but in the actual city of Venice. It was beautiful having a room overlooking Grand Canal from one window and a not-so-grand canal from the other.

Venice Sidewalk

A ride on a train (where I decided to learn Portugese to help out any further without-ticket Brazilian girls – hope the wife does not read this) later we entered the beautiful city of Florence. The city left me spell-bound with its art, and my hotel left me hungry with its snafu! I was about to dig up the baingan-pizza-without-any-sauce when the hotel recovered brilliantly and I had the best pizza of Italy (I may not be exaggerating, considering my other experiences with pizza in Italy). Alright I wrote a long paragraph, time for a photograph!

Ponte Vecchio – the only bridge to survive WW2

I absolutely loved the city of Florence – narrow cobblestone roads, majestic architecture, awe-inspiring art and shops magical enough to wipe the contents of your wallet with one glance. My cloak of disregard helped me avoid those glances but the cloak was no match for the aromas of pasta, scratch that, make that the scent of Wi-Fi! The internet speed was no doubt good, and it was fun seeing I had 70 unread emails in my Inbox – of which just one was worth reading and even that was addressed to the wife; but the pasta was equally good.

Florence framed by a window in the Giotto’s Campanile

The agenda for the final day was to visit Pisa and lean on the Leaning Tower but my view that Italy is similar to India was reinforced in the worst possible way – a strike cancelling all trains to Pisa and then an hour long wait to cancel my tickets (for which the refund will arrive in two months)! Anyway that allowed me the time to climb the 414 steps of the Gioto’s Tower and see a brilliant view of the Duomo and the city of Florence.

Florence from the top with the Tuscan countryside in the background

And that brings us to the close of this not-a-travelogue travelogue.
Samachar samapt hue, shubh ratri.

Nymphenburg Palace

Writing takes time, of which I have a serious dearth these days. So best way to keep this blog alive is to post photos.

Starting with the majestic Nymphenburg Palace…

Nymphenburg Palace by Kunal

And I’m shifting my allegiance to 500px from Flickr.. The photos do look better on it

Bhuvangiri Fort @ Bhongir

For over 10 years I have seen the fort on top of the round mountain just an hour before chugging into the Secunderabad/Hyderabad railway station. Always thought that I should visit the place (Bhuvanagiri Fort @ Bhongir) sometime and climb the mountain. Never imagined that the visit to the fort would be all of 45 minutes long after a 90-minute drive, and never thought I would be so out of shape that just climbing halfway would leave me short of breath.

It is fun going on a long drive, but it is a gamble to go on a long drive with a 6-month old kid. Luckily the gamble paid off. And thankfully the round trip was just 110 kms, so the “short long drive” helped too.

Must revisit the Bhuvanagiri Fort @ Bhongir. And this time I am not taking the steps; I intend to climb on the rock-face. It is far more comfortable navigating the natural rock face, rather than the man-made steps. But since it is a fort, I have no idea till what height could I scale just climbing on the rocks.

This is a pathetic post and I know it, but the only reason I am writing this is because I do not have a pensieve where I can revisit my memories. When I need to revisit my memories, I come visit my blog. And I will reiterate this point the n^th time; it is easy writing posts as a random disconnected list of points.

A Sunday Well Spent

Today, on a Sunday morning, as I was driving towards my office there was a spring in my step, and an extra kick to the bike. No, I am not a workaholic, and no I am not insane to be working on a Sunday. My destination were the hills that lie a couple of kilometers beyond my office. Hi-Tech City is a jungle of buildings, but this jungle was built amidst rocky mountains – a part of which still lies intact. One such rocky hill was our intended target. Neil, Rahul, Alosh and I met at the crack of dawn to commence the hour long hike.

We were hardly a few meters from the road, and were able to spot these weaver bird nests. These nests used to be so common earlier, now if I see a simple nest sometime – I count that an achievement

I was surprised that as soon as I left the road, I was able to spot so many birds. Alosh spotted a crow-pheasant, I spotted a peacock, some eagles, and many small birds that I was not able to identify.

The hills were strewn with rocks, long grass, and bushes of numerous variety, although they all had a common trait – they were thorny Every few minutes we would stop and pluck out the thorns painfully residing in our hands, or not-so-painfully embedded in our clothes.

The rocks make many interesting structures, and a few of them seem to be balancing precariously, but all of them are steadfast. There were small tunnels between the rocks, and they were far easier to navigate rather than climb over the rocks. I have learned one hiking lesson the hard-way – if there is an easier route available, always take that.

As we were climbing up, the sun was behind the hills and we caught the sun rising from behind the hills. Anytime I see a sunrise, I rue the fact that I normally wake up late and miss the sunrise. I always resolve that henceforth I’d try to catch the sunrise and my resolution stands for exactly one day as the next morning I am up late again

All-in-all, a very nice way to greet the new year (although a day late). Planning to do similar mini-hikes every month, let’s see how long that resolution stands

Post # 400

Two countries closer to realizing my dream :)

When your aim in life is to roam around the world, even the smallest opportunity should not be missed. Air Asia’s promotional offers were too good to be missed. And hence the wife and I booked tickets to Malaysia and Singapore, and soon landed at…

Destination1: Kuala Lumpur

Anytime you look around in KL, two landmarks almost always stood out – KL Tower and Petronas Towers. Petronas Towers are too prominent to be missed during the day …

… or night. The towers looked especially stunning during the night. Two days in KL were spent marveling at the beautiful city, and roaming around the streets taking in a new culture.

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Destination2: Penang

Leaving KL behind, we traveled to Penang – an island state of Malaysia famous for its beautiful beaches and street food.
A beach, and an accompanying sunset is something I will never tire of. I can spend my life on a beach shooting the different hues and colours of the sunset, and the reflections playing around on water.

Beaches were not the only thing to look forward in Penang; it is a beautiful city. At many levels it reminded me of Goa. There is a National Park, there is a hill and there is a botanical garden. Due to scarcity of time, I visited just the Botanical Garden, and seeing the beauty of it kept ruing the fact that I missed the National Park and the hill.

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Destination3: Singapore

Day-5 of the trip and reached Singapore. Had delicious Dal Makhani at an Indian restaurant and rushed to Jurong Bird Park.
If you are in Singapore, and not visiting the Jurong Bird Park, I’d say you are committing a crime. Scores of species of birds dot the park, and getting close to them has never been easier. These brand ambassador of paints were strutting around in style.

There were two exhibits that stood out in Jurong. One was of the penguins, and other one was of the birds of prey. Vultures, Hawks, Eagles swooped around our heads, and stared at us as if we were prospective prey.

After visiting the Underwater World at Sentosa in Singapore, I’ve become a fan of the Stingrays. I doubt there is any creature in the sea that is as graceful as a stingray. They glide effortlessly through the water and cut a very impressive figure in midst of sharks, 4-feet long crabs, some prehistoric fish, and jelly fish to count a few.

Headed to the Sea-Lion show and the Dolphin show and came away impressed with the speed the dolphins displayed while swimming around the pool. As they swam, the calm pool turned turbulent with big waves.

Ended the trip with Songs of the Sea – a show shown on water sprayed around using lasers. Impressive music, astounding light-effects, with fire, fountains, and firecrackers in the backdrop of the Indian Ocean made for an interesting show.

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