Oktoberfest 2012

Ferris Wheel at Oktoberfest Munich by Kunal

The natural lights dimmed, the artificial ones came alive, and as dusk settled over Oktoberfest 2012 Munich I captured this juxtaposition of two different light sources.

“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.