Europe Trip - The Good, the Bad and the Ugly !

20 days, 8 countries, 4 alien languages, 7 cuisines, 9 modes of transport and lifetime of memories. Going on vacation to Europe with my family had long been my fantasy. Now that it's been a week we returned from one of the most memorable, anticipated, awaited, dreamt trips, here is a brief account:

The planning:

Coordinating leaves and vacation plans of 4 of us was an herculean task in itself. Once it materialized, the entire processing of visas, flight, hotel, travel bookings and research took at least 2 months. With a toddler around, shopping and packing took a month or so. So it was a cool 3 month pre-trip planning we had to do for a 3 week tour.

We had to dilly-dally between opting for a packaged tour or plan our own trip, but chose the latter for the flexibility we needed with our kiddoo.

The Good:

First things first ! Europe is stunning, awe-inspiring, mind-boggling and fantastic. Every city has it's unique signature, historical pride, grandeur or canvas that newer countries like US or Canada can never replicate.

Brussels, Belgium: We had zero expectations about Brussels but the small city dazzled me. The city had one of the grandest squares called Grand Place which even put the best of squares in even Paris and Rome to shame. The unique Belgian-French culture, cuisine and the pride they subtly demonstrate is worth experiencing.

The huge atomium brought back memories of Venkatesh's Bobbili Raja movie as at that point, I wondered what that huge structure was. Now when I saw that song again in youtube, I realized most of the song was shot in Brussels.

Paris, France: The lesser said, the better because words can't sum up the aura of Paris, known as the city of love, city of architecture, city of history. Even if one misses (must not though) Eiffel Tower, Monalisa at Louvre Museum, Notre Dame etc, just roaming around the streets of Paris gives goosebumps. Every building in the historic part of the city is a treat to eyes. If I ever visit Paris again, I'm gonna spend a week to absorb the richness and flamboyance of the beautiful city. Eiffel Tower is much more magnificent than I thought. The view from top was astounding

Not to mention, every youngster I saw in Pairs was beautiful, fashionable and attractive. No surprise the city is rightly dubbed as a fashion capital.

Versailles, France: The magnificent palace of Louis and later Napoleon should only be seen to believe. Exuberant flair and splendour

Rome, Italy: We spent 3 full days in Rome and that still wasn't enough. Among all the places I visited till date, Rome is very very unique because of it's perfect blend of old world history and modernity. Every place, square, monument screams about the mighty Roman empire. The colosseum must be a world wonder. I was just awestruck with the phenomenal historical baggage, the city associates with itself.

Vatican city, Vatican: A country within a city. One of the most sacred places on the planet. A huge square, a magnificent dome and a splendid cathedral demonstrate the rich roman catholic culture, architecture.

Pisa & Florence, Italy: Pisa is a small town which only boasts the skewed Pisa tower, a marble structure which attracts flocks of tourists day in and day out. Florence is a neighboring town which at first reminds us of a postcard or a painting. There is one huge cathedral and dome which signifies the city and a lot of pedestrian tourist area. A nice experience

Venice, Italy: Venice often appears as the most beautiful city of the planet unanimously in all surveys. Such is the aura behind the city of canals. My parents compared the city with Backwaters of Kerala (which I haven't visited yet) but the city is beautiful and just the thought of system of canals as mode of transportation rather than mostly overlooked roads is a dream of any romantic person.

The city undoubtedly is romantic to the core and everybody must go on a gondola ride on grand canal before they die

Interlaken, Switzerland: If you want to be overwhelmed with natural beauty and go crazy to the point of screaming your lungs out, you should visit Interlaken in Switzerland for sure. A very small town looks much like a film setting in the backdrop of snow capped swiss alp mountains, rivers, lakes. It's like a definition for the word Picturesque.

Daily trips to the adjoining Jungfrau and other alp peaks, cogwheel rail routes along lush green meadows with signaturesque cows, the must see ice palace and views from the top are dreams for any backpacker.

Lucerne, Switzerland: Just when we felt Interlaken has blown us away, Lucerne showed us that in Switzerland, every place is a notch above the other. Relatively bigger city with perfect weather, river, lakes, swans, beautiful people. For a moment, I thought why wasn't I considering immigrating to Switzerland. Lake cruise and then the steepest cogwheel train in the world to the top of Mount Pilatus was a once in a lifetime experience.

Zurich, Switzerland: The biggest city in switzerland was our transit stop where we spent a day. A bustling city is no match for previous 2 cities but still is one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

Innsbruck, Austria: Austria is generally considered as non-commercialized version of Switzerland. Innsbruck is a small town in a valley surrounded by snow peaked alps that can never slip out of your memory. A perfect retirement destination :)

Cologne, Germany: One of the most bombed city during world war 2 shows the backdrop of German might. Taxis are all Mercedes, Audi, VW and BMW's ;) On the picturesque backdrop of River Rhine, the huge old age cathedral and chocolate museum were worth seeing.

Koblenz, Germany: A small and fascinating town on the river banks, pedestrian tourist streets, cable cars, confluence of rivers. Simply amazing and beautiful.

Amsterdam, Netherlands: This is one city which swept me off my feet. A unique blend of old buildings, system of canals, abundant museums, mode of commute make it a mixture of Venice, Rome and Paris. An amusing tourist attraction is a red light district popular for it's hookers and drugs - everything legal there.

If I have to recommend anybody planning to visit Europe, I'd strongly advise them to include Amsterdam in their itinerary. I just fell in love with the city

The Bad:

Coming from Canada, I expected continental Europe to be as developed with amenities and facilities only to get disappointed.

• Not recommended for wheelchairs or strollers: Most of the places including subway system or railway platforms of alpha world cities like Paris or a tourism paradise like Venice don't boast of elevators or even escalators at most places. That made our life a bit difficult where we had to carry baby-stroller and luggage.
• Roads and infrastructure: Roads are narrow (compared to Toronto or any major city in US) and parking can sometime become a nightmare. In Rome, people also park on pavements
• Driving in Italy: Italy is much like India in terms of road etiquette. To keep it simple, nobody follows lanes or lines
• Manual Gears: Cars are manual and hence those with no driving experience in India should avoid renting a car in Europe, period !
• Language: Mind it, English is an alien language in all of continental Europe. So you must be particularly excellent at dumb charades or throwing key words at people while (trying to) conversing.
• Hotels: Hotel rooms are inconvenient and much smaller than North American counterparts. Nowhere can you see AC's (even in 5 star hotels)
• Water: Every restaurant or hotel or any place you go, you have to buy water. Water might be more precious than oil there.

The Ugly:

Some awful experiences (Disclaimer: These are based on our experiences and not generic judgements and hence everybody may not face same situations)

• Racism: I perceived the level of racism is a bit on a higher side. Brown skinned people are relatively rare and are looked upon with some scorn by some people to the extent of xenophobia. Though racism is universal, not everybody expresses that as much as certain sections of European societies.
• Rudeness: Every culture is different and hence we can't expect the etiquette of North America or hospitality of India. Europe didn't demonstrate either
• Pickpockets: One will see warning against pickpockets and thieves every nook and corner.I felt I was being careful until I lost my wallet too (ironically the very previous day I bought a new one and before I could replace the old one, I lost it - the old one)
• Anti-English: People there publicly denounce English and the speakers are looked upon with contempt. If you speak in English, they tend to avoid you (even customer service or roadside assistance support guys).
• Irresponsible: Airlines lose baggage and look unconvincingly cool after that; car rental guy doesn't replace broken-down car; hotel receptionists don't cooperate during late check-ins; basically they don't care.

Nevertheless, these bad experiences were negligible when compared to lifetime memories we garnered, grandeur and splendor we witnessed, monuments we saw, cuisines we savored and some exceptionally sweet people we met there.

Postface:

Europe trip will always hold a very special place in my heart not just because of beautiful locales or grand monuments, but because I had my family with me. Actually the trip was planned to mark the celebration of my mother's 50th birthday and I wanted to take my parents to some exotic place which we all could cherish for our lifetime and which makes them feel special. I'm more than satisfied and I hope this would just be a beginning.

And the most relieving this of the trip was about my 16 month old son. Initially I was apprehensive about his diet, tiredom and if he could adapt to our continuous journeys. But surprisingly he woke up along, ate whatever we ate and behaved like a grown up. Actually he enjoyed much more than the rest of us. He gave us confidence to plan for more trips now ;)

PS: Coming soon - an article about our long forgotten trip to Mexico last year end.