I am back home, sweet home.

 

Travel all over the world, experience unbelievable things, eat the most delicious food, spend wonderful days free of worries/responsibilities, do all that you like in any part of the earth ..but getting back home always feels great!
It did, to me.

 

Except for the initial hurdle at the airport, the Europe trip was fantastic! ( Man, Spending 8 hours from 4 in the morning , at the airport, waiting for your flight is no fun, especially if you had to cancel your tickets due to a stupid visa problems and buy new ones, on the spot, for 5 times the original price !! ).

Here is a brief report :

 

Paris

The most wonderful moment was when I lived the surprise arranged by the hubby : Dinner booked at a restaurant on top of the Eiffel tower !

 

That city indeed has romance in the air. What else do you say when you see couples kissing or holding tight at every 50 steps on the road?

The Monalisa disappointed me though. Believe me, her mystique smile and all that is hyped way too much. I am not sure whether Leonardo was too lazy or too busy with other paintings. Why did he take 7 years to paint this little thing?! I admired and Wowed at so may other paintings in the same museum, but not this one – sorry Monalisa fans !
Palace Gardens       Gorgeous view at night, Eiffel tower

SwitzerlandWhich is your favorite among the countries you have traveled, sometimes people ask. This one is the hands down winner !


Swiss is true to all that hype and more. Try and make it to this place atleast once in life, preferably in spring, and you will realize what is heaven on earth – seriously ! The green grounds sprinkled with all sorts of colorful flowers, the beauteous snow covered mountains at a distance, the superbly friendly people or the ‘accidental’ discoveries of little flowing streams or gushing waters – everything of Swiss is lovable. And, when I say all this, I mean the suburbs, not the cities.

The overwhelming moment came when we stepped on this peak called ‘Klien Matterhorn’. The clouds floating below us.. snow peaks trying hard to hold their heads higher and the sun smiling at all this silly game. Words fail me in describing how it felt there..A serene view , Switzerland     Floating clouds and the snow peaks in Zermatt, Switzerland

Austria

We spent just two days in Vienna, and wished we stayed some more.

The music Gods of the 18th century – Mozart and Strauss were born here. This place is musical all over. We went for a concert involving an orchestra, ballet and oprah performances and I could not stop smiling for the entire evening. Man,those people are TALENTED !

       Concert at Vienna

Italy
Venice was charming, in it’s own way. Not very clean, quite noisy and hot – but, I can hardly remember these negative aspects. All I can remember vividly when I think of Venice are the colorful houses and the carnival masks. Ah, and the waters ..and the Gondola ride :-) But, charging tourists 90 Euros for a 30 minute trip was a rip off ! I think those Gondola ‘drivers’ are millionaires already. They just wear simple striped shirts and appear ‘normal’ just to make more money, yeah!

The Gondola on waters   The gorgeous carnival masks, Venice

Rome cried out history from every brick. The colosseum spoke volumes and I was dizzy imagining 50,000 Romans cheering at the fight between the gladiator and the ferocious animal on the arena. A chill ran down my spine when the audio guide told ” The dead Gladiators were touched by a burning iron rod to avoid any chances of the Gladiator pretending dead”. Wow !

A grand view of the Colosseum, Rome    Vatican City on a rainy day

We returned back all safe and sound. Except for a sleepy head ( jet lag is bad..boohoo) and a pair of droopy red eyes, I am back to the grind at work and home. Lots of catching up to do with so many things… my favorite blogs included.

See ya around, people :)