A piquant Paris -
Really old....around 14th century. But, preserved and refurbished, remodeled to appease a contemporary traveller. This is the first impression one gets stepping into the city. The serene beauty of the Seine river, the solemn Notre-Dame cathedral, the sprawling, garangatous old Louvre museum which holds most of the Renaissance paintings and sculptures in the world, a more modern Musee d'Orsay which boasts the numerous Impressionists paintings of Monet, Renoir etc, the beautiful Champs d'Elysees ending at the Arc of Triumph, the cute Parisian streets, of course the famous views from the Eiffel Tower - all look like they have been carefully fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle. Blue print for how a city architecture ought to be.
If you're a Dan Brown fan like me, you can soak it all up - the Pantheon, the androgynous Mona Lisa (or 'La Joconde' as the French call it), and the ugly, but significant Pyramid Inversee (remember the 666 glass panes) at the Louvre.
As far as language goes - brushed up all my high school and college French which felt like the perfect "immersion program" to be in. Also, realised that reading vocabulary is so different from speaking one. The accent was too fast, so didn't understand but tried to speak to everyone on sight. Well, atleast we didn't get stoned, that's a start :-)
What we missed - The Versailles palace, other museums in Paris, a lighted up Eiffel tower.
A Venetian dream -
It was like one.....any moment, i thought we're going to wake up and it was all going to be an illusion. The Grand Canal meandering around a small landscape, tall buildings on very narrow streets, gondolas riding on peaceful waters, quiet churches or in Italian "chiesas" everywhere, cute islands dotting the lagoon, shops selling exquisite glass ware, yummy pastries, chic restaurants - all something to die for. With my limited travel so far, rating Venezia as one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Water is THE way of life here - no surprise for a place that gave the world a famous pioneer, Marco Polo. I was quite impressed by the fact that no cars but not even bikes are allowed in Venice. The streets are so narrow they almost look like alleys. You have to walk or take the water bus to move around. And, after getting over the shock of glimpsing at the map which was more like a labyrinth maze leading to a sunken treasure, we decided to just toss it away, and keep going using the basic cardinal directions in mind.
.
The Italian cuisine was wonderful everywhere, and allowed for more vegetarian options which was a huge relief. Expresso coffee and special pastries were sheer treats for the gastric juices.
What we missed - The Lido beach, island of Toricelli
The remnants of Rome -
Imagine ruins. More ruins. Huge villas, fountains. Scaterred haphazardly everywhere both sides of the Tiber river. Now, imagine modern buildings, old buildings, a busy city with cars, buses, scooters and mopeds speeding breakneck speed along with this picture. That's the famous Eternal city for you. Dawn of Western civilization, birthplace of Christianity, a tumultous history of wars and bloodshed, tyrants and empires created and destroyed - all rolled into one.
Saddened by the savagery of gladiators in the Colosseum, cooled by the waters of the gigantic and a marblestone marvel in the Trevi or the 'Fontana di Trevi', awestruck by the paintings and the sculptures at the Vatican Museum, ashamed to have not read more bibliography before seeing the supreme works Michalangelo's Sistine Chapel - Rome to me, was a mixed-bag of emotions.
Tough city for a first-time traveller. Quite a rough crowd, roads being a pedestrian nighmare, constantly being aware of pickpocketers and frauds was a nagging pressure. Didn't find the food that great either, excepting the very tasty gelato or ice cream. Graffitti on walls everywhere was a eyesore too.
What we missed - The famous ruins of Pompeii, St.Peters Basilica in Vatican, the Appian way and the catacombs, the Roman Forum and the Pantheon.
Really old....around 14th century. But, preserved and refurbished, remodeled to appease a contemporary traveller. This is the first impression one gets stepping into the city. The serene beauty of the Seine river, the solemn Notre-Dame cathedral, the sprawling, garangatous old Louvre museum which holds most of the Renaissance paintings and sculptures in the world, a more modern Musee d'Orsay which boasts the numerous Impressionists paintings of Monet, Renoir etc, the beautiful Champs d'Elysees ending at the Arc of Triumph, the cute Parisian streets, of course the famous views from the Eiffel Tower - all look like they have been carefully fitted together like a jigsaw puzzle. Blue print for how a city architecture ought to be.
If you're a Dan Brown fan like me, you can soak it all up - the Pantheon, the androgynous Mona Lisa (or 'La Joconde' as the French call it), and the ugly, but significant Pyramid Inversee (remember the 666 glass panes) at the Louvre.
As far as language goes - brushed up all my high school and college French which felt like the perfect "immersion program" to be in. Also, realised that reading vocabulary is so different from speaking one. The accent was too fast, so didn't understand but tried to speak to everyone on sight. Well, atleast we didn't get stoned, that's a start :-)
What we missed - The Versailles palace, other museums in Paris, a lighted up Eiffel tower.
A Venetian dream -
It was like one.....any moment, i thought we're going to wake up and it was all going to be an illusion. The Grand Canal meandering around a small landscape, tall buildings on very narrow streets, gondolas riding on peaceful waters, quiet churches or in Italian "chiesas" everywhere, cute islands dotting the lagoon, shops selling exquisite glass ware, yummy pastries, chic restaurants - all something to die for. With my limited travel so far, rating Venezia as one of the most beautiful places in the world.
Water is THE way of life here - no surprise for a place that gave the world a famous pioneer, Marco Polo. I was quite impressed by the fact that no cars but not even bikes are allowed in Venice. The streets are so narrow they almost look like alleys. You have to walk or take the water bus to move around. And, after getting over the shock of glimpsing at the map which was more like a labyrinth maze leading to a sunken treasure, we decided to just toss it away, and keep going using the basic cardinal directions in mind.
.
The Italian cuisine was wonderful everywhere, and allowed for more vegetarian options which was a huge relief. Expresso coffee and special pastries were sheer treats for the gastric juices.
What we missed - The Lido beach, island of Toricelli
The remnants of Rome -
Imagine ruins. More ruins. Huge villas, fountains. Scaterred haphazardly everywhere both sides of the Tiber river. Now, imagine modern buildings, old buildings, a busy city with cars, buses, scooters and mopeds speeding breakneck speed along with this picture. That's the famous Eternal city for you. Dawn of Western civilization, birthplace of Christianity, a tumultous history of wars and bloodshed, tyrants and empires created and destroyed - all rolled into one.
Saddened by the savagery of gladiators in the Colosseum, cooled by the waters of the gigantic and a marblestone marvel in the Trevi or the 'Fontana di Trevi', awestruck by the paintings and the sculptures at the Vatican Museum, ashamed to have not read more bibliography before seeing the supreme works Michalangelo's Sistine Chapel - Rome to me, was a mixed-bag of emotions.
Tough city for a first-time traveller. Quite a rough crowd, roads being a pedestrian nighmare, constantly being aware of pickpocketers and frauds was a nagging pressure. Didn't find the food that great either, excepting the very tasty gelato or ice cream. Graffitti on walls everywhere was a eyesore too.
What we missed - The famous ruins of Pompeii, St.Peters Basilica in Vatican, the Appian way and the catacombs, the Roman Forum and the Pantheon.