Shreya turns 2 in Switzerland

I don't know whats with Indians and Switzerland... but there is something very very unique about that connection... for that matter, Indians and Niagra falls... Indians and 'Europe Trip'... and then when i visit the placeS, i realise that its not for nothing!!!

So, well, i feel lucky to have visited the places... for today, Europe is 'Paris' for me!!!

More than anybody, i think Shreya managed the trips and travels very very well... Thanks to her, we could relax and enjoy both of the tours... also, credit to some good planning and homework from Rohini, we could plan our trip on convenient dates and to places we wanted to visit most! so, we nailed down on Paris and Switzerland... We went to Paris through guided tour where we would be informed about the various monuments etc. without much hassles... and while we thought its appropriate to visit places of monument significance through a guided tours, places with natural beauty - read: Switzerland - should be self-planned as one can spend as much time at any place as one wants!!!

anyways - covering almost 7 days of trip in a one pager is a challenge - still, this is my attempt (more for myself) to revisit the places everytime i go through this text!!!

So - starting with Paris: We chose Star tours as our guide and travel planner - and the itinirary was something like this...

First Day: ofcourse, the long travel from Norwich - London - Paris... Most of the travel was in Bus, however, the significant journey was though a cruise from Port of Dover to Calais. It was not our first cruise trip (the first was on our First Anniversary on 'Star Cruises'; another connection between Star and Cruise for us!)... since it was a group tour, it was more of mingling with each other and introductions... needless to say, within a short time, everyone almost knew who 'Shreya' was.. she had lot of fun with people around - and fortunately, we had 4 seats at the price of 2! :) we were a little scared when it was raining when we reached port of Dover. however, once we were in Paris it was all sunny... tough. it was quite shortlived because it started raining -but not before we had almost completed the 'Paris tour by cruise' in the evening... we were quite tired when we reached our hotel rooms...

http://picasaweb.google.com/vinodkaulgud/paristrip#

Second Day: The much awaited Disney Tour... this was 'the' attraction of the tour and thanks to the disciplined approach by the tour organisers we had the max. time in Dineyland - and had lotsa fun...ofcourse, in the choice between Disneyland park and studios, we chose Park! at times, i think its too short a time (of one day) to cover the entire park - Main street, Frontierland, Discoveryland, fantasyland and Adventureland; except for Adventureland (which i thought Shreya and Rohini won't appreciate much!) we had our time divided across the other lands! quite a few rides that were fantabulous... the feeling is quite unique as you really feel you are in some kinda dreamland... (see, thats another 'land' name they can borrow from me!) You can see some snaps of 'Le Carrousel' and 'Labyrinth' among the trademark 'Sleeping Beauty castle' etc... Shreya was also attracted to the 'Videopolis' where this continuous giant screen ran videos of disney characters... we ended our dreamrun with a 3D show of 'Honey, i shrunk the audience'... Shreya was sleeping when we went inside and i was praying she would remain sleeping as i was not sure how she would take the whole 3D experience - though we had spare 3D goggle for her! she woke up almost at the start and amazingly enjoyed the experiece till the time the dog 'sneezed' on us (water sprinkled for the effect) and she got disturbed.... :) that was fun! To end the day we visited 'Paris by the night' - and though tired, the city quite seemed attractive by the night as well - don't misunderstand, i'm not talking of the nightlife of the 'city of love', but purely from a tourist perspective to capture max of the historic city; the attraction, ofcourse, is the glittering lights on Eiffel tower at 10pm and 11pm! There is a message of 'Peace' written in many languages - 'Shanti' written in HINDI... it was an amazing experience...

Third Day: Dedicated to Eiffel Tower and way back home... The tickets were arranged by the tour organisers and they made us gather and guided towards top of tower cutting the long line on a sunday morning... i was lost on the history of the tower and was wondering how magnificient the structure was - i mean, it was simply a giant structure... with no offices or houses! atleast Tejo Mahal has a hidden temple (or maybe some people believe otherwise). anyways, coming back to Eiffel tower, one can only imagine how much of basement work it must have asked for to build a near 1000ft. structure way back in the 1900's (1889!); there are 2 levels from where you can see how small the other nearby structures are... and as always happens with similar structures, no other tall structures are allowed in nearby vicinity! anyways, less explained the better for such amazing structures which needs to be experienced than expressed - as you will always fall short of words... you need to really appreciate the brains behind such amazing marvel and leave it at that - to come back home/office and add to the little difference you can make to this world!!!

On our way back sitting in a bus and via Cruise was made pleasant by Shreya and her ways... as she didn't want to sit or sleep but wanted to run from end to end (me risking 2000euros fine for seat belt violation!) and say 'Hello' to everyone.. there was a family from NJ and Uncle/Auntie got really fond of Shreya...

Next trip - S W I T Z E R L A N D...