Half the World in 10 days...(SFO, Paris, Oslo, Frankfurt, Strasbourg)

and yes I covered half of the world in this time. I went to US to attend a company conference in San Jose. In the free time, I went to San Francisco and all my friends will agree, we had our good time there. One day we went in search of Walmart and got totally lost. The store was just 3 miles from our hotel but it took us almost 2 hrs to reach. But it also taught us the road navigation system in US. It showed how people in US depend so much on Maps and directions and we were lost as we had none. In SFO, we visited the standard tourist locations. Crooked Street, Golden Gate, Fisherman Wharf. and during the travel, stuck with public transport. It has two benefits, one save money and second know more abt the place. The last time I was in US, I didnt learn much as i was travelling by Cab(ofcourse sponsored by company). When you use public transport, we take that extra effort of interacting with people, knowing how to plan your visit. all this helps in knowing the place better.

Visual Treat in Europe
Photos
But the real fun of my trip came from my Europe Trip. I landed in Frankfurt on 12th Feb 2006 from SFO. Lufthansa journey was not so great. From Frankfurt airport itself, I took a shuttle directly to Strasbourg. This is a small but beautiful place in NorthEast France bordering Swiss and Germany. Cathedral there is a must visit and dont miss the boat ride across the city. It has glimpses of Venice(what I have seen in movies). Dr. Mishra prepared nice food that night which I had half asleep(jet lag man). My friend Mittal also joined us from Paris. after a short visit to Colmar next day and some sight seeing in Strasbourg, we left for Paris

Paris and Me: I stayed at Fountainbleau which was just 40 mins by train from Paris. Paris is well connected by metro and you just need to land up in some metro station somehow to explore Paris. Effiel Tower, Louvre Museaum, La Defense, Napolean Castle in Fountainbleau were on my list and covered them. Watching Paris atop the Effiel was a magnificent view. you feel like at the top of the world for some time but why not you have paid 11 euro to reach to the top :)

My next stop was Oslo and I was lucky to visit it when there was heavy snowfall. A white blanket all around the city. It was a totally different experience with Snow and I tried Ice-Skiing also (thanks to Shivali and Koren). Visiting Oslo Nobel Peace Center was great. An e-book on Alfred Nobel was interesting. Meeting Shivali's friend from different countries (Iraq, Jamaica, Australia) was itself a different feeling. I chit chatted with them just like I know them before and you start realizing there is as such no boundaries. Its difficult to define "Foriegn". Yes may be I can define it with respect to Food and Language. I stuggled with food outside and it was particularly difficult in France to manage with English. Oslo was much better.

From Oslo, I moved to my final destination: Frankfurt. I just had 1 night over there but thanks to Taslim, I got to see the River Front, the commercial center, the film museum in a short period of time. On 21st I returned back from European Paradise with sweet memories and a promise to myself that I need to explore Europe more in future.

Couple of things that really moved me in Europe was Punctuality and Discipline. One incident that will remain with me for long time happened in France. We had a train ticket from Colmar to Strasbourg that was supposed to reach Strasbourg at 5.14 pm and we had the last train to Paris from Strasbourg at 5.19 pm. We asked at the tourist info center whether we should take a earlier train from Colmar and reach Strasbourg a bit early to catch the Paris train in time. The guy replied "No problem. 5 mins is more than enough. Enjoy your time in colmar". Can I think something similar in India? I hope I can in coming years...