24th March,2005
All of us were in full spirit and were all gerared up for the four days of excitement.We started from office by around 3.00 pm after completion of drop 3 delivery for the april release.From there we took the conventional No 1 bus to Gardet station and switched on the train to T centralen.
At T Centralen we were supposed to take the bus to Skavasta Airport from where we were to take Ryan Air Flight to Brussels.Ryan Air was one of the cheap flights that was available to get around Europe.All these flights had their own aerodromes very much in the outskirts of the city as a part of cost cutting measure.The aeodrome foir Ryan Air was located at a place called Skavasta and we had to get there from the main city.Surprisingly on the day we were starting there was a drastic change in temperature:The day before that measured -4 deg celcius and that day the temp saw a drastic jump to +12 deg celcius.The summer was gradually getting started in stockhoim but such a change was frankly not expected.
The bus jouney to Skavasta was not a very eventful one.There was heavy traffic enroute and it took us almost 2.5 hours to get there.On waching the airport,we checked in our bagages and underwent the security procedured which were not very strict at all.After grabbing a couple of sandwhiches
we finally made our way to the flight.The Ryan Air FLight was not as big as the conventional flight.being a log cost flight it operated in a coast effetcive mode(Similar to the Deccan Airback home).You had to pay for any and every item at the flight like food,entertainment etc.Myself and Magesh played scratch and win game for fun...Got 2 scrached right but as was expected the third one didn't match..
Finally by 11.00 pm local time we reached brussels.At the airport we checked out our baggages.We had arranged for a charted bus to pick us from the airport.There were a set of 3 hotels booked namely Sabena,De Boeks and Van Belle.Myself,Sami,Gilli Raajesh along with Rathi,Tamil and Indumathi were out up in Sabena..After having the packed up dinner from Stockhom ,we hit the bed straight away.
25th March,2005
The beginning of the day was exciting indeed.We had to take the Eurolines bus from Brussels to Paris at 6.00 am.Eurolines bus stop was supposed to be close to the Sabina Hotel.We started from the hotel at 5.15 am.Even after walking for around 30 min: we cold nt find the place.Unfortunately for us there were very few people on the road at that time and even whoim we met couldn't speak proper english.Finally after some nail biting moments we got to the bus stop by around 5.55 am.From the Eurolines bus stop at we took a bus to Paris.It was round 10.30 am when we reached paris.After a bit of struggle we managed to get the train tickets which was valid for 2 days and also a pass to the versailles station(getting to versailles needed a separate train pass which can be procured from any station in Paris).From there we got hold of map of the rail route of paris.Man paris rail route is really really complicated one.Locating a particular colour roure itself took some time forget locating a station.Our boarding was a at a stop called Richard LeNoir which was in the pink Line.It took us around 30 min to get there.We had booked our rooms at St:Sabastein Hotel there.
On checking in ur baggages at the hotel out there we started exploring the city.Paris is really wonderful .Itzzzzzhappening city.Everywhere you can see crowd buzzling around the streets and it gives a very lively touch.First we went to Arc De truimph in Paris.This is built in commemeration of generals who gave up their life for france.From the top of the arc you get a spectacular view of Paris where 12 roads meet.One of those 12 is the busiest street in Paris named Champs Elyssee.Since it was easter hols,there was a lot of crowd out there.
From Arc de Truimph we went stratight to Eiffer Tower.This tower was built in 1889 by french architect Gustavo Eiffel.After waiting for around 1 hr in the queue we got to the top of the tower.Man it was really superb from there.Fortunately for us even at 8.00 pm in the evening it was just like 4.00 pm and hence we got an extended time out there.The entire paris could be seen with a birds eye view from this 188 feet giant monument.By around 8,30 pm they switched on the light and it got even more spectacular!!!After spending time there till 11,00 pm we got back to our to our our stop Richard Le Noori.Immedaitely on getting out of the stop we found an Indian Restaurent to much of our relief.On enterig the restaurent we found that it was run by Tamil People.Their hospitality knew no bounds.
They were too happy to have us there and got all the dishes pretty fast...They even gave us a discount of 10 Euroes towards the end.The sumptous dinner with "apun ka Indian Items" came only 90 Euros for 8 of us.With the satisfation of having met our own people at this foreign land we walked got back to our hotel.
26th March,2005
The next day morning we got on our way to the versailles museum in paris.The place had an aura of ancient age and gave us a g´feeling of having gone some 200 yeards back.That's the speciality of paris...u have place luike versailles which is very old and a place like chaps ellysse which is nothing bus modern.At Versailles there was a lot on display about the monarchy in paris during early days.The park on the adjacent side with fountains also provided a spectacular view.
From versailles we went on to Louvre museum.Having read Da vinci Code i was very keen to have a look at it.But the museum with 3 sections is so huge that it would take one day per section on an average to get a good feel of the place.Since we had only 1 hr: in hand for the place we headed straight to Denon Section where Monalisa was kept.Had a great view of the same although i want artistic enuf to find anything really different abt: it.After covering the louvre musem we took an open bus tour which took us around all the major places in paris.On the same day we left back to brussels.That day night was spent in brussels itself
27th March,2005
On 27th march we had a big "aappe" awaiting us.That day was scheduled for Amsterdam(Holland). We had asked for the bus to arrive at Hotel Generation Europe at 6,45 am in the morning.Our lead venkat had been put up at his friends place that day in brussels and i went down by around 5,45 am to give a call to confirm the schedule for the day.To my utter surprise i found the bus driver waiting at the hotel.I was sure that it was only 5,45 am.On checking up it was found that they had advanced the timing by 1 hour across Europe as a part of daylight saving.Since we were not aware of this change it was a totally unexpected shock for us.Immediately everyone was informed of the same.More that half the people were still asleep unaware of the mishap(We had to pay 25 euros extra for every additional hour toward the charted bus!!!!!!).Every one got ready in a matter of 25 min: and boarded the bus to Amsterdam.
Man!!!bus to amsterdam is an experience to treaure for the rest of my life.The pleasent sight enroute from brussels to amsterdam is a treat for the eyes.Probably the only competation to this might be the one and only swiss.Holland is famous for the windmills and you can see a pleanty of them on the way.It is no surprise that the 4 hour drive was not a bit tiring.Our firs stop was at a place called Kuekenholf(It is a famous garden in the outskirts of Amsterdam).It was beginnning of spring and the flowers were just blooming.Nonetheless it was a very captivating sight to see a long bed of red and yellow flowers surronded on by stream to prevent tresspassing.We caought up a couple of other collegues out there who had been on a parallel tour to Luxemberg.After spending around 3 hours there we boaded bus to amsterdam.
Amsterdam is referred to as the venice of the north.It is around 30 min drive from Kuekenholf.Amsterdam experience again was something really pulsating.The roads are not as wide as those in Paris but nonetheless it does provide a good competation to Paris in terms of the no: of tourists strolling around in the city.Most of us were already famished and couldn't wait to get into some restaurent.As per our drivers expert opinion we headed straight to the Dame Square which is THE HAPPENING place in amsterdam.After ordering take away burgers our group proceeded straight to the stop opposite to Heineken office to embark on the next leg of Amsterdam exploration.The best way to have a look around the city of amsterdam is by boat.I proceeded strauight from Mcdee ahead of others to get the tickets for the boat ride.The boat was supposed to leave the dock in another 15 min and by the time our guyz reached the place it was a little too late.
We waited for the next boat for around 15 min.After getting into the boat every one was eager to occupy the window seat so as to get a good view through out the ride.The boat ride in amsterdam is a different experience altogether.There would be real time commentry through out the journey about various buildings on the side of the river.The boat ride lasted for about an hour after which we headed straight to the busy streets of amsterdam.We had only 1 hour left before our charted bus left back to brussels and hence we really had to hurry up.We headed straight to the Dame Street which was thronged by easter tour visitors.
The narrow street was lined by shops on either side.There were a couple of indian restaurents too.One place requires specific mention here.In amsterdam there's
a place referred to as RedLight Distict.As the name suggests it is purely a place for the unfortunate ones in the society to carry on with their business.It's placed
adjacent to the Dame Square.Out of sheer curiosity we took a stroll down this street too.But to my utter surprise there was no trace an aukward atmosphere at this place .There were lots of people walking by the line and this is considered just another business just like you sell hot pan cake or run a hotel.There's no stigma attached to it.Having seen of lot of bollywood and kollywood movies,a walk at a place like this was a very different experience indeed.
After about an hour we assembled back at the stop opposite to the Heineken buiding.All the people were dead tired and wanted to get inside the bus and have a nice
sleep.The return trip was a quiet one barring the jarring noice from a couple of excited girls who supposedly played anthakshari.After some deliberation it was decided that we would have our dinner back at brussels rather than the Mc:Donalds from where we had our breakfast earlier the day in our way to amsterdam.
We reached brussels by around 10.30 pm.After keeping our items back in the room we headed straigt to the Egyptian restaurant from where we had the arab dish "filafil".
At the hotel we rejoined with our luxemberg members mahesh,viji and KRS.KRS took us thru his luxemberg experience in brief.Everyone was dead tired and wanted to hit the bed early so as to go in full force for the final day of the tour.
28th March,2005
This was the last day of the great tour filled with fun and excitement all the way.This day was reserved fully for belgium which was our base for the entire tour.
And our orginal commander in chief had rejoined the group(KRS,Magesh and Viji had been to the luxemborg leg of the tour and rejoined us on the final day) to lead the team in full force.
All of us had got assembled at the basement of the hotel by 9.00 pm.After having a sumptous breakfast,we got ready for the cycle tour.This was going to be an altogether different experience for me and it really did.We took a cab straight to cyclists house(Arthi,sheeba and indumathi joined with venkat aluruv and his family and headed straight to see brussels by open bus tour) .Out there all of us were given a cycle.After initial round of practise in and around the cyclists house we got geared up cover brussels by cycle tour.We were joined by the guide Ellen who turned out to be an excellent one.
Our first pit stop was the main town centre at brussels.Ellen expained us that during the normal week days ,the place would be absolutely crowded and cycling
would have been absolutely impossible.Brussels is very distinct from france or amsterdam in the sense that you hardly find any activity out here.The place is mainly renouned for the huge constructions in and around the city.As she was explaining about brussels,it started drizzling slightly!!!!We thought that it might dampen the tour but on the contrary the drizzle provided an added excitement to the tour.
From the city square we headed straight to a park.The park was a lush green one and was borded by a huge building which was a library.It was a meeting place for many of the european delegated who assemble at brussels very often.Brussels was the head quarters of the European Union since it was strategically located.Our next stop was Schumann Square.Michael Schumann was the person who conceptualised the idea of a single Europe.He worked towards the formation of European Union.He is treated with high regard in Belgium.Near to schumann square was the EU headquarters.It was a huge building which was used as the office for the delegates of EU.
From there we went straight to an open area from where an over all view of the city could be seen.A lot of cameras flashed at this point.Adjacent to this open space was memorial for one of the first kings of belgium.At this point most of us feeling tired after a long tour and wanted to take a desperate break.On public demand, ellen took us straight to a coffee pub where in couple of us had strong coffee and a few of us helped themselves with a dose of full glass beer.
Our next pit stop was the central church in belgium.Enroute the church,we came cross the Federal House in Belgium.Ellen went on to explain us the complex architecture of belium governance.Belgium was primarily composed of 3 communities namely French Community,Flemmish Comminity(Same as the Dutch Community) and German Community.Each of these had independent areas of governance and also had seperate houses.All of them was headed by the federal house.Any change in the city warrented the approval of the suitable community under which the area came under.For eg: if a flemmish school had to be built at the french community area,it reqiured the approval of the french house.Every citizen in belgium had to cast vote for his respective comminity,the community in which he stayed(in case it is different) and also to the federal house.
The leg of cycle tour after the break turned out to be even more interesting.Our next pit stop was a huge church at belgium.It is told that any christian who wants to get married ceremonoislu comes to this church.Adjacent to the church was the famous Manacan Piss.Manacan Piss is considered as a symbol for belgium.It's a statue of a child pissing::)))).There are a lot of stories associated with Manacan Piss.One of the common ones was told by Ellen.There was a rich man in belgium who lost his child.He made a proclamation that he would make a statue of his kid in the posture in which he found it.Coincidently the child was found pissing and he made a statue as per his word:It subsequently became an icon of belgium.
From Manacan Piss we pedellad down to the House of Justice.This was a huge biulding which was synonymous to the Supreme Court in India.One could either pedel to get to the top of the bouilding or use an escalator.A couple of us preferered to pedel all the way up but had to take a few pit stops on the way to the top.::)))).Our memorable tour was coming to an end and we had covered almost 3/4 of the city by pedal!!!!!After a wonderful tour round the city we went back to the cyclists house and parked our cycle.
It was around 2.00 pm and we had to hurry for the final part of the tour which was the mini europe.Ellen was also going in the same direction and she helped us to get the tickets for the train.It was fully automated system and u can insert euros and get the ticket.Mini Europe was around 30 minutes from cyclist house.
Mini Europe is theme park which contains the miniature version of all the major monuments in Europe.The monuments being displayed has been choosen on the basis of various parameters like historical significance etc.All the major monuments like Eiffel Tower ,Leaning Tower of Pisa,Clock of London etc would be found there.Monuments were biult in the ratio of 1:25 with respect to the actual monument size.The only problem was that the monuments were not properly organised and laballed.Hence to understand each and every one of them entailed a lot of searching in the catalogue that was given to us.After grabbing a a qiuck pizza we had to hurry back to the Generation Europe where in we had kept our baggages.After picking up the baggages,we headed straight to the Charleroi airport where in we took the flight to Stockholm.
In the flight KRS Viji and Magesh shared their wonderful experience of the Luxemburg leg of the journey.They had spent first day at Luxemburg which was supposed to picturesque one.They had explored a forest in Luxemberg!!!!!The second and third day of their journey was spend in Amsterdam.In a addition to the places we covered they had also gone to a couple of musems like Van Gough museum where in Magesh and Viji had got one of his painting too.Their final day was in belgium where in Magesh and Viji had gone on to buy diamonds in Antwerp.
We landed back at the Skavasta airport back at 10.15 pm local time.It took us another 1.15 to get back to T central from where i took the train back to our house.The excitement of the tour was still lingering fresh in my mind but the sleep was getting the better of me.I hit the bed straight away on reaching home.... But the fun and the frolic we had through out the tour was something to remember for the rest of our lives........
All of us were in full spirit and were all gerared up for the four days of excitement.We started from office by around 3.00 pm after completion of drop 3 delivery for the april release.From there we took the conventional No 1 bus to Gardet station and switched on the train to T centralen.
At T Centralen we were supposed to take the bus to Skavasta Airport from where we were to take Ryan Air Flight to Brussels.Ryan Air was one of the cheap flights that was available to get around Europe.All these flights had their own aerodromes very much in the outskirts of the city as a part of cost cutting measure.The aeodrome foir Ryan Air was located at a place called Skavasta and we had to get there from the main city.Surprisingly on the day we were starting there was a drastic change in temperature:The day before that measured -4 deg celcius and that day the temp saw a drastic jump to +12 deg celcius.The summer was gradually getting started in stockhoim but such a change was frankly not expected.
The bus jouney to Skavasta was not a very eventful one.There was heavy traffic enroute and it took us almost 2.5 hours to get there.On waching the airport,we checked in our bagages and underwent the security procedured which were not very strict at all.After grabbing a couple of sandwhiches
we finally made our way to the flight.The Ryan Air FLight was not as big as the conventional flight.being a log cost flight it operated in a coast effetcive mode(Similar to the Deccan Airback home).You had to pay for any and every item at the flight like food,entertainment etc.Myself and Magesh played scratch and win game for fun...Got 2 scrached right but as was expected the third one didn't match..
Finally by 11.00 pm local time we reached brussels.At the airport we checked out our baggages.We had arranged for a charted bus to pick us from the airport.There were a set of 3 hotels booked namely Sabena,De Boeks and Van Belle.Myself,Sami,Gilli Raajesh along with Rathi,Tamil and Indumathi were out up in Sabena..After having the packed up dinner from Stockhom ,we hit the bed straight away.
25th March,2005
The beginning of the day was exciting indeed.We had to take the Eurolines bus from Brussels to Paris at 6.00 am.Eurolines bus stop was supposed to be close to the Sabina Hotel.We started from the hotel at 5.15 am.Even after walking for around 30 min: we cold nt find the place.Unfortunately for us there were very few people on the road at that time and even whoim we met couldn't speak proper english.Finally after some nail biting moments we got to the bus stop by around 5.55 am.From the Eurolines bus stop at we took a bus to Paris.It was round 10.30 am when we reached paris.After a bit of struggle we managed to get the train tickets which was valid for 2 days and also a pass to the versailles station(getting to versailles needed a separate train pass which can be procured from any station in Paris).From there we got hold of map of the rail route of paris.Man paris rail route is really really complicated one.Locating a particular colour roure itself took some time forget locating a station.Our boarding was a at a stop called Richard LeNoir which was in the pink Line.It took us around 30 min to get there.We had booked our rooms at St:Sabastein Hotel there.
On checking in ur baggages at the hotel out there we started exploring the city.Paris is really wonderful .Itzzzzzhappening city.Everywhere you can see crowd buzzling around the streets and it gives a very lively touch.First we went to Arc De truimph in Paris.This is built in commemeration of generals who gave up their life for france.From the top of the arc you get a spectacular view of Paris where 12 roads meet.One of those 12 is the busiest street in Paris named Champs Elyssee.Since it was easter hols,there was a lot of crowd out there.
From Arc de Truimph we went stratight to Eiffer Tower.This tower was built in 1889 by french architect Gustavo Eiffel.After waiting for around 1 hr in the queue we got to the top of the tower.Man it was really superb from there.Fortunately for us even at 8.00 pm in the evening it was just like 4.00 pm and hence we got an extended time out there.The entire paris could be seen with a birds eye view from this 188 feet giant monument.By around 8,30 pm they switched on the light and it got even more spectacular!!!After spending time there till 11,00 pm we got back to our to our our stop Richard Le Noori.Immedaitely on getting out of the stop we found an Indian Restaurent to much of our relief.On enterig the restaurent we found that it was run by Tamil People.Their hospitality knew no bounds.
They were too happy to have us there and got all the dishes pretty fast...They even gave us a discount of 10 Euroes towards the end.The sumptous dinner with "apun ka Indian Items" came only 90 Euros for 8 of us.With the satisfation of having met our own people at this foreign land we walked got back to our hotel.
26th March,2005
The next day morning we got on our way to the versailles museum in paris.The place had an aura of ancient age and gave us a g´feeling of having gone some 200 yeards back.That's the speciality of paris...u have place luike versailles which is very old and a place like chaps ellysse which is nothing bus modern.At Versailles there was a lot on display about the monarchy in paris during early days.The park on the adjacent side with fountains also provided a spectacular view.
From versailles we went on to Louvre museum.Having read Da vinci Code i was very keen to have a look at it.But the museum with 3 sections is so huge that it would take one day per section on an average to get a good feel of the place.Since we had only 1 hr: in hand for the place we headed straight to Denon Section where Monalisa was kept.Had a great view of the same although i want artistic enuf to find anything really different abt: it.After covering the louvre musem we took an open bus tour which took us around all the major places in paris.On the same day we left back to brussels.That day night was spent in brussels itself
27th March,2005
On 27th march we had a big "aappe" awaiting us.That day was scheduled for Amsterdam(Holland). We had asked for the bus to arrive at Hotel Generation Europe at 6,45 am in the morning.Our lead venkat had been put up at his friends place that day in brussels and i went down by around 5,45 am to give a call to confirm the schedule for the day.To my utter surprise i found the bus driver waiting at the hotel.I was sure that it was only 5,45 am.On checking up it was found that they had advanced the timing by 1 hour across Europe as a part of daylight saving.Since we were not aware of this change it was a totally unexpected shock for us.Immediately everyone was informed of the same.More that half the people were still asleep unaware of the mishap(We had to pay 25 euros extra for every additional hour toward the charted bus!!!!!!).Every one got ready in a matter of 25 min: and boarded the bus to Amsterdam.
Man!!!bus to amsterdam is an experience to treaure for the rest of my life.The pleasent sight enroute from brussels to amsterdam is a treat for the eyes.Probably the only competation to this might be the one and only swiss.Holland is famous for the windmills and you can see a pleanty of them on the way.It is no surprise that the 4 hour drive was not a bit tiring.Our firs stop was at a place called Kuekenholf(It is a famous garden in the outskirts of Amsterdam).It was beginnning of spring and the flowers were just blooming.Nonetheless it was a very captivating sight to see a long bed of red and yellow flowers surronded on by stream to prevent tresspassing.We caought up a couple of other collegues out there who had been on a parallel tour to Luxemberg.After spending around 3 hours there we boaded bus to amsterdam.
Amsterdam is referred to as the venice of the north.It is around 30 min drive from Kuekenholf.Amsterdam experience again was something really pulsating.The roads are not as wide as those in Paris but nonetheless it does provide a good competation to Paris in terms of the no: of tourists strolling around in the city.Most of us were already famished and couldn't wait to get into some restaurent.As per our drivers expert opinion we headed straight to the Dame Square which is THE HAPPENING place in amsterdam.After ordering take away burgers our group proceeded straight to the stop opposite to Heineken office to embark on the next leg of Amsterdam exploration.The best way to have a look around the city of amsterdam is by boat.I proceeded strauight from Mcdee ahead of others to get the tickets for the boat ride.The boat was supposed to leave the dock in another 15 min and by the time our guyz reached the place it was a little too late.
We waited for the next boat for around 15 min.After getting into the boat every one was eager to occupy the window seat so as to get a good view through out the ride.The boat ride in amsterdam is a different experience altogether.There would be real time commentry through out the journey about various buildings on the side of the river.The boat ride lasted for about an hour after which we headed straight to the busy streets of amsterdam.We had only 1 hour left before our charted bus left back to brussels and hence we really had to hurry up.We headed straight to the Dame Street which was thronged by easter tour visitors.
The narrow street was lined by shops on either side.There were a couple of indian restaurents too.One place requires specific mention here.In amsterdam there's
a place referred to as RedLight Distict.As the name suggests it is purely a place for the unfortunate ones in the society to carry on with their business.It's placed
adjacent to the Dame Square.Out of sheer curiosity we took a stroll down this street too.But to my utter surprise there was no trace an aukward atmosphere at this place .There were lots of people walking by the line and this is considered just another business just like you sell hot pan cake or run a hotel.There's no stigma attached to it.Having seen of lot of bollywood and kollywood movies,a walk at a place like this was a very different experience indeed.
After about an hour we assembled back at the stop opposite to the Heineken buiding.All the people were dead tired and wanted to get inside the bus and have a nice
sleep.The return trip was a quiet one barring the jarring noice from a couple of excited girls who supposedly played anthakshari.After some deliberation it was decided that we would have our dinner back at brussels rather than the Mc:Donalds from where we had our breakfast earlier the day in our way to amsterdam.
We reached brussels by around 10.30 pm.After keeping our items back in the room we headed straigt to the Egyptian restaurant from where we had the arab dish "filafil".
At the hotel we rejoined with our luxemberg members mahesh,viji and KRS.KRS took us thru his luxemberg experience in brief.Everyone was dead tired and wanted to hit the bed early so as to go in full force for the final day of the tour.
28th March,2005
This was the last day of the great tour filled with fun and excitement all the way.This day was reserved fully for belgium which was our base for the entire tour.
And our orginal commander in chief had rejoined the group(KRS,Magesh and Viji had been to the luxemborg leg of the tour and rejoined us on the final day) to lead the team in full force.
All of us had got assembled at the basement of the hotel by 9.00 pm.After having a sumptous breakfast,we got ready for the cycle tour.This was going to be an altogether different experience for me and it really did.We took a cab straight to cyclists house(Arthi,sheeba and indumathi joined with venkat aluruv and his family and headed straight to see brussels by open bus tour) .Out there all of us were given a cycle.After initial round of practise in and around the cyclists house we got geared up cover brussels by cycle tour.We were joined by the guide Ellen who turned out to be an excellent one.
Our first pit stop was the main town centre at brussels.Ellen expained us that during the normal week days ,the place would be absolutely crowded and cycling
would have been absolutely impossible.Brussels is very distinct from france or amsterdam in the sense that you hardly find any activity out here.The place is mainly renouned for the huge constructions in and around the city.As she was explaining about brussels,it started drizzling slightly!!!!We thought that it might dampen the tour but on the contrary the drizzle provided an added excitement to the tour.
From the city square we headed straight to a park.The park was a lush green one and was borded by a huge building which was a library.It was a meeting place for many of the european delegated who assemble at brussels very often.Brussels was the head quarters of the European Union since it was strategically located.Our next stop was Schumann Square.Michael Schumann was the person who conceptualised the idea of a single Europe.He worked towards the formation of European Union.He is treated with high regard in Belgium.Near to schumann square was the EU headquarters.It was a huge building which was used as the office for the delegates of EU.
From there we went straight to an open area from where an over all view of the city could be seen.A lot of cameras flashed at this point.Adjacent to this open space was memorial for one of the first kings of belgium.At this point most of us feeling tired after a long tour and wanted to take a desperate break.On public demand, ellen took us straight to a coffee pub where in couple of us had strong coffee and a few of us helped themselves with a dose of full glass beer.
Our next pit stop was the central church in belgium.Enroute the church,we came cross the Federal House in Belgium.Ellen went on to explain us the complex architecture of belium governance.Belgium was primarily composed of 3 communities namely French Community,Flemmish Comminity(Same as the Dutch Community) and German Community.Each of these had independent areas of governance and also had seperate houses.All of them was headed by the federal house.Any change in the city warrented the approval of the suitable community under which the area came under.For eg: if a flemmish school had to be built at the french community area,it reqiured the approval of the french house.Every citizen in belgium had to cast vote for his respective comminity,the community in which he stayed(in case it is different) and also to the federal house.
The leg of cycle tour after the break turned out to be even more interesting.Our next pit stop was a huge church at belgium.It is told that any christian who wants to get married ceremonoislu comes to this church.Adjacent to the church was the famous Manacan Piss.Manacan Piss is considered as a symbol for belgium.It's a statue of a child pissing::)))).There are a lot of stories associated with Manacan Piss.One of the common ones was told by Ellen.There was a rich man in belgium who lost his child.He made a proclamation that he would make a statue of his kid in the posture in which he found it.Coincidently the child was found pissing and he made a statue as per his word:It subsequently became an icon of belgium.
From Manacan Piss we pedellad down to the House of Justice.This was a huge biulding which was synonymous to the Supreme Court in India.One could either pedel to get to the top of the bouilding or use an escalator.A couple of us preferered to pedel all the way up but had to take a few pit stops on the way to the top.::)))).Our memorable tour was coming to an end and we had covered almost 3/4 of the city by pedal!!!!!After a wonderful tour round the city we went back to the cyclists house and parked our cycle.
It was around 2.00 pm and we had to hurry for the final part of the tour which was the mini europe.Ellen was also going in the same direction and she helped us to get the tickets for the train.It was fully automated system and u can insert euros and get the ticket.Mini Europe was around 30 minutes from cyclist house.
Mini Europe is theme park which contains the miniature version of all the major monuments in Europe.The monuments being displayed has been choosen on the basis of various parameters like historical significance etc.All the major monuments like Eiffel Tower ,Leaning Tower of Pisa,Clock of London etc would be found there.Monuments were biult in the ratio of 1:25 with respect to the actual monument size.The only problem was that the monuments were not properly organised and laballed.Hence to understand each and every one of them entailed a lot of searching in the catalogue that was given to us.After grabbing a a qiuck pizza we had to hurry back to the Generation Europe where in we had kept our baggages.After picking up the baggages,we headed straight to the Charleroi airport where in we took the flight to Stockholm.
In the flight KRS Viji and Magesh shared their wonderful experience of the Luxemburg leg of the journey.They had spent first day at Luxemburg which was supposed to picturesque one.They had explored a forest in Luxemberg!!!!!The second and third day of their journey was spend in Amsterdam.In a addition to the places we covered they had also gone to a couple of musems like Van Gough museum where in Magesh and Viji had got one of his painting too.Their final day was in belgium where in Magesh and Viji had gone on to buy diamonds in Antwerp.
We landed back at the Skavasta airport back at 10.15 pm local time.It took us another 1.15 to get back to T central from where i took the train back to our house.The excitement of the tour was still lingering fresh in my mind but the sleep was getting the better of me.I hit the bed straight away on reaching home.... But the fun and the frolic we had through out the tour was something to remember for the rest of our lives........
8 comments:
I would suggest you also add your voice to this text!
That would be simbbly terrific!
This is really amazing....
I feel i've been left out....
Hi Nandan,
While reading this, I felt I had been with u guys all the way. It was simply gr8 !!!
By the by, are u sure it is not a copy-paste??
cheers
Lekshmi
Hi Nandan.. You seemed to have had a wonderful time... and i am sure i missed the FUN !! Please take me also with you next time when you plan for one. U seemed to be a very interesting Person.
Cheers
Note:I dont check this very often. You can send in a one liner to my email shri_kavya@yahoo.com whenever u write one.
RK, like many others I'm glad you blogged your travel experience. Felt like i was guided through it. But it really REALLY missing pictures. Your next trip should have plenty of them! :)
RK, like many others I'm glad you blogged your travel experience. Felt like i was guided through it. But it really REALLY missing pictures. Your next trip should have plenty of them! :)
Hey that was a great one... felt good to read your experience. But like Riz said pictures would have surely helped..!!!
hey RKg, SUPPPPPERB yaar!felt like i was seeing all those wonderful places u were talking abt.
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