Travelogue: Danke Deutschland, Merci LePari, Hey Brussels, Oh hell yeah!!

Part 1:

It was a usual day at work, and I found my co-workers chatting with each other about their trip to Germany. Both were not inclined to go as they recently had a kid. I volunteered as we were in the same sub team and for some time, I had no clue if I would be going. I was in two minds as the work was not terribly exciting but then this was my first trip to Europe. As usual, sat on my ass and did nothing about it; till it was time to book my visa and get moving. So after going through the messy regulations to get the visa done, I had my visa and flight tickets booked. I decided to take a few days off to wander around Europe. Not sure where to go I just booked my onward and return journey to Bonn and decided to take it from there, which I thought was a bad idea but it didn’t turn out that way. I had my opportunity to go to Germany before and even I had the visa but that didn’t work out. So I was guarded in my optimism about this trip, especially after all the efforts I put in to my Peru trip last year, which went down the drain.

And so I boarded the flight from San Francisco on 14th March, still not sure where I was going to hang out in Europe after work and not learning a word of German. I didn’t even have a clue of what are the places to visit in Bonn – you can get a sense of how lazy I am but trips without an iota of planning are a fascinating experience. A close friend helped me out and sent me some interesting things to check out.

On board the flight to London a Norwegian and another girl from Stanford kept me going till we reached London. A bit disappointed to see the messy Heathrow, also called Deathrow by the locals and a short stop over and I was on the flight to Köln (pronounced as Cologne by Englishmen and Kern by the Germans).

I was so tired that I had no clue when the flight took off and landed. And there I was in Deutschland. The immigration was a breeze, all they asked me was my passport and they were very courteous - To the Border Patrol Guys at US immigration center- I guess its time for you folks to learn something. A taxi took me to Bonn on the famous Autobahn in 30 minutes. I was hoping I would get a chance to drive on it soon ☺. Did I mention the awesome Lufthansa staff with the golden scarves? The smiling faces of the Hilton folks greeted me. Met my teammate and we walked around the Bonn city center. Had dinner at a typical German restaurant called Bonnsch – as we were in Bonn. They brew their own German beer and it was out of this world. They have classic glasses where they have dents for the digits on the glass so that you don’t need a handle. We hung around the city center for a little while longer, mingled with the local crowd and learnt a bit of German. Bonn is a small town on the banks of Rhine and is a university town and yeah, lots of good looking girls. I was under the impression that German women are not that feminine in nature, but boy of boy was I wrong. So we returned to the hotel at about 10 pm and my teammate retired to his room. As it was Saturday night, I decided its time to check out the night scene in Bonn. Asked the courteous hotel staff and went to a club nearby. I was there at 11 pm and it hadn’t opened yet. The clubs in Germany start kicking in at midnight and are buzz with activity till 5 am. So this was a trance club and oh hell yeah! I guess I won’t write much about the wild things that were going on here else I will get into trouble ☺.

I found it a bit different from the US clubs in the sense that single guys don’t swoon over the single girls like they do in US clubs, its more about dancing and drinking with known people. I had an awesome time and I was back in my room at 3 am. A brilliant evening to start my day in Germany and did someone say jetlag?
Next day, I took a walk by the Rhine, and walked around the town a bit more. Sunday is a lazy day in Europe with most of the shops closed. People are either at their home or at the church. After working for a couple of hours in the afternoon, yeah did I forget to mention that I was on a work trip, we took a stroll to visit the great Beethoven’s house.

Took a tour, had coffee in one the cafes. Did I mention that German girls just blew me away – the poise, the composure and of course they are hot. If I only I knew some more German, even though by now I had picked up a few words to start a conversation. We decided to drive down on the famous Autobahn to have dinner at a fancy restaurant at Köln. So the two of us drove the Mercedes that we rented and were speeding away. It was raining but we still touched close to 200 kmph with the intention of touching 250 the next day when the weather was better. Little did we realize, until the next day, that only a 7 km stretch had no speed limits and the rest was restricted at 120 kmph. Would have been another experience to have the car impounded. Had dinner at the Maritime hotel, which was a 5 star hotel at Köln with awesome views of the city and the Rhine.

The next 3 days were spent at work, which tuned out to be more interesting that I thought since I got to meet many interesting people, including Sarah, and had some fascinating lunch conversations. The people we were visiting treated us but it also made me realize how great it is at my work place with the lack of hierarchy and bureaucracy. Went to Bonnsch again with the entire team.

It was Wednesday and I was still not sure which city I would be visiting on the Easter weekend. Wanted to go to the lala land but the prediction of snow cancelled that plan. The toss was between Berlin and Paris and an experienced guy told me – it has to be Paris. So I booked my hotel and train one day before going. It being a 4-day weekend in Europe I had to shell out a lot of money, and was obviously a bit upset about it for not having planned it before and saved some mullah. A close friend happily bore the brunt of my frustration. Its great having people like her around.

On Wednesday, I asked Sarah out and she graciously agreed to show my around Köln. Got some German chocolates at Hesley, a famous shop in Bonn and an Easter gift. Thursday was Autobahn day –drove a lot on the Autobahn the entire day marked by trips to small cities like Kongsberg, and nearby areas to see the countryside and get some work done. In the evening, went out with Sarah to Köln. She took me to a place from where you could see the entire city and must I say wow!






We then crossed the Rhine and went to the famous dome, Mondrian museum and hung out in the city. Spent some time walking around the city and talking in the café over a cup of coffee. Learnt a lot about how the Germans think and feel about the Second World War. I expected a few more monuments in Bonn, being the capital of West Germany and was surprised to see none.




It was time to say Danke Deutschland and viva Parisle

Travelogue: Danke Deutschland, Merci LePari, Hey Brussels, Oh hell yeah!!

Part 2:

The train ride to Paris was great. My co-passenger was an middle aged women from Brussels. Got a sight of the countryside and the wonderful farmlands in Brussels; and so on Friday afternoon I was in Le Paris. I had no clue where my hotel was, and what I wanted to see in the city. Got all the maps form the train station visitor center, marked out my hotel map and studied the metro map. And off I was to the hotel in the metro. For me, this was the perfect example of exploring the city. Checked into the hotel and whoa was it small or what? I paid close to 200 $ for 2 nights and the space in the room was enough for just a single bed and a case – I guess that’s what you get in a city. Went on a cruise on the Seine river and ‘lalala’ with the full moon in the background, the river and the monuments it was a sight. The river cuts across the city and you get to see the Eiffel tower, Notre Dam and all the other famous sights from the boat. Had an enthusiastic crowd with me on the boat and there was lot of screaming going around as we went under the 37 bridges that span the river.

Paris is a beautiful city especially for a couple but in my case, who cared? French girls are beautiful but too extravagant in dressing and life style for my taste and so I would definitely prefer German women. I then decided to go to the trendy part of the city – Paris is divided into various sectors and the map told me exactly where I had to go. I had dinner – French wine and bread in a traditional French restaurant and wandered into a French bar. Met a Tunisian bartender, Muhammad, and he was friendly bar tender. A couple of drinks and chatting around with him, I saw a guitar being passed to me and something said to me in French. I just stared back and stared at the guitar for few minutes. The people around had a laugh and a guy came up to me and took the guitar. A small crowd had gathered around the table and a lady started singing beautiful French songs with the guy on the guitar. The songs and the atmosphere cannot be expressed in words. And of course, she sang the lovely song from Jules et Jim movie that I recently saw. I am so glad that I decided to explore Paris on my own rather than take one of those tours. After spending a couple of hours at the bar, it was midnight; I decided to checkout the nightlife. Searched for ‘something’ that my roommate asked me to get and it took me to interesting places, but I was unsuccessful in my attempts. ☺. I then ventured into a nightclub and this one beat the one I had visited in Germany – what more can I say! It was 3 am when I got out and with the metro shut down I had to take a taxi to the hotel. Was surprised to see Paris still alive and couples having fun, compared with the cities in the US. Was back at my room at 4 am. Getting to venture out in the city and staying till 4am on the very first night, gave me a lot of confidence about the city.

Next day got up at 9 am, spent a good deal of time at the Eiffel towers, Champs De Elysess. Took lot of ‘Patel’ snaps as I was threatened that I had to fill up at least 1 GB of memory card else face dire consequences. Met some folks from Holland and we had an interesting conversation about Holland, France, the differences in the culture etc. They had just bought the movie “Tare Zamein Par” and I was taken by surprise. The guy then asked me a lot of questions about my work and later said that he works for an’ innovation in media ‘ company and was doing his PhD and that my thoughts were informative. I took a bus tour of the city visiting the tourist places like the Assembly, the various palaces, the museums, opera houses etc. Spent only a few minutes at some of the places and then headed over to the Louvre.

Spent the rest of the day at Louvre, a Polish couple gracefully gave me their unused tickets for free to save a few bucks from my already costly trip. For the uninitiated, Louvre is massive, the biggest museum in the world, and if you are into art or history you can spend weeks here. Saw the famed Mona Lisa painting and lots of other pieces of history. Napoleons mansion exhibits were placed and boy oh boy it was stunning. The only sour point of the museum and Paris in general, is the lack of use of other languages. Even the metro ticket vending machines are in French, and you can figure them out soon but the subtitles for all the exhibits, even those not from France, were only in French and that drove me nuts. Wandered around at night to see some place where the guidebook told me that I would find street artistes exhibiting their craft unfortunately, never found them probably because it was raining. After walking for an hour, hopped into a French brassiere, spent some time mingling and talking to strangers and off I was on the metro back to the hotel. And was I dog tired? I had no Internet connection and no phone connection, spent some time with the brilliant power hungry phone that I have to check my email that I had no clue when I dozed off.

Next day, up bright and early I went to the Invalides to get a glimpse of French history, revolution and the world wars. The armory used, attack of the Bastille, and life of the kings, the French part during the world wars – it was easy to note the bias towards France in the descriptions and audio-visuals. I then headed towards the Dome Church to see the tomb of Napoleon. Thankfully, they had an English audio version describing the church and the relics. I was then off to the famous Cathedral Notre Dame. And I was spell bound by the architecture, the spirals, and the large bell. If you are interested you can read about it on the net and it’s worth a read. Decided to climb the 422 steps to the towers and get a view of the city. Had to wait in line for 1 hour but it was worth every second. A couple of folks were gracious enough to hold my place for me, while I headed out to have some French crepes for lunch. I have had crepes before but having it on the roadside in Paris, is a different feeling all-together. I then spent sometime to visit the booksellers by the Seine, bought some gifts from my friends and family. Didn’t get a reasonably priced item that my roommate asked for, but got something interesting and lets see if he puts the effort to put it together. It was late afternoon and with my train back to Bonn in the night, I had a couple of choices – visit the State de France or Bastille that’s been converted into an Opera house. Given the sports fan that I am and the fact that it was not the original Bastille, it was the State de France. Took the RER – a fast train service to the State de France. The tour was scheduled for half past the hour and I didn’t have enough time to wait for it. The people at the State de France were gracious enough to let me in early. After seeing the stadium, I was just spellbound. I could feel the Mexican wave and Zidane and Henry playing – no I am not exaggerating, the people who know my love for sports will attest to this. The stadium was empty and grass being re-worked but just being there was something else – hope to see a Rugby world cup final or a word cup football match (yes I call it football since this is the real football, American football is more like Bangalore playing Mysore or Chennai playing Madurai).


State-de –France – where dreams really come true. Having exhausted my buffer time and the Metro taking much much longer for some reason that I had expected, I knew I was in trouble to catch my train. Told my taxi driver to get me there in time to get a good tip and thanks to the stupid drivers who parked their cars in the wrong places saw me miss by train by 2 minutes, yeah 2 minutes!

With the prospect of spending another night in Paris and getting my whole flight schedule messed up as I had to fly back, it was suggested that I take a series of local trains- from Paris to Brussels, Brussels to Liege-Guillemins, from Liege-Guillemins to Aachen (pronounced as Aaahen) and from there to Köln (Kern) and then to Bonn. With no tickets to any of these trains I decided to do it and I must say it was a blessing in disguise. Got to spend some time in Belgium as I had sometime between trains, ventured out in the streets of Brussels. Traveling in these local trains were not at all stressful, I was buying the tickets either on the train for the same price or at the local station. At a couple of places the time difference between the trains was just 10 minutes for me to alight, book the tickets and go to another platform to board the next train. I was so sure I am going to miss one of them but was pleasantly surprised as to how easy it was. The local trains were surprisingly fast and good. Met some German folks who got a drink and were having fun. I reached Bonn at 1 am and was greeted at the Hilton by folks who knew my name – yeah that feels great. After the brilliant trip I was back to getting some royal treatment courtesy my company. Got up early the next day and was pleasantly surprised to see snow falling in Bonn. I have been to places covered with snow, but never experienced walking in falling snow. Guess, the city had to be cleansed after my visit. I was off to Munich and frustrated again to see the extra security checks for US flights. I wondered as to why I end up getting bad seats at the back of the plane time and again, probably because I don’t check in before online. I went to the gate to get my boarding pass to Chicago and they fiddled around with their systems. “Today is your lucky day. We are going to fly you business class”, said the lady behind the counter. Looking at my beaming face she remarked, “Its these moments that make our job wonderful”. Having never traveled in business class before, I was excited. Hearing that its good and experiencing it are two totally different worlds. A funny incident to wrap up my trip. Sat at a coffee shop in the airport to have tea and my ignorance of the German script got me confused between salt and sugar. And I made the wrong choice. The people sitting in the next table were chukling away to glory.

A work trip combined with an unplanned pleasure trip that turned out to be an excellent backpacking trip – it was a memorable experience. Waiting for my next opportunity to explore other parts of Europe.