Bade bade deshon mein...

Well, where were we? (I decided to write something before the rich memories fade away to a box inside a tiny corner in my brain, hehe, just kidding. Most memories made in this trip are unforgettable). We leave early morning from Metz, France to advance our journey towards Germany & Switzerland. We start to become friends in the group. I forgot to tell you, there were close to 50 people in the group. On the way, we talk, we make noise, we sing, we look outside falling in love with the beauty that Europe possesses. We reach a lake called Tittisee bordering the Black Forest in Germany. Have you heard of this place? It was interesting to know that cuckoo clocks originated from this place. I remember I used to have a cuckoo clock at home quite a long time back, which used to chirp every hour. I turned nostalgic as I saw the wide range of cuckoo clocks available. Most of the people bought cuckoo clocks of varying sizes as a souvenir. The best part of that area was that it was flowery and colourful. So many natural colours!

We shop there for a while and famished as we were, we decided to have lunch somewhere in the short time that we had. After finishing a ready-to-eat pack from home but still hungry, we searched for some places to eat. We found a bakery and decided to have some cake. Let me tell you a small anecdote of what happened there. I wanted to know if there was egg in the cake. Being a vegetarian, I refrain from eating egg as much as possible. I tried explaining to the lady what an egg was and I didn’t succeed either. Ended up having the cake not knowing if it did contain egg. (My advice to vegetarians travelling to Europe: please carry a photo of an egg in your phone, helps very much. Ha ha. Just kidding.)

From there, we travel to Zurich, Switzerland. That thought excited me very much (Any SRK fan would agree with me here). How many times have you watched DDLJ? Your excitement will be proportional to that, I presume. We roamed the streets of Zurich on the banks of a lake & ate at an Indian restaurant. After a wonderful night in Zurich, we start to Lucerne. Here, we buy the famous cowbells (again, refer DDLJ) in different sizes. We have the local Macarones and Swiss chocolates. There was a reason they were all famous. They were amazing, so tasty, they melted in my mouth.

Next, we went to Mt. Titlis via Engelberg on a cable car, while looking down at the picturesque scenery. A surprise awaited us at the top of the mountain. Life size portrait of SRK and Kajol in a DDLJ pose. It was pleasantly astonishing to find a poster there. Maybe, it was a way to attract Indian tourists there or maybe it was a tribute to SRK and Yashraj for their contribution to Europe tourism. All the snow around- a feel good atmosphere. It was -4 C at the top, a height of more than 3000 m. The snowballs, the snow-slides, the snowmen and the fun we had! It was so exciting. Holding snow in your hands (though, gloved), throwing it at each other, posing for numerous photos, trying to make our phone screens respond with our touch in between all the freezing, it was a beautiful experience.

And, after our epic tour, we had hot idlis and masala chai at the foot of the mountain in Engelberg in an Indian restaurant. (Though, I could have had around 60 idlis in India at the same price of 2 there, haha).

We bid goodbye to one of the most famous countries in Europe, everybody’s dream destination. On the way we take a detour to a smaller-than-Hyderabad sized country called Liechtenstein. There, we went to a flea market. It was such a small country. It still has a castle where the prince lives - a castle on top of the hill. Imagine living there royally!

We then start on our way to Austria & Italy.

To be continued..

(Some time soon, won’t keep you waiting that long this time)