Weekend in Mullerthal, Luxembourg

August 2017.
Summer of this year is just setting on its horizon. And I have the last opportunity to venture in Europe before I travel to Calcutta for Durga Puja.

The advantage of being on a lookout for something different is - you always end up finding the most awkward yet beautiful, splendid yet less touristy places. Mullerthal trail in Luxembourg is one such place.

Luexmbourg is one of the smallest states in Europe and it is one of Europe's landlocked country i.e the country is surrounded by land on all its sides. The capital city of the country, also called Luxembourg is a mix of old and new Europe. On one hand it has evidence of WorlWarII trenches and war shelters, medieval architecture, 18th century arched bridges and cathedrals; On the other hand, it has broad streets, modern museums, planned gardens, electronic automobiles, private jet hangars and so on.

A little far from the capital city, bordering Germany lies the sub-region called Mullerthal. It is also referred to as the Luxembourg's Little Switzerland. Its a long stretch of over 100Km over the green mountains and valleys, crossing streams, waterfalls, forests on the mountains. It is this green trail with breathtaking views that we were about to hike.

But Alas! The day we arrived at Mullerthal, the region received a scanty rainfall. It was more like a drizzle than a heavy shower. But the local tourist office warned us that the weather looked dicey and the mountain routes were very slippery. They didn't allow us to do the hike we wanted to. There are 3 Routes in that region that you can hike. We wanted to do Route 3 which is the longest, most adventurous and more scenic than Route 1 & 2. I was absolutely disappointed. Being adamant about doing a hike, we were at last given permission to do half of the Route 2. We set off on our feet with a snickers bar and a bottle of water.

The trail we followed was a short 14-15 KM hike with lots of ups and downs, typical hilly routes through forests and green pastures and some occasional streams and ponds. It did not have any gorgeous waterfall or deep thrilling gorges but it was more than enough to uplift our mood. Having showered in rain, the green mountains looked greener and brighter. It was nature at its best. My hiking shoes might not agree with this statement as it was struggling with the frequent muddy glop at times.

The path was pretty empty, partly because of the rain, partly because this place was still safe from the commercial tourism. Exactly the kind I love.

We did not stop en-route and at the end of the hike, after all the uphills and downhills, our legs were pretty knackered. My friend even got a bad twitch in his left foot which troubled him for a few days later.

Our hike being done, we roamed around the cafe and the market places of the area. The whole attitude of the region seemed very relaxed; could be because it was on the weekend. The rain started picking up and my specs needed constant wiping. Finally I ended up buying an umbrella from one of the shops. If you know me, you would know, I somehow hate carrying umbrellas. :/

Inspite of all the rain and the initial dissappointment, the Mullerthal day was well spent. I had this hearty longing to come back to this place again someday to finish the hike I wanted to do. It was lovely.


The luxembourg city was equally interesting. The worldwarII tunnels and the shelters were amazing. You enter this cave like big stony structure and walk through the shady cave ways. As you make your way through it, it reveals itself like a very well thought out maze. Its absolutely different inside from its exterior look. The small holes that were used as windows and the holes that were used for firing in defence tell you tales of a difficult yet impressive past. What impresseses you is the intelligence and the perseverance of human beings when they are pushed to their extreme.

The city maintained its medieval look by preserving the royal palaces and buildings, arched bridges over the river.The city is very well planned with its broad parallel streets meeting the high streets at every junction. The high streets were lively with some random open air performances scattered here and there. There was a couple on a bicycle performing a balancing/dancing act with music; a middle aged man singing English songs and selling his Audio CDs; two tall men dressed as clowns and so on. Worth mentioning is a smallish French patisserie where we had an almond croissant each and a cafe called 'Paul' having the best coffee ever! My friend has become the biggest almond croissant fan from that day onward!


The long weekend got over so quickly that it felt like our trip came to an abrupt end. We were staying in IBIS which was very close to the airport. After a brisk 2.5 days, we were there in the same airport again waiting for our flight back to England.

However, my heart is still lurking in the winding trails of Mullerthal. I want to go back again and I want to hike along those big green beauties.

To Toulouse, France

December 2017. 

So it happened that the validity of my Schengen visa got over. And I was desperate to apply for a new Schengen visa as soon as possible. The single most reason behind this urgency was - I want to travel around as much as I can while I can. :)

To apply for a Schengen Visa, you have to book a trip and submit all the trip details along with your visa application. And for this time, I was looking for a French town that would be slightly different from the ones I have been before. Toulouse was the choice.

When you are staying alone in a foreign country, sometimes you miss the handy friends and family who are possibly eager to accompany you on your trips more than you are. So many a time, you are on your own. I almost decided to do another of my solo trip this time if needed. But pushing my patience and persistence to the limit, I did get a friend with me :) I am sure he would have been happier to be sat on his comfy sofa in front of the tele, tucked under a duvet. But me being me and him being him, we set out on the freezing streets of Toulouse in the early December of 2017. ^_^

Toulouse is called La Ville Rose or the Pink city. This is because of the pinkish terracotta bricks that are used in many buildings that adorn every street of the city. The city is near the French-Spanish border and the river Garonne flows through it. The river Garonne is quite popular in France as it flows through many French cities and towns and makes its way into Spain.

The best part of such French cities and towns is - you can walk around aimlessly and can absorb just anything and everything around you. They are pretty in their own way. You wouldn’t enjoy if you come with a touristy mindset of spot-visiting. One just has to soak in the surrounding.

We made our way through the lazy streets of the city into the buzzing main street, across the Pont Neuf Bridge over the river. This bridge is from the 16th/17th century and the arches give it a significant look. We walked by the river and continued walking along the Canal du midi. It is a narrow canal, the entire stretch of which is beautifully shaded by series of long trees by the side. My friend said you could actually sail through the entire stretch of this canal. We looked around a few museums scattered across the city and went inside some of the cathedrals. I was particularly awed by the church of the Jacobins. Its long towers are surreal and follow a palm tree structure around the top of the columns. Walking a little far from the center, you get to the green patch of the city gardens.The Jardins, with its neat greenery, the playful geese and swans, tiny streams and poodles and a very nice 'cake & coffee' place was equally pleasant.

Following the hustle of the city, we arrived at The Capitole, the city hall which opens up to a big central square or plaza. On our arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to find a Christmas market held in the plaza. Christmas market is sort of a funfair; there were makeshift tents, selling food, drinks and funky stuff. From one particular food stall, a very tempting cheesy oniony aroma filled the center of the market and we could see many people eating some white gooey blob of stringy cheese out of boxes. We trusted our nose and followed the smell and arrived at the deliciously smelling stall. Taking a quick look at the board, we found that the food box contains cheese, mash potatoes, onions, bacon, geese fat...Oooh feels fat and warm!

Oh by the way! did I mention? It was freaking cold in Toulouse whilst we were there. I had a thermal on, two layers of jumper and jacket, scarf, hat, two gloves, a pair of thick socks and still I was freeeeziingg the whole time! To my delight, there was a short drizzly snowfall one afternoon. Though I admit, I couldn’t sustain my excitement for long and we had to go inside a coffee shop to warm ourselves up.

We were staying in an Airbnb accommodation. It was a huge important-looking 19th century building with high ceilings, big heavy doors, long part-windows, winding staircase. I love this sort of place that smells of old stories and majestic build. I was instantly thankful to my friend who did the booking. The bnb place was also very central. It was literally on doorstep to one of the metro stations and a 2 minutes’ walk from the restaurant area of the city.

The other thing this city is famous for is its rugby and the highlight of the trip had to be the live rugby match. I have never seen an end to end rugby match, neither on the field nor on the tele. But if you are in Toulouse, a live Rugby match in the stadium is a must. So there we were, me learning the rules of the game just before the start. It was fun. The stadium came alive with a vibrating enthusiasm once the crowd settled in and within few minutes to the start, we were really engrossed into the game.

It was freezing and I stress, it was freezing cold. At half time, we went around to get some hot chocolate for which we stood in the queue for what felt like forever. And the hot chocolate we received was distasteful. Good part - we also got some Le Grand Frites from one of the snacks table and it was hot and yummy. Plus it was extra fun to see my friend speaking in French that the French girl couldn't comprehend.

The other highlight of the trip was the sudden sight of a beluga flying from the nearby airport. A beluga is a variant of the Airbus but it is a super transporter that carries aircraft parts. There is a hangar museum just on the outside of the city where you can actually view all the aircraft, possibly belugas as well. We couldn’t pay a visit to the museum due to time crunch but I imagine it would be extremely interesting.

The pink bricks, the green canal, the old bridge, the mesmerizing cathedrals, and the exciting rugby - I loved it all :)

Christmas in Peak District, England

December 2017.
2017 Christmas was unique for me. It was not a typical snow clad Christmas. There were few snowy drizzles but that's about it. But this was the first time I was spending the whole Christmas week with my friends and friend's family, an English family observing the typical local quirks of the festival, traditional, unique and very different from my usual Christmas back at home.

We drove up to Nottinghamshire where my friend's family lived. It was early in the morning and I was extremely pleased to find a service station as I was bursting for a wee :) trust me, these things are important when you are driving on a highway with as minimum service stations as possible. We reached their place about mid morning and to be honest, I was feeling a bit apprehensive at first. But everything became very homely soon!

The house was warm, comfy and had a picture perfect cutesy vibe about it. It was decorated with pretty showpieces and beautiful paintings and sweet family pictures. A nice Christmas tree stood in the corner looking over a little back garden. My Christmas day started with opening up gifts in the bed and a 'hulk mug' of hot coffee. Perfect huh? We had a turkey roast dinner at 1:30PM. Yes it's called 'dinner' even though it's at 'lunch' time and the meal in the evening is called 'tea' and tea is just a drink that is consumed every other hour throughout day and night. We also had a Christmas pudding on fire. I make it sound dramatic and in its own perky way, it was quite amusing. There was a highly calorific, rich, delicious Christmas pudding and a little rum was poured on top of it and a dim flame was lit on its side. The ritual is more fun than the visual. And for a first timer, of course, it's hugely interesting. To make things more interesting, Snowball made an appearance in the evening. No it's not what you think :) Apparently Snowball was a very popular drink in the 70's England. It has this yummy vanilla flavor and very 'more-ish'. It came in little glasses with cute cocktail umbrellas. To make my Christmas week even more memorable, the musicians in us emerged. There were some really good performances by my friend's brother and dad and few hilarious ones by me. For the first time in my life, I touched an accordion and made considerable noise. I even learned to play first few lines of an old English song 'Ain't got a barrel of money..' in the piano and played my own Bengali 'Rabindrasangeet' songs; couldn't really play both the octaves simultaneously, but played some tunes whatsoever. It was fun.

The place Nottinghamshire is in the middle of the country of England, typically called the midlands. And very close by is Derbyshire, a part of the Peak district. The dry winter didn't bring out the green in all the places but even then Nottinghamshire seemed very cosy. We had a good walk around the Wolaton park and Elvaston park, the old village town. When I first heard about Elvaston park I actually thought it has got something to do with Elvis Presley. Pah! We took the mandatory selfie with the Robinhood statue and saw the castle of Robinhood. The street that winds down from the castle has got the oldest pub in England. The interior of the pub would take you to the 16th century immediately. If you love the smell of old mysterious walls, these 'yelde olde' pubs are definitely a must visit for you. We also went to a deer park and saw the manor house. There were two very brave deer who seemed unnerved by human presence. I stood very close to them but they didn't bother. However people were being warned of their gorgeous antlers that can turn out to be quite dangerous if required.

One sunny morning, we drove around Derbyshire. This place is lovely with its rolling hills and undulating lands, nice little streams and rivers. Very picturesque. We drove past Bakewell (Yes, we did talk about the famous Bakewell tart), up to the very royal Chatsworth house. Warm sunshine, cold hands and white ice sheets on the slope of the hills in the distance - it was all very worthy.

The midlands, the country sides, the greenery and the cosiness of the people and the place - my Christmas in the Midlands was well spent :)

Back from Berlin, Germany

January 2018.

Berlin was never really in my list of places to go to. Could be my ignorance or could be because all the scenic places always end up topping my list. I love nature. I do. But this time, I did book for Berlin, not really giving it much thought. A weekend away and looking for something different led me to the capital city of Germany – one of the most popular tourist attractions in Europe.

The first thought I had after spending half a day in the city was how big a fool I have been and what a terrible mistake it would have been if I didn’t do Berlin whilst I had my chance.

Berlin in a single word is overwhelming. The mind-boggling history, the sociopolitical scenes that still have got a very strong hold on the current system all around the world, being the pivot of the two ever conflicting social policy of capitalism and communism, it just blows your mind. You feel humble, you feel wise and in a way, the city makes you feel extremely philosophical.

I feel I need to learn a lot more about the world wars. It is not just history. It's interesting how the events of the past have such direct commands on today's socio-economic life. It definitely gives you a much better grip on the worldly affairs (not that I'm consistently interested in worldly matters, but you know what I mean. :))

How the big players in the world wars allied and got divided; how the whole world was a battle field (rather has always been in active terms until recent past. Or is it still on?); How the colonial rules played strategic roles in the world-wide events; How the cold war started and inflated its proportions so much so that not a single country in the world has been free of its impact even to this day. The countries which were under the colonial rules and have been used as the pawns all along still hold those evidences loud and clear in every aspect of their social and political chaos and economic struggle. The bishops and the knights are still in passive preparations while the kings and queens are in diplomatic dialogues.

To go through the events sequentially and minutely starting from the days of Pearl Harbor to the days of surrender by the Soviets and even to this day, everything opens up like a jigsaw puzzle solving a major mystery.

Makes you think if the Iron curtain is really lifted or is it still somewhere lingering in a vague limbo?

In my mind, it does open up new questions. Lots of them. Probably few very naive.
Do the actions of the communists/capitalists hold true to their ideologies?
Are all the parties not equally grey in this big event of war?
What impact do these ideologies had or still have on the countries at the grass root level?
Were the wars at all about an ideology or was it the common interest of power by each stakeholder?
What’s the divide of this ideology in the countries under colonial rule? And how does that shape up?
Is any of it worth? If not, how come the common people react to all such instigation?
And most importantly, are any of these histories skewed for anyone’s benefit?
Scary.

I know. I am just probably feeling a bit hefty after the humbling history overdose over the weekend.

To be fair, there is a lot more in this city than history. There is some extraordinary creativity in terms of architecture, art, diverse industries and impressive technology. Walking by the river Spree into the Museum Island would take you to the many museums in the area. The impressive parliamentary building of Reichstag and the Berlin Dome stand out. The famous television tower stands tall and can be seen from almost anywhere in the city. A nice stretch of green in the Tiergarten leading to some beautiful memorials will soothe down your thirst for greenery. To add to all of this, we were also lucky to enjoy an open-air performance by a local music band in the Brandenburg Gate. What a package tour it was! 

But what stirred me most were the Checkpoint Charlie and the East Open Gallery showcasing the Berlin wall graffiti and the history behind it all. Stays with you a long time after the trip. 

Hello.

This is a simple travel blog. Perhaps like many other blogs that you might find floating around in the web world. This is my travel diary and the experiences or realizations that I have had on my journey. This is as much for you as it is for myself. In places it might be more about feelings than facts. So even if this might not be very informative but would sure help you discover a lot, in your own way. (Or so I hope)

This is my second attempt to pen down my travel experiences. My first attempt was a mash up of feelings and facts - a very extensive, informative and very close-to-heart journal. But my hard disk crashed and along with that all my treasured write ups were wiped out of existence. Shtoopid eh? :(

So, this time, I'm trying to be bit clever and publish it on the site right away as well as taking backups. Better late than never :)

I plan to take this blog through my journey across places and how it helps me grow everyday. Enjoy :)