Day trip to Salzburg, Austria..

As I started writing this, i just realized how long it has been since I updated this..guess I need to travel more frequently:)

I am Munich for almost a week now, accompanying my husband on his work travel. So, last weekend we just decided to travel to Salzburg (just 2 hours on the local train at a reasonable cost of $26, using the Bayern Ticket). It was a beautiful Saturday morning and we boarded the train at 10:48 am from the Munich Main Station. My husband had already been to this beautiful Austrian city and always wanted to go there with me:) The entire stretch from Munich to Salzburg is extremely serene and the views are breathtaking..The small farms, and villages with the typical European houses, and the mighty snow peaked Alps in the background...indeed a treat to senses! It had snowed in Munich few days before, and the snow had not completed melted, adding to the beauty. We also saw Chiemsee on the way, and oh my!my!, what a beautiful place it looked...(I would love to visit it sometime in the summers). I just didn't realise how the two hour journey flew and we reached Salzburg at 12.48 pm. We made a quick inquiry at the info point about the travel card and whether our bayern ticket was valid in the city..the answer was a No and the lady at the counter was pretty cold..huh..so we just decided to walk around and explore the city using our offline map ( I use the Triposo guide on my iphone, and it is just so fabulous..tells us what to see, where to eat and shop et al.)

Mirabell Castle and Gardens

We took a left from the main station and move towards the main city. Our first destination was the Mirabell Gardens. It took us roughly 15 mins to reach the pretty gardens of Mirabell Castle. It is a beautiful place to visit and spend some quiet time..fountains, Pegasus Statue lot of beautiful sculptures and well manicured gardens:) Moraztuem University of Music and Arts is also around the castle.

Pigasus Statue in the Mirabell Gardens

Mozart Wohnhaus

Love Padlocks on the bridge

Mozart Birth House

From there, we walked further in the direction of the city centre and reached the Mozart Wohnhaus, house where Mozart had lived, on Makartplatz. We did not have the time to visit the museum inside, so just clicked some pics and moved ahead:).. From there we reached the Makartsteg Bridge, built over the Salzach river, that gives a breathtaking view of the city. What struck me instantly about this pedestrian bridge was the hundreds of love padlocks with names of it, symbolizing the eternal love.

Lasagne verdura and Pizza Margherita

Walking down the bridge we reached the old town, which gives you a feel of small quaint pebbled town..We first saw the Mozart's birth place there, the building where he was born and which was converted into a museum in 1800s. The area surrounding the building was buzzing with energy..lot of tourists eating and shopping. We located a nice italian restaurant near it, Spagetti & Co and had a sumptuous vegetarian meal..I can surely recommend this place to lasagna lovers:)..
There are beautiful sovuenier shops, chocolate shops, where one can buy the special Mozartkugel (chocolate balls, made of hazelnuts and pistachio)..these are extremely popular in the city.

Pferdeschwemme

Around the town we saw many historical buildings, toy museum, horse pond (Pferdeschwemme). We also saw another horse pond near the salzburg cathedral. These horse ponds were created at the time of Prince Arcbishops. The ponds were dry but looked beautiful nonetheless.

Kapitelschwemme

From there we walked down to the Residenzplatz, square in the old town that has the main cathedral (Dom) on one side and Residenz (Bishop′s Palace) and the Neue Residenz (New Bishop′s Palace) and a row of Medieval burgher houses on the others. Next to the Dom is Kapitelplatz, where we saw another beautiful horse pond, Kapitelschwemme,
that dates back to 1732. It was also the home to Pegasus statue which is now in the Mirabell Gardens. A huge golden ball with a human figure on the top also catches the fancy of tourists on Kapitelplatz. 

Kapitel Platz, Hohensalzburg castle (in the background)

Overlooking this square is a mighty castle, Festung Hohensalzburg, atop the Festungsberg mountains. One can go up the castle on the Festungsbahn (cable car) or just climb up. Unfortunately, we missed this on this trip because of time constraint. The view of the castle from the Kapitelplatz was extremely splendid.

Mozartkugeln

It was already 4:00pm, and we had planned to board our train back to Munich at 5:09 pm. So we decided to walk back to the main station and do some souvenier shopping. We bought some packs of these special chocolates for us and our friends:)

Salzburg City

All in all it was a great day, and I wish to make another visit to this mesmerizing city in summers, so that I could see the places that I had missed on this trip.

Three Days in Prague..

Just returned from Prague after having spent three wonderful days with hubby..loved everything about the city..its culture, architecture, scenic beauty, castles, pebbled street, walking along the Vltava river, night life, food, shopping.....This is how I had spent the three wonderful days in Prague:

Day 1

We reached the Florenc Bus Station at 6.30 in the morning (it was a seven hour overnight journey from Mannheim, Germany) and went straight to the metro bus station to catch line B (to reach our hotel near Luka)..We managed to find one ticket machine right at the bottom of the stairs, however unfortunately the machine only accepted coins (we wanted anyways two 3-day tickets that costs 330 CZK each and could not be bought from the machine).We went up again and decided to try our luck at the bakery right outside the metro..luckily the guy there spoke 'small' English, sold tickets and exchanged currency as well. We had carried 1100 CZK from Germany but gave away 300 CZK to a girl who was in need of the local currency in return to Euros. We bought a 3-day ticket. Anyways, after the initial delay, we finally managed to board the metro at 7.30 and reached our hotel at around 8...since the check in time was 2:00pm, we just dropped our luggage at the hotel reception and headed out..it was not really a sunny day, but with lots of people out on the streets on a Sunday, for a person from Kaiserslautern,  it was just perfectly compensated.

We first explored the Prague's Old Town starting with the famous Wenceslas Square..its a shopper's delight, great brands to shop from, lots of shops/kiosks to buy souvenirs and good food to complete it all.
Walking around the square, we admired the beautiful modern buildings, the ancient architecture and the artistic skills of Czechs.

Brick Maze...you could paint a brick yourself too!

Spray paint artist

Old Town Square

Astronomical Clock

This I feel is Prague's heart..you can find the beautiful 'Church of our lady before Tyn' and the Astronomical Clock there.


We also climbed to the top of the Old Town Hall Tower and it was totally worth it. One can see almost all the most important buildings of Prague from the top. The view that one gets of Prague from the top is beyond words...simply spectacular.
Then we wandered around the old tower and reached the Powder Gate, historically the entrance to the old town, Municipal House, Prague's most prominent Art Nouveau building 

Municipal House

Old Town

Church of our Lady before Tyn

Chocolate Museum

Just wandering around the place we also came across a Chocolate Museum, where you can see the making of and also try the finest Belgian Chocolates and order your own..and we also tried some interesting Czech rock candies in fruity flavours..



We had lunch at Zebra Asian Noodle Bar, and it was simply delicious. Green curry, tofu fried rice, mango lassi and pineapple juice. Being a vegetarian, I am usually wary of eating out at asian restaurants, but the ambience of this place was so amazing that I wanted to check out the menu, and I was not disappointed.

After spending the day around Old Town, we went to the historical Charles Bridge, to spend the rest of the evening. I had heard and read a lot about Charles Bridge before I actually visited it, and I must confess that more than being in awe of its beauty and significance, I was worried about being robbed (I was almost paranoid about not using my iPhone for clicking pics on the bridge)..however, after being there I can say that the place is much safer now. One just has to be careful with the luggage and gadgets but no one will forcefully snatch or rob you. Just standing at the Bridge and watching the castle from a distance and rest of the city, was an overwhelming and a very calming experience.


Day 2

Funicular to Petrin Hill

Our first stop on the next day was Petřín Hill. Petrin Hill can be easily spotted from the distance by the TV Tower that is a look-alike of Eiffel Tower in Paris. One can get a beautiful view of Prague from the hill and see many other attractions there. To reach Petrin Hill, we first took a tram to Ujezd Street and after walking uphill for few minutes there, we reached the Funicular station (its like a cable train that takes you up the hill). The local travel ticket is valid in the funicular and the ride was worth an experience. There are lot of things one can do at the Petrin Hill- climb up the tower (which we missed), enjoy at the mirror maze, take a stroll in the beautiful rose garden or visit the observatory (we missed it, as it was closed when we went)..I enjoyed clicking some fun pictures at the mirror maze though!

Miniature Eiffel Tower

Rose Garden

On way to the Prague Castle..from Petrin Hill

After spending some time up there, instead of taking back the funicular we climbed down the hill to reach Prague Castle and the walk was extremely interesting and extremely scenic. It took us around 20 mins to reach the Castle from there. One can also stop at Strahov Monastry (which we unfortunately missed on the way).

Prague Castle

Prague Castle has a beautiful location and it is not a single building, but a cluster of beautiful buildings and churches that makes this area really splendid. We went inside the St.Vitus Church, behind the castle and were mesmerised by its exquisite interiors. My husband told me that this Church is normally extremely crowded and owning to the crowds, he missed visiting it on his last visit. The Church now charges some amount for the tour and probably that is what explains the ease in the crowd. We noticed lot of vintage cars around there, that one could hire to take a city tour:-)

St.Vitus Church (behind the Prague Castle)



After spending some time around the Prague Castle, we started walking down the hill and found some beautiful paintings of Prague (which can be found at lot of places in Prague)..I did buy two of them from a souvenir shop:-) On the way, we spotted a restaurant, Villa Richter and decided to have out lunch there. The restaurant is located amidst the grape vineyard and the view one gets of Prague from there is fantabulous. The food was amazing...I ordered a Potato soup in bread and was very impressed by the creativity of the chef:-) 

Villa Richter

View from Villa Richter

Kampa Island

After the sumptuous lunch break, we headed towards the Kampa Island, near Charles Bridge on Mala Strana..It was a nice walk on the pebbled streets and the place was calm, though I personally did not like it much..

The rest of the evening was spent in the Nový Smíchov shopping mall near Andel metro station. It is a nice place, with great brands to shop from, eat at, an amazing cinema and free wifi in the premises:)

Day 3

Dancing Building

We had already explored the major tourist attractions in Prague and so Day 3 was spared for shopping and chilling out. We quickly took a city tour to click some pictures of the dancing building and from there headed to the mall in Andel. We first had a quick lunch and then watched Step up Revolution  at Cinema City at the mall, amazing movie...plush theatre and a good beginning to the last day of our Prague trip.

Inside cinema city

Ice Pub

Our final destination in Prague was the Ice Pub..it was our first experience and we totally loved it..We were charged 9 Euros per person for 20mins in the pub which included the jacket, gloves and a drink. The experience was worth it! And since we went there in the evening, odd hour for a pub, we were alone in the Pub..which normally accommodates 14-20 people at a time. The staff at the place is very friendly too.

In the evening we went back to the Zebra Noodle Bar for dinner and on the way stopped at a crystal shop, to get us framed in a beautiful crystal:)

Prague at Night..view from Charles Bridge

After dinner we took our last walk on the Charles Bridge, and Prague at Night is just so beautiful...a walk at the bridge at night is totally recommended!!

Bali..Paradise in East

Bali has always been a popular tourist destination and I have been extremely fortunate to experience the beauty of this island on my honeymoon, and I can undoubtedly say that it is one of the most friendliest places in the world..There are so many things that would charm you in Bali, the beaches, food, temples..but what touched my heart was the hospitality of the Balinese.

We took a nine-day package trip to Bali via Bangkok. Our trip started from Delhi IGI Airport and we reached Denpasar airport via Bangkok, and got our visa on arrival. This is what we did in Bali:

1. Hotel in Kuta

We stayed at the luxurious Kuta Paradiso Hotel, which I totally recommend if you are willing to splurge a bit..It is  located near the Kuta beach, on an extremely busy street (which makes for an excellent location). The Hotel looks extremely beautiful and a red Ferrari parked outside just adds to its glamour. . It was a hot month of July, and we were given a very warm welcome by the staff (along with a cool drink):-) The room was clean with a balcony..I was however little disappointed with the bathroom ( it was small, and didn't seem to belong to a five-star hotel). Our hotel package included the breakfast buffet, which was extremely grand, offered a lot of vegetarian options (both warm and cold) as well. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful..The hotel also has a beautiful pool and aroma massage centre in its premises.

2. Adventure Sport

When in Bali, experiencing the thrills of water sports in the Indian ocean in a must..I am a hydrophobic but thanks to my husband, I took the plung and I am glad I did. There are lot of companies that offer your various packages having different sports, so you can choose the package of your choice..but always remember to BARGAIN (many a times you can get the cost reduced to one half)..and also, choose the one that also gets you picked up and dropped from your hotel ( if you do not have a car).

What I can recommend you from my experience is:

Ocean Walking- You change into your water gear and are taken far from the coast in a boat to a point close to coral reefs. After wearing the necessary equipment, and understanding the basics, with the help of a small ladder you go inside the water, approx 2.5 m to witness something so surreal, that it is hard to believe at first. Beautiful marine life all around you..you can feed the fishes too, and it is so amazing when they all cluster together...it is little hard to walk initially but then you get used to it in few minutes..some people might feel a tinge of pressure though..

Also get a video made, to capture these memorable moments..

Flying Fish- This was simply terrific..an air boat whirls at a great speed and then soon, without you realising it, takes off in the air....you just cling to the boat with the grip of your hands and feet...I was too scared to even open my eyes initially, but when I did, it was breathtaking..water and sky is all you can see.

Doughnut Boat- This was all about speed..an air boat that looks like a doughnut makes circular rounds in the ocean at extremely high speed..and again, you just hold on to the boat with the grip of your hands.

3. Balinese Dance

Balinese people dance to express their religious, mythological and artisitic beliefs. We saw the popular Barong Dance, which tells a story narrating the fight between good and evil..It might be a bit too long for people who  are not fond of art and culture, but nonetheless its an experience in itself.

4. Mt.Batur and Lake

Mount Batur is a small active volcano located in the region of Kintamani, with a huge crater that is14km in diameter. Adjacent to the volcano is the large crescent-shaped Batur Lake, all surrounded by the high walls of the crater rim. We did not climb up the mountain, but saw it from a distance and the spectacular view is still etched into my memory. It is extremely overwhelming to see an active volcano and the crystal clear lake.

There was a local bazar in this area, and the people trying to sell merchandise was a bit of a nuisance..but if you decide to buy something, bargain as much as you can.

5. Rice Fields

These lush and elegant rice fields bear testimony to the hardwork of Balinese rice farmers' and their love & respect for their work..

We also had one of the most amazing Sayur Curry (vegetables- in- coconut milk gravy) with Rice there..I loved it, but on realizing that we are short on currency decided not to order another one..our local guide noticed this, and very sweetly offered to lend us money so that we could eat to our heart's content:-)

6. Batuan Temple

Batuan Temple is a beautifully designed Balinese Hindu temple. One must dress appropriately in a sarong and sash before entering the temple (provided outside the main gate). Here you can worship Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Shiva. One can see the best of Balinese architecture in this temple, which is adorned with beautiful sculptors. Temple offerings consisting of incense sticks, flowers and assemblages of food and fruits are perched neatly on a small basket made out of banana leaf.

7. Kuta Beach

I saw the most beautiful sunset at this beach...Kuta beach is extremely popular with the tourist, so one should expect crowd at all the times..The beach was few minutes away from our hotel so we could walk their easily.  On the way to the beach, was a big local street market where one could shop for an array of things- souvenirs, junk jewellery, t-shirts, beautiful hats, watches ( though one could easily ignore the cheap imitations of Gucci, Fossil, Guess and Rado)..There are also lot of massage parlours on the way, we negotiated the price and came back after spending some time at the beach..since it was getting late, we managed to bargain a great deal with the owner.

8. Gold and Silver Craftswork

Celuk Village is a popular destination in Bali, known for its gold and silver craftswork. We visited Krisna Yuna, and found the gold and silver jewellery and craft pieces to be extremely fine. One can also see the craftsmen at work there, to understand the process of jewellery making.

9. The Payogan, Ubud

We stayed at the Payogan Villas, Ubud for two nights, and it was just so private-away from the world-luxury resort. We reached the villa in the afternoon, and were given a warm welcome with a cool-healthy vegetable drink. After completing the formalities, we were escorted to our villa in a mini open van (the villas are located downhill few minutes away from the reception area). This resort consists of around 23 villas, and is an extremely exclusive retreat. The villas are located at a distance from each other, making the place extremely private.We had opted for a villa with pool. The fragrance of flowers greeted us at the door. The room was beautiful with the feel of ancient royalty and the bathroom was open, facing the valley..Our package included the breakfast buffet, and special care was taken to prepare vegetarian meals for us..We could order lunch and dinner in our room or go to their restaurant. Evening tea and desert were also a part of the package..I had my noodles packet from India and when I requested them for a boiler, they happily offered to make the noodles for me:-)

Staying here made me feel like I am living in the lap of nature, with all the modern technologies at my disposal:-)