Europe tour - part 1

Part 2

Will you people accept if I say it was a really sudden plan? But well yes it was. I was in Madurai, when I was sent a post and was asked to sign some papers. And then I was back on 18th and came to know my visa was ready and I'd be flying to Europe the very next day. But thanks to Air India who managed to give me one more day to pack. My flight got rescheduled thrice and at last I boarded the early morning 6.30 connecting flight which was to Delhi. And then from there to Frankfurt was a 9 hours journey after few hours break.

I had early morning breakfast, morning breakfast, lunch, dinner, read one novel and watched 2 movies by the time I reached Frankfurt. I was extremely tired and I hardly remember being in Germany. All I remember now is getting down from the flight, just exchanging few 'hi's and boarding the tour bus. I vaguely remember noticing many other prople in the Delhi airport having a bag which had the name of our travel agent on it but nothing struck my tired brain till the next day.

I was directly taken to a hotel and were allowed to refresh. At 9.00AM the same day after breakfast we all (all those people who had that travel agent named bags) boarded the same bus and went for sightseeing. We crossed the black forest and saw the skiing paths which were mostly used by professional skiers during winter and the amazing Germany weather. By the time we reached a river it was 4.00PM. I was extremely hungry and all I could do was to open the lunch packets and have it. Thanks to the Bangladeshi uncle who had packed Puliogarai for us. Only then I remembered I was there to enjoy. It took approximately 2 hours to travel from one city to another. So our next destination was reached (Hindenburg) and we spent close to an hour there. The bridge over there was old and beautiful and had an amazing view of a waterfall. There was a guitarist on the bridge who was playing a soothing song. The bridge was made in wood and the waterfall though small looked very clean and amazing. There was a small hillock which was seperating the waterfall into two and there was a small wooden house (view point) on that hillock. One of the worth visiting place it was. Then we started to Swiss.

I was dying of hunger then and it was really chill. One thing to be noted about Germany is it weather. It was cool in the early morning. Then it was extremely sunny when we reached the river/ lake. Then it was cool again. Then around 5.00PM it started drizzling. And then suddenly it was little warm after an hour. The change was really rapid. And another thing to be noted was the vehicles. One could see BMW, BENZ, Citroen, Audi cars and service centers everywhere.

So we reached Swiss around 8.30PM and we were directly taken for dinner. Just before dinner we were welcomed with a flag ceremony. 3 old men, 2 with Swiss flags and one with a very loooooooong wind instrument (I have no idea what it is called as ) stood in front of us. In that shivering cold night, the old men with the flags started throwing it and catching and taking it under the leg and above their head and were dancing. I was shocked. Come on it is a national flag. And one of the old men even put it down once and the flag got caught in his leg the other time while he was performing the flag ceremony. Then we were allowed to take pics along with them. The time was 9.00PM but it looked like 4.00PM in India. So much light was there. And then we were taken in for dinner.

I felt thank god now I can eat. But someone kept soonyam to my thoughts :'( As it was the first day in Germany along with the entire crowd (similar bag gang), to know each other and to enjoy well a 'Gala Dinner' was arranged which included soft drinks, hot drinks along with a DJ party. I was feeling like Tom as in Tom and Jerry who used to keep match sticks to prevent his eyes drooping and one family (whom we later nicked named as thanni) had beer (dad, mom, 2 sons) and were dancing, dancing and dancing to Hindi songs. It was also said to us that food will be served AFTER the party gets over. 

When I finally got hold of a knife and was about to become a murderer, God showed mercy on me and the party was made to come to an end by our tour guide (mavane illati avan than 1st bali... chumma aadu aadu nu saavadichittu irunthan paavi). I hardly remember what happened next. I woke up on a soft bed in a beautiful hotel room the next day morning (Thanks to the 7.00AM wakeup call from the reception). The second I woke up I started believing in magic. And if it’s not magic it’s amazing to know that I guess I did manage to eat, get in the bus and later back to the hotel and then to the bed.