The City of Music! Vienna, Austria!!!

One of the neighboring city of Germany with a striking similarity to any other typical German city! Vienna, the Capital of Austria, the City of Music 🎶! 

I set foot in Vienna a bit late in the evening after all the shops were closed for the day. I was yet again on another solo trip to explore Europe and fill in the details onto my EuroDiaries! This time I was a more experienced solo traveller and a more responsible individual :-) 

Vienna as promised was refreshing in it's own way! The city houses many renowned musicians' apartments like Mozart and Beethovan which are now converted to museums. You can find age-old musical instruments until the latest models at many places for sale or display. Concert halls and the Vienna Opera House is definitely worth a visit for all the music lovers out there! Just to get the feel of the Opera world you can buy the stand entrance tickets for a minimal cost and see if you like it. 

The Schönbrunn Palace is yet another must-visit of the City. It is a beautifully architectured former imperial summer residence. There are 2 different types of tours available called the Imperial Tour of 22 rooms 30-40min and the Grand Tour of 40 rooms 50-60min. There are few other passes which can be bought at a discount called Classic Pass etc. You can either buy this online or at the palace entrance. 

The Palace is surrounded by vast expanses of nearby tourist attractions like the Maze Gardens called the Schönbrunner Schloss Park along with Privy Garden and Orangery Garden, the world's oldest zoo called the Tiergarten Schönbrunn, the pavilion structure offering panoramic views of Vienna called Gloriette. 

Albertina, Belvedere, Leopold, Kunsthistorisches, Naturhistorisches, Technisches Museum etc. are few of the famous art museums in the city. 

Out of all the numerous Cathedrals in Vienna, the St. Stephen's Cathedral or the Stephansdom is the most attractive and popular one. This Roman Catholic church has multi-colored tile (mosaics) roof which is quite famous. 

Many tourists also folk the Spanish Riding School and the Vienna Boys' Choir if time permits. 

List of places for your reference:

https://www.google.com/maps/placelists/list/19MMcEsHygyuCWRmjQADDL3kBn14?hl=en

P. S: Don't forget to buy one of your favourite music instruments' replica (if not original) or just a music box as a memoir from the city! 

Neuschwanstein Castle - right out of a fairytale!!

One is never too old for a fairytale! The actual line we were reminded of by looking at the beautiful hill-top castle at Füssen Germany - Schloss Neuschwanstein! Popularly known as the Disney Castle. :)

Neuschwanstein is a 19th century Roman style palace in Hohenschwangau village near Füssen in Bavaria, Germany. The castle is nestled on a hill top looking right out of a fairytale movie or a book description. 

Make sure you book the entrance tickets online or reach the destination early in the morning to buy tickets. The tickets get sold out before afternoon.

You can opt to stay at Füssen with all the little town comforts. It's a short 4km drive to the castle from city center.

Once you reach the foothills of the hill and park be prepared for a walk uphill till the castle entrance. There is also an option to ride in a horse carriage. 

If you are not yet satisfied with the views of the castle and it's lush green or snow white surroundings, then walk over to the Marien Brucke to get a beautiful view of the castle from afar from the reasonable height and distance.! There is also a top down view of a waterfalls on the other side of this bridge which is really breathtaking. The temperature here is quite chilled compared to the rest of the places. 

Paragliding and few other adrenaline activities are quite common here. Don't miss if you have time.! 

There are quite a few other places nearby the Neuschwanstein which is not very popular with the tourist folk but definitely has it's own share of history. Some of those are the Schloss Hohenschwangau, Linderhof Palace, Alpsee, Eibsee, Highline179 etc. Visit them all if time permits and you are interested :)

Lights, Food, Restore - Budapest, Hungary!!

Ever wondered how lights can transform something very simple to an exquisite beauty? Light and shadow play an amazing combo role in this transformation. If you have ever wanted to experience the best of both the worlds with respect to the natural sun and man made bulbs, you are in for a visual treat! Pack your bags and fly to the Hungarian capital, Budapest!!!

The city of lights. The big father of Prague. Capital of Thermal baths and spas. The city with lion bridge. Queen of Danube. City with diverse cuisine. County with hilly 'Buda' and flat 'Pest'. It is none other than the "Heart of Europe"!!

Are you already convinced to book your flights? If not, you would soon be! :) Just make sure you book it also for that friend/spouse who needs a break as much as you do.! 

After a couple of solo trips, I thought why not an all girls' cum roommates trip? That's exactly when, Budapest, came into picture. We could experience the richness of Hungarian history and culture and their unique cuisine throughout our stay. 

We arrived at Budapest International Airport late night after all the tourist information centers and government offices were already closed. It was about a 20km drive to the city center from the airport. There was one office 'Airport shuttle services' open 24hours inside the airport. The lady at the desk informed us that there are no public transportation facilities available at that hour in night and that we can book their own shuttle services with pick and drop from our hotel to airport and vice versa. It costed us 3 times more than the public transport.. Next day the guy at our hostel explained us that public transport was indeed available even during late hours at night and would not have costed much! We had not enquired/researched about these teeny details beforehand. Yes, it was a mistake! That's how we learnt ready for our next adventure :) 

We stayed at the Budapest Bubble hostel, a decent accommodation at the city center and close to most of the tourist attractions! There are a lot of hostels/airbnb options available. 

Tip: Make sure you book your accommodation close to the city center. Sometimes costs a few bucks more, but it will cut down your travel expenses from the places you visit and also be sure that you can reach back safe to your hotel even if you are stuck outside until late night! 

The Széchenyi Chain Bridge is the main tourist attraction for everyone visiting Budapest! It has 2 lions at the entrance and is a suspension bridge which is beautifully lit up at night. It is seen from the Buda Castle which is at a good height. The castle in itself has nothing much to offer but the views from the castle both during the day and at night are really amazing! There are also many places nearby the castle like The Fisherman's Bastion and the church. 

Thermal baths and spas are also the most popular and most visited in Budapest. Széchenyi Bath and Gellert Bath are the famous ones. 

If you have enough time or you just want to relax then take a cruise trip along the Danube River. The best time for this would be during sunsets. You can witness the transformation of the city into something mesmerizing! 

The other famous tourist places are in the link below: 
https://www.google.com/maps/placelists/list/1RIfZfNCBkxhQc5Kw7y74vkOxBEg?hl=en

Paprika, meat, cheese! We felt heavenly looking at the food options in Hungarian cuisine! People there are born to eat ;) Lángos (Pizza shaped fried dough topped with grated cheese and sour cream), Goulash (Gulyas - Soup served with a variety of options with or without meat), Chimney cake (Kürtöskalács - Sweet bread glazed with sugar and rolled in cinnamon, nuts and other toppings - same as the ones in Prague). These are some of the very famous traditional Hungarian street foods found all over the city! Karavan Street Food Court is a nice place to visit with both On the go and Dine in options. 
Drinks obviously compliment with all that street food you have had! Szimpla Kert is a great place to go to for some fun dancing. It's the very first ruin bar! Basically ruin bars host anything from flea markets to wild DJs or art galleries. You would definitely find it a bit different from the normal pubs/bars you visit outside. 

Well, I guess I summarized the long story short, what are you waiting for? Open a new tab and start making reservations! Before that don't forget to leave your comments below.! Until next time, Ciao! 

PS: Do not miss the sunset! Remember the opening para above? Best of both worlds ;) 

Chute d'eau d'Urach Wasserfalls - Hours' drive from Stuttgart, Germany.!

Closed schools and offfices and the all week holiday during the Christmas in Germany forced a bunch of us to find nearby unexplored and nature retreats! We were stuck at a friend's place in Stuttgart and had to plan out each of our day with the agenda of not boring ourselves at home. After a lot of searching, we found this place while checking out options on our Google Trips app.

Tip: Open Google Trips app. Search for the nearest known city. Go to 'Things to do' and browse through the list of places under 'Farther Away' tab. You are likely to find a place of your taste with some amount of scanning.

Chute d'eau d'Urach is a beautiful waterfalls about 37m in height and you can climb all the way to the tip of the waterfalls if you are in for adventure! 

Uracher Wasserfalls is about an hours drive from Stuttgart towards Metzingen. As our trip was an unplanned one, instead of driving, we took the train to reach the place. We bought a Baden-Württemberg Day ticket and hopped on to the Regional train from Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof to Metzingen and changed our connection to another Regional to our destination stop Bad Urach Wasserfalls. There are many R trains connectivity and would take about 1.5hours for the journey. 

From the train station it's about 2.5kms till the waterfalls. We walked as we had no other choice. If you drive you can proceed further for about a kilometer more and have to park and walk up the next stretch. It is a very scenic place with nice views of the mountains all around. The path was completely shaded with trees on both the sides and also a small river flowed on one end. We could enjoy the walk by absorbing in all the autumn colors even during December! 

Unusually there are not many sign boards and stuff in this part of town and we had to ask people on the road and in train station for directions to the waterfalls.

As it was December, there were traces of snow everywhere along the path but the waterfalls was not frozen and we could enjoy the beauty of the place. We heard that the place gets too slippery and bit dangerous when it's completely snowed in (maybe during Jan-Feb). The steps or the path to reach the tip of the falls is not too good and has uneven highs and lows and is sometimes waterlogged as well. Just enjoy the falls from beneath if you are not in the mood to trek up. 

There is also a thermal spa on the other end of the train station to relax your flex muscles and get back to a fresh start. 

In all, Chute d'eau d'Urach is a perfect destination for a few hours outing on a weekend from Stuttgart! Definitely a nature's retreat.! 

Go for it!! Do leave your suggestions and experiences in the comments section below!

Prague, Czech Republic!! A must-visit? Or maybe not! ;)

One of the most stereotyped destinations I have ever visited in Europe!!

Rich in history, check! Ting of romance, check! Old townish, check! US type night-life, check! Nearby Germany, check! These checks are basically the trigger points to visit Prague, the most well-known destination of Czech Republic!! Praha was one of my first solo trip adventures outside my country, the city with not many English boards, non-English/German speakers. Praha taught me a lot as a traveler.

If you are not driving around the city, then one option is to take the day passes. There are various options available like 24, or 72 hours pass etc. A 24hour pass is valid from the time you stamp it first today until the same time tomorrow (24 hours) and so on. You can make use of this pass in any public mode of transport, bus, trams, and metros. Just be sure that you are not misplacing the ticket pass anywhere and carry it always with you while on the bus. I left it in my hostel the 2nd day of my travel (it was in the jeans that I wore on day 1) and had to pay a hefty fine! :( Also, make sure you know the direction of your connections and the tram/bus numbers that you should take. The boards are usually not in English, which is a big problem. I have gone in the exact opposite direction of my destination a lot of times :) Google maps help in this case. 

There are plenty of hostels, Airbnb, and hotels to choose from for accommodation. If you are traveling solo like me or in a small group then the hostel is a budget-friendly and super worthy option! If you are in large groups then you can opt for Airbnb or hotels. The hostel I stayed at was Adam & Eva Hostel Prague. I personally recommend this place. It was really well-maintained, with all the basic facilities included and with card access entry for security. They even have card securitized locker facilities available at no extra charge. Hostels are also a good place to meet other tourists/students from different countries and backgrounds. Conversing with a random roommate can help discover few hidden places of the town, a nice eatery or just a better itinerary for your next day. 

I loved a few cafes that are on the sub-roads of the city mainly for its ambiance and the various themes that they had. No meat options are again limited to only potato fries, customized vegetable wraps, sweets, cakes, coffee, hot chocolate and other drinks. There is a famous dessert which you will find in many places called trdelnik or the chimney cake. It is basically a street food with caramelized sugar and cinnamon topped with ice creams in different flavors. There are multiple Indian restaurants all over the city if you are looking for a proper "no meat" spicy (sometimes tasty) food.

People throng the city in thousands just to visit the astronomical tower with all hyped expectations! Yes, the tower is all medieval, beautiful (if you don't stare at the skeleton for a long time) and scientific and shows the time! Every one hour, there is a 15second show. A skeleton signifying death holding an hourglass rings a bell and 12 apostles pass by the window above the dial. There are 3 other sculptures which also move. If you really want to enjoy it more, read about the significance and history of astronomical tower prior to your visit to appreciate it more, else you are bound to be dissatisfied. 

The other much-hyped place is the Charles Bridge (Karlův most)! The Gothic stone bridge which has survived through many floods over the ages and is now thronged by thousands of tourists, artists, and musicians. The bridge has many statues (of saints mostly) lined up on both sides and most of the original ones are now kept in the Prague museums. This is the place where artists line the bridge with their paintings and musicians folk to make some money. If you want to get yourself sketched, you are in the right place. If you are expecting calmness, less crowd, and a place for your own, you are not the right fit to the Charles Bridge area. 

Next destination on your list would be the Prague Castle (Pražský hrad)! Well, if you are up for a lot of walking and are enthusiastic about finally going to a place where it is a bit less crowded compared to above 2 places (like I was), then go for it!! :) You will have to wait in long queues at the entrance for a thorough security check. During the wait, you can breathe in the panoramic views of the city at leisure as you climb the steps to reach the castle entrance. The views of the entire city beneath you are really breath-taking! You would see the expansive parks, the rivers, the bridges, old town buildings, and statues all as miniatures. The entire castle area is very vast and is divided into various sections, you can choose amongst them as per your interests. You will have to walk quite a lot inside the castle premises, be prepared. 

The John Lennon Wall is also a famous landmark, again know the history behind the wall to appreciate it better. The tourists are allowed to write or paint on the wall. During the recent times, due to all this painting and overwriting, the original writings on the wall is not visible. Few of the huge parks are the Petrín and Letná Park. Just stroll around or lay back and rest for some time! The Old Town Square is also a good place to hang out watching all the various talent shows. A genie guy, A guy performing stunts, bagpipe player, drummer, etc. Just a way to relax after a lot of walking and touring the city. You will definitely find many museums, galleries, and cathedrals all over the city. Hop in, if it fancies you! 

The walking tours are sometimes good to join. You will get to mingle with the locals of the place, tourists from other countries, and build connect. Few advises/tips which you will receive in these conversations can take you a long way sometimes. There are also cruise trips arranged by few of these tour guides which is also worth a try. 

I really must mention about the nightlife! The city literally transforms itself into something different; seems a bit dangerous if you are alone or in a small group. There are not many well-lit roads except the main bus routes. All the big stores and shopping centers pave way to a basement or top floor nightclubs and casinos which come into existence only after 10 PM! If you are unaware of this timing and are standing at the exact same location of the club shown on the google map at say 6 or 8 PM, you will only see the shopping center or a restaurant and not the "night" club.

See is the link to my personal list of places to visit in Prague:

https://www.google.com/maps/placelists/list/1AlGweWr0Uxoe3DAWhgV8z2k5AWs?hl=en

Go for it, if you like it! :) 

On the Rocks!! Partnachklamm, Garmisch, Germany!

When you are not in a mood to enjoy the common & famous touristy kind of places, and you are looking for a place in Germany, visit this place called Partnachklamm – Garmisch.

To give you an overview, it is a place with waterfalls in between 2 huge rock walls and a Cave to keep up with your curiosity levels and a SkyCar to get that bird’s eye view!!

Got strong feet and up for a bit of adventure? Take the trekking route all over the place.

If you just want to stroll around aloof and simply enjoy the nature’s beauty, then take the Cave route to get in.

The third option is to bypass everything and take a SkyCar to get to the top directly and be back.

We stumbled upon this place by chance. The original plan was to visit the top of Germany, Zugspitze. However, all transports to the mountains were canceled on the day we landed there due to hurricanes! We were bound to search and go to a nearby place just to pass the day until our train arrived in the evening :P And yes!! We were in for nature’s surprise!!

Well, we started our journey to Partnachklamm with very less expectations but were simply mesmerized with the beauty of the place. You can Walk, drive, or take local bus 1 or 2 from central Garmisch or Partenkirchen to the Skistadion or Olympic Ski Stadium. It’s about 20min walk from Skistadion. It is located in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Bavaria, Germany.

Partnachklamm or Partnach Gorge is a beautiful place to hang around for a day and immerse in nature’s nest. It is a supposedly romantic setting of nature with rock walls of about 100m and glacial waterfalls in between the rocks.

People say it is a bit dangerous to walk in the caves during the extreme winters as it gets way too slippery with all the snow and ice and you will actually not know how deep your next step would take you in. There are a few steps as well in the caves which are not quite visible if the place is snowed-in.

Nevertheless, it is an amazingly attractive place to visit if you want to be one with nature.

P.S: You can also talk your heart’s out with nature and be sure that even the person who is at arm’s length from you cannot hear :) ! So loud is the noise that the falls make; especially in the midsection of the gorge.

Weekend getaway from Bengaluru! Sakleshpur!!

When you have a long weekend ahead of you and if you want to just chill out away from hustle-bustle of Bengaluru... Just pack a small backpack and drive out to Sakleshpur, Hassan; also known as the Poor man's Ooty.! It's a nice little hill station nestled in the beautiful Western Ghats.  

Located just about 220km from Bangalore, this place is a great weekend getaway destination to visit throughout the year. It's about a 4-hour drive by car and 7-hours route by bus or train. 

There are many car and bike rental services in Bangalore now like Zoomcar, Myles, Voler, Savaari, Ola outstation etc. to help you have a round trip. These offer with driver or self-drive options to suit your needs. 

Depending on the purpose of your visit, decide your place of stay. 

If you are planning to chill at only a single place and enjoy eating hot bajjis amidst nature, taking small strolls and lazy swims, posing for selfies amongst the coffee plantations, bringing out your photography skills and capturing the great beauty the hill station offers right from your place of stay, choose amongst the various options of homestays depending on your budget and amenities offered.

There are homestay options too available for adventure freaks out there. 

The typical homestays offer camping, bonfire, trekking, water sports, cycling, rain dance and other great amenities. 

Options are limited for a typical hotel room stay but are definitely not non-existent. These come at pocket friendly prices too. Few are Hotel Ashrita, Hotel Durga International, The Hills etc. 

Usually all these places of stay have their own restaurants to eat or you can choose to eat anywhere on your way to the various tourist attractions. There are multiple options to choose from as you travel around. Akki Rotti and coffee are quite famous food options and are must-haves! 

Manjarabad Fort is an 18th century Star shaped fort and a very famous place now especially for photoshoots! You will have to climb a lot of steps to reach the main fort entrance as it is in a hill with amazing panoramic views of the entire place. 

Bisle ghat and jenukallu gudda peak are few well known trekking places nearby. There is also a Green Route Trek on railway tracks going through bridges and tunnels. 

Hemavathi river backwaters, and abbi falls along with multiple unexplored and not so famous waterfalls line the inner roads of the town. Just keep your eyes and mainly ears open to hear the rustling of the leaves and the force of the water to spot a waterfall! 

Google maps did not help us much in this regard and we ended up in the middle of the forest and once more in a private property while searching for a google map available waterfalls location :) 

As the saying goes, the journey is always better than the destination itself, even though we did not locate the waterfalls we were looking for, we definitely loved the drive through the beautiful green cover accompanied by a great romantic weather on our side! 

Find your own places of tranquility and comment below with the location details and photos if available!