Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Europe Tour 2013 Part-1 #यात्रा

Europe Tour 2013 Part-1 INDEX
IntroductionItineary,blog links, hotels, Eqpt MoscowMunich & NurnbergPragueVideo of Praguue

Introduction

Who does not like traveling to new places ?

I am lucky to have traveled quite a bit. But one of the most enjoyable journey I undertook was when We ( I and my wife, Saroj ) visited 5 countries of Europe in 2013 (18-3-2013 to 28-3-2013). Our itinerary was Delhi-Moscow-Munich-Prague-Vienna-Budapest-Melk-Salzburg-Munich-Zurich-Lucerne-Mt. Titlis-Zurich-Moscow-Delhi. We were planning the visit for quite some time and had obtained 30 days Schengen visa. Initially we planned to include Paris too since I was due to Visit Paris officially and wanted to use the opportunity to club it with our vacation, however the official visit was getting delayed (finally it happened next month) and our visa was due to expire. I had to plan our trip. Since I had visited Western Europe during my various official visits we decided to include some East European countries and booked a Cosmos bus trip. Added to this was Moscow en route Munich.Towards the end we took an interesting train journey through Alps between Munich and Zurich. We visited Lucerne & Mt Titlis from Zurich. The final itinerary is given below.

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Itineary,blog links, hotels, Eqpt

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Blog Part-1 : Day 1: Delhi-Moscow-Munich (by air), Day 2 Munich-Nuremberg-Prague.


Blog Part-2 Day-4 Prague to Vienna Day 5 Vienna to Budapest.
Blog Part-3 Day 7  Budapest -Melk- Salzburg Day 8 Salzburg- Munich
Blog Part-4 Day 9 Munich to-Zurich (By Train) Day 10 Zurich -Lucerne-Mt Titlis-Zurich. Day 10 & 11 Return to Delhi via Moscow.



Viewthis part of journey on you tube 
Europe trip part-1 Munich-Nuremburg-Prague

Hotels where we stayed:
Night-1 :NH Munich airport
Nights 2&3 : Hotel Barcelo Prague
Nights 4 : Hotel Kavalier Vienna
Nights 5&6 : Hotel Mercure Budapest (Buda)
Night 7 : Hotel Ramda, Salzburg
Night 8 : Hotel Ibis Parkstad Munich
Night 9 : Hotel Walhalla Zurich 

Equipment we carried were 2 digital auto focus camera, a tab and a Flip video recorder & of course our mobile phones . Our flights were booked on Aeroflot and it took us 6 hours to reach Moscow. Moscow air port was full of snow and runways seemingly were being cleaned continuously. Our tour itinerary included Moscow in our return journey too when we had over 16 Hours lay over.

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Stop-Over at Moscow


We had a short stop over at Moscow airport we spent clicking photos from plane as well from airport, the runways were full of snow and we only observed removal of snow using heavy machinery. We could not find vegetarian food except chips and tit bits. Our next flight was announces soon.
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Large Waiting space Moscow AirportRed Square Pix
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Snow covered Moscow as seen from sky

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Munich and Nurnberg

Our next flight to Munich was just after one hour. At Munich we expected some one to wait with placard and it gave us some anxious moment to locate the Hotel's airport transfer bus which took us to Hotel NH Munich Airport, all 21 co tourists were lodged in this hotel itself. A briefing was organised regarding marking of our luggage etc in the evening. Our tour had begun.

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NH Hotel MunichMunich Hoptbhanhof
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Olympia ParkMarienplatz
Our Next stop was Nuremberg a city famous for Nuremberg trials. Which established primacy of humanity and proved that even a head of state can be tried for crimes against humanity.
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Nuremberg main square

It was raining and we had to pull out our umbrellas.Could not visit Palace of Justice famous for its court no 600 where High Nazi officials were tried. Was informed by tour director that court is still in use and week ends are best days to visit the same. We saw St Seabald Church dedicated to St Seabald the Patron Saint of Nuremburg.

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St. Seabald ChurchStreet View

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Prague Czech republic

We took our lunch in one of the restaurants in Nuremburg main market and proceeded towards Prague . Our stay was planned in very comfortable Hotel. Our 2 days tour included visits to Charles Bridge, Synagogue, Old Town Square and Prague Palace. A local guide added to our tour experience.

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River Front - Vltava RiverView from the banks

The Vltava River flows through the center of Prague, and is the waterway around which the city has developed over the past 1000 years.The Old Town and the New Town lie on one side of the Vltava River. On the other bank is the Lesser Town and Prague Castle, which is a magnificent sight from the water front.

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Alighting from Bus at Charles BridgeJewish Quarter

Charles Bridge is a historic bridge built over Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the beginning of the 15th century. Many beautiful statues are there to see when you walk on this pedestrian only bridge. Next we walked through the Jewish quarter which is also called Josefov after King Josef II who gave equal rights to the Jews. The Synagogue was not open and we just took pictures from out side. This part of Prague is also world heritage .site as declared by UNESCO. Understand after WW-II since owners were not alive after the holocaust Jewish property left behind were converted into museums.

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Hand made Toy shopsAstronomical clock

Astronomical clock is called Orloj and dates back to 1410. The clock is 3rd oldest clock and the oldest one still operational . Calendar dial was incorporated in 1490 and underwent many repairs. Tourists assemble here several times since at specified interval different figure appear to do certain activities. This is a spectular sight. We spent rest of the day in the Town Square changed some Euros to Koruna - Czech money for our expenses. There was certain festivities going on in the Town Square and we spent time purchasing Souveniers and buying our lunch.

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Easter Fair in Town SquareCharles Bridge

2nd Day at Prague was spent visiting the magnificent Prague Palace. We saw a Buckingham Palace style change of guard and saw the magnificent palace. A small entry fee was needed to enter the Castle. It is a ninth century palace part of which is still the residence of Check President. The castle was seat of power of kings of Bohemia and of Holy Roman Emperors. As per Guinness Book of world records this castle is the largest ancient castle in the world.

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Stand Still Guard at PalacePalace Court Yard

There is a lane called Golden Lane, It had row houses originally on both sides and built to house castle guards. House on one side was demolished in 19th century. Although the lane was temporarily called the Street of Alchemists or Alchemists' Alley, alchemists have never worked or lived there. Most of the brightly painted houses are now souvenir shops. Writer Franz Kfka and nobel laureate Jaro Slav Siefert also lived here. Next morning we traveled to Vienna and on way tried to use or converts all Czeck money into Euros.

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Golden LaneExihibits in Lesser Town
We had enchanting views of Prague's sky line from this palace.
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Galleries in Lesser TownCollection in Lesser town
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Birds Eye ViewNext On way to Vienna
On day 4 we said good bye to Prague and moved on. I will cover rest of our journey in 1 or 2 more blogs in future which are any way over due.

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Video of Charles Bridge at Prague

 

1 comment:

  1. Very good post. Highly informative for travellers who want to visit these places in Europe. Nicely written and keep up the good work.

    ReplyDelete