Fredrichshafen

Trip: Luxembourg > Brussels > Amsterdam > Bruges > Fredrichshafen > Zermatt

I was woken up at Offenurg by the kind ticket checker. An hour of stay at the cold station and then I was again on move towards Konstanz. It was memorable peice of journey. Hills would rise at short notice, forests would cover the tracks and fog would hide everything for a while. The Black Forests reached their peak at Triberg and then subsided. The lakes were coming more frequently as the Rhine meandered between Germany and Switzerland - but not before swelling at the giant Lake Konstanz.

Lake Constanz, Fredrichshafen

Amsterdam

Trip: Luxembourg > Brussels > Amsterdam > Bruges > Fredrichshafen > Zermatt

The city of fantasies was beautiful as well. Canals criss-crossing a bustling landmass inspired long walks. The three of us were there for our own reasons. We were planning a night out and hence no hostel bookings were done.

We started with a good lunch at McDonalds. I was craving for beer but had to wait before the others would part on their search. We did that sooner than I was expecting and decided to meet at the internet cafe near the station at midnight.

Stockholm

Copenhagen - Bergen - Voss - Flåm - Sognefjorden - Oslo - Stockholm

The land of Victoria Silvestedt - that is how I used to relate Sweden with. How correct I was. Stockholm, the capital city, boasts of blondes in such a huge number that it is difficult to keep up with admiration. Where hazel green eyes, golden flowing hair and voluptuous body are a commodity the city is truly a land of fantasies. We started our three days with the trip to one of the archipelago that comprises Stockholm.

Having a sumptuous lunch with some of the hottest exchange students and a stroll at the island, we came back for a night at Stureplan - the centre of friday night parties at Stockholm. We spend a couple of hours observing people before coming back to our abode.

The next day we planned for Vasa Museum and an elaborate stroll to Gamla Stan which is the oldest of the 13 islands that Stockholm is made of. We started with the Change of Guards and missed it by a whisker of a second.

Vasa Museum was huge and elegant. The story of a ship recovered after 300 years in the sea was elaborately displayed.

Gamla Stan was awesome with narrow streets and curious cosmopolitan crowd. We did not buy anything but the walk through the cobbled paths was enough to occupy us all.

The next day we had to go back to Copenhagen  We covered a building which is claimed to be the biggest spherical building in the world.

We were back to Copenhagen and faced a little hurdle when a train accident changed our train routes and we reached our destination one hour later.

Alappuzha

Trip: Kodaikanal > Munnar > Periyar > Alappuzha > Kovalam

We reached Alappuzha by afternoon through a road which flaunted large green fields on both sides. Alappuzha or Alleppey is famous for backwaters. As a city that runs on tourism, Alappuzha is a decent place to stay for a couple of days. We stayed in. The evening was dedicated to a boat-ride to the lovely backwaters. The boat spends some 2-3 hours completing a round. The houseboats were extremely costly, priced at close to 10k per night, as December was the peak tourist season.

Backwaters Ride, Alleppey

Goa

The outbound trip, sponsored by the company, was full of fun. We made planned visits to various locations and the 200 strong team had sweet memories. As the trip was professionally organized we had little to bother but enjoy every moment of our stay at The Leela.

Hotel Leela Palace @ Goa