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.

Luxembourg

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

Luxembourg is the fairy tale city of Europe. We started late night from Copenhagen by a City Night Line. The tiresome journey with three changes at Koln, Coblenz and Trier was proved worth it the moment we entered the realms of this city.

The most beautiful balcony of Europe @ Luxembourg

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.

Voss

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

It was a short and lonely stay at Voss - for seven hours to be exact. I wanted to cover the entire stretch from Bergen - Oslo in daylight. The problem is there are limited trains from Oslo at night for Stockholm / Copenhagen  Hence Voss came into picture and how beautiful it turned out to be ! The first two hours I invested in walking uphill as much as possible. From up the view of Voss was amazingly simple. Seated comfortably by the side of an elegant lake the city couldn't be more peaceful.

One of the best thing about Europe is the pleasant weather which combines with less pollution to provide you enough oxygen and zeal to stay upbeat. Without much sleep the earlier night I was still fresh and still striving up the mountains that surrounded the town.

While coming down I managed to take quite a few pictures of the lake under the changing intensity of the sun. It was like a slow movie at play by the nature.

My train was late at midnight. The town entertained me till then. In these parts of the world in the middle of September it does not get dark before 9. The last couple of hours were spent finishing a novel which a friend had gifted a couple of months back.

Copenhagen

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

• Book a hotel near the main station. You will need both the trains and metro to traverse not only within Copenhagen but also to nearby attractions like Christianshaven.
• There is not much in Copenhagen - Tivoli Gardens, Carlsberg Breweries and the statue of the mermaid were all that we could figure out.
• Jelling and Helsingor are one day trips from here. So is Malmo in Sweden. We loved the crossover to Malmo which is sea on both sides of the railway track.

Although I am here to stay for a good four months, I couldn't suppress my wanderer self from expressing my first impression of Copenhagen. The first noticeable point is elegance. From the wooden flooring at the airport to helpfulness of a railway employee in directing us everything is presentable and beautiful here.

Damhussoen Lake @ Copenhagen

Hebbe Falls

• Visit after the rains. The gushing waterfall at its full flow is an amazing view to behold. Take a bath. The sprinkles gives you goosebumps. 
• Take Maxx from Chikmagalur city. Regular vehicles can't reach this place with the mountain terrain and bad  roads. They charged us 500 bucks and it was worth the experience.
• You have to trek the last mile up to the waterfall. The last turn when the waterfall opens up to full view is magical or at least I thought so.

The first time I visited Chikmagalur, the four of us - Vivek, Sumeet, Ashutosh and myself started from Bangalore for Kemmengundi. It is a newly popular hill station near Chikmagalur  It was our plan to stay here for the night and visit nearby waterfalls among other things.

Windmills@Chikmagalur

Mussoorie

Mussoorie has always been close to me. Bhaiya completed his high school from boarding school here and I have pleasant memories of the trip we used to make to drop Bhaiya. The last time I was here I was alone. I wanted to know if I can enjoy it that way - and I did.

Tourist map of Mussoorie (Not to scale)

Shimla

Trip: Delhi > Chandigarh > Kasauli > Shimla > Delhi

My cousins from UK were in India - Naveen, Seema and Rishi. We decided to visit Shimla. Its close to Delhi and thanks to its capital status its accessible through a highway. We booked an Innova and decided to drive overnight to the hill station. It was a mistake.

View from the Lift Shaft @ Shimla

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

Delhi

Delhi is the heart and capital of India. The royal facades of Lal Quila and ruins of Tughlakabad Fort are enough evidences of the legacy of this ancient city which has now tranformed into a modern cosmopolitan megacity. Humayun's tomb and Qutab Minar are the kind of landmarks on the busy roadside that very few cities can boast of.

Qutab Minar@6 AM

Delhi is, most importantly, the gateway to north India. There are five exits from Delhi for a traveler as numbered from 1 to 5 in the map below.