My trip to Egypt

Egypt was on my radar for many years but for some reason I never seriously planned for it. Finally in 2025, I felt that it's time to visit the pyramids and the sphinx and the mummies that we have read so much about in textbooks and watched many movies on.

I am a detailed oriented planner when it comes to international vacations which means that I need to determine which cities to visit (and in what order), what to do in each of those cities, what would be the ideal way to move from one city to another. I even try to map the days very well based on the opening times of different attractions and the distances between those attractions. And all this is possible because of many travelers who post reviews on websites, because of Google maps that allows me to figure out the distances and the best ways to move from one attraction to another. And because of vloggers who love to detail their days and journeys in these exotic places. 

So after going through my usual haunts like Trip advisor and Google maps and reviews on the websites of these attractions I came to know That the key places to visit are 1. Cairo for the pyramids of course and the Grand Egyptian Museum. 2. Luxor for the Valley of Kings and the Luxor and Karnak temples. 3. Aswan for the Philae Temple and 4. Abu Simbel Temples

Now I had 9 days/8 nights in hand and I wanted to cover Cairo, Luxor, Aswan and Abu Simbel and none of these cities are really close by which means I would either need to fly or take Nile cruise or do a road journey. 

Ideally Nile Cruise is the best way to see everything from Luxor to Aswan to Abu Simbel. The cruise runs between Luxor and Aswan and it runs in both directions so you can board it from either of the cities and Abu Simbel temples are three to four hours by road from Aswan. 

Luxor and Aswan can be reached by a direct short flight from Cairo, however there is no direct flight between Luxor and Aswan. Interestingly there is also an extremely short flight between Aswan and Abu Simbel. 

So most folks fly from Cairo to either Luxor or Aswan in morning and board a Nile Cruise. After boarding cruise, you are taken on guided tours of the temples in that city.  The cruise then starts moving and covers Kom Ombu and Edfu temples tours and last day it docks in second city for you to see more temples :)

While most reviews told me how nice their Nile cruise was, most of those reviews also had links to which Nile Cruise I should buy - so it was very clear that reviews were biased. Interestingly when it comes to Egypt it was very difficult for me to find true reviews - what I mean by that is the reviews were either too good or too bad - I was not getting a balanced view of the cities or the attractions.

But I kept digging and then I landed on detailed vlogs of folks explaining why Nile Cruise may not be a great idea especially in the peak season:

1. In peak season as many as 300 ships are on Nile running on diesel which means that air is thick with diesel smoke and you can't really open the windows and enjoy the beauty of the river. 
2. The Diesel Gen sets have to run whole night to generate power because when the ships dock there is no power source for them and if by any chance your room is next to the generator room you would not be able to sleep. 
3. Last and not the least was the fact that most of these cruises run on the similar timetable which means they dock at attractions at the same time - this translates into hundreds and hundreds of tourists at the attractions at the same time.

Keeping this in mind I decided to not book the Nile cruise which means I now had to figure out how to cover 4 cities using only flights and road. This is the day-wise itinerary that I finally came up with.

1. Land in Cairo - Our flight was delayed so we really couldn't do anything on day 1
2. Visit Giza Pyramids and Sphinx and spice & attar shopping
3. Day trip to Alexandria 
4. Visit Grand Egyptian Museum and National Museum of Egyptian Civilization to see actual mummies
5. Early morning flight to Aswan. visit Aswan Dam &Philae Temple during the long layover. Then board another flight to Abu Simbel. Visit Abu Simbel Temples around 3 PM. Attend the sound and light show as well. Stay overnight in Abu Simbel
6. Early morning flight back to Aswan. Road trip to Luxor via Kom Ombu and at Edfu Temples. 
7. Visit Luxor and Karnak temples
8. Visit Valley of Kings and Hatshepsut Temple
9. Early morning flight to Cairo and then flight back home same afternoon. 

This itinerary allowed me to completely eradicate the tiring road journey between Aswan and Abu Simbel. Most folks leave their hotel or cruise ship at around 4:00 AM so that they can reach Abu Simbel around 7:30 am,  visit the temples and then start back by say 10:30-11 am and be back on the cruise ship or hotel by 4:00 PM. The temples get very hot during the day so it is advisable to finish your trip by 11:00 AM. This also means that you have thousands of tourist in these temples during that same 3-4 hour window. 

As we were landing in Abu Simbel around noon, we saw queues of people waiting to get into the temples. But we decided to check into the hotel first and get some shut eye before reaching the temples around 3 PM and there were probably only 20 other tourists in the area. So not only did we avoid the road journey, we also got the temples to ourselves. Staying in Abu Simbel at night also allowed us to see the amazing sound and light show and I would recommend it to everyone. 

We had to take a road journey from Aswan to Kom Ombu  to Edfu to Luxor. It was about 8 hours in total including time spent at temples (~ 5.5 hours on road). But because there were 2 attractions on the way, the journey was broken into 3 segments and it didn't really feel that long.  And since our visit times to Kom Ombo and Edfu didn't align with cruise ships, we got to see these two also in peace. 

Overall I felt it was the best itinerary for our needs given the time we had and our priorities in terms spending more time at Abu Simbel and in Luxor. However Nile Cruise is also a wonderful way to see everything without having to go through the stress of taking flights in Egypt which is a very chaotic place - especially the airports. 

Once the itinerary was locked and I had booked the international flights and hotels in Cairo and Luxor , I needed to execute on the domestic flights and the hotel in Abu Simbel and attraction tickets and the Egypt tourist visa. When I went to apply for the e-visa I was informed by the Egyptian official website that I will need the services of a travel agent in order to be issued a visa and if I try to get a visa on arrival they will need the contact of the travel agent who is there to pick me up. 

This was new to me I had never used a travel agent in my life except maybe first time when I needed Schengen visa and I did not know the VFS process for same. And it was kind of a blow to my ego - I mean I am the planner, so why do I need a travel agent!!! But since the visa website told me I had to get one and thanks to a friend's referral we were able to get services of a really good one. The travel agency was able to help us with domestic flight bookings, the hotel in Abu Simbel, the entry tickets to all the attractions, guides for each of these attractions. In addition they also arranged for all our pickups  & drops and 2 day trips by road.

Data oriented person that I am, I did the math to see how much more expensive the travel agent would be versus booking everything on my own and there was a significant difference but in hindsight this extra cost was totally worth it. 

If it is your first time to Egypt, it is useful to have somebody to do arrangements for you. For instance, it's not easy to Uber in Egypt. It is not easy to use public transport either so simple pickup and drops can become a hassle if you are on your own. You do need guides for each of these attractions otherwise you would miss out on the overall experience and I'm sure finding good guides on your own is not easy. The cars for both short and long journeys were also very comfortable. Overall I am glad that we use their services. 

In the upcoming posts I will detail my experience in each of these places along with some pictures even though the pictures don't do justice to this chaotic yet amazing country with its thousands of year old monuments and attractions and mummies. 

A week in Croatia: Split, Plitvice & Zagreb

Drive from Srebreno to Split

We left Srebreno for Split after breakfast. As soon as we started, I realised that I would need petrol before starting 3 hour drive on wrong side of the road (yes Croatia like most of Europe has cars with left hand drive). Last I drove a LHD car was almost 10 years ago and I was a bit unsure of how I will deal with it over a long drive. While it was a comedy of errors to get to the nearest fuel station due to double white lines in most places, I managed to refuel before embarking on the journey. 

Thankfully one no longer needs to cross the border when driving from Dubrovnik to Split. The Pelješac Bridge, which opened in July 2022, connects mainland Croatia to the Pelješac Peninsula, providing a route that bypasses Bosnia and Herzegovina. Earlier it meant crossing a border where Schengen visa is not accepted and from what I heard BiH insists on IDP (International Driving Permit) as well. 

Beautiful views all along the route

It was a lovely drive overall with amazing views. Initially I was sticking to speed limit of the highways (130 kmph) but since almost every car was overtaking me and roads were wide & everyone was following lane discipline, soon I was also driving at 160-170 kmph. My co passenger wasn't very happy about it though :). We also crossed many long tunnels on the way - one was 5 km long!!! (they mention the length as one is entering the tunnel).

The 240 km drive to Split took us a little over 3 hours and I was glad that we chose to drive instead of taking a bus - i mean where would you get the kind of roads where you can drive at 170 kmph and not feel a thing! 

Split

We had chosen a hotel with its own basement parking as old town of almost all European cities are crowded and getting a parking there is a nightmare. Our plan was to walk or uber from hotel to old town and beachfront.

We chose AC Hotel - a new modern construction with spacious rooms, a gym on a high floor with lovely ocean views and sauna & steam. After recovering from driving "wrong" side of the road and after sun had calmed down a bit, we stepped out and walked to old town which was barely 2 km from our hotel. My favourite past time in Europe is walking and Split was no exception :)

Split waterfront at night

After spending some time admiring the buildings like Diocletian's Palace, we decided to make way to waterfront. This is when the city truly came alive. Lined by restaurants, Split waterfront is the hub of all tourist activity. We spent hours walking and enjoying the harbour and its amazing views. As the night approached, the buildings lighted up the entire waterfront beautifully. Some large cruise ships were also docked - all lighted up and made up for lovely light sources middle of the water.

Around 11 pm, fully spent, we decided to uber back to the hotel which was another interesting experience as GPS wasn't working well in old town and it took a few phone calls before we could be in the same location as our uber.

Split at night

Due to paucity of time, we had planned only one night in Split, so we left for Plitvice National Park next day after breakfast. And this time it was very easy to fuel up at the station right across the road from the hotel :) 

It was to be 2.5 hour drive but took me almost 3.5 hours as a lot of it was not on highways or roads with medians so I had to drive a bit slower and be more alert. Overtaking was difficult and at one place there was construction going on the two-lane road and it cost us 15 min to get through that stretch alone. Last stretch was on side roads as we were staying in a bed & breakfast instead of a hotel inside the park. None of the hotels had great reviews and this B&B came recommended by a friend - and we were not disappointed. But even with narrower roads and slightly longer distance (255 km) than the day before, I wasn't that tired.

Plitvice is the main reason we chose to drive instead of relying on tour operators. The tour buses from Split or Zagreb all land at the same time (11-12 pm) and park becomes very crowded. In order to truly enjoy its immense natural beauty, it is imperative that one enters the park as soon as it opens at 7 am. Which is why we drove to the park vicinity the evening before and stayed overnight. 

We chose to drive to a nearby burger joint for our dinner and enjoyed the same along with some local beers before retiring to our en-suite room with a bottle of rose.

Plitvice National Park

As was the plan, we left the B&B at 6:30 am - the park was just 10 min away but I knew that parking wouldn't be very close to the entrance given the number of visitors that enter the park daily. After parking in the huge lot, and crossing a bridge, we reached the main entrance - there were hardly 30-40 folks at the gate and we were inside the park in minutes. I was glad that I had carried a sweater, as it was a bit nippy in the morning.

View as soon one enters the park

Tourists can choose from different trails based on time on hand and their fitness levels. If one wants to see only lower lakes, Entrance 1 is best and for upper lakes Entrance 2 is better. Since we were covering both sets of lakes (Trail C) we started at Entrance 1 itself and made our way all the way to last upper lake. The trail length was 8 km and it took us 4 hours and included a short scenic boat ride. At the end of the trail, we chose to take a bus back to Entrance 1 instead of walking all the way back. 

Photos cannot do justice to beautiful place but here are some all the same:

As soon as we reached the entrance 1, we saw hordes of tourists descending from tour buses. The viewpoints where we were the sole watchers, had long queues of 100+ folks. Also most tour buses plan so little time for the park that doing both upper and lower lakes is not an option. We exited the park around 11:30 am and decided to drive to Zagreb right away. 

Zagreb

Zagreb is just 2 hours from Plitvice and it was an easy drive except for the last few kilometers when we entered the capital city. The one-ways were super confusing and the hotel had run out of parking, so we dropped our bags at the hotel and went to return our car to the rental agency's Zagreb office. I had chosen this rental agency so that I could pick up car at one place and drop at another without paying anything extra. It's a local rental agency run by really nice people. The guy at Zagreb drop point was so happy to see us arrive 3 hours before appointed time that he chose to drop us back to our hotel as no uber was willing for such a short distance. 

At Zagreb also we had chosen a Sheraton and they upgraded us to a suite. The hotel is furnished old style with carpeted floors and poster beds but we really liked the old school charm. We were here two nights, so first evening we took it easy as it had been a long day and solid hike in the morning. We just walked to the main square, grabbed a bite and a drink and just watched the world go by. 

Next day was spent on local museums, churches and some landmarks. Last morning we were to fly out to Amsterdam in afternoon, so we spent the morning at a park and botanical gardens. 

As luck would have it, the moment we were to board, pilot came out and announced that craft was struck by lightning on way to Zagreb, so our flight stood cancelled. We were provided hotel for the night in Zagreb by the airline though it wasn't as good as the one we had in Amsterdam. Fortunately, we were booked on next day's first flight out to Amsterdam and our Amsterdam hotel didn't cancel our booking as no show as we had informed them of the arrival delays. We reached the hotel around noon and we were able to make our Van Gogh Museum reservations (barely). 

Thus ended a memorable week in one of the most beautiful countries I have visited. I hope to visit it again soon!

A week in Croatia: Dubrovnik

My work travel in 2019 and Covid in 2020 & 2021 didn't allow me to experience Europe after May 2018. In 2021, my Schengen visa expired and the long wait times dissuaded me from planning a trip to Europe. Finally in 2023, when a friend informed me that they got their Schengen visa appointment easily through France, I applied for it and planned a trip for Sep 2023. 

For the purpose of visa I had to book tickets first and had to show port of entry as Paris. But we stayed in Paris only for 3 nights and did our usual museum hopping before taking a flight to Dubrovnik. 

I had been planning Croatia trip since 2019 but Covid kept coming in the way - it was truly a much awaited trip for me. We landed in Dubrovnik around 2:30 in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day and a lovely cab ride from airport to our Hotel in Srebreno (10 km before Dubrovnik)

Night view of the Srebreno waters

We chose to stay in quiet Srebreno over crowded Dubrovnik and it was the best decision of our trip. It is a Sheraton property on the beach with two pools (indoor & outdoor), decent gym and huge rooms with lovely balconies. After the tiny Parisian hotel room of Le Meridian, this was bliss. First night we didn't leave Srebreno - just explored the area, walked by the beach and enjoyed a leisurely dinner at one of the restaurants on the marina. 

One thing I wasn't prepared for was the high temperatures in Sep. It was blistering hot during the day (even Paris was crazy hot) - so I needed more dresses as it was impossible to wear denim. Thankfully there was a mall near our hotel and I was able to procure exactly what I needed. 

Dubrovnik as seen from Fort Imperial

Next day, post a lovely breakfast at our hotel, we took an uber to Fort Imperial - it is the highest view point in Dubrovnik. One can take a cable car to and from Dubrovnik old town but I didn't feel like waiting in long queues and paying 27 Euros for a 3 min ride. It was a very sunny day and would have been unbearably hot if not for the lovely sea breeze. We stayed there for a hour, just taking in the beautiful views, before taking another uber to Old town. 

Old Town

Old town is really charming and home to many key locations used in Game of Thrones. One of the key attractions is the walls of old town -  The walls run an uninterrupted course of approximately 2 km in length, encircling most of the old city, and reach a maximum height of about 25 m. Other key attraction is Fort Lovrijenac just next to Old Town. But mostly its a mecca for GoT fans with many many GoT tours happening throughout the day. 

We chose to keep the key attractions for the next day because the one-day Dubrovnik pass costs 35 Euros and covers all key attractions and they can all be done in half a day. Today we just walked around the old town and spent a significant time by the lovely clear waters of Adriatic Sea. Evening was again spent in one of  the restaurants on Srebreno beach over cocktails. 

View from Fort Lovrijenac

Last day, we again ubered to old town and started with Fort Lovrijenac.  It is a hilltop medieval fortress sits that perched outside the old city walls, on a promontory overhanging the Adriatic Sea. GoT fans recognize this as the Red Keep in King's Landing. It provides breathtaking views of Dubrovnik’s Old Town and West Harbor. 

After spending an hour and a half wandering through stone corridors and patios of Fort Lovrijenac, we entered the old city walls and visited a few other attractions included in Day pass. However none are worth mentioning honestly. We were just whiling away our time so that we could start walking the city walls when the afternoon sun would calm down a bit. We decided to start the walk at 5 pm so  that we get done in time for when the walls close (6:30 pm). 

Some views from the walls

Hence fortified with some lovely local ciders, we started walking the walls of Dubrovnik at 5 pm. Sun was still strong and the first steep set of stairs had us drenched in sweat. But as we got higher the views made it totally worth the effort. These walls are probably 1000 years old but Dubrovnik has retained these walls so perfectly that Dubrovnik is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1979.

Some views from the walls

The 2 km long wall took as 90 min to walk thanks to lovely views and the many many steps one has to climb. One can gain entry to walls at 3-4 different points but the walk is unidirectional and as long as you remember your entry point, you won't miss any portion of it. There are some gelato shops which provided a welcome break from walking in the hot sun but overall this was indeed the best attraction of the old town of Dubrovnik.

We ended the day enjoying the sights of old town before taking a uber to our car rental place. Yes we had planned it to be driving holiday across Croatia and fun was just about to begin

Paris - Again!

It was exactly after 4 years since my first trip to Paris. On my first trip I had done the usual - Eiffel Tower, Seine Cruise, Museums of Louvre and Orsay and Versailles. And a day trip to Bordeaux. To be honest, this time around things stayed pretty much the same - Bordeaux was replaced  by Reims (Champagne) and Seine cruise was ditched but we didn't add anything to our itinerary. Why? Well...first time around, I had not planned well for my vacation and as a result, wasn't able to do complete justice to most of the attractions.

Between then and now, I have been to many places in Europe and have kind of become good at planning vacations. So, this time around I knew what to expect and I was clear where I wanted to spend my time.

We had an early flight from Stockholm to Paris which meant that we left our hotel at 3:30 am. Since taxis are very expensive in Sweden, we had decided to take Flygbussarna airport coach instead. The bus stop was about 400 m from hotel (plus a long flight of stairs from hotel to main road). We were a bit worried about the safety at such an early hour but thanks to Scandinavian summer, the sun was rising as we stepped out of the hotel and made our way up those 100 odd steps and walked to the bus/ coach stop.

The bus arrived dot on time and we reached our terminal as expected. The airport wasn't crowded at all and we were done with check-in and security check within a matter of minutes. Flygbussarna is the cheapest transport to/fro Arlanda airport in Stockholm and I highly recommend it.

View from the Summit

We landed in Paris around 9:00 am but we reached hotel only around noon - thanks to the rains and the crazy Paris traffic. Wish I had taken RER as per my original plan but the long queues for the ticket really dissuaded me. My suggestion...even if the ticket queue is long, opt for RER - it will always be cheaper (10.3 Euros per head) and faster.

The hotel we had chosen was on Champs-Elysees (thanks to the points earned by dear hubby over his many many official trips). After a quick lunch and a power nap, we decided to walk to Eiffel Tower - we had a 3 pm booking for the Summit. Last time, I couldn't go to the summit as online tickets were sold out and skip the line ticket took us only till 2nd Level. This time, I booked well in advance but the weather was very disappointing - it was still cloudy though the rain had stopped. As luck would have it, by the time we reached the tower, and spent over 40 minutes across 3 queues (security, elevator to Level 2 and elevator to Summit), the sun was out and we could get a decent view of the city.

View of Trocadero from Level 2

The summit gets quite crowded especially because there just isn't enough space. And when a group of Gujjus intent on having Gujarati snacks at the summit get added to it, one has to descend sooner than planned.

So after about 10 minutes we took the elevator down to Level 2 where we spent another 20 minutes soaking in the sun bathed views of the beautiful city.

We then made our way over to the Trocadero Gardens - I believe that's the best place to admire Eiffel from - up close it isn't really beautiful. However, after about  30 min, it started raining and we were forced to head back to our hotel where we enjoyed some great wine and food over dinner.





Next day was reserved for Louvre. Yes...a day isn't enough but then we can't spend a month in Paris...not yet at least! This time around I had done some research on where I wanted to spend time in this massive museum and we spent most of our time in and around the Grand Gallery. Ofcourse we avoided the key attractions, like Mona Lisa, having been disappointed already during the previous visit. The audio guide wasn't that good as it has information about very limited paintings...my suggestion is not to spend money on that but instead get data on your phone and use Google Lens to identify the painting and get information about it.

Outside view from a window in Grand Gallery

The day at Louvre was great except for the hoards of Chinese tourists some of whom had the audacity to physically push other patrons, who were busy admiring the painting, in order to get a picture with the painting. Some of them were rude enough to stand directly in front of painting for a selfie while someone else was studying it intently. And then some others were being irritating by making others take their pictures.

In spite of them, we had a good time at Louvre that included a coffee and cake break in the cafeteria. First time around when we needed a break, we found the queues too long as it was lunch time but about an hour after that there was a kind of lull and we could enjoy our coffee in peace.

We wrapped up the day with spending some time in the Egyptian Antiquities section and went back to Champs-Elysees for a well deserved long meal with wine.

Interior of the catherdral

Day Three we woke up late as today we were taking a short train ride on an afternoon TGV to Reims (Champagne region). On the previous trip, I had booked a 6:00 am TGV to Bordeaux and had cursed myself for it when I had to get up at 4:00 am in order to catch it. So this time around I decided to start late and enjoy a relaxed morning instead.

The agenda was to visit the cellars of GH Mumm, see some local sights and have a dinner before heading back to Paris. The vineyards are in Epernay and that is another 30 minutes by train from Reims plus vineyards are spread around and require tour bookings. Most tours start in the morning and we weren't too willing to do so :)

Rose window

So we reached Reims at 1:45 pm and started walking towards the Reims Cathedral. We had no idea what to expect and we found ourselves beyond surprised by this cathedral - it is about 800 years old, 450+ ft in length and almost hundred feet wide with a height of 125 ft at the centre. Built in high gothic style, it looms large above you and has some impressive stained glass work ranging from the 13th to the 20th century. The rose window over the main portal and the gallery beneath are of rare magnificence.

We spent more than an hour here before we realised that we were getting late for our cellars tour. So we made haste and walked for about 20-25 minutes to reach the GH Mumm visitors center. The tour started sharp on time with a short video in champagne making process. We then walked down to cellars where we were shown a few grape varieties and some out of commission equipment. Our guide was very informative and she had us hooked for the whole hour.

GH Mumm Cellars

The cellars are really huge and worth a visit - these are more like limestone caves/tunnels. The temperatures are kept low (approx 5-10 degree C) and humidity constant and so it does get a bit cold. Bathed in yellow light, these limestone tunnels look ethereal and the millions of champagne bottles make it look a like big underground treasure.

While I loved the cellars tour, the tasting was actually a let down because we had taken the basic tour, the guide just poured the wine and moved to do the proper tasting with the others guests who had 2-3 wines to taste on their ticket.

After the tour we walked back to the station through a lovely park and enjoyed a nice dinner before boarding our train back to Paris. 

Day Four

Cafeteria at Orsay

Having arrived late into Paris from Reims, today was another planned late start. Today's agenda was to spend time on our favourite impressionist collection at Orsay. With more than 100 impressionist masterpieces, Orsay is one of the richest collections of Impressionist paintings in the world. As we had planned we spent most of our time on the 5th floor (next to cafeteria) that houses this collection. The audio-guide was good but again contained information on very limited number of paintings...next time around I will rely on Google Lens alone.

After a few hours when our legs couldn't carry us any more, we imbibed some rose wine in their beautiful cafeteria before heading off to the post-impressionist collection (Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne and Beyond).

Performers outside the museum

When we left Orsay it was late afternoon and quite sunny but not too hot. We enjoyed some street music performance just outside the museum and then sat on the steps by the Seine.

During our last long visit to Paris we had spent an hour on a bridge somewhere between Orsay and Notre-Dame. So this time around, I wanted to visit it again. It took us more than an hour of walking alongside Siene to reach the cathedral but we couldn't locate that bridge. A bit sad, we decided to to call off the hunt and started walking towards the closest metro stop and  there it was - Pont d'Arcole.

Last time we had taken a metro to reach Notre-Dame from Orsay and that's how we had encountered the bridge before reaching cathedral. This time around since we had walked, we reached cathedral first and then found the bridge on way to metro station. Anyway...I was delighted that we were able to locate it and spent some time clicking pictures.

Last day was reserved for Versailles...a palace whose beauty is surpassed only by its gardens. I won't get into text details here as words can't do justice to its beauty. The only thing I would add is that after visiting Schönbrunn in Vienna and Royal Palace of Madrid, Hall of Mirrors at Versailles doesn't hold the same charm for me as it did the first time around. The gardens, however, remain my favourite...even more so now because this time around we chose to visit the day when Gardens would have music and working fountains. It was really beautiful!!!

If one wants to visit only gardens, the entry is free except for the days when water & music is on. That day gardens also require a ticket. However, the gardens are huge and music/water is not on through out the day (to conserve energy). Please make note of the timetable of the musical gardens here. You will also be handed over a paper guide with same at the venue. The fountains work for an hour in morning & 90 min in afternoon and because of vastness of the gardens, it's better to plan a route map for two windows.

To get an idea of the beauty of the musical fountains, I would suggest you watch this video of Mirror Pool that I uploaded on youtube.  Below are some stills from the musical gardens but they don't do justice to it!

Latona Fountain

Apollo Fountain

Grove of three fountains

Bosquet de l'Encelade. By the time we got here fountain wasn't working

Stockholm

At sharp 7 am we were out the apartment door and got the bus 1A in a few minutes that dropped us at footsteps of Copenhagen Central station. The platforms were accessible by stairs from this side but we didn't know which platform to go down to (with all our luggage).  Since the train was at 8:20 and it was just 7:30 am - the train information wasn't displayed on the screens yet. Thankfully, a blue collar worker at the station was exiting from one of the platforms and he told us to go to platform 5 for our train to Stockholm.

While waiting for the train, I bought us some breakfast because the bar/cafe car in the train is not operational till 9:00 am. The train arrived well before departure time so we had ample time to get in our luggage and find our seats. It was a comfortable journey that lasted about 5 hours 20 minutes and included a passport check as we entered Sweden.

From Stockholm's central station, we took a T train to our hotel. The central station is huge and signs are very confusing, so it took us some time to figure out the platform for our train - but it has escalators so luggage was not an issue. In Stockholm, we had chosen Courtyard by Marriott and it turned out to be a great property. The rooms are huge and it is less than 500 m from Fridhemsplan (T station and the bus stop for the Flygbussarna airport coach)

After we parked our bags, we landed in the city center (near Royal Opera house). It was the day of Stockholm marathon that was in its last stages. We had bought 72 hour Stockholm Pass online  along with the 72 hour transport cards (as station doesn't  have a sale point and we weren't flying into the city). It was delivered to Bangalore with reasonable shipping charges.

Just like Copenhagen card, this one included all key attractions including hop on hop off bus & boat tours. Due to the marathon, the schedule for the day was different and we had missed the last bus and boat. Instead, we signed up for the 2 hour 'Under the bridges' cruise at 6:30 pm. It was the perfect time for it - it was sunny but not too hot and the boat wasn't overly crowded (just yet).  The 2 hour cruise is a sightseeing tour where you travel under twelve bridges and pass through a lock that is connecting the Baltic Sea with Lake Mälaren. (Lake Malaren is a meter higher than Baltic Sea - so boats have to wait inside the lock till the water level inside the lock rises or drops, as needed).

On this cruise, we got to see the inner city, the Old Town, the island of Södermalm and the green areas of Djurgården. By the time cruise ended and we reached Fridemsplan, it was 9:00 pm - we just had a quick dinner and walked back to our hotel.

Views from the 'Under the Bridges' Cruise

Next day we started with a one hour boat cruise to Drottingholm Palace. Thanks to google maps goof up, we couldn't make it in time for the 11 am departure, so we had to wait 50 minutes for the next boat. In the meanwhile we strolled over to the City Hall next door. It is a beautiful building and can be accessed only through guided tours. Thanks to the delay in getting on the boat, the 15:30 (last) tour wasn't an option for us! So we just enjoyed the exteriors, the sparkling waters of Lake Malaren and clicked some pictures.

We landed at Drottingholm palace at 1 pm, took the self-guided tour - The palace was not mind blowing but it is still beautiful and it was interesting to see how it was inspired by Chateau de Versailles in many places. The Swedish royal family actually lives here (since 1981) and not in the Royal Palace of Stockholm. We especially loved the Queen's library where 10000 of the total 90000 book collection were on display.

Drottingholm palace as visible from boat, Queen's library and some beautiful chandeliers

After the palace tour, we made our way to the Court Theater building for a 35 minutes guided tour of same. Our guide was impressive in her knowledge of the theater that has everything in its original form including the wallpaper.

Court Theater

We caught the 15:00 boat back to Stockholm as the day was very hot to enjoy the gardens. And then boarded the Hop On Hop Off (HOHO) bus from City Hall. It was a bad choice because the sun was relentless and after some time roof was closed off as we were driving under the tram electric lines. The tour lasted 75 minutes and we felt baked by the end of it!!! We got off at the Central Station stop, had a lovely Italian meal and headed off to hotel just as it had started to rain.

Day 3 in Stockholm was reserved for island of Djurgarden - an area famous for Skansen open air museum, Vasa museum, ABBA museum, Nordic museum...to name a few. A combination of T and tram got us there in 45 minutes - the morning was cool and it was great for enjoying the open air museum.

Trying Stilts

Skansen is the world's first open-air museum, founded in 1891, with an area of 300000 square meters. This is great place to explore the five centuries of Swedish history which include the way of life, slavery system at the farms and many more. All of the 150 buildings in the museum were actually built in the past and then moved to Skansen. However at 10 am most of the buildings were closed, so we headed to the zoo to see bears, bison, wolves and lynx. We also tried our hand at some old Swedish games including stilt walking. After this we headed off to the aquarium where we got to see sloths, golden lion tamarins, meerkats, a vast variety of poisonous snakes & other amphibians and of course, many fishes.

After a small meal at Skansen we headed off to Vasa museum which was a short tram ride away. Vasa museum is dedicated to the battleship Vasa that sank in 1628 after just sailing just over 1300 m. The ship lay below the surface for 333 years until being salvaged in 1961. Some blame King Gustav II Adolf for the disaster, who ordered a large ship with 72 heavy-caliber cannons (though only 64 were mounted as canons took longer to build). Others blame Master shipwright Henrik Hybertsson who, apparently, was inexperienced at building ships with two gun-decks. The ship would have been gorgeous when it started on its maiden and only voyage - while the colours are gone, 95% of it is still intact and is original - thanks to the less salty & frigid waters of Baltic Sea.

Coloured one on bottom right is a model of the Vasa ship

We got lucky because we decided to rest our feet near the meeting point of the free guided tour. The guide was this short feisty lady who kind of reminded me of myself :) She was very passionate about her subject and we really enjoyed listening to her.

After Vasa, we headed over to the Nordic museum but it is no longer about Nordic countries - it's focused only on Swedish culture. It has exhibitions about work and life in Sweden from the 16th century until today, featuring clothes and fashion, textiles, furniture and interiors, jewellery, photography, folk art, glass and china. We didn't enjoy it much and left it after an hour.

It was after 5 pm and we had been on our feet since 10 am...but we decided to do Skyview today - as it is a bit far from next day's attractions that are all grouped together on island of Gamla Stan. However, when we reached Skyview we were informed that next open slot is at 12:10 pm next day - we had no option but to accept those tickets. We were, by now, very tired and hungry - so we grabbed a meal near Skyview and took the T back to our hotel.

Last day, we started pretty early as we had to accommodate Skyview in today's agenda. By 9 am we were at Nobel Museum - it is a small museum but has lot of information available digitally. The physical exhibition was focused on a handful of Nobel Laureates from Literature. Here also we got a free guided tour - which though short was very informative.

After the Nobel museum, we took the T to Skyview...enjoyed the short & slow ride in the globe shaped glass elevator to the top of the building, clicked pictures of the beautiful city and then took the T back to Gamla Stan.

We reached the Royal Palace of Stockholm barely in time for the guided tour that costs just 20 SEK (rest was included in Stockholm Pass). The palace is very beautiful and again takes lots of inspiration from Chateau de Versailles. The tour, while informative, was a bit dull - the  guide just didn't know how to connect with the audience - he was quite formal. After the tour we continued to enjoy the beautiful building before heading out to the Ridderholmen Church.

Royal Palace of Stockholm

Ridderholmen is the Stockholm’s only remaining medieval abbey, built in the late 1200s. The church is the last resting place of the Swedish monarchs and aristocracy. However, we weren't very impressed by it and decided to leave after 20 minutes or so.

The last order of the day was to get back to hotel but it was just 4 pm and sun doesn't set in this beautiful city till 10:30 pm (in summer). So we decided to board the HOHO bus again today as the weather was actually cold today. It was the eve of the Swedish National Day (which is 6th June), so the roads had many cars and open aired buses/ trucks filled with revelers enjoying the eve of national holiday. 

The bus tour was certainly more enjoyable today and we got off at the City Hall and decided to walk the 2.5 km distance back to our hotel as our travel card had expired (though attraction card was still valid) and it didn't make sense to spend money on expensive cabs for this distance.

Copenhagen

After covering the multiple cites in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Portugal, Greece etc, Scandinavian capitals were the most obvious choice for me. After much research, we settled on 3 days for Copenhagen, 4 for Stockholm and 4 for Oslo & Bergen. However, the train tickets to Oslo were all sold out, so we dropped Oslo and instead added Paris to the itinerary.

We landed in Copenhagen around 3 pm and finally reached our AirBnb around 4:30 pm. The bags took forever to arrive - but the journey on Metro & S-tog was eventless. The pain was ofcourse lugging our 12-15 kg suitcases to the 4th floor without elevator (80 odd steps). We were sweating profusely with the effort and also because it was the hottest May experienced by Copenhagen in 150 years. Just our luck :) - thankfully I had packed couple of summer dresses as well.

Around 5:30 pm, we left the apartment for Nyhavn (New Harbour) and found that canal tours were still on. We had purchased Copenhagen Card at the airport (93 Euros for 72 hours including transport and all key attractions) and we got on the 6:30 pm cruise using same. It was 6:30 pm but sun was really strong -  the water and the breeze helped cool us down. The one hour canal cruise covered all key attractions including 'The Little Mermaid' - which as I had expected was a bit of a let down (thankfully we hadn't walked 1 km to see the same)

After the cruise, we started walking around, looking for a good place for some drinks and dinner. We finally landed in a square with a bunch of good options - including Dubliner (an Irish pub). Craving an Irish Ale, I chose the same and we sat down for a dinner of fish & chips. The time was now 8:30 pm and sun was still out but weather had cooled down considerably (i felt it was a bit nippy). So we decided to take the direct bus back to our AirBnb and were back in about 20 minutes.

Next day, after my morning run, we started the day with a visit to Rosenborg Castle (early 17th century) that also houses the Royal Treasury. It is a beautiful castle and the Crown Jewels were mind blowing. It is the only place (that I have visited) where one is allowed to click pictures of crown jewels.

Rosenborg Castle Exterior & Gardens

Danish Crown Jewels

After a small meal at the Castle cafeteria, we headed for our beer experience at "Visit Carlsberg". It was a sunny afternoon and perfect for downing a beer or two - we of course had much more thanks to the beer tasting we signed up for after the exhibition and imbibing the beer included with it. Our Cicerone (same as wine sommelier) for the beer tasting was well informed and really funny. He had us in splits throughout the tasting with his style and anecdotes. We mostly tasted Jacobsen beers that are not available anywhere else. We also bought some of these for consumption later.

After the many many drinks (I lost count after a few) we decided to head back to our room for an afternoon siesta - honestly nothing else was possible!!!

The massive beer collection at 'Visit Carlsberg'

In the late evening (around 6 pm), we headed out again to visit the Round Tower followed by dinner. The tower has very few steps, just sloping path all the way up and a decent view of the city.

The last day also started with a 3 mile run but it was a cold morning and it took me almost a mile before I started to sweat. The day that started cold, was nice and warm by the time we left for Christianborg palace. There was some construction going on the main road and it took us a while to find the entrance to it. There is no audio-guide for the palace but one can download (using free wifi) an audio-guide to the Queen's tapestries in the grand hall. The tapestry series depicts 1000 years of Danish history - it takes about 30 minutes to cover them all but its totally worth it.

The Alexandra Hall used for official dinners

10000 (of the total 90000) books of the Queen's library

The kitchen that heats and serves the food (it isn't  geared up for cooking)

It is a beautiful palace, not as old as other European palaces but still impressive - the visitors have to wear disposable shoe covers for visiting the Royal Reception Rooms.

After the palace, we had a short lunch and walked over to the National Museum. It is a small museum (compared to the likes of Louvre) but has some impressive exhibitions from the Stone Age, the Viking Age, the Middle Ages, the Renaissance and Modern Danish History. We managed to get a free guided tour here and were able to understand the key attractions better as there is no audio guide here as well. After the guided tour, we spent a good amount of time in the doll house collection. Definitely worth visiting if one has kids - though adults enjoy it equally :)

A doll house (top left) and 3 of its rooms up close

It was quite hot again and hence it was beer o'clock. We visited 'Bastard cafe' where one can play board games while one drinks and eats. Tried scrabble but the tiles were made for Danish script and had very few vowels - so we gave up and enjoyed our beer instead.

Last on our Copenhagen itinerary was Tivoli Gardens but the heat was scorching and it didn't make sense to visit an amusement park so we went back to our room for some rest and to pack (had an early start for Stockholm next day). We reached Tivoli around 8:45 pm, and found that Fridays are concert evenings and hence all rides stop by 10 pm. So we didn't buy a ride pass - we just strolled around the park, did some souvenir shopping, enjoyed our weird reflections in the carnival mirrors and watched a bit of the concert.

Skiing in Gulmarg

So I had time on my hands and I was itching to do something new. PADI certification has been on mind for some time but I wanted to be back in mountains. The two options open to me were Chadar trek in Ladakh or Skiing (Auli or Gulmarg).

Chadar dates weren't working with my schedule and hence, skiing was the only viable option. The FB recommendations were in favour of Gulmarg and a friend was able to help me with the logistics (instructor, hotel, airport transfers etc). All I had to do was book my flight tickets and reach Srinagar.

I landed in Srinagar at around 3 pm and had the vehicle waiting for me - along with my instructor. It took us 75 minutes to reach Gulmarg. While Srinagar was all brown, Gulmarg was all white - it was like entering heaven!

View from my hotel room

The hotel chosen by my instructor J turned out be great in terms of everything - its location is very close to baby slopes & the cable car (Gondola), and it is just 15-20 minutes by walk from the market. The rooms have floor heating and modern bathrooms - I had never stayed in such luxury in mountains :)

The proximity to market meant that I had my dinner (every evening) at a small joint owned by a friend of my instructor - it allowed me to have amazing Wazwan cuisine at reasonable prices and gave me opportunities to meet travelers from other parts of India.

Day 1 - J picked me up at sharp 10 am, in his car, and we drove to the rental shop next to baby slopes. It was less than a km, so walking was also an option. Once there, I was fitted with ski boots first. Next, skis were chosen basis my height and a pair of skiing poles were also provided. Having used mountaineering boots before, I was hoping ski boots wont be that bad - but I was wrong - they were actually stiffer and heavier than mountaineering boots. Even now I can't figure out how all the instructors walk in those boots so easily.

Working on my posture

J, then went on to provide me with some theory and did some demonstrations before making me wear my skis and start the downhill practice on baby slopes. While he was at it, a skier crashed into me at full speed causing me serious pain in left  hand and shoulder. The pain subsided but the fear of me crashing into someone else took its place and didn't leave me till the 6th day.

Anyway, I finally got my boots into the skis and started downhill - man it was scary...when I watched the videos later I realized that I was extremely slow but to me it felt as if  was going to fly off the face of the mountain. I just couldn't get to break using snow plough, I kept turning to one side and, as you probably guessed, the only way I could stop myself was by falling!

Once down the slope, I had to pick up the skis and walk back up while wearing those 2 ton boots. There was a tow bar that I could have used but since I had almost zero control over my skis - that wasn't about to happen today. By 2 pm, I was wiped out - thanks to walking uphill in boots and carrying the skis - so we called it a day.

enjoying the snowfall

Day 2-  I woke up to nice gentle snowfall - it was beautiful - falling so silently. J was back at sharp 10 am and I was back on the baby slopes - falling, cursing, getting admonished - but having fun thanks to the snowfall. J felt that I should  use tow bar today but I would fall within seconds of grabbing the bar - so he decided to hang with me the first 10 ft and then he would let go. Somehow that helped me get through the rest of journey to top without falling a lot (I fell only twice ). However once up, I wasn't able to get out of the way of the track as I would let go of the tow bar either a bit too soon or at a wrong angle..so the bar would be gone and I would start sliding back. Thankfully there were many people willing to help and they would grab my ski pole and pull me up and out of the way.

The snowfall continued through out the day and slowly it picked up intensity and by around 3 pm, my outer layer was soaking wet - thanks to waterproofing, the water didn't get inside but the chill most certainly did. The visibility had also reduced, so we wrapped up at 3 pm and headed straight to the market for some hot Kahwa.

Day 3, Sunday - snowfall had given way to a bright and totally white morning. Sun was out and temperature was positive again. Previous day's down jacket gave way to simple fleece and I started for the baby slopes fearing the tow bar but excited about another day of learning. My excitement was short lived as Sunday meant hordes of skiers at baby slopes - the wait for tow bar was 15-20  minutes. 2 minutes to come down the slope and 20 minutes to go back up. After about 2 hours of this, J decided to move to phase 1 slopes. I protested that I wasn't ready but since he felt otherwise, I found myself walking to the Gondola with skis on my shoulder.

Long queue for tow bar/ ski lift

This Gondola (cable car) is in two phases - first one takes you to Kongdori Station at 10,500 ft (Gulmarg is about 8,500) and second one takes you from Kongdori to Phase 2 (14000 ft). Phase 2 is only for professional skiers and ski patrols. Most folks go only for the breathtaking views. From Kongdori one can also take a chair car to about 12000 ft - but again that is not for beginners.

The Gondola to Phase-1 takes about 9 minutes and costs INR 740 for a round trip. Skiers, however, pay the same amount for a day pass - that allows multiple trips one way (Gulmarg to Kongdori) but return back to Gulmarg has to be by skiing only. A short video of the gondola ride below:

J had planned only one run for me today so he took a single one way ticket for half the amount and we were at Phase-1 groomed slopes by 1 pm. The whole run is about 6.5 km long and would take J only 5-6 minutes. Me...well I took good part of an hour that day. I was slow, I would stop for rest, I would curse and scream - but I didn't fall - not even once. How? J kept skiing in front me, BACKWARDS, the whole way to ensure that I don't fall. On steep portions he would actually hold me at the knees to break my speed. I was still not doing great at snowplough.

The worst part of this run was that it was long and the best part was that it was long. Confused? Long meant tiring but it also meant that it allowed me time to correct my posture and my technique. On baby slopes, J would ask me to correct something but by the time I could even understand what he wanted me to correct, the run would be over. Here, I could observe the mistake and correct. We were back at Gulmarg station by 2 pm and I was relieved that J had planned only one run for today.

Day 4 - it was just 10:30 am and I was already at Kongdori station -  man it would be a long day today!!!! The first run was bad - the icy slopes meant less friction and I just kept sliding and falling. At one point I just wanted to bawl, take off my skis and walk down the rest of the way - but I didn't. Not because I got some latent courage but because I knew walking 4 km in those ski boots will be far worse than skiing! So, I stayed at it, and finished the run in about 30 minutes. The moment we reached Gulmarg station, we were back in the line for Gondola - J felt that 9 minutes of ride was rest enough :(

Second run was better than first one and third one even more so. After third we took a lunch break and I did 3 more runs after that. My skiing time had reduced to 18-20 minutes by now. On an average, there was 9 minutes of cable car ride, 5-7 minutes at each station to get on/off the cable car and 20 minutes of actual skiing. So one run, end-to-end was about 40-45 minutes. Most people do 4-5 runs but thanks to "No Rest" policy of J, we could get 6 in by 3:00 pm.

Day 5 was more or less a repeat of the Day 4 with one exception - first run wasn't as terrible as the previous day - it wasn't great but not that bad either.

At phase 2 - 14000 ft

Day 6 - The day started with a long wait at Gondola counter for tickets - for some reason ticket counter wasn't operational. We managed to reach Kongdori station by 11 am and then took the second Gondola to phase 2. It was my last day in Gulmarg and I wanted to check out the views at 14000 ft. And they were indeed worth it.  After spending 15 minutes at at the windy phase 2, we came down to Phase 1 and started skiing around noon.

Today being the last day of training, I wanted to get as many runs in as possible - so we decided to forgo lunch break and do 4 runs fast. Since the first run of the day was at noon - slopes weren't icy at all - I had a good first run which built my confidence and by third run, I finally started to have fun also because I managed all steep (per my definition) portions without any help.  A short video of last day skiing below:

As I finished the fourth run I started to feel sad - a new feeling for me because usually I would be relieved that I survived the day . But today I had so much fun that I didn't want it to get over. Sadly, all good things must come to an end - and so did this ski vacation.

But the last day was so great that I promised to be back next year and listen to J constantly telling me to let go of my fear. Hopefully I will get to do one run at chair car level next year - if not I will be happy skiing at phase 1 slopes :)