Curious Boho

So begins the Swiss saga.. after a long train ride from Munich, I reached Interlaken (IL) around late afternoon. I had heard great reviews of this particular hostel named Backpackers Villa Sonnenhof and had booked my 4 day stay here and I must say it has been a delightful experience. You need to be able to have some available body parts like kidney or liver to sell to be able to travel thru Switzerland.. its quite expensive! I had set a aside a separate budget for IL itself. I reached the hostel well before the check in time and they gave me my room since it was already ready #DelightNo.1 I spent the rest of the evening waking around IL, finishing off some souvenir shopping and planning my next 3.5 days here. The hostel folks were very resourceful and provided a number of suggestions to my itinerary as well. #DelightNo.2 The next day, I started early in the morning to get to Luzern and Mt Pilatus. The weather is highly unpredictable and hence I had to check it every morning a

Its my birthday and I'm in Munich! Travelling on your birthday is the best thing ever as you make it special and its not like any other day. I had a friend in Munich who had planned on being my tour guide for the next 3 days. After a 2 hr bus ride from Salzburg, reached my friend's place and after a quick brunch we were ready to step out. We spent the next few hours walking around the city covering Marienplatz, Rathaus, river macimillian, Fraukirche, Audience platz, Viktovalian market and a few other spots. We also visited the tower of St Peter's kirche which provides the city view. A part of the river, in an area called Eisbachwelle, is where we stopped for a bit to see a few surfers on the rapids. Yes these are professional surfers, surfing on a river. Pretty cool I must say. We then strolled around English garden and pit-stopped at the Chinese biergarten for some food and beer. Fuelled up we proceeded to visit Schloss Nymphenburg. A palace turned office is set on exp

Salzburg, the city of the Sound of Music and indeed its everywhere. Here is where the movie Sound of Music was shot and it is the main attraction of this city. Nestled in the Alps, Salzburg is a beautiful city divided into 2 by the Salzach river. The birthplace of Mozart, this city is the hub of culture, music and art. I had taken a train from Budapest to Salzburg and reached around noon. I had pre-booked the Salzburg city card and I would highly recommend it. Not only did it provide Free use of public transport, the Entry to most attractions was Free too!! Full value for money. I picked up my pre-booked card at the Train station and now I was all set for the 1.5days to soak it all up! Along with the other experiences in Europe, one must experience the typical European Youth Hostel as well. I had chosen to stay at the Yoho Youth Hostel; its located quite close to the Mirabell palace and that served me perfectly as it was central. After an initial confusion around my bed an

Budapest has been a city that I had always dreamed about visiting. I have a friend who lives here in Europe and when I told her I'm planning a trip she immediately said I'll join you in Budapest. With that started our 3 day Budapest adventure. I arrived earlier than her in Budapest and hence had almost 3/4 of the day to do some sight seeing. My friend was arriving only in the evening.. We had taken a beautiful Air B&B home about 2km from Heroes square in an area called Csanady Utca (I just cant pronounce any of the Hungarian names!!) The location was great, very close to the metro station and there was a mall nearby as well with number of restaurants. After checking in I walked down to Heroes Square to check out the square and visit the palace there. Bustling with tourists, the area was also hosting a flea market and a music concert. I walked around, clicked pics and then lay down on the grass in one of the parks, relaxing, reading.. I think in 10 days I have become

Vienna.. the land of art, culture and music. The bustling capital city of Austria is an amalgamation of various cultures - pieces from the Ottommon empire right to the Bohemian empire and ofcourse German culture and traditions. Getting around the city is easy and all the sights are at walking distance. However, I had taken the Vienna City card which gave me unlimited use of the public transport - metro, tram or bus and also some discounts on the entry tickets for the sight. I had booked an Air B&B one stop away from  Stephansplatz and it was very convenient. As always I started off with a free walking tour ( I have decided I will do this in every city) by Good tours.. I like the little anecdotes shared by the tour guides, something you don't get to read in all the pre-planning research that you do. The tour quickly covers all the main sights but I also had my eyes on a few I had to do which weren't covered in the tour. St Stephans Cathedral is the most popular one, bu

My fascination with the Czech Republic and Prague started with my dad's stories of his stay in CzechSlovakia way back in the 60s and 70s. Hence Prague just had to be on my list!  I took a early morning bus from Berlin (pre-booked on FlixBus) and landed in Prague around 12 noon at the main railway station. My German number decided not work as soon as I crossed the border and hence I had no internet. I enter the railway station to realize that everything is in Czech! With the help of some broken English and sign language managed to get a new sim (Vodafone was a recognizable name :P) and activate it. Phew! Now I was ready to take on Prahaaaaa...  I had booked an Air B&B close to Wenceslas square only to realize it is a bit of a distance from the happening places around Old Town Square. Tip of the day: live closer to where all the attractions are and that's in and around Old Town Square. Trust me, you will realize this when you have to walk back after a long day o

After all the planning I finally boarded my flight to kick off my some what solo trip across 5 countries, 7 cities in Europa spanning 3 weeks! First stop.. Berlin! Why Berlin? I do have an interest in history and Berlin lives and breathes history in every corner. I landed in Frankfurt post a long 9.5hr flight from Bangalore, picked up a friend of mine and set out on a 4 hour train ride to Berlin. I had booked the tickets in advance but did not reserve a seat! Who would know it would take us walking thru 3 bogies to find 2 seats! We reached Berlin around 6:30pm, caught a bus to our hotel, checked in and then decided to step out for a quick dinner. Berlin being the capital was buzzing with tourists and hence a lot of the sign boards and spoken language is English. Day 1 we decided to start early with a walking tour which starts at Brandeburg Tor and goes around the city. We reached the Tor at 9am and learnt that there is a free walking tour at 10am by Sandeman's New Be