Donau & Cafe Leopold
Its high time that I put up the pics, now that I have already been to another trip :P
Though a few days late, this post is basically about the experiences that we (Sumedh, Onkar, I from Magdeburg, Pursha from Italy, and Sarmistha from Weinheim, Germany) had on our trip to Austria.
The group was supposed to meet at Innsbruck Hbf, at 9.20, the time that our train was supposed to arrive. But due to some delays, when our train was left without an engine for more than 70 minutes at the border of Germany and Austria, we met at 10.30.
Some time pass shots that I took while we waited those 70 minutes :)
Pursha and Sarmistha had already met at 9.15, and were just about moving in circles between platform 7 and burger king (our backup meeting point). After the initial hi's and hello's, we decided to grab a bite, and then head of to the 3 major things that the city had to offer.
1. Golden Dachl
2. A Cathedral (that we didn't go to)
3. Swarovski Crystal Factory
We walked our way from the Hbf to the golden dachl, (not more than 30 min) and first ran into a fountain where the oddesy of taking photographs began. Next came the weekend morning street market, that showcased rare books and records, at throw away prices, and also some Indian fake jwellery that one can buy at exhorbent prices. Finally on reaching the dachl, as pursha put it, it wasn't very interesting, and on reading about it in the Lonely Planet, we were to be informed that the roof is actually made of copper plates coated with gold! bah!! Cheating. Sarmistha Pursha and I bought a few postcards to remind us and our freinds about how we were cheated at the dachl, Pursha being cheated twice!! (he came here last year too)
That's the golden dachl in the background. It's the only one I could find :P
A stop over at McDonanlds, where Pursha wrote his sentiments on the 3 postcards, for Varun, Shweta, Gireeja. Next we took a trip to the Inn river, which was white. Just white is what I can say for that.
Pursha pens down the postcards
The Inn River. White.
After gazing and gasping at the flow, we made way to the bus stop to take a bus (€ 8.5 return) to Swarovski Kristallwelten, the crystal factory of Swarosvski. After another € 8.0 for the entrance ticket, we were happy to see the 'face' on which many bollywood actors and actresses have danced, and pleased each other, and their fans :). Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to ride the head, but sure did enough of gujju giri to take snaps with the face.
The famous face, for which we paid the 16.5€ :P
After looking around the place, and not being really sure if it was worth it, Sumedh gave us the shock of our lives. He claimed to have lost his passport and Eurail pass. An event that Onkar and I were discussing in the morning! Just about as to what to do, incase such an incident happens. And when Pursha, Sarmistha and I were contemplating about the trip being ruined, and us going to Vienna asap, and then checking out how to get an interim passport for the time being, Sumedh ran a thorough check of his bag, and of his jacket (where he had kept the 2 things). Onkar and Sarmistha, then traced the way we went around the factory, and were lucky enough to find the eurail, the reservations of our seats, and the passport, all fallen on different steps of a particular staircase. Now came the decision of "should we, or shouldn't we" tell Sumedh the news :P Finally, because the passport was involved, we did tell Sumedh, and he agreed to get us drunk when we reached Vienna.
After a burger at Burger King, we boarded at 17.50 train to Wien (german for Vienna) and then decided to spend the night on the streets and the pubs of this majestic and historic city. As soon as we got down from the train and headed towards the loacal network, we ran into an Indian(???) who asked us if we need a room and that incase we do, or we know of someone who does, we should contact him. And then he hurried off, without giving his contact! At the station, taking a 24hr rail pass (€ 5.0) released us of all further expenditure in this city. A train to Voltzplatz, and then around the place, while Pursha looked for the red bences for us to sleep on. We rain into an open air fashion show, but gave up the idea of sitting there for long, and then after going around a lot, we finally found our way to it.
The red benches near Leopold museum. Worth a place to spend the night :)
On the way to the "place with the red benches", Onkar stopped at an information centre. And wasn't that a blessing in disguise! There stood a young bloke, 23-24 yrs at max., with two cycles, and he kept staring at us. Finally, he took the courage of asking us if we were Indians. As the talks flowed, he was joined by his girlfriend, and then came the ultimate shocker! He had been to India on exchange to IIT Madras!!! On learning that we were from IIT B, he showed us the way to an awesome pub called the Donau. His directions for us to get there: Go straight, up-up-up the steps, down-down-down the steps, take the left. Keep going straigt, even when the road curves, and then on the left, you'll see a cynical greenish blue door. That is not a great entrance to the place, but the place is fantastic, with DJ et al.
After chilling out for about an hour on the red benches (they were near Leopold Museum, and were pretty comfortable to sleep out a night!) we went ahead to explore Donau. After having checked out the street, all we could come up with was a gate, next to which stood a hulk of a man, with a cigarette in hand. Dressed in a black jacket, and black jeans, he sure didn't look like one whom we'ed like to piss off. Nearing the gate, as our heartbeats went high, we approached the man slowly. As we stood in front of the door, confused if we should open it or not, the man looked at us, and I dared to ask "Bar??". He smiled and nodded, and in we went! An amazing place, a place where we took no pictures, but just beer and cocktails! We all did take some mental pictures, that Pursha claims to be doing on this complete eurotrip of his :)
At the end of 4 merry hours, Pursha was drunk, I was high, Sumedh was sober (he was paying :D), and Onkar sleepy. Sarmistha was trying to handle Pursha :P . Leaving the place, we decided to head off to the Wien WestBahnHoft, our back-up plan incase someone got lost :) Once again, we ran into Alex, the chap who showed us the way to Donau, who was having fun with a few friends, and Pursha, drunk as he was, shouted to him, thanking him for what a great place he showed us! Alex asked if we were interested in more drinks, and parties, and for Pursha's sake (he was constantly asking for more booze) we said yes. He took us to Cafe-Leopold, where Pursha drank more, got drunk to the extreme, and dozed off! A hell-of-a-place, with music and lots of dancing! Alex and Sumedh exchanged emails, and we headed off to the back-up plan, while Alex and troupe to another party! Amazing life I presume!
We went to the station to doze off. Pursha, Onkar and Sumedh slept immediately, and Sarmistha, and I went around looking for water. We bumped into a bus full of artists, who were going to perform in live porn. :P I did get a pic with one artist (if I may call them so :P) while Sarmistha was too scared to go near one :P We bought some juice and some bread for our hungry stomachs, and we had the pleasure of feeding Pursha, who was sleeping with his mouth wide open :D
The Artist and I :D
Pursha asleep!!!
Sarmishta feeding juice in the open mouth of Pursha :)
Soon after this we dozed off, and finally got up at around 10. We headed off to the nearest McD, where we freshened up for free, changed tee-shirts, and then without even taking a burger, scurried off the Voltzplatz again, to see Vienna by the day. :) With a kebab down the stomach, we went around some of the huge buildings , but none as such interested us. We entered none :P.
Going around the city, I was looking for a samll souvenir and then found a nice way to have sunday lunch. Lots of stalls, near a church, and all serving good cheap food, and a band playing jazz and pop music. All this with no rain, not much of sun, and a cool breeze. Lovely!
The band that played :)
We left this place with some wine and food in my stomach, and headed to see some contemprary art at gallery but finally, lay on the red benches, to relax. We took a quick decision to go to the palace, and then found our way to the ground of the palace within 30 minutes. Daring to lie on the grass of one such lawn, that was decorated with a fountain, we didn't see the "don't walk on grass" sign.
The lawn with the don't walk on grass sign ;)
Finally, after lazing around for another hour or so, we saw the imperial gardens, and then made our way back to the Westbahnhof, to get to Stephanplatz to see a quartet play Mozart for 90 min (€ 25 each for students) which actually ran for precisely 60 min. But then it was worth the money :) But before we saw the quartet, we got a group caricature for the 5 of us, for (€ 20) which was surely a point of humor for most of the people around.
The Mozart Concert
Caricature time :)
Caricature :)
I have no more enthu to elaborate that Sumedh and I and Onkar blundered on the timing of our arrival at the Hannover station by 30 minutes, and it so happenned that among the three of us, one (Onkar) gets up almost on time but is unaware of the timings, one (Sumedh) is woken up and has registered wrong timings in head confidentlly, one (me) knows the timings correctly but doesn't get up on time, and is not woken up. So we reached Hamburg and came back, around 300 kms extra, now I see how eurail helps :P. And the Sumedh and I directly went to the safety meating which started an hour before we reached.
2. A Cathedral (that we didn't go to)
3. Swarovski Crystal Factory
We walked our way from the Hbf to the golden dachl, (not more than 30 min) and first ran into a fountain where the oddesy of taking photographs began. Next came the weekend morning street market, that showcased rare books and records, at throw away prices, and also some Indian fake jwellery that one can buy at exhorbent prices. Finally on reaching the dachl, as pursha put it, it wasn't very interesting, and on reading about it in the Lonely Planet, we were to be informed that the roof is actually made of copper plates coated with gold! bah!! Cheating. Sarmistha Pursha and I bought a few postcards to remind us and our freinds about how we were cheated at the dachl, Pursha being cheated twice!! (he came here last year too)
That's the golden dachl in the background. It's the only one I could find :P
A stop over at McDonanlds, where Pursha wrote his sentiments on the 3 postcards, for Varun, Shweta, Gireeja. Next we took a trip to the Inn river, which was white. Just white is what I can say for that.
Pursha pens down the postcards
The Inn River. White.
After gazing and gasping at the flow, we made way to the bus stop to take a bus (€ 8.5 return) to Swarovski Kristallwelten, the crystal factory of Swarosvski. After another € 8.0 for the entrance ticket, we were happy to see the 'face' on which many bollywood actors and actresses have danced, and pleased each other, and their fans :). Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to ride the head, but sure did enough of gujju giri to take snaps with the face.
The famous face, for which we paid the 16.5€ :P
After looking around the place, and not being really sure if it was worth it, Sumedh gave us the shock of our lives. He claimed to have lost his passport and Eurail pass. An event that Onkar and I were discussing in the morning! Just about as to what to do, incase such an incident happens. And when Pursha, Sarmistha and I were contemplating about the trip being ruined, and us going to Vienna asap, and then checking out how to get an interim passport for the time being, Sumedh ran a thorough check of his bag, and of his jacket (where he had kept the 2 things). Onkar and Sarmistha, then traced the way we went around the factory, and were lucky enough to find the eurail, the reservations of our seats, and the passport, all fallen on different steps of a particular staircase. Now came the decision of "should we, or shouldn't we" tell Sumedh the news :P Finally, because the passport was involved, we did tell Sumedh, and he agreed to get us drunk when we reached Vienna.
After a burger at Burger King, we boarded at 17.50 train to Wien (german for Vienna) and then decided to spend the night on the streets and the pubs of this majestic and historic city. As soon as we got down from the train and headed towards the loacal network, we ran into an Indian(???) who asked us if we need a room and that incase we do, or we know of someone who does, we should contact him. And then he hurried off, without giving his contact! At the station, taking a 24hr rail pass (€ 5.0) released us of all further expenditure in this city. A train to Voltzplatz, and then around the place, while Pursha looked for the red bences for us to sleep on. We rain into an open air fashion show, but gave up the idea of sitting there for long, and then after going around a lot, we finally found our way to it.
The red benches near Leopold museum. Worth a place to spend the night :)
On the way to the "place with the red benches", Onkar stopped at an information centre. And wasn't that a blessing in disguise! There stood a young bloke, 23-24 yrs at max., with two cycles, and he kept staring at us. Finally, he took the courage of asking us if we were Indians. As the talks flowed, he was joined by his girlfriend, and then came the ultimate shocker! He had been to India on exchange to IIT Madras!!! On learning that we were from IIT B, he showed us the way to an awesome pub called the Donau. His directions for us to get there: Go straight, up-up-up the steps, down-down-down the steps, take the left. Keep going straigt, even when the road curves, and then on the left, you'll see a cynical greenish blue door. That is not a great entrance to the place, but the place is fantastic, with DJ et al.
After chilling out for about an hour on the red benches (they were near Leopold Museum, and were pretty comfortable to sleep out a night!) we went ahead to explore Donau. After having checked out the street, all we could come up with was a gate, next to which stood a hulk of a man, with a cigarette in hand. Dressed in a black jacket, and black jeans, he sure didn't look like one whom we'ed like to piss off. Nearing the gate, as our heartbeats went high, we approached the man slowly. As we stood in front of the door, confused if we should open it or not, the man looked at us, and I dared to ask "Bar??". He smiled and nodded, and in we went! An amazing place, a place where we took no pictures, but just beer and cocktails! We all did take some mental pictures, that Pursha claims to be doing on this complete eurotrip of his :)
At the end of 4 merry hours, Pursha was drunk, I was high, Sumedh was sober (he was paying :D), and Onkar sleepy. Sarmistha was trying to handle Pursha :P . Leaving the place, we decided to head off to the Wien WestBahnHoft, our back-up plan incase someone got lost :) Once again, we ran into Alex, the chap who showed us the way to Donau, who was having fun with a few friends, and Pursha, drunk as he was, shouted to him, thanking him for what a great place he showed us! Alex asked if we were interested in more drinks, and parties, and for Pursha's sake (he was constantly asking for more booze) we said yes. He took us to Cafe-Leopold, where Pursha drank more, got drunk to the extreme, and dozed off! A hell-of-a-place, with music and lots of dancing! Alex and Sumedh exchanged emails, and we headed off to the back-up plan, while Alex and troupe to another party! Amazing life I presume!
We went to the station to doze off. Pursha, Onkar and Sumedh slept immediately, and Sarmistha, and I went around looking for water. We bumped into a bus full of artists, who were going to perform in live porn. :P I did get a pic with one artist (if I may call them so :P) while Sarmistha was too scared to go near one :P We bought some juice and some bread for our hungry stomachs, and we had the pleasure of feeding Pursha, who was sleeping with his mouth wide open :D
The Artist and I :D
Pursha asleep!!!
Sarmishta feeding juice in the open mouth of Pursha :)
Soon after this we dozed off, and finally got up at around 10. We headed off to the nearest McD, where we freshened up for free, changed tee-shirts, and then without even taking a burger, scurried off the Voltzplatz again, to see Vienna by the day. :) With a kebab down the stomach, we went around some of the huge buildings , but none as such interested us. We entered none :P.
Going around the city, I was looking for a samll souvenir and then found a nice way to have sunday lunch. Lots of stalls, near a church, and all serving good cheap food, and a band playing jazz and pop music. All this with no rain, not much of sun, and a cool breeze. Lovely!
The band that played :)
We left this place with some wine and food in my stomach, and headed to see some contemprary art at gallery but finally, lay on the red benches, to relax. We took a quick decision to go to the palace, and then found our way to the ground of the palace within 30 minutes. Daring to lie on the grass of one such lawn, that was decorated with a fountain, we didn't see the "don't walk on grass" sign.
The lawn with the don't walk on grass sign ;)
Finally, after lazing around for another hour or so, we saw the imperial gardens, and then made our way back to the Westbahnhof, to get to Stephanplatz to see a quartet play Mozart for 90 min (€ 25 each for students) which actually ran for precisely 60 min. But then it was worth the money :) But before we saw the quartet, we got a group caricature for the 5 of us, for (€ 20) which was surely a point of humor for most of the people around.
The Mozart Concert
Caricature time :)
Caricature :)
I have no more enthu to elaborate that Sumedh and I and Onkar blundered on the timing of our arrival at the Hannover station by 30 minutes, and it so happenned that among the three of us, one (Onkar) gets up almost on time but is unaware of the timings, one (Sumedh) is woken up and has registered wrong timings in head confidentlly, one (me) knows the timings correctly but doesn't get up on time, and is not woken up. So we reached Hamburg and came back, around 300 kms extra, now I see how eurail helps :P. And the Sumedh and I directly went to the safety meating which started an hour before we reached.
posted by vishnoi @ 3:47 pm
4 Comments:
awesome guys....u guys surely seem to have some fun!! Is this ur first trip to europe?? and how was the swarovski factory?? I ve always wanted to go there.....
all i can say is i m jealous of u
@ sahil: this is my 1st europe trip.. was in australia last year :) the factory is nice... not great... but the face makes up for it :P
@ laddoo : hota hai re hota hai :)
booohooooooooo ur pics make me more jealous :-((
:-D A Eurail trip is now on my things-ill-do-before-I-die-list.
Would love to read more of such travelogues :)
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