When you suffer from OCT
(obsessive compulsive travel) syndrome and then return from a holiday from a
place like Italy and Austria, the end result is a broken depressed individual
who looks at old snaps, torn receipts and whatever one can lay a hand on to reminiscence
the good times spent .. any words vaguely connected to the vacation spot will
bring in a flurry of nostalgic thoughts…any person talking about their vacation will transport you to the
images of the cities you visited….in a nutshell you become a ‘travelled’ wreck!
Now that sort of sums up
the ‘as-is’ situation but the thought of describing the sights, the smells and
the streets of Italy and Austria cajoles me and is one more attempt to live
those days and nights again!
And so here goes…our first
haunt was Rome….and as the saying goes..When in Rome..I did land and become a
Roman from the word ‘go’! The stupendously unimaginable Colosseum dwarfed and
humbled me and the whole vision of gladiators fighting as the emperors looked
upon definitely gave me goose bumps (Russell Crowe did appear in those imagesJ)!
The Romans are blessed with culture, history and architecture and one needs a
week to explore the streets, admire the monuments and seep in the culture of
Rome! From Rome we were transported into the wonderland of Tuscany…and the
place lived up to its expectations…breathtaking green pastures and
mountains…just like a picture out of a postcard ..delicious pasta and
pizza…cobbled streets and heavenly houses (not to forget the flowers that adorn
every balcony in Tuscany) and I could describe this forever..to sum it up –
Tuscany has class – be it their roads, their plains, their mountains, their
houses, their markets, their food, their streets and of course their
‘sellables’!
If Tuscany was about unalloyed
beauty then Florence was about historic and vintage charm…the narrowest roads
on earth can be found in Florence..and to one’s surprise you will find buses
and uber cool bikes on these narrow pathways! Every corner, street, monument
has been preserved with its natural history and beauty and you will be greeted
with historic monuments and ‘gosh I could build a house like this’ moments at
every corner of Florence. And to have a shot of Italian coffee with a view of the
cobbled heaven is a must do when in Italy…you can gaze at ‘the’ chic fashion
parade on the streets and admire the style quotient of Italians - hats, stoles, skirts, boots and bags - they
know their style and they definitely wear it ‘wellll’!
Our last stop at Italy was
Venice – the city that oozes of picturesqueness ..and charm and beauty co-exist
and flow through the numerous waterways of Venice…you can never have enough of sauntering
through the banks of the waterways and crossing tiny bridges and hopping from
canal to canal…and if you can leave Venice without buying something from the
various ‘Murano’ glass shops then you
are definitely made of steel!
We bid goodbye to Italy at
Venice and took a fairytale-like ‘Hogwarts’ train into Innbruck, Austria and
the journey was surreal, magical – winding through snow-capped Alps, running
through streams of sapphire waters and dashing through misty and sleepy
villages…And we found music, food and simple charm in the streets of Innsbruck…the
majestic Alps follow us in every street of Innsbruck and a ride up the fastest
cableway took us to the top of the Alps with a stunning view of the city and
mountains..not to forget the café with the view of the Alps at the zenith…and
as we descended into the town center, the city had come alive with music
streaming through the misty air of Austria and Austrians chatting and bustling
at the cafes and savoring their ice creams into the late evenings…and Gods were
definitely kind when I chanced upon a live music performanceat the heart of the
town…the Alps in the backdrop, the melody touching you within and the entire
town mutely twinkling with life! It’s a union worth dying for!
The Austrian joyride
continued into the ‘lake’ district of Salzburg where we literally followed’
Maria’ into the valleys made eternal by the ‘Sound of Music’! And the lakes,
mansions and the hills performed a visual ballad with a ‘drop of golden sun’..perhaps
the birth of Mozart in this very town had something to do with it! And we
finally said ‘so long farewell’ to Salzburg and made our final stop at Vienna… where
we travelled through the Danube valley on a boat… castles and fortresses rising
into the skies and emerald green waters sparkling on a golden afternoon! The
inevitable ‘last day’ arrived in Vienna and we ended off with a tour of the
city’s famous Schonbrunn palace followed by a lazy lunch and gazing session at
the city center…where musical performances exploded in various corners as tributes to Mozart the musician (Vienna is
almost synonymous with Mozart) and cafes served the most delicious tarts on
earth..
As they say all good
things come to an end but the vacation had not ended as we took a peek into
Dubai on our way back to India. It was more a nostalgic journey than an
exploration route that we took in Dubai…to re-visit a place that you last
visited as a teenager with a kid in hand is strange..and to top it, to actually
stay with a school best friend and chat through the night with school buddies
with the Dubai skyline in the back-drop was as good a school reunion you can
whip up after 15 transformed years! But Dubai is definitely nothing like its
earlier ‘avtar’ 15 years back, the city has got a make-over from an ordinary
shopping city to a Manhattan-like twinkling cosmo-district!. Air-conditioned
fantasy worlds dot the landscape of Dubai and whether its snow, aquariums,
Rodeo Drive that you want – it’s all neatly packaged and tucked into the heart
of the city! You can’t miss anything while in Dubai – Indians (topping the list
J), global cuisines, the biggest brands,
‘air-conditioned souqs’ (local markets)– there’s something for everyone in
Dubai! We did make the customary visits to the Burj Khalifa for a stunning view
of the ocean , skyline and skyscrapers,
the biggest malls of Dubai and my favourite – the ‘souqs’ of Dubai where you
can touch the soul of Arabia - Arabic music , architecture, knick-knacks, rugs,
incense, dry fruits and all things Arabic! And before our flight ascended out
of the sparkling Dubai night life, withdrawal symptoms struck and I almost
looked like a picture of funeral pallor ready to be buried :(
