I havent written in a while, and the reason is because I
have been travelling. Ofcourse its just an excuse the truth is, I am just lazy.
After much deliberation and thought, on the 6th
of September I went touring Europe finally. I saw Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris,
Geneva, Milan, Venice and Vienna and I think from all places I have been to so
far, I like Vienna the most.
Then a month ago I went back to Lahore, Pakistan for a month
and consequently found something that gives more meaning to the phrase “there is
no place like home” and only two days ago I got back to Berlin. Why I am
writing all these details. Because I want to make it sound like I was occupied
and didn’t have any time to blog. I hope this alibi would work. A brief intro
to the places I visited.
Amsterdam is a nice city and I feel it is the epitome of
everything western European. Its quiet lenient on things like prostitution and
cannabis which makes sense because I feel in the modern world, there is no
justification for these things to be banned.
I went to Brussels because I had to see Kaiser “the Kallu”
Sheikh. I had hoped that Kallu would be the only interesting thing in the town
but I was pleasantly proven wrong when I discovered that Brussels too has the
traditional European square called the Grand place and it really was worth a
visit.
In Paris I was hosted by an Isreali Parisian middle aged man
who didn’t eat non Kosher food but because of him I had exclusive access to
places like the Louvre and other points of interests in Paris. Paris is a big
city and that means one has to walk a lot. The Champs Elyse’s is to me just a road
(not even a cobblestone street) that has shops for the worlds largest brands
and since they are all one road its considered novel. I failed to see utterly
what all the fuss was about.
I went to Geneva because it houses the European centre for
nuclear research; the CERN. It was exactly how I had expected it to be, a
marvel of scientific advancement. I truly had a great time there. I stayed in
Geneva with a Chinese person who was pursuing his PhD on global warming. That
is when he told me that the city Venice may not be there in another 20 years
and it needs to be visited now. And that’s exactly what and why I did.
Next I went to Milan and was hosted by an Italian. I stayed
in Seregno which is a bit north of Milan. I was in Milan only for a day that I
decided that Venice must be visited for reasons already stated. I had a failed
attempt to hitchhike to Venice which had me stranded in the middle of an
Autostrate in Italy. How things could have worked out better I don’t know.
When I reached Venice I was completely exhausted from
touring all these cities and went straight ahead and found myself a nice place
to sleep. The next day I went around the small island and found it be
absolutely different from all the other places I had ever seen. For one thing
the police in Venice ride water scooters to maintain law and order. That almost
never happens anywhere else.
And my last stop was Vienna. What I think about Vienna is
that if I was asked to choose one city that I would like to live in that would
be Vienna. It is an extremely beautiful city with its old town reeking of
medieval charm and beauty. A walk in Vienna is like a walk across time and
history. I would like to go back to Vienna someday to discover more. I hope I
am able to do that soon.
And then I returned to Berlin. With its bustling city life I
consider Berlin to be a must visit place on a tour to Europe.
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