The Buckingham Palace Tour : Summer Opening

It is a known fact that the lavish interiors of the Queen’s official London residence, and one of the world’s few remaining working royal palaces, the Buckingham Palace is opened out to the public for a few days every summer. The days and dates are subject to change every year.

To be honest, I had never, in my wildest and most far fetched dreams, imagined that I would one day get to see the inside of the Buckingham Palace.

During, our Royal Walking Tour, our guide mentioned that the Queen was currently away at the Kensington Palace and hence, the Buckingham Palace was open to visitors for those ten days of September 2018. She also mentioned that it would be foolish to miss tasting the Strawberry ice cream at the Royal Garden Cafe as it was delectably delicious, so she said. Her words kept ringing in my ears through the Walking Tour until, the temptation became too strong to resist. Soon enough, we made reservations for two tickets for the following day and in no time, received the confirmation voucher via email.

The voucher in our hand, the mother-son duo set off for something really Royal.

To reach the Buckingham Palace,

Nearest Station : Victoria

Nearest Underground Station : Victoria / Green Park / Hyde Park Corner

We had to assemble at :The Royal Mews, Buckingham Palace; Time : 10:45 hrs.

After the normal preliminary security check we were ushered into the Palace to reach the grand entrance before entering the State Rooms.

The Audio Guide :

As part of your Buckingham Palace tour, we were provided free audio guide to the palace. The tour was introduced by His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, Prince Charles.

As we moved ahead, we were introduced and enlightened on the State Rooms and the artefacts and pieces of art in the rooms.

It was with batches of goosebumps and innumerable butterflies fluttering in my stomach that I took in the magnificence of the baroque architecture of high, decorative ceilings and marble pillars, glistening candelabras and chandeliers, solid sculptured pieces of furniture, rich silk and brocade tapestry of the upholstery, thick plush carpets, damask wallpapers, shining silver, exquisite porcelain and sparkling crystal…

I couldn’t help being overcome by emotions when I could see with my own eyes, the thrones used by the royal family while capturing formal family pictures.

It was an exciting excursion, a surreal safari for me…

The State Rooms :

The audio guide explained that there are 775 rooms in Buckingham Palace including the 19 State Rooms and 78 bathrooms. These State Rooms are a suite of public rooms which are beautifully and lavishly decorated.

The Queen receives and entertains visiting dignitaries, ambassadors from across the world and celebrity guests in the State Rooms, and also rewards her subjects. Some of these State rooms were used for the Royal Wedding reception for Prince William and Kate, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

The Grand Staircase :

The Grand Staircase of Buckingham Palace is a highlight of the tour. The baroque and ethereally magnificent bronze staircase was designed by the architect John Nash when he was commissioned to remodel the palace for King George IV. The intricate pattern of acanthus, oak and laurel leaves on the double balustrade along with some of the world’s finest bronze casting work is immensely impressive, The stairs are lit by an etched glass dome in the ceiling.

The Throne Room :

The majestic Throne Room containing the thrones that are used for investitures and ceremonial receptions is a favourite among visitors. The thrones are used during the Queen’s Jubilees.

One can easily recognise the Throne Room as the backdrop for some famous royal wedding photos ranging from Princess Elizabeth (now the Queen) and The Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011 and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2018

Fine art :

The length and breadth of the Buckingham Palace is adorned with fine paintings as well as ornamental sculptures by painters and sculptors of high repute.

The State Rooms bear paintings and portraits of past and present royals including Queen Victoria, George III and Queen Charlotte, William IV and his wife Queen Adelaide and, of course, the current Royal Family.

Sèvres Porcelain :

Buckingham Palace boasts of a spectacular collection of Sèvres Porcelain, in fact, one of the world’s finest. The collection dates back to the period between 1783 and 1830 and the credit of the collection goes to King George IV who acquired the pieces from the famous French manufacturers.

The collection includes finely painted and gilded wares which were a part of dining services, such as, broth basins, cups and saucers and dejeuners and they also include fabulous ornamental vases, bibelots and porcelain busts.

The Special Exhibition :

Each year, the summer opening offers a unique and special exhibition.

This year, to mark the 70th birthday of The Prince of Wales, the Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace exhibition included a special display of over 100 works of art personally selected by His Royal Highness.

It is a known fact that the Prince of Wales has always nurtured great passion for art and as the Chairman of The Royal Collection Trust and Patron of several arts charities, he has been instrumental in promoting the creation and understanding of art, worldwide.

Visitors to the Buckingham Palace were privileged to witness in the exhibition within the State Rooms, a selection of the The Prince’s favourite art works which were displayed alongside works created by young artists supported by three of His Royal Highness’s charities; The Royal Drawing School, The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts and Turquoise Mountain.

In a specially recorded message for visitors to the Buckingham Palace, The Prince of Wales spoke about his love for arts and crafts, his fascination for the Royal Collection curated by his ancestors over generations and his endeavour to preserve and maintain such craftsmanship leading him to set up the three charities.

And true to his words, the exhibition offered an extensively varied and delightfully tasteful range of arts and crafts.

The Grand Ballroom :

The ballroom is the largest and grandest room in the Palace. It is more than 37 metres long and 18 metres wide and it almost made me gasp when the audio guide said that it was spacious enough to accommodate 35 double-decker buses.

The Queen uses it for investitures and banquets, although this summer an exhibition commemorates the Queen Mother’s time at the Palace from 1937 to 1953.

Flags and clocks :

One Connor miss the flag on the roof above the Buckingham Palace and be it while entertaining or exiting, one is bound to notice it.

The Royal Standard it is, when the Queen is at home; but when she’s away, the Union Flag is raised instead.

The Buckingham Palace boasts of holding one of the largest collections of working clocks in the world. There are more than 350 clocks and watches all over the Palace and it is said that two full-time horological conservators are employed to wind and maintain them all.

Garden Cafe & Garden Shop :

The eyes having feasted on every Royal, regal object of art in the State Rooms and at the Exhibition, it was only fair that the tour should end at the tranquil Garden Cafe on the West Terrace of Buckingham Palace.

The cafe offers a range of light refreshments including tea, coffee, sandwiches, pastries and a wide range of ice creams.

We decided to honour the words of our guide from the previous day’s Royal Walking Tour and try the Strawberry Ice cream that she had vouched for. It was ‘royally’ tasty, must say…

A peep into the Garden Shop revealed a delightful range of gifts and souvenirs exclusively created for the Royal Collection, such as homewares, china, clothing, jewellery and children’s toys, books and postcards.

We just browsed through them and headed out through the garden of the Buckingham Palace.

The Garden : a separate tour

The sprawling gardens at Buckingham Palace spread over an impressive 39 acres and contain more than 350 types of wildflowers, around 200 trees and a three-acre lake.

Looking into its lush lawns even through the windows of one of the State Rooms, I could not help imagining the elegance and sophistication of the Queen’s annual Garden Parties.

With the purchase of a Garden Tour ticket, we were told that we would be shown through this beautiful oasis in the centre of London, catching a glimpse of the tennis courts where King George VI played tennis way back in the 1930s, a wisteria-clad Summer House, the Rose Garden and the huge Waterloo Vase. We were however, content to make our exit, our trip to Greenwich lined up in the pipeline.

P. S. It must be mentioned that although the State Rooms are open to public, photography is not permitted inside the Palace.

However, one can click pictures once outside the Palace interiors, in the Palace Garden and in the Garden Cafe

The Art and Science of Cultivating Taste : Part 1

“I don’t like to eat this vegetable/fruit.. So, I won’t eat it”… “I hate this or that ‘curry’… I cant stand the vegetable used to prepare it”….

Maybe, I would have had such reservations too, had it not been for my father and his intelligent and innovative techniques of ‘cultivating’ taste…

He was an expert in the art and science of making everything not just palatable but very desirable; be it any vegetable or fruit, raw or cooked…

Dad had a unique way of describing in the form of ‘story-telling’, the seed to plant story of every fully grown vegetable or fruit ; He would lay ample emphasis on their nutritive values ; what good it does for our body and how…

I remember him introducing me to ‘Titaa-Bhekuri’ ; known as Indian Nightshade, Poison Berry, Wild Indian Brinjal…

They are tiny berries, extremely bitter in taste…

My dad had planted it in one corner of our kitchen garden where it had grown into a shrub that looked very similar to a brinjal plant…

When the berry-like vegetable was ready to be picked, I accompanied my dad, carrying a small basket in my hand… Mindful of the thorns, the daughter got busy in cautiously nipping the stalks of the Titaa Bhekuri and dropping them into her basket, while the dad elaborated about the remarkable qualities these tiny berries possessed ; those of the purifying blood and killing parasites(helminths)…

He then went on to speak about how, during his own childhood, he would sometimes pick the berries and pop them straight away into his mouth and chew on them to have the bitterness burst inside the mouth… He added that a drink of water immediately thereafter, would invariably make the water taste exceptionally sweet…

Titaa Bhekuri is ideally served as a ‘pitika’ (mash) after being boiled

Titaa Bhekuri Pitikaa (Boiled and mashed)

or as stir-fry…

Titaa Bhekuri Bhaaji (Stir-fry)

I grew to love and relish both the preparations…

However, I somehow could not quell the temptation of popping a few fresh berries into my mouth…

Lo and behold…!!! The burst of bitterness of the Titaa Bhekuri and the exceptional sweetness of water consumed in quick succession was an undeniable fact…

Thanks to my dad, I had acquired and cultivated the taste of a bitter berry which most of the children of my age would probably say “No” to…

Childhood memories of Diwali & Kali Puja

India encompasses diversity.

Apart from the wide variety in the culture and traditions practised by the people of the country, there is also a uniqueness in the celebrations of the same festivals by the people living in different states and regions across the country.

Diwali or Deepawali, known as the ‘Festival of Lights’ is a popular Hindu religious festival, although people of all religions take joy in its festivities.

The festival marks the celebrations of the homecoming of Lord Rama to his kingdom of Ayodhya after the completion of fourteen years of exile. It goes without saying that Ayodhya was lit up in its entirety and there was great rejoicing and festivities. In keeping with the tradition, even today, homes, temples and even streets are illuminated, bringing about a festive ambience.

The spiritual significance of Diwali is known to be “victory of light over darkness, good over evil and knowledge over ignorance”.

The first of the five-day celebration of Diwali is known as ‘Dhanteras’ and it usually falls approximately eighteen days after Dussehra. The rituals of seeking wealth and prosperity is the primary significance of this day.

The third or the main day of Diwali is celebrated as Lakshmi Puja widely across North India.

However, it is celebrated as Kali Puja, in my own home state of Assam, and in the states of West Bengal, Orissa and some parts of Bihar.

It would be good to add that Kali Puja is also celebrated in the neighbouring countries of Nepal and Bangladesh.

As childhood memories of the Diwali celebrations, I recollect lighting fourteen earthen lamps or ‘saaki’ on the day preceding Diwali.

On the actual day of Diwali, banana trees would be cut near near roots, lifted and brought in as a whole tree to be planted on either side of the main gate. We would then stick pieces of slit bamboo into the banana tree, with the slit side facing up, so that they would hold the lit up earthen lamps placed on them. It would be great fun making the ‘xolitaa’ or cotton wicks for the ‘saaki’.

(Photograph per kind favour of @jyotirmoysaikia)

I have never been fond of the loud noises from the bursting of crackers and would limit myself to the soundless ones such as ‘phuljhari’, ‘kolgos’ or flower-pot and ‘sokori’.

Besides the memories of the fun and festivities of Diwali, I have many childhood memories of Kali Puja which falls on ‘amavasya’, the no moon night of the month of Kartika and is also known as Shyama Puja.

As a part of the celebrations, clay idols of Goddess Kali are installed with due reverence at homes, pandals (temporary shrines) and temples dedicated to the Goddess and offerings of ‘prasad’ are made before the idol.

The rituals of worship are observed with Tantric rites and mantras by some; whereas, others observe the Brahmanical (non-Tantric) way of worship.

As a child, I remember being quite intimidated by the image of Goddess Kali.

My young mind would naturally be alarmed by the garland of human heads and skirt of human arms that adorned her, the knife smeared with blood and the freshly beheaded head held by the hair in her hands. At the same time, I would be intrigued by her perplexing stance; standing with one foot on the chest of Lord Shiva lying on the ground, with her red tongue sticking out of her mouth.

I have to thank ‘Ata’, my maternal grandfather for allaying my fears by enlightening me about Goddess Kali.

‘Ata’ explained that Goddess Kali embodies the most powerful form of ‘Shakti’- feminine energy, creativity and fertility. She is seen as the divine protector who bestows ‘moksha’.

Goddess Kali is an incarnation of Goddess Parvati, the wife of Lord Shiva.

It is known that the incarnation of Goddess Durga had taken place in order to kill the demon Mahisasura. Similarly, it is said that the incarnation of Goddess Kali took place for the elimination of the demons Chanda and Munda. After she accomplished the task of killing both the demons, she earned the name ‘Chamundeshwari’.

Goddes Kali is known to be instrumental in the defeat of Shumbha and Nishumbha and the subsequent restoration of the three worlds to Lord Indra and the Gods.

I remember questioning my grandfather about the look and stance of Goddess Kali and ‘Ata’ had said that there were many legends in that regard.

However, he shared the tale that was associated with the killing of the demon Raktabeej. As indicated by his name, it was said that while killing him, if one drop of blood or ‘rakt’ from the body of Raktabeej had to fall on the ground, another Raktabeej would come up from it.

Therefore, in order to kill him, the Goddess had incarnated as the Maha Kali avatar; holding a ‘Khadga’, a special type of sword is one hand and a bowl in another. With the ‘Kharga’, Goddess Kali slashed Raktabeej at one strike, collected the dripping blood in the bowl and drank from it; not allowing a single drop of blood to fall on the ground. In the process Raktabeej was killed but Goddess Kali’s thirst for blood became insatiable. She grew more aggressive and uncontainable and set off on a killing spree. Eventually, the Gods were left with no choice but to approach Lord Shiva with the request to calm her down.

Lord Shiva thought that the only way to restrain Goddess Kali would be to lie down and block her path. While on her ‘Rampage of Rage’, Goddess Kali unconsciously stepped on the body of her husband, Lord Shiva, who was lying prostrate on the ground. As soon as she realised what she had done, her tongue came out spontaneously as a sign of remorse. This moment has remained frozen in time and thereafter, the pictures and idols of Goddess Kali have been in this ‘mudra’ or stance.

How effortlessly and successfully my grandfather had made me comfortable with the image of Maa Kali…

The other memories associated from my childhood is that of ‘Abu’, my maternal grandmother preparing a delectable stir-fry dish by mixing fourteen varieties of greens. The exercise would start with plucking the different varieties of greens from the kitchen garden, cleaning and chopping them. ‘Abu’ would then use a tampering with ‘panchphoron’ a mixture of five spices and fry the greens along with some small potato cubes in mustard oil. A simple dish, very rich in vitamins and nutrients.

I remembered her while I prepared my own version of the dish, but sadly, I had to make do with just about six varieties of greens which were available in the market.

Coming back to reality from my trip down Nostalgia Lane, and in context to the topic of the diversity of the festivals in India, I must add that Diwali is observed as ‘Bandi Chorr Divas’ by the Sikhs, to commemorate the release of Guru Hargobind Singh Ji from Mughal captivity, while the Jains observe it as their own version of Diwali to mark the final liberation of Mahavira and the Newar Buddhists celebrate it by worshipping Goddess Lakshmi.

HE: boy to man; journey of the mother

Chapter 3.  

Through school and college….

“Every child has a different learning style and pace. Each child is unique, not only capable of learning but also capable of succeeding.” Robert John Meehan
Boundless energy and an inquisitive mind can be a deadly combination. Such a combination was my little munchkin. Here one moment, there the next, I would be running hither and thither to keep pace with him. Bombarding me with questions was his favourite pass time and I, on my part, strived relentlessly to find relevant answers to his doubts and queries. 

Curiosity might have killed the cat, but my little one was certainly all out to convince me that the future belongs to the curious.
Sonny boy was just over two years of age, when he joined the play school which had earlier tutored his elder sister. SRIJANN, true to its name, meaning ‘Creation’, aimed at creating a wonderful human being out of every child by laying a strong foundation for conscientious character formation and positive personality development.

“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin

The teaching at Srijann, though technical, was straight from the heart; actively involving the children, catching their attention and making learning a fun activity.

As could be expected, my son’s eyes would more often than not, wander out of the classroom window and he would be more attentive to the butterfly hovering over a flower, the cat trying to climb across the wall or the dog on the road barking at an approaching cow rather than what was being taught in the class. However, instead of being admonished for his inattentiveness, his teacher would choose to make it a group activity involving his classmates too and would eventually in her own tactful manner gather all the little minds and bring them back into the classroom. No wonder the kids would never want to miss school. 

“The goal of early childhood education should be to activate the child’s own natural desire to learn”.  Maria Montessori 

I understand and appreciate how important it is for the Montessori teacher to be painstakingly patient and diligently dedicated; so as to be able to understand each child and customise the learning process accordingly.
Hands-on learning would capture the little minds and my son would love to draw the sun, cloud, raindrops or falling leaves on the weather chart depicting the sunny, cloudy, rainy and windy day respectively. Could there be a more innovative way of teaching the science of meteorology to a two year old?!

While his sister would come home with tales of having learnt sequencing, meaning the different orders of stringing coloured beads or about prepositions demonstrating she was ‘between’ mummy-papa or ‘behind’ the curtain by taking the appropriate positions, my son was more intrigued by the opposites; for instance, a feather is light than whereas a stone is heavy. He would also go deep into the list of ‘mummy animal-baby animal’ and would take pride in ‘teaching’ me that the baby kangaroo is called a joey and a baby goose, a cygnet. Actually, anything related to the animal kingdom would catch his fancy and he had no difficulty in quickly mastering the chart of ‘male and female animals’ as if it was cakewalk. 

Writing alphabets and words did not go too well with him. Many a shapes would be created by putting together the sleeping, standing and slanting lines; and cursive writing was what my little one found utterly trying and tedious. Making him write numbers was a Herculean task; and I had to use my tact and tricks. I would write out a grocery list and would ask him to write the number against the grocery item making him believe that he was helping me complete the list by doing so. His neat and nice drawing and colouring would always earn him praise and rewards in the form of the cherished stars. 

Thus was the brilliant beginning of the long journey of learning. Having no personal experience of preschool, my most cherished memories are those of the preschool days of my children.

“It takes a big heart to shape little minds.”

I have always had tremendous respect for teachers, but my respect is manifold more for the Kindergarten teachers because handling a whole brood of children of varied temperaments through the many hours at school is not an easy task by any means.
The first day of school is always very special. Dressed in his smart uniform, my little one looked adorably cute. Don Bosco High School, Dibrugarh was special because his father as well as his maternal uncle had been Bosconians from the same school.

There was a striking difference in how my two kids had handled their first day at school. While his sister had let go of my hand at the gate and smiling confidently, had waved her ‘bye proceeding towards her classroom, my son’s hesitation and reluctance to leave my side was transmitted by the tightened grip and imploring eyes. His apprehensions lasted through the following few days. Although a part of me wanted to gloat in the glory of how besotted my son was to me, I promptly reacted otherwise and worked on instilling confidence and self-assurance in him and successfully so. All went well through the two years of Kindergarten, he worked his way into the hearts of his teachers and made many friends.

The first standard had many new things associated with it. A new place, as we had relocated to Guwahati, hence a new school by the name Disneyland High School; a new set of uniform, new faces of boys and girls yet to become friends. My little boy who was aced it not only in the academics but also by making an impact as a confident kid. From participating in the Art and Craft Exhibition to song-dance performances for Parents Day, he did it all.

After two good years at Disneyland, it was time for another switch; this time a shift from the state board(SEBA) to the central board(CBSE). The fact that Delhi Public School promised to have horse riding as a part of its extra curricular activity was enough to inspire the animal lover in my son to perform outstandingly well at the entrance test. The man of few words, who preferred to reply in monosyllables surprised me by answering every question with wholesome replies testifying that where there is a will there is a way.

I have observed that learning, be it from textbooks or otherwise is always more interesting when it is done as teamwork with our children. I have learnt so much more while doing the lessons with my kids than when I had done them in my own.

Be it dancing to the tunes of Salman Khan’s “Dholi Taaro” or being Rudy the reindeer, school functions always saw Babu put in his cent per cent.

With competent teachers at his new school taking care of studies and extra curricular activities like sports and music, I had pretty little to do except guide him with the assignments and holiday home work. I would always encourage him to devote a lot of time and energy and put in his creative best for the assignments. I must say that his efforts have always been well appreciated and rewarded. 

While he was steadily climbing the rungs of middle school to high school, I thought it was the right time to speak about a few significant things. 

Firstly, I told him about that I was very proud of the fact that he has always held his teachers in very high esteem and that I wished that it should always remain that way. 

Secondly, I laid emphasis on the importance of punctuality, sincerity and of choosing right from wrong, good from bad. This as the age when kids tend to succumb to peer pressure and therefore, I knew that forewarning him about it was essential at this stage of life.

Another important thing that I thought fit to tell him was that sometimes the question paper at an examination might contain a few or many questions the answer to which he may not know; I added that it would be perfectly fine if he obtained less marks, but under no circumstances, should he ever resort to unfair means such as seeking the help of friends in the examination hall.

These serious talks were more like healthy discussions; I would always make a conscious effort so that it would not sound like preaching.

The annual Parent Teacher Meets were much looked forward to events for me and I would always try to dress up elegantly and look as presentable as possible because that would make my son very happy.
By the time he was in high school, our young man could boast of a big bunch of buddies who were almost inseparable; my own name for name for the loveable lot was The Zing Bang Gang. 
I have always firmly believed in treating my children as if they were my friends and I would not cringe at paying due respect to their privacy as well as to their sentiments. Fortunately, there is hardly any incident that can be accounted where I had been at the receiving end of any complaint against him. However, on the rare occasion where the school authorities had taken it upon themselves to chop off a few locks of hair claiming that they were apparently falling on his forehead, I did not fail to firmly stand up for him even though it meant confronting and stating before the school authority that I would not take it kindly if such an incident was repeated. It is very important on the part of parents to assure the children that they have our support when they are being unduly implicated.

Quality time spent together enabled my son and me to partake in each other’s hobbies. I developed a fondness towards his genre of music and the taste for science fiction movies. There would be jamming sessions in the house and it would be fun to cook food and witness the plates being wiped clean in a flash by the hungry rock stars.

The ninth and tenth boards went off as well as expected and soon it was time to take up the chosen stream.

The best outcome of all these years that my son had spent at school was that my family had swollen up considerably by dint of embracing his close friends and their families as my own and receiving the reciprocation of my love and affection in bounty.

The completion of the tenth board signalled that it was time for another relocation, this time to the city of Bangalore, where my daughter had already been living for a while. 

Having fared very well at the entrance examination, my son had the option of choosing between the north or the south campus; he chose the former as it bore marked semblance with his school in Guwahati, be it the infrastructure, playgrounds and amenities.

I have often marvelled at how adaptive children of parents having transferable jobs are and have always thanked my lucky stars that I did not have to go through multiple changes in terms of residences and schools.

Sonny boy took to the new school and to the fellow dipsites like fish does to water. Fabulous teachers and friends, the first year sped past at jet speed culminating in the Investiture Ceremony marking the significant beginning of the new academic year with a solemn oath to don the mantle of leadership and discharge the responsibilities entrusted upon him by the school. 

The fact that within just a year, my otherwise restrained and reticent son had won over the teachers and students alike allayed my anxiety and reinstated my belief that moving out of the comfort zone of our home state was indeed a good idea.

The final year at school had its own share of mixed feelings;apprehensions of the impending separation from friends who would migrate to different colleges in the same city or otherwise. Anxious thoughts of the critically ill grandpa back home, often crowded his mind; but the entire academic year was gobbled up by a lot of hard work, sleepless nights, burning of midnight oil and finally ending up with the twelfth board examinations spanning over a month. 
Fruits of labour undoubtedly had to be sweet and even before the board exams were over, our young man had enrolled in the reputed Christ University, Bangalore for the graduation in his favourite subjects History, Economics and Political Science.
By now, my little boy was quite a mature man, worldly-wise, so to say.

I must say that if his journey through school had been a beautiful one because of the wonderful friends that he had made, it was not different in college.

Weekends would be eventful with his friends coming down for sleepovers; the house would buzz with activities and the loud volume on the television interrupted with loud giggles and guffaws would be a welcome change to the otherwise quiet evenings. Cooking a midnight snack sometimes as late as three in the morning would be fine for me because of the reward that would come in the form of warm hugs from each of them.

The one principle or mantra that my children and I have followed religiously is that , we would respect each other’s privacy but we would not allow any secrecy to creep into our relationship.

The capacity to learn is a ‘gift’; the ability to learn is a ‘skill’; the willingness to learn is a ‘choice’  Brian Herbert

This completely defines my son’s attitude….. and I am his happy mother

Ćesky Krumlov: Day Tour : Day 3 in Pretty Praha : 18/04/19

Our Day 3 in Pretty Praha was reserved for a full day tour to the UNESCO-listed town of Český Krumlov in the South Bohemia region of the Czech Republic.

The trip had been recommended by my dear friend from my school days, Vinita and I am extremely grateful to her for the recommendation.

It was to be a 10-hour tour: starting from Prague to Český Krumlov and back to Prague.

The reservations had been done through Get Your Guide. We had opted for the pick up and drop facility and accordingly we were ready and waiting outside our airbnb accommodation well before the scheduled pick-up time of 07:30 am.

It did not surprise us when the black minibus arrived dot on time for the pickup. A few more tourists were picked up while on the way until we reached parking area of Praha hlavní nádraží, that is, the Prague Main Railway Station at Královské Vinohrady.

A large green coloured bus and a very endearing, elderly guide were waiting to welcome us aboard. We were joined by many more fellow tourists.

During the preliminary introductions, our guide, who said his name was Antonín, handed a bottle of water to each of us.

Apart from the comfortable seats, the bus had USB charger and also offered WiFi on board.

Antonín began his commentary as soon as the bus had rolled out on to the highway, with the bus-load of enthusiastic tourists from countries across the globe, namely Argentina, China, Indonesia, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium and of course, my son and I, from India. He shared with us bits and pieces about the history of Prague and of South Bohemia.

I guess most of us had missed breakfast as the departure time was quite early; hence, we were delighted when the bus pulled up at the beautiful wayside Hotel Elzet.

The café was as beautiful from the outside as it was from the inside.

However, a pre-cooked breakfast was not available and keeping in mind the time crunch, we opted for readily available panna cotta and coffee and also seized the opportunity of using the washroom.

During the onward drive and in the midst of his commentary, Antonín informed us that that our lunch would be at a tavern with a history of 150 years. Thereafter, he passed on a slip with the printed menu and asked us to opt for the combination of our choice from the set menu and mention it against our names. He promised that the food would be very tasty and added that he would promptly call up and place the orders so that we would be spared of the waiting time.

It was a two and a half hour long drive from Prague; through beautiful hills and meadows, rivers and rivulets, hamlets and towns before we finally reached Český Krumlov and Antonín missed no opportunity of elaborating on the natural as well as man-made spots of tourist interests, as and when we passed by them.

As we walked towards what looked like the entrance, we could not miss the eye catching piece of architecture, the bridge “na plášti” or “on the cloak” which spans the moat on the western side of the Upper Castle . Antonín elaborated that the bridge is so called because of the fortifications that were meant for the protection of the western side of the castle.

This three-storey covered arched bridge which appears to be the highlight of the town of Česky Krumlov, stands on massive stone pillars. Antonín informed us that it connects the Fourth and Fifth Courtyards of the Česky Krumlov Castle.

We walked past the entrance to the other side of the bridge.

Antonín shared that the lower passage of the bridge links the Masquerade Hall with the Baroque Theatre, and that the top passage links the Castle Gallery with the castle gardens.

This picturesque UNESCO-listed town of Cesky Krumlov, dominated by its 13th-century castle, resplendent with Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque styles of architecture, an 11-hectare garden and an original 17th-century Baroque theatre has the River Vltava flowing through it; Antonín was quick to mention that the Vltava almost bisected the town.

We had been told that the agenda of our tour would include a visit to the Church of St. Vitus, some ‘on-our-own’ time at the historic town centre, a sumptuous lunch and guided tour of the Cesky Krumlov Castle.

So, to start off, Antonín led us through the cobbled lanes of the fairy-tale like town, passing by cute cafes, mystic museums, and resplendent restaurants.

The beautiful buildings, both old and new, with high and low windows were all equally intriguing and alluring

We finally reached the Roman Catholic Church, the Cathedral of St. Vitus. Antonín told us that it is considered to be the second architectural landmark of the town, the castle being the first.

It is known that the church was built by the parson of Krumlov around 1400 and later on, a large music gallery was built in the western part of the church. Among the many subsequent remodelling that took place in the Baroque period, was the addition of the Chapel of St. John of Nepomuk.

Antonín drew to our notice, that the three-nave hall forming the inner space of the church has the bearings of the late Gothic periods.

He added that Prince Johann Christian von Eggenberg and his spouse Marie Ernestine née von Schwarzenberg were instrumental in bringing about the Baroque high altar and hence their joint coat-of-arms can be seen in the middle of the altar.

The painting at the high altar depicts the Coronation of the Virgin Mary, and the one above it depicts the Coronation of St. Vitus. Statues of saints are placed at different levels to complete the high alter.

The principal saint St. Wenceslas is placed at the centre on the top, on his right is St. Catherine, and opposite her St. Barbara. On the lower row stand, St. Ignatius of Loyola and St. Francis Xavier. At the base level stand St. Peter and opposite him St. Paul on the left.

There are two side alters in the main nave.

One of the side altars is that of Virgin Mary

The other side alter is that of St. Francis Xavier

Antonín pointed to the small Baroque organ above the main entrance to the church and said that it comes from 1716.

He added that the main organ was made in 1908 in the romantic Neo-Gothic style by the Prague organ maker Heinrich Schiffner.

After the tour of the church we went around to a spot which offered a beautiful view of the town. The cameras were going ‘click, click, click’ while tourists posed for pictures.

While leading us to the place where our lunch awaited, our guide Antonín briefed us that Český Krumlov had fallen into severe disrepair during the Communist era and that, it had taken several decades for the town to regain its former glory and restore its historical buildings. It therefore, stands as a glowing example of how the past of the country had shaped its cities,

Lunch was at The Tavern U dwau Maryi or Tavern of Two Marys, located inside a medieval house through which a massive fortification runs in the form of a wall.

We learnt that the first known owner, way back in 1553 was a gentleman named Michael who was a saddler.

Inside the historic tavern, we could not help admiring the exceptional documentation of restoration work, as in, the excellently restored wooden ceilings, doors, staircase, tiles, plaster and iron-work.

The view overlooking the Vlatava River was a treat to sore eyes and the sound of the gushing water was soothing to the ears.

During the drive to Ćesky Krumlov, we had been given the option of choosing either a soup or a salad as starter. My son had opted for Cabbage Soup with Pork Sausages and I had chosen a Salad with Feta Cheese.

For the mains, I had decided on a Pork Steak with Dumplings made of millets and potatoes while my son had asked for Roast Chicken with Baked Potatoes, Sautéed Vegetables, Salad and Sauce. We both opted for Fanta as the drink of our choice.

Being a foodie I could not help taking a sneak peek at the main menu at the restaurant, to know about some of the time-tested dishes served in this tavern and believe me, the list was endless.

I seized the opportunity of having a word the lady in the kitchen who was serving the food through the tiny window, and told her that I was keen to know about the uniquely special meal that they serve. She said that they have a special menu for those who would like to try out a complete cultural experience of tasting different original and authentic dishes from their kitchen. They call it the “Old Time Bohemian Feast”. Apparently, this popular delightful dish consists of several specialities comprising meat and / or vegetables and is prepared on prior order only.

We were served a cookie as dessert which was complimentary.

Lunch done, we were allowed some time on our own within which we could go around and explore the town and browse the gift shop for curios and souvenirs before assembling at the Town Square which was abuzz with all kinds of stalls.

After strolling around I got myself a cup of tea and sat down on the step of the Fountain on the Square, Náměstí Svornosti, Český Krumlov. This historic landmark is a six-angled stone fountain surrounding a Plague Column erected during 1714-1716 as a the mark of the plague epidemic that had struck the town during 1680-1682.

Hailing from the Indian state of Assam, famous for its tea, I got all excited when I saw it being served in one of the stalls. I got myself a cuppa and sipped it’s richness sitting in the steps of the Fountain on the Square.

Our fellow tourists soon gathered around the fountain and Antonín showed up at the scheduled time and led by him, we marched towards the Castle for the famous Castle Tour.

The castle complex in Český Krumlov is accessible from the east through the Red Gate leading into the First Courtyard of the castle.

Among the many building around the courtyard, the large Coach-House from the 18th century has remained in its original extent.

The middle of the courtyard has a small park with a stone fountain dated from the 16th century at its centre.

The castle tour continues as we reached a Stone Bridge, with the sculptures of Virgin Mary and St. Joseph. This stone bridge has replaced the former wooden drawbridge which extended over the deep castle moat known as the Bear Moat at Ćesky Krumlov.

Antonín warned us not to go too close to the edges saying, “The bear might get you”. I thought it was a joke until he explained that the owners of the castle used bears as part of their coat of arms and that bears have been bred in the moat from as far back as the 16th century.

It is natural therefore to see most of the tourist peering down and I too joined them. Antonïn said that there is just one lone brown bear now bearing homage to history.

We entered through the passage lined with stone slabs with the Schwarzenberg Coat of Arms on the top into the Second Courtyard of the Ćesky Krumlov Castle which is the area of the Lower Castle. This courtyard is marked by the living palace with a tower called the “Little Castle” which we were told by Antonín, is the oldest part of the entire castle complex. The Gothic six-storey castle tower from the second half of the 13th century had subsequently been remodelled in Renaissance style.

Antonín led us through the steeply rising corridor which connects the Second Courtyard with the Third Courtyard of the Ćesky Krumlov Castle.

Our knowledgeable guide Antonín elaborated that the corridor was built by the last but one ruler of the Rosenberg house, Wilhelm von Rosenberg.

Wilhelm’s coat of arms at the top of the bossaged entry portal with the date alongside, testifies the year it was built in. The corridor was apparently built in order to have an appropriate entrance to the Upper Castle

The Upper Castle is comprised of a single building situated around the Third Courtyard and the Fourth Courtyard of Český Krumlov Castle.

The facades of both courtyards are decorated with Renaissance paintings depicting mythological scenes of Greek and Roman history.

It was Antonín’s time for a break and he entrusted us in the care of a young and dynamic guide, David, who took us through the history of the Ćesky Krumlov Castle.

The Interiors of this part of the castle are accessible to visitors through a couple of guided tours

The castle interiors are opened out to visitors during the period from 1st April to 31st October.

The individual suites are beautifully maintained bearing testimony to the excellent installations of each historical era, showcasing the rich furnishings preserved in the chateau. It is a blazing example of an authentic historic interior.

The two guided tours offer almost forty rooms in which over 8,000 items are installed according to contemporary inventories.

David began by saying that the first castle was built back to 1240 by the Witigonen family, the main branch of the powerful Rosenberg family.

The Rosenbergs had died out by the 17th century and the domain of Krumau was handed over to Hans Ulrich von Eggenberg, who was named the Duke of Krumau by the Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II.

His son, Johann Anton I von Eggenberg succeeded him and after his demise, his widow, Anna Maria took charge of the castle for a decade and a half.

I have always loved learning about the history of a castle and the dynasties ruling it. Our guide’s interesting manner of history-telling further fuelled my interest.

As mentioned before, tourists can only see the interior of the castle through guided tours and there are a couple of options.

Photos aren’t allowed so I did not click any – but trust me when I say that it is an extremely rewarding tour of the Český Krumlov Castle.

Disclaimer: The photos of the castle interiors that I am sharing here to preserve my memories of the beautiful wall arts of the Renaissance period and the exotic tapestries have been taken from the photo gallery available on the internet

We had been opted for the First Guided Tour of the day which took us through the original Castle interiors from the Renaissance and Baroque periods.

David narration was fluent and full of information while we walked from one room to another; the wall art, furniture and furnishings, ornate doors, our eyes just could not have enough… We could have access to Saint George’s Castle Chapel, the Eggenberg Hall with the golden carriage and also the Masquerade Hall.

I would like to mention here, that it was extremely cold and damp inside the castle, possibly because sunlight can barely find its way into the rooms of the Upper Castle and possibly also for the want of an appropriate heating system.

I couldn’t help wondering how the furniture and furnishings are maintained so beautifully despite these circumstances.

Not willing to miss out on it, some of us opted for the additional to the Český Krumlov Baroque Theatre located in the Fifth Courtyard, which is considered to be the world’s most completely preserved Baroque theatres.

We witnessed the original theatre building, the auditorium and the orchestra pit, the stage and the coulisses (stage curtains), the librettos(text of an opera or other long vocal work), not to miss some of the exotic costumes.

It goes without saying therefore, that with due credit to delicate reconstruction, the the Baroque Theatre is a well-preserved, unique historical sight.

I was very interested in knowing what comprised the Second Guided Tour of the Česky Krumlov Castle; my inquisitiveness got the better of me and so I asked David. He was kind enough to tell me that it mostly focuses on the history of the Schwarzenberg family. He added that the tour includes the Schwarzenberg Portrait Gallery which mostly displays portraits of the members of the family and from their forefathers up to the beginning of the 20th century and that it ends in the corridors of the Cloak Bridge.

I decided that we were indeed lucky to have covered the better part of the rich and resplendent Česky Krumlov Castle including the Baroque Theatre…

Our adorable guided Antonín was waiting for us and we followed him back to where our bus was parked to start our journey back to Prague…

On the drive back to Prague, I kept my engrossed in making a note of this very memorable trip to the Fairytale Town of Česky Krumlov, so that in due course of time I would be able to share it with you.

Pretty Praha : Day 2 : The Prague Extravaganza Free Tour : 17/04/19

We had booked the Prague Extravaganza Free Walking Tour and our booking details said that it would the Charles Bridge and the Prague Castle.

We walked from the Malá Strana end of the Charles Bridge across it to the Old Town side because our Meeting Point was at Křižovnické námêstí, near the Statue of King Charles IV.

Our Guide Tereza was waiting as promised, standing as promised with the blue umbrella. While leading us across the overcrowded Charles Bridge, she confided that the blue umbrella which she referred to as her ‘Magic Umbrella’, would come handy as it would keep her prominent in the crowd.

Tereza began the tour with the preliminary introductions. It was followed by an elaborate description of King Charles IV (Czech: Karel IV) the first Bohemian King who went in to become Holy Roman Emperor. of the fourteenth century.

She said that the 14th Century Emperor was born on 14th of May 1316 and that he had four wives.

She then took us around the statue and emphasised that the four women seated at the base of his statue were not his wives but the four branches of studies that were available at the start of the Charles University of Prague, founded by him in April 1348 as a first university of that region.

The branches were Theology (Holy Bible), Law (Weighing Scale), Philosophy-Arts (Flame and Book of Pluto) and Medicine (Snake in a bowl).

Tereza then told us that the construction of the Charles Bridge located on River Vltava had started in 1357 under the order of King Charles IV and that it took about thirty five years to get completed.

Apparently astrology was practised even during those days; a date and time was calculated as per the belief that the bridge would be everlasting if the construction was begun at the pre-calculated auspicious moment.

Today, there are twenty bridges across the Vltava River but the Charles Bridge was the only one 160 years back.

Up in the Charles Bridge, Tereza stopped at the significant spots and shared interesting details.

She drew our attention to the Statue of St. John of Napomuk.

The legend goes that the St. John was a confessor of the Queen of Bohemia. When the King ordered him to divulge the secret confessions of the Queen, the Bohemian saint refused to do so and therefore, as punishment, he was drowned in the middle of the River Vltava, where his statue now stands.

It is said that five stars appeared on the river when he was drowned and hence the halo around the head of the statue has five stars.

The belief goes on that if one rubs the image on plague on the right side of the base of the statue with the right hand, he/she is sure to visit Prague again and if one rubs the dog on the plaque on left side with the left hand, he/she earns loyalty for a lifetime.

No points for guessing; I rubbed both.

We crossed many beautiful statues that decorated the Charles Bridge.

Thereafter, we went down a flight of stairs to the Kampa Island on the Vltava River in central Prague on the side of Malá Strana. It is separated from Malá Strana by a narrow artificial channel to the west called the Čertovka Channel or the Devil’s Stream, a waterway dug to power water mills which no longer exist.

Standing on the Lock-Bridge, she pointed to the statue of the Water Goblin guarding the water mill, the Velkopřevorský Mlýn. It is believed that he used to trap souls in upturned cups and there is a long poem to his credit.

We then went past the John Lennon Pub and on the wall adjacent to the pub, Tereza pointed out to us the markings of the levels to which the water had risen during the disastrous floods that have ravaged Prague till date.

She then took us through the John Lennon Wall at Velkopřevorské náměstí, a small and secluded square (the Grand Priory Square), Malá Strana, across from the French Embassy.

In the year 1980, an unknown artist painted an image of John Lennon, the singer and songwriter, along with some lyrics, soon after his assassination. Ever since this first wall decoration, it has been filled with graffiti inspired by John Lennon and pieces of lyrics from Beatles’ songs.

The original portrait of Lennon has been lost under subsequent paintings and despite the wall being repainted by the authorities, it continues to be full of paintings of flowers, poems, lyrics.

Today, the John Lennon Wall stands as a symbol of the global ideals of love and peace and is a spot which invariably attracts tourists visiting Praha who love to take pictures with the beautiful, colourful graffiti as the backdrop.

We meandered following our guide Tereza through the streets of Malá Strana or Lesser Town and came up to the Vlasska Street or the Embassy Street.

It is a beautiful street of Malá Strana and also one of the safest streets in Praha, with uniformed policemen stationed at the entry and exit points.

Tereza pointed out that Vlasska starts at the market square near imposing 17th Century Schwarzenberský palác, which today hosts the U. S. Embassy. The German Embassy and Italian Cultural Institute are also located in the street.

Our next spot was the St. Nicholas Church at Malostranské nám.

It is a striking example of Baroque architecture. This impressive church is a marvellous trove of marble sculptures, magnificent art and exquisite frescoes.

The church boasts of a crowning dome above the transept which is the third biggest in Europe and of an incredibly, huge organ on which Mozart himself has played. The church is also the venue for the Chamber Music orchestra.

We followed Tereza to the Church of Our Lady Victorious and The Infant Jesus.

The Carmelite Church of Our Lady of Victory houses the Statue of Infant Jesus.

The Infant Jesus statue is a small wax-coated wooden statue of Jesus as a child holding a globus cruciger. It has been attributed with many miracles and is one of the most revered statues for Catholics not only in Praha but in the entire Czech Republic. Religious processions take place around it during the annual Feast of the Infant Jesus.

Walking up and along the street famous for writers, painters; Tereza claimed that the air we breathe in this street is enough to inspire the artist within us.

We climbed our way to the Prague Castle or Pražský hrad in Czech; the view from atop the hill was breathtakingly beautiful. We could spot and recognise many monuments of Old Town, most of which looked familiar as we had visited the area the previous day.

The Archbishop’s Palace in Prague stands right next to Prague Castle, the historic residence of Czech Kings.

We definitely could not miss the Baroque architecture of the palace in Hradčany Square with a beautifully decorated gable. Although its interiors are not open to the public, the building itself is definitely worth seeing.

We made our entry into the premises of the Prague Castle after the mandatory security check and the first spot was the fourth courtyard.

We were subsequently led to the third, second and first courtyards with all the salient spots described beautifully by dear Tereza.

The Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Vitus, Wenceslaus and Adalbert (Czech : Kathedrála svatého Vita, Václava a Vojtêcha) and it’s massive door had a long story to tell. The gothic style of architecture, unique stone mosaics and gold platings were mesmerising to say the least.

Visitors are enthralled by the enigmatic ensemble of architectural styles such as Romanesque, Baroque, and Gothic and the grandeur of the palaces, churches, cathedrals and gardens.

The Prague Castle has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage site and it is recognised as the largest castle complex in the world,

Tereza’s unique style of voice modulation made every story she told sound so real and interesting and the sense of comic timing was commendable. The entire group enjoyed the experience. Before ending the trip, Tereza was kind enough to help us with adequate informations on the directions each one of us wanted to head.

Full marks for this beautiful Prague Extravaganza Free Tour and three cheers for our beautiful guide Tereza.

Journey & Arrival : A Minor Mishap : A Pleasant Day at Pretty Piquant Pristine Praha…

After a good nights sleep we woke up to a bright sunny morning.

Although we did not get any showers during our stay in Amsterdam, I guess due to the massive network of water bodies and its proximity to the North Sea, the temperature had never risen beyond single digits in the Celsius scale.

As usual, the bright day was brightened further with a blessed breakfast.

Carrying with us, plenty of priceless memories, we got all set to leave the cozy confines of our hostel, the ClinkNOORD and the amazing city of Amsterdam to embark on what looked ahead to be a very long journey.

Across the River IJ in an IJ Veer for the final time, we reached the Amsterdam Centraal and took a train which It took us barely 7 minutes to reach the Amsterdam Sloterdijk Station.

The Sloterdijk Station is a major rail junction located to the north-west of Amsterdam and is easily accessible from the Amsterdam Centraal as well as from Schiphol Airport.

It is the hub for all international coaches such as Flixbus, REGIOJET, OUIBUS which operate from just outside the station at Piarcoplein.

We had our tickets on REGIOJET, a private Czech provider of buses and trains.

It had started as a part of the company Student Agency, but later went on to provide bus services under the marketing brand REGIOJET connecting the Czech Republic to most of the cities in European Countries such as : England(London), Germany, Switzerland Sweden, Norway, Italy, Hungary, Austria, France and Slovak Republic.

We were a little stressed because we were unable to locate any signboard of REGIOJET while Flixbus seemed to be hogging all the limelight.

In fact, an employee from Flixbus, probably irritable from overwork almost misguided me. I was stressed because I t is always imperative that we be at the right spot well ahead of schedule if one does not want to risk missing a coach or train.

Fortunately, I called them in the number provided in the ticket and that sorted my distress.

I would like to mention that it is mandatory to carry valid ID proof with a Schengen Visa approved Passport. And there are baggage specifications both for the check-in and cabin which need to be met.

We boarded the bright yellow bus which rolled out of Amsterdam dot at 11:30 am. The Eurolines Switzerland suited us as it offers low-cost bus services usually at discounted prices and we embarked on a journey that was expected to take precisely 16 hours and 58 minutes.

Once aboard the roomy air conditioned bus with neat, modern interior, we made ourselves comfortable and all set to enjoy the facilities provided.

The bus was equipped with adjustable seats with leather upholstery, safety belts, charging points for phones and laptops, headphones and built-in LCD screens for watching films, listening to music or playing games. We could avail free Wi-Fi connection and could connect to the regiojet portal to our browser and enjoy.

The steward who said he would ‘hang on’ throughout the journey was an amiable young boy and had not gone too far before he offered hot drinks with options of cappuccino, tea and hot chocolate. There were newspapers and magazines too if one wanted to read.

Our steward told us that the bus was equipped with a vacuum toilet, but we should be careful to use it only while the bus was speeding on the highway and not while the bus had halted or when the bus was within the bounds of a town or city.

I must mention here, that through the long journey, the bus stopped at appropriate intervals so that throughout the journey I did not feel the need to use the on-board toilet. The stoppages allowed us enough time to stretch our legs, grab a bite and coffee, use the toilets at the stores/cafés.

I spent most of the time gazing out of the window devouring with my eyes, the beautiful scenes that zipped past.

We drove through Oost, a borough of Amsterdam and passed through Moerdijk, a town in the province of Brabant, south of the Netherlands before entering Deutschland.

Our first breath of German air was taken when we entered the district of Viersen, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Our first brief 10-minute stop was at a roadside café in Willich, a small town in the district of Viersen, Germany.

The lady at the café neither understood nor spoke a word of English and she seemed to get pretty much annoyed at my indecisiveness as to what to pick. Finally I bought two take-aways with a cheese ‘burger’ of sorts and a Frankfurter Würstchen (sausage) in each and struggled with the change before rushing back to the bus in time.

Back in the bus, we opened our packs and relished our first German snack which made up for an early dinner

We passed through the different parts of the city of Düsseldorf ;

Golzheim,

Pempelfort,

Hofgarten and

Little Tokyo.

It had started to become dark outside, I sat back to watch movies and did so, back to back.

We moved on to drive the city of Leverkusen.

Past the Köln Bonn Airport, the International Airport serving Köln or Cologne (the fourth largest city of Germany) and Bonn (the former capital of West Germany).

Our next stop was at the Frankfurt Airport. Although it was dark and hardly anything was clearly visible, it gave me a sense of ‘high’ just to know that I was standing within the premises of a major International airport of the fifth largest city of Germany.

The excitement of driving through the

I must have fallen asleep and slept through while passing by the Free State of Bavaria.

At sharp 06:28 our bus pulled up at ÚAN Florenc Praha, the main bus terminal in the city of Prague.

For our stay at Pretty Piquant Pristine Praha, we had booked an airbnb located at U Garáží Praha 7 and our host was the lovely Lisa.

I had spoken to her the previous day and she was kind enough to come to the station to receive us.

Lisa guided us to the adjacent Florenc Metro Station. She said that it would barely take us 5minutes to reach Vlatavská, the nearest station to our place of stay. Lisa even helped us buy tickets for the Metro which would be valid for 30 minutes.

We boarded the metro bag and baggage and within a few seconds an inspector in dark navy pants and jacket with a small red emblem on the sleeve walked up to us and flashed a small badge to indicate that he was checking for tickets.

My son immediately pulled out the two tickets from his pocket and showed them. What happened was a huge shock to us.

The inspector took one look at the ticket and took us off the metro at the next stop.

He said that the ticket had not been ‘validated’ and therefore he fined us 800 Czech Koruna per ticket.

Lisa tried to intervene that we had just come in and that it was rather her fault as she had not told us that the tickets need to be validated. But her words fell on deaf ears.

We were scared to anger the inspector and so although it broke my heart, I handed over the 62.5 Euro which is the equivalent to 800 CZK. Lisa escaped the fine because she had a metro pass.

We had been in the country for less than half and hour and we had already been fined… had to shell out an amount that could have bought us a decent meal.

We learnt from our mistake that it is very important to validate the ticket before going through the barriers at the metro. But surprisingly there are no barriers as such. The yellow coloured box-like machine which validates the tickets stands on one side at the entrance of a station and is very easy to miss unless extremely cautious.

There is an arrow on the ticket which indicates which end of the ticket needs to be put into the machine. There is a sound that is heard when the time is stamped on the ticket. The validity of the ticket depends upon the time stamped on it; for example, for a 30-minute ticket, the time will start from the time stamped on the ticket.

We reached the Vlatavská Metro Station . Lisa continued to profusely apologetic all through as she felt responsible to a great deal for the mistake. She helped us carry our luggage up a flight of stairs from the vestibule of the station.

From Vlatavská Metro Station it was about a 10-minute walk to our airbnb.After showing us her cute little 1-bedroom apartment, Lisa left and we both rested for a while.

I unpacked our clothes and hung them out. It was a luxury to have a room just to ourselves after staying in shared dorms for over a week (London+Amsterdam).

We were hungry as hell since we had not eaten anything since the small dinner last night. So, we decided to go out, have lunch and then explore the city on our own.

The Kolkovna Argentinská which was bang opposite to our room was our obvious choice.

The menu was written entirely in the Czech language and so we sought the assistance of a blithe, buxom waitress who helped us decide on two dishes which turned out truly very tasty.

After lunch, we walked past the nearby market and took a tram to the Vlatavská Metro Station.

There we bought a 30-minute metro ticket and this time, we were careful enough to validate it with the stamped time.

We took the metro to Malostranská Metro Station to reach Malá Strana, the English translation being Lease Quarter but commonly referred to as the Lesser Town.

We walked over to the bridge on the River Vlatava, crossed it to reach the Old Town and strolled towards the Old Town Square.

It was close to Easter and the Old Town, replete with beautiful churches and monuments.

The ambience around the Old Town Square was one of festivities and celebrations and was ablaze with a riot of colours and abuzz with tourists and locals alike. After all, Easter was just around the corner.

There were food stalls and live music all around and we spent some really relaxing time just hanging around and making memories.

We were very proud of ourselves… after all it wasn’t a small wonder that having travelled for a good twenty one hours from our room at ClinkNOORD Amsterdam to our room at U Garáží Praha, we could still had the energy and enthusiasm to enjoy the fun and festivities at Old Town Square.

On this happy note we decided to call in an early night and walked across the River Vltava to Mala Strana or Lesser Town and boarded the metro from Malostranská to Vlatavská and then walk back past Kolkovna Argentinská to our room.

Amsterdam : Day 4 : Walking Tour of : Nieuwezijds, Canal Belt, Jordaan & Ouderzijds : 15/04/19

The American journalist-author had rightly said, “All happiness depends on a leisurely breakfast”… So, the mother and son enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the ClinkNOORD Hostel to start Day 4 at Amsterdam.

The sky was clear and it seemed ideal to pose for a click with ‘I amsterdam’ near A’DAM Tower at the Stadsdeel Noord.

The previous day we had taken the Damrak to reach the Dam Square.

Today, after crossing the River IJ, instead of taking the Damrak, we took a parallel road with the idea of exploring another side of Amsterdam.

I noticed that it is easier and more interesting to go around the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam on foot because the narrow lanes and the many bridges across the canals make going from one point to another faster.

We realised that, while walking, all we need to do is to be careful about the speeding bicycles which easily outnumber pedestrians.

One must also be warned to very cautiously avoid ‘jaywalking’. The Dutch Police are apparently very strict and often hand out fines if found guilty of crossing roads without a green signal, which is interpreted by local law as ‘jaywalking’.

Instead of taking a tram, we decided to walk steadily towards Nieuwezijde which is the part of the inner city of Amsterdam situated to the west of the original course of the River Amstel.

Nieuwezijds or the New Side is to the southwest of Centraal Station and on the west side of Damrak and its extension, Rokin.

The waterway Singel lies to the west and north. The area is split lengthwise by the streets Kalverstraat and Nieuwendijk which offer fabulous pedestrianised shopping.

The narrow lanes with cobbled paths and were flanked by shops on both sides. We walked along the rows of shops which provided wonderful opportunities for window shopping. We ended up buying two light-weight but cozily warm wooden jackets for the two of us as they were being sold at a heavily discounted price.

Nieuwezijds also includes two of the city’s main squares:

The Spui is a square which is particularly popular among book lovers. We learnt that it was originally a water body that had been filled in to eventually become a square. Apart from several book stores in and around, the square also hosts weekly markets on Fridays and Sundays.

I picked up a couple of picture postcards based on Van Gogh’s paintings from one of the stores.

The Dam, the square with the Royal Palace, Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), the National Monument and the iconic Dutch department store De Bijenkorf about whichbInhave already mentioned in my previous blog.

We stopped to take a few clicks with the the majestic horse carriages parked outside the Royal Palace.

We meandered our way through the many lanes of the Nieuwezijds and decided to stop by for some food at a dainty little café called the Het STADSPALEIS, Voorburgwal, opposite the Stamp Market, one of the busiest areas of city.

The cute café resembled a miniature palace and we loved the tastefully done up interiors.

We were attended to by a warm, friendly couple and on probing about the huge collection of organic teas, they disclosed that Stadpaleis is a family business with royal hospitality blood and that their focus is on serving fresh, organic food and beverages.

We loved the sitting arrangements particularly because the hinged tables could be swung around to suit the seating position.

The lady cooked and served the most amazing dishes and the organic tea. I had a Ham Mustard and my son chose Asian Chicken. Both of us had Orange Tea. After the small but delectably delicious meal, we made our way towards the Canal Belt.

Along Singel, Prinsengracht, Herengracht and Keizersgracht all of which form the Canal Belt.

We walked along the scenic canal of Brouwersgracht. The colourful houseboats and centuries-old humpback bridges look like picture postcards and one cannot gets tempted to capture each and every frame in the camera.

From Brouwersgracht, we walked down De Negen Straatjes or Nine Little Streets, around the Canal Belt which were full of shops of every kind; fashion shops, interior decoration stores, salons and hairdressers, bookshops, cafés and eateries.

Next we decided to stop for a drink at the acclaimed most beautiful area of Jordaan.

This trendy place has no dearth of beautiful boutiques, cozy cafes and peppy pubs.

While my son sat at one of the weathered tables outside with a beer, I went ahead and checked out some clothes, jewellery and antique stuff the stalls at the Noordermarkt Square Market or Northern Market.

It was Monday, the day for the weekly market for textiles and leather items and hence, I was lucky to be able to look around the flea market in the adjacent Westerstraat Street.

I entered the Antiques Centre Amsterdam but beat a hasty retreat as the sight of vintage ceramics and paintings and innovative contemporary art was too much temptation.

I decided to give the Amsterdam Cheese Museum a miss as I had already spent quality time and made quantity purchase at the Catharina Hoeve’s Cheese Farm at Zaanse Schans.

A significant landmark of the Jordaan is the Westertoren. No matter which part of the neighbourhood we might be, it is impossible to miss the sight of the tower nor the sound of the bells.

The nearby church is the Westerkerk, but the main church of the Jordaan District is the Noorderkerk.

After gallivanting around on my own for a while, I joined my son for a glass of beer. It was very cold but I was very thirsty from all the walking around.

While making our way back, we took the Damstraat, a side street of the Dam, running to the east from Dam Square to Oudezijds Voorburgwal .

The Oudezijds Voorburgwal or OZ Voorburgwal, is a street and canal on the Wallen.

On the other side of the Canal was the famous streets of the Red Light District.

Although we did not venture into the area apart from seeing it from a distance during our Evening Cruise, it would be unfair if I did not touch the topic of legal prostitution and cannabis consumption in my blogs on our stay in Amsterdam…

De Wallen is the most largest and most famous Red Light District or Pleasure District of Amsterdam. It is the areas which has been officially designated by authorities for the practice of legal and regulated prostitution. It is so called because. The district has a network of narrow alleys where there are as many as three hundred one-room cabins that are rented by prostitutes.

Coming to the consumption of Cannabis; surprising though it might seem, particularly because it is readily available for over-the-counter purchase in many coffee shops, technically speaking, the drug is illegal in the Netherlands.

Coffeeshops are not allowed to store more than 500g of cannabis on the premises at any one time.

Smoking of Cannabis outside and on the streets of the Red Light Away is allowed. However, there are certain public places where smoking a ‘joint’ outside in the is prohibited.

The unspoken and unwritten law in the Netherlands is that people are expected to smoke weed either at their homes or coffee shop

It was our final day in Amsterdam. As we headed back to our hostel, we decided that the long tunnel with the attractive graffiti and the Amsterdam Centraal certainly warranted a couple of pictures.

An early dinner at a nearby eatery and a good nights sleep because a long journey was up ahead the following day.

Amsterdam : Day 3 : Dam Square : A’DAM LOOKOUT : Amsterdam Evening Canal Cruise 13/04/19

After two very eventful days, where we had to rush through the mornings, we wanted our Day 3 to be a relaxed one where we would randomly explore the city in the first half of the day.

Woke up to a beautiful morning, that’s how it looked from the window…

My son and I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at our hostel ClinkNOORD, and then set off for the day.

We had been crossing this sign every time we left and returned to our hostel and I could no longer resist the temptation of clicking a picture in front of the famous A’DAM Toren, that is, the A’DAM Tower.

The tower is a hub where one can eat, sleep, rave and also work as it houses several top-notch restaurants and bars, a hotel, a nightclub and a spectacular observation deck or Lookout, not to miss the 19th floor which spins all around. We had a ticket for the A’DAM LOOKOUT which we reserved for the later part of the day.

Across the bridge overlooking the Lovers Canal Cruises, we walked at a leisurely pace along Damrak, the busiest avenue that is actually a partially filled-in canal and is located at the centre of Amsterdam, between the Amsterdam Centraal ans the Dam Square.

It was that time of the year when Amsterdam saw the maximum tourists coming in, the tulips being the main attraction and also because it coincided with the Easter vacation.

We crossed over to the Amsterdam Centraal and walked our way to the Dam Square or Dam, which is not only the town square but also the historical center in the Dutch capital, Amsterdam.

The neoclassical Royal Palace is located on the west end of the square. By its side are the 15th-century Gothic Nieuwe Kerk which is the New Church and the Madame Tussauds Amsterdam Wax Museum.

The Ripley’s Believe It Or Not, NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky and De Bijenkorf, the high-end department store, also add on to the square making the Dam an attractive tourist zone.

The opposite side of the square is dominated by the Nationaal Monument or National Monument, erected in 1956. It is a 22 metres tall, white conical stone pillar and on the front side there is a relief entitled De Vrede or Peace.

The woman with a child and doves flying around signify victory, peace and new life; the two lions represent the Netherlands.

The four chained male figures on the relief epitomise the suffering during the war. Surrounding the pillar are sculptures of two men, which represent the members of the Dutch resistance. On the back side, is a wall with twelve urns inside of which are filled with soil from different war grounds.

A national Remembrance of the Dead ceremony is held on the 4th of May every year at the Nationaal Monument to commemorate the lives lost during World War II and in the armed conflicts that took place thereafter

After spending a nice time around Dam, we decided on a good lunch…

Going through the menu at every cafe/restaurant has always been one of my favourite pastimes…

Here I learnt that soepen is soup, brood is bread, salades is salad and eiergerechten means egg dishes.

After lunch, we strolled around for a while and then walked back towards the Centraal, which happens to be the transport hub of Amsterdam and across on an IJ Veer to A’dam Tower.

We had got complimentary entrance tickets from our previous day’s tour of Keukenhof and Zaanse Schans and we were out to make good use of it…

How could my son miss the royal opportunity of sitting on the throne which was so apt for him…???!!!

Up we went on the elevator that shot up from the 1st floor to the 20th floor in precise 22 seconds. The 100 metres climb was made all the more spectacular by the sound effects coupled with a light show of rapidly changing colours.

At the end of this joyride which made up for an ultimate start to our visit, we took the stairs to the rooftop.

The 360 degree Sky Deck at the A’dam Tower is the A’DAM LOOKOUT. The panoramic view of an unrivaled 360 degree enabled us to see the entire city of Amsterdam and also all around it; the historical centre, the pulsating port, the Schiphol airport and not to miss, the quintessential polder landscape.

We were told that it is possible to see some of the surrounding cities too when the sky is clear and cloud less..

I felt like an excited child who did not want to miss out on anything, while my son decided to play the role of the doting dad and allowed me to indulge….

The highlight of A’DAM LOOKOUT is the Swing : The ‘Over the Edge’ is Europe’s highest swing and is located on A’DAM LOOKOUT’s sky deck.

Nothing would have stopped me the adrenaline rush of from swinging back and forth in this swing fixed over the edge of the A’DAM Tower, all of 100 meters high. However, having Amsterdam under my feet was ruled out because the swing was up for repair and I had to be content just clicking a picture of it.

At the end of of your visit to the A’DAM LOOKOUT, we collected the beautiful digital photographs that the staff of the GoPhoto Team had clicked at the start of the tour.

We returned to our hostel which was just around the bend, in good time to rest a bit before going out for the Amsterdam Evening Cruise.

The Amsterdam Evening Cruise was the next in the agenda for Day 3.

It was very cold with strong winds, so adequately layered, we set off to the point for the start of our cruise which was at a walking distance from our hostel other than the ferry ride across the River IJ to the Centraal Station.

What could be a better way to unwind from being on our feet all of the busy day of sightseeing than a two-hour candlelight cruise along Amsterdam’s famous network of canals…???!!!

We boarded the beautiful glass-enclosed boat with its bright orange body, took off our jackets, sat back and relaxed as we set off to discover the historic monuments and picturesque canal houses.

While on an evening canal boat cruise, one can view Amsterdam is at its peak from an entirely different vantage point.

The streets are illuminated and the lights sparkle against the darkness. Most of the buildings usually have the lights on, and our guide commented that it is not uncommon to see activities inside the boat houses and the canal houses through the drawn curtain of the windows.

The guide, in her commentary said that the slim, high Grachtenpanden or ‘Canal Houses’ that oversee the canals were old houses that had been made with the front-door quite high up so that it could be accessed only via stairs. She added that the floor of the main storey of these houses were often not less than seven to nine steps above the level of the street. These were the precautions taken to prevent and minimise damage from the dangers of imminent flooding.

Ours was a Cheese and Wine Cruise and without any delay, we were asked to choose Red or White Wine. And if wine was not what you wanted, you could opt for Beer or Soft drinks. A platter of cheese of different flavours and an ensemble of cold cuts were served as accompaniment.

We cruised past many anchored boat houses, from our guide we learnt that the rent of the boat houses often exceeded the rent of apartments within parts of the city.

We had already learnt that the city of Amsterdam is literally built on water, and its network of canals is a vital part of the country’s tourism, drawing thousands of visitors from across the globe.

Carrying on her commentary, our guide said that the ‘Canal Ring’ which is known as ‘Grachtengordel’, has a history which dates over four hundred years. She added that it was added to the UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2010.

As we cruised along, our guide told us about the salient points of the areas as we crossed them :

* The Centrum or the innermost borough and the city centre of Amsterdam, she said, is layered with history…

* Haarlemmerbuurt, located at the western end of the neighbourhood, is known for posh shops, boutiques, restaurants…

* Korte Prinsengracht, mostly a residential area is alive and abuzz with activities during the day with bicycles zipping past, she said…

* Brouwersgracht, at the northern end of Jordaan is considered to be Amsterdam’s most beautiful street…

* Prinsengracht, the Prince’s canal, which is the outermost of the three main canals, has many significant landmarks along the cruise, specially the Unicorn Lock, Amsterdam Café ‘Papeneiland’, the Anne Frank House Museum…

* Keizersgracht, also known as the Emperor’s Canal, the central canal of the Grachtengordel, mainly a residential locality with shops and restaurants…

* Amstel, the main attraction here is the Magere Brug, or the “Skinny Bridge”, which spans the Amstel River. This iconic bridge consists of nine arches and a drawbridge that is still operated by hand.

While passing by the Gouden Bocht or the ‘Golden Bend’ which is is the most prestigious part of Herengracht or the Gentleman’s Canal, we witnessed Amsterdam’s swankiest stretch of property. The richest Amsterdammers lived in the stately mansions that stand as testimony to the Golden Age. The earliest mansions date from the 1660s, when the Canal Ring was expanded.

Our guide directed us to look out for Herengracht 475 and 476 which are known to have the prettiest facades. She elaborated that the Golden Bend now mainly houses banks, financial institutions and cultural institutions, like Goethe Institute.

She mentioned about the Kattenkabinet or ‘Cat Cabinet’, which is an art museum that is primarily devoted to art works related to cats. The paintings , drawings, sculptures, she said, are works of great artists, and from among the names she had mentioned I could remember only Pablo Picasso.

As we approached the Red Light District, our guide made a gentle request not to click pictures from close quarters as a mark of respect while cruising through the area.

We learnt that window prostitution where sexual services are offered from behind a window or glass door which is typically illuminated by red or dark light is the most visible type of sex-work in this famous district of Amsterdam.

As our boat steered towards the Centrum to end the two hour Amsterdam Evening Canal Cruise, I thought to myself that the opportunity to admire the beauty of the city by night was indeed, the perfect way to end our day and had we not taken it, our Amsterdam trip would have stayed incomplete.

It was indeed an eventful day… a brush with History amidst the historical monuments at Dam Square… some adrenaline rush up 100 metres, atop the 20th floor roof top lookout at A’DAM Tower… and a peep into the nightlife around the Canal District of Amsterdam…

The IJ Veer took us across to our hostel and we just about managed to crash…

Amsterdam : Day 2 : Keukenhof : Zaanse Schans 12/04/19

A Full-Day Tour of Keukenhof Gardens and Zaanse Schans Village is what we had planned for the Day 2 of our stay at Amsterdam.

The tour had been booked through viator and as per our tickets.

The Departure Point : the Heineken Experience Bus Stop, Stadhouderskade 78.

We rushed through breakfast, took the ferry across the River IJ and a bus ride from near the Centraal Station and reached our pick-up point at 08:15 hrs sharp. Following the instructions, we waited on the side of the main entrance (not on the water side).

A short while later, a large Volvo bus with tulips and windmills painted on it, drew up and the moment I saw the beautiful bus, I was in love with it.

Our guide Eva was a chirpy, young lady and her witty greeting, “Hello everyone, I am Eva but our driver-guide here is unfortunately not Adam,” made all of us laugh and get into a happy mood.

Eva announced that it would take us over an hour and half to reach the Keukenhof Gardens at Lisse, 39km away from Amsterdam. She also said that we would be entitled to a couple of halts en-route to the Garden/Park where we would be able to click some pictures of the tulip fields.

While the bus sped along the highway, Eva kept her commentary on, telling us about the topography of the Netherlands, of Holland and Amsterdam.

As a child, I was always in awe of the pair of white and blue porcelain clogs that my mother had brought back as souvenir. Each clog had HOLLAND written on it.

I had always thought that ‘The Netherlands’ was the other name for Holland.

When I shared this with Eva, she very sweetly said that it is in fact, quite common to use Holland to refer to the entire country of the Netherlands in an informal way and that this usage is particularly common in other countries.

However, she emphasised that Holland is actually a province of the Netherlands and that the former County of Holland coincides with the two current Dutch provinces : Noord Holland or North Holland, with Haarlem as its capital and seat of provincial government and Amsterdam as the province’s largest city cum capital of the Netherlands. and Zuid Holland or South Holland with The Hague as its provincial capital and Rotterdam as its largest city.

Speaking in her sweet voice, Eva added that both Noord and Zuid Holland lie on the North Sea and also elaborated that the country of Netherlands comprises of twelve provinces altogether.

We hadn not gone too far, when the sight of aircrafts up close near the highway took me by surprise and that’s when Eva turned around and said that we were passing by the Schiphol Airport, the main International Airport of the Netherlands.

The Schiphol Airport, she added, is considered the busiest airport in Europe in terms of aircraft movement and ranks the third-busiest airport in Europe in terms of the volume of passengers.

The most interesting thing that we learnt about the airport was that this exceedingly busy airport, is in its entirety, below the sea level; the lowest point being as low as 3.4 metres below sea level. Apparently, the airport lies on the bottom of the Lake Haarlemmer, the water from which had been drained out before the airport had been built and that the airport has retained the original location ever since. Therefore, the Schiphol airport is known to be the world’s most low-lying airport and also the oldest airport to occupy the original position.

There are parts of the airport with runway bridges and taxiway bridges for managing aircraft traffic over highways.

Now, isn’t that amazing ???!!!

Eva prepared us well in advance that we would be sighting tulip fields along the highway and we were all excited and overjoyed to catch the first glimpses of them.

Once the bus got off the highway, on the way to Lisse, the blossoms of hyacinths and tulips of every colour stretched to as far as the eyes could see, on both sides of the road,

As promised, the bus was halted several times and we clicked as may pictures as possible.

Between the halts, Eva continued sharing with us with every bit of information about the tulips.

She said that the tulip is a member of the ‘lily family’ and that the name “tulip” was derived from a Persian word for ‘turban’ which, it is believed to resemble.

Going down the history of tulips, Eva said that the tulip flowers had been cultivated in the central parts of Asia probably from the tenth century and it was only after the sixteenth century that it got introduced to Europe in a big way, which was followed by ‘Tulip Mania’; the period in the Dutch Golden Age when there was an humongous hike in the price of the tulip bulbs and a subsequent dramatic drop.

Eva went on to tell us about the Keukenhof Gardens which is considered to be one of the largest flower gardens in the world and is also known as Gardens of Europe.

It is said that Keukenhof was originally situated in the hunting grounds where Jacqueline, the Countess of Hainaut’s Castle, used to grow herbs that were used in the castle’s kitchen. This is why, Keukenhof when translated to English, means, ’kitchen garden’. Subsequently, after the demise of the Countess, rich merchants took charge over the grounds.

Years later, in 1949, the garden was established by the Mayor of Lisse with the idea of presenting a flower exhibition in which flower growers from all of the Netherlands and across Europe could exhibit their flowers, often hybrids. It was believed that this would help the export industry and it truly did; today, the Netherlands is the world’s largest exporter of flowers.

Coming to the Dutch tulips which are famous the world over, more than 7 million flower bulbs are planted in Keukenhof every year during Spring.

The Keukenhof Gardens are open only for about for about 2 months every year.

For the year 2019, we had learnt at the time of booking the tickets that Keukenhof will be open from the 22st of March to the 19th of May 2019 and hence we had planned the trip to Amsterdam accordingly.

Finally, we reached Keukenhof and got off the bus at the parking area. Eva was afraid that we might miss spotting her petite form and thereby get lost in the crowd; so, she compensated by holding high above her head, a stick with the flag of Netherlands and that’s how she guided us to the entrance.

She was careful enough to ensure that each and every member of the group had passed through the gate. After that, we were allowed ample time within which we had the liberty to do as we pleased and to browse around on our own. Eva told us that she would be waiting for us just outside the entrance where we were asked to gather at 13:00 hrs sharp.

What greeted us in the Keukenhof Gardens was spectacularly synchronised and coordinated colours of tulips, hyacinths, daffodils, carnations, crocuses, lilies, irises, roses and orchids arranged in different gardens and garden styles covering the vast are of 79 acres.

Beautifully landscaped, with natural and artificial water bodies, Japanese apple blossoms against the blue sky and tulips; each bed of flowers was different from the other in terms of shape and colour.

Some were single flower beds and others were combinations; and we could see the different stages of the flowering Dutch tulips.

I was very impressed by the method adopted to water the miles of garden.

Suffice it to say that the Gardens at Keukenhof which boast of 800 varieties of tulips offer visual treat to more than a million visitors during Spring every year.

Although we could not have enough of tulips, we did keep the time on check and even managed a decent lunch at Wilhelmina and also bought a few souvenirs from the shop before making our way back to where Eva stood diligently waving the flag so that we could find her without any difficulty.

I was so grateful to God that I could manage to time my vivid to Amsterdam during the tulip season.

Back in the bus, we now headed to the traditional windmill village of Zaanse Schans which promises to give an idea of life in 19th-century Netherlands. It took us a little less than an hour before we could spot the first windmill.

Zaanse Schans is a picturesque countryside neighbourhood in the town of Zaandam near Zaandijk. It is famous for its historic windmills which have been well preserved till date.

Apparently, the historic windmills and the distinctive green wooden houses from all over Zaanstreek were relocated to the area between 1961 to 1974, using lowboy trailers with the idea of recreating the look of an 18th/19th-century village.

The Zaanse Schans is home to several museums and we knew that we would have to rush through them.

Eva told us that she would lead us to see cheese making and clog making and leave us to do the rest by ourselves. That sounded pretty good and so like Mary’s faithful lambs we followed her to Catharina Hoeve’s house to see the live demonstration of cheese making.

The entrance of Catharine Hoeve’s cheese-making house was a prelude to what we could expect inside. Dressed in the attire of the 18th-19th Century, Catharina took us through the different stages of cheese-making and also the different varieties of cheese.

Later we went in for the cheese-tasting and let me tell you every bit of cheese that we sampled was delicious. We ended up buying a few flavours.

Outside her house was a farm that housed sheep, goats, hens and turkey. It was indeed and lovely feeling to be in such a beautiful place and so close to nature.

Since we had plenty of time before we went for the clog-making demo, my son and I went to check the Zaans Museum.

It was opened in 1998 with the aim and objective of preserving and protecting the heritage of the Zaan area.

The Verkade Experience which was incorporated in 2009 was the centre of attraction for the young and the old alike. The history of Verkade cane alive as the original machines churned away and we were literally transported to the chocolate and biscuit factory of the earthly 20th Century. The aroma of chocolate and freshly baked biscuits that filled the air all around us beyond words.

The Zaans Museum manages three external locations: the Weaver’s House, the Cooperage, and the Jisper House.

We rushed to the Weaver’s House, which originally served as a weaving mill and was later reconstructed at the Zaanse Schans. We got the opportunity of witnessing the traditional craft of home-weaving.

At the Cooperage, we could get a glimpse of the old craft of making barrels.

The Jisper House offered a peek into a fisherman’s household as would have been in the 1850s. If we weren’t short of time, Inqould have loved to dress up in the traditional Zaan costume and get a picture clicked in it.

To be very honest, the lush green meadows, the River Zaan with its boats and cruisers and most importantly, the historic windmills with the sails of slowly turning in accordance to the the flow of wind make up what for me was a spectacular sight .

I could not believe that I was actually seeing a Dutch windmill from such close quarters.

The slow, steady, calm and serene demeanour of the windmills as seen from a distance is a sharp contrast to the hard work that goes on inside the mills. It was a surreal experience witnessing wood being sawn, spices, oil, flour and pigments being milled inside the windmill.

We climbed up the narrow stairs to the deck of the mill and looked around to enjoy a panoramic view of the entire area all abuzz with tourists making the most of every opportunity of carrying back pictures and memories.

The last leg of our tour was the visit to the De Zaanse Schans, the Wooden Shoe Workshop.

This family owned wooden shoe making factory remains true to their motto which says, “Our story begins with a proud family and ends with preserving the traditional Dutch trade of clog making for future generations”.

It was so crowded that our group had to wait for our turn.

We had the privilege of witnessing right in front of our eyes, a live demonstration of a pair of clogs being made in the manner that they were made a hundred years back, using antique machines.

The factory housed an antique as well as exclusive collection of clogs in the waiting area and the walls inside were lined by clogs of varying colours and patterns.

It also had a wide range of souvenirs and as mandatory as it is, we picked up tiny ones as memories.

We were already behind schedule and so we all rushed back to our bus where our driver was waiting for us. While we were just leaving the the picture perfect setting of Zaanse Schans, the bus stopped at a signal and Eva pointed out to a windmill-house with a tiny window dressed in a pretty pair of curtains. While we were still gazing at it, we saw a gentleman coming up and opening the lock on the door to go in.

The aroma of chocolates followed us for a while as we drove back to Amsterdam to be dropped off at A’DAM Lookout. We were given a complimentary ticket to enter A’DAM Lookout, which promised a great view of Amsterdam from the rooftop. Fortunately for us, it was right next to our hostel and so we decided to reserve it for the next day.

An eventful day, must say… Dutch tulips, historic Dutch windmills, cheese making, chocolate making, clog making and cloth weaving, the 18th Century way and a visit to an fisherman’s household dating back in time to the 18th century.

We thanked Eva, our petite guide and took our leave from fellow tourists.

Amsterdam : Day 1 : Van Gogh Museum : Anne Frank House 11/04/19

My son and I were really looking forward to our trip to Amsterdam. We had in hand, a well planned out itinerary for the four days we would be spending there.

So, on the morning of the 11th of April 2019, we checked out of Wombats City Hostel, Whitechapel and headed to the St. Pancras International Train Station, Kings Cross.

We had reached well in advance and thank God for such mercies because there was such a long queue that we barely managed to finish our immigration formalities on time to board the Eurostar which departed at 08:16 hrs sharp en-route to Amsterdam.

Ours was a direct train from London to Amsterdam and it was a hassle-free travel time of almost four hours with power sockets for charging our laptop and phones and also free WiFi.

We were hungry as we had missed breakfast and so I went across to the Cafeteria and got some toasties and hot chocolate for us.

The high-speed train dives right under the sea and uses the 31-mile channel tunnel.

We reached Amsterdam Centraal at 13:05 hrs. After de-boarding, we walked across to the back side of Amsterdam Centraal to catch an IJ Ferry to Buiksloterweg.

A free ferry ride of five minutes duration and we were on the other side of the River IJ, Amsterdam’s waterfront, formerly a bay, in the Dutch province of North Holland.

Once there, we navigated our way through beautiful garden paths to our place of stay for the next four days…. ClinkNOORD

ClinkNOORD, Badhuiskade 3, the Amsterdam Waterfront Hostel, with single and mixed dormitories as well as private rooms; was our choice because it offered the amenities for a comfortable stay and more importantly, suited our budget.

As per the itinerary planned, we made our way back across River IJ to the Amsterdam Centraal side and took a tram to the Van Gogh Museum.

On the way to the museum, I pondered about this beautiful city of Amsterdam, the capital city of Netherlands; the city with an elaborate canal system testifying the successful outcome of city planning.

Hailing from a state and country that screams of flash flooding, multiple times every year, it was not only intriguing but highly inspiring to know that despite a substantial part of the Netherlands being much below sea level, the Dutch remain unperturbed by threats of flooding up from both the sea and from rivers by dint of the strategically constructed dikes and the continuously operating water pumps.

We reached the Van Gogh Museum, Museumplein which houses the world’s largest collection of paintings by Vincent Willem van Gogh including “The Potato Eaters” and “Wheatfield with Crows”, “The Bedroom” among others. The museum is also home to paintings done by Van Gogh’s contemporaries making it a must-see for art lovers.

Photography of artworks in the museum is obviously not permitted but in certain designated parts of the museum photographs without flash is allowed.

We spent a good leisurely couple of hours taking our time over the paintings and audiovisuals.

I left the museum wearing on my head, a heavy veil of contradictory facts that the most famous post-impressionist painter in the history of western art had battled mental illness and had remained unknown, untold and poverty-stricken during his lifetime and had succumbed to the pressures of mental instability at the age of thirty seven.

Perhaps that explained the bold colours and dramatic brushwork on the landscapes, still life, portraits, specially self-portraits that formed the body of his work.

Our next destination was the Anne Frank Huis, situated beside the canal Prisengracht.

It took us a little over 25 minutes to walk through the Leidseplein area, minus the time we had stopped for some refreshments.

Amsterdam proved to be true to this name and fame of being a “Walker’s City” and the weather was congenial to boot. The walk along the canal offers picture-perfect views.

We were to go in for the 20:30-20:45 hrs tour of the Anne Frank House and the temperature had dropped significantly. But that did not deter the tourists from queueing up in large numbers.

Although the exterior of the house has undergone extensive renovation, the crux of the matter is that it had been the house where Annelies Marie “Anne” Frank and her family had gone into hiding from the wrath of the Nazis during the German occupation of Netherlands around the time of the World War II.

I would fail miserably if I tried to describe the layers of emotions that I felt as I moved within the confines of the rooms, concealed behind a movable bookcase, despite my best attempts.

I could not for the life of me figure out how a girl as young as Anne, confined in such a repressible manner with the constant threat of capture hanging like a sword over her head could have penned such profound, free-flowing thoughts.

The fate that met this pretty young girl and her family was actually too much to digest.

It was natural to see many of the tourists slouching on the floor and and many wiping tears off their face.

I made my exit gently massaging the pain out of my head and my heart.

It was an eventful Day 1 at Amsterdam, I thought to myself as we headed back our hostel…

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