Puliyogare recipe

Puliyogare also called as Tamarind rice is one of the most popular rice dishes in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Everytime I make this at home there has been requests for recipes. Its just because the rice taste is so good that you would also love to prepare it and eat at home. I did try to find out recipes over internet which match the way I prepare. Each one of them I found missed one or the other ingredient. So here goes my recipe details.

PS: Thank my mom if it comes out real good.

Serves 2 people. You can magnify the ingredients proportionally and save the paste or gojju for future use.
Gojju or paste can be served with chapathi / rotis also.

Ingredients:
for gojju or paste
split Channa dal 1 spoon + 2 tsp (for tadka)
split Urad Dal (without skin) 1 spoon + 2 tsp (for tadka)
white/black sesame seeds 2 spoons
whole pepper seeds about 10 in number
cumin seeds 1 spoon
grated dry cocunut 2 spoons
Dry Red Chillies about 10-12 in number ( I usually split this count by half and use byadagi menasinakayi - the chillies which give colour; guntur menasinakayi - chillies which add spicyness)
tamarind about 75-100 gm
water - 1 cup
groudnut oil / sunflower oil 6 spoons
mustard seeds 1 tsp
ground nuts one fist full
curry leaves 2-3 sticks
finely cut coriander leaves about 2 spoons
asafoetida 1 tsp
cooked rice 3cups
salt to taste
jaggery powder 1/2 spoon















































Method:
1. Soak the tamarind in water. Let it soak for about 1/2 hour.
2. Meanwhile take a pan and dry roast all the following ingredients separately one by one
channa dal
urad dal
fenugreek seeds
black whole pepper seeds
cumin seeds
grated dry coconut
sesame seeds
dry red chillies

3. Grind coconut and red chillies first and pour it into a bowl. Then grind channa dal and urad dal separately. Now grind rest of the ingredients. Mix all the powdered ingredients.

Please note: Red chillies that you get out of India only add spice. For colour you can use paprika powder that you get in the stores and reduce the count of chillies by 3-4.

4. Take another pan and pour the oil. Once the oil is warm, add mustard seeds. When mustard seeds start spurting, add channa dal and urad dal. Also add peanuts. Fry it till the lentils turn golden brown and peanuts are roasted well. PS: Do not burn while roasting these ingredients. Burnt tadka gives bad taste to gojju and puliyogare.
Also add coriander leaves and curry leaves. Add Hing / asafoetida. Leave it for abt 30 seconds
5. squeeze the tamarind in water and get filtered the juice out of it. Add this juice to the tarka.
6. Add the powder prepared in step 3.
7. Add salt to taste and jaggery powder and allow it to boil for about 5-10 minutes. Keep sauting else it starts burning from the bottom. Add oil/ghee if required.
8. Now that the gojju or paste is ready, u can mix it with rice adding little more salt .You can also serve it with chapathi or roti or store it for future use.

Tip: More concentrated tamarind juice gives more taste. This also means that it reduces the spicyness of the dish.

First drive out of Brussels

Though I have to drive out of Brussels everyday to office, I had some plans in my mind. I wanted to drive the first weekend to Radhadesh - ISCKON temple close to Durbuy.

Unfortunately we could not make it as our friends could not join.
Still we drove to our friend's place - antwerp in Belgium.
Antwerp from our home in Brussels is abt 50km distance.

I was confident about driving and the route. Still wanted some experienced person to sit next to me so that I can ward off all my fear and tension.

Initially as I started driving and if the car got switched off or if there was a car behind when I am parking, I used to get so tensed. I would start sweating out of fear and whole of my body became warm. But now after 10 days of drive, I am little more confident and relaxed driver.

Thanks to the drive to Radhadesh on the second weekend. I drove about 400km over the weekend.
It was an amazing drive across the highway and the country side with beautiful scenary and the cow herd or horses feeding themselves in the grasslands.
Some part of the drive included curves like the western ghats. It was indeed a great drive.
Lets see how better off I would be in the days to come :)

My drive in Belgium

As I had my theory cleared and I had some training also from a free way instructor in Belgium, I was always wanting for a car and drive in and around Belgium.
Unfortunately, I did not clear my practical exam in the first attempt :(
But when I visited India, I got my international driving license done. Producing this at office, I could get my company car.
Yes it was a temporary car; was not sure what car would be given to me. Though I tried to get this piece of information from my HR, I was told that the leasing company can give any car that is available at its disposal :(

I was waiting anxiously for the temporary car. In the morning of 5th November, I received my temporary car key from my admin staff Janny.

I was very anxious to see what car I would get. I saw the company's symbol on the key and was very delighted.



Yes! It was Mercedes. Ohh my God! There was no end to my happiness.. I could not imagine that I would get such a good car as a temporary car.

The Mercedes key was a bit strange in its look. Plastic key with no metal outlet. The car number was written over the bunch tag. I had not driven Mercedes till then.
I had driven Volkswagen at driving school and Audi A3 of my colleague to practise parking. So these cars had metal keys. I was no sure how I could drive with this plastic key.

Having seen the key, I wanted to see which model of the car it was in Mercedes. I waited for 5 min for my anxiety to settle down; wore the overcoat and went outside.
I went to the parking lot and pressed the unlock button on this plastic key. I saw that it was a black Mercedes Benz A160. I was more than happy. I opened the door and saw the car. It was spacious enough and a small car to fit the city requirement.

Later I got to know from my colleagues that I was the first person to have got Mercedes as temporary car. Mercedes being the most expensive car was not ordered as well.
Most of my colleagues had got Nissan or Opel Corsa or Opel Astra or Seat Leon or low end cars as temporary cars.

Later in the noon I could not stop myself. I wanted to test drive the car. I went again to the parking space; sat inside the car and tried to find the slot for the key to be put in.
I searched all around the steering. I could not find a slot. Next to the steering, there was a hole sort of slot. I just pushed it with my finger. I thought that could be the slot and tried putting in the plastic key. It went in. Then I knew how it works :)
I just looked at the gear and saw that it was similar to the cars in India. But the cars I drove here before had Reverses in a different direction. I put the gear to reverse and released the clutch. wow!! amazing smooth drive it was. huh! could not control my happiness. I had to share this with someone. I immediately called up my husband and shared this with him.

From then on.. Have been haapily driving Mercedes :)

Gasagase payasa - Khuskhus kheer

Gasagase payasa is a typical sweet from Karnataka. I must say this is mine and my hubby's favourite payasa too. Yesterday being a festival, I wanted to offer god some sweet dish and this is what which struck my mind at first.




Even though I knew how my mom used to prepare this and I have made this atleast twice in Belgium, I tried finding various ways of making this dish over the internet. I still think that all those recipes did not match what my mom made.




So here goes my recipe for the traditional typical sweet from Karnataka.




I should say that the proportions mentioned here are ideal for a starter. In case you fail, dont worry as you have used up very little ingredients and you can always cheer yourself saying "Let me try again :)". I am sure you would love it.




Ingredients: Serves two people

Gasagase (or Khuskhus) 3 spoons

Grated dry coconut - 2 spoons

Powdered Jaggery - 4 - 5 spoons (5 spoons is normal sweet for me. 6 spoons according to me is very sweet. 4 could be normal in case your sweet intake is moderate or low)

raw rice - 3 spoons

Milk - 1 cup

water - 1/2 cup

Dry grapes - about 30gms

cashew nuts - about 30 gms

ghee - about 2 spoons




Method:

Dry fry gasagase (khuskhus) in a pan untill it turns light brown and gives out good aroma.

Now spread this over a plate.

Dry fry raw rice until it turns light brown.

Spread the rice over a plate. Allow it to cool down.

Now mix rice, gasagase, coconut and add 1/2 cup water and grind it to a paste.


In a pan add ghee and bring it to heat. Add cashew nuts. When the nuts start changing colour add dry grapes and fry them. As soon as the grapes start blowing up, add about 1/4 cup water.


Add the jaggery and stir. Keep stirring until the jaggery dissolves.

Now add the paste and boil.




When this cools down, you can add milk and serve.




The traditional way of consuming includes drinking this dish (either hot/cold)




This dish can also be refrigerated and served as cold dessert.




Ain't that simple? Give it a try and let me know how helpful it is :)

Panneer - the Indian cheese

Most of you I know would love the dishes made out of panneer like panneer butter masala, palak panneer, panneer mutter masala etc etc. The mouth watering list goes on :)



Many times we would get panneer from shops and prepare these dishes. This may not be a better idea as the panneer you get at shops may not be fresh.

So here I tell you how to make fresh panneer at home instantly. This takes less than 10 minutes and is very simple.

Thanks to my friend Akshi Bhansal for actually telling me how to do this.

May be you should thank one of my blog readers (Chaitanya) based on whose request this blog is written in the interest of others.

Ingredients:
Milk 1 ltr serves 2 people.
Lemon small size - 1

Method:
Heat the milk in a container until the cream starts collecting on the top.
Then squeeze the lemon so that the juice splits the milk.
Continue to heat so that the split milk condenses. May be upto another 5-10minutes.
When the solid particles in the milk have condensed to form small lumps and the water part is separated, you can switch off the stove.
Now filter the watery part by using a white cloth. After you filter, in the same cloth quickly(if it becomes cold then you will not be able to get that nice panneer surface) put in the rest of the white solid filtrate and fold the cloth and place it on a plane surface with heavy weight over it to compress. Leave it for about 15minutes and then remove the weight.
Panneer is ready to be cut and used in your dishes.

Lassi - Varieties

Lassi originates from Punjab in India.

There are varieties of Lassi and variations in preparing it.

In case you were drinking lassi in a restaurant in Europe, it would be different from the way it tastes in a restaurant in USA or a restaurant in India.

In most of the restaurants in Europe what they do is blend the milk with flavour and sugar for mango lassi.

But I like it this way and here goes the recipe for the varieties of Lassi that can be made.

Salt Lassi:
Ingredients:
Thick yogurt 1 cup
salt 1 tea spoon
few ice cubes

Procedure:
Blend the yogurt with salt and ice cubes in a blender and serve it.

Sweet Lassi:

The procedure is exactly the same as salt lassi except that you would use 2 spoons of sugar in place of 1tsp salt.

Jeera (Cumin) Lassi
Ingredients:
Thick yogurt 1 cup
salt 1 tea spoon
few ice cubes
2 tea spoons of cumin

First grind the cumin into fine powder. Then blend with rest of the ingredients.

Mango Lassi
Ingredients:
Thick yogurt 1 cup
sugar 2 spoons
few ice cubes
1 spoon of mango flavour (depends on how strong flavour you need)

Procedure:
First grind the sugar into fine powder. Then blend with rest of the ingredients.

Rose Lassi
The procedure is same as mango lassi except that you would use rose flavour instead of mango flavour.

Rava Laddu - ರವೆ ಉಂಡೆ

This is called as rave unde (ರವೆ ಉಂಡೆ) in my mother tongue (Kannada).

Me and my husband(Needless to say that he is very foodie) are always fond of trying something that we have not ventured doing it ourselves. His adventures are mostly in international or north indian food items and mine are mostly on the traditional South Indian food items. Rather I must say traditional food which my mom makes. My dream is to excel her.

In this regard, I have tried besan laddu (besan laadu - ಬೇಸನ್ ಲಾಡು), rave unde, kobbari mitai and hoping to try many more. Hope to post the recipes for the rest also asap.

Please thank my mom in case you try this recipe and find it really useful ;-)

Ingredients:
Local Rava (usually not too big or not too small - medium rava) 1 cup
Sugar 1 cup (this is normal sweet level for me and a little too much for my husband as he is used to diabetic sweet recipes at my in-laws' home :) )
finely grated dry coconut - 1/4 cup
cashew nuts, dry grapes about 30-50gm each or handful each
ghee - 2 spoons
Milk about 1/2 cup


Procedure:
First powder the crystal sugar and keep it aside.

Dry fry Local rava in kadai/container on low flame. Keep sauting it so that not even one rava is light brown. The colour turns a bit yellowish and you can smell the actual fried fragrance. This is when you need to stop frying it.

Let it cool for about two minutes. It is optional to even powder this local rava.

Now in a separate kadai or container, put ghee and fry cashew nuts on medium flame. As the cashew nuts start changing colour, add dry grapes and fry. Switch off the stove as the grapes get swollen.

Then mix everything and add milk little by little and mix well. The mixture should just be wet. It should not be too watery. Milk actually makes the sugar dissolve and adds to the taste. Leave the mixture aside for 30minutes. You will notice that it has hardened.

Now wet your hand with water and start making laddus of desired size.

Do not serve it immediately after making the laddus. Keep it aside for about 1-2 hours and serve it later.

Some Common Questions - Answers

* How much cash should I one carry for taking care of initial expenses?
For one month food expense could be upto 200euros per person. This is exaggerated cost considering you buy all costly items in the shops nearby instead of going to shops where u get for low cost and cook at home most of the times. Travel in and around Leuven should not be more than 27-30euros per month as you can get a monthly or three month or yearly pass in the bus De Lijn. If you forsee any other costs, let me know so that I can tell you an approximate expense that you may incur.

* Is currency card from banks like HDFC, Axis, Citibank, etc a better option than carrying cash?
Such Currency cards are not accepted at all shops or ATMs. You can withdraw cash from some ATMs. Better is to open a student account (no or least maintenance charges) and add money to this account and use Belgian account debit card in shops. If no bank offers you free account, then Keytrade Bank is one such Bank. You choose if its safer by having cash in Currency Card as u can withdraw or by hard cash. Later on after you have the account and debit card, you can start using that. Be aware that Belgian Debit cards cannot be used for online transactions.

* What documents should I carry while travelling and will be required at point of entry?
- Apart from passport you will not need anything. Just as add on you can carry copy of your medical certificate. If you want to work here while you pursue yr higher education, then needless to say that all yr educational certificates in original and copies are required. I hope u r nt travelling with yr family.

* What type of plug converters should I get for laptop adapters, mobile phone chargers and other electronic stuffs? You will not need any converter if its 2 pin plug. If 3 pin then you will need a converter. you can buy them in Brussels. Costs abt 2euros.

* Should I buy an international calling card to call back home for initial few days? If yes, which one shoud I go for? If you have access to internet then no calling card is required. Calls on freecall.com will cost you 2 euro cents a min if calls are made to Indian mobile num or less if calls are made to Indian landline num. I would suggest you to finish your calls when you have access to internet.

* Later, what will be the best option to call to India? Answered above

* How easily can one get a mobile connection in Leuven and in your opinion, which one would be a good deal? Lycamobile is cheapest in case you are working. But otherwise it seems there are a lot of options for students under student plans. I have no clue. Please check with students ;)

* What would be weather like in first week of Sept?
I am planning to get few woollen stuffs from India and buy rest of them there? Could be raining or just moderate temp in September. Until October end, it would not be cold. It will in fact start then. Sweater and a rain jacket (optional thermal wear) shd be enuf from India. You can buy warm wear here. Thats better as you could guage yrself abt how warm you need to be.

* What are the options for vegetarian food in Leuven? Is it possible to manage without cooking myself :-) ?
Sandwich, Pizza and falafel are the only options apart from Indian food in Indian hotels for vegetarian. A veggie falafel would cost abt 3.5 euros.If you calculate the cost yrself, you would start cooking as the basic ingredients are far cheaper if you start cooking at home.Sandwich could cost anywhere between 2-6euros. Same is the cost of pizza. Cola is cheaper only in the supermarkets.

* Is the size of bed and pillow similar there and in India? Should I get single or double bedsheets?
single bed size could vary from 70 cm x200 cm to 80cm x90cm double bed size varies from 140x200 to 180x200 cm. Pillow size and shape can be anything.

* I read that one can wash clothes in public washing machines. Is there any other option? What are the options for ironing?
U can try washing at home by soaking clothes in soap water. And washing in the bath tub itself. Drying would be a problem due to weather conditions. In case there is a balcony, u can dry it there. Still it will not be possible to dry clothes in winter without dryer. Ironing: Pressing clothes at home with electric iron box which can be bought from India or bought here locally costs abt 9eur.

* Should I get toiletries, cosmetics, etc in stock or is it fine to buy them there itself?
Not sure if the ones u get here suits ur skin. Atleast for the first one month its better to get from there. Cold cream for skin is a must. You wud nt get soaps like Savlon, Dettol in the local shops. In Pakistani or Indian shops that might cost abt 1-2 eur. You get another one in Delhaize. It does nt have any fragrance. It costs abt 70cents for 3 soaps. Except for Fragrance, we felt it was good. This is subjective to one person. To wash clothes, you may need Ariel or any other soap powder or soap. The soap powder cost is abt 3-6euros a kilo.

* In one of your posts, you wrote that Reebok shoes would be available in 20Eur. That's cheaper then in India. Is it same for other brands too like Nike, Adidas, etc?
Havent found any other till now. Just Reebok when there is sale.. and price cud be 15-20eur. Its upto yr discretion on what all u will buy here and what you will get it from there.

* I have bought an electic rice cooker. Will that be fine? Do I need to get a plug converter for it too? Or I can buy converters at reasonable prices there itself? Answered earlier

* How much should quilts and blankets cost there?
You cannot probably carry thick bedsheet or quilt from India. It costs abt 20-30euros and thats the cheapest price.

Added in the interest of other people who are in search of answers for similar questions..

Looking forward for more queries :-)

Checklist

This blog is intended for Indians coming to Europe specifically Belgium.
This article summarizes the things that one might have to carry when they pack their bags.
Well its all left to the discretion of the reader to decide his needs and carry what all from the following list may be required.

1. First let’s start off with Clothes – one of the most fancied & fashionable varieties are available in Europe. And any one on earth would be tempted to try different things while being here.

So I would suggest the following –
Working Men:
6 formal shirts (costs about 10-30 or more), 3-4 Tshirts( costs about 5-30euros),
4 formal pants (no idea about costs here) and
2 Jeans pants (if you think that’s heavy you can buy them here. Costs about 20€)
Belts – 2 No
Male Students:
2-3 Formal shirts, 5-6 T shirts, 2 Jeans, 2 Formal pants, 2 Belts
Common for students and working men:
1 pair of formal shoe and 1 pair of slippers. The home wear slippers is optional.
One rain jacket and one sweater or jacket for cold.

Women:
Jeans -2 nos, (if you think that’s heavy you can buy them here. Costs about 5-10€)
Tops (formal or casual) – 6,
In case you are working then u would need formal Pants – 3, if not working then you would need just one or two.
Belts – 2 Nos
3-4 light weight salwar kameez (if you do not want to miss them.. u will hardly find it here).
One rain jacket and one sweater or jacket for cold.
Of course you will end up buying later a lot of them J
Optional: sarees(in case u love to wear and very rare to find here) 3-4nos
Must: one pair of slippers (costs about 10-20€)
home wear slippers – optional
Note: Ornaments or fashionable ear rings, bands, hair clips are expensive here
You wont get bindi packets here.
Eye liner costs about 2€ (not a better quality though)

Tip: Try to carry less weight clothes so that you can incorporate other items in the check in luggage.

You can buy varieties of fashionable clothes in Europe for best prices.
Skirts and Three fourths are considered formal here.
Sports shoe & boots are least expensive. I can say they are cheaper than what you get in India.
Jackets can cost anywhere between 20-50euros (or more for branded ones).

2. Umbrella is a must. Three fold umbrella is what I prefer so that it easily gets into bag.
Even if you spend 2€ or more, most umbrellas that you get here are not sturdy ones for the
wind here.
3. College bag / Back pack - 1 No - will be required to get groceries from shop at least ;)
4. Technical books or any novels (slightly expensive here)
5. Do not miss Laptop, hard disk, cds, dvds, softwares, mp3 players / ipod, headphone with earphones (call to India via internet via messenger or free call is cheaper). These accessories are pretty much costly here.
6. Not to be forgotten are your photos – better to have 15-20 passport size photos on white background even if you are here for just 6 months or lesser or more (cost is 5euros for 5 photos here)
7. Stationaries:
Stapler with one box of pins, scissor, correction tape, some pens, glue stick, file or folders
8. Dual/quad band mobile handset that is used in India would work here as well.
9. Last but not the least are the medicines: tablets for common cold(most likely), cough, fever (most likely), indigestion, head ache, body pain (if u r sportive), vomitting, loose motion, mouth ulcers and if necessary - spray for relieving pain. Of course your personal medicines as medicines here are different and the dosage is slightly high.
Now the other things that can be of more importance to you irrespective of the length of the stay here.

Food: Food is one’s own choice.
Whether you are vegetarian or non vegetarian, for cost cutting you will have to cook at home. Needless to mention that options for vegetarian are very very limited. And I have heard of my non vegetarian friends say that the non veg (meat) being eaten here in restaurants/by people is mostly raw meat. (Sometimes even with the blood stains on it). .Well that is how its used here. I am sure that non vegetarians would not have got the taste they would have in India. And so naturally leaning towards cooking at home J

Cooking at home:
Pressure cooker:
I suggest a 3ltr pressure cooker if you intend to live independently. (You can get it here for about 30€)
A 5ltr one for 2 or more people.

Extra safety valves and gaskets are a must depending on the type of your cooker.
You do get safety valves here. But I suppose they would cost between 2-10euros.
I haven’t come across gaskets here.

Utensils: All stainless steel items are expensive here.
If possible, try to get 2 utensils that fit into the pressure cooker that you get.
Also if possible, another 2 or three vessels with lids if you have space.
Else you can buy a three vessel set in ikea. In case you need, contact me. I can guide you.

One Kadai and one Tava (They are expensive here)














The above items are required. However the following Kitchen items are optional and depends on the extent to which you would cook here. My intention is to tell you what is available here and what is not available here. Its upto you to chose if you would miss it or not.


Cutlery:
Again its expensive here. For a steel set (4 spoons, knifes and forks each) you would pay about min of 4€.
Knife: I would prefer getting one from India for vegetable cutting as the sharpness lasts for long time. The knifes you get here cut slightly slant. So I don’t prefer them.

Serving spoons that are used for serving rice, rasam / sambar and spatula to lift chapthi or dosa from tava and the one used for frying oily items are the ones you would not get here. (hopefully i will upload a pic for all these),

Serving spoons that you get here are like in the picture shown below.
































Chapathi roller is also something that is advisable to be carried from India. Costs about 3€ here.
You may not need the board on which chapathi / roti is usually rolled on.

Tongs(optional) for making phulka or rotis on gas flame or its useful even while frying oily items. You will not probably find it here.














Coconut grating: you will not get it here. Other option is to cut the coco into small pieces and grind in the mixer. This is what I do.














Vegetable grating:
You get it here (costs about 1.5-5€)























Vegetable skin peeler : You dont get this kinda one here. But another one like tongue cleaner :-) and costs about 1€
























Churning:
You can use the egg beater (costs about 50cents to 1€) that you get here. This can also be used for potato mashing.

Or get this kinda one from India

























Sieve: Costs about 1€


























Blender/Mixer:
I suggest not to get it from India. You get a good one for 20€ in Blokker (a shop here) which has a 2 yr warranty period. In case that’s spoilt within this period, you can get a new one for which the warranty period starts from the date you exchanged which is another 2 years.
Iron box can also be bought here.

Shops where you can find Indian groceries:
Pakistani shops in Brussels
Nepali shops in Leuven
Bangladeshi or Pakistani shops in Antwerp

Shops/supermarkets where you can find almost everything else:
Delhaize, GB, Colruyt & Aldi.

Internet connection:
Various service providers are available in Belgium like Telenet, Belgacom, ClearWire and Numericable.

To make calls to India:
Most of us here use
www.freecall.com to make calls to Indian landlines and mobiles. Cost is around 2cents per minute. To add credit, you would need credit card.

PS: Belgian Debit cards are not accepted for any online transaction.

Banking:
Accounts:
Most Banks here charge maintenance fee for savings/current accounts.
Fee varies between 20-30 euros a year.
However one such Bank referred to us by a local citizen which charges no fee for account maintenance and used widely is Keytrade Bank.
Please note that fee varies for students and working class or under 26yrs.

Cards:
Credit cards (master card or visa card) are issued with maintenance fee of about 25-50euros a year. Again certain clauses are to be met for determining fee.

Apartments / Flats rent:
Depends on whether you want furnished or semi furnished or unfurnished apartments, area / region and owners.
The following links can help you find accommodation apart from threads on orkut Indians in Belgium community-
www.xpats.com
www.expatriates.com
www.be-housing.be/En/
www.Immoweb.be
www.vlan.be

Transport:
In Brussels, the modes of transport are –
Metro, tram and Bus (STIB/De Lijn)
In Leuven – De Lijn buses
In Antwerp – De Lijn bus and tram

De Lijn buses run between various parts of Belgium as well.
For railways, its www.b-rail.be

If you have any question, leave me a comment or mail and I will be more than happy to address that.

Pisa & Rome - Italy feel of being @ home

I must say that it was a well planned trip to Pisa and Italy to cover the wonders of the world.
Our planning started almost 2 months before to this place. We booked all our tickets and room as we were going during easter and one can imagine the amount of people and rush in the Holy Catholic city during easter.
Yes!! Yet again that was a long weekend. A long weekend in the mid of April. We were all set and ready at the airport. Contrary to our trip to Swiss, the flights were in the evening. Good that we did not have to strain ourselves early morning to get to the airport. Huh!! We were relieved of all these tensions the moment our tickets were booked.

Our flight departure was at 20:45 and we arrived at Da Vinci airport in Rome by 22:55.

We went out to enquire taxi fare from the airport to the hotel and the taxi drivers charged an extra amount. we were warned by the hotel receptionist that we have to bargain for the right price with an indication of what the right price could be.The last train from the airport train station to the Rome city train station called Roma Termini was at 11:36. We missed the one at 11:06 cos of ticket vending machine and cluelessly operating dumb people in front of us in the long queue. People selected their own mother tongue to operate the vending machine that was so obvious and easy to operate and still finding it so difficult and wasting everyone's time. Do you think this is the first hint of feeling at home? No I still think common man in our country is not so dumb given a choice of operating in their mother tongue.

The actual feeling started when we boarded the train and the train started. That was an electric train like all European trains and was called "Da Vinci Express". Express train here in Italy covers a distance of 30km in 30min with the same sound and movement a train would make in India like a mom swinging the child in the cradle. For a moment when we closed our eyes we could not think that we were out of our motherland.

As we got closer into the city we could see filth and garbage dumped everywhere in large lumps in one corner. The houses were painted with colour shades that are used in our country too. There were many buildings with patches of painting as they were I believe painted decades ago. A feel of being @ home. Our journey begins.

We got out of the station and set our foots onto the street to discover our route to the hotel at that odd hour and there were so many people on the street. Italy I feel is an indifferent European nation.

hmm.. We could easily find our way to the hotel and were off to bed as we had to wake up early morn for our 6am train to Pisa. Next morning I woke up at 4:30 and was ready by 4:45 giving time for other 3 people to get ready. We were earlier in the station to buy our tickets (how can we forget the previous night's ong queue in front of ticket vending machines?). So we were all set to view the leaning tower of Pisa. That was a regional train to Pisa from Roma Termini. The difference between an Express and Regional train is the usual difference in stops and cost. It was 10 euro fare difference and a time difference of 40mins. We had a very very very tasty cappuccino in the station. the quantity was not enough for others. But the taste of it lingers on my tongue even today. I suggest you not to miss out coffee anywhere in Italy. Another fact that I would want to share is that I used to wonder why people pronounced 'cc' in capu'cc'ino as 'ch' rather than 'c'. Its here where I realized that every 'c' in Italian is pronounced as 'ch'. Enlightened! :)

We boarded the train and I thought I could sleep well in the train as I had slept for just 3.5hrs the previous night and I am so concerned abt sleep. I must say that God has gifted me "sleep". Unfortunately, I did not get sleep in the train. It could be due to the excitement that was pervading inside me without being unveiled to others that I am gonna see one of the wonders of the world. By the way we (I) spoke in the train in our native language rather mother tongue as I/we usually do, we attracted another fellow national Vikram who was of same language and who seemed to us like someone who was craving to speak to someone in the same language in Europe. We could see that he was so delighted to exchange hand shakes and exchange views with us on his experiences and the lifestyle particularly in Europe. Since then, we could not realize how time of rest 3hrs flew :)


We reached Pisa and were hungry for traditional Italian Pizza. On our way to the tower we found a local restaurant and had yummy pizzas for absolute cheap prices.Each one of us had one whole pizza. Mind you that the Pizza here in Europe or Italy is thin crust (Dont compare it to the one in the Pizza Hut / Dominoz in India). The cheese over the Piza had melted and was smelling just like the "ghee"(reminding home.. Ahh!! yes:) ). The fragrance had half way filled our stomach. I tried a pizza margharita and my hubby n his colleague tried mushroom Pizza and the other two tried Pizza vegetale. The look and feel of Pizza vegetale(costliest in the restaurant) was not so good. It had topping of Brinjal, cabbage, tomato and onion. And the drink? Not wine yet.. We still did not follow 'Be a Roman in Rome' to dine and wine. But we had to definitely drink coke to digest this fat :)

Then we went to the tower and were amazed by the way the tower was built. From whichever angle or direction u see, the tower looks leaning. Thats why an apt name "Leaning Towere of Pisa".
we took some pictures and went around and had yummy ice cream and of course not to forget souveniers shopping fr us and our sweet friends in Leuven (Mr & Mrs Prashant) as they could not make it.
We were back by the train to Rome by 8pm. We stepped into a Mc D opposite to the station and had a tasty spinach and cheese frite. Taste was unimaginable for me as i was trying this kinda food for the first time. Had I tried fondue in Swiss, I would have probably felt it similar like others.
Then we went to our room and refreshed ourselves as we had to explore "Roma" during night. We started to Colosseum at around 8:30pm. We were there in abt 20 mins as the distance was less than 2.5km from our hotel.

Colosseum was lit with different lights. At first I could not really make out what it was and what was the purpose. I did not know that it was another wonder of the world. I had made this mistake of not reading about the history of the famous architectural monuments and the Roman Empire itself unlike how we used to do earlier for other trips. I regret a lot about this. I think I should have been prepared. But not to forget to warn you that there is a lot of history about Rome and Roman empire and its hard to remember or recollect what you have read. Still... "Something is better than nothing" Right?
Past is past. A lesson learnt. So we will make sure that we know about Venice before we go there in about 12 days.
Ok..Lets not get lost in these philosophic thoughts. Back to our exploration story.
We passed through the temples in Rome. The temple of Venus, Mars and Augustus. There were excavations going on through out Rome. I am unaware of since when its on or till when its on. But the places were all dug up prohibiting entrances to places. It was a good watch.

Then we strolled by to piazza venezia where we could see the famous Roman Emperor.


We went on to visit the famous "Romantic Fountain" - "Fontana de Trevi" in Rome. We spent some time there and went to the Indian restaurant we had searched prior to our visit to Rome. We went to IL Guru. I must say that the food was excellent. I have not tasted this kinda Indian food here. They say "if the quality of food is better then the quantity of intake increases". This was true with us also. We had stomach full and walked back to our hotel for peaceful sleep. Yet again, we slept at 12:30(it was second consecutive night). Thankfully, we could wake up by 7 and get ready to go to the vatican city on easter sunday.

Next morning we woke up and got ready as per our plans and reached vatican city. All the metro trains were so full of people. Every one wanting to be there for the mass on Easter Sunday.(kannadadalli helbekandre hindu hindu janara gumpu) We were all prepared to witness the rituals of the holy catholic church. But the crowd discouraged us to get inside of the crowd as we feared getting out of the place asap. We still had to shop for souveniers, wine and dine in Rome :)
We witnessed the mass from far. Thanks to the video camera's zoom which made us see the rituals from close.

Not surprisingly, Romans(Catholic) do circle around and bend before Jesus (like our Pradakshine Namaskara to God), they even use kinda dhoopa to spread the fragrance around. They purify the place with holy water(for us its the Ganges water). I had seen this fragrance kinda thingy in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris too. Please excuse me for not being aware of the catholic rituals and for not using appropriate terms.
We were out by around 12:30 and then we were at the Restaurant to taste the Italian Sphagetti and gnochchi.
We ordered varieties of sphagetti and the taste was not too high standards. But not too low either.
Then we headed towards the market in the vatican city and shopped for "Argenta ear rings" - silver ear rings and (uff!!!!!!!!! the list goes on) many other stuff.
Then we were ready to have some snacks or light dinner. We tried in a close by restaurant near our hotel. Those were horrible Indian restaurants. We did not like the food. Though we ordered very few items we could not have it completely and had to pack for our trip. We paid them cursing ourselves for going there and left to the airport.
We had our return flight at 8:30pm from Rome. Saying "bye for now" we returned from Rome. But the moments of experiencing Roman traditions/lifestyle will be cherished through out.

Switzerland (Geneva) Expense estimation

I know that each of us would want to go to Switzerland.
And of course, we will be definitely concerned about the expenses that we might have to incur if we are visiting any city in Switzerland.


This blog is only intended to give you a fare idea. Cost could differ based on your travel date and season.


The costs stated here are related to Geneva city and wengen.


Food:

Geneva Restaurants charge as much as in Brussels. But the only difference is that it is in Swiss Franks there.


Travel inside the city

If you happen to go to Geneva, you can book any hotel inside the city close to the Geneva main railway station. As all places are coverable by walk.
The city is not too big and there are abt 10 places of visit for tourists.
If you chose Hotel Cristal, then you can get public transportation pass for free from the hotel reception desk for the number of days you have booked the hotel.



Travel to Interlaken/Lauterbrunnen (Alps foothill)

This will cost about 100 franks per person in bus. I am not sure of the train.
From Lauterbrunnen, you can chose which ever peak you want to go to.
You can chose to go to Wengen village which hosts the Switzerland's summer holiday's Resort.


Train fares

These are the fares that I know of

Lauterbrunnen - Wengen 12.4 CHF

Lauterbrunnen - Kleine Scheidegg 160CHF


Cable car fare

Wengen - Mannlichen 40CHF

Apart from this, you need to consider the cost of your mode of transport to reach the city in Switzerland and the prices of the hotel.

As I could see for hotels in Geneva, the starting range is 150 CHF for a 3 star hotel.



So you calculate it now yourself on how much it could be for your journey :)


Hafe a safe and nice journey. Enjoy your trip!!

Switzerland - Dream comes true

Almost like every other common man in India, even I had dreams of going to switzerland.
Who will not, after seeing Hindi movies have such dreams? heheheh.. So here goes my experience about this exciting tour.

Have you heard of Geneva?
The city in switzerland which is renowned for Red Cross Organization and UN Head Quarters. (Is this heading back to ur history book of ur school? Ok lets come back..)







But this is definitely not the reason why we chose to visit Geneva rather than the capital city Zurich in Switzerland. Of course not even for the reason thinking that this city away from the capital would have more of landscapes and country side close by. Not at all.. Just for the reason that it was the only city in Switzerland which we could reach via flight by economical means :)
Yes! U caught it. Typical mentality of middle class people. Not to offend anyone though. Just kidding..
We chose Geneva for the fact that it is closer to the world famous Alps mountain range.

So all plans were in place. To visit the city and do some shopping on saturday. Let me remind you that shops will not be open on sunday in Europe except for the souvenier shops(all the countries I know of in Europe at least). Swiss chocs, Swiss watches, Swiss cheese -- list goes on when it comes to shopping.. Isn't it?
Sunday plan was just to drive to the alps, go to the highest peak and return by night. Monday morning return to Brussels - the usual routine.
There are just very few popular places in Geneva city for tourists. Of which we chose to see the UN Head Quarters, flower clock, jetto, fountain in the old town and the Lake. We skipped the watch museum as it would get late for us and as we assumed it to be a little far from the city centre.

After visiting a happening place like Paris, for us Geneva seemed like a not so special city though it had quite a number of tourists in the off peak season.
So we landed in the morning at around 10am in Geneva. Took a train from the airport and checked in to the hotel. Lodged our bags and started to discover the city with our list of tourist places. But our stomach would not listen to us. So we went to UN HQ and came back to an Indian restaurant by name Gandhi for lunch. The food was good and the price was moderate. Then we moved for a long walk discovering the city to digest all that we ate :)

The walk along the lake and boating was enjoyable. The flower clock is adorable.













The arrangement and presentation is too good. Was lost in thoughts tat we have so much to adore in our country. We have such a vast heritage that we have not popularized. We should preserve and give it importance like what is done here.
Seriously, most of us have not visited so many places in our own country thinking its possible in our life time. Could be true. Then I was back to the reality.





Stroll along the shopping streets
Rue de Rive and Rue des Marche are the shopping streets in this city. The streets have shops which sell chocs, pastries, jewellery, clothes, watches, souveniers and opticals.












When it comes to shopping for swiss watches, Geneva like all other swiss cities is costly and not affordable. But clothes, food and chocs seemed to have same price in Euros as in Brussels. We shopped a swiss watch for me? CHOCS for us and some momentos to carry back home.
The chocs are so yummy and tempting that I really cant stop eating them. Lindt chocs is a famous speciality there.
Then by 6pm all shops started shutting down their shutters and eventually we had to leave the street. We walked towards the information centre to find out if there were any possible public transportation or if there were any car rentals close by to reach swiss mountains next morning. Unfortunately everything was closed and could not gather too much of information. We went in search of Car rentals in the city in vain. Not much help. But managed to jot down the number and call them up.
Finally a ray of hope! The car rental in the airport will be open and the timings were noted. And for the dinner, my hubby and his friends tried the swiss special vegetarian cuisine fondue. I was unwell and skipped my dinner. I heard it was too good.. I am sad that i missed that opportunity. Anyway, I wish my self better luck next time..

On sunday, we all woke up by 6, got ready by 7 and left the hotel to discover Alps on the switzerland side. We asked the car rental guy to guide us. He suggested us Interlaken which is 2 hrs drive from Geneva. Interlaken is 215 km from Geneva city.
Near Interlaken, there is a place called Lauterbrunnen which is the foothill place.





The drive view is just unexplainable by the words in my vocabulary. Completely snow capped mountains covering the alpine trees. yeahh!! I said alpine trees. Remember reading this in your Geography books? heheheh.. Never mind..
Here ends our drive as we were told to take train or cable car to the peaks. May be because drive is difficult.





From Lauterbrunnen, there is train to the hill peak. On a smaller peak, there is a village called Wengen village. Train takes abt 15 min to reach here from Lauterbrunnen. The houses in Lauterbrunnen reminded me of the typical houses I saw in Uttaranchal when I went to my himalaya trek. The snow reminded me of those sleepy nights in a tent in the himalayas where we realized we were sleeping in a pool of snow only by morning. Ahh!! I am lost..
uhhhh!! So we bought our tickets to the wengen village - the first peak on the train journey. We did not have much time to decide after hearing the fare as the train departure was in a min.











We were in the train heading towards the peak. The train is just a 2 compartment one. Very small with a seating capacity of abt 50 people in each. And the tracks... Its a 2 way track at some places and one way track at some places. This reminded me of Indian Railway system. The trains here unlike city trains used to wait for signals to proceed further. Was good to cherish all life time memories. We reached the peak and I had to come to reality yet again. huh!! yet again..




We reached the Wengen village (supposedly famous Swiss holiday resort - did not know of it till I started writing this blog) which is 4180 ft above sea level (thats 1274mts). I was surprised to see literally a village on snow capped mountain. I was awestruck to see the facilities there. I wonder how the government provided the electricity and water supply there. As far as I could imagine or see, there were no roads to this place. 'Train' was the only means!
We roamed about a bit and then went to hog in an Italian restaurant. The pizza was yummy.. My mouth waters even now. I am just imagining how more tasty can a typical Italian Pizza can be in Rome during easter when I am there next month. Lets wait and watch :)



Then we headed towards the next peak called Männlichen(2343mts=7687ft above sea level) which is reachable only by cable car. The cable car's cable spans 950m and ascends to a height of 1069mts. We bought the tickets and the car was ready to take us aboard and drop us to the land of heaven :)
We got out of it and everyone else except me were so thrilled to see the snow. I had seen such snow in Mt Baldy, USA and also to a greater extent in Himalayas. Somehow I was less talkative and my presence of mind was absconding. I am still to find out reasons for this. All the excitement I had was seemingly no more. It was chilling but sunny. And no winds to add to it. So fortunately a pleasant weather for us on the hill top. There were restaurants on the hill top where we drank a hot swiss milk coffee. May be after this our legs and hands warmed up and not because of sun :p
We spent quite a lot of time on the hill top watching different valleys and skiing lads and ladies. I could also see a child less than 2 yrs skiing without fear ..... Guess we should also be trained like this from childhood to be adventurous right at young age.
Then we descended to Wengen for some Wengen shopping and took a train back to Lauterbrunnen from where we drove along the 'Thunersee'. Pacific sea which reflected the tranquilities of our mind and soul. Hmm am becoming too philosophic... hehhe.. Apparently, we drove back to the airport and handed over the keys. Returned to Geneva city and had a burrito in a Mexican restaurant which was not so good. But the day long experience kept us in good mood to hit the sack with a lot to dream.
So here unwinds our journey. I know its a lot that I have told..
But a life time memories and experience which I would carry back home from Europe along with me.

Paris planning

Hmm.. I thought i would create a small blog on planning your trip to Paris from Brussels. Also this would give you an idea of what might be the cost you would incur per person if you plan to visit Paris and places in Paris.
I definitely concur with you that there are innumerable websites and tour packages which could be cheaper than this. But if you wanna check out, you are most welcome to view this blog.

Stay:
Hotels... Well depends on personal choice. In any city city you have a 5* to 1*hotel. I do not want to blog on this.

Travel:
There are as usual 3 popular means of reaching Paris from Brussels - air, train & bus.
According to me, only two of them are budgetary means - train and bus.

Train travel requires advance booking of atleast 15-45 days to get one way price of 25-29Euros (as on 24th Feb 2009) one way per person from Brussels. This can be booked in such a way that you have separate tickets for each way onward and return. This kinda tickets are called smoove tickets beneficial for one way journeys. For more info pls check www.b-rail.be

Bus can be booked atleast a week or two so indvance (in case of peak tourist season). Otherwise even 3-4days should be enough. Per person bus fare for return journey Bru-Paris could be between 44-50 Euros(as on 24th Feb 2009). If you get lesser than this, you are lucky :)
For more info please check in www.eurolines.be

Paris city travel:
Now comes in and around Paris. How to go about in Paris.
Like any other European city, Paris too has bus and metro for smoother commutation.
Unlike Brussels, the tickets on bus or in counters cost 1.6euro per person per ride. I guess the ticket is valid for two hours(depending on zones that you cross in your first travel). Same tickets are applicable to metro also. Believe me there are so many metro zones in Paris making it highly difficult to understand and make best use of the bought tickets.
I would prefer going around in Paris by bus though it is time consuming as I can get a ride along the city streets and I get to see the city's shopping malls(As usual we ladies are fond of shopping untill our hubby's purses are empty ;) )

For more info on paris bus and metro routes and time tables pls check
http://map.metro-passes.com/map_bus.htm
http://map.metro-passes.com/map_paris.htm

Entrance fee:
Next important info is on the entrance fee.
PS: Entrance fee in euro per person

Eiffel tower
children under 3yrs ascend & descend free.

Elevator	Above 11 yrs	3-11yrs
Upto 1st floor	4.8	2.5
Upto 2nd floor	7.8	4.3
Upto 3rd floor	10.7 or 12 (I forgot)	6.5
	Under 25	25 and Above
Stairs	3.10	4.0

Museé du Louvre: 9
Notre Dame special entry fee: 8 (There is free entry as well)

Next time I visit any other place in Paris, i will surely edit my blog for their fares.
Happy journey and enjoy Paris!!

Disclaimer: No intentions of promoting any business or defaming any said sources above. This is purely an experience that I would like to share with our friends who are curious to know about our travel just in case they wanna book.