After a lot of hue and cry we were able to make our trip to Paris happen, Neha's visa also got rejected once in the ordeal, but all said and done, we were ready to leave.
Packing wise - just need to carry the basic set of clothes plus undies for the trip as there are bound to be some repeats. MTR and haldiram ready to eat along with a good quantity of namkeens and biscuits were also packed. And this did turn out to be a life saver, for all the times where we just had to fill ourselves and leave and for the internittent hunger.
We reached the airport on time and headed to the lounge, Icici coral had unfortunately stopped being a member of the international lounge and unfortunately we missed our Amex card here so we had to spend 1200 INR instead of 800 on Amex.
The good part of the lounge was that in addition to the food, there was also unlimited alcohol which was awesome blossom as I had plenty of wine and Neha had a beer.
We went in the gulf air flight from Delhi to Bahrain. We were served chicken in green spinachy gravy and paneer in desi gravy. It was decent, no alcohol here though. Decent flight experience.
Next we got off at Bahrain and boarded our next to Paris, this was a red eye flight from 1.30 AM to 7.30 AM, this flight served alcohol as well as something to eat during the night which most people skipped as they were dead sleepy.
In the morning they served some nice breakfast in the form of scrambled eggs, bread and veggies.
Saw the movie MOM, which was the last one from Sri Devi and a nice one at that.
We reached Charles de Gaulle in the morning and I went to the washroom couple of times and felt a lot better thereafter, tummy was a bit upset after eating a lot of peanuts, nachos and cheeslings plus food.
On reaching here, we wanted to ask some information from the info center but there was a fair bit of crowd gathered over there, so I went to another info center to inquire how would we reach the hotel through the metro and he recommended to use the bus which was sinpler to do. Considering the luggage, I am glad we chose this option. This cost slightly more but so much more convenient plus gave a better view of the city and its life.
We had WiFi in the bus as well which was another positive.
We got off at gare montparnasse, and it was a bit of a pain with the luggage to reach the metro station but we did manage and purchased the booklet of 10 tickets and boarded for Marie d'issy.
The mobile data on the plan we took was a blessing.
Reached the hotel, and we had to pay a slight extra for early check-in, but very much worth it since we could unpack easily as well as rested for a bit.
We grabbed a quick meal of ready to eat tomato rice and headed to Eiffel tower. The area around Eiffel tower was good and the good part about our tickets was there was no need to use stairs at all although it was chillingly cold right at the top.
They were a bit flexible with respect to the time since the various check points had quite a bit of crowd there.
But this was definitely a good visit.
Next we stopped at a cafe and thereafter headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Next day we went to Disneyland.
This was good. We did all the big thrill rides doing the hyperspace mountain 3 times. We grabbed a chicken burger with fries there for 11 euros. There was a parade of characters at 5.30 pm which was decent, throws you back into the world of Disney. The fireworks that came at 9 pm was very much worth it. One problem with the entire experience was that it was all in French which made few rides less enjoyable such as star tours and pirates of carribean ride - English version would have helped. Also if we had been able to book our tickets beforehand that would have been very beneficial, online tickets were for 55 USD as compared to 79 EUR on the spot. Same day tickets were not allowed, so this was a learning.
We reached back quite late in the night at around 11.45 PM and we had a slight adventure at auber station where we had to exit to catch our line 12. The other alternative through chatelet Les Halles and montparnasse would have been smoother.
The last day we had kept to roam around Paris, we roamed around the Louvre, arc de triomphe area and finally went near Notre Dame. Next we did a Seine river cruise right next to notre Dame which was honestly the best part of the trip. beautiful scenes and well guided tour around the Seine, so much better than the open bus tour that we were alternatively considering.
Belgium our hotel Bedford was 3 mins walk to maneken pis and was located very well. Day 1 we went to delirium cafe and this place is a definite must visit.
Next day we had breakfast in the form of Nutella and waffle and also waffle and fruits. We also tried a home made pasta place which was okay ish. We also took a chicken doner kebab for 5 euros.
Then we started off for atomium and saw an amazing museum called Adam design museum. Atomium was a decent one but maybe skipped, we did skip the mini Europe thing which was close by. We grabbed a nice capuccino at a small cafe nearby and thereafter left for Mr Adam. The Adam museum which was included in the atomium ticket was a nice one.
After this we went back to the hotel and I grabbed a small one of Verde white before reaching the hotel. And then we chilled for a while.
Our next stop again was delirium, this time we took a slightly longer route exploring the roads. Nice options of good food options and I had zeroed in on trying the Manhattan Burger place on the way back. We tried out quite a few beers at delirium and the verdict was ales are quite bitter. Can try any of the wheat and lager variations. have another document of all the relevant beers.
The Manhattan burger was decent but a bit on the expensive side at around 12 euros. In the vicinity there were some nice restaurants which served ramen, steak and so on.
Next day we had a mini meal of the ready to eat for breakfast and thereafter were on our way to Amsterdam on a bus.
We boarded it from gare du Nord and reached amsterdam at 3 PM. Bus was running a lil late by 25 mins for the pickup but the wifi worked well, no washroom break though. :/
we got off and took a train from sloterdjik to amstel station. Trains had a second class and a first class and we rightly got in the former. We stopped at Amsterdam central and the next was Amstel.
Our hotel casa Amsterdam was 6 mins walk from Amstel. The hotel was definitely the best one in the lot, spacious rooms with a good spacious lobby with a super helpful staff. For me the best breakfast was still in Paris, excellent bakery products including croissant, chcolate cake, jams and of course the yoghurt which is how we wound up our meals.
So after reaching here, took a shower which was a real awesome experience, hehe. We then pushed off to try out their coffeeshop, this was a decent one. Then we went to eat pizza heart bar where I had my fav eggplant pizza which was very awesome.
Then papa had given us a contact of one of his ex colleagues, and we went with them the next day, they took us first to marken from where we took a boat till volendam pronounced with an F. At marken we saw the wooden shoes, had a wine bottle and some chips thanks to uncle and we grabbed some nice fried fish, thereafter we went for the boat ride. The boat ride was good. At volendam we looked at the tulip / flower market. And then we saw the cheese factory and finally got dressed as locals and got a couple of pictures clicked. We honestly wouldn't have gotten this exercise done if it wasn't for uncle.
Next we went to gassan diamond museum where we saw some nice beautiful diamonds. Thereafter we went to Amsterdam central where we saw uncle's nice indian restaurant at Ganesha. Then we went to do some central roaming around where Neha did some shopping in Primark - lots of knick knacks
C&A - purse
Then we sat in the middle square which was quite peaceful. Post that we again went back to Ganesha restaurant. We tried to nice indian chicken curry, amstel beer and roti along with tandoori chicken. Thereafter we said bye bye to uncle aunty and took our first international Uber. Excellent car and condition. It was an electric hyundai iconiq. Plus there were so many gadgets in the car including the app, gps and some monitoring device. Nice experience.
Next day the morning we were on our own and began our journey by purchasing a one day pass of amsterdam. This one is a must have to travel within the city includes tram, metro and buses within the city, there was one more which was meant for Netherlands travel within the city, which I may try out the next time.
So first of all we went to Heineken experience
Then we went to central area and roamed about here
Thereafter we went to windmill de gooyer
Back to central, red light area and over.
Final trip to airport.
Netherlands
Marken
Volendaam
Packing wise - just need to carry the basic set of clothes plus undies for the trip as there are bound to be some repeats. MTR and haldiram ready to eat along with a good quantity of namkeens and biscuits were also packed. And this did turn out to be a life saver, for all the times where we just had to fill ourselves and leave and for the internittent hunger.
We reached the airport on time and headed to the lounge, Icici coral had unfortunately stopped being a member of the international lounge and unfortunately we missed our Amex card here so we had to spend 1200 INR instead of 800 on Amex.
The good part of the lounge was that in addition to the food, there was also unlimited alcohol which was awesome blossom as I had plenty of wine and Neha had a beer.
We went in the gulf air flight from Delhi to Bahrain. We were served chicken in green spinachy gravy and paneer in desi gravy. It was decent, no alcohol here though. Decent flight experience.
Next we got off at Bahrain and boarded our next to Paris, this was a red eye flight from 1.30 AM to 7.30 AM, this flight served alcohol as well as something to eat during the night which most people skipped as they were dead sleepy.
In the morning they served some nice breakfast in the form of scrambled eggs, bread and veggies.
Saw the movie MOM, which was the last one from Sri Devi and a nice one at that.
We reached Charles de Gaulle in the morning and I went to the washroom couple of times and felt a lot better thereafter, tummy was a bit upset after eating a lot of peanuts, nachos and cheeslings plus food.
On reaching here, we wanted to ask some information from the info center but there was a fair bit of crowd gathered over there, so I went to another info center to inquire how would we reach the hotel through the metro and he recommended to use the bus which was sinpler to do. Considering the luggage, I am glad we chose this option. This cost slightly more but so much more convenient plus gave a better view of the city and its life.
We had WiFi in the bus as well which was another positive.
We got off at gare montparnasse, and it was a bit of a pain with the luggage to reach the metro station but we did manage and purchased the booklet of 10 tickets and boarded for Marie d'issy.
The mobile data on the plan we took was a blessing.
Reached the hotel, and we had to pay a slight extra for early check-in, but very much worth it since we could unpack easily as well as rested for a bit.
We grabbed a quick meal of ready to eat tomato rice and headed to Eiffel tower. The area around Eiffel tower was good and the good part about our tickets was there was no need to use stairs at all although it was chillingly cold right at the top.
They were a bit flexible with respect to the time since the various check points had quite a bit of crowd there.
But this was definitely a good visit.
Next we stopped at a cafe and thereafter headed back to the hotel and crashed.
Next day we went to Disneyland.
This was good. We did all the big thrill rides doing the hyperspace mountain 3 times. We grabbed a chicken burger with fries there for 11 euros. There was a parade of characters at 5.30 pm which was decent, throws you back into the world of Disney. The fireworks that came at 9 pm was very much worth it. One problem with the entire experience was that it was all in French which made few rides less enjoyable such as star tours and pirates of carribean ride - English version would have helped. Also if we had been able to book our tickets beforehand that would have been very beneficial, online tickets were for 55 USD as compared to 79 EUR on the spot. Same day tickets were not allowed, so this was a learning.
We reached back quite late in the night at around 11.45 PM and we had a slight adventure at auber station where we had to exit to catch our line 12. The other alternative through chatelet Les Halles and montparnasse would have been smoother.
The last day we had kept to roam around Paris, we roamed around the Louvre, arc de triomphe area and finally went near Notre Dame. Next we did a Seine river cruise right next to notre Dame which was honestly the best part of the trip. beautiful scenes and well guided tour around the Seine, so much better than the open bus tour that we were alternatively considering.
Belgium our hotel Bedford was 3 mins walk to maneken pis and was located very well. Day 1 we went to delirium cafe and this place is a definite must visit.
Next day we had breakfast in the form of Nutella and waffle and also waffle and fruits. We also tried a home made pasta place which was okay ish. We also took a chicken doner kebab for 5 euros.
Then we started off for atomium and saw an amazing museum called Adam design museum. Atomium was a decent one but maybe skipped, we did skip the mini Europe thing which was close by. We grabbed a nice capuccino at a small cafe nearby and thereafter left for Mr Adam. The Adam museum which was included in the atomium ticket was a nice one.
After this we went back to the hotel and I grabbed a small one of Verde white before reaching the hotel. And then we chilled for a while.
Our next stop again was delirium, this time we took a slightly longer route exploring the roads. Nice options of good food options and I had zeroed in on trying the Manhattan Burger place on the way back. We tried out quite a few beers at delirium and the verdict was ales are quite bitter. Can try any of the wheat and lager variations. have another document of all the relevant beers.
The Manhattan burger was decent but a bit on the expensive side at around 12 euros. In the vicinity there were some nice restaurants which served ramen, steak and so on.
Next day we had a mini meal of the ready to eat for breakfast and thereafter were on our way to Amsterdam on a bus.
We boarded it from gare du Nord and reached amsterdam at 3 PM. Bus was running a lil late by 25 mins for the pickup but the wifi worked well, no washroom break though. :/
we got off and took a train from sloterdjik to amstel station. Trains had a second class and a first class and we rightly got in the former. We stopped at Amsterdam central and the next was Amstel.
Our hotel casa Amsterdam was 6 mins walk from Amstel. The hotel was definitely the best one in the lot, spacious rooms with a good spacious lobby with a super helpful staff. For me the best breakfast was still in Paris, excellent bakery products including croissant, chcolate cake, jams and of course the yoghurt which is how we wound up our meals.
So after reaching here, took a shower which was a real awesome experience, hehe. We then pushed off to try out their coffeeshop, this was a decent one. Then we went to eat pizza heart bar where I had my fav eggplant pizza which was very awesome.
Then papa had given us a contact of one of his ex colleagues, and we went with them the next day, they took us first to marken from where we took a boat till volendam pronounced with an F. At marken we saw the wooden shoes, had a wine bottle and some chips thanks to uncle and we grabbed some nice fried fish, thereafter we went for the boat ride. The boat ride was good. At volendam we looked at the tulip / flower market. And then we saw the cheese factory and finally got dressed as locals and got a couple of pictures clicked. We honestly wouldn't have gotten this exercise done if it wasn't for uncle.
Next we went to gassan diamond museum where we saw some nice beautiful diamonds. Thereafter we went to Amsterdam central where we saw uncle's nice indian restaurant at Ganesha. Then we went to do some central roaming around where Neha did some shopping in Primark - lots of knick knacks
C&A - purse
Then we sat in the middle square which was quite peaceful. Post that we again went back to Ganesha restaurant. We tried to nice indian chicken curry, amstel beer and roti along with tandoori chicken. Thereafter we said bye bye to uncle aunty and took our first international Uber. Excellent car and condition. It was an electric hyundai iconiq. Plus there were so many gadgets in the car including the app, gps and some monitoring device. Nice experience.
Next day the morning we were on our own and began our journey by purchasing a one day pass of amsterdam. This one is a must have to travel within the city includes tram, metro and buses within the city, there was one more which was meant for Netherlands travel within the city, which I may try out the next time.
So first of all we went to Heineken experience
Then we went to central area and roamed about here
Thereafter we went to windmill de gooyer
Back to central, red light area and over.
Final trip to airport.
Netherlands
Marken
Volendaam
