Experiences Around the World

A week after the summer holidays started, my family and I decided to travel to Germany, yet again! This time, we weren't visiting the city and its sites. We were planning to visit a war ship which had come from India and also go to the well known water park and rainforest, Tropical Islands.

At 8 am on June 12, we left for Berlin in our car. This was going to be yet another long car journey, and I knew I was going to be bored... It was a long ride, starting from the poor polish highways, to the best roads in Europe, the Autobahn. It took us 7 and a half hours to reach Berlin, and it was a fairly tiring journey. Tiring, not because I had to do a lot of work, but because I had absolutely no work to do!

As we had a friend in Berlin, we were invited to their house to stay over for few nights. Despite having to turn in different exits to reach there, we had no problems as the GPS guided us safely and quickly. At 4 pm, we went to their house and had some food. We planned to take the day easy and just rest, so we didn't do anything much.

Early next morning, around 0630, my family and I hurried to catch the tour bus which was going to take us to the war ship. I was happy as this was the first time I was visiting such a ship and it might be interesting. But sadly, I was mistaken. Starting off with the bus ride, everything was boring. The trip to Bremen was suppsoed to take us around 4 hours, but ended up taking almost 7 hours. This was very frustrating because there was absolutely nothing to do. When we finally arrived at the location, my dissapointment grew. I was expecting a ship that could carry a fighter plane during wars. This was a very small ship, with just a helipad. As we were given a tour inside, there were a few interesting facts they mentioned such as the ship had captured few Somalian pirates, and also saved a few hostages. Also, the India army is the only one to test missile defense on each other; other countries do not do it because it is very dangerous. Our ride back was just as boring, and took 7 hours, yet again. Altogether, this was'nt the best start to summer, but either way, it was a start.

On Sunday morning, after having a good breakfast, 15 people including us took a train to go to Tropical Islands. Tropical Islands is a newly built park where everything is under a dome. There are parks, swimming pools, spas, and everything you can imagine. It took us about an hour and a half to reach there, but it was worth it. Although it was not as big as I imagined it to be, it was very entertaining. I started by going to the indoor sea, which was awesome because there was real sand, and it was as if we were in the sea. There were a lot of people, music, and this made it even more energetic. After that, I went to the slides. There were three of them, but the one that I enjoyed the most was the deepest one. It was one of the fastest and best slides I've been in. It was almost a turn of 90 degrees. I was scared when i did it for the first time, but later on, I enjoyed it a lot. These two spots were the highlight of the trip to Tropical Islands. Other places included a rainforest where there were sea turtles and a lot of different trees. Also, there was a lagoon where the water was at a high temperature. It was located and desgined as if it was a natural spring fountain. We returned back to Berlin at around 7 pm that night, and I was very tired.

The next morning, my family and I returned to Warsaw. Yet again, it was a boring 8 hour car journey, but I was glad that I was finally back in Warsaw, finally back home...

Last night was something I will never forget. It was the first ever Formula 1 night race which was held in Singapore. In a race where there was so much money involved, it was very well planned. To make the drivers feel as comfortable as possible, there were almost 1800 floodlights around the circuit, each 2000 volts.

Ferrari's Felipe Massa led from pole position from Mclaren's Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen. Alonso fell way back as he was the first one to pit after an aggressive opening stint. After a calm 5-8 laps, chaos erupted. Nelson Piquet had a shunt on the wall resulting in a safety car period. At this point, everyone got the opportunity to gain close to the leaders. As Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg were running out of fuel, they had to pit even before the pit lane was open. With all this happening at once, teams didn't know what was happening. When the pit lane finally opened on the 17th lap, there was a huge rush. Massa managed to get to the pit stops when his race fell apart.

When they were re-fueling his car, there was a misunderstanding between the crew and Massa. The green light withing his cockpit told him that he could restart, but the fueling hose was still attached to the car. He knocked over a mechanic and tore the hose away, and fuel sprayed everywhere. He had no option but to stop 500 meters away from his crew and wait for them to remove the hose. As he waited, he lost about 50 seconds. All his hopes of winning a historic race was lost. When he finally joined the circuit, he was last, but there was still worse news. While he was being interrupted by Fisichella for the second last position, news arrived that he had a drive-through penalty for unsafe pitting. Now, there were no chances. He was shattered and all of us could see that with his driving...

Kubica and Roserg were given 10 second drive stop and go penalties for pitting for the pit lane was closed. The Pole's race was over but Rosberg managed to fight his way ahead of Hamilton. This was some improvement seeing that he had to undergo a penalty! With all of this happening, Hamilton was quietly, but skillfully moving ahead in the driver's championship as Massa had no chances of getting a point this race. Equally, Mclaren were able to move a point ahead of Ferrari in the constructors chase.


On the 51st lap, there was another safety car period when Massa spun and an unsighted Sutil crashed. This could throw him a lifeline, but when an irritated Raikkonen crashed while fighting for 4th place, everything shattered.

Without letting anybody notice, Alonso quietly moved up the positions and somehow managed to come first. From then on, he led the race with Rosberg and Hamilton fighting for second place. The race ended with Alonso, Rosberg and Hamilton on the podium.

With far more overtaking than the driver's predicted, Formula 1's first ever night race packed with plenty of excitement, was adjudged a great success...

Bienvenue à Londres et à Paris!

Described as the most dirtiest and romantic cities in Europe, London and Paris were the places which I visited few weeks back. Starting from Warsaw on the 11th of July, we flew to London. Our flight was supposed to take off at 10:15 AM but it was delayed by an hour, so we only got on the plane at around 11:00 AM. After a somewhat boring journey, we reached London at 12:45 in the afternoon. London Luton - the airport, was around 80 kilometers from the city, so it took as an hour and a half more to reach the city. After all the chaos and confusion we had, we only reached our home/destination at 5 in the evening! As we (my family and I) were all exhausted, we rested for the night.

We started our London visit by walking to the London Eye which gives a great bird's eye view of the city. As it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in London, we had to wait in line for almost 1 hour. But in the end, it was all worth it. A slow, thirty minute ride on the world's tallest observation wheel. Just after getting down, we had a wonderful 40 minute river cruise covering the Houses of Parliament, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. After leisurely having lunch, we took a bus to Trafalgar Sqaure - another important place in London. This square is a great place to just sit and relax and yes, it does attract a lot of visitors. As there was some sort of program the day we went, there were about 800 people over there! Just beside the square, is the National Gallery where there are paintings from the 12th to 19th centuries. And finally to end the day, we went to the St. Pancras International Railway Station for the heck of it! Actually, we just wanted to make sure where we had to get on to go to Paris...

Next morning, we were walking along the Thames river where we saw the Cleopatra's Needle Monument. It isn't anything huge, but it's worth taking photos with! Here comes the funny part! Thinking that there would be some sort of circus, we went to Picaddily Circus. Actually, even though it is another attraction in London, there is no circus! It's just a name. We walked and walked and walked passing by the China Town in London and the Transport Museum. Finally, we reached Buckhingam Palace where we were waiting to see the change of guard. Surely this must have been important because there were atleast 2000 people. Above all this, it happens everyday! There were few march pasts and some bands playing but it was entertaining. All in all, it was worth the wait! As it was lunch time, we sat down at the Kensington Garden and had our lunch. We then went to the Royal Albert Hall, where many conferences take place. We were not allowed inside but it was a nice view to take photos from the outside. From there, we walked to the Science Museum. I must say that I liked this museum a lot because it was very informative and it was easy for students like me to understand. There was also some fun activities to do for both, kids and adults, so we had a good time there. This museum was huge, so we were very tired and we rested for the day!

Of all the days, this would have been the best. We started off going to Madame Tussaud's - the largest wax museum in the world. Celebrities made of wax included Prince William, the Queen, Beckham, Justin Timberlake, Elvis Presley, Amitabh Bachan, Angela Merkel, Nelson Mandela, Bradd Pitt, Albert Einstein and Tiger Woods. These are only few of the many wax figures in this museum. They are just amazing, I must say! A huge museum as it is, it took us almost half the day. After having lunch, we went to Oxford Street - the busiest street in the world. You can find every shop you can think of over there! Unlike Warsaw, this gave a great feel of the city. It was lively. At night, we took a bus, which had the river view. It was extraordinary. London at night was totally different. The lighting was great! We enjoyed it a lot.

Next morning, we slowly woke up and went to St. Paul's Cathedral. To me, it was just another church but the architecture was beautiful. Thinking of how they constructed this hundreds of years ago is just unimaginable. From there, we took a long bus ride to Lord's Cricket Ground - the Mecca of Cricket. A great stadium it was. We took a guided tour there seeing the dressing rooms, media center, the pitch, and a lot more... It was a tour worth the money, I must say! From there, we went to the Natural History Museum. Beautiful! There are many words to describe this museum but that is what comes first. It is gorgeous from the outside and even better from the inside. There were birds, and animals and dinosaurs and everything you know that lived! They were so very well presented that even a 2-year old baby could understand. It was one of the most informative museums I've ever been to. That evening, we took another bus ride, and returned to our residence.

Our final day in London was very much just relaxing. We took a looooonnng bus ride and went to the Swami Narayan Temple. This is a somewhat big temple. It was worth the travel but I was a bit disappointed in the end since it took quite some time thus denying me the opportunity to visit Wimbledon. That day, we just walked around the city and went back...

Day 7 - Waking up at 4 in the morning, we went to the railway station and took the Eurostar train - bullet train which went through the English Channel. All I can say is that, it was fast, and you couldn't see much. But nevertheless, it was another experience. Arriving at Paris, we felt a big change. We could very noticeably see the difference in the architecture. People looked different. They spoke a different language, well that was obvious!!! One of my dad's colleagues picked us up from the railway station and took us to our hotel. After freshening up, we were recommended to go to the Palace of Versailles. The Court of Versailles was the center of power in Ancient Regime France. Versailles is therefore famous not only as a building, but as a symbol of the system of absolute monarchy that Louis XIV exposed. There was a very beautiful garden and of course, a great palace. Inside, were the rooms of the royal kings and queens. Unlike many other palaces, this one was very posh from the inside. There were a lot of decorations and lot of handicraft. We came back, and rested for the night.

At around 10 in the morning, we went out to see the city for the first time. We bought tickets for a sightseeing tour by the red bus. This bus would take us to all the famous attractions in Paris and we could get in and off wherever we wanted. Our first stop was the Louvre Museum. As this was a main attraction in Paris, we went inside to see the different attractions. There were pottery and paintings from the Greek, Egyptian, Italian, French and German civilizations. There were also a lot of modern paintings. The main attraction was of course, the Mona Lisa. A great painting it was, but to me it was not any better or worse than the other paintings on exhibit. Anyways, it was a great tour and worth the money and time.

On the 19th of July, we took the sightseeing bus and went to the Notre Dame Church - one of the most famous churches in the world. A great structure it was, both from inside and outside. The glass paintings were very beautiful as were the normal paintings. We had a great time there as we enjoyed it a lot. Next, we went to the Music Academy. As we were not very interested in music and didn't have much knowledge of it, we just took photos from the outside. From there, we took a bus to the Arc de Triomphe. I really loved that gate. It looked really good as it was in the middle of the star - 12 roads go through it. From there, we walked down the Champs Elysees where there are all branded shops with the highest prices in Europe as well as the world. Over there I saw some fantastic cars, including the Toyota and Renault formula 1 cars. In the evening, we went to the Eiffel Tower. After waiting in line for almost 2 hours, we could finally go up. There were 3 levels but most of the crowd went to the top and we joined them! Oh, a great view... You can see the whole of Paris from here. Paris was such an organized city. Every building/house was in white or cream color. It was a fantastic experience!

We returned to Warsaw on the evening of 20 July, 2008. A great trip, it was....

Last week was one of the best times in my life. Along with my family, I went to Germany and Switzerland. The optimal part was that all of this was covered by our car. 4000 kilometers exactly - driven entirely by my dad!

Starting from Warsaw, we drove to Berlin and stayed there. There was not much sightseeing done that day as it was a long and tiring drive. The next morning, we went around Berlin, showing some important sights to my relatives, who had joined us from India. Some of the major places we went included the broken church, the TV Tower, Brandenburg Gate and the Parliament/Reichstag.

Next day, we left for Munich, an industrial city. As I had already covered Allianz Arena and the Olympia Tower during my last visit to Munich in April, this time I spent more time in the BMW Welt. We had a much better experience there this time because a lot more exhibits were open. One of the exhibits that attracted me was one which showed the different types of fuels and how much CO2 emissions they emit. I also liked the new vehicle which BMW designed running on Hydrogen. Not only will this reduce the consumption of oil, but also save the environment. As seen last time, the BMW F1 car was also on exhibit.

From Munich, we drove to Switzerland. This was the entrance to heaven on earth. A country full of mountains and greenery; it was the time of my life. As soon as we crossed the border, we headed for Schaffhausen. Here was located the largest waterfall in Europe - the Rhine Falls. Since I've never been to the States and the Niagara Falls, this was a beauty for me. Water thrashing with such force was exhilarating. As we had the chance to go by boat to the closest point to the falls, we were able to see the artistic pattern in which the water flowed. We could see the crystal-clear water with fish flowing underneath it. Very well maintained, i must say (just come to Warsaw and see the Wisła river - then you'll know what i mean!).

After spending time near the waterfall, we headed for Zurich - the business hub of Switzerland. That evening, we went around the places especially a street named Hauptbahnhauf strasse. This was known as the oxford street of Zurich. With all sorts of shops from Tag Heuer to Dunkin' Donuts, a must walk, i must say. You will have an inner feeling of the city from here as it is the center point. The main railway station was also located there. A small city as it is, there was nothing more to see in Zurich. Nevertheless, it was a pleasant and urban town. That night, we had a sumptuous dinner at my relative's place, who lives there.

As my dad's friend told us, Luzern was a city where you could cover a lot of places in a short time. He also said that there was a lot of similarity between Zurich and Luzern. Over there, we walked around the main street, then went to the Glacier Garden. It was a discovery trip through 20 million years. It dynamically showed how the mountains and living creatures evolved. My family and i enjoyed the mirror maze the most. Inside the maze, 3 sides out of 4 are mirrors, so technically, you don't know where to go. Banged and swollen heads were the outcome, but surely, we had a lot of entertainment. At the exit was a very funny mirror trick. There were three mirrors - one making you extremely tall, one extremely fat, and one extremely short! Here is one example of looking fat >>>>>>>>>

During this Spring break, i made my largest trip in Europe traveling about 3000 kilometers. I started off from Warsaw - where i live, and went to Prague, Czech Republic. Since there were not hotels available from April 30, 2008 onwards for about 4 days, we decided to do Vienna first.(meaning that i stayed in Prague only for 1 night for the time being!) The next morning, we drove to Vienna, Austria and stayed there for 2 nights. After that we drove down to Munich, Germany where, well, i stayed for 1 and half days. During the stay in Munich, my family and i drove to Salzburg, Austria and Innsbruck, Austria. From Munich, i came back to Prague and went around the city for 2 days. On Sunday 4, May i returned back to Warsaw... Following this paragraph will be a detailed, err, summary, lets just say, about the trip...

Day 1 - Driving to Prague, Czech Republic

Starting early at six in the morning was a pain in the back but i had no other choice. If we wouldn't leave that early, we wouldn't reach before dark. Even though it's only about, hmm, 600 km (that's a guess:D) from Warsaw to Prague, the roads in Poland are really bad. The worst part is that 85% of the ride is in Poland! We reached Prague at about 4 in the evening, and well.. my first impression of Prague was excellent. At around 5 pm, we went to the Prague Castle, looked around, took some pictures, and went home! Looking at such a well preserved old city looked nice. I was wondering how Czech Republic were able to withstand all the disasters in WWI and WWII but i later found out that they were the least affected - so that proves it! :) We didn't have time to have a look at the city so we were done for the day...

Day 2 - Driving to Vienna, Austria and Sightseeing

The second day wasn't all that bad because i did not have to get up any time before 8 AM which was somewhat satisfying. Ok, so yeah, lets come to the point. As the subtitle reads, we drove down to Vienna which was about... 4 hours.