Tower Bridge-London (pic-personal)
Ravi Speaks:
Written on June 18, 2020,
UPDATED ON 05.05.2023
Please note that this article was initially written on June 18, 2020, and has been updated on May 05, 2023. It shares the memorable moments and highlights of my family’s European trip that took place in 2019-20. After I retired on October 31, 2019, my friends suggested that I take my family on a trip to get some rest. Due to my busy work schedule, I hardly spent any time with my family during my last phase of service. I realized that I had been doing too much and giving minimal attention to my home.
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| Hotel Novotel-Paris |
Finally, we all traveled to Lille, France, where our daughter was studying, to start our Europe tour. We even got a separate visa for the UK to celebrate the New Year there before returning home. We started our journey on December 22, 2019, and traveled directly to Paris via Moscow, where we stayed for a few days. The beauty and elegance of the place were exquisite, and it was not as crowded as Delhi or other parts of India.
Our daughter joined us in Paris, and we visited all the popular places, including the Eiffel Tower, where we spent a lot of time. One evening, it started raining heavily while we were at the Tower, but we braved the rain to see the whole show with the glittering light show of the Tower, which is a tourist attraction.
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| In the market in Paris |
The Arc de Triomphe was also one of the most popular tourist attractions in Paris. It was constructed in 1806 to commemorate the triumphal battles of Napoleon Bonaparte. It stood tall at the end of the main market road, giving a pleasing and articulate look to the whole terrain. We walked down the major market and enjoyed the crowd there. We also visited various popular malls and did some shopping.
We traveled to Barcelona by train the next day and stayed there for a few hours before traveling to Madrid by train again the same night. Madrid was a beautiful place with immaculate and innovative structures surrounding the wide and rightful roads. Traffic moved smoothly and silently, and one thing I noticed was the “no-noise” atmosphere. Even if we had to cross the roads, the cars coming from either side would stop suddenly, allowing pedestrians to cross over. This sense is not prevalent in our bigger cities in India, and we have to take risks while crossing the big roads or even the crossings.
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| FAMILY IN THE CHRISTMAS MARKET. |
Madrid is the capital of Spain and was looking to be one of its kind. We went for dinner there in the evening and had some superb non-veg stuff, which our children really liked. We realized we should have planned to stay one more day to see the city area details, particularly the market.
After returning from Madrid, we stayed for the night at Holiday-Inn in Barcelona, which was another beautiful and serene place. We stayed there for a few hours the next day before traveling to Frankfurt via Brussels in the evening. Even the Brussels Railway Station was very advanced and attractive.
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| Railway Station-Madrid. |
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| Hotel ” Holiday-Inn”-Barcelona. |
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| Railway Station-Brussels |
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| Hotel “Holiday-Inn”-in London. |
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| Images were taken during my London stay. |
Frankfurt was the best place, according to all of us. The enormous buildings and the advancements seen inside the malls and hotels were amazing. We went in search of an Indian hotel where Indian food was served and was very popular. The name of the place was “Garam Masala,” and we really liked the ambiance and the food served there. It was the first time in many days that we had Indian food, and it was delicious too. The owner of the restaurant was very friendly and approached every table to ask for feedback on the service and food. We liked his behavior and remained in the restaurant for a couple of hours. The restaurant was full of English people relishing the Indian food.
In conclusion, our Europe trip was a memorable experience for us.
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