Good Mobile App to learn Spanish (and many others)

Last few weeks I have been teaching my cousin English over phone. He could speak Hindi but has problem converting sentences in English. I believe it is tough to learn another language. The main problem is that one first thinks in Hindi and then translate in English. But as a kid, we always think and speak in a particular language. That's why I realized it takes a bit of time to speak and, hence, lots of practice is needed to learn the second language.

To realize this change and challenge myself (perhaps recharge my brain power), I decided to learn a new language (along with continue my efforts to teach English to my cousin). I wanted to learn Spanish, so started looking for mobile apps as I can then learn it at my disposal. After trying lots of different apps, I found Duolingo application very useful. Starts from Basic level and then logically moves to advanced ones. After completing couple of levels, I immediately realized the pain that I first think of any sentence in English and then translate it to Spanish. Guess, lots of reading and practice is needed to come to a level where I think in Spanish. Speaking will naturally follow then.

EuroTrip - 14 days Trip to Switzerland, Italy and Austria (Part 2)

Part 1
Part 3

This post covers 5 days trip itinerary to Italy that includes 2 days in Rome, 1 day in Florence and 2 days in Venice.

Recommendations/Tips

1. Follow Rick Steves Guide for monuments visit in Italy. They are good and free to download
2. Buy entry tickets online to avoid queuing in the lines
3. Stay close to Pantheon area in Rome to enjoy  wonderful street lane experience
4. While booking a hotel in Venice, see if you could get a room facing a canal. You will get a good experience of Gondolas passing by
5. When you (as a couple) take a Gondola, prefer sharing it with 2 more people; otherwise it is difficult to take pictures of yours as a couple
6. Have Gelato ice cream every day :-)

We had earlier planned to stay in Rome for 3 days and rest in Venice. But many of my friends told me later to not miss Florence, so I shortened Rome by one day and gave half day to Florence. We used AirBnB and chose a place close to Termini station. Owner of the house was an old Italian lady and she made sure that our stay was as comfortable as it could be. On the first day we visited a lot of places because of our shortened trip. We followed Colosseum > Palantine Hill > Roma Forum > Venezia Palace > Piazza Navona > Pantheon > Trevi Fountain > Spanish Steps > Colosseum (in Night).  You could avoid Palantine Hill and Spanish Steps if you are in a hurry. All others are just masterpieces which cannot be avoided at all.

EuroTrip - 14 days Trip to Switzerland, Italy and Austria (Part 1)

Part 2
Part 3

The Eurotrip has ended and, gosh, what a splendid trip it was. 14 days trip to the serene natural beauty, magnificent historical architectures, lakes and monuments that you attach with your childhood memories passed so quickly that two weeks of vacation felt less. We visited Switzerland, Italy and Austria on our debut Europe tour. Choosing countries/cities in Europe is always difficult and the foremost thought behind our planning was to have a mix of few things. So we started off with a visit to Switzerland to see the natural snow-capped mountains, followed by visiting architectural monuments in Italy and, finally, ending the trip with visiting the musical cities in Austria. In all, I was very happy with my planning as we found that just doing one thing, such as visiting monuments, churches, etc, would become utterly boring. After seeing so many beautiful churches in Italy, I doubt if I can go and see another beautiful church which is just across the street in Paris. So, in that way we never got bored and always looked forward to what the next city has to offer.

Planning was done entirely by us which took a bit of time, lot of reading, however, it was a great experience as I read a lot about what to visit and not visit and filter out unimportant things. We visited Interlaken, Jungfraujoch (Switzerland), Rome, Florence and Venice (Italy) and Vienna, Salzburg (Austria). Wonderful experience it was. I’m helping out with our itinerary (click Read More below) and places to visit, our experience, fares to visit monuments and few tips that may help you with your planning.