EuroTrip - 14 days Trip to Switzerland, Italy and Austria (Part 3)

Part 1
Part 2

So finally got the time to write about the third leg of our Eurotrip - first being Switzerland and second Italy. Our last 4 days were spent in musical cities of Austria - Vienna and Salzburg. Here are my recommendations and tips -

Recommendation/Tips

1. Use Rick Steves audio guide to tour Vienna. They are good
2. Most of the things to see in Vienna is around St Stephens Cathedral, so you may want to look out hotel for rent closer to this area
3. There are lots of people (dressed properly) outside the Opera House selling tickets. Do not get tricked into their sweet talks as they sell for more and gives you seat which may not be good to view the stage
4. You should have legendary Sacher tart at Sacher Cafe near Opera House, Vienna
5. In Salzburg - go to Wolfgangsee lake (via bus) and hire an electric boat. You can then visit the entire lake on your own. Shop closes before 6pm
6. Ride a bicycle in Salzburg to visit places like Hellbrunn palace and the fort. You will enjoy the ride

Click on Read More link below

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.

Places/Countries Visited in the World

One of my criteria to come to Singapore for my higher studies was travel. Travel across the world. And the below figure shows the current status. These are the countries where I have gone on holidays. There are more countries that I have visited like Vietnam, Malaysia etc but only for business. So, I have not marked those.

1. The best has been Capetown so far, but diving in Cairns is not behind at all.
2. South America, Europe and South Africa (other than South Africa) are largely untouched. Even US for that matter.
3. There are just so many countries/continents left :-(

Getting Schengen Visa In Singapore

Europe is our next destination in summers and since we are Indians, we have to apply visas for every other country in the world we want to visit. Damn Singaporeans who can visit so many awesome places without any visa.:-(

Anyways we have decided to go to following three countries in Europe - Switzerland, Austria and Italy. So the Schengen visa makes sense. Now the trouble is which embassy should you approach if you want to get a visa? So, I did my research and following is the result, which I feel is useful to share.

1. You need to apply to that embassy where you are staying the most number of nights. So, if it is Italy, you need to go and take appointment with Italian Embassy.

2. Visa is strictly by appointment and imagine this - I looked into Italian embassy for appointment on April 16th for my travel on 7th June and they dont have any dates available till 10th June. So, you need to keep track of this and take appointment early. And Italy and Switzerland being more famous tourist attractions than Austria, the dates are taken up fast.

What Places To Avoid In Singapore?

I'm writing this post to help tourists to avoid couple of destinations in Singapore during their visit on SUNDAY. This is my personal belief and I speak about them mostly because of congestion and traffic issues on Sundays.

1. Orchard Road on Sunday - I go to gym on Saturday at one of the joints at Orchard. Because of some reason, I could not visit on Saturday one week and instead decided to go on Sunday. And to my surprise, orchard's main area on Sunday is occupied by domestic workers (maids). As Singapore government has granted compulsory day off for maids, which is good for them, looks like most of them spend time in Orchard. So, our dear orchard appears more crowded than usual days (at least around Paragon, Lucky Plaza areas). Furthermore, construction has been going on for some time, that creates more traffic.

2. Mustafa and Race Course Road on Sunday - You will be surprised to believe that you are in Singapore if you happen to be there around Mustafa especially during evening on Sundays. It is very much crowded and it will be good if you would like to do your shopping in Mustafa on any other day than Sunday. Simply avoid.