VENICE

Rialto Bridge from the water bus

I went to Vicenza from Milan, for an official meeting। From there I went to Venice which was only abut 40 minutes by train. I had always dreamt of visiting Venice. From the station, I took the water bus to Rialto Bridge. I was very lucky as I had no luggage to carry .... only I had a small bag with official papers for the meeting. So I jumped out of my water boat called 'Vaporetti' and took a picture of the famous Rialto bridge.

Grand Canal View from Rialto Bridge

The sight of Grand Canal from the Rialto bridge is so beautiful. The weather was a little windy and extremely cold. I was finding it hard to stand still... so I kept walking all the time to generate some body heat. I went walking upto my hotel Bonvechiatti which was an awesome hotel. When I checked in, the hotel guy was surprised to see that I had no luggage at all.

Hotel Bonvechiatti - view from my room window

Within 5 minutes I was on the streets again as I had limited time and I wanted to see more of Venice. Venice is a city of canals. There is no noise pollution due to road traffic... so it seemed pretty quiet to me which was great. I went everywhere by water buses. I had heard about THE SQUARE. I checked at my hotel reception and headed towards The Square. It was only 5 minutes walk from my hotel. It was a majestic view.... beautiful sight.

The Square Piazza San Marco

Basilica San Marco

Basilica San Marco

On the way , I came across several small canals which looked quite interesting and to be frank a little scary to me like the one below.

A small canal

The restaurants served a great variety of fishes ... though I am a vegetarian ..but it was interesting to see beautiful decorations in several restaurants.


Below is a typical mask worn during the Great Venice Carnival -


The Gondola ride is a must if you visit Venice. These are small and beautifully decorated boats. There are several stands all over the city from where you can take a gondola ride.

Gondola Stand

Gondolas

Vegetable Market near Rialto

I had only 4-5 hours time to see around the city ... I was running from one corner to the other to see more and more places in the city. Although I couldn't see the islands nearby, but I am quite happy and satisfied with all that I was able to visit in Venice. It is a truly romantic and beautiful city.

View of The Square in the background

Dusseldorf - Altstadt

Dusseldorf is famuos for various types of exhibitions / business fairs. I also happened to visit the city for the same reason. Although my visit was quite a short one due to tight schedule, I still managed to take out time for a stroll at Alstadt. Also there are a number of parks and probably the one that you might wish to visit is the Konigsallee in the centre of the city. Here the two sides of the street are separated by a canal and green spaces on either side.

Dusseldorf is a nice city none the less. If you have to come here for any reason then it is worth taking time out to explore. Especially, a night out in the Altstadt has much to recommend it. So many bars and restaurants to choose . When I visited Alstadt, it was a crowded like mad. People drinking dancing enjoying. It was amazing weather.

Düsseldorf is at its best along the Rhine: from Oberkasseler Rheinwiese opposite the Old Town or the Heerdter Rheinschleife, you can get a particularly nice view of the city silhouette. For a wide view right up to the Ruhr Valley, take a car to the eastern part of Düsseldorf.

TWINKLING EIFFEL TOWER, PARIS

It was my first trip to Paris and I was alone in the taxi from airport to my hotel at about 00:45 night. I was a little scared as well to be true. I did not know that I would come across Eiffel Tower on the way. And suddenly I could see the top tower from between the buildings on the road. It was sparkling with colourful lights. It seemed like a million twinkling colourful stars on the Eiffel. My taxi took a turn and I could not get more than that glimpse. My trip was only for a day so I could not see it again, though I came back in the morning to see Eiffel, but obviously the lighting was not there.

After that first visit, I went to Paris about 3-4 times in 3 years. But only last time did I get the time and opportunity to capture the twinkling Eiffel. I made sure I had enough time to visit Eiffel during the night to capture the twinkling stars in my camera. It was only there for 15 minutes. Everyone was ready with their cameras. So was I. It was a beautiful experience. I wish to be there again soon.