Team-BHP - A trip to France Swiss alps and Frankfurt(Germany)

This trip was done last month and a lot of effort was put into this trip as this was the first trip out of the country with my wife.
It all started this way, I had booked myself for a bussiness visit to Strasbourg in France in the month of may.
I was to travel alone and the flight booking was done I had to go to Mumbai for my visa and all the formalities were completed and correspondence to the people in Strasbourg was also complete.
5 days before my trip at home the desktop LAN card got spoilt and had to be replaced.The shop suggested was a little interior away from the main road and the street was narrow so I borrowed a bike from my friend and I went to purchase the LAN card.
After purchasing I was trying to handle the parked bike off its side stand and the bike slipped and trying to hold it on got injured.
My finger tendon snapped and I could not close my fingers on to my palm.So the next day I was operated and I was out of action for 5weeks.So all the cancellations had to be done.
I had another opportunity to go to Strasbourg in October and this time I decided to take my wife along as I had done a lot of homework for the previous trip.
I contacted my travel agent and the tickets were booked in June for my October visit.
Time just flew by and lo I was in August getting my papers ready for the next visit.It so happened the France consulate was closed for about 12days as they were shifting the office so could not get the appointment and it was already second week of September but my travel agent was confident that the oppointment will be taken.
I had given up of going to Europe as it was just a week before my departure and Visa is still pending.
I was to travel on 26th and on 20th evening I got a call from my agent that I have got the oppointment on 22nd and I have to rush to Mumbai. So I booked the flight tickets to Mumbai I took the last flight on 21st night landed in Mumbai past midnight.Some pictures of Mumbai and airport

The next day my appointment in the evening and as sceduled, a volley of questioning at the consulate and the Visa was issued.
I had booked only the flight ticket and the Visa appointments with my travel agent.
So from local sightseeing to hotel occomodation and intercountry travel was plannened by me.
Last minute purchasing was done as we had very little time since I got the Visa.All thermal wears and sweaters woolen clothes were purchased.26th morning was our flight and as per programme we were at the airport and the flight was on schedule.

@Gajadonga - I always believe that if something is failed on first attempt, then God has bigger plans that what you think. So this has proved true in your case too.

I always want to visit Germany, but I couldn't do it till date & not sure if I could do it in future. I hope your travelogue will show me around some interesting (and non interesting too) places around Germany. Its truly engineered country, atleast, that's the picture I get going through several travelogues posted here.

Waiting to hear from you more...

Quote:

Originally Posted by aargee (Post 2117262)

Thanks aargee I appreciate your comment.I was a day in Frankfurt so will be posting pictures of Frankfurt city as I had very less time in Germany.
The Bahn roads were very good but some how after seeing our own four laned highways it was not looking that great except for the landscape around.
A lot of hatchback cars.
The number of BMW in our cities were more than I saw them there.

Man, everytime I see photos of Mumbai airport, I want to go abroad. But then everytime I go there, I miss my dear parents and my dear country. Nice photos to start the log. And Abu dhabi seems to be a better transit than Dubai. I felt very terrible in Dubai airport during my transit once.

Waiting for your swiss alps to unfold pal. Roll it on.

And by the way, take care of that finger. I know what it's like with a tendon issue (I had both ligament tear and a tendan roll or something like that on my ankle.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MX6 (Post 2117302)

Thanks MX6.Mumbai airport is lot better and looks neat too.
These kind of injuries are really scary.I was thinking I have finished my career after the injury it took some time for me to get over things and almost back to my normal routine now.
People say life can change in very short time but I have experienced it.

We were on time at Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport.
It was drizzling when we landed.I had thoroughly read about the airport and our exits to the train station to get into the city.
My plan was to take the train from the airport to the city as my hotel was near to the main station Gare de l'Est.
I walked past through the airport to get to my train station and every where there were escalators so that we can roll our luggage on to them and the neccesity of using the trolley and carrying was minimized.
Once I reached the train station I was dissapointed that the train was not there and have to take the bus to the nearest station.
I had a Eurorail pass and was entitled to go to the city with this pass as the train was not plying I had to buy a ticket to go into the city.
As every one spoke french it was difficult for me converse and the moment I went to the ticket counter they gave a slip with print in english regarding how to reach the city.
The only problem we faced was with our luggage as the transit station did not have the escalator and I could see most of them puffing and panting with their luggages through the subway of the station.

As I reached the station Gare du Nord I had to change train to reach Gare de l'Est which was one station ahead.
I took almost 1 week to understand the Paris Metro and see the stations where I am going to interchange trains.These metro are the most fascinating as I could see 3 to 4 lines intersecting and going to different directions from a single station.
We could manage to reach the Gare de l'Est station and according to the program I had to start the next day to Zurich in Swiss from the same station so I had to book a pass for myself for the next day train.
It was pretty difficult to reach the main booking counters which was about three levels from the tube station.After some time at the counter could get book a pass for the next day train at 3pm to Zurich.
We reached the metro station next to our hotel and got out of the train. The maps there are put clearly on every station.
We are on to the street but could not locate the hotel which is just a stone throw distance from the metro station exit.The problem language and my accent of pronouncing the words.One restaurant person knew english and he saved the day.
The check in at the hotel was quite straightforward just took my reservation photocopy and room was given.
Our first priority was freshen up and reach Eiffel tower as I had booked tickets on the internet as I was told that sometimes the booking counters have lot of Que.
After freshening up we had some quick food at the nearby restaurant and took the Tube train to the nearest station of Eiffiel tower.

Our time at the eiffel tower was around 9.30pm.So we were walking around the Seine river for some time and went to our alloted time to get onto the lift.
We traveled to the first level spent sometime and took the lift to the second level.
The wind was pretty chill at that level but could get a good glimpse of the lit city in the night.
By the time we finished our visit to eiffel it was 11.15pm we walked back to the Metro station and back to our hotel and called it a day.