Travelogue 2008

Reaching the end of yet another year. Yup eventful it has been.

Easter saw me go for my first solo holiday to Cornwall. Stayed 1.5miles away from the town of Tintagel – scenic walk in the day and extremely spooky the one time I walked it after nightfall. The journey to Tintagel was a long (unnecessarily in hindsight) one by train and some bus changes, which added to that whole spirit of adventure bit. Did a considerable amount of walking around, on cliff tops (which is what one is to do in Cornwall!!), saw the rocky slopes, visited the historic castle, lazed around reading a book and taking self pictures with the mobile phone. Warmed up to the idea of clambering over farm fences for hitchhiking to reach the fairy waterfall despite the thumping heart everytime I spotted cattle. And lots and lots of Cornish cream teas!
Yorkshire was the destination for another bank holiday weekend. Stayed in Pickering, saw the Pickering castle…which was quite a hoot. The moors weren’t exactly what I would have hoped, since there was none of the mysterious purple heather covered plains, but bright sunshine. Sigh. But the BnB was delightful with the self-help bar and so were the town and the steam train ride.
Home to Hyderabad in July. Not very relaxing considering the numerous trips to eye doctor, homeopathic doctors, tailor, etc etc, but its just so good to be home and just vegetate around the house and being part of the regular routine. A two day trip to delhi turned out the way I needed it to – meeting people, eating dilli chaat and khana.
Edinburgh came next with a very memorable train journey (both ways!) crouching on the floor with another 15 people due to overcrowding. Fried sausages and fried mars bars were delicious, no matter what the calorie count was. A place called Revolution served the most innovative vodka shot flavors – was tempted to go there for breakfast. Of course saw the castle here and the museum. Oh the scotch whiskey experience was insightful.
An official trip to Barcelona helped me get my visa in place in September! This time I ensured I went to the beach and spent a lot of time exploring quaint shops. Not that there was much business that came out of the trip.
Did the Sea2Sea08 as well in October – can’t say I completed it successfully as I skipped the second day! It was fun again, some of the old gang was there, the views were spectacular but the excruciating exertion was there again, and the lack of novelty didn’t help! Nope, Im not doing it again. Maybe some other wild sport instead next year.
The visa being issued from German embassy helped me decide my destination for the year’s European holiday. Credit crunch be damned! Cologne, Heidelberg and Munich was decided with great difficulty to spend the 9 days in. Sausages and beer. Struggle for the journey from the airport, wild hunt for the hotel, Chocolate museum, Dom, high street shopping in Cologne, and the pan fried potatoes. Heidelberg was simply such a lovely town- Walnut brandy locally produced, the views from the castle, the walking tour- rare old books, marks on the wall, Austrian food and an excellently located hotel. Scenic train journey to Konstanz, glimpses of the gorgeous Black Forest, revolving Lady Imperia, beautiful facades to the shops and houses in the town, melted bitter hot chocolate. Munich brought more interesting beer varieties, a lousy beer walking tour, Dachau concentration camp memorial, a lively Viktualikenmarkt with the yummy sausages, meat shops handing put free samples, the much required body warming spiked orange punch, finally some shopping and souvenirs, eye-popping valuables at the Residenz, Deutsches Museum, croissant breakfasts. A very satisfying holiday indeed.
I guess with all that’s happening around – my shifting to a new apartment, purse strings tightening, there wont be any more holidays this year. Though the thought of checking myself into a spa for xmas/new year is so tempting.