2010!! Phew!! What an year, as far as travel is concerned.
When I started this blog, the caption for the title "Road to Destiny" was "tours and trips around Bangalore" . The year 2009 broke the barrier and I made my first north India trip for 10 days. I, then updated the caption as "tours and trips in India". Then the year 2010 came in and took me even farther, across the country; I visited France and Denmark. So now the caption is just "blog about my tours and trips".
It all started with a wonderful wildlife experience when I did a Tiger census for three days in Rajiv Gandhi national park in Jan 2010 ; then a 10 days travel to Paris and Copenhagen(Denmark) in June; 11 days trip to North India in Aug; a couple of days trip to Goa in Sep; and few drives to the places like BR hills, K.Gudi, NagarahoLe,Yalagiri hills, Ranganathittu, Lepakshi and Nandi hills.
This post highlights, few of the memorable places that I visited, of course through photographs!
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| One of the sunsets in Nagarahole, while I went for Tiger Census, during Jan 2010 which setup my 2010 for an eventful journey |
Paris and Copenhagen (Denmark)
It was a memorable moment indeed when I stepped out of the flight in Paris; I never thought that France would be the first country to be visited outside India! I then flew to Denmark for 6-7 days where my friends stayed. It all started with a gtalk chat when I was chatting with one of my friends who was onsite working in Denmark; The entire trip was planned in just a couple of days and I was all set to experience my first international trip (with my own money). I visited Paris for a couple of days. It was a beautiful summer season in Paris. The longer days gave me enough time to explore as many places as possible. It was also a day when French Open's final was played at Roland Garros stadium. We sat in an open air theater to watch Nadal win in that finale. Apart from the hassles with vegetarian food I really enjoyed my stay at Paris.
Denmark on the other side, was raining, and it was a bit cooler compared to Paris. The life in Copenhagen seemed very slow but soothing. I rented a bicycle for a couple of days. Riding on the bicycle and exploring few places around was a good experience. These are few of my favorites photographs from that memorable trip.
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| 1. With the breeze on the banks of the river Seine, it was an amazing view of The Eiffel Tower from a brigde |
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| Versailles Palace, Paris |
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| 2. Versailles Palace, Paris |
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| 3. It was a great experience exploring the historical Louvre Museum, Paris |
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| 4. People pray at Notre Dam church, Paris |
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| (4.a) Notre Dam Church, Interior view |
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| 5. Nyhavn, the 17th century waterfront - Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| 6. A bicycler heading to work in Copenhagen, Denmark |
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| 6.a Another bicycler heading back to home in the evening, Copenhagen Denmark |
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| 7. City Center of Copenhagen, Denmark; people hang out here in the evening and enjoy the shows from street performers |
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| 8. Copenhagen city has close to 40% of people using the bicycle as their transport; Almost every house has a bicycle |
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9. A church in Copenhagen, Denmark
North India trip - Aug 2010
We planned for Leh; there were floods ripping villages apart around Leh. We planned for Valley of Flowers; there were cloud bursts ripping the roads apart. We stopped planning but still headed towards Delhi thinking some plan might come up. 4-6 hours of discussion and planning sitting outside Indira Gandhi Airport, Delhi finally yielded some plan. Through this discussion we thought about all the options, like Rajasthan, Shimla, Sikkim, relief work in Leh(!!!!) etc etc. Finally the only thing worked out was a trip to Manali. After we reached Manali we planned for a trip along Tibetian border, from Manali to Shimla; covered Lahul and Spiti valley visiting lot of monasteries and enjoying the delicious Tibetian dishes. We went to places like Manali, Chandratal lake, Spiti Valley, Nako, Tabo, Kalpa, Shimla and Chandigarh.
In spite of every obstacles and the threats of weather, we headed for this trip and it turned out to be the one to be remembered for a longer time! Kudos to the group! |
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10. A day spent at Manali with my gang; It rained heavily during the time we visited the place. God's grace, whenever we were out it didn't rain
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| 11. Prathima, jumps with joy at Chandratal Lake near Manali; The lake looks amazing in the middle of few dried up and few snow covered mountains; the place was serene! |
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| 12. Landscape at Lahul and Spiti valley; there are some oldest villages in these areas. |
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| 13. This is me standing on a rock at Langcha peak; Lahul and Spit valley is really worth the travel! |
