Venice

Rose and Marco had arranged their regular cab driver, a friendly Italian lady (who arrived in a Mercedez-Benz !) to drop us to Milan railway station on the 1st October. The drive from Monza to the station took only about half an hour and soon we were on our way to Venice. The train ride, as usual in most European rail journeys, was very comfortable and just before we were about to reach Venice station, I discovered that our hotel was not really in Venice, but on the mainland, in Marghera, a few kilometres away. We quickly disembarked and after a bit of confusion, found our Hotel, the City of Art Venice Lloyd, though it was bang next door to the station. Maximilian, the receptionist on duty, was a very friendly fellow and soon gave us the low-down on how to get to Venice.

The hotel in Marghera (Venice)

We soon caught a bus and within 20 minutes or so, were in Venice! We spent most of the afternoon wandering around this amazing city, and wound up the day with a gondola ride. As it was quite expensive, (80 Euros), we managed to rope in two elderly Australian ladies to share the gondola with us. A gondola ride in Venice was one of Simmy's lifelong ambitions, and finally, on 1st October 2013, that desire was fulfilled! We caught a bus back to Marghera late in the evening, and after a frugal dinner of rice ( by now I was getting rather sick of pizzas and pastas) in a nearby joint run by Chinese immigrants, retired for the night.

Along the Grand Canal in Venice

An elated Simmy in the gondola

A romantic gondola ride

On a bridge across one of the numerous canals

The gondolier Fernando tries to sing for us 

The next day, 2nd October, was spent mostly visiting the two well-known islands Murano and Burano by boat. Murano is renowned for its exquisite glass-making industry (frightfully expensive though), while Burano specialises in lace-making. It was a really educative experience for us and we got to see both glass-blowing as well as lace-making. We returned to our hotel late in the evening and packed up for our trip to Florence the next morning.

Glass-making in Murano

A canal-cum-street in Burano

The colourful, picturesque houses in Burano

Milan

On board the train to Milan

Our next port-of-call was Milan, across the Alps, in neighbouring Italy. We left Geneva's Cornavin station on the morning of the 26th September 2013. For a long time the train travelled along the banks of Lake Geneva, past beautiful, picturesque places like Lausanne, Montreux, Sion, Brig , etc. and across the Simplon tunnel. We were going across the Alps, and I felt like Hannibal, but minus the elephants!  

Along picturesque Lake Geneva

We arrived in Milan late in the evening, and there was a bit of confusion for some time, because Rose, Simmy's first cousin who was to pick us up, was not to be seen! Soon however, she did arrive and we caught a local train to Monza, where she lives. We arrived on a good day, because the 26th September happened to be her husband Marco's birthday. We had a grand celebration, with good home-cooked Italian food, a cake and of course the mandatory wine! After our protracted wanderings across Europe, it was good to be with family again! The occasion was all the more exciting because Annie auntie, Rose's mother, had come all the way from New York (where she lives) to meet us, having advanced her annual visit to Monza to coincide with our arrival.

    

Celebrating Marco's birthday

We spent the next 4 days in Milan/Monza, with Rose and her family who went out of their way to look after us, despite heavy work schedules. The children Kiran and Anna too were very sweet and did all they could to make us feel at home. Rose took us to see the famous Milan Cathedral, the lesser known cathedral in Monza, and the Piazza Victor Emmanuele, said to be the world's first mall, which was indeed a huge and fascinating place. To top it all, she also took us to see Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper  at   Santa Maria delle Grazie. We also ate out a great deal, enjoying various types of Italian wines in the process. And one day, their maid Santa, even made a huge Italian meal specially for us. It was delicious.

Waiting for our train to Venice at the cavernous Milan railway station

Geneva

We left Lourdes early in the morning on the 22^nd September 2013. It was a long train ride to Geneva , via Toulose Matabiau and Lyon Part Dieu, reaching Geneva around 6.30 pm.

The Cornavin station at Geneva (and the surrounding areas, also known as Cornavin) is an enormous place and is the nerve centre of Geneva. We took a taxi from the station and straight away went to our hotel, the Stars Geneve Aeroport , which was technically, across the border, in France. The friendly cab-driver who was at first slightly confused about the location of the hotel, finally found it, and even agreed to take our Euros, though the currency in Geneva is the Swiss Franc.

Surveying the boats (many are on sale) on Lake Geneva

Over the next four days, we were constantly in and out of Cornavin, taking a bus from the hotel, crossing the border check-post (no formalities whatsoever) and gliding into Geneva. The Rue Mont Blanc from Cornavin soon became our daily route, leading straight to Lake Geneva, offering a distant view of the famous peak of the same name. Invariably it so happened that each time we caught a bus, it would be driven by one particularly friendly Moroccan driver, who would cheerily wave to us, talk to us and once even gave us a free ride from Cornavin to the hotel, when we had run out of Swiss Francs!

Geneva is truly a beautiful place, and of course, Lake Geneva is the pivot around which everything in the city moves. In many ways it was fortunate that our hotel was in France, though at first I was quite unhappy, and even tried to have it changed. However the booking had already been done much earlier over the internet and it was not possible to change it later. As things turned out, our hotel in the village of Ferney-Voltaire, just across the border in France, was much much cheaper than any similar accommodation in Geneva proper. Also, the staff were very cordial (mostly from Lebanon and other parts of the Middle East), the room very comfortable, and the breakfast, substantial.  

View from our hotel room

The Flower Clock near the Lake 

The Jet d'Au from our boat

The 'Broken Chair' outside the UN office

Ace driver Simmy Vallikappen with her BMW

Where Lake Geneva becomes the Rhone River

While in Geneva we went for a boat ride, walked along the lake, ate and drank out a lot, took in the sights of Geneva, including the famous ‘Broken Chair’ outside the UN offices, and even shopped a bit, though Geneva is probably one of the most expensive cities in Europe. Our shopping however, was mostly restricted to trinkets and a few clothes for the children and Nevan (our grandson).  We both fell in love with Geneva, undoubtedly one of Europe's cleanest and most beautiful cities.

      

Lourdes

After spending ten days in Paris and enjoying Jojo's warm hospitality, we left for Lourdes on the 20th September. We travelled by the TGV and the journey right across the French countryside, from the north to the southern border near Spain, took less than 6 hours. We left Paris Montparnasse station at 11.28 am and were in Lourdes by 5.20 pm. We took a taxi from the station and checked into our hotel, which we had booked much earlier, through the internet. The Premier Classe Lourdes was a low-budget, wallet-friendly place and though the room was tiny, it was very comfortable. After resting for a little while we walked down to the  sanctuary where we attended the candle-light rosary. It was very beautiful and the rosary was said in several languages, in keeping with the composition of the devotees, who hailed from every country under the sun. Then, we walked back to the hotel, after a biriyani dinner at a small restaurant run by a Sri Lankan family!

Our hotel room in Lourdes

 

Some wine on board the TGV to Lourdes

The next day we started off early, immediately after breakfast, and left for the Sanctuary. While most of Lourdes is very commercial, the Sanctuary itself has a very spiritual air and is very beautiful. The hundreds of volunteers who man the systems there, make the whole visit very satisfying and rewarding. There are no hassles, and though there may be long queues at some places, everything is well organised and one does not mind the wait.

Both of us were keen on the baths and managed to bathe in the miraculous spring, though we had to wait for a long time in queue. When my turn came to bathe, I felt such a surge of undefinable emotions within me that I broke down, much to my own surprise. I like to think of it as a mystical experience, much like what I had some years back, when Simmy and I were trekking in Ladakh, at a little village called Yangthang. I do not consider myself a very spiritual person. However, there have been moments in my life when I experience certain feelings which are hard to define and sob uncontrollably (weird?) . To me therefore, both Lourdes and Yangthang are equally holy places!

The Grotto at Lourdes

Lourdes itself is such a pretty place, set against the backdrop of the picturesque Pyreenes. I felt sorry that we had allotted only two days for the place. Perhaps we should have spent one more day there...

The Sanctuary in Lourdes