Trip to Italy, Lake Garda:
Though, it’s a blog post on my experience, I would like to use the words “we” and “our” as everyone has a share in the joy and lighter moments that we had.
The 2nd time experience of Brussels has been so amazing for me that I feel the sense of excitement on a daily basis..
To increase my enthusiasm even more, arrived the summer and with that arrived our first trip outside Brussels, to Italy.
The plan was charted out well in advance by Nithya and analyzed by Prasanth. I requested myself to Prasanth to be looped in as a late addition for which he obliged. The others in the group include Venkat, Kathar and his wife, Varun and Prasanth. So naanga ezhu peru, engaluku vela ila, athanala than vacation ponom..
So here we go, the plan was to start on April 23 morning and then arrive back to Brussels on April 26 morning.
Lake Garda (Italian: Lago di Garda or Benaco) is the largest lake in Italy. It is located in Northern Italy, about half-way between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age. The lake and its shoreline are divided between the provinces of Verona (to the southeast), Brescia (southwest), and Trentino (north). Being easily accessible from the north via the Brenner Pass, the lake is a major tourist destination, including a number of exclusive hotels and resorts along its shore.
The entire week starting from 18th April, everyone of us waited waited and waited and finally April 22 arrived :-) All of us left the office early to catch up some sleep since the flight was the next day morning at around 6.20 am. But on the contrary, everybody (except Venkat) was busy playing cricket in Prasanth’s backyard. The match ended at around 9 pm with the sun finally swiping out of Brussels’ sky and then we had dinner and slept at around 11 pm.
April 23:
Morning 2.45 everyone woke up and got ready for the cab. We reached Charleroi at around 5 am. We had a quick breakfast and started to board the flight. I was very afraid of flight, and so I sat along with Varun in a non-window seat.
The flight arrived on time at around 7.50 am and we started in a Bus to Bergamo train station. We reached the station at around 8.30 am where we had some light refreshment and also a photo session and then started in train towards Brescia.
We enjoyed ourselves by playing “UNO” game where again Prasanth was the centre of all attractions as usual ;-)
By the time we arrived in Brescia, we realized that the next train was only at around 1.35 and so we decided to take our breakfast and then we boarded a bus.
In the bus:
Since most of the guys were tried some of them slept, but I couldn’t as the lack of sleep the previous day had my tensions inside up and running. After some time due to lack of air, I felt very uneasy.
Before something happened to me, arrived the camping site and the site, I must confess is a wonderful place to take rest.
But we people had other ideas, so after keeping our luggage in the camp, we had lunch in a local restaurant.
We started towards Sirmione and in the bus stop we were playing “Bus game” (athaan pa, intha china pasanga vilayuduvaangaley, 1..2..3…4…BUS) in which the child in me emerged the winner (hehehe)
We reached Sirmione in around 15 mins where we had a castle and the shore of the lake to watch. There was one historic monument which was preserved in the memory of a poet who admired the lake and wrote many poems about it.
The lake is one of the most beautiful and the largest I have ever seen.
The people in Italy talk English with a Tamil slangu (mistake intentional. Hope you have understood what did I meant by English in tamil slang)
We visited all the places. In Nithya, I had one person who is particular about photo shoots and almost all of us joined in the photo shoots that we spent more time in it than the wandering time :-)
While returning, Varun parted to have a thermal bath.
After that, we split in groups to get some basic amenities for the camp like juice, fruits etc.
In the evening, we again joined group to play dum sharads and playing cards. The highlight was everybody pulling other’s legs and the back to form mokkai of me…
For quite some time after my graduation, I have been trying to be very matured and for this one moment, I was back to my college days which made me really happy…:-)
On seeing my form, Nithya and Lavanya became a fan of me or what else should I say ;-)
After a long stint of playing, we dispersed to our respective beds at around midnight.
That night was an eventful night as there was a lot of air and the house was shaking (as it was a assembled one :-)). In between all these, Prasanth took Varun’s blanket and Varun was freezing in cold ;-)
April 24:
Sachin Tendulkar birthday: ada intha instancela we are not worried about that as India has won the WC.
We all started by around 8.30-9 and we took the cycles to wander around and on the way my cycle chain got struck. Cycle mechanic Kathar along with his assistant Venkat mended my cycle for free..( if they are seeing this blog, I am finished ;-)) and kathar even had the kind heart to give his cycle to me and take mine. After a short while of cycling we reached a place where we played Frisbee for around a couple of hours.
After the game, we were engaged in yet another photoshoot after which we started for the swimming pool. Unfortunately I couldn’t join the guys, as I didn’t have swim suit. But the others enjoyed themselves in the freezing water and the chilling wind. ;-)
After that since there was money shortage, I was off to Sirmione in my cycle and others waited at the camping place.
We vegetarians (Venkat and Nithya, Varun, and I) had our lunch in the same local restaurant and then at around 4 pm, we proceeded towards boating.
Since it was a long time I was in water, for the intial 10 mins I was scared to death, as it was a motor boat which was driven by “Narasimma” Katharnath the terror of terrors, but after sometime I went into the relaxed mode and I began singing about Prasanth on request from Nithya. Most of the songs were instant super hits as Kathar, Venkat and Varun joined me for chorus.
I even tried my hand in driving the boat and after some time, was back to doing nothing after giving some pose for the photos ;-)
The super hit song of the boat was “pandianin rajiyathil” song which had everyone in splits esp Nithya, Prasanth and Lavanya.
I never knew I can remake this much number of songs very quickly ;-) After boating we made our way back to the camping.
In the evening around 7, Kathar, Varun, Venkat and Prasanth played TT and I was receiving fielding drills from 2 fielding coaches namely Lavanya and Nithya. We played till 8.45 pm.
After that, Venkat, Varun and I separated for dinner and we had a very memorable dinner at the same restaurant.
Coming back to the camp, we saw people sleeping and so we brought them back to life by cracking jokes and playing dum sharads.
After a while, we played “UNO” and signed off for the day at around 11.45 as the target the next day was to catch the 8.20 bus.
April 25:
THE UNUSUALLY SUPERB EXPERIENCE
It’s my best friend Mr.Sayiraman’s birthday.. Yes you guessed it right, it’s my dad’s birthday and I have been trying hard to reach him in the morning.
In the meanwhile, everyone got ready and we checked out the camping site after howling, shouting, and pulling Kathar’s legs making him to chase us with a hot rod in his hand ;-)
We realized that we missed the bus but still proceeded towards the bus stop so that we can catch the next bus at around 9.20. We were seated on the earth like Villagers as the bus was taking its own sweet time to reach the stop.
At around 10 am the bus finally arrived and we started our journey to Pescheria which is en route to Malcesine the place where Varun and Venkat were supposed to do Para Gliding.
After getting down at Pescheria to catch the ferry we came to know that there was no ferry at that time (10am) the last ferry went around 1 hour before. So, we continued our long bus journey and in the next 2 and a half hours we reached Malcesine. After Katharnath, Nithya and Venkat encouraged me for the para gliding, I reluctantly said ‘ok’ .
We 3 of us set out to the top of the Alps through a cable car, the journey in the cable car itself was frightening because of the height. After some 20 mins we reached the top of alps.
From there, we walked around 5 mins to reach one more top spot… On the way I saw a café shop which was named as “OMKafe”, I thought this owner must be a Muruga bhatan ;-)
Once I saw the ice caps near me and the snow deposits, I got very happy and excited and I was more interested in jumping… I even started to give poses for photos.. so the fear factor turned into an excitement factor.
The glider tied me to a parachute and before he could tell anything we both were carried away backwards becos of heavy wind, in which I had a sprain in my right leg.
Venkat also had a fall in the mean while ;-)
He checked with me whether I was ok and then he gave me the instructions prior to the flight. It was simple: “Run till I tell you to stop and when I tell stop, you sit”
In the mean while, Venkat started his flight and so as Varun.
So at around 3.10 pm we started, I ran 2 steps and off came a strong wind and then we are up above the mountain in a flash…. Wow what a feeling it was…. The simulation was such that I had a feeling that I was flying alone in the sky.
Varun and I were shouting in the skies in happiness. After around 10-15 mins, we were flying right above the middle of the lake garda and I must truly tell you that I don’t have any words to pen down the beauty of the lake as well as the feeling of para gliding.
After a total flight of ½ an hour or so, we reached the land safely and securely. I was thanking Nithya and Venkat for sending me in it…
Around 4 pm, we had our lunch and after that at around 5, we bought some souvenirs as a memory of the lake.
In the mean while, I wished my dad on his birthday.
We waited in the bus stop for a long time and then came a bus which went to Desenzano.
We boarded into it and to our surprise we found that it was free of cost. “Rombha Nallavan”nu drivera sollitu, we went to our seats. The bus was empty.
So, after sometime, to make the atmosphere light, I started to pull everybody’s legs… The bus was very quiet and I was not comfortable. After sometime, a student gang got into the bus and the atmosphere became noisy.
Kathar and I were imitating their language trying to form our own blaw blaw blabbering language and the kantha shashti kavasam song and the general tamil songs to which the students danced.
We were supposed to land in Desensano, but because of the huge traffic we got down in Pescheria railway station and had our dinner there.
At 9.57, we boarded the train to Milan Central. In the train again we were engaged in playing “UNO”.
After reaching Milan at 11.35, we realized that the train to Bergamo is at 11.40 and hence we put in our best to catch the train and we caught it as well.
In the train, again the time pass was “UNO” along with laughing simply for no matters which is my favorite hobby ;-)
At around 12.45 we reached Bergamo and around 1.30 we slept.
April 26: Signing off from Italy L
The next day morning we were supposed to catch the flight at around 8.20 am and my blade campaign still continued as I doubted a shop name “La Marianna” to “La Mariamma” ;-) and not to forgot the blade story I was narrating to Nithya and Varun.
Someone, please tell me how in this world to be serious in personal life ;-)
So, we were slowly getting into our flights and I had a heavy feeling that this weekend passed by very very quickly. I wished we had been together for another 7 days….
Flight fear slowly disappeared for me may be temporarily and slowly at around 11 am we reached Brussels Noord and I entered office half sleeping :-)
If we as a family or a bachelor live in Chennai, I am sure this much big gang of people getting together by themselves will be for any good occasions like marriage only, but here we almost get together on a daily basis, we fight, we hug, we pull each other’s legs but despite that we stay united as a FAMILY even though no one is related and that brings the experience all the more exciting.
From a personal point of view, I had a chance to mingle with people whom I have interacted with very less till date.
Also these type of get togetherness makes us forget any bitter things in the past that we had and look forward to the bright future.
Overall, it was a very thrilling, exciting and marvelous experience for my first trip outside Belgium.
Hoping to go more in future.
Till then its good bye.
Cheers
