Well Well Well. Here we have arrived at the last day of my Europe tour and for those who have been following my journey, I explored Amsterdam on the first day, Brussels on the second, Paris on the third, back to Amsterdam on the fourth and today as the last and fifth day of my travel, I am heading back to my motherlands, Mumbai, from there, I will catch a flight to Nagpur and then head to my small town Patansaongi by hailing an auto rickshaw. It takes longer for me to reach home from India itself than traveling from US to India.
So, today was a busy day. The first thing I did was to pack the rest of my stuff and head to Amsterdam Centraal. From there, I headed to the Schipol airport where I had put a couple of big bags in the storage units. It was time to look at how much rent I had racked up for those two bags. I was expecting the charge would come somewhere around €50 but when saw they were charging me €65, I was like seriously? Everything automated and no one to answer your questions, I had to cough up the amount to get my bags.
The moment I got my bags, the next task at hand was to make sure they don’t cross 50 lb (23kg) each as it was the luggage limit for my international travel. My luggage weighing scale came in handy while doing this and I was ready to check-in within a few minutes. Mind you, I hadn’t had anything to eat until the check-in was done. The moment I put my bags on the weighing scale, it beeped and turned red, indicating that it was overweight. If there would have been a human at the counter, they would have let it go, but as it was a machine, it didn’t let me check-in even though my bag was 0.2 lb heavier. Anyway, I spent a good 10 minutes to reduce the weight a little bit and then finally completed the check-in process.
After the check-in, I fed myself with some sandwich and coffee. After tasting that hot black coffee, I felt so refreshing, just the kick I needed after this morning’s busy schedule. It was time to relax and explore the Duty Free section of the airport. My soon-to-be brother-in-law Saurabh had requested me to bring a bottle of Jägermeister, which I did. I bought a couple more items before heading to the boarding gate.
It was going to be a quick flight, but seemed long for me as I had left USA for almost a week now and the feeling of missing home and family hit me yesterday. So, I can’t wait to get home and enjoy the next three weeks of my life with them. Ciao!
Welcome to the twenty seventh week of running for the year 2022.
As you must have guessed, I am still in India and I got engaged last week, but, this this week was even bigger. I got married to the love of my life and what seemed like an unforgettable day to me. It was filled with emotions, love, care, and beauty all around. This one if for the book and would love to tell you more about this, but, not yet. Just remember, I didn’t run a single mile and my mileage remains the same this week too.
Welcome to the twenty sixth week of running for the year 2022.
I am still in India and this week is one of the biggest weeks for me personally. I got engaged on the last day of the week and I couldn’t be happier to have been called someone’s fiancé until I marry her. Safe to say, I didn’t run a single mile and my mileage remains the same this week too.
Welcome to the penultimate day of my Europe tour. This day was filled with travel and exploring parts of Amsterdam that I couldn’t during my first visit to the city.
The day started off with me traveling from Paris to Amsterdam. As you might have guessed it, I used BlaBlaCar to get from Paris to Amsterdam and it was the hilarious exchange between yours truly and the driver of the car that it still gives me a chuckle remembering it. So, when I searched for people driving from Paris to Amsterdam that morning, I chose someone with the cheapest price and they told me to get to a spot where I will be picked up. Now, the person that I was talking to was a lady and the driver of the car was a guy, so I thought of the situation as a little phishy, but as I was traveling during the morning-noon hours, it gave me enough courage to try it out. The lady told me the person who is going to pick me up has a big ponytail in French, which I thought was a funny way to describe someone. When I looked at the person, I chuckled a little as he really had a long ponytail. Anyway, after this, the journey was quite straightforward. We stopped at a rest area for a quick food and bathroom break and I spent 50 cents just to use the restroom. I requested them to drop me at Eindhoven Centraal Station as they were heading different route than Amsterdam Centraal. I saw how massive Eindhoven station was and spent a few minutes exploring before heading to Amsterdam.
Like last time, I booked The Flying Pig hostel. The only difference was that I stayed in a room with 4 beds and now I was going to stay in a room with 6 beds, so, it was relatively cheaper. After checking in, it was time to explore some nearby gift shops to see what to buy for my friends and family back in India and I couldn’t find a lot of appropriate gifts, so settled for some keychains and magnets.
After doing some window shopping, I had one last spot on my list and that was to visit a restaurant called Moeders. This place is famous for having pictures of mothers from across the world. I thought of putting a picture of my mom there too, unfortunately, it was heavily packed and I couldn’t get a seat, so, I had to return given the wait time was more than an hour.
Once I got back from Moeders, I relaxed for some time and took a quick nap. By the time I woke up, there were a couple last few spots on my list that one should definitely visit when they are in Amsterdam. These spots are quite taboo to talk about around your family, so here it goes.
The first spot was Red Light Secrets Museum. I figured I should visit this place before heading to the Red Light District. Glad, I was staying near the Downtown area, which allowed me to walk less and get to these spots quicker. This was my last evening in Amsterdam, so I just wanted to relax and take the day in. The crowd at the museum was more than I expected and there was a line for you to get in. They were charging a ticket price, so I opted out from actually entering the premises and just took a couple pictures from the outside.
The next spot was Condomerie. When I was doing my research, this place stood out as it was highly unusual and interesting place to visit. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow me to click pictures inside but I was fascinated by the variety of condoms and what not. This was certainly the most unique place that I had been to throughout my Europe trip.
And that brings us to the last stop of my Europe trip Red Light District. Everyone that you talk to who visited Amsterdam will definitely say that you should visit the Red Light District and I am the same. I would highly recommend visiting this place, just to see how liberal the people are and how prostitution is treated as a business or a normal job here. I was fascinated by the casual approach of all the ladies in the Red Light District. I am not going to lie, I did feel like going on, but, looking at those ladies and how tall they were and their attractive physique, I didn’t really feel that I was going to go through it. For the first time in my life, I was actually a little scared at the thought of sleeping with someone, gosh, I know its funny, but, that’s how I felt. I called my best friend from there and told her how I was feeling and we had a good laugh about it. Man, it was an interesting way to end my Europe tour.
It was a perfect way to end the evening. I was tired with the 6 hour car ride and exploring everything on foot, so I had to call it a night and get ready to head home as I had a flight to catch to my motherland – India.
Welcome to the twenty fifth week of running for the year 2022.
As I told last week, this week, I am in India and will be here for the next 3 weeks too. As the life goes in India, I didn’t go out for a run this week and hence my mileage for the year stays the same. I am enjoying my time so far in India, especially because of my soon-to-be fiancé. I can handle these high temperatures only because of her.
Welcome to the twenty fourth week of running for the year 2022.
I am sad to disappoint you this week. From my running point of view, I got out to run only once throughout the week. While that dampens my mood, I have so many things to look forward to. I am heading India next week to meet my family one more time and getting engaged to the love of my life, the person whom I loved the moment I saw her. It is going to be crazy four weeks with, I am sure, no running, so, I should have gotten more miles under my belt, but, nevertheless, Apple is keeping me busy these days.
For this run, I went out early in the morning to make sure I come back in time for my 10AM EST meeting. The run was uneventful. I chose the condo complex as my running route, revitalizing myself for a busy week ahead. During the run, I was thinking only about work and how I need to step up and deliver some of the important stuff that I am working on. Anyway, I hate to end the post like this, let’s hope happy days are ahead for me.
Welcome to the part 2 of my Paris, France exploration. I visited Notre-Dame de Paris, The River Seine, and Musée du Louvre in the first part, which I loved, so, let’s see how the second part turns out.
After a rather disappointing visit to the Louvre museum, it was time to visit a place that I had seen only in pictures and movies – Pont Des Arts, we will call it the bridge with the locks. Before visiting this place, I didn’t do research on this place, because, I thought, it originated from one person putting a lock their with their and their partner’s names/initials, and then the trend picking up and spreading it with the other couples doing the same. I am a romantic person, but, not that much that I encourage putting up the locks on a bridge, causing it to oscillate up and down every time you take a step on it, causing yourself to freak out while crossing that bridge. You guessed it right, that’s what happened to me when I was checking this bridge out. The bridge stood out to me in its beauty and you could cross the River Saine with ease and the locks on the bridge looked visually appealing. Everything was going well until a group of 20 joggers showed up all at the same time. I am not sure what was going on in their mind, but, they really frightened me with their coordinated steps, causing the bridge to move in vertical motion. After those frightening couple minutes, the charm of that place was long gone and I was heading towards the next place on my list. By this time, the Sun was about to set and I could see a sliver of darkness taking over this beautiful and romantic city.
The next stop on the list was Champs-Élysées. All the luxurious shops in the world were the reason for me to visit this spot. I have chosen all these spots in such a way that I could get from one to another just by walking. I knew at the end of the day, it would be a lot of efforts for my legs, but, hey it was worth it. On my way to this street, I saw huge architectural monuments in the streets, which reminded me of the Tour de France, which takes place around Paris area on its last day. I was in awe of everything that Paris had to offer and wished I could stay for one more day, but, I knew it was coming to an end and I was looking forward to seeing Eiffel Tower at night, because, I had heard so many good stories about it. Anyway, when I got to this street, it was really dark outside, but, good thing that the street was lit up with so many lights. For the first time in my life, I saw a Renault showroom, an official PSG showroom selling all kinds of stuff, and so many luxurious showrooms selling jewelry and other lifestyle items. I was getting hungry by this time, so I looked for some food around and the only familiar place that showed up was a Five Guys. I was so happy to finally see an American fast food chain in Paris, a sophisticated city. I entered the restaurant and looked at the prices. I couldn’t believe the prices and given that I still have 2 more days in Europe, I decided to opt for something cheaper and got out of the restaurant. It didn’t seem like then, but, I did make the correct choice.
After this spot, it was finally time to see the very thing I wanted to check out in Paris – the Eiffel Tower. When I was researching how to get the best view of this magnificent architecture, I read a blog or watched a YouTube video which mentioned that instead of going to the Eiffel Tower directly, you should head to a place called Trocadora, because, this is the perfect spot from where you can get a great view of the Eiffel Tower. I trusted my research and headed to that spot, and it turned out to be the best decision I made in Paris. I can’t tell you in words how beautiful the scenery was at this place. But before I tell you the experience of this place, I must tell you that I was still hungry at this time, so, the first thing I spotted near this place was a stall selling some savory bougette sandwiches. I just grabbed one and sat down to eat it taking in all the beauty of the Eiffel Tower.
This was the moment I knew that I was surrounded by all the romantic couples, cuddling and kissing each other and here I was with my bougette. This was the first time, I felt like I should have been with someone, but, hey, I had a magnificent architecture right in front of me, so I decided to enjoy the beauty and not think about anything else. When I finished my food and was just sitting and relaxing, out of nowhere, the Eiffel Tower lit up with all the fireworks. This was something I hadn’t expected and frankly I didn’t know that that was the thing. I was pleasantly surprised at this view and only I know how many photos I clicked. That scenery was something I would never forget and has been etched into my memories forever. I think more than the view, it was the pleasant surprise that caught me off guard in a good way. Being at Trocadora gave me a perfect opportunity to capture Eiffel Tower in its entirety and I would love to relive that moment together with my special someone. The light works were wrapped up after some time. People were enjoying, having fun, holding hands, hugging, kissing and there were a few street performers too. I enjoyed listening a couple street guitarists playing some good numbers and they definitely lighten up the mood of everyone present. There was a long line to click pictures before Eiffel Tower from the Trocadaro spot, so, after waiting for 5-10 minutes, I got a chance and clicked a few pictures with this amazing view.
After the Trocadora, experience, it was time to explore this beauty from up close. There were so many Indian tourists on my way to the Eiffel Tower that for a moment, I thought, I was in India. I must tell you that this beauty gets better and better as you approach it. I couldn’t believe it was made of pure steel or whatever material when I saw it from quite far away and couldn’t believe my eyes at the height of this architecture. I was appreciating this beauty more and more when I realized it was finally time for me to head to my Airbnb and get some rest, because, by this time, I was thoroughly drained and I just wanted to laid on my bed and doze off to sleep.
As I was getting ready to leave the area and head to the metro station, I remember it was either Google Maps or some guys telling me that the metro had a strike starting midnight and it was well past midnight, so, I decided to catch a bus to an area near my Airbnb, but, that plan also didn’t work out as the buses too had a strike. With the heavy hart and tired feet, I had to walk all the way from the Eiffel Tower to my Airbnb. If I remember correctly, it took me almost 30 minutes and by the time I reached, I just crashed on the bed and slept without changing my clothes. I was 100% done for the day.
This was my tiring day in what was the most romantic city I had ever visited. Tomorrow, I return to Amsterdam to spend one more day there, before heading back to motherland the day after.
Welcome to the twenty third week of running for the year 2022.
I feel like I am lucky to experience this great weather and an opportunity to go out and enjoy my runs. This week is all about running through the streets of Northville and Novi and enjoy the beautiful morning weather.
The first run of the week came on Monday. I got up at around 7.30 and after wrapping up morning activities, went out for a run around the condo complex near my place. This running route is special to me, because, I completed the first ultra marathon of my life around this route and I just remember how resilient I was throughout that run, because when I was at mile 10 of the run, I got to know that my mom tested positive for Covid-19, which gave me more strength to run for her. Anyway, coming back to the run, I completed my 5K in around 35 minutes, which was faster time than I expected. The morning breeze, the walking and jogging fellow people, and my desire to accomplish more distance under my belt is all I needed this morning to enjoy my first run of the week.
The second run of the week came on Tuesday. This was quite later in the day to be called a morning run. The moment I got up, I remember something that I had to care of at work, so, while taking care of that, I completely lost track of time and ended up going out for a run at 10AM. I wished I could have gone sooner because the weather wasn’t on my side. I was happy to note that this run came out to be so much better than I expected even with the Sun. I completed today’s 5K in just 32 minutes, reducing the time taken by almost 10%. Every time I run around this route, I love taking walks from the nearby traffic light to my place and today’s walk was more special because I took less time even when the temperature was higher than yesterday. I love finding positive things in small day-to-day activities and is one of the ways I stay motivated.
The third run of the week was on Wednesday. I am back to early morning runs now. This was a repetition of yesterday’s run with one slight modification – I ran for more distance than I initially anticipated. I completed 5.7K in just over 40 minutes. This run wasn’t faster than other runs, but, I loved that I ran for 3 days in a row, which hasn’t happened in a really long time. Let’s see how far I can stretch this streak.
And that brings us to the fourth and the last run of the week. This run was quite similar to yesterday’s and came out to be just a little faster. I completed 5.8K in almost 40 minutes. This run brings my weekly mileage to exceed 20K which is good to keep that momentum going. I think instead of thinking about how my running total would look like at the end of the year, I should focus on completing these small 5Ks so that it doesn’t feel too daunting and I am not in any pressure to achieve certain goals i.e. basically I go easy on myself.
Welcome to the twenty second week of running for the year 2022.
What a great running adventure I am having and would like to continue doing so for as long as I can, and I know, it will be until I visit India again, when my running will come to a complete halt. But, till then, let’s see how many miles I get.
The first and second run of the week came on Tuesday. I felt like running twice today to make sure I don’t miss out on Monday’s run. The first run of the day was in the morning before my workday started. I kept things simple and just repeated my Northville-Novi running route and took a u-turn once I reached 2.5K mark. The reason I am keeping distances small is that I don’t want to break my habit of not running and at the same time. I completed 5.1K in around 35 minutes, which was more than I usually take for a 5K on road. The second run of the day was around the same route and after my work day. I really wanted to go out for a run and enjoy the beautiful weather, and, while doing so, I completed a 5K in 38 minutes. The weather was hotter than I expected and I took my own sweet time to finish my run. I enjoyed some cold shower after the run and have been loving my life in Michigan so far, with the thought of possible move to Austin, TX soon in the back of my mind.
The third run of the week came around the same route in the evening. Even though the weather was hotter than I expected, the fact that I didn’t do whole day gave me extra energy to run and that’s why this turned out to be a faster run for me, but, I couldn’t finish a 5K during this run, completing just 4.7K in almost 30 minutes. Even though I don’t have a target in my mind for the year, I want to complete at least 500 miles for the year, which will give me some confidence that I still got what it takes to be a long distance runner.
The fourth and fifth, which was also last, run of the week came on Thursday. I ran for the first time today during the morning hours of the day. I had just started running when my soon-to-be fiancé called, so, I had to keep my run short and finish it at 1 mile distance. I completed that mile distance in almost 11 minutes, which is an okay pace given the fact that I had to stop a couple times to pick up her call. The morning breeze helped me to sail through this mile distance quite easily and frankly, it was not a lot since, you know, I am used to bigger distances. The last run came just before lunch. I got a 30 minute window before I had to resume work, so, I decided to go out for a quick run before my work day keeps me busy and away from some running. I managed to finish just 3.3K in around 21 minutes, which gave a little boost to my running mileage during what seemed like a fairly busy week.
I wish I could have run during the weekend, but I ended up traveling during the weekend, and didn’t run for a single time. I hope I will be able to make up for this soon.
Welcome to the third day of my solo Europe backpacking adventure. For this, I chose Paris as my third and last city to explore in Europe, just because I wanted to see how Eiffel Tower looked like in person. I know, some of you might be judging me like why a single guy would visit the romantic city like Paris, but, it was a city I really wanted to see and I am glad that I did.
The day started off with me trying to figure out how to get from Brussels to Paris. Like my journey from Amsterdam to Brussels, I hadn’t made plans to get me from Brussels to Paris, so, I tried something else for this, which I thought was the best thing I did during my stay in Europe. I had previous experience of hitchhiking, but, given that it was Europe, it was too rich for my blood, and, that’s why I tried searching the ride sharing apps in Brussels. After facing rejection for more than 20 minutes, I finally hit the jackpot – I discovered an app called “BlaBlaCar“. It was game changing for me. I solved my transportation problem with this app and it was so cheap to get from one city to another. Having said that, it came with its own challenges like paying the drivers in cash, communication difficulties due to different languages, and most importantly traveling with unknown person in their car. I was a single guy with not a lot of money with me, so I could take that chance, and it paid off well to say the least.
Ok, coming back to my day now. I downloaded the app and searched for someone traveling from Brussels to Paris. I got a lot of hits and chose to go with someone who was charging the least. The guy could speak only French and my French was as great as my luck to get laid in Europe – both poor, so, thanks to my network provider Sprint, I could use Google Translate to converse with the guy. After a couple of misunderstood texts, we finally met each other at a spot and I heaved a sigh of relief when I saw a couple more guys in the car. It was an interesting experience to say the least.
The drive from Brussels to Paris was more than 3 hours long, so, I decided to make some conversations with the fellow passengers. They turned out to be an interested bunch of people. One of the passengers was a student from Nigeria, the other one was working for an MNC in Brussels and was visiting his girlfriend in Paris. They were surprised to know that I was traveling all by myself with a single backpack and I had no friends in Europe. When they said it out like that, I felt a little strange, but, I am no one to introspect myself at what others are saying, so, I just kept the discussion alive by diverting to other topics and didn’t think too much about what they were saying. Our drive was completed with a stop at a rest area. I was surprised to see how nice and commercialized the rest areas were in Europe. For the first time, I saw someone charging to use the restroom in a rest area.
Our drive came to an end when the driver dropped me off at a nearby metro station from where I was going to take a metro to my Airbnb. I found the cheapest Airbnb far away from all the attractions, and luckily it worked in my favor. Having travelled for more than 3 hours in a car without a single bite of food, I was starving. So, the first thing I did was to take a shower and head out to eat something. I was glad to find a Subway stall just outside my Airbnb and devoured their sandwich in a couple minutes. It was time to head out and explore the beautiful city of Paris.
The first thing that you notice when you visit Paris is all the beautiful girls. While roaming on the streets of Paris, all I could notice was the beauty around me. During this time, I remember one of things that my friend said in the past – “if you look at your left to check out one cute girl, there are at least 5 more cute girls on your right that you risk missing“, this was so true about Paris. I instantly fell in love with the city and dropped a message to my sisters and cousins that they must visit Paris because its so so beautiful.
The first place on my list was Notre-Dame de Paris. I kept this as the first place on my list because it was a walking distance from the nearest metro station. I could see it the moment I got out of the metro station and I was just taking in the beauty of this place. It was grand in nature and the only way to appreciate the beauty of this church is to see it up close and especially from the inside. I wasn’t lucky enough to get inside though, so, I had to settle for checking it out from the outside. I must say, it didn’t disappoint. The small and intricate details, the way entire architecture came together and presented itself as one magnificent beast was simply mesmerizing and I will not forget it for the rest of my life.
The River Seine provides a pristine look to this wonderful area. I was impressed by the Notre-Dame cathedral but the River Seine and the riverwalk blew me away. I saw so many people enjoying their walks or jogs on the riverwalk and plenty of families and tourists just having fun at this spot. It felt like a bustling place with so many things to do, but, I need to keep going and the next spot on my list was Musée du Louvre.
I know everyone visits the Louvre for only one reason – the famous painting by Leonardo Da Vincy – the Monalisa, but as I was traveling on a budget and alone, I decided not to enter inside the museum, but just explore the outside area and see what others don’t show in their picture when they talk about either Leonardo Da Vincy or the Monalisa or the Louvre museum. It turned out that, the museum looks so simple from the outside. If I hadn’t seen the pictures and didn’t know that the Monalisa was kept at this museum, I wouldn’t have known that the building that I was seeing was in fact the famous Louvre mesuem. I guess, I am not artistic enough to appreciate the beauty of this place or I need to get in one day just to see how it feels to be inside. Maybe some other day with my wife, we will carry on till then.
This brings us to the end of the Part 1 of my visit to Paris, France. Let’s continue in Part 2.
stochasticity 