Prelude
I never thought I would write this simply because I never thought it would happen. And I never thought it would happen because I exaggerated parenthood in my head. Would see people like Jeethu over-investing in parenting and decided it was something I could never do given the number of other things I have going on.
I used to
always say that it may take an earth-shattering event for me to come around to
becoming a parent. And then this year we had the pandemic.
For the
first time ever, I decided to just let it be and see if anything happens. And
all it took was just that first time, because we immediately realized we are
expecting, and everything changed from that moment.
We got a
car, and not just any car, but literally the dream BMW I wanted ever since our
Chintu i10. Then I got promoted. Something I have been waiting for so long.
And as if
all the pieces had to align themselves perfectly, it so happened that my role
was to start on September 1, and I was finishing my previous role by the end of
July, giving me exactly the full month of August as a break before I resume
work.
Again, something
I always wanted to do - have a break in between roles.
In every transition
I had in the past, I moved instantly from one role to another. I remember all
my engineering friends having a long break between BE and their first job, but
I barely got a few days. I had to miss out on my first ever international trip
that Hari and Bala ended up going by themselves because of that job. This trend
just continued. Even when I was relocating to Netherlands, all I had was a week
between getting to know that I was to move here and landing up here.
This time
though, not only did I get the full month break, but I also aptly got it in my
birthday month, and the month the rest of Europe is on holiday given it is the
best season of the year.
It was
literally all pieces falling together, and we set off on our 2-week hiatus filled with scenic views and delicious food.
Luxembourg
Our first stop.
I would have ideally liked to travel a little more than just 4 hours from
Rotterdam, but we had to make do with this given the time it took to pack and
finally leave home.
No complaints
though, as we slept comfortably at Nirav’s place and then ate a hearty meal at
Romit’s the next day given the awesome cook he is, before proceeding to our
next stop.
Baden-Baden
I never
knew West Europe had thermal spas like Budapest or Istanbul or even New
Zealand. We figured this place existed just 2 days before deciding to travel
there and so glad we did. The hotel we stayed itself had a spa and swimming
pool which I maximized. But beyond that, there were big community spas at
walking distance where we could literally spend the entire day, much like the geothermal
pools of Iceland.
Celebrated
my birthday here among great German beer and local food, and of course the
coveted Black Forest cake of Black Forest!
Zurich
This was a quick halt for Geet to complete her Coaching course before we continue towards Italy, and for me to get an opportunity to meet Munda.
Deepak and Supriya were kind enough to once again share their place. And
it was a perfect prelude for what is coming given the interaction we had with their little 2-year-old.
What made
the stay even better was that it was Ganpati at this time, and Geet got an opportunity
to even perform Visarjan that we little expected to happen in this part of the
world.
From here
we drove towards Tuscany, with one stop at Lake Como for our first Italian meal
of the trip.
Marina di
Carrara
The highlight
of our trip. This place was simply stunning. Nobody ever talks about it and the
only tourists there were the 2 of us. But it really should be more popular.
For one, this
is a town by the Tuscany beach that is filled with youngsters wearing next to
nothing. For another, it is just an hour from Cinque Terra, which is exactly
what La Spezia serves for tourists wanting to visit the colorful 5 towns of
Instagram.
We figured
Marina di Carrara is so much better than La Spezia as an option to stay in
Tuscany close to Cinque Terra, and the next 2 days were incredible.
The first
day we travelled to Cinque Terre and revisted Riomaggiore and Monterossa, the 2
towns we liked the most here.
They were too
many tourists and the weather way too hot for us to enjoy it much though.
The next
day we visited Porto Venere and this was an even better place than Cinque Terre
to visit. Similar colorful houses and beaches, but fewer people and more restaurants.
Lauterbrunnen
We drove
from Italy to Lauterbrunnen with another quick stop at Lake Como, this time
meeting Christina for lunch.
Lauterbrunnen
is again lesser known for this specific highlight – the sunset off the mountain.
We got to experience this given we reached there exactly one hour before the
sunset, and the views were breathtaking.
We drove
back from Lauterbrunnen to Rotterdam in one stretch for 12 hours in a day, but
it was fine as we felt we had a good enough trip and now wanted to get back to
our own bed at home, and prepare ourselves for the next phase.
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