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Arka's adventures with himself 😂 En savoir plus
  • arka ghosh

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  • arka ghoshVoyageurTurin ISU study abrd 24 trip

    Bus ride ... Had to hop off!

    18 mai 2024, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Still in bus. Recorded a video of the cathedral I didn't see in person... from Google Earth. Looks cool. No need to stand in line!

    Just saw a building called vertical garden. Artist/architects "vision" is to show that you can create green space without expanding horizontally ....

    That reminds me, in the Veneria palace we visited last time, there was a square platform in the middle of the garden. Looked like a place to sit if you are tired of walking in the garden. The guide told us it's contemporary art called "now you are a step closer to the stars" .. you are supposed to step up on it and feel that!

    Wow!

    Saw more churches, first city square in Milan, something something Napoleon ... Some pro-Palestine protests...

    That reminds me, I had an idea recently (oh o ... ): Israel should just kill EVERYONE in Palestine QUICKLY.. and be like oops! Bibi should do it before the rest of the world decides what to do with the conflict. ... So the weird idea of taking land from the locals and creating the state of Israel can be complete with no more hiccups!

    Anyways, why do I care ... Doesn't affect me, right? Right?

    Anyways ...

    The bus came back to the impressive church again .. it's a circular route. So had to get down. Was hungry .. forgot to eat. So got into a decent looking restaurant. Ordered zaffran rice (local specialty it seems) and a beer.

    Narmin! Her name. Asked to to leave a positive review on TripAdvisor for her and the driver Isabella. Also learned it one of the 4 routes. My €27 ticket covers all 4 of them .. I just did the blue route. Should I do red green yellow? Dont know ...

    Maybe I should get ticket to go to lake Como instead. Don't feel like doing tourist giri today. Sorry Milan (big loss for the city!). Next time maybe.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • arka ghoshVoyageurTurin ISU study abrd 24 trip

    Afganistan. Covered!

    18 mai 2024, Italie ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Met this nice couple at lunch .. Shahim (Dilzada) and his girlfriend Beau. She's originally from Indonesia, he from Afghanistan.

    His grandfather's name was 'dil'-something (dil =heart) so his dad assumed dilzada as his surname for his government job. They don't have surnames ... Normally they follow some tribal naming convention .... Both of them live in Netherlands .. he talked about Bollywood .. shahrukh Khan Deepika Padukone ... He really likes deepika ... When I teased him he said that he chose Beau because she looks like her.

    Talked to ma. Do it every Saturday for last 24 years ... Was going to skip today .. but decided to video call and show her the church ... She likes to travel. She was very happy. She shared her serial scene on whataspp.

    Anyways ... Got tickets to lake Como. Put the right stop (there are like 5 stops around the huge lake) .. but the app (trainline) got me the wrong stop. Not my fault at all 😜

    But the same train goes closer to the lake. I'm thinking I will pretend to miss my stop and go further. Everyone is very chill here ... No one checks tickets ... If I get caught, I will pay fines etc maybe.

    The ticket was like 5 euros (in Italian it's pronounced Aaoro .. same spelling). So maybe I will just let it go and buy a fresh ticket to the right stop.

    Or not.

    Don't know yet.

    Thinking I will try the green line for hop on/off bus ... Looks a slightly interesting. Then maybe get down at a train station and buy a new ticket to como in person at the station.

    This sound better. Sensible. A man can try.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • arka ghoshVoyageurTurin ISU study abrd 24 trip

    Failed to escape Milan 😞

    18 mai 2024, Italie ⋅ 🌙 18 °C

    After lunch, I thought maybe take the green line that is included in my ticket.
    But ended up not doing that.

    Then I got a hotel in Varenna (station is varenna esino) ... Which is in the middle of the y-shaped lake Como.

    The general idea was to see some part of the lake then somehow got to tirano, take a famous scenic train ride through the Alps. It's called Bernina Express .. operated by a swiss train company .. trains have huge windows spanning the roof for great viewing. Looked amazing in the pics. Even Stefania (a local faculty in Turin) highly recommended it.

    So I need a train ticket to go to Varenna tonight. Maybe do dinner .. see the lake in the night and sleep in my hotel. Did all that planning in another restaurant while sipping beer. Met Shamim Bhai from Kumilla!

    But that didn't happen. Train was full so the ticket checker guy refused to let me (and many more) in and that was the last train (something I found out the hard way since I bought a ticket for the next train and realized later that it's 10 am nextday and not 10 pm today. Another rain ticket wasted (no refunds .. but these are like $10). The other people who got refused entry in the train seemed to have some choice words for the ticket checker. But those were in Italian. Duolingo failed me again! But they were punching the train - I think they expect better from Trenitalia ( or Italo or TrenOrd or ... Too many train companies here).

    Came out of the station and it's pouring ... No taxi .. can't bike in the rain. I mean I can .. I have a poncho and all that. But dont feel like. Feeling drained walking around all day.

    Finally snatched a taxi and went back to the same hotel as last night. It was easy last night - walked in and got a room. No such luck this time. No room there. Not even one in "The Best Hotel" next door. Biked around and found a room in another 1/2 star hotel. Hotel Eden. Owner seemed Chinese - he warned me that the rooms are more expensive than other hotels .. it's €120! Jumped at it .. since all other decent hotels for the night were 300-600 euros! I guess it's weekend traffic ...

    Finally came to room and crashed.

    Oh the hotel I booked earlier? Tried cancelling it on booking.com. Nonrefundable booking but says cancelled. Don't know what that means .. will I get the money back? Too tired to worry about that now. Gnite.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • arka ghoshVoyageurTurin ISU study abrd 24 trip

    In Train to Tirano. Not Torino.

    19 mai 2024, Italie ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    Got up early. Made a careful plan. I can do this. Lake como and fancy train ride. I still have until end of Monday (tomorrow) to pull it off.

    I even wrote down my plans on paper, made bookings, trains, fancy train, hotel in como. Triple checked the times, am/pm all corect. Will reach Tirano at 12:52 by regular train. Fancy train at 130 or so .. it's a round trip .. so will come back to tirano (Tirano-St Moritz-Tireno). Then somehow get back to lake Como and stay in the hotel there. Stay overnight and then tomorrow maybe go back to Torino (Turin)

    Torino is where I am "stationed". Tireno is where I am trying to go. By Train. Any questtions? No? Good.

    Was very proud of my detailed planning. But the first train got stuck at Monza - first station after we started. They said it's estimated that it will take 14 minutes to fix whatever problem they had with the tracks. It was there for 1.5 hours. So I will miss my fancy train for sure!

    Train was super crowded first .. with my bike dangling over peoples head. But at Varenna almost everyone got down and I could sit comfortably. Still on that ride. Still going to Tireno. Thought of getting down at Como but decided to continue with the original plan. Let's see.

    Ciao.

    Ciao is hello and goodbye. Like aloha. Some people say ciao-ciao for goodbye.

    Well, spoke too soon .. just about to upload this and they announced that this train will NOT go to Tireno any more. We have to get down at another station and change to a different train!

    Back to the drawing board, I guess.

    At least the views are nice.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • arka ghoshVoyageurTurin ISU study abrd 24 trip

    Journey is the important part, right?

    19 mai 2024, Italie ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Destination? It's totally overrated!

    That's what I'm telling myself, while having some lunch in a tiny waiting room at stazione Sondrio.

    It looks like a nice quaint Italian town. Little tourists ... Most of them were on my train to Tireno .. all 6 of us are waiting here.

    The train that we are supposed to take now is delayed. So .. let's see. Maybe I will bike around the small town. Good thing I got my bike!    En savoir plus

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  • arka ghoshVoyageurTurin ISU study abrd 24 trip

    Beautiful Mess!

    19 mai 2024, Italie ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    I should have stayed in my nice room in Turin and relaxed this weekend.

    Instead I'm stuck in godforsaken Sondrio station! What a mess this weekend has been.

    But it's a beautiful mess, I know. Shouldn't complain .. look at the view!!!

    Also made a lot of friend whose plans got cancelled like mine. Always wanted to do backpacking around the world. Knowing my limits better, I think this is the closest I will get to that!    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • arka ghoshVoyageurTurin ISU study abrd 24 trip

    BERNINA EXPRESS!

    19 mai 2024, Suisse ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Reached Tirano at 3:55pm finally!

    Made a friend cute in the train!

    Anyways ... I was about to start lighting up a cigwrette to celebrate reaching Tirano, then I saw Bernina Express. BERNINA EXPRESS.!!! Ran to the platform and showed my ticket for the earlier train. She casually said ok!

    So, I am on Bernina Express. Original plan was to take earlier train so I can come back to tirano the same day. Now that won't happen. Cancelled my hotel booking in Como (small town next to Lake Como .. on the left side of the map). But this might be the last train going there .. which means I might not be able to come back. But that's fine - having fun!

    Oh, have to book a hotel for tonight. Small problem is I don't know in which town. Will solve that later. Relax! Learn about swiss train engineering (sure that's not what it's called) and enjoy the view.

    Set up my 360 camera. Made friend with a Gujarati family. Looks like brother sister dad. Or dad and a couple (looks like her dad - he's not talking to him much)

    Attaching a clip of the "infotainment" going on.    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction
  • arka ghoshVoyageurTurin ISU study abrd 24 trip

    G.U.J.J.U!!!

    19 mai 2024, Suisse ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    Wasn't there a bad song like that? What movie was it? I'm sure it's not worth googling!

    So the ticket lady came to check my tickets. Then she realized she checked mine already when she let me in to this train. I thought I will try to push my luck more and see if I can get the return ticket refunded or rebooked for tomorrow.. made the mistake of asking this simple question. It took almost 10 minutes of discussion in which the gujju guy (dad) came to my rescue. He speaks fluent Italian and German he said. Short answer was No. She did me a favor by letting me in to this train. Which I totally agree but 10 minutes wasted??? During my scenic ride??? But the dad guy was nice!

    After that a nice older lady came and shared her bad experience to show solidarity! Seemed British. They had to pay extra ("supplement") to get in because she didn't think of asking them to just let in.

    She shared the hotel where she and her husband are staying and said that she has no idea how good or bad it is, but it has a shuttle from the trains station. Hotel Bären!

    Seemed a little too friendly. Older British backpacking couple being too friendly to a random guy ... Hmm. Maybe too friendly? Na baba. 😳 I will stay somewhere else!    En savoir plus

    Voir la traduction