27th April – Cruise Day 2 – Nafplio

Posted on July 30, 2024 by Dharmesh

Waking up to a great sunrise view from upper deck, our ship was approaching the port of Nafplio in Greece, our first stop. (this place was later to be known as NETFLIX as per Doc 😉 )

Morning view of Nafplio @ 6.30am

Disembarked around 9:30am via the tender service, luckily not much of a wait. Boats were coming by regularly and lines kept moving.
In the Tender boat I started vlogging and asked Doc where we were heading today, his answer was NETFLIX!!! Nafplio was too difficult and it was just easier to say Netflix – from then on, this place was referred to as Netflix 🙂
We were soon on land , a beautiful coastal town.
Lots of Yachts, restaurants and an amazing array of lane ways with boutiques and coffee shops around the place but they were all CLOSED, … Closed for now as we were too early.
Only a handful of stores were opening. Time to start exploring the laneways and more pics

Around 40mins on and the place was filling up with more tourists, locals and stores were opening. All these walking and I soon realised I was the only man remaining with the ladies. Kosh, Cheeky, PCB and Jaynesh had headed off in another direction, Doc and Tina had gone another way, the remaining ladies were with me 😉
Accompanying the ladies and more pics…..

Whilst I was looking after their ladies, these guys had wondered off to the other side of Nafplio , did find an old phone booth and a rather interesting sculpture ;)….

Lots of laneway walkabouts and browsing nicks & nacks,…… me and Nita needed a coffee break, not so much on the list for the others – they decided to head out and find their hubbies. Time for a much needed coffee break for us. Found a nice coffee shop with air conditioning …. it was getting warm outside.
Ordered a Greek Coffee, whilst it appeared all fancy, I was not soo impressed with it, the one plus- I have now tried Greek coffee

More walking about, headed back to the water side area where everyone had agreed to meet around 12:30pm. Doc & Tina turned up, no one else around…. soon find out via whatsapp the others had grabbed lunch at one of the laneways…works out well as our group was too big, and this made it so much more manageable.
4 of us walked through the array of seaside eateries and settled for a place that seemed to be serving good souvlaki, key thing, got the thumbs up from the ladies :).
A nice cold beer, wine, great wraps and Souvlaki…. it was a nice place to just chill and refuel.

Lunch time at Nafplio
yay to Greek Beers !! ….Doc on facetime with home 🙂

Enjoyed a very leisurely lunch, we had so much time on hand, time to call back home and facetime.
Nothing much else to see at this port,… made our way back onto the ship and whatsapp’d the gang on our whereabouts and to later meet up for high tea

On the ship, the 4 of us got together at the high tea after a quick refresh. We stayed there for a few hours just chatting, laughing as others joined in as they got back on the ship. Afternoon high tea and yarns continued for a while. During the course of the cruise, the high tea was one area where everyone congregated and ran into each other…. you could get there at any time in high tea and someone from the group would be there!
High tea done, all back to our cabins for a siesta, plan was to meetup later around 6ish for evening drinks.
About 40 mins later out whatsapp groups starts to ping…. one by one, as we all woke up from our siesta we started asking where to meet and what time.
Jaynesh/Seema indicated they were going to the Martini Bar – so that was the place for the evening.

Got there around 6.30 – Cheeky, Jaynesh and Doc were already there with a Martini each! Nita had planned to limit her drinking in this cruise but did not have the heart to say no to these amazing martini’s the bar were serving up. In no time she with the others were on their 5th round!! Yikes…so much for limiting alcohol ;).
My last 2 packets of Bhuja were gone in no time, nibbles on this cruise were crap and this was gold…. I should have brought more :(!!

With PCB. Yogita , Kosh & Alyssa also joined in, we had the full gang of 12, it was an interesting sight, seeing other passengers who were more senior (compared to us) sitting around the bar quietly enjoying their drinks compared to our group sitting window side, screaming , laughing and just fooling around. Most of us had already had too many and we were only just getting started.
Approached the Indian DJ on the floor and asked him to play some bollywood – that got rejected :(…. next best thing, PCB brought down his bluetooth speaker and soon we had our own private party on our side – all dancing to bollywood tunes. Our group was getting so much attention, the “gora” older ladies approached us and joined to dance with us on bollywood – there thoughts were: you guys are more fun than the others!!
Our party got louder & louder as more drinks were added , Tina was the star of the show, she was going off and having a blast.

As was to be expected with such a rowdy group – we got kicked out! Security came and asked us to move along as we were apparently being a nuisance to the others – being an open bar area, we could not dance here, they suggested the night club area!!
It was almost 9pm now and we had not had dinner yet, good time to head up to the buffet and grab something to eat.

Buffet by this time was nearly empty, not a bad thing considering our group was so loud….. headed to the rear of the buffet which was deserted, and made that our base. Bluetooth speaker was on, we all got our meals…. it was less eating, more screaming, more laughing and not long before dancing started again! This time no one complained – we were the only ones there the place was empty… not disturbing anyone.
Buffet yarns, dance and craziness continued till the early hours of the morning. We were all chilled as tomorrow was a free day at sea, could sleep in.
This would have to be one of the best drinking, happy, dancing fun times we have had till date with this group!! Along the way back to our rooms, Doc asked who is up for Gym in the morning…. yeah right, next question and time to go to bed !!!

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26th April – Athens & Cruise Boarding

Posted on June 22, 2024 by Dharmesh

Cruise day today !! Our transport was organised for 10am.
Allowing us time for breaky – all of us went in different directions for breaky. Nita and I walked around a bit and ended up at a nice cafe close by. Breaky was nice with much needed coffee, then it was back to the hotel for final packup, bringing bags down to foyer and attaching the cruise luggage tags.
The lobby area was packed with our group, 12 Suitcases and 12 carryons with everyone putting on cruise tags. Bag tagging done & soon after our transport arrived. It was a large Mini van, driver was great and did a TETRIS style bag stacking to fit em all in.

About a 30 min drive to the Cruise terminal. Celebrity cruise does passenger boarding so well. As our vehicle approached, Celebrity team members were there to meet us at our vehicle and providing guidance on which way to go. And they were taking our luggage directly from our vehicle to the ship. This was so good, no need to roll in the bags ourselves.
The boarding process was super super efficient, first we were led into an airconditioned tent with blocks for processing passengers. Our block was waiting whilst the earlier arrived passengers were processed. Whilst waiting we were offered cold drinks and cold towels , looked after nicely.
Soon enough it was our turn and we were processed and headed to the ship – whole process was super efficient .

On board, we got to our rooms where our ship cards were waiting. 4 of us were next to each other on level 2, whilst PCB and Kaushik were on the upper levels.
We had the ocean view room, not bad! The rooms were not the most modern however they were nice and spacious. Storage was great!

Our Celebrity Cabin


Grabbed our cards and we were all out and about exploring the ship, and to grab some lunch. Ofcourse grabbing cocktails along the way. Drinks package is so handy! Met the gang for lunch at the Buffet, where Celebrity team members were offering dinner packages and other packages at discounted rates. We had already booked dinners , however they did have a special limited seating Taj Indian night, we got a good deal for the group into that – Kaushik was our chief negotiator and even managed to get one of our other dinners at a reduced cost :).

Lunch done, then it was a bit more ship exploring and to the room to unpack and get settled in.
Later around 4pm, we got a special invite to the Helicopter pad area in the front of the ship to see it sail away. This was an exclusive event for Aqua Class passengers and their friends. Kaushik & Alyssa were staying in that and thanks to them, we got lucky – thanks K&A. It was windy up there but definitely worth it. Drinks kept flowing and we got to chat with the Captain and Key leadership team members.

Ship was sailing away and the winds were picking up, headed back to our room for a quick freshen up and to meet up at the Cellar Masters Bar – it was a nice whisky bar. Headed to the bar with Bhuja that Nita had brought along – so glad she organised this , the ship snacks at the bars were crap, but the Fiji Bhuja was super duper!

A few rounds of Old Fashion and cocktails done, next to head up to the shopping area where Nita was offered a Diamond necklace to wear for the night. The reasoning, they wanted Nita to model it at the restaurant , they hoping that I or someone from our group would buy it.
It was a 3 carat + diamond necklace! A few $$$$$
Ofcourse for this they did scan my card/room no – I was more worried about making sure Nita did not loose it and made sure everyone in the group kept checking on her and ensuring the necklace was there. Tina was so much fun at that moment, hearing about the necklace, she started re-inacting the scene from Shaan when Maharani Ji (Bindu) realises her necklace is stolen/lost after Pravin Babi tells her “Maharani-ji aapka haar”, to which Bindu replies “Mera Haar, Oh my goood” and then faints. Unintentionally this became the most repeated lines in the cruise, every night someone would bring these lines up again and again.

The neckland….

Met everyone for dinner at the buffet, it which was so much more better than our prior cruises. Lots of good food variety and even Indian was there.
Post dinner were returned the Diamond necklace back … phew and then onto the first show of the cruise. It was not the best & with all of us tired, we retired early for the night – time to get some rest before the next days first stop over.

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25th April – Athens

Posted on June 10, 2024 by Dharmesh

Early start – today was a morning walk to the Panathenaic Stadium, the very first stadium of the moderm olympics, made from marble ! It was a 30 mins walk from our Hotel.
Everyone was down on the street by 7:30am and then it was off, Doc was leading the way.

Early morning walk to the Panathenaic Stadium – venue of the first modern olympics

Good walk to the Stadium in the chill fresh air of Athens, finally reached there however we were 15 mins too early, had to wait before it opens. Finally they let us in. This place was amazing. The entire stadium built from Marble and the home of the first MODERN OLYMPICS!
Felt great being here.
Place was also being setup for tomorrow with cameras and all, the Paris Olympic flame was going to be handed over here.

Stadium tour and walk finished, time to head back and find a place for breakkie. Meeta had something in store, a very PINK coffee shop – Ellyz. Good news, it was super close to our hotel so that walk would not be in vain. A good walk back with the mandatory rest breaks

More walking and finally we reached Ellyz…. and was it worth it. This place is just another WOW!! Lots of flowers and lots of pink. Weird thing was, we were in our gym gear and everyone else were dressed up more nicely, well we did stand out ;).
We settled for some coffee and breakkie … service was super slow, the pink lattes & pink benedict were nice but nothing special. Overall the experience was super just not sure about the food.


Breakkie done, time to head back to hotel and then roam about. Today was a free day, we wanted to walk around the markets near our hotel and then to the big mall to look around.

We ended up roaming about with Jaynesh, Cheeky & Kosh. Doc and PCB had gone different routes.
First stop was the fresh meat markets, no where had we seen that type of meat variety. This market had all parts of the animals, including heart, liver, intestines and everything. As expected ladies did not enter that market.
Out of there and more strolling the quality of stores in that area was degrading. Decided to head out to the mall area, it was here we split with the rest and headed on our own.

After a bit of walkin, stopped for the mandatory coffee fix. Found a very nice cafe along a busy side street , great coffee it was.

Next was strolling and shopping in the Athens mall on Ermou Street. This is like the Brisbane Queen Street, only better! Nita did find some good things here.

Time passed and soon it was lunch time or maybe PAST lunch time.
We passed a place that had Soulaki and the place was packed…. waited to get a table and finally got lucky. As we entered saw Jaynesh and Seema about to get up… they gave the big thumbs up!! Nice. We ordered Gyro’s and it was the most amazing roll we have had to date. Unfortunately we were so busy eating it , did not get a chance to take a pic :(. But this place is amazing and highly recommended : Meat The Greek

Best Soulaki and Gyros

Amazing lunch done, now to walk and burn away those calories. Ofcourse with some more shopping along the way. Ended back at the hotel – Doc, Jaynesh and I decided to head to the laundromat whilst we had some spare time. Found a laundry not too far from our hotel – literally a 5 min walk.

Laundry took a good hour or so, in between we headed to a coffee shop for more coffee and cake!
Am glad we did the laundry run, during this time we were discussing how we would get to our cruise tomorrow. One option was the train but upon checking , realised it dropped us too far. Jaynesh finally found a private transfer company and was able secure a large mini van that could also accommodate all our luggage. Phew transport sorted , one thing less to worry for tomorrow morning.

Back at the hotel post Laundry, wifes checked no laundry items were lost … but somehow Doc had got an extra underwear in his washing and was trying to find out whose it was …. not mine, he was the lucky owner of an orphaned undie 😉 !!

Plan in the evening was to meet up for dinner at a restaurant Tina had researched , we still had more than an hour to kill, good opportunity for Nita and I to visit the “Little Kook” area which Meeta was raving about the prior day.
Indeed this place is magical. It is like a mini disney wonderland, with restaurants, Gelato, Toy store and more.

Time to head back to the gang, meetup at the hotel foyer and we all headed to the evening dinner, that was suggested by Tina.
It was a bit of a walk and all along she was getting more and more nervous on what if it is crap.
Finally reached it and it was a nice spot. Got seated and we had the BESTEST GREEK Food.
Place is called Tzitzikas kai Mermigas. Highly recommend this place for an amazing night.

We went through a few wines and some great laughter.

Next we were back on the street and heading for some dessert. Agreed to head on to Mona Lisa L’Ateleir Del Gelato – this was closer to our hotel and we had been eyeing that since day 1.

Last night in Athens

Along the way to Mona Lisa, we lost PCB at an Art Gallery – he went shopping for an art piece at almost 9:30pm!! We continued to the Gelato cafe, place was great but there were no tables…. found some stools at the rear of the store and we made ourselves comfortable. Ordered two serves of mini waffle bites and Gelato…. it was soo yumm and was amazing seeing 10 spoons dig into two desserts!!! This is how dessert should be shared – love it!

A great finish to Athens, tomorrow morning post breakkie we are off to our cruise !!

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24th April – Athens

Posted on June 8, 2024 by Dharmesh

First morning in Athens after a good rest overnight. Plan today was for all to hit the hop-on hop-off bus and see the sights of Athens. Except for PCB who had booked an in-depth tour of Acropolis and other key sights.

First stop , coffee / quick breakkie at Monastiraki Square – directly opposite our hotel. We had found an amazing Italian coffee place with pastries and the works the prior day. VenettiGo! was the name of the place, it was a takeaway only location , however everything they had was amazing, from pastries, crossiants, cookies, sandwiches and coffee. All grabbed a bite to share and it was breakkie on the go in the sqaure.

Just after 8:30 am we were on the Hop on Hop off bus.

First stop for our group was the Acropolis.
Early morning start was great , not too busy & no queues , got our tickets and we were through in a flash. Highly recommend all to get this done as early as possible in the day. (On our way out, we saw the queues to get in were super long !)

The Acropolis, a great structure and just impressive to think about how they built this place in the years gone without modern machinery…. all these large stones brought high up and assembled.
Whilst the place is being restored, it is a massive effort, this place is huge and they have only just scrapped the surface with the restoration…. still it is going in the right direction.
Acropolis done, now time to walk down to hop on hop off bus for the next stop.
Walk down was much easier than up, reaching the front entrance, the queues were now much much longer, it was only 10:30am. Highly recommend all to get to Acropolis by 9am to beat the rush and the heat.

Back on the bus , next stop was PLAKA – no idea what that was, however Meeta was our private tour guide and super amazing she was. Meeta had done a ton of research and listed key sights to see – super glad she was on top of that, it was now a matter of simply following her ;). It was only about 10:45am but the roads around acropolis were packed… our bus was moving super slow :(. We decided to get off a couple of stops earlier and walk it, was not too far and great opportunity to see the local areas.

Plaka had a some great laneways with food options and lots of it , found a place with great cocktails/mocktails – needed that for hydration after all the walking, however just interesting to come across these stores just randomly. Walking by we found a local herb store, picked up a bottle of chilli oil with chilli flakes, ladies had been complaining on how blend the food here was , this was a great find and hoping it would be useful.

We found a local Greek place for lunch, not the most amazing food but was a good break for the legs! Post lunch there were no more sights to be done which was great, everyone was now free to roam about and do what ever.
Evening was to meet up at another rooftop bar.

We all headed in different laneways, ladies were having a fun time. Along the way back to the hotel, Nita and I stopped over for coffee fix, it was a icecream place with good pastries and ofcourse coffees. Here we got to taste the best orange cake to date!! Wow, so moist and just yumm!
Highly recommend Kayak for its cakes and Gelato !

Coffee fix done, back at the hotel to rest a bit and then it was out again just after 6:30pm to head to our rooftop booking for 7pm @ Thea Terace Restaurant.

Me and Cheeky were the first to get to the rooftop place, slight problem – it was still bright and sunny outside with the sun directly coming onto the rooftop area where we were to be seated :(.
We changed the booking to 8pm, and headed out again – no point getting a tan , already had one ;).

On the way back, we met PCB and Yogita – they had not read the msg about us shifting the booking, but the reschedule dinner worked better for them, they had been super busy shopping and this gave them a chance to head back to the hotel to drop off their shopping and quickly freshen up. Ofcourse Nita being the kind one, helped Yogita carry the shopping….or rather carry some special bags 😉

Back at the rooftop bar just after 8, it was dark and yay!! no more sun! This was much better, however much cooler than last night. Still not bad, the views to Acropolis from were amazing,
The food here was very good and a welcome change from last night.
The chilli oil we bought earlier today was in big hit, everyone was adding that to their meals…. food here is not spicy at all…. travel tip to Greece for spicy tongues ….. bring some spicy oil/sauce or chilli flakes with you.
Great night, great company, just catchup and talk about how the day was and what to do tomorrow on our free day plus learn from the little master – PCB on the history of these rocks…. It was a great finish to the first full day in Athens!

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22nd April 2024 – Europe with Friends – Flight out of Brisbane

Posted on June 6, 2024 by Dharmesh

The day arrived too quickly. It was July’23 when we agreed and booked to do a cruise together and today we were heading to the airport all packed up.
This holiday was couples only and 6 of them, Vikash & Meeta, Doc & Tina, PCB & Yogita, Jaynesh & Seema, Kaushik & Alyssa and D&N (us). Kids were not coming with us, they were much older now and could do their own travels 😉 ! All of us were doing Athens and a Cruise around Greece and Turkey, from there me and Cheeky were doing Italy, and then we would continue to Amalfi coast and London alone with Cheeky heading back. This was a long 5 week holiday for us, been a long long time since I had done a long holiday and a much needed one it was .

The day of travel, we ate at mum’s place, she had cooked chicken curry for us all, Neha & Pooja were a bit teary but Dadi was there to comfort them . It was not all bad and feeling sorry for them either…. they both have just had visits abroad with friends and this week they both were heading to see Yash and Yashica in New Zealand for a cousins get together! It was great timing.

Bhavik (Legend … to avoid confusion with Doc!) dropped us off at the airport with Neha & Pooja. In to the terminal and to our Checkin Counter – ROW 10 for Qatar checkin…. the queue was very long! Could see Jaynesh and Cheeky already in the queue ahead, Doc had already checked in. PCB was still not there.
We hugged Neha and Pooja, and told them to head back home, no need to wait … this queue would take atleast 30 minutes of slow progress. They headed off home and we made our slow progress to the checkin counters. No issues with Checkin, and soon we were all through immigration and next stop was the duty free. Good thing to travel with Whisky drinkers – get to try a few good varieties of single malt at the Whiskey Counter.
Out of duty free, next stop was a round of drinks at the Bar.

Drinks time
Cheers all!

Boarded our flight soon after, did not have the luck of a spare seat in between – had tried our luck with booking a window and aisle seat, hoping for a spare middle seat….. but was not to be, it was a FULL flight :(.
Countdown for the 14 hour flight to Doha….
Food was surprisingly good, a welcome change from the last few flights and definitely better than Emirates.
Nita had soon nodded off post dinner service and I could only get about 2 hours of sleep – I just cannot sleep on planes.
Doha transit was only 1.5 hours, and that terminal was a mess…. the process to transit was definitely chaotic and it took some time, luckily we did make it to our flight on time. Doha airport needs to sort out its transit system, whilst their airport seemed amazing, their transit process was painfull. This time the flight from Doha to Athens was not full, our method of Aisle and Window seat booking worked… got a free spare seat in between, was great for us to take turns in sleeping with stretched legs!!

Flight to Athens from Doha was 5 hours, landed on time, immigration was a slow process, they only had 3 counters open for the numerous passengers. Slowly we progressed and finally we were through. Luggage all arrived for everyone without any issues…phew!

Taxi ride from airport to our Hotel was just over 40 mins. Passed through what seemed like a very run down place. Lots of Graffiti, empty / closed stores, unmaintained roads/footpaths….. this was not looking too good ;(.
Things changed rapidly as we entered the main Athens city centre …for the better :). It was looking like someplace nice and where we would like to explore :).
Reached the hotel soon after @ Athens Tower Hotel by Palladian Hotels… was a great location, directly next to Monastiraki Square – which has brilliant views to the Acropolis and so many nearby eating spots!

A bit of wait for the rooms, about 30 mins and we all had our rooms, and then it was out to grab a bite, we all needed lunch. Did not have to go far, rather, simply go up to the rooftop area of our hotel with amazing views to acropolis. Did not even know our hotel had a rooftop bar!

A light snack done with the mandatory wash down with beers and wine. Next to hit the streets and explore the markets and side streets off Monastiraki Square.


Walked about in our large group, exploring just some of the many laneways. One thing was apparent, with our large numbers, tracking everyone and going together was proving difficult. We all decided to head our own ways in those lanes and then regroup for dinner at A for Athens rooftop bar which we had already booked.

Nita headed to numerous jewellery stores, shopping had started !Am glad we had all split, things were taking time and even though we continued to run into each other, we still were free to roam about and not have to wait for others.
Laneways done, then it was heading up to some sights….. to see some very old pillars.

Sights done, we started heading back to the hotel to freshen up and go for dinner. Along the way, noticed a very redish tinge to the atmosphere , initially it was light orange which then started to get more intense red. It was next day we realised via news that it was due to the very fine dust being blown all the way from the Sahara dessert due to a large storm…. it was an epic sight.

Made our way to A for Athens Rooftop bar and slowly everyone else rocked up. Am glad we had booked this place from Brisbane, very busy and we were super lucky to have front row seats overlooking the square and onto the Acropolis. As the evening progressed the red haze faded away, was amazing seeing the change of colour.

A for Athens rooftop had the most amazing views and was superb to see the dusk light and then nightfall. Food did not quite live up to the view, so would recommend this place just for drinks. Still a great first night with good fun company. Tomorrow it is hop-on hop-off bus with a visit to the Acropolis.

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May 31st – 5th June – Paris – Hamburg – Flight back to Brisbane

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Dharmesh

(Finally completing the blogs for my EU work visit that included some sights on the side! …. only 6 months+ late)

The next fews days were mainly at work and as there was not much happening other than random sights – am compiling them in one post with a lot of pics (honestly I cannot remember much – it is over 6 months back!! )

Paris to Hamburg – 31st May

Last day of work in Paris and we were on an evening flight to Hamburg. Dinner was in the Schipol Lounge – this was much better than the restaurant options on airside.

Surprised by the size of the aircraft we were to fly on – TINY!!

Reached Hamburg past 9pm and taxi to our Hotel was without incident.
Arriving at the Hotel, it appeared more like a small boutique place – big difference from the last time I was here at the Westin.
However was pleasantly surprised when entering the room – infact blown away, the most amazing rooms with the biggest bathrooms and the most comfortable beds. The bed was heaven, so much needed after the long day we had.
Highly recommend staying at the “Sir Nikolai” hotel. Such a nice place.

Hamburg

Breakfast at the Hotel was great – they offered a very personalised service. The lady incharge of the breakfast had made a good acquaintance with both Nita and I and from Day 2 was very much looking after us and even had our favourite fried eggs cooking as we were getting seated – super impressed with the service.
Next fews days it was me at work which was a mere 10 mins walk away and Nita had a chance to roam about and take in Hamburg city sights and shopping districts!

View from Domino’s office entrance
Domino’s office as seen from Elbphilharmonie
First day at work and lunch at Elbphilharmonie with our Insights team

With the late sunsets, I had loads of time in the evenings to roam about and see places with Nita.

floating restaurants
coffee & chocolates
Hamburg sights
Amazing chic Indian fine Dining – Gandhi Bridge Kitchen
Hamburg nights
find nita in this pic!
Lunch near the lakes
what a wine…
Best Italian ever !!! I Vigneri Osteria Enoteca
OMG This was the best food

Hamburg had been a good short visit – whilst we did not have a full weekend here, the evenings were great and we did end up having some nice eats!!

Flight back to Brisbane was interesting- Getting to the airport , we had given ourselves 3 hours and thought that would be enough – well it was just enough which included running to the gates!
The queues at the airport were huge , but worse was the Emirate checkin counters, only 2 counters for a massive lineup – add to that AU government deciding to introduce Digital Passenger attestation – only found out about that when I reached the counter. From there it was a mad rush to get forms filled , checking in, immigration and then running to the gates.
A super hectic and a very unpleasant experience to end this trip…. still lets not spoil the entire trip on one bad moment – it had been an amazing working visit and Nita had a great relaxing time.
A bonus on the way back – we had an extra seat – can stretch those legs!!

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is img_9896.jpg
on the way back to Brisbane

And that brings to close a great 3 weeks of work travel with a side sightseeing. We covered Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, Paris & Hamburg – grateful to be associated with a great company – Domino’s Pizza Enterprises!! Till our next trip – Auf Wiedersehen

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May 30th Paris

Posted on December 13, 2022 by Dharmesh

(Finally completing the blogs for my EU work visit that included some sights on the side! …. only 6 months+ late)

First day in the Paris office post covid today.
But first a quick bite with Nita at a cute cafe near our hotel we had spotted yesterday.

Ordered Pancakes with Ham and Eggs – that was something different and really nice! Great place but have no idea what the name was :(.

Nita’s plan was to roam about today and just explore on foot, next catchup for us was later in the evening for dinner – yet to be decided, we were wanting a nice Indian/spicy variety – my task was to find that from work!
My Uber came soon after, and left Nita to her breakky and coffee.

Ride to the office was just under 25 mins, back at the French office, good to see fellow colleagues after a long break.

Domino’s France Office

Lunch was with Stephane Monnier, my good friend from Operations – he took me to a nice seafood place around the corner. Back at the office there were more meetings and knowledge sharing sessions with legal, marketing and Finance.

Nita with her coffee fix @ Galleries Lafayette

Met up with Nita back at the hotel and then we were soon of in our Uber to our dinner place – Khajuraho – apparently a fine dining Indian Restaurant with good reviews.
Had not realised the place was so close to river Seine, got the Uber to drop off a block away – we were and this was a great time to walk along with Seine to the restaurant – live a bit more of Paris !

The restaurant was a nice with a good indoor/outdoor seating, we got a nice seat indoor next to the window.
Interestingly the place was decorated with ….as expected…. the statues that are famous in Khajuraho – Kamasutra ! Loved it, that gave us a variety of topics to discuss…. always fun,

The amazing statues of Khajuraho @ Khajuraho Indian Paris

Our waiter was good and provided some great recommendations. Food was simply super duper!! All presented so well and the taste was so so good, this is was much needed spice fix. Unfortunately we did not take more pics of the food – our hands were covered in the sauces and curries, could not be bothered with cleaning them up…. food was just so tasty

Best Khulfi – desserts

Highly recommended – must visit Khajuraho Indian when in Paris.

Next we headed out to Pont Alexandre III bridge, which was a mere 5 min walk away.
It was still some daylight – around 9pm – good time to see the transitioning of darkness and the lights coming on around the place. Ofcourse time for some pics!

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May 29th – Paris

Posted on December 12, 2022 by Dharmesh

(Finally completing the blogs for my EU work visit that included some sights on the side! …. only 6 months+ late)

Montmarte – Day 2! We had an early start to avoid the big crowds at MontMarte. Got there just after 8:30 , place was very empty and it felt so different to yesterday when it was packed.

Good opportunity to take some great pics without any crowds !!

The entry to the upper levels was not going to be open for another hour and a half, good time to get some coffee and light brekky – yes always the french croissants !

Found a nice cafe directly opp the markets with art stalls – was nice seeing artists setup their stalls in the morning…. Pooja would have loved the art works here.

My Parisian!

The weather was nice and cool, perfect for the nice warm coffee and croissants – this was a good relaxing break.

That done we headed back to Sacré-Cœur basilica to go up to the top. No queue as we were still early and glad there was no queue .
Got our tickets and we were up the stairs.
Now for the people like me who would not have thought about it, this was a very old building with super narrow stair ways . The way up was a very very narrow spiral stair case made of stone. There were no open windows and room only for a single person to climb at a time and no chance to turn around – it was a ONE-WAY stairs. For people who are claustrophobic – I DO NOT RECOMMEND THIS VISIT. I am one of these guys and literally after about 60 seconds of climbing, the walls seemed like closing on me. Unfortunately these stairs go up a single way, there is absolutely no way to turn back with people behind you all trying to climb and as there is no space, there is only ONE WAY – UP :(. Luckily up a few more flights there was a small nook where I had some space to take off my jacket and get more breathing space and calmed my nerves. As it was not crowded the people behind me were more than willing to wait and not pressure me, plus the high stairs was making everyone super tired so a break was well warranted for all.

Slowly made the way up and finally out in the open 🙂 felt so good to feel the fresh cold air on the face. The view from the top was great but the experience getting up there was not the best for me.
If you have a heart problem or are claustrophobic , please do not climb to the top!

The view from the top was great, a very nice outlook of Paris.
As always what goes up must come down…. it was time to go back down. Time for the stairs again, but coming down this time it was not too bad.
We were soon back on ground level and it felt good to be out of there into open areas.

By this time the crowds had definitely built up and queues were getting long. We were lucky to have gone early in the morning.

Walked down the hill to grab an UBER. MontMarte was done and we had covered it very well. We headed back to the OPERA area – to Galleries Lafayette – this was turning to be Nita’s fav spot.

Had a late lunch around 2pm at the Panasia restaurant on the upper level of that place – amazing food!

Around 4pm we made our way to the highly rated Angelina Chocolateria – famous for pastries and amazing hot chocolates.

Queue was about 15 minutes wait which soon cleared up and we were seated.

Could not rate this place high enough !!! LOVE LOVE LOVE…. you have to try the hot chocolate and amazing pastries. This was an amazing finish to the afternoon.

Dinner was booked at Le Train Bleu. This is an amazing french restaurant that is in a train station. Now I say amazing for the decor inside not so for the food ! :(. Whilst the ambience and decor was out of this world the food was not at the level – I would not recommend this place.

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May 28th – Paris

Posted on December 12, 2022 by Dharmesh

(Finally completing my blogs for my EU work visit that includes some sights on the side! …. only 6 months+ late)

Today we headed to Montmarte – the authentic village within Paris. We had not visited this place in our last 2 Paris visits. Left the best for last.
This is a cobble stoned hilly village on the northside of the city – was only about 15 mins UBER ride – and most of that time was in traffic.

We got dropped at the lower part of the village making our way up to the top. Lots of peoples around , especially Liverpool supportors in their traditional reds – it was the EFUA final today (not that we were going but it definitely made the place more crowded with loads of people).

Walking up the cobbled lanes to Montemarte

We needed to fill up and there were loads of cafes – selected one where the croissants looked amazing – did not fancy anything more than the traditional french croissants. These were great just what we needed along with the coffee fix.

Breakky done – headed further up to more crowds and more amazing streets and markets, leading to the magnificent Sacré-Cœur basilica.

Amazing Sacré-Cœur basilica @ Montemarte

The place was amazing however the crowds were LOTS. And a massive queues to get into the Sacré-Cœur basilica.
Decided to give all this a miss and comeback early tomorrow morning. Key thing in Europe, everywhere is super busy by 11am, if you want space and quiet, you need to be at the places much earlier.

Got an uber to Champs-élysées , head to Four Seasons for their amazing coffee & cake. Unfortunately luck was not on our side :(, due to the EUFA finals and the crowds, only hotel guests were allowed in the hotel cafes & restaurants. Back to the main street and headed to Cafe 86 – Loccitane on Champs for our fix of coffee/cakes.

At Cafe 86, we were seated on the street section, which gave us an amazing view of what was happening on the busy Champs Elysees street. This place was jam packed!! And it was amazing to see the number of football supporters. Noticed a couple of guys holding signs ready to buy tickets for over 1000 EUROs. Wow!!

Evening dinner was booked at the Buddha Bar Paris restaurant – we loved this place in Dubai and had a very medicore experience here in 2018 when we came with the gang – gave it another shot but unfortunately again the experience was not super ! Food was not amazing although the wait times were ! Dont think I will be doing Buddha Bar Paris any more 😦

Dinner done, then it was off to Eiffel.

not a bad click with the iphone!

Can never tire of Eiffel – it was getting cold, time to head back to hotel, tomorrow morning it was Montemarte again but much earlier to beat the crowds.

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May 27th – Paris

Posted on December 11, 2022 by Dharmesh

(I have been so lazy – finally finding some time to finish this blog before our next trip)

Early start today, headed out to Trocadero to take self Portraits with Eiffel Tower as the backdrop.

Got there early before 6am to avoid crowds – shocked to see the top level all boarded up :(. Oh no! This place is supposed to provide the best angle of pics but it was covered with wooden fences – some sort of maintenance going on.
Down the stairs and got lucky with a good vantage point. Time to setup my tripod and we got some good pics.

Next we headed to our other fav vantage point for Eiffel pics – Rue de la universite. Being so early, there was only one couple being photographed and they we soon finishing off – lucky!!

That was enough photography, time to head back to the hotel to change and head out for some breaky.
Getting back to the hotel was easy , but getting into our room not so! Our room key card was not working, went down to get it checked and the lady gave me a new card and said I must have put it next to a phone or something.
Anyways, second card still no luck. Went down again and she said it cannot be, and was getting annoyed at me. Gave me another card and the same thing. Went down and told her about the issue. So she came up and tried herself and as expected – same issue – door would not open. At that point she blamed us that we had locked it from inside :(. She brought in some automated door master key unit to open the door, but that also failed. By this time Nita was getting panicky and worried, and not making the situation any better was the lady still blaming us. At this point I lost my cool and started going off at the and how her manager need to sort this shit out and she needs to learn how to talk. She was soon in tears (OMG what had I done 😦 ). Her manager soon arrived and was super apologetic, had us seated in the breakfast area to get some thing to eat whilst they sorted the door. It was another hour before the door was finally opened and we could get in. What an ordeal but it was not fixed just opened. We were promised it would be fixed by the afternoon. Well atleast our room was accessible. We got freshened and headed out towards Galleries Lafayette – that was a good place to cheer up Nita.

Browsing around and for lunch we ate at the top level food court which had the most amazing asian stir frys! Shared a Chicken Egg Plant stirfry- this would have to be the best stirfry to date!! Wow.

From there we headed to Champs Élysées – never get tired of that place. Walked about and came to Arc De Triomphe. Well why not, did not have much else to do, lets take a walk up those stairs!

Had been a long day and we opted for an early dinner, where else but back to where we had our last most fond memories – Les Halles, @ the La Perla Italian.
Uber’d there, place was much more busier this time around, at the La Perla restaurant, we got a table with no delays. Food arrived and whilst it did look good , unfortunately the same could not be said about the taste. It was not the same as what we had in 2017. Plus the service that we had received previously was not to that level, maybe it was the new staff members ??? Still not a bad meal. Decided to skip dessert and walked in the alleyways.
Nita had to grab an ice cream and take the same pic she did in 2017.


Bit more walking around and headed back to the hotel, surprised to find goodies left behind for us, hotel were sorry for the inconvenience caused with us being locked out earlier today, nice way to end the day 🙂

Hotel provided some goodies to make up for us being locked out of our room
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