Tokyo in 48 hours

My first impression of Tokyo was wow! its busy, chaotic, crowded, kind of surreal.  Its vibrant, fun and full of contrasts. You'll see traditional japanese buildings surrounded by modern skyscrapers, congested blocks of tall buildings but neatly lined with trees everywhere, absolutely clean streets but yet not a single trash can anywhere , toilets that requires an user manual. You can find everything from temples and parks, vending machines that sells everything imaginable, futuristic skyscrapers, fantastic restaurants, designer shops. There is something for everybody.

I spent the first day around Shinjuku & Shibuya. There is nothing touristy in Shinjuku but its very convenient location wise with Shinjuku train station, where you can take a train to anywhere in Tokyo and with all the major American hotels around it.

Shinjuku Buildings

The district of Shibuya is one of Tokyo's more famous regions, with the popular Meiji Shrine nearby as well as neon signs in just about every place imaginable. Shibuya was full of energy, bright neons, people and lots and lots of tiny restaurants and shops! You can spend an entire day walking around the area eating and shopping. And, there is the world famous Shibuya Crossing! My, that must be the biggest and most interesting pedestrian crossing . With one of the busiest subway lines in Japan, the mass entrance and exit of people produces the biggest crossing I have ever, and probably will ever see. Crossing it was pretty exciting, too! With people all around you, it was easy to lose track of which section of the crossing you were planning to go to.

Shibuya Crossing before the light turned green

After

A 10 minute walk from Shibuya you will find Meiji Shrine, as it is called in Japanese. Meiji shrine is in the middle of a huge park which very much feels like walking through a dense forest. It is a Shinto shrine. You could easily recognise that it is a shinto shrine by the torii gates that are found at the entrance and along the walkway leading to the shrine.

Torii gate at the entrance

There were also sake and wine barrels displayed along the way that were offered to the shrine. And an interesting thing was this huge tree which was surrounded by various boards with wooden tables right outside the shrine which was full of wishes and prayers of people from all around the world (judging by different languages)

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Wooden prayer cards

Empty donated Sake Barrels 

The next day I visited the Imperial Palace and Roppangi area of Tokyo. 

Roppongi is a nice district in Tokyo, home to most of the upscale hotels and various embassy/consulates including the American Consulate. Roppongi an interesting place for sure, but there's just a different feel to it than everywhere else I went in Tokyo. It's far more convenient than Shinjuku to most business, has a far wider food selection nearby and center to nightlife in Tokyo. I will definitely stay here if I happen to visit Tokyo again.

I guess that's finally all of my trip to Tokyo. Tokyo has been absolutely amazing.

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London in 48 hours

London is an amazing city with staggeringly beautiful sights ranging in world landmarks, museums, theaters, shopping, restaurants and pubs. There really is no right or wrong time to visit London. If you make the most of your days, a 2-day weekend can be enough to get a great feel for what the city has to offer.

The Trans-Atlantic flights from San Francisco typically arrives to London Heathrow in early afternoons.Once landed, getting to London is easy on the Heathrow Express which takes about 15-20 mins to reach London Paddington station or you can take the  Piccadilly Line from the airport terminal which takes about 45mins to reach Earl's court tube station, but costing 1/3 of what Heathrow express will cost. Since our 7 month old daughter was traveling with us this time, we took a taxi to our hotel in Chelsea. 

We tend to stay in the Kensington-Chelsea district as the location is ideal to explore some of the must-see landmarks in London.  London is big and there is so much to see and do. Remember that you can’t cover all of London in a couple of days so you have to make sacrifices. But if you are going to London stay there for as many days as you can so you can see it all without having to rush through it all. It will be expensive but it is worth it.Since we have been to London many times before, we had the pleasure of taking it “easy”.  

We took a taxi to the London Eye. London Eye costs around GBP 20 admission for this 30 minute ride on the one of the largest observation wheels in the world.  This is a unique experience, but unfortunately I have never experienced it. The lines are always long and takes at least 20-30 mins to get into the capsule, even when you buy tickets online 

You can checkout and take pictures of the Tower Bridge when you stroll around London Eye. Well, it's just it - the Tower Bridge, a must see in London

We did our share of walking in London . We walked from the London Eye to the parliament,  to Trafalgar square, onto to Buckingham Palace,and to Piccadilly Circus . 

Houses of Parliament : The architecture is amazing, and the size is just breathtaking. You can take an inside tour of the parliament. 

Buckingham  Palace: One of the most popular attraction in Buckingham palace is the changing of the guards. But the place gets just packed with tourists so we never experienced it.

Trafalgar Square:  Come here and take some pictures as well as visit the National Gallery. Its  all free. There's always something going here, event, concert, some protest, what not.

In the evenings, we walked around the areas of Soho , Leicester Square and Covent Garden which are best known for its theaters, entertainment and shopping. The cozy streets are lined with shops, restaurants and pubs bars.Regent Street & Oxford Street which are the main shopping districts of London can be reached by foot.  You can never get bored of this part of city  and I come back here every time I am in London. 

Piccadilly Circus is another block or two from here. Piccadilly Circus, is a major intersection, known for its neon displays similar to Time square, connects the shopping district with the theater district . It is a nice stop in but nothing to be blown away by.

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Croissant crawl in France

Every time I have visited France, I am determined to find the best croissant in the city.  There are several boulangeries all around french cities, but if you are not local or do not have the local knowledge, just going to the first boulangerie you see, could be a hit or miss. Anyways in the hunt for THE croissant place in France whilst being a tourist,I have come to conclusion  that there are couple chain boulangeries in France, that fulfills my quest of the tasty pastries. Albeit, not the best top tier  patisseries or croissants , however you will find them in all major cities around France, so you know what you are getting.

Paul, is a boulangerie/bakery chain in France. I found this chain of boulangeries in Paris to be among one of the best.  My first visit to Paul's was the store in Champs Elysees and I liked it so much that I ended up visiting various other Paul in Paris, Nice & Cannes

The stores itself are impeccably French in a black shop-front with its large glass windows where you can see the bread arranged on wooden shelves and baguettes in baskets like umbrellas in a stand. 

Paul store in Cannes

You see, I'm quite a croissant connoisseur so I limited myself to buying just croissants, pain au chocolat & escargots each time. But the display of various flans, cakes, tarts, and sweets sure looks delicious. All the viennoiseries (translates to breakfast pastries in american english) costs between 1 and 1.50 euro each and were soft, fresh and delicious. Paul also have some delicious little Brioches and Bignets. Some french people say Paul is not great but hey, coming from USA where the freshest croissants at Starbucks is a day old, I really can't complain.

Bignets filled with Nutella

There is also has another chain of boulangerie called "La Brioche Dorée", I went there couple of times and its probably not my favorite ,I prefer the boulangerie of Paul anyday, but they do sell something called  a "maxi pain au chocolat" which is more than twice the size of a regular pan au chocolat almost the size of a brick for under 2 euros and its great for lunch if you don't like savory sandwiches.

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Threadneedles Hotel, London

Stayed at the Threadneedles Hotel overnight before my flight to Paris the next morning. Threadneedles is an excellent and impressive hotel in the city. It is a very nice boutique hotel converted from what used to be a old bank headquarters . The unassuming front door on Threadneedles street leads into the impressive main lobby area (the old banking hall) taking in the amazing period detail in the grand glass dome. 

The location is good with Bank and Liverpool Street tube stations located nearby, so its easy to get to the West End.You are also very close to the royal exchange in case you want to indulge in some luxury shopping

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Chocolate adventure in Zurich

You can’t travel to Zurich and not eat chocolate. Bahnhofstrasse is the main drag which runs for the train station to the lake. This stretch of Zurich is the most expensive commercial real estate. Excellent shops, anything you want is right there. Including many chocolate shops with beautiful displays in the windows and equally beautiful to look at. If you have just few hours to spend in Zurich, make no mistake: chocolate should be a priority.


There are many fantastic chocolate stores in Bahnhofstrasse, the famous names and the lesser known places. The amount and varied types of chocolates in the store is really astounding. Various Cocoa-dusted “truffle cakes", sophisticated pastries, pralines and hand made truffles arranged for a perfect display share the limelight in each of these stores. The only problem with buying from one chocolate shop, is that not long later you’ll stumble into another chocolate shop. However if you like to go for the handmade truffles or other specialities "Spruengli" and "Teuscher" are probably still the best.

Sprungli is the most famous confiserie, with its flagship storefront on Bahnhofstrasse. The chocolate here are excellent, but it is more known for "Luxemburgeli",kind of tiny macaroon or meringues with various cream fillings.

 

Teuscher is well-known for its Champagne truffles and they also have "Batons Kirsch",dark chocolate sticks filled with liqueur and dusted with cocoa.

The chocolates in these shops are expensive, but you can buy chocolates by the piece, just one or a small box.If nothing else, just walking around these acclaimed chocolate shops is an adventure by itself .

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24 hours in Geneva

I arrived in Geneva around 12:00 pm. The 2.5 hours train ride from Zurich to Geneva is a beautiful one; it’s a destination in itself. It goes thru fields, forests, lakes, and mountains. The scenery was amazing: There were Swiss chalets everywhere! Vineyards were terraced on nearly vertical mountainsides, Castles tucked in mountains, Mansions bordered the lake. The train goes through multiple tunnels through the mountains. Sometimes we would emerge from a tunnel for few seconds, glimpse the mountains, and be plunged back into darkness again. Realistically speaking, traveling by train in Switzerland is expensive but worth the price. To me, the view is worth a million dollars. 

Geneva is a beautiful city with a very international crowd, I reckon its the presence of the international organizations like UN, WHO,WTO et al,...It is geographically well situated, surrounded by the Alps and adjacent to Lake Geneva. It is lively, clean and got a mixture of old and new. It is both cosmopolitan and touristy. Not surprising, it has an American stamp as well. McDonalds and Starbucks are in every major square.

The main street from the train station towards the lake is lined with countless luxury watch stores. These were definitely not the watches you see in your Macy's store but were the most expensive watches I've ever seen, it easily made my Tag Heuer seem like a $0.99 mcdonald burger, Oh well ! I just put my hand in my pocket and walked passed them towards the lake. oh and there are lots of swiss knives & chocolates.

I decided to explore the lake and the Old Town. Geneva is dominated by the huge lake. The lake was filled boats, the swans, and there was the gigantic fountain- jet d'eau (the 100m high water spout) right on your face.The Jet d'Eau is fabulous and is appreciated by all as the symbol of Geneva. If you want to 'see it', its visible from most areas of Geneva around the lake

Besides the Jet d'eau, everyone goes to see the giant Flower Clock in Geneva.Well, I felt  I have to too. Luckily its right at the lake, so no special excursion. Nothing special, just a clock with flowers ! it's changing depending on the season. 

The lake front promenade was quite busy with young & old, local & tourists everywhere. After walking around the lake for an hour or so I crossed the bridge towards the old town. It is a steep walk up to the centre to the Cathédrale Saint Pierre but the narrow cobbled streets are picturesque, housing boutique shops and bars.

I spent the rest of the evening in the Old Town and on the lively streets of the new town. There are lots of shops, restaurants, Christmas bands on the streets, and to-go food stalls. That stretch is about 3 km of shops on both sides. There are no cars on the street; only public transport. The bad thing about this is that they all close early. I went into a store to buy something at six. I got out at 6:30 and everybody was closing! By seven almost everything is locked off.

Nonetheless, I think Geneva is my kind of city!

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Touchdown in Zurich!

My SWISS flight from New York landed in Zurich at 10:55 am and, even though the airport was'nt busy at all, I found myself silently wary of the location of things. I blindly followed the flow of passengers from my plane to passport control and then on to customs. The transit at some point included a short trip on an internal train which had the most awesome elevator music consisting of a mixture of mooing cows, yodelling and the sound of large cowbells. Welcome to Switzerland!! Anyone who flies to Switzerland for the first time in his or her life should fly directly toZurich airport. Here you are truly welcomed to Switzerland. 

Got thru passposrt control & customs in less than 10 mins and reached the airport outside bit that's really a high-priced shopping mall designed to lure jetlagged tourists into paying $10 bucks for a bottle of water. It was surreal.

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