A Journey Through Centuries in Europe by Cox and Kings, London

It was memorable trip namely ‘Classical Europe’ organized b Cox and Kings, London for Non

Resident Indians living around the world. We were altogether 30 people when we began our

trip from London and 8 more joined us from Amsterdam in Netherlands. The trip began from

London on Sep. 6th and ended on Sep. 19th, 2013, in Paris. Our tour manager was Jehangir

Bhanja, who is from Mumbai and is working as tour manager for the past 12 years. He is one of

the most wonderful persons I have met in my life with a smiling face always even in times of

troubles or uncertainties. He knows every nook and corner of Europe and we felt safe with him

always. He is very organized and very punctual in keeping the time. The two polish bus drivers

who led us through our journey through centuries appears to have in depth knowledge of the

roadways and traffic system in the entire Europe. The hotels we stayed were 4 star hotels with

free access to internet in most of the places and provided with buffet English breakfast. Our

routine is to wake up at 6 AM, have breakfast at 7 AM and by 8 AM we begin our tour of the

day. In Europe the drivers are not allowed to drive more than 2 hours at a stretch and they have

to stop for 30 minutes, then we have lunch break of 1 hour and finally dinner. Both the lunch

and dinner were mostly in Indian restaurants and it is amazing to see an Indian restaurant on

the highest mountain ‘Jungfrau’ in Switzerland. The temperature was -4 degrees and we were

almost 11,500 feet above the sea level. The group consisted of people of different ages

including couple of honeymoon couples, couples married for about 3-4 years, still celebrating

their honeymoon, middle aged people, people who are celebrating their 60th birth days and 70th

birth days etc. The group consisted of couple of families from United States, one family from

Canada, few families from Kuwait, and couple of families from Dubai, two persons from

Uganda. We never knew any other family when we met in Holiday Inn Express London,

Heathrow Airport on Sep. 5th, but we became very close to each other by the time we departed

from Paris on Sep. 20th. The morning food included eggs, cheese, breads, cereals, fruits, coffee

etc., while the lunch was purely vegetarian and dinner we had one non vegetarian item mainly

chicken curry. The food was delicious and most of the Indian restaurants were of very high

standard with quality food. We were asked to change our money to Pounds for spending in

London and also to Euro to spend in Europe except in Switzerland, where they accept only

Swiss Franc. Our tour manager Jehangir knows exactly where to get the highest rate without

any commission, and we just followed his instructions. He also knows where we need to be very

careful about pick pockets especially in Oxford Street in London and on the top of Eiffel Tower

in Paris, where you can even see sign boards placed by authorities warning about pick

pocketing people.

On Sep. 5th we were met by the tour manager at the lobby of the hotel in London exactly at 4

PM and he introduced us as Jehangir and there began our intimate relationship with him for the

next two weeks. He briefed us about the evening tour and next day tour on London. Our tour

bus a Mercedes Benz bus with a seating capacity of 60 people with two polish well manner

drivers was waiting outside the hotel. We boarded the bus and drove through the streets of

London from the airport side to the center of London. We rode the famous ‘London Eye’ with

32 capsules representing 32 Burroughs of London and it took exactly 32 minutes for one entire

rotation with panoramic view of famous London city, Themes, Tower Bridge, Big Ben,

Buckingham Palace and so many other famous and centuries old monuments. Then driving

through different places in the London city, we had our dinner in one of the Indian restaurant

and returned to the hotel by about 9.30 PM. The next day on Sep. 6th we again drove to London

city, where we were met by tour guide Mr. John and he explained to us about the important

monuments in London with couple of photo stops. We watched the changing of guard, drove

over Tower Bridge, River Themes, London Eye, Tower of London, Hyde Park, Big Ben,

Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Piccadilly Circus, Nelson’s

Column at Trafalgar Square. After lunch in an Indian restaurant, we spent our free time at the

famous Oxford street and reunited with our tour manage at 4 PM at Marble Arch. Then we

drove to Harwich about two hours to board our ferry ship across Atlantic to Netherlands. We

had our dinner also in ferry ship and it was fascinating to watch 18 wheelers and tour buses,

cards etc. are being loaded in to the ferry ship. We reached Netherlands on the next day

morning and we enjoyed the cruise across to Hook of Holland, which was really an

unforgettable experience. We had our breakfast also in the ferry ship and it was beautiful to

watch the morning sun from the top deck of the ferry ship and the Hook of Holland with several

ships including ferry ships and cargo ships passing by your ferry ship. We were asked to change

our watches one hour ahead from the London time.

On day 3r, Sep. 8th, morning after disembarking and going through immigration check, which

allows you to travel through the entire Europe, we boarded our tour bus outside the sea port

and then drove through the Dutch countryside with beautiful scenery on both sides with

windmills still wield their magic. We stopped at one of the oldest windmills and took photos

and the scenery especially of a river by its side was very beautiful. By the way, I am very fond of

nature photography and probably you may not see very many people in my photos, which may

upset some, but it was a memorable experience for me to catch the most beautiful nature

scenes I have ever seen in my life. Even though I was born and brought up in Kerala known as

‘God’s own Country’ for its natural beauty, I was fascinated by the nature beauty in Europe

especially in Switzerland and Austria. If I would get a chance to lead a retired life, I would be

either in a farmland in Switzerland or Austria living rest of my life. You enjoy your life by living in

such calm and quite scenic beautiful place so that you may live longer and enjoy your retired

life. Unfortunately, we were not able to see the Keukenhof Tulip Gardens, which is open only

from March 21st to May 20th of every year; instead we visited Madurodam, an enchanting

miniature city that features the best of Netherlands. Then we drove to Scheveningen to

‘Baywatch’ and after lunch drove to Amsterdam. We visited a cheese factory and also a shoe

factory which is making wooden shoes, which the peasants use in their fields since leather

shoes will not be feasible to work in the muddy fields and in the snow. In Amsterdam, we

boarded a glass topped boat through the canals of Amsterdam viewing regal mansions,

houseboats and very old bridges across the canals. It was a rewarding experience, which made

you feel that you are traveling through the centuries in Amsterdam. We also visited Dam

Square, Nieuwe Kerk (New Church), the Royal Palace and the National Monument and spend

time in taking photos at each place. Then we drove to Brussels, the capital city of European

Union. We drove through the picturesque medieval streets and also visited the magnificent

Gothic St. Michel’s Cathedral, which withstood the Second World War bombing. We walked

through the galleries of Saint Hubert, the world’s first shopping mall opened in 1847 and to the

grand place, Europe’s most beautiful market square, which is the main tourist attraction of the

city, where you can buy world famous Belgian lace, chocolate and Belgian Waffles dusted with

caramelized sugar. We also visited the Mannekin Pis, the cheeky statue of a boy, representing

the ‘irreverent spirit’ of Brussels, had drawn millions of visitors for centuries. We had our

delicious dinner at an Indian restaurant and stayed at Hotel Mecure Brussels Airport.

On day forth, which is Sep. 9th, after a delicious buffet style breakfast and packing our luggage,

we boarded the bus exactly at 8 AM and proceeded to Cologne, the city on the Rhine and

visited the first Gothic Cathedral in Rhineland with its characteristic spires. Then we drove

through the Rhine Valley to Boppard, where you can see more centuries old castles than in any

other river valley in the world. We really enjoyed the river cruise in the boat along the

‘Romantic Rhine’ and on both sides we were amazed to see the old castles, villages, vineyards

especially those on the side of sloppy hills, statue of Loreley, and Loreley where the river valley

ran through elevated hillsides. The drive to the river valley through the mountains with hairpin

bends was an amazing experience where we witnessed the expertise our polish drivers. We

boarded the boat for the river cruise and one location and disembarked at another location

after about 1 hour where the tour bus was ready to pick us. We continued through the scenic

Heidelberg in the valley of River Neckar and world famous for its romantic castles and

picturesque old town with inspiring and beautiful surroundings. We enjoyed some free time at

the old section of the town namely ‘Altstadt.’ After dinner at an Indian restaurant, we reached

our hotel Mercure Hotel Bensheim, which is again a four star hotel and spent our night with

sweet memories in Rhineland.

On the day fifth, which is Sep. 10th after having our delicious buffet style breakfast, we drove

through the Black Forest and arrived at Drubba. We visited one of the factories where they

demonstrated about the making of the authentic cuckoo clocks, which originated between

1740 and 1750 and still maintain the same design and workmanship. We had our lunch at the

restaurant here and experienced a taste of Switzerland food. Then we drove to Lucerne viewing

its picturesque mountains, lakes with color of the water blue, cowbells, alpine villages and

meadows. This is where we would like to live a retired life in one of the alpine villages with

cows grazing the farm lands. We visited the Lion Monument, carved on the rock to

commemorate the brave Swiss soldiers killed during the French Revolution. We drove through

the covered wooden Kappellbrucke (chapel bridge) to the ornate Jesuit Church. After visiting

the church we had the first experience with our Swiss shopping, and most of us purchased

memories of beautiful Swiss country like a cow bell and some even Swiss watch for their loved

ones. After our dinner in an Indian restaurant we reached Hotel Arcade in Lucerne, where we

stayed for two days at the first time in our trip.

After our breakfast, on day 6th of our tour, we took advantage of the optional trip to the ‘top of

Europe’ by taking mountain trains with ‘cogwheels’, which climbed the mountain very slowly

through wonderful world of glaciers and mountains slops filled with beautiful snow. We have to

change our trains in the midway and took another train to reach the top of the mountain at

about 11,500 feet height, which is the top of Europe. The temperature was -4 degree and there

was a slight feeling of not having enough oxygen inside the Ice Palace. It was a marvelous

experience to stand on the observation deck ‘Sphinix Observation Terrace’ at about 3571 meter

high and to view the Alphine Mountain under your feet through wire gauge metal deck. It was a

stunning experience to see the mountain filled with snow under your feet. It was fascinating to

have our hot Indian lunch from one of the two restaurants on the top of the mountain. There is

always a saying that when Neil Armstrong landed in the moon he found an Indian with a tea

shop over there and on the top of the Europe, there is an Indian restaurant to serve the visitors

from all over the world. We descended after spending two hours on the top of Europe to the

beautiful resort Interlaken, cradled between two beautiful lakes of Brienz and Thun, where we

viewed the horse drawn carriages. We had another beautiful experience of Swiss shopping here

also, where every store carried unlimited selection of watches and jewelry and souvenirs and

Jehangir exactly knows where the get items very cheap. After enjoying our day and dinner at an

Indian restaurant we returned to our same hotel for an extended day.

On day 7th, Sep. 12th after our breakfast we packed our luggage and boarded our tour bus and

departed exactly at 8 AM to Austria, the most beautiful place in Europe, we saw during our trip.

We stopped during our trip at Liechtenstein and Vaduz, the capital city of Austria, which if

famous for its postage stamps. The people in Austria use postage stamps more than any other

people in the world and we can purchase souvenirs of postage stamp booklets from the shops.

We visited internationally famous Swarovski Crystal Museum in Waterns dominated by a

Unicum, a wall of crystals, where you can see the world’s largest and smallest crystals. Over 7

million people from around the world already visited this place and we also had the privilege to

visit this place. We also enjoyed shopping for jewelry made of Swarovski crystals. After lunch,

we drove to Innsbruck, located on the Inn River, which is one of the most beautiful and lively

city in Europe, which hosted winter Olympics twice. We visited Golden Roof or “

Goldenes Dachi, an ornate Gothic balcony erected by Emperor Maxmillan in 15th century,

decorated with gold plated copper shingles. We also visited the Imperial Church, Hofburg, the

Imperial Palace and Innsbruck has a history of about 800 years. After our dinner we stayed at

Olympia Hotel in Axams, in Innsbruck, Austria.

It is our 8th day on Sep. 13th, after buffet style breakfast we boarded our bus towards a

picturesque journey through quaint villages, medieval castles, and fruit orchards through the

fertile Adriatic Plains to the famous city of Venice in Italy. The city consists of hundreds of small

islands and is famous for its canals, which can be seen in any painting about Venice. The palaces

of Venice are very beautiful to see by taking a walking tour. We also took a cruise from

Tronchetto Pier by viewing palaces and ancient buildings on both sides and passing under

several bridges over the lake. The cruise in ‘Gondola’ through the canals under ‘Bridge of Sighs’

to its prisons is fascinating experience, from where the legendary lover Cassanova made his

famous escape. We also saw the bronze Moors striking the hour, as they have been doing for

the past 500 years at the clock tower. We ended our day’s visit to Murano Glass show Room

where we witnessed the demonstration of hand blown world famous Venetian glass. Most of

the families enjoyed the dinner on our cruise back to the mainland and the surprise gift from

Cox and Kings. We stayed at Olympia Hotel in Padova for the night.

On day 9th, Sep. 14th, after our breakfast in Hotel Olympia we drove across the Apennine

Mountains along the Brenta River passing Bolognia to Florence, the famous city in Italy, which is

a shrine to the wonders of Renaissance, with more artistic treasurers per square meter than

any other city in the world. We had a walking tour of the City of Florence including to the

remarkable Duomo. Besides it is the ‘Gates of Paradise’ the heavenly gilded Bronze doors of

baptistery, originally a pagan temple and also the open air gallery in Signoria Square. We also

walked on the famous Ponte Vecchio, the oldest surviving bridge in the city. After spending

some time for shopping including genuine Florentine leather bags and souvenir we had diner

and reached our hotel. We also visited the famous Baptistery, the Church and tower (the

leaning Pisa tower) are all part of the ‘Field of Miracles’ and took several photos. We also took

photos trying to straight the leaning Pisa tower. We also learned that the leaning tower was

closed to visitors for many years until its underneath soil was excavated by experts from United

States and they filled it with cement and guaranteed that the tower will not lean for another

20-25 years. Next morning on day 10th, Sep. 15th we drove to Rome through its ancient streets

and finally to Vatican, the smallest nation in the world. We visited the theater where they

showed us an introduction to the Rome and the story of two brothers Romulus and Remus and

that Rome was built in 753 B.C. We were not able to visit the Vatican Museum, since it was

closed on Sunday and we reached there on Sunday, but we were able to participate in the Holy

Mass in the St. Peter’s Basilica. We spent time in St. Peter’s Square and saw Sistine Chapel from

it tower the white smoke comes when a new Pope is elected by the Cardinals. We gazed

through the paintings inside the St. Peter’s Basilica including the famous painting at

Michelangelo’s Pieta with his own signature embedded on it. We saw the triumphal Arch of

Constantine, who declared Christianity as the official religion of Rome after himself converting

to Christianity. We drove through the Piazza Venezia, which is the monument for the

reunification of Italy, which is often referred as the Marble wedding cake. We stopped at the

mighty Coliseum, built to pay tribute to the brave gladiators. We passed through the ruins of

Roman Forum and ended our tour Trevi Fountain. Lot of members of our group tossed coins

(we do not know the number of coins they tossed) over there left shoulder to the fountain. It

was raining when we visited St. Peter’s square and Trevi fountain, hence we could not enjoy

both to its fullest, but even in the rain some took advantage of both places. We are sure that

we will return to Cox and Kings may not be for the European tour but for other tours conducted

by you. We will surely refer our relatives including our children and friends to undertake the

Europe tour with Cox and Kings. After dinner we returned to our hotel.

Next day, which is our day 11th, Sep. 16th we packed our luggage and boarded our bus for a long

drive of about 7 hours with stops and lunch it lasted for about 9 hours. The day was tiring for

most of us since we have to sit in the bus and watch some movies and sometimes taking a nap

or watching the beautiful scenery outside on our way back to Switzerland from Italy. We

learned that Italy is a poor country and the pick pocketing is a problem here too. We saw

Bangladeshi merchants in Venice and other places selling fake goods including Swiss watches

including Rolex watches and famous brand leather bags for less than ten Euro per item. In some

places they just surround us and make us to buy souvenirs from them, which we were able to

resist with the help from our tour manager Jehangir.

On day 12th, Sep. 17th we went to Glacier 3000, an everlasting snow mountain about 2971

meter in height, offering beautiful views of the summits of Alps. We need to ascend to the top

by a cable car to Scex Rouge and at the top there is a restaurant where we had our lunch. We

had to wait couple of hours to ascend to the top due to bad weather; the cable care was not

operating. By the time we reached it was time for lunch and we thought we could ride on the

Alpine Coaster, with 520 degree loop, followed by 10 curves, 6 waves, 3 jumps and 2 bridges.

We also thought we could ride on the snow bus in the ice to have a real time experience on the

glaciers. The dinner planned at Mt. Cox and Kings, where you have to go in a cable car again

with Disco dancing also included was also cancelled due to bad weather. Instead we had a gala

dinner in another place, since the place where we stayed might not have enough space to

accommodate our group. But due to bad weather all items were cancelled and we returned

with not having enough fun on the day. We also stopped at Geneva, the seat of United Nations

and took photos including the three legged famous chair in the square in front of United

Nations building. We also saw two groups one seeking release of a Kurdish man from the prison

and another group fighting for military involvement in Kashmir. We also saw a photo of a Sri

Lankan Tamilian adorned with flowers on one of the posts in the square. The square is the place

where anyone can come and seek the attention of any matters to the United Nations. We

reached safely back to Switzerland at Hotel Residence Toscana Verde. We were also not able to

see the tallest fountain in Europe with its while fumes, Jet d’ Eau, but spent some time by the

side of the Geneva lake, which was about 136 kilometers in length. The water is so clear that we

could see the beneath of the lake. We also took photos at the beautiful floral clock in the Jardin

Anglais.

We also undertook two optional tours one to see the waterfalls inside the mountain and the

other Rhine water falls, both were astonishing views especially the waterfalls inside the

mountain, where we have to climb to the top of the mountain by a lift and then climb the steps

by the side of the waterfalls to the top of the mountain. Also the Rhine River Falls, a small

version of the Niagara Falls and the river that flowed from the falls was very beautiful. You

could also see a castle very old on the top of the hill by the side of the water falls. We were not

able to ride the boat by the side of the waterfalls due to time constraint, but surely enjoyed

both the waterfalls inside the mountain and Rhine River Falls and took lot of beautiful photos.

Another surprising thing we saw by the side of the Rhine River Falls is one Indian tea shop

selling Masala Vada and Masala Tea. Some of the couples especially the older ones do not want

to come for both these optional trips, but our tour manager was able to make them to agree

that they will sit in the bus while we visit both these optional sites, which shows his diplomatic

way of handling controversial issues.

On the day 13th, Sep. 18th, we began our second long road trip from Switzerland to Paris, which

took almost 9 hours including stops and stop for lunch. Most of watched Hindi movies, some of

us came forward and sung, some did some jokes etc., and some slept most of the time. We had

our dinner at an Indian restaurant in the evening. Since there were not enough people the

optional ‘Gala Evening Cabaret Show’ was cancelled. But few of us with the help from tour

manager hired a bus and went for evening tour in the city of Paris including the Eiffel Tower

light show at 11 PM. We started at 9 PM with the special bus driver and returned to our hotel

by about 11. 30 PM. It was very beautiful experience to watch the monuments, buildings and

shopping centers of Paris in the night. The Napoleanic Arc De Triompe was very beautiful to see

in the night with its glowing golden colored lights. On the next morning, which is day 14th, Sep.

19th we stopped at the Fragonard, the perfume factory, where they explained us how they

make the best perfumes in the world. We also watched perfumery collections of 3000 years

old. We were also able to purchase Fragonard perfumes at factory price with discounts to

groups, the perfumes, which are only available there and not anywhere in the world. We were

also presented with a gift by the Fragonard perfume factory. Later we visited the Grevin Wax

Museum, a legendary site since 1882, created by Alfred Grevin, where he produced life size wax

models of celebrities. We saw Mahatma Gandhi and their latest addition She Rush Khan among

the wax models of celebrities. Later after lunch, we did a guided tour of the City and saw

famous monuments like Louvre with glass pyramid, Garner’s Opera, the largest opera theater in

the world, the Place de la Concorde – the site of the infamous guillotine, the Champs Elysees –

one of the most fashionable streets in the world. We had a boar boat ride through River Seine

in the evening and watched the monuments, museums of Paris including old and new bridges

including the famous lock bridge. We were told that the number of the museums in Paris is so

large with so many collections; it will take at least 40 years to see all. We also saw during the

day light both the arch of Napoleon and also the Eiffel Tower. We were able to reach up to the

3rd level of the Eiffel Tower, where we were warned by our tour guide about the pick pockets.

In fact we even saw couple of ladies looking for their victims including us, but none of us fell in

to their trap. In Paris we stayed at IBIS, which is the best hotel we stayed during our entire trip.

We had a very good breakfast on both days from the hotels which even exceeded our

expectations about hotels. Our hotel was in the airport terminal itself so that we did not even

need to get taxi to go to our terminal on the next day, which is Sep. 20th. We took the train

from the side of the hotel to our terminal and boarded our flight to Dallas, while few couples

decided to stay one more night in Paris and others left to their places by flight from Paris.

After all, it was one of the most beautiful moments we all enjoyed in our life during the entire

trip. The trip was so planned meticulously and implemented with the help of experienced tour

manager Jehangir from Mumbai. He always seems to contact the office in London and sought

advice for each and everything. Even to have a small change in our itinerary, he obtained

permission from the company in London. The charge for optional tour to ‘Jungfrau’ was

previously collected was $185, but on the day before the tour manager asked if anyone wants

to come and few people wanted to come, but the charge was $190. Some people were

concerned about the increase and contacted the company and next day he got the fax with the

explanation of increase in charge and thus those questioned about the increase in charge was

also happy. We had a very wonderful trip to the top of Europe, even though few older couple

found it difficult when they were at the top, especially walking through the ice covered floor of

the Ice Castle to view the ice carvings. The hotel where we stayed in Leysin in Switzerland on

our way back from Italy to Paris was not of 4 star quality. We were told that Cox and Kings

could not get the good hotels since all the rooms in the regular hotels were booked by other

groups. Similarly, we especially those from United States and few others from Middle East feel

that we should have been provided with local food at least one time a day instead of Indian

food both for lunch and dinner. But it appeared some people especially the old folks enjoyed

Indian food both times especially the vegetarian food. Other than this one hotel and the food

we ate at Venice from an Italian restaurant is not of standard quality. They only gave us one

type of pizza with cheese only with some rice and French fries and ketchup. We thoroughly

enjoyed the entire trip, the tour group and most importantly the service of the tour manager

Jehangir. We recommend Cox and Kings for your next trip and visit their web site

www.coxandkings.com for more details about their trips both in India and outside India.

Note: We express our gratitude to Cox and Kings, London, our tour manager Jehangir Bhanja,

and all members of the group for their support, co-operation and patience in making our tour a

life time memorable event for each one of us. The nature and monuments photos are mainly

taken by Lal Varghese, Esq., Dallas and photos with people especially the group photos are

taken by Mr. Jehangir Bhanja and also me and wife’s photos and few other photos shown here

are taken by Suresh Babu, Dubai. The above memorable experience and photo selections are

done by Lal Varghese, Esq. at the request of Cox and Kings, London. Thank you again for all of

you for a wonderful and memorable trip we have taken in our life. Lal Varghese, Esq., can be

reached at his phone number (972) 788-0777 or at his e-mail address: attylal@aol.com. His web

site is www.indiaimmigrationusa.com and Facebook page: www.facebook.com/usattorney or

www.facebook.com/attylal. Thanks.

Contact Information for Cox and Kings, London: www.coxandkings.com.