Ranganthitu in Natures Lap

Destination Ranganthitu - On the long weekend in August we fled away from day to day city life to rest in lap of nature. Another aim was to educate or make our son know about the real India. I am sure all of you are tierd fo the Monday to firday work and want to destress yourself. Well then this is perfect place at 3-4 hours drive from Bangalore Whitefield.

Frist day- Since we started late from whitefield we landed up in Mysore in the evening. So Vrindavan Garden was the only option left for us on that day. My son Smit loves watching the fountains and the waterfalls in the garden. Specially when they get lit up with lights post 7 PM.

Where to stay - Resort Cute While heading towards the Vridavan garden we spoted the resort in the small village near Raganthitu Bird Scatuary - The Cute Resort. It is noting but small piece of farm land converted in to resort. So initially we were skeptical. Since there were not many options left at last minute we did booking in the resort. Next day morning we visited the Mysore Zoo and reached the resort in the afternoon. The everything in the resort was clear and tidy including the rooms. The food service provided in the restaurant was also good. We were quiet impressed with their buffet breakfast.

Evening Activities in farm land near the resort

The resort has small swimming pool. My husband being swimming enthusiast wanted to get into the water. However our main aim was to show our four year old son the Farm land and other domesticated animals so we skipped swimming and moved out for stroll.
Train tracks / Crossing Another of the fascinating feature of the resort - Its bang in front of the railway line. Since our son is avid admirer of Thomas Train he just loved watching trains pass through the paddy and sugar cane fields.
Cattle There were goats, sheep and cattle grazing around. By evening 6 o clock it was time for all of them to return to their shade.
Milking of the Cow I wanted my son to sit on the bullock cart so we decided to walk towards the village. On our way - we spotted farmer couple milking cow. Since its something which our kids will get to see in the current hustle bustle of the city, we decided to stop and show the same to our son. On their permission we started taking video of the same. After milking enough, they let the calf drink the mothers milk. My son was quiet curious watching the baby drinking mothers milk. As per him - Only mummy cow and baby cow were there. However he was trying to figure out where is the babys father. The farmer couple were kind enough to offer us cup of tea from the fresh milk. We did accepted their offer. Their son who was able to speak in English later joined us. He showed us the recently harvested Ginger yield. Also the other spice, fruits and vegetable plants and tress around their house.
Bullock Ploughing the fields The next day morning we had planed to visit the farm land since scenic photographs are best taken in the early morning sunlight. There were some farmers ploughing the fields with bullocks. My son is a big fan of excavator, dump truck, tractor etc machines. He could have never imagined Bullocks ploughing or digging the soil in the farm. So it was good practical knowledge session for him.

Lake Palace Udaipur

The Lake Palace in Udaipur, Rajasthan, India popularly known as Taj Lake Palace. It is actually a Palace built by Maharaja of Udiapur. It is located on natural island in the Lake Pichola, Udiapur and is constructed with white marble stone. It is one of the most photographed historic monunment of India. The Palace is now converted to a hotel and operates under Indias most popular brand Taj Hotels. Like all other Rajasthani Palaces, it features many courtyards, terraces, fountains and gardens. The tourist reach the destination with help of the jetty which operates from the City Palace.
Being an expensive affair, we just managed to capture a glimpse of it from the top of the City Palace Udaipur.

Accomodation Tips, Niagara

We had planned a three day trip to Niagara. I searched for the cheapest hotel rates and found a Marriots in the outskirts of the Niagara prime area. Abhi had received Marriots Gift cheques from Credit card loyality points and we decided to spend the cheques for this trip. The Courtyard hotel was offering rooms at 90 $ per day inclusive of continental breakfast facility. One needs to pay toll of 6 or 7 dollars to approach the Niagara Falls from the hotel. I was house wife at that time on H4 visa and was trying to save each and every cent. So the trip was carefully planned after a lot of rearch. The saving started from calling the resort and asking them for additional refrigerator in the room. I had cooked lot of Indian snacks and carried them to the trip. We breached the peak of cost cutting by even carrying the small microwave oven in the car. In this way, we saved almost 20 USD for each meal and also saved on the extra charge for kitchen facility in the hotel room. Over all it was saving of 150 USD. This was quiet bit of saving which could be used for next trip. :)

Deepdale Farm

The Deepdale farm is family run business. The farm has converted old barn in to hostel. The farm also offers camping site and stay in Tippis for tourist. Tippis are white tents and they offer bedding in those tents for the guests. The farm also offers kitchen and the barbeque area for the tourist staying in the hostel. As a marketing stunt the farm offers free Barbeque on Sunday nights or Monday nights on Long weekends. This might be lucrative offer for some tourist. The farm does not offer you breakfast. However lack of breakfast facility is reflected in the price which they offer you. The hostel was clean and tidy and very nice place to stay.I would definitely recommend visit to the Deepdale farm.

Zurich

We reached Zurich at 5:30 pm. As usual we had booked room in Youth Hostel.
At the station, we figured out the next day’s plan and time table for train to Zurich Airport.
Then we took tram and reached the Hostel.

Zurich Bag packer Hostel:

There was only one hostel located in City centre of Zurich so we decided to opt for that.

I would recommend not staying in any hostel in metropolitan city. It’s difficult to get cheap, clean and safe place in heart of metropolitan city. It’s worth spending some more money and staying in a good hotel in outskirts of the city.

Zurich sight seeing:

We walked along streets of Zurich. We visited a church, wall and strolled along banks of the river. There was river cruise available, but we did not opted for it as we already had enjoyed two long cruises in Luzern and Interlaken.

Shopping in Zurich:

We bought some wine chocolates from local super market COOP.
On the Kaufman Street, I bought two perfumes bottles.
Last but not the least, we did a lot of window shopping on the Kaufmans Street.

Train to Zurich Airport:

We took a train at evening at Zurich airport. The journey to airport is about 15 minutes to half an hour. After check in we relaxed at the airport and then ultimately caught flight to London Heathrow.
For those who have visited many European cities, I would recommend to skip Zurich and make a short and sweet trip.

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Evening at the Grindelwald

Shopping at Grindelwald Market

After reaching Grindelwald, we did some shopping at the market. We bought some fruits, juice and chocolates. If that was not enough, we also bought some ice cream for us. The sugar in the ice-cream helped us to reduce the headache caused by lack of oxygen at JungfrauJoch.

Evening at the Grindelwald Youth hostel

We reached the youth hostel and had shower. After the shower we sat in the balcony of the youth hostel, enjoying the exotic views of the Swiss Alps. It was one of the most relaxing moment in my life, sitting in midst of the nature and enjoying every bit of it.

In the evening we enjoyed Kase Fondu dinner.

Grindelwald Youth hostel Pictures:

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Stay Interlaken Youth Hostel

The Interlaken Youth hostel is situated near Interlaken east station. We had to exit the station and take bus to the hostel. The bus fair is covered in the Swizz rail pass. The youth hostel was quiet a walk from the bus stop and would not recommend it for those with family or those who are used to travel by car. We checked in the hostel.

Dinner at banks of Interlaken Lake

One funny incident in the Youth hostels Dormitory

I am sure it’s not part of the blog theme but would like to mention it though. We were travelling in Switzerland on the Easter weekend and so were others. Not to mention, the youth hostel was fully booked. We were put up in 16 bed dormitory. We had to catch early morning train to Jungfrau Joch, so thought of going early to the bed. But some time later the room became noisy. Fortunately or not we had some more Indians in the room. All of them were software engineers in IT Company working on some project in Germany.
They started talking in thier local language loudly when others were fast asleep. One person in the group started hunting things in his bag and had to switch on the lights. This really went on to our nerves. The reason for all the hassle was that he had forgotten to bring his towel. When he was asking his colleagues travelling along with him for solution, one person suggested that they will share his towel. Eeeeeks!!!!! What on earth can make you do that? Can’t they think of contagious diseases, bla, bla…Ultimately one of the team members found out that towels can be bought at the reception and the issue was resolved.

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Base location in Lake District

If you are planning to visit Lake district National Park, you firstly need to decide on base location. We had selected Lake Windermere to camp. However there are many other options available.

1. Windermere
2. Ambleside
3. Uls water
4. Kendal
5. Keswick

Are few locations which can be made as base. Its advisable to have car with you to explore the most beautiful regions of the Lake district National Park. If you dont have one then you might have to probably rent one.

Accomodation in Lake district

There are lots of accomodation facilities available in Lake district.

1. Camping - I would recommend you to Camp on the banks of Lake winderemere. Its the best option available and you have to plan in advance to get the perfect camping site.
2. Caravans - Just like camping there are loads of sites which offer Carvanans facilities also. We havent explored much about it.
3. Hotels : There are many hotels available in Lake district region. The charges soar high on bank holidays and weekends in summer. The hotels rates vary according to their proximity from the lake. More nearer the hotel is from lake, the more costlier it is.
4. Bed and Breakfast - The tourist have another option of bed and breakfast similar and its similar to the hotels. It is mostly housed in huge British home. The family usually stays on the ground floor and they rent out other rooms. Breakfast is served early in the morning. For those who are travelling in UK for the first time, its good experience to see English culture.
5. Youth Hostels: Youth hostels usually have shared accomodation facilities with multiple bed bunkers in single room. They might have private rooms with ensuite facilities. The rates differ accordingly. Its usually safe to stay in Youth hostels in outskirts of the city. I would recommend you to check the neighbourhood if you are planing to stay in City.

End of Day trip to Venice, Italy

We finished our dinner by 10 o clk at night and headed to the Venice Santa Lucia Station.
Since we had booked Hotel Ala Casa Rosa at Treviso. We should thank the hotel owner, a kind lady by whose courtesy, we were able to enjoy our dinner. She was willing to come and pick us up at Treviso Station at mid-night. You need to buy tickets for the train to Treviso.
Venice Santa Lucia is one ferry stop before Pizzale Ro

ma. We got down at Pizzale Roma and had caught another water bus to return to Train station. The hotel owner offered us room which was bank opposite the Treviso airport. We reached hotel had shower and had brief sleep.
Next day we had early morning flight to Rome.