Author: Akhil Nanda

I am Still Trying To Write ...

The Modern Jaipur!

Rajasthan! A side of India! That makes you feel Royal and Rich! A state that has the best Indian food and every hotel is a palace in its on way having an Modern or an old-world charm. This was a trip to Jaipur after a decade. And while the city did not seem to have changed much. The City surprising had quite a few cafes and restaurants opened up. The Patrika Gate, The Palace and the Hawa Mahal we’re so royal. The hotels we stayed at Raas Rajmahal were a modern luxury palace with interiors and architecture just like a palace.
While on our Visit we visited some of the cafes & restaurants that had their specialities.
Spice Court was our only stop for Laal Maas. Steam at Rambagh was an experience. Seated on a first-class coach in a train-shaped restaurant. The Indian platter were very good. They are also known for their pizzas.
We visited The Johri at the Johri Bazaar. They are a pure Veg restaurant with amazing food and interiors. They are also a boutique hotel with about five Suites rooms each named after a gem stone.

Manak (ruby) is hues of pink, Moti (pearl) is white, Sona (gold) is yellow, Neelam (sapphire) is light blue, and Panna (emerald) is pale greenThe Johri is managed by Honawar Hospitality group that has cafes like Pantry & woodside inn that are popular in Mumbai.
We also visited Bar Palladio & Shikaar Bagh restaurant & Bar that’s part of Naraian Niwas Palace an Instagramable destination and in recent times has gained popularity through web series. The interiors have been done up by Dutch designer Marie-Anne Oudejans has kept the essence of Rajasthan and Jaipur in the interiors. The space also has a few interesting designer stores in them that have a lot of Rajasthani elements to it.

Cafes that we enjoyed on our visit were The Curious Life Roasters, Half light Coffee Roaster and Town Coffee. Town Coffee also had a nice gourmet store to satisfy and to experience your home chefs skills.

Curious breakfast and coffee experience was something totally unexpected for Jaipur. Over the next two days we realised Coffee & cafe culture

Is huge here! Something that isn’t read or spoken about so much when you think about Jaipur! 

Another thing that was good to observe was the cafes & restaurants had plenty of books on their shelves to read Curious life Roaster by the owner has an interesting story Neeraj Sheoran the owner & roster While working in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was introduced to coffee roasting and in 2015 began the Curious life Roaster in Jaipur. Half light by is a family-run neighbourhood coffee shop in Jaipur that has been there for the last couple of years..

The Bernina express & moving around Europe.

Bernina Express:

A journey that we had to experience once in our lifetime at least. Should we go to Zurich or should we go from Zurich and with not enough time. We planned out our exit from Zurich and so we did it through from Milan- Tirano to Chur. A four-hour journey going through the shades of greens and blues and tunnels with Lindt chocolates and Cherry liqueur for some company. The journey was lovely with the rains, the views and the comfortable space. A long time ago we had done the Glacier express Zermatt to St. Moritz and while that was covered with snow this journey was more greens, mountains, and waters through the journey. Maybe because more into the Italian region and little of Swiss. The train climbs up to the 2253 m high.

Planning to Travel:

Buy a Eurarail mobile pass: Depending on the days and countries you are travelling buy the pass. If it’s more than one country buy the Global pass.

Next, log in to the app.

And make the entry of all the passengers who would travel along with you.

Passport details and other basic information.

Make one Trip on the app:

Create a trip and add all the passengers.

Choose your preferred train time and soon one QR Ticket would be displayed on the app.

Now keep adding the journeys ( Intercountry, or outer country you would like to take)

And with the preferred time, you will soon have multiple QR Ticket under the first group you made for all your trips.

Now, whenever the Ticket collector comes to view your ticket it’s all there.

Do not buy a swiss pass it’s more expensive.

In case you are travelling with Zurich Via trams, Trains or public transport buy a Zurich card.

For Italy Milan :

Buy the ATM card – This can be used for Trams, Buses and Metro. A convenient fast way of travelling around Milan.

We always use public transport as much as possible to explore the city like a local.

Italy & Swiss 2022!

Already been a week!
The trip was in many ways a Deja Vu experience.
Right from the moment, we landed in the city of Zurich! Seemed like time had stopped moving since we were last here seven years ago.
The roads, the streets, and the stores they seemed like nothing had changed.
We moved around here without google maps.
And since it was Sunday as we walked down the streets, we were predicting the stores that will be coming and just next to that is where we should meet in case we get lost.
As we continued our journey to explore the other side of Switzerland.

Thank God things were different. Else it would have been a crazy holiday experience.
We explored the Italian- Mediterranean side of Switzerland Lugano and Lausanne & Montreux.
Lausanne was known for the Olympic Museum, and Montreux was very much like Como and Lugano was like the typical European small-town charm.
These towns were in their way beautiful and as we travelled to each of them. We could notice many shades of blue water. The narrow streets with colourful structures were some of the things we missed about Europe and travelling in the last couple of years…
Italy – Milan Centrale station seemed to have changed a little. But the structure remained the same. Dumao the cathedral and the shopping centre both were nostalgic experiences. As it was a decade ago or the 1st European trip ever from India was to Italy. The Cafes, the tourist buzz and the stores in this hundred of years old architecture and space were worth revisiting too.
Venice: The Land of Espresso! And coffee for Italy. The San Marco square, the faint memory of remembering the Florian Cafe being a little around that particular column, the walk past the bridges and the boat experience that we did this time from the station that had gone through a complete makeover from the last time we were in Venice in 2012.
We did not do the gondola ride this time as we just had a day in Venice.
Quite a few new stores opened and many remained where they were!
I remember this particular store that would have Ferrari & F1 merchandise and this was the time I was more interested and related Italy with Cars like Ferrari that I wanted to just go and visit this store!
There were too many stories that I relived on this trip to Italy & Switzerland.

Planning to travel around Switzerland. Some of the cities around Zurich & Geneva are mentioned below.

Train Travel from Zurich:

  • Lausanne – 2 Hr 15 Min.
  • Montreux – 15 from Lausanne( 2 Hr 30 Min from Zurich)
  • Lugano – 2 Hr
  • Fribourg  – 1 Hr 30 Min.
  • Lucerne –  45 Min.
  • Bern – 1 Hr.
  • Basel – 1 Hr 10 Min
  • Zermatt – 3 Hr 12 Min
  • St. Moritz – 3 Hr 22 Min

Train Travel from Geneva:

  • Interlaken – 2 Hr 15 min
  • Montreux – 1 Hr 10 Min
  • Lausanne – 45 Min

Starting up!

The USA!
Most of the trends and innovations come from there! And that might be because they are trying to solve the sustainability issue’s with simple solutions. And it’s not just one category they are solving problems .They are solving most of the problems that they think matter.
A start-up ‘clove ‘had the idea of finding a solution for the healthcare to have comfort while being on their toes and launched a shoe that is easy to clean, fashionable, Stylish and you can stand with it for hours.
And then you have ‘stoggles’which are fashionable, Stylish frames that are anti Fogg and affordable again mainly targeting the healthcare sector.
Then you have’ Huue ‘a denim ware start-up brand that aims to make denim by converting sugar into indigo dye a sustainable way of making denim.
Another start up ‘Rothys ‘is a footwear start up that is making shoes by recycling single use of plastic bottles! One pairs of shoe takes about 20 odd plastic bottles.

Start up with great possibilities!

https://goclove.com/products/clove-shoe-mens-lunar-fade

https://www.huue.bio

https://stoggles.com

https://rothys.com/collections/mens-shoes