Vatican: The City of God

There are very few places on earth which could be said to belonging to God more than they do to us mortals. India has quite a lot of such cities cutting across religious lines. In case of Europe if ever there was a city which could be called thus then it must be Vatican City or as the Catholics call it the 'Holy See'. It was to this reverent city of God that i headed to next on my EuroTrip

December 28, 2009, Monday

Vatican City sits deep in the heart of Rome like a pearl resting within an oyster. Its as if the City of God lies inside the den of mortals who both protect as well as revere it. As i walk across the Chilly Roman streets early in the morning i am seized by the excitement of the impending day as well as the trepidation of the notorious queues at the Vatican Museum. So much is the notoriety of the queues that i start my march at 6 in the morning despite the fact that the museum doors open only at 8.

The Roman street stopped suddenly in front of the enormous Vatican wall as if it dreaded its holy premises. As i began to walk along the Vatican wall the first thing i notice is the enormous height it had. Also the signage on the wall was written in Latin and not Italian. Of course i thought, after all Latin - the great classical language of the west - was the official language of Vatican. It is the only place on earth where the grand old dead language is still kept alive albeit as part of tradition.

The wall led me to the entrance of the Vatican museum. Thankfully there was no queue yet as i was the first person to arrive on that day. Now, the problem with arriving first is that you don't know where the queue is! So i meandered my way around the entrance searching for any indications for a queue and found none. Finally i got to know where the queue started from a helpful security person and stood there. Because of my early arrival i had to wait for almost 2 hours for the museum doors to open. As i stood waiting patiently i could not help but notice the beautiful entrance door made of stone. It was pink in color which went well with the color of the Walls and had statues of Michelangelo and Raphael mounted on top. That was quite an intelligent selection i thought as no two individuals had done more for the artistic glory of the Vatican as these two and richly deserved to be ordained at the entrance welcoming guests.

Finally after two hours of wait the doors of the museum were thrown open. As i entered i was struck by the very modern lobby which had state of the art facilities. It reminded me of the Louvre which also had an old exterior but a very modern lobby. As i mumbled my broken Italian i got the ticket which was a work of art in itself. It had the figures of Aristotle and Plato taken from Raphael's famous painting - School of Athens- printed on its rear. A remarkable ticket indeed.

The Vatican Museum is one of the oldest and biggest art museums in the world matched only by the Louvre in Paris. If the French kings patronized the Louvre , the Vatican museum owes its collections to the Roman Catholic church and the 266 popes who have headed it for the last two thousand years. The popes were on par if not higher than the other kings in terms of power and wealth. The mortal kings reigned over a piece of earth whereas the popes claimed to rule the entire earth and even beyond.

On entering the Museum i first headed to the main courtyard with its beautifully kept garden which gleaned in the early morning sun. The best part of the courtyard was the sight of the dome of St. Peter's which peeked ever so slightly above the walls of the courtyard. It was a sight to behold even at such a far distance. Next i headed inside to some really magnificent corridors. Each corridor or sections of it was dedicated to a certain pope who had accumulated all the wonderful art work he could muster. The artworks ranged from statues from classical Greece to those of the Roman period and surprisingly were in pretty good shape considering how old they were. Also each of these corridors had exquisitly painted walls and cielings by renowned artists. The themes were mostly biblical and were clear and beautiful even though they were hundreds of years old.

As i moved from one corridor to another my eyes were having a tough time keeping pace with the magnificent views on offer. Suddenly i entered another corridor , however this one was filled with a beautiful array of Tapestries again dealing with biblical themes. I wondered what it must have been for these popes to live in such a wonderful atmosphere. One corridor led to another and this corridor was interestingly called the 'Room of Maps'. True to its name its walls were adorned with maps of various places. Rome to start with and then the various regions of Italy and then Italy and its various islands and so on. A Pope who was obsessed with maps must have commissioned this room i thought.

As i said earlier Raphael was one of the great artists who worked almost exclusively at the Vatican. His work is so much extensive that there are several rooms painted by him and are eponymously called as the 'Raphael rooms'. The Rooms were just brilliant and were supreme examples of high Renaissance art. The themes were much more wider here ranging from stories and characters of the classical age to the modern catholic period. What astounded me most was the level of detail that seemed to be present in each and every painting. Even though the paintings looked similar they were individually very different and unique.

One of the rooms contained Raphael's most famous work - the School of Athens, the painting reproduced on the ticket. This remarkable painting is set in an imaginary time and space and depicts a bunch of famous Greeks who were present at various times during the great Classical age in the city of Athens. The place though imaginary resembled the inside of St.Peter's. It had the who's who of the Classical age. In the center the philosophers Plato and Aristotle were depicted with Pythagoras standing alone drawing his triangles , Euclid too was present with his circles teaching geometry to his students, Socrates too was arguing with a fellow philosopher, Zoroaster was also present with a globe in his hand, Diogenes the cynic was lying on the ground as usual disappointed with the world around. The Entire painting was mesmerizing and transported me to the Athens of the great classical age. Next I went through a collection of ancient sculptures and artworks from ancient Rome and also a great Egyptian collection which included a 3000 year old mummy.

Finally it was time to head to the crowning glory of the Vatican Museum, the Sistine Chapel, the private chapel of the Pope himself. Chapel's are an essential part of the layout of any Roman catholic church. Its like a church within a church dedicated to saints and patrons. However the Sistine chapel is unique in the way that it is more elaborate and famous than any individual church in the world. As i enter within what hits me first is the avalanche of frescoes that greet the eyes. The frescoes are everywhere, on the walls , cieling and also on the main alter. Each and every freesco is a work of supreme art. Michealangelo's genius drips from each and every fresco. It is interesting that all his life Michaelangelo thought of himself as a sculpture, in fact untill he painted the sistine chapel he was primarily a sculpture, however today most people in the world remember him as a great painter! When Michaelangelo was given the commision first he actually thought that it was a conspiracy by the church which wanted to prove him as a failure, however after years of sheer effort and genius Michaelangelo proved to the world what a gifted artist he was.

As i stared at the cieling above it was a feast to my eyes. The frescoes depicted scenes from the bible and except for a small patch in the middle were contigous. Each scene was so beautifully rendered and the richness of color was so appealing to the eyes. As the eyes shifted their gaze from the cieling to the main alter the view was even more spectacular. The alter had the painting of the Judgement day and the whole scene was breath taking. The Sistine chapel is where the popes pray and also the place where they are elected. This must be one buzzing place during the papal election - the famous Il Conclave - i thought to myself.


As i came out of the museum i felt a bit dazed after viewing all those impressive artworks. It was as if i had stepped out from another world. It was now time to go to the heart of the Vatican - St. Peter's Basilica. As i walked along the road towards St.Peter's the magnificent collonades of the St.Peter's square came into view. The collonodes and the Square were built by Bernini and the great artist wanted his enormous square to be sheilded in a ring of collonades so that the vistor emerges through the collonades and is surprised by the vast expanse of the square. The artist's surprise worked as i emerged through the collonades my breath was taken away by the magnificent Square of St.Peters. Its difficult to explain how big the square really is. The mass of humanity assembled there looked like honey bees in a honey comb. The square sloped ever so slightly towards the center and at the center stood a magnificent Obelisque. As i approached the obilisque the first of the two fountains came into view. The square actually is not a square its an ellipse and there are two fountains placed at the two focal points. These two fountains are designed by Bernini again and if you actually stand at one of the fountains and face the nearest section of the collonades the circular collonades actually seem to be in a straight line. The view of the square from the Obelisque was beautiful. The collonades encircled the square as if like a hand drawing the faithful to the bosom of Chirstendom. And at the head of the square was the great St.Peter's Basilica, the center of Christendom itself.


St.Peter's church is built on top of a mound where St.Peter was crucified and buried. It was the time of early Christendom in Rome which was still very much a pagan city and Christianity , a new religion of the slaves. St.Peter had come to Rome to spread the message of Christ, however he was captured , tortured and finally crucified much like Christ but head over heals and buried in this desolate mound. However times changed and Rome adopted Christianity and St.Peter was revered now and the new centre of Christianity demanded a befitting Church. Thus in the 1500s this magnificent church came into existance which was designed by Bramante. As i entered the Basilica the first thing i noticed was the sheer area of the interior. It almost looked as expansive as the square outside.

St.Peter's is really the most magnificent church in the world. You can imagine the way the Roman catholic church would have poured all its wealth and commissioned the greatest artists of that time to work on the church. And the result is there to see. As i enter, the main alter of the church came into view encased in Bernini's gigantic copper baldacchino. The Alter in fact refers the exact place under neath which St.Peter is buried. and the baldacchino encases it and Michaelangelo's great dome hover's almost mid air on top of the baldacchino. The effect was so overwhelming that its difficult to put it in words. The word 'small' did not exist within the basilica. Everything seemed so large and enormous. Even minor chapels were as big as some decent sized church. Each chapel was a magnificent work of art with superb sculptures and paintings.


Seeing the magnificence of the chappel i imagined what it must be during an actual mass. It must be some atmosphere as the Pope enters this magnificent basillica and stands over the alter and delivers his message. It must be one of the great places of the earth to deliver sermons. The most fascinating moment for me was standing underneath the great dome. The dome was constructed by Michealangelo and at that time was the largest domes in the world. A dome of its size had not been attempted after building the Pantheon. Still Michealangelo took up the challenge and built this magnificent doom.

After standing underneath the dome it was time to go to its top. After an hour in the queue and 350 steps i was on my way to the top of the dome. The climb was fascinating as with every rung of the spiraling staircase the space inside became narrower and narrower and finally after what seemed i was on top of the dome. The view from there was simply unreal. The enormous St.Peter's square was visible in all its glory and the thousands who had thronged it were also visible. The colonnades with there impeccably crafted statues were also visible. The exertion of the climb was replaced by sheer exhilaration. As i looked afar i could see other roman attractions. Straight from the square i could see the dreaded Castle Angelo papal fortress with the magnificent bridge of angels over the Tiber leading to it. Also visible was the Vatican Museum that i had traveled in the morning and the papal offices. The great Tiber river was also visible snaking through the city. The City of Rome looked truly beautiful from the dome and i was feeling so lucky that i had been here.

As i got down from the dome and exited the basilica into the square i felt a strange dizziness in my head. The like of which you experience after experiencing something so momentous. I had always dreamed of coming here and the dream had finally come true. The City of God had truly lived up to its Godly reputation.

Rome: Caput Mundi

All roads lead to it and it was not built in one day. Yes, i am talking about the eternal city - Rome. No city has got so much aura around it and so many nick names to call as Rome, such is the power the city has held over millennia. At its peak people even referred it as Caput Mundi - Capital of the World in Latin. It is to this city i lumber into as part of my Eurotrip.

December 27, 2009, Sunday

Day 1 - The Eternal City

The train lunged into the station and came to a screeching halt that informed me that Rome had arrived. The weather outside seemed very soothing even though it was 10 degrees compared to the -15 i had experienced back in Sweden. The scene outside looked a bit chaotic with students screaming, police officers talking on their walkie-talkies and in a way reminded me of India. No wonder the Italians are called the Indians of Europe!

Rome lurks between two ages, the great classical age of the Roman empire and the Post-Renaissance age of Roman Catholicism. Its astonishing that these two ages are separated by over a thousand years and there is absolutely no trace of those intermediate thousand years around you now. Its almost as if history has erased those thousand years from the account book of time. I start my sojourn though from the center of the Roman Empire.


The Colosseum could be argued to be representing the cruelty of the Roman empire. What with thousands of people being murdered there in cold blood just for the pleasure of the masses. However it has to be looked in the context of those times which were anyway barbaric and violent and the games too reflected that. Also the architecture needs to be enjoyed nevertheless.

As i stepped onto the premises of the Colosseum the supreme edifice came into view. As it was still early morning i was able to easily get the ticket and jumped inside. The inside looked more like the skeleton of the once magnificent building. Cant blame it as its been exposed to elements and humanity for over two thousand years. I imagined what it must have looked during the glory days of the Roman empire with thousands of people cheering and jeering from the stands. It must have been quite an exhilarating experience for the people, both in the stands and in the middle.



A stones throw distance from the Colosseum is the Arc of Constantine which leads you into the Palentine hill. This was the hill where legend goes that Rome was founded by Romulus who was suckled by a she-wolf in one of its caves. The legend aside it was a center of power both during the Roman republic as well as the empire, more so probably during the days of the empire as the King stayed here. Most of the buildings are in ruin here and one can only imagine their magnificence in those bygone days.

The Palantine hill overlooks the Roman Forum. Again a center of power especially during the days of the Roman republic when Rome was ruled not by a king but by a group of people who upheld the republican tradition and took collective decisions. The contrast between the Palantine hill and the Forum is striking if you observe keenly. There was always a struggle for power between the Palantine hill and the Forum. Whenever the republican spirit was high the Forum held sway while when the empire ruled the Palantine hill was prominent. So the history of the Roman age can be followed from observing these two sites. Also striking is the kind of buildings gracing these two sites. The Palantine hill had buildings representing the empire - palaces, baths , Circuses for chariot races etc. and the Forum had more republican buildings for public purposes such as the Senate which was like a parliament, Temples, the Tabulary where accounts used to be kept etc. The contrast is simply fascinating.

As i walked through the ruins of the Forum i was transported back to the days of the Roman age especially when i saw the Senate. This was a building which is bettered preserved than the other buildings and was the place where the elders of the republic held their discourses about the running of the government. It was the same site where Julius Ceaser was assassinated two thousand years ago. Thinking about what must have happened during that day during the Ides of march sent a chill through my spine.

A small climb from the Forum transports you to the Capitoline hill which has the eponymous museum. This hill is like a border separating two Romes. Behind it you have the Rome of the Roman age and in front of it you have Post-Renaissance Rome. Abutting the Capitoline hill you have the Vittor Emmanuel monument which is both the most modern and most despised building in all of Rome. It was built as a monument to the King under whom Italy was reunified during the 19th century, but this 'new' building really looks out of place considering the plethora of old classical buildings around it! Heading from the Vittor Emmanuel monument i got onto the most famous street in Rome the Via del Corso which took me to the most famous fountain in Rome - the Trevi fountain.


Rome is a city of fountains. There are close to 200 fountains in this great city which is a great tribute to Roman engineering which made it possible. Drawing water from far off sources and providing for the citizens in some of the most well crafted fountains is a feat to be lauded. The most famous of all fountains is the Trevi fountain. Thus named because it stands at the apex of three converging roads it is a tribute to the roman God of the seas - Neptune. The sight of the fountain is one to behold. Neptune majestically arrives in his chariot drawn by sea horses which is announced by a couple of conch blowing Tritons as water gushes with an enormous sound and crashes into the floor of the fountain. The enormous noise of the fountain is partially drowned by the noise of hoards of people jostling to get near the fountain. As i got near the fountain i noticed that the water was so clear and creates a rumbling noise before coming into view. What a setting for a fountain, no wonder its the best fountain in the world.


From the best fountain in the world i moved to one of the oldest surviving buildings in all of Rome, the Pantheon. The Pantheon was built 2000 years ago as a monument to house the Gods of the Roman Pantheon, but in Christian Rome these statues were removed and the place was converted into a roman catholic church. It is a unique monument. An ancient obelisk from Egypt leads you to the magnificent cylindrical building. The enormous pillars welcome you to the inside.Once inside the eyes do not move ahead or sidewards but upwards to the magnificent dome. The dome is an engineering marvel which could not be replicated by humanity for 1500 years. The engineering design of the dome was so perfect and complicated that it was lost during the middle ages and since then it has been both a conundrum and an inspiration for dome builders around the world. The dome has a circular opening in the middle called the oculus which gives the place an out of the world feeling. As the suns rays enter the oculus the beams forms a limelight and follow through the interior of the Pantheon giving an ethereal effect. No wonder the ancients found this to be a deeply spiritual experience. The Pantheon must be a one of a kind Roman catholic church. For one it is spherical instead of the usual cross shape as the ancients believed the sphere to be the most divine and perfect shape ion the cosmos. There are various chapels dedicated to various famous people , however the one that caught my attention was the tomb of the great renaissance artist Raphael who is buried here. The walls are adorned with some magnificent paintings and sculptures which are a sheer joy to behold.

A few steps from the Pantheon takes you to the magnificent Piazza Navonna, the most famous square in Rome. The Piazza is in an oval shape as it used to be a Circus for chariot races during the Roman empire. It is adorned by three brilliant fountains , all of them build by Gialorenzo Bernini and a beautiful church completes the background. The church is interestingly named St.Agnes in Agony and was built by the famous Borromini. Bernini and Borrominiare are two artists whose creations you will see right around Rome. Most of what you see around modern Rome is owing to these two geniuses and together they effectively created Baroque Rome.


The Central fountain at Piazza Navona is the Fountain of the Four rivers. It is a tribute to the four great rivers of the ancient world - Nile, Amazon,River plate and the Ganges. Each river is represented by a classical allegorical figure who together hold up an obelisk. As roman fountains go its simply superb. There is an interesting urban legend concerning this fountain. As rivalries go, Bernini and Borromini were the fiercest of the lot and could not stand each other, hence legend goes that one of the river Gods facing the St.Agnes church twists his face away from the church in disgust - Bernini's way of putting down Borromini. Not sure how true this legend is though. The Piazza is rounded up by two more magnificent fountains, the fountain of Neptune and the Fountain of the moor on either side of the central fountain, both being Bernini creations.

Next i crossed the Via del Corso and headed to the Piazza Barberini which has another fountain crafted by Bernini, this one is called the Tritone Fountain and depicts a minor sea God called Triton seated on a shell blowing a spring of water over his head through a conch shell. This is what i like about Rome, masterpieces are strewn all across the city almost casually and one keeps bumping into them routinely.


A few minutes walk from the Triton fountain i came to the famous Spanish Steps at Piazza Spagna. This is one of the main meeting points in Rome and i can understand why. At one end you have the elegant row of steps laid on the face of a hill marching upto an ancient obelisk with the church of Trinita del Monti hiding behind it. On the other side you have a busy shopping street with the magnificent Fountain of the old boat at its apex. Bernini is at it again and has crafted this beautiful fountain which depicts a drowning boat with water seeping through from various places. As it was the Christmas season the place was overcrowded with locals as well as tourists. It almost looked like a meeting of the United Nations with people of every nationality sitting on the famed steps!

A little walk from the Piazza Spagna leads you to the famous Piazza del Popolo. Its fascinating how the narrow street suddenly opened into this gigantic square. This is typical of not just Rome but of entire Italy. One winds through narrow streets loaded with pedestrians and shops and suddenly when you least expect it end up in a large piazza. Its like a pleasant surprise being given to the traveler.

The Piazza del Popolo is one of the biggest squares in Rome and has an enormous Obelisk in the Center. I am amazed how many obelisks are there in Rome. You find them everywhere. The reason lies in the mindset of the erstwhile Roman emperors. The Romans even though were the dominant political force at the start of the first century AD always had a sort of inferiority complex when it came to the Egyptians. They felt that how much ever power they wield they never had the cultural legacy of the Egyptians which even in those times was very old and culturally advanced. With this mindset in place when Rome eventually conquered Egypt they tried to not only benefit from Egypt financially but also culturally. Thus began the gradual transportation of obelisks from various parts of Egypt to Rome and that is the reason you see so many obelisks in Rome. I can in fact take a bet that there are far more obelisks standing in Rome than in any Egyptian city.

Th Piazza del Popollo apart from the square itself has numerous churches. There are a set of twin churches at one end and at the other end there is the famous Santa Maria del Popolo church. The church though not so magnificent on the outside is a treasure trove of art on the inside. Inside you have some great paintings from Carravagio and some mind blowing Baroque sculptures from Bernini. It was interesting to contrast the classical sculptures of the Roman age with those of the Baroque age of say Bernini's. The classical sculptures though magnificent themselves did not seem real, even when mortals were sculpted they looked 'God-like' and unreal with very rigid shapes and forms. Baroque was completely opposite, if there is one word that describes baroque then its - Movement. The baroque sculptures are not rigid, they are full of movement, like a picture they try to capture 'that' particular moment in time. Hence you see in the magnificent Bernini sculptures angels with flowing robes and people with very human facial expressions. Hence when i looked at a Bernini's sculpture i got a sense that stone never seemed so carnal before. Thats the beauty of Bernini's Bbaroque sculptures.

December 28,2009, Monday

Dat 2 : The Two Churches

As i said previously the two individuals who shaped Baroque Rome were Bernini and Borromini. Both Geniuses and great rivals. Bernini however was the more politically successful. He was a child prodigy and was a very charming man who had the ear of the Pope no less. He was the superstar of his day and so much was his aura that even popes felt awe in his presence. Borromini on the other hand was the better architect however an introverted man who seldom spoke. Hence Bernini got all the plum commissions and Borromini always lived under his shadow. On this last day in Rome i wanted to explore two churches built by these two great artists.


My first stop was to the Bernini Church called Santa Maria della Vittoria. It contained what is probably Bernini's greatest work, the Ecstasy of St. Theresa sculpture at the Connaro chappel there. Again it was a masterpiece of baroque sculpture with great attention to detail. The chapel is so famous that people simply ignored the main alter and were transfixed by the chapel and the sculpture within it. The setting was like the man himself,very flashy and full of charm, Great colors of red and yellow with elaborate settings full of Razzmatazz.


Next i headed to the Borromini church nearby called Chiesa di San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane or Quatro Fontane for short. Borromini was a genial architect. He did not just build straight walls. His walls bulged, curved into great geometrical shapes. This church was an excellent example of his style. He did not need the help of colors or pompous setting , he instead relied on elegant shapes and designs. The walls look almost fluid as they are bent in amazing geometrical shapes. It was as if a mathematician had designed the church , such was Borromini's control on the aesthetic geometric shapes. It was just an amazing experience to be inside this church.

After spending the last two days in Rome i got a feeling of being immersed into the past and suddenly being pulled out with me still gasping for breath. As the time comes to leave i can just consider myself lucky that i had the privilege of visiting the Caput Mundi.

Paris: The City of Lights

There are two reasons why Paris is called the City of lights. One refers to the literal lights that adorn the French capital and the other most significant reason is metaphorical. Paris was indeed the city that ushered in the era of enlightenment and brought forth the light of knowledge and cognisance to the dark world of the middle ages and hence given birth to the modern world as we know it today. Thereby Paris is the only city in the world that could be called The city of Light or La Ville-Lumiere as the French call it.

Paris was the one city more than any other i was looking forward to visiting on this trip. It was the one city whose ideals and principals were similar to mine.I had waited with bated breath for the day i would go to Paris in the same way a pilgrim waits for his pilgrimage. And finally after much anxiety and wait the day finally came.

November 21, 2009, Saturday

Day 1 : The Tower and the Church

The ascent of the plane over the blanket of clouds brought the view of the rising sun. It shone bright orange as if it had never been obscured at all. The plane soared through the early morning sky and finally made it to the Charles de Gaulle airport at Paris. As i got down the air was filled with the scent of autumn and expectations.

The first impression one got of Paris was that of a very cosmopolitan city. Of course there were tourists armed with maps from virtually every corner of the world but there was also a sizable African population in the city. The French had ruled over a major part of Africa and unlike the English and other powers had a very close relationship with their colonized people as the French believed in not just 'ruling' their colonies but assimilating them into the French way of life.The colonized people not only inherited the French language and laws but also French culture and sensibilities. This synthesis was very strong and led to the creation of an extensive Francophone commonwealth and as a result you see a lot of African people from the former colonies in the French capital with African appearance but distinctly French sensibility.This cross-synthesis was just fascinating to watch.

As I got ready to explore the city the first stop was the monument that symbolized the city for many.

The Eiffel Tower they say was more despised than loved during its early days. The famous French writer Guy de Maupassant even went onto say when asked if he would visit the tower that he would certainly visit it as it was the only place in Paris where this hideous tower wont be visible to him! As I walk up the steps of the Palace Chaillot i see why it faced so much resistance. Paris is a very flat city with great neo-classical buildings all around with a pattern of beige exterior and blue roof tops. The pattern is broken only by Gustave Eiffel's tower. This thin ,wiry almost skeletal thing pokes into the sky almost mocking at the buildings around. However Parisians soon saw the beauty of this metal monster and soon took a liking to it and now it is the emblem of Paris if not France. As one French minister at the time exclaimed, the spiralling tower symbolises the facts that 'humanity gravitates towards ascension'. What a beautiful thought indeed.

Its an open secret in Paris that the best view of the Eiffel tower is from the palace Chaillot balcony. Since its built on top of a natural hill it gives a unique vantage point for viewing the tower. Even Hitler knew about this vantage point as he headed straight to it when his German army had conquered the city during WWII. Alas thats where his tryst with the tower ended as the lifts were down the day he visited and the little man could not summon his energy to try the stairs and all he got to do was pose in front of the tower from the Palais chaillot balcony. I wanted to go a notch higher than Hitler and try going to the top of the tower.

As i got down from the Palais Chillot balcony the splendid fountains of the 'Jardin de Trocadero' came into view. The waters gleaming from the fountains provided a soothing music to the ears. As i advanced down the garden the tower seemed to be growing bigger with each step and finally as i crossed the Pont d'Iena the tower came into full view. You actually have to stand underneath the tower to comprehend how big it actually is. It almost occupies the size of a small football field! As with any weekend morning it was full with tourists. As all tourists i did the most touristy thing to do in Paris - go to the top of the tower.

However it was not as easy. The line for the top had snaked several times around the foot of the tower and reminded me of the queues we are used to back in India with cricket matches. Indeed it took me a good two hours to finally get to the lift at the base of one of the foots. As i stood in the queue a bunch of American teenage girls had come to stand behind me and were constantly blabbering about their love life. I was having a hard time deciding which was more annoying - the queue or the blabbering of these girls. Anyway the couple of hours easily sped by as i took in the splendid view of the surrounding area on offer.

As the lift pulled us to the top of the tower, the city seemed to spread all around us. At first it was area surrounding the tower and then a bit further and finally when we reached the top we could see almost the whole of the city. The view from the top was simply exhilarating. You can almost see all of Paris' attractions from there. The tower also had a restaurant inside interestingly called 'Jules Verne' which people say is one of the most sought after restaurants in the world and need a prior appointment sometimes months in advance. The tower also has some souvenir shops. While the view from the top is great i focused on the area immediately surrounding the tower.

People generally appreciate the tower and forget its immediate surrounding which is equally stunning. At one end of the tower there is the beautiful Palais Chaillot and the Trocedero Gardens as described earlier and on the opposite side the beautiful Champs des Mars garden is laid out. The Champs des Mars garden has a peace memorial at its entrance which is ironic as the garden in fact is named after the roman God of war - Mars! The naming of the garden is due to the formidable Ecole Millitaire building in front of it. Ecole Millitaire is one of the oldest military schools in the world boasting of alumnus such as Napoleon who by the way completed his two year course at the school in just one year - a sure sign of his future greatness i guess.

Talking about Napoleon he is buried quite close to the Ecole Millitaire, in the resplendent ambiance of the Les Invalides. The Invalides is basically a place for injured soldiers and also serves as a war museum. What better place to bury a man who lived all his life fighting wars. His tomb like the man himself is a bit different. He is laid inside the gold plated dome of the main building with successive layers of the rarest of wooden caskets. What do they say about little men with huge egos!

As i navigated through the heart of Paris i reached what is the real historic centre- the island in between the curving Siene river called Ile de la Cite. This island is where everything started and the city of paris was founded as a Roman outpost in the first century BC. The island has some magnificent buildings but the real attraction is the Notre Dame Cathedral. This Cathedral which took 200 years in the making is a curious mixture of Gothic and French architectural styles. While the towering spire owes itself to the Gothic style, the unique and revolutionary flying buttresses on the sides is typically french - very creative and very aesthetic. This cathedral created quite a stir during its times and was revolutionary too as it became a sort of template for churches around the world which were mostly Gothic in nature up until then. Hence it is sometimes called the mother of all modern cathedrals.


The inside of the cathedral is filled with beautifully carved statues and chapels and the real highlight are the rose tinted glasses adorning the upper echelons. Sadly since the sun was not shining i could not see the real splendor of these glasses. They were awesome nevertheless. As i looked into the alter it reminded me once again of Napoleon who was crowned here , in fact he crowned himself as legend goes that he deemed even the pope - the usual 'crowner' of kings - not worthy enough to crown him and did the honor himself!

As evening engulfed the city i had just enough time to go across the street from Notre Dame and visit the Palais de Justice which was in medieval times was used to dispense justice to the citizens of the city. The building was typical of medieval French architecture with a prominent blue colored dome. What was most impressive were the gates which were huge and gold plated. The gates of justice indeed i thought.

November 22, 2009, Sunday

Day 2 : Tracing the Axe Historique

Every European city they say has a historic axis, a line that cuts through the heart of the city around which history , architecture and culture revolve. Some are prominent while others are not. Paris of all European cities has a very prominent historic axis or as they say in French Axe Historique. It was this Axe Historique that i was about to explore on the second day of the trip. And this axis starts at the greatest museum in the world.


The Louvre is by far the greatest art museum in the world. It is the kind of place every lover of art dreams of. As i sat in the metro heading for the museum the rumbling of the metro wheels seemed to echo the rumbling in my heart. It almost seemed surreal as i got off and started to enter the premises of the Louvre. The waking sun was beaming down on the magnificent Louvre. As i entered its glorious courtyard - the Cour Napoleon or the Napoleon court - the entire setting just got me hooked. The gigantic glass pyramid in the center was gleaning in the early morning sunlight. The glass pyramid like the Eiffel tower a century ago has come under a lot of criticism. But after 20 years of existence it has become an integral part of the Parisian landscape.

The real beauty of the glass pyramid is not above but below ground. As i entered through the spiralled steps inside the pyramid the entire lobby of the museum came into view. For a 800 year old former palace the lobby looked very modern. As the architect of the pyramid IM Pei explained nothing above ground could match the palace hence he decided to elaborate below the ground. The lobby had three distinct entrances for each of the three wings. I headed straight for the Denon wing as i knew that was were all the show stoppers were present.

The Denon wing started with a slew of Greece sculptures and led the way to the magnificent stair case of Winged victory. This must be one of the most sensational entrances to any building anywhere. As i stood at the foot of the staircase the view was awe inspiring. Beautifully crafted stairs climbed up to the headless statue of the winged Greek Goddess Victory. It was a hair raising experience as i could feel the goose bumps on my skin. The statue was created in the 2nd century BC and is a great example of Greek art. Winged Victory as the statue is famously known is in fact the first of the famed three great ladies of Louvre, the other two being Mona Lisa and the statue of Venus de Milo.


The Louvre can be quite intimidating for a first time visitor so it was important for me to get my positional bearings right. Once i reached the staircase of Winged victory i knew i had the map of the Denon wing covered as before coming i had studied the map of the Louvre and the staircase was an important guidance point for me. I swiftly moved across the corridor and entered the famed Grand gallery. The gallery almost seemed to vanish into infinity like one of the paintings of the many renaissance Italian masters it adorns. It was a truly awesome sight. The walls on either side were dedicated to Italian masters chiefly Leonardo da vinci mainly of the renaissance period. The theme of all the paintings was religious and specifically dealt with Mary and Jesus at various stages of the New testament. It was simply unbelievable for me to be striding along this famed gallery and looking at all these pieces of art.


At about midway through the Grand gallery there are couple of small entrances that led me to the most precious possession of the Louvre - the Mona Lisa. The room that housed the Mona Lisa seemed to be an odd place for me to house the famed painting. The walls of the room were filled with huge paintings and the Mona Lisa seemed rather small in comparision. In fact the painting right opposite to the Mona Lisa is the famous 'Wedding feast at Cana' painting which is probably the largest painting in the museum covering the entire area of the wall. Still the Mona Lisa looked as beautiful as ever and kept me guessing whether she was smiling or not.


From the room of the Mona Lisa i navigated to few more rooms which were adorned with the paintings of French artists chiefly Jacques Louis David and housed some really famous paintings. As i did not have enough time i was quickly rushing past most of these beautiful paintings and felt a pang of guilt as i felt i was insulting these great works of art by not giving them a proper audience.

As i finished touring the Denon wing it was time to go to the Sully wing to catch the last of the great ladies of Louvre - the statue of Venus de Milo. As i headed down, the area had already got very crowded in front of the famed statue. The statue was from 2nd century BC and was devoid of any hands or ornaments. Still it looked so magnificent that one just kept staring at her in amazement. It might be true that the Greek Gods were more powerful than the Godesses but the Godesses it seemed had got all the statues!

I then moved onto the Richelieu wing and was instantly smitten by the slew of Greek statues present there. As i had great fascination for Greek antiquity seeing all these great pieces of art was making my day. Each statue demanded instant attention from me and i had to persuade myself to part company after a glance or two. Then i went into the famed Napoleon apartments which is the only part of the museum that still seemed 'royal' as it housed the apartment of Napoleon and is a testament to the luxury and opulence of that time. I quickly breezed through the Egyptian and Mesopotamian sections of the Louvre and finally convinced myself that i had seen enough and prepared to leave.

As i exited the Louvre i was onto the Axe Historique again. The next stop on the axis was the Arc des Carousel built by Napoleon to commemorate his military victories. From the Carousal the axis opened into the beautiful Jardin des Tuileries or the Tuileries gardens. It was not the best time for gardens in Paris but the Tuileries with their unique arrangement and famed statues was instantly likable. The fountain in the middle was surrounded by hundreds of pigeons which gave the place a very serene feel. Moving on from the gardens the axis led me to the historic, famous and infamous square of the Place de la Concorde.


Before the revolution the Place de la Concorde had the statue of the Equestrian king Louis XV. However with all other things in Paris it completely changed after the revolution. During the revolution the people became judge , jury and executioner and the square became the epicenter of the revolution and had the infamous Guillotine placed instead of the statue and thousands of people were executed here. The foundations of the revolution were indeed soaked in blood - lots of it. Legend has it that the square became so much soaked in blood that cattle refused to pass over its surface. Both the King and Queen were Guillotined here , also even some revolutionaries such as Danton, Charlotte Cordey and Robespierre were executed here. The revolutionaries wanted equality both in life as well as death too. Just remembering those times sent a chill though my bones. However after the revolution the Guillotine has been replaced by an ancient Obelisk from Egypt by Napoleon.

The fascinating Obelisk at the Place de la Concorde is the oldest monument in paris - its about 3000 years old and formerly stood at the banks of Nile in Thebes in Egypt. The story of its arrival is equally fascinating. Before Napoleon embarked on his conquest of Egypt, his wife Josephine in one of those utterances that should go down in the all time list of naive statements seemed to have asked Napoleon to bring her a little obelisk if he ever went to Thebes. So when a queen wants an obelisk she will get an obelisk. As a result the magnificent obelisk sits atop the Place de la Concorde overlooking the Axe Historique.

To the north of the Place de la Concorde there is the famed Crillon Hotel which is one of those ultra expensive hotels where you probably cannot afford to stay if you have to ask how much. The hotel has a bit of history too. The last queen of France Marie Antoinette it seems played cards there during her leisure and the Nazis set up their head quarters there when they occupied Paris during WWII.

The Place de la Concorde opens into the famous avenue , Champs Elysees . Named after the mythical Greek heaven where the immortal stayed it extends the Axe Historique. The Avenue is filled with various shops and is a delightful place if you are quite into shopping. It is adorned by some of the biggest brands in the fashion industry. Strolling through the avenue i remembered that Paris was also the fashion capital of the world.

Strolling through the Champs Elysees i came across various intersecting roads that were named after various French presidents, war heroes and even US Presidents and British Prime ministers. Interestingly not even one was named after any French King or queen or any religious leader. This was a pleasant discovery for me and made me realize that France unlike most other European countries i had toured was a republic. Indeed it can claim to be the mother of all republics and this republican tradition is reflected in the naming of its streets and avenues. The French revolution was basically fought on the slogan of Liberty , Equality and Fraternity. This was not a mere slogan for the French, it was their guiding principle. Hence in the age of enlightenment ushered in by the revolution only people who achieved on their own accord and hardwork deserved to be recognized. The monarchy that thrived on archaic principles and lottery of birth was done away with and reason replaced tradition and religion. The French completely cut off their relationship with the past and started afresh and in this new world of theirs Kings and Queens had no place. Irrespective of nationality people who were real achievers were honored above Kings and Popes. This i mulled is reflected in the names of Parisian streets.

The Champs Elysees finally ends at the foot of the Arc de Troimphe. This magnificent arc partly inspired by the arcs of the romans was commissioned by Napoleon and was completed only after his death. The people of France love Napoleon too much. This is another instance of that love and the fact that they completed the monument even after his death shows their affection for the man. The Arc is a tribute to the military history of France. Coming from India i felt odd as in India war is despised, even our epics deplore war. However here in France its as if people celebrated the wars that they fought. This monument indeed shows what a culture of war the French had. The French like their great European rivals England and Germany prided themselves on having a real war culture. No wonder the French refer to their country as the Fatherland instead of the Feminine Motherland. You just have to look around and see that the heroes are all really war heroes from Napoleon to Charles de Gaulle. The Arc therefore symbolizes the War culture of France and it was just fascinating to experience that. The Arc also concludes the famed Axe Historique of Paris and i was both happy and amazed that i was able to track this famed Axe Historique of Paris. It was a dream come true.


No city in the world is tied irrevocably to a particular date than Paris is with the year 1789. It was the year of the revolution. Everything in Paris changed after that date. The King was not God anymore, palaces became public museums and libraries, churches turned from places of worship of God to the sanctuary of esteemed citizens, God was relagated to history. If the revolution was the clataclysmic fire then the spark was the fall of the Bastille on 14th July 1789. As i got off at the Bastille metro station, the walls of the station were painted with the stirring events of that day - Parisian mobs demolishing the Bastille walls. It showed how strongly Parisians still feel about that day of their history. The Bastille ofcourse is not there anymore. Instead the Place de la Bastille is adorned by a magnificent July column which reminds everyone of that historic july day. Behind the column is the Bastille opera which unlike the main opera of Paris - the oppulant Opera Garnier - is very much a people's opera with shops and a mall inside it representing its republican orientation.

It takes just a crossing of the Siene river from the Place de la Bastille to get into the famed Latin Quarter of Paris. If the bastille represented the spark of the revolutionary Cannon then surely the ammunation was prepared in the bylanes and Cafes of the Latin Quarter. The Latin Quarter is filled with colleges and universities and is very much a place for students and intellectuals. It was in the cafes and streets of this area that enlightened thinkers began envisaging a new world order. Thinkers such as Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau and Jean Paul Satre debated endlessly about the futility of the existing feudal order and the need to usher in the rule of the people. Though many of them did'nt live to see the revolution they had done their bit to inspire a whole nation and in the process move the wheels of history.

Walking in the Latin quarter is a real joy. Everywhere you go you find avenues teeming with students and beautiful scholastic buildings. Interestingly its called the Latin quarter because the students in the good old times used to communicate with each other in Latin up until , you guessed it right the revolution when like all other things it too changed and French became the language of communication much to the relief of the students i imagine.

The Latin quarter has some important monuments like the Pantheon which started out as a church but along came the revolution and religion shall we say fell down in the popularity ratings and it was turned into a place for the burial of France's greatest citizens a la its namesake in Rome. Hence noted frenchmen and woman like Voltaire,Rousseau and Madam Curie are buried here. The heading at the entrance 'To great men the grateful nation' sums up the purpose of the monument.

A short walk from the Pantheon is the beautifully laid out Luxemborg Gardens. However since it was late in the day the entry was barred. Moving along the streets of the Latin quarter i came to the Saint Sulpice church. It is the second biggest church in Paris however has come into prominence recently due to its figuring in the controversial Da vinci code book and movie. The hoards of tourists present there had come because of this connection. Hence everybody ignored the main alter and rushed to a corner of the church that has a marking of Roseline - Paris's version of the Prime meridian. Since the French dint like the English they did not agree to their Prime meridian at Grenwich hence they decided to have their own Prime meridian and hence the Roseline which cuts across Paris from north to south. The Roseline's path is marked by 135 bronze medallions placed in the ground all along the Roseline. In fact i managed to see one in the Louvre also! A few paces from the Saint Sulpice is the oldest church in Paris, older than Notre Dame - the Saint Germain de Pres. The church is about 1500 years old and is one of the oldest in the whole of Europe.

With this the second and most hectic day of the trip came to an end and as usual i was overcome with a mixture of emotions - happy, contented and very tired.

November 23, 2009, Monday

Day3 : The Farewell

Within the bat of an eyelid two days had passed and I had'nt even realised it. The last day i started by covering some minor Parisian attractions. Minor here is a relative term, each of these monuments can be a centerpiece attraction in any other city in the world.

The day started by the visit to the Madeline church just north of the Place de la Concorde. On the face of it its a church dedicated to Mary Magdalene (Madeline is french for Magdaline) however it looked more of a Greek alter with huge beautifully crafted collonades on either side. It provided a superb view of the Place de la concord and the Crillion hotel.

Moving up the street from the Madeline i came to the main opera of Paris officially known as the National Opera however know popularly as the Opera Garnier after its designer Charles Garnier. One look at its oppulance was enough to convince that it was a good thing that it was built after the revolution. For if it had stood there during 1789 it would have been the first building to be torn down. There was nothing remotely republican about it and looked a very snobbish place frequented by wealthy aristocrats. Luckily if it, it was built after the revolution and it has survived. The opera looked absolutely regal with gold plated statues at its four ends and oozed luxury and opulence from very pore. Just a short walk from the opera is the Place de la Vendome. One of the most upmarket areas of paris housing the whos who of the fashion and hospitallity industry. The most famous establishment there is the Hotel Ritz , a very high end hotel frequented by many celebreties and state dignitaries. Interestingly it was also the hotel from which the ill fated lady Diana left amid the paparazzis before her unfortunate car crash.


The last stop on the trip was to the famous Monmarte area of Paris. This area is very different to the rest of Paris and almost feels like an outback area. Monmarte is famous for its artists and the famous Sacre Coeur church. The church is located on top of a hill and offers a delightful view of the city. The church was unlike any other Parisian churches and since it is relatively new had a very different architecture with magnificent domes.


As the trip finally came to an end i was filled with mixed emotions. I was filled with immense happiness that a long held dream had come true and also departing such a beautiful place made me very sad.With this mixed bag of emotions i bid farewell to Paris as i silently muttered Au Revoir under my breath.

Oslo: The Land of Peace makers

History is full of contradictions. Consider this. The middle east is home to not one but three of the world's main religions , each of them espousing the cause of peace in the world but now it is one of the most chaotic regions in the world. On the other hand Scandinavia was home to some of the most barbaric tribes in the world who looted and plundered the civilized world. But look at it now, each country is a beacon for human rights and stands for peaceful existence! If Scandinavia is the abode of peace then surely Norway and indeed its capital city Oslo has a prime place. Oslo in fact is the place where the Nobel peace price is adjudged and given and can rightfully claim to be the city of peace makers. Oslo then was my next stop.

October 17, 2009, Saturday

The bus screeched to a halt at the Oslo Bus terminal as the driver excitedly gesticulated that we had reached our destination. It was five-thirty in the morning and it was terribly cold outside. I quickly rushed indoors into the warm clinch of the terminal. It must have been near to day break i thought but outside it looked the Sun would take a bit longer. And finally the Sun came out slowly at eight as if even he too was wary of the cold he was stepping into.

With the arrival of morning we started our way to explore the city. As we stepped outside the bus terminal what surprised us were two enormous sky scrapers that leapt to the sky. They were the twin towers of the SAS Raddison hotel. They were mighty tall by European standards and showed that Oslo unlike Copenhagen and Berlin will offer more modern buildings.The tourist information center was just outside the central station and it was housed in a beautiful tall structure which was truly unique. As we exited it armed with city maps we felt the adrenaline rush that usually accompanies such trips.


First stop on the trip was at the Oslo Opera. Operas are such an important part of any European city, every city here seems to have one. The Oslo opera was a newly built white edifice with sharp lines marking the edges. the design was nothing i had seen before as it instantly caught the gaze of the viewer. The backwater on whose shore it stood glistened with its shadow. Then we headed to the Oslo cathedral which stood at the start of the main street in Oslo called the 'Karl Johans Gate'. The cathedral true to its Scandinavian roots had a magnificent very tall spire which leapt into the air and stood head and shoulders above the nearby buildings. It reminded one of the medieval times where it was prohibited by law to build buildings taller than churches and cathedral which is the reason why most European cities are 'flat'.


Then we started to walk down the Karl Johans gate and entered the heart of the city. Europe through its Streets is simply fascinating.Streets in Europe not only serve a utilitarian purpose, they are canvases on which layer upon layer of history and culture are painted. Hence any city in Europe has a main street which represents its distinct History. Be it the famed Champs Elysee in Paris or the Stroget in Copenhagen or the Karl Johans Gate , they tell the story of their cities if only you are patient enough to listen.

As i walked down the street numerous facets of the city came into view. Modern coffee shops sat side by side to ancient markets, Shopping districts selling the most expensive goods abutted grand churches. A little further down the road we came across the Oslo parliament building. It was a pretty strange place to have a parliament i thought as it was right in center of the main shopping district. The building itself was magnificent as its stone edifice represented the power it embodied within. Adjacent to the Parliament was the famous Grand hotel which is famous as the place where all Nobel peace prize laureates lodge when they are in the city to collect their prize. A wave from its famed balcony is more or less a ritual performed by every winner they say. Come December and we will see President Obama atop that balcony!

Further down the street you have the beautiful Norwegian national theatre which hosted and continues to host some of the greatest plays ever written. Opposite to it stood a neo-classical building with beautiful carvings of Greek mythology. it turned out to be the Oslo University whose sprawling campus lay behind the building. Its a oft repeated theme in Europe , all buildings of culture and knowledge tend to have Greek architecture. Greek still represents high-art and knowledge it seems.


The Karl Johans gate finally ended at the footsteps of the beautiful Norwegian Royal palace. The Palace was not unlike the other palaces i had seen but seemed to look a bit smaller compared to the others. However what it lost out in stature it more than made up in ambiance. It was housed in a most magnificent green expanse that sprawled to all sides. What more this Garden was the address of most of the foreign embassies in Oslo. The trees in the garden cast a golden shade on us as their leaves had turned golden due to the coming of autumn.

Although Alfred Nobel was Swedish, at the time of his death Norway and Sweden were still united. As he bequeathed his wealth in the form of the Nobel prize they continued to be held simultaneously in Stockholm and in Oslo. While Stockholm gave out all the prizes the very important peace prize was given out by Oslo as Norway was considered to be more impartial than Sweden. This is one of the main reasons Oslo and indeed Norway has come to be regarded as an important place which houses the legacy of peace. This legacy of peace is further propagated by Norway by convening important peace treaties and mediating as an interlocutor in conflict ridden countries of the world such as Sri Lanka. Nobel's legacy as well as the supreme efforts put in by Norway in the way of peace has given Norway the right to be called the land of peace makers.

The Nobel Peace center is one of the most visited sites in Oslo and we headed their next. The center is quite new as it was inaugurated in 2008 and it is housed in a former railway station. The White colored building is apt for the setting as it welcomes visitors with open arms. The ground floor was dedicated to this year's winner Barack Obama. It had a host of interactive media which covered his upbringing , his speeches and other important milestones in his life. The exhibition was titled 'From King to Obama' and as the title suggests the exhibition looked at Obama as the logical conclusion of what Martin Luther King started four decades ago. However the exhibition could still not convince me that Obama deserved the peace prize. The decision has come in for much criticism and rightly so however we should not go overboard and ridicule the institution of the Nobel peace prize as the world of ours is in need of strong and honest institutions and the Nobel peace prize could be one of them.



The second floor of the peace center was dedicated to last year's winner Martti Ahtisaari. The top most floor was the one that caught my attention. It was a dark room with small portraits of past Nobel prize winners suspended on electronic poles. Each portrait gave information of the awardee and his or her achievements and the year of their winning it. The whole setting had a blessed aura to it as i felt i was standing in a place of pilgrimage with saints all around.

As we exited the Nobel Peace center, the twin towers of the City town hall with its distinct clock came into view. It was no ordinary town hall, it is the venue for the Nobel peace prize distribution ceremony. The building was beautifully constructed and it overlooked the harbour and seemed to welcome visitors from far of lands. Numerous Nobel awardees must have been in that building i thought.

As we exited Nobel's land we took the cruise and went to the island Bygdoy which houses most of the city's museums. The Fram museum was our first stop there as it featured a ship used by intrepid adventurers who tried to reach the South and North poles. One such traveller was a Norwegian Amundsen who was the first man to reach the South pole. Norwegians are proud of their prowess of the seas and are especially proud of their ancestors - the Vikings - who travelled far of lands using their ships and were trend setters for the rest of Europe. A special museum called the 'Viking Museum' is dedicated to them which contains some really old viking ships , one of them from the tenth century which were probably the first of their king built anywhere in Europe.

Last stop on our tour was the single biggest attraction of Oslo - the Vigeland Sculpture park. This eponymous park was named after Gustav Vigeland contains more than 200 statues representing the various stages of human life. Here the sculptures illustrate aspects of human daily life like joy, sorrow, anger etc and human relationships as seen by the sculptures. A 50 feet tall monolith of 121 human figures is the center piece of the park which in the setting sun looked truly beautiful and one almost got into a philosophical mode looking at it.

With the setting of the sun we had finished our tour of Oslo. A small city with big ideals and an attitude to match those ideals. As often with other tours I take back not something material for the material thing fades off like the dew on a sunny morning. Instead i take back things of the mind that will remain long after the sun has set.

Copenhagen: Between two Europes

Copenhagen has a unique distinction among European cities. It sits at the gateway of what essentially are two Europes - Scandinavian Europe and Continental Europe - and it inherits a bit of both. Indeed Copenhagen can be described as the most Scandinavian of all Continental cities and the most Continental of all Scandinavian cities! It was to this great city of synthesis that I headed to next on my EuroTrip.

October 3, 2009, Saturday

The Chill of the October night pierced the skin like a needle. I looked at the watch, it read, 2.30 AM. We were at the main bus terminal at Gothenburg. A familiar feeling of excitement had gripped me. As I boarded the bus the warmness inside was soothing.The bus was on its way and the journey was underway. The journey went off pretty well as the bus cut through the pretty Swedish countryside cloaked in the light glow of the moonlight. Soon we were passing through quaint little towns and finally made it to the Oresund bridge which connects Sweden and Denmark.

The bus pulled up at the central bus stand in Copenhagen early in the morning. However the rain which is a constant companion of any traveler in Europe had followed us much to our displeasure, at leaset the forecast in the afternoon was better i consoled myself. Undeterred by the pouring rain we went through to the nearby Grand Central station. The station looked more continental in nature and was very well organized so as to help travelers. Right from the tourist information desks to Forex counters to Eat outs , everything was arranged to make the visitors feel welcomed.

As we headed out of the station, i realised that the train station in spite of all the modernity inside had a really old-fashioned elegant look to it from the outside which was really pleasing to the eyes, a welcome break from all the modern glass and concrete structures we see around most of the time. It was by far the prettiest railway station i had ever seen. Outside the Grand central station the magnificent obelisk of the Liberty memorial greeted us to the city. How far the obelisk has traveled i thought to myself remembering that it was basically an Egyptian work of art commissioned by the great Pharaohs more than two thousand years ago which was later imitated by European artists around various cities. So much has it been replicated here in Europe that people consider it to be an invention of European art.


From the outset it appeared that the color Red was the theme of the city as most of the old and beautiful buildings had a distinct motif of red exterior and green spiraling roofs. this motif was repeated with subtle variations across the city much to the amazement of the visitors.

Copenhagen is one of the big walking cities of Europe or indeed the world. The city is big,however that does not discourage you from walking as each street and bend has something in store for you. So we set out on our foot through the heart of the city. First we approached the famed Town hall square called Radhuspladsen which is famous for the various gatherings like concerts/protest that happen in the city. In fact it looked it was recovering from a concert the previous night as the stage there looked fresh. Beside the town hall was the spectacular statue of the 'Lure blowers'. The Lure is a distinctly Scandinavian musical instrument which is a cross between a trumpet and a horn. The statue consisted of two Lure blowers playing the instrument in unison. Strangely the statues lacked symmetry as one of the statues seemed to be 'squeezed' beside the other. The reason for this is that initially there was just one blower before another was added for company a few years later!

As we trudged through the heart of the city we entered the main political district - rather it was an island which was formed by a beautiful canal. The island contained the Christianborg Palace which was a former royal palace now converted to house the danish parliament. A parliament housed inside a royal palace - It was symbolic of the constitutional monarchy type of political system existing in Denmark i thought. However as is associated with Parliaments around the world this did not have any strict security squadrons around and was fairly open to the general public. Of course this is the safe and assured first world after all.

Then we headed to the Danish National museum adjacent to the parliament building. In true traditions of European cities Copenhagen too had a wonderful museum. It housed artifacts belonging to every possible theme, right from stone age to bronze age to the middle ages to the modern age. And they were all arranged very meticulously. As we came out from the museum the rain seemed to have taken a break and given us a well needed respite.

Next we started on the trail of the royal area of Copenhagen. We started by going to the Amalienborg Palace which is the winter home of the danish royal family. In fact it was not just one palace but four of them. Each arranged so as to form a rhombus whose one tip pointed to the Royal Opera across the harbor and the opposite end pointed to the very beautiful Marmorkirken or the Marble Church. The setting was reminiscent of the St.Peters square at the Vatican which has a huge central square with the St Peter's cathedral at the top. The Amalienborg palace was guarded by stoic looking danish royal guards again reminding one of the royal Swiss guards at the Vatican. They were really serious looking and too serious for our liking as one of them even refused to pose for our camera!

It was noon now and it was time for the famous change of guard at the Palace as the current guards were replaced by the guards from the neighboring Rosenborg Castle. This is a routine event here but has attracted the tourists very much, so that its become sort of a marque event in the city. As we saw the change of guard one was amazed by the discipline of the guards on the one hand and the rampant symbolism that still existed in constitutional monarchies like Denmark. The guards i don't think serve any practical purpose but still they are persisted in deference to tradition.

One of the Palaces is converted to a royal museum and we went in to be awed by the richness of the danish royalty. Also striking was the reverence the danish people had for their royalty. This was in marked contrast to say England where the royal family is the butt of jokes. But here there were souvenirs being created out of the royals.

Next we headed to the Marmorkirken which looked absolutely stunning. The inspiration of Vatican's St. Peter's church was everywhere. Right from the huge dome at the top to the statuettes of saints on the parapets to the white marble construction. The dome was magnificent from the inside too as it looked as if it stood without any support and carried paintings of various biblical events. The calmness inside was a bit eeire compared to the hustle outside.


Following the royal line we headed to the stunning Rosenborg Castle which was housed in the equally stunning Rosenborg Garden. The garden was beautifully laid out dotted by beautiful trees all around. The garden it seemed competed with the palace for attracting visitors. The palace itself looked very elegant with a red exterior and tall spires. It was also attractive for a different reason too - it contained the danish crown jewels. As we went through the methodically arranged royal rooms we were again impressed by the wealth of the danish royalty. However it also raised a question as to how any person could attain this wealth by just winning the lottery of birth when other more talented persons could just gaze at them as commoners. So crumbles the royal cookie i guess.

As we exited the Rosenborg castle we were left with a tough decision to make. Either to continue with exploring the rest of the city's minor attractions or go onto see the stunning Kronborg Castle at Helsingør (or Elsinore in English) 50 KM away from the city. The castle was also called 'Hamlet's Castle' as it was immortalized by Shakespeare's Hamlet who set his tragic prince and his story in the castle. For a Shakespeare buff like me it was a chance not to be missed. But can we make the far-off distance to make the 4PM entrance deadline at the castle. As Hamlet would have said - To go or not to go that was the question!

Finally we decided to take the chance and headed our way to Hamlet's Elsinore. Thanks to the brilliant danish train system we were there at the Castle before it closed for the day. The Castle they say is amongst the best in Europe with a distinctly Post-renaissance architecture. It was placed at the edge of baltic sea resembling a fortress intimidating any opposing army that set eyes on it. As we approached the Castle we felt the real magnitude of it. The stormy weather on the outside was an apt setting for this great castle as it gave an almost mysthical feel to the whole place. The castle was surrounded by a moat which in itself was amazing to behold. Of course such a spectacular castle needed an equally spectacular moat!

As we crossed the moat i realised what an expedition filled with danger it must have been for opposing soldiers to cross the moat, the very moat we were just breezing through at the moment. As we entered the premises of the castle we proceeded to enter it through a beautifully carved gateway with couple of exquisitely carved statues. Once inside we soon headed to the central courtyard.

The Central courtyard brought back memories of Shakespeare's Hamlet. My first memory of the play was a movie i saw in grainy black and white in the early 90s. I still remember the scene at the beginning of the movie when King Hamlet's ghost arrives to meet the young Prince Hamlet. The scene is so vividly etched in memory that i can almost see it happening in front of my eyes. I could not believe that i am at the very legendary place where Hamlet was set. A look at the courtyard set me thinking if the famous climactic sword fighting scene was set here. It must have been i thought to myself, feeling a sense of numbness that one feels when one is face to face with History. As if in a trance i was transported into the middle ages, into the world of the tragic Prince Hamlet. Alas the trance had to end as our time to depart rushed upon us. As we returned to the city the memories of Elsinore rode with us and it will be sometime before i part from it.

Back in the city it was time to catch a much needed dinner and then we started a stroll through the longest pedestrian shopping area in Europe - Strøget. The street gave a distinctly Continental - more specifically Italian feel. The winding car free alleys punctuated by beautiful buildings and squares , the mingling of streets into streets as if like the merging of small brooks everything gave a feeling as if one was in Rome or Florence. The street was essentially a shopping area and was lined on both sides by all kinds of shops, it even had a small area for musicians to show their musical skills.

Strøget starts at the main town hall square and cuts through the centre of the city finally ending at another big square called the Kongens Nytorv (The Kings New Square). As we exited into Kongons Nytorv we were surprised to find a street exhibition underway. This exhibition with the theme '100 places to see before they disappear' displayed a set of 100 of the most amazing photographs ever taken from around the world. It also included a couple from India too. We jumped from one amazing photo to another like school kids as we took in the myriad pictures laid out. Suddenly we realised that we had a bus to catch. Hurriedly we made our way back to where we started - to the central bus stand - and sat in our return bus.

As I looked outside from my bus at the city outside that sat between the two Europes it made me really happy that i was privileged enough to visit such a unique city. As the bus chugged along I closed my eyes to relive the memories of a wonderful day which will last for a long time.