Portugal

I happened to be on the trip to Portugal with Jhumka. We reached Lisbon first where Jhumka had to book his tickets to Paris. The Lisbon station is one hell of an architectural marvel. While he was booking his tickets, I happened to be there and his address somehow stuck in my mind "32,Grand Rue, Savigny De Orge, Paris". This address is of significance and you will realize its significance some time later on.
I had already decided to stay one day in Lisbon and head to Porto next day.

Near Lisbon there is a awesome place called Sintra, which is about 30 minutes from Lisbon. This place is a must must go for people traveling to Portugal. The place is like a natural park with castles and Dom in the heart of the jungles. There are in all 3 castles in Sintra. The bus tickets for the whole day are available in the railway station or directly on the bus. Like Spain, Portugal is also very cheap. In Sintra one can get lost in the world of flowers, jungle walks and lost trails easily. From atop , two of the castles one gets a panoramic view of the Atlantic Ocean beyonh which there is no land till America. Sintra can be called as the photographer's delight in Portugal. Sintra is well connected by train from Lisbon and train frequency is very good.

After we had done Sintra, Jhumka decide we should have Indian food. He had found a restaurant called "Gandhi Palace" in Lisbon where I was supposed to stay that day. Jhumka had a late night train to catch that day. We spent at least 1.5 hours searching for Gandhi Palace in the central Square of Lisbon. We hogged food like beasts and spent about 36 euros for a meal that would have cost us 5 euros in India. It was the first time in 2 months that we had Indian food in Europe. After that Jhumka bid adieu and we parted ways.

Next day I had to see Lisbon and head for Porto. I didn't find Lisbon very interesting after I had seen about 18 countries in Europe. So I decided to take and early train to Porto. I had my flight from Porto to Saarbrucken in Germany on a no frills carrier. I found Porto much better with nice beaches, a grand bridge over a river and good museums. The only thing I forgot to mention was that by then my watch had conked off. I had to catch a flight at 7pm and I was roaming on a beach thinking it is 4:30pm while the actual time was 6:15pm. I realized this only when my mother called me from India and I had an opportunity to look at the time. I rushed in a cab to the airport which was 40km from the beach but couldn't make to it in time.

Now comes the exciting part. I had to be on the flight to Germany as I had bidding for my courses the next day. So I went to Air Berlin ticketing, who informed me that next flight was in 2 days and I had to shell 55 more euros for it. The only flight taking me closest to Germany was a flight to Paris which cost me 101 euros. I thought of calling Jhumka who was on exchange in Paris. That's when I realized he must also have been in a flight. I had no where to go from Paris Orly airport.

Now comes the address. I had remembered the address of Jhumka and reached Savigny De Ogre at about 12 midnight. I reached there in an airport bus as France transport was on strike that week. At that hour and 2 degree Celsius, I found help in a Pizza store guy who happened to be Sri Lankan. He helped me with the address to Grand Rue. I misread Jhumka's address as 32 Savigny instead of 39 Savigny and searched for his place for about an hour in the biting cold. Help came from a French neighbor of Jhumka who asked me a golden question "Are you looking for some Indian students?" And bang, I found his house where Jamna aka Rajiv Bharti was shocked to see me there. When Jhumka saw me reaching before him to his house he was just foxed. I then explained all the things, had a nice mal and left their place in 4 hours. It was certainly one of those exciting days on my Euro trip.