A European Journey - 4 (July 14)

One day in Germany, and onwards to Austria, coincidentally, the land where Hitler all started. One would think it would be as similar to Germany, but vaguely different.. The journey from Heppelheim to Austria was unbelievably long, and I guess one of the first of the journeys for me where we spent almost six hours on the bus..  Considering the distance, we had started earlier, and by now much used to the 6 / 7 /8 sequence of get up / breakfast and leave...With the group being the group that we had, and the European land mass being picturesque, plus a movie here and a movie there, time passed away.

The first stop straight after a 6 - 8 hour drive was to the Swarovski museum. Finally the entrance that so many of us had also grown up with watching in the movies, a grass field in the shape of a face with two big crystal eyes and a small pond in front of it..First impressions are always unique.. You see a picture for years, and then you see the original, it either takes your breath away or leaves you dejected..

This was not in the same league. Neither was the sight something that would blow away one's breath, nor leave you dejected.. Just as one had pictured it. Very artistically done, very natural, and very well maintained. Add to it, with wonderful weather that was prevailing at the time, it made it all the more pleasant.



Chetak



The visit to the Museum was one that had its ups and downs.. Some would take your breath away, some would be just plain simple. Images done with crystals, gleaming like diamonds. The saddle of Chetak, Rana Pratap's horse was a sight to behold. A wall filled with thousands of crystals, statuettes covered with crystals, a wall of mirrors, 21st century Art, a fusion of east and west, it was a combination of both what Swarovski does best, i.e. crystals, and modern art as of today.

 



Glass Imagery. Sharing with myself

 The response to this was quite muted from a lot of the group members, who felt it to be a waste of time, however from my perspective, it was wonderful. We see a lot of technology on TV or in the movies, here we saw a very miniscule portion of some wizardry, if I can call that, with a lot of innovation thrown in to combine the modern era.

The tour of the museum ended with of course how most do, being left alone for shopping for crystals.. I love shopping and this was one place, I in some sort of way did not regret much for not being able to shop.. My Credit card had expired and I had no spare.. Good God.. Four / Five days into the tour and no credit card.. Luckily the tour was paid for, else, there would have been sleepless nights. 

Innsbruck



Walking off without much shopping, we headed off to Innsbruck to spend the night. The good thing about these small towns, was that you could simply mingle into the crowd. No doubt most of the people here were tourists, probably making it a bit more easier, however there were locals also who lived there. You could simply walk in there, and absolutely feel at home, irrespective of the language. Small town, beautiful surroundings within mountains and a pleasant end to the evening.. What also added was some wonderful food at the end of the day, making it thoroughly enjoyable.

Of course end of the day, some people complained about a waste of a day, where we only saw the museum and nothing much of interest, but for me, it was a visit, that I do not know when I would do again.. Might I even come to Austria, would I drive all the way to the museum? Probably never.. But as the saying goes.. you cannot please all the people all the time.

Viva La Italia we go next....