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| Lustenau, Austria, 2016. |
What is that one thing that makes you the happiest? It doesn't just make you feel happy, but it makes you the best version of yourself.
Do you have something in mind?
Good. Now ask yourself if you do it enough; allow yourself to be your happiest enough?
For me this thing is travelling. It has been a hot minute since I have been someplace new. In these last few weeks I found myself craving bad habits again. I saw myself spiralling downward. I have diligently been allocating time to a lot of my passions, except travelling. What with the moving I haven't had an extra penny in a while now. But come December I am going to be back on track.
I have quite a few places I want to visit in the coming months. February will find me in France. Spring, hopefully, in Netherlands.
Being in a new city makes me feel like I am on the top of the world...like I can fly. It shows me why things did not work out. It alleviates my sorrows, and makes me aspire for more. It teaches me that anything is possible. Especially things that we couldn't have conjured in our wildest dreams.
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| Lustenau, Austria, 2016. |
Growing up patience never was my finest virtue, so it has taken a while for me to understand that everything that needs to happen will happen at its own pace. There is no need to rush things.
This is something I have to constantly remind myself of. One should always remember this while travelling. I grew up going through family vacations, where we were always racing against time, trying to check everything off our check lists.
Although there was this one I time I remember during our time in London. It was the last night, and we were sitting outside a Café, drinking coffee after dinner, across Harrods. I remember talking to my parents, whilst my brother slept in his pram, and thinking that Harrods looked so pretty at night, all lit up.
I wonder if the eight year old me - sitting outside Harrods with her parents, excited to have had a sip of her parents coffee - would have known that travelling would become such an essential part of my life.
As most of you all must already know, I have not written much this past month. I could give excuses, but the fact is that I have been giving my undivided attention to a matter that is very important to me. I hope to show you what it is, but all in due time.
The moving process is arduous, especially if you are doing it alone. It has not given me much time or money that is required to travel as much as I would like. The good news is that it should be over soon. So, that is something to look forward to.
Yesterday I went to Ravensburg; it is this small town in Germany. The Martini Market is taking place this weekend, and I was lucky enough to have visited it. Weirdly enough, it was a different experience. Most of the times when there is a market in Austria it is always loud with people holding glasses of beer and eating scrumptious food. The atmosphere is giddy. But yesterday I noticed as we stopped by a stand selling mouthwatering Churros that it was quiet. Too quiet, if you ask me.
You could not listen to tidbits of other peoples conversations. There was absolutely nothing.
The town in itself was not particularly interesting, but there was this monastery near it that was absolutely breathtaking. The Weingarten Abbey or St. Martin's Abbey towered over most buildings. It was simply a piece of art that one might expect in Italy. I certainly did not expect to find this jewel in Germany. It was founded in 1056 by Welf I on the Martinsberg. Rather than going on about the history let me tell you what I found inside the Basilika.
The interior was just as beautiful as the exterior. It was dominated by white, a colour that I have not seen used to this extent in most religious structures. The high-set windows were frames of a painting - the beautiful blue sky, waiting outside.
For the first time I was on the higher level of a church, where the enormous organs - the instruments - are. The surprising or the not so surprising this is that the elevated level ran circular around the entire church. It was weird being up there looking down, rather than looking up from down there.
Upon exiting the Basilika you are welcomed by the sight of the entire town below you with mountains being its backdrop. Honestly, it is quiet a sight. Its one of those places that makes you want to sit on a bench with one of your favourite books and cup of coffee to just be...not talk...not work...but rather to just be there and marvel at the sight before you and at the sight that stands majestically behind you.
Vienna, you beauty!
Every time that I have been in this city, I have left a little more beguiled and enamoured than the last time. The weird thing is that I absolutely loathed the city by the end of my first trip there. I think, it is one of those places that you just need some time to love.
My first two times in this glorious city were overshadowed by the throngs of tourists that were there everyday but this time..this time was different. The starting of October, when Autumn has just arrived here in Vienna, most days it is not as cold as it is Voralberg right now, with hardly any tourists around clicking pictures, the city is calm. As calm as a major metropolitan can be.
This time I stayed at Hotel Kummer that is directly outside the Neubaugasse UntergrundBahn station at Mariahilferstraße (one of the two major shopping streets). It was different living in the heart of so much activity. My one tip for enjoying Vienna is to forget the Museums. Honestly, they will just overwhelm you. FORGET THEM! The Indian in me is screaming, "What? How can you visit a place like Vienna and not visit the Museums?" but believe me, this time around trying doing it like the Europeans - stroll around the city early in the morning with a croissant and coffee in your hands, and late at night after you have stuffed your belly with good food. Appreciate the architecture and the history behind this city of 1.8 million people.
The one way to know the way you feel about a place is to see it at night, and by questioning yourself if you like what you see around you. A true city should be able to hold its own under the dark skies. And Vienna does - the city is bathed by the glow of twinkling lights of the never ending restaurants, shops and buildings, with people loitering around, friends on their way somewhere; probably home or to some bar.
The difference between a small town and a city for me lies in the fact that no matter how much I like living in a small town, I know that it is something fleeting. I do not envision my life over there. Whereas I can visualise myself living a full life in a metropolitan like Vienna or Paris. I see a future.
I guess, once a city girl, always a city girl?
