So on the eve of Christmas, we planned to go on a trek from my MILE Lab. We narrowed down to Bilikal Ranganathaswamy Betta near Kanakapura town for a night trek, and took permission from from the forestry for the night trek. We have two Army Majors (experienced in trekking) who organized and arranged all the equipment/ materials needed for the trek like tents, sleeping bags, food materials, stove etc. We assembled at EE dept, IISc at 2 p.m. and started off to the foothill at 3 p.m. It was 80 km away and we reached there at 5:30 p.m. The hill had a electric fence put up by Bannerghatta National Park and the watchman had to remove it to let us enter the premises. We unloaded our backpacks, etc and setup up stove, gas for cooking rice. We then divided the luggage among ourselves and started the trek at 6:30 p.m. We got divided into two groups and the first group consisted of 10 guys and 5 girls. It was already dark and we switched on our torch lights.
Early Morning
Packing up
On the way downhill
View from the midway
As it was dark we kept a headcount at regular intervals for safety. The track uphill was ok, with some slippery rocks and little steep climbs which everyone managed. We took a break after 1 hour where clear sky was visible, the weather was warm as we were sweating. We continued the climb, I was carrying a backpack and a tent with me which was manageable. We reached almost to the top, and further up we had to trace our own path as it was bushy. We climbed the final stretch through the bushes and thorny plants safely. Finally we reached the summit at 9:00 p.m. The second group followed us and reach the summit within few minutes. We started the bonfire and pitched up the tents all over the flatland. It was grassy which provided cushion to the 6 tents we pitched up. One of my labmates has a huge telescope, which is setup there for viewing the moon and planets in the sky. It was full moon and we were able to see the craters on the surface of the moon. On the other side, we started preparing dinner which comprised of tasty Veg. Barbecue, rice, roti and alu mutter. The ambience was quite cool, not chilling as we would have expected on hill top, moon lit and clear sky. The mobile signals was also quite good, and it was the border of Tamil Nadu, which pulled our mobiles in to roaming scenario. Few others explored the surrounds which was devoid of any wild animals except for a scorpion, and past footprints of an elephant. We started played antakshari on the side of the bonfire and playing cards by the other group. Time passed by having fun and joking around and taking pics. It was 2:30 p.m., I was feeling little sleepy and went into my tent. The insides of the tent was cosy, and the sleeping bag was quite warm. I had a nice sleep inside the cosy ambience of the tent under the open sky. I woke up at around 6:30 a.m. after brushing my teeth, had green tea and biscuits for breakfast. The we starting unpitching the tents and packing up for going back downhill. At 8:30 a.m., we marched towards downhill, which was quite easy, only needed to be careful of moving rocks. By 10:15 a.m. we reached the downhill and our bus was ready for takeoff back to IISc. After some photosnapping, the trek finally came to an end and we reached IISc at 1:30 p.m. It was a great experience, my 1st night trek, which involved a lot of planning and organizing which was taken care by few of my enthused labmates.
Although I have written many blogs, this is my first travelogue. It started way back in 2011 when I had submitted a paper in Interspeech 2011, anticipation of a trip to Florence, Italy. Coincidentally, it happened that ICASSP 2014 be hosted at the same place, and finally decided to travel to Italy in mid March, 2014.
Preparation for the trip:
There is lot of background planning required for first International trip. Applying for funds, preparing documents for Visa, consulting with friends about what to take and of course shopping. So, finally booked the air tickets by Srilankan Airlines midst the fluctuating price of a round trip to Florence via Colombo > Rome. Preparing documents for Visa was more confusing with deciding where and what all documents to submit. So, after lot of confused decisions, submitted the documents at VFS Global office, Shivajinagar and received the Visa within 4 days
Now comes the shopping for food etc. Considering the stay for 8 days bought MTR, Maggi, cup noodles, dry fruits and chocolates. Also needed to pack my luggage optimally so as to minimize the [weight volume]. The essential items being mini-cooker, food and clothes, I was able to squeeze all of them into a duffel bag and a nice backpack. Had to do away with laptop, which anyway was not at all required at any point in the trip, thanks to my Motorola Defy+. Now, had to plan sightseeing places for the 3 days on which I am fully free. Came across an awesome online site for planning trip day wise which also generated a guide containing general info and local map/ brief info of the tourist places I selected to visit each day, the link to the guide is My Tripomatic.
Day 1 (May 2, Friday):
Bored and Tired ..
Started at 4 pm from A mess by cab, bid adieu by the Fata-Phat team, and thereafter joined by other IISc mates at the airport. The Bangalore International Airport seemed strict, but comfortably checked in. Had some light snacks everyone bought. And boarded the 20:55 IST flight to Colombo with a dinner serving of tasty semiya masala with Ceylon lemon tea (which was served on all following flights), and a 3 hour stopover at Colombo airport. The 01:25 IST flight to Rome was a comfortable one, again had a good midnight dinner and breakfast in flight keeping track of the route taken over Bangalore and Middle East.
Day 2 (May 3, Saturday):
Roma Fiumicino ( Rome airport) arrived 10 minutes early at 07:45 CEST- Central European Summer Time. The weather being rainy and windy, had to put on a windcheater, completed the immigration and collected check-in baggage smoothly. Everybody seemed tired waiting to go out and catch the Terravision bus to Rome station.
Structured Flora in Rome
Deserted Roman Street
Finally boarded the bus at 10:30 CEST. The bus journey gave pretty good glimpses of the Roman architecture captured by my Moto Defy+. Reached Roma Termini station in one hour and while others went hunting for food, SIM etc, I went out to capture some more Roman life on my lens. After returning back, the station seemed notorious for luggage picking while me and Jishnu looked over the baggages.
Countryside in midst of the clouds
Boarded the 12:50 CEST train to Firenze SMN- Santa Maria Novella (Florence station). The train cruising at 250 kmph gave fabulous views of the Italian countryside. The train was comfortable and had a first chat with an Italian gentlemen seated beside me, who seemed quite nice.
Our hotel entrance
Exploring streets at twilight
We arrived at the Firenze SMN at 14:22 CEST, we four of us: me, Sudarshan, Satish and Jishnu reached our hotel by bus and searching through the streets named as 'Via ---- ----', found our Tuscany flavored Hotel Ungherese. The room was neat and had a street view through a large window. Even after a long flight, we did not seem to have any jet lag, so had MTR rasam rice, some rest and went out to have a taste of Firenze streets. Came across a church, park and Artemio Franchi Stadium in the vicinity of our hotel. Went into a departmental store to purchase few bus tickets, and had a tough time explaining what we wanted, even though the helpful Italian lady was making good effort to understand and explain what we wanted. Did not bother to observe that sun sets at 21:00 CEST in Italy. So, after a light cup noodles as dinner had a good sleep following a long journey of 7120 km.
Day 3 (May 4, Sunday):
Woke up early amidst a hazy cool weather outside. As I was free for next 2 days, had not registered for tutorials at ICASSP 2014, needed to plan the places to visit. After lot of deliberations about where all to visit that day, we planned a walking tour to major attractions in Florence itself. We had a nice breakfast at the hotel with pineappple / orange juices, croissants and jam.
With the help of Firenze map and tripomatic guide, we set off towards the Arno river and took some nice pics on the riverside cafe. Nice to notice that they have a separate lane for cyclists beside the road.
Artemio Franchi Stadium
Along the Arno river
Capturing cafe on the Arno riverside
View from Viale G. Poggi
Zebra crossing for cyclists
Then, we crossed the bridge, got a first glimpse of the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Going along the riverside Lungarno road to Viale G. Poggi and take this winding walkway up, reached Piazzale Michelangelo
giving a magnificent view of the city of Firenze.
Jishnu with the precious aqua
Photographers in sync
Then, headed towards the church of San Miniato al Monte, a beautiful example of Romanesque architecture and mosaics on the walls and ceilings, characteristic of all churches/ monuments in Italy.
Firenze kid peeking from behind
Kids busy with art at rose garden
San Miniato al Monte
Sudarshan ready for a ride on Ducati !
Pitti Palace!
Ponte Vecchio behind the river
On the way back came across the Giardino della Rose (Rose Garden) where tourists were lazing around and children busy with their artistic paintings. After a long and uphill walk, we were feeling thirsty and the water (aqua) is precious resource there unless you carry it always. I had my first Italian pizza for 2 Euro which was ok for the price. We descended from the top and had the yummy Gelatino ice cream ( original strawberry + pista). Then we headed towards the Pitti palace and Boboli gardens. The vast sloppy space in front of the Pitti palace is ideal for relaxing and romance. Then, we went to the Basilica of Santa Maria del Santo Spirito, a church with a simple facade and walked back via the Ponte Vecchio, which is a shopping hub for ornaments, artifacts etc, then headed towards the Vecchio Palace encompassing the Plaza della Signorina with its tall belltower. It houses the statue of David (a copy), Fountain of Neptune Florence and many other statues.
Timely capture @ Vecchio Palace
Fountain of Neptune Florence!
Florence Cathedral Dome / Duomo
Then we went towards the Florence Cathedral, surrounded by Florence Baptistry and Giotto's Bell Tower, met few of our IISc friends and NITK mate from Spain. We then headed back to our hotel by walk. The tiring day after walking around 15 kms ended with a special Maggi.
Day 4 (May 5, Monday):
Entrance of ICASSP venue,
Fortezza da Basso
Shopping strret in the city centre!
Embeddings on the Duomo doors
Arcone at the Republic Square!
Gelatino Icecream parlor
Movie theatre in Florence
At Vecchio Palace
Santa Maria Novella
Bookstore in Firenze street
Inside Duomo (Cathedral)
The day started with my mug noodles and breakfast with juices at the hotel. We headed towards the conference venue hosted at the Fortezza da Basso, a masterpiece of the military Renaissance architecture. It has an overall surface area of nearly 100.000 sq m ideal for hosting large conferences like ours, ICASSP 2014. After registering for the conference, came out and met few other Indian friends. As we were in the city centre, decided to see the places in the vicinity. We first visited the Basilica of San Lorenzo, which we avoided entering due to the high entrance fees (all fees were high considering the high conversion rate to Indian Rupee), where we lost track of our fellow-mate Jishnu, then proceeded towards the Cathedral, the same place we visited last day. Its like the saying 'All roads lead to the Rome' adapted to Florence city as 'All roads lead to the Duomo (Florence Cathedral)' . The entrance to the Duomo was crowded, so walked through the shopping lanes towards the
Piazza della Repubblica, known as Republic Square which hosts the prominently visible structure, the triumphal arch, known as the Arcone surrounded by famous open air cafes.It seemed visiting the same places places at different times of the day gave us a treat of different views of the same sculptures and architecture. We ended up again at Vecchio Palace and Ponte Vecchio. Ponte Vecchio gave a neat view of the structured bridge at 12 noon. Then we headed back to to the conference venue, Fortezza da Basso for reuniting with my roommates after their tutorial, to explore other parts of the city. Then we headed towards the Santa Maria Novella Church, the first great basilica in Florence and famous for its mural painting executed upon freshly laid lime plaster. Then, we again reached Duomo, the Cathedral and this time we entered and admired the colorful and detailed wall paintings inside. The streets and squares in the afternoon were buzzing with people in shops, cafes, restaurants and artists busy with their artwork, musicians performing in the Republic square and children enjoying the merry-go-round. Had a tasty slice of pizza at some Pizzeria cafe as I was feeling hungry. The Vecchio palace as usual treated us with grandeur of its sculptures. Then we again headed back towards the Fortezza da Basso for the Welcome Reception of ICASSP ' 14. The food was nice and tasty, even vegetarian with pastas and salads. Came to know about the famous white sparkling wine, and its origin, which seemed like Appy juice in India. The reception also had entertaining performances by a lady playing violin, the main attraction being the huge flowing red gown and the musician, don't know what it was called, and gymnastics. Everyone enjoyed the food, drinks and the artistic performances. The day ended with a brisk walk to our hotel, and relaxing. I ended up uploading pics on facebook, Jishnu busy with his late night Game of Thrones series (he was so dedicated while watching) and Satish/ Sudarshan discussing about IPL scores.
Single wheeled bikes
Pizzeria 'Pizza' Restaurant
Vecchio Palace
Musician at Republic square
Artist at work
Reflection!
Sculptue on Ponte Vecchio
Performance at reception
Neat view of Ponte Vecchio (Bridge)
IIScians @ ICASSP welcome reception
So, halfway through the trip, Italy has given lots of places to explore, fabulous views of the Firenze city from Michaelangelo, the artistic churches, the cool Italian folk and the romantic ambience of Firenze.
Day 5 (May 6, Tuesday):
My poster presentation @ICASSP'14
Stage view at at Teatro la Pergola
Captured when got lost
Today was my poster presentation, so had to do review of my work to be presented. So, went to the conference venue at 10 am after breakfast. My presentation was at 16:15 CEST, and was waiting for it. It went well with some decent crowd, some company representatives were interested in our work.
Balcony views at Teatro la Pergola
After my presentation at 18:15 CEST, I was hungry and walked towards my hotel, caught a bus, got down and got lost to explore some more streets in Firenze. I hoped I got lost and it seemed nice to get lost in a new city. Rushed back to the hotel using the map. Had a quick masala rice as I was getting late for the Concert of Classical and Modern music at the Teatro la Pergola, invited by the conference organizers. I arrived 15 minutes late for 21:00 CEST concert as I came walking all alone, directed by the GPS and map. The concert initially seemed boring as usual with all classical music, but the second half was a mesmerizing performance inside the grand theater hall. The acoustics was awesome, the music was crisp clear without any mics and sound system. I recorded few minutes of the clear musical performance:
It is to be noted that the music is recorded by my smartphone at a distance of around 10 m in the crowded theater, which conveys the amazing acoustics of the hall. After the performance ended at 23:00 CEST we walked back to our hotel and had soupy maggi.
Day 6 (May 7, Wednesday):
Another wonderful day is yet to start. We planned to go to Pisa, the city of the Leaning Tower, after the morning session in the conference, even though we had interesting sessions and talks in the afternoon session. We attended the morning poster sessions in the conference, got some good ideas other researchers were working on, had a nice snacks at the conference (the snacks with fruits and cakes was really good) and gathered for embarking on a short trip to Pisa, a well 1 hour journey by train from Firenze. So, we went to Firenze SMN station and boarded the 12:30 CEST train to Pisa. The one way ticket of 7.9 Euro was reasonable considering the comfortable seating. We were nine of them, and the train journey was busy with others debating over Communism vs Capitalism. We reached Pisa, and the leaning tower being around 1.5 km away on the other side of the Arno river, we strolled through the streets of Pisa. Everyone was interested in taking pics pushing the Leaning Tower, giving an illusion of bearing its weight. I wondered how much less famous had the Leaning Tower been, had it not been leaning. So, imperfections do make things, us famous. The Pisa Cathedral beside the Leaning tower looked like a painting of a white marble palace, with green grass in the front. Tourists seemed enjoying taking self pics in various poses and angles.
Pisa Central Station
Train to Pisa, Italy
On the way back, had Margherita
pizza, which was huge for 5 Euro, in a garden restaurant. Then took the return train to Firenze SMN and reached hotel at 20:00 CEST. Then, had green tea, and me and Sudarshan got into our jogging attire and went for a 4.8 km run towards Arno river and back at 22:00 CEST.
Straightening the Leaning tower
On Arno river, Pisa
Pisa Cathedral like a canvas
Savoring Gelatino@Pisa
We Leaning onto the tower
Pisa Road
Day 7 (May 8, Thursday):
Bell Tower view
In front of Palaffari
Sunset at Michaelangelo
Gaping from Vecchio Bridge
Started for the conference venue at 07:30 CEST and looked at some interesting posters, company stalls which were filled with lot of freebies, the most interesting was Google sunglasses which everyone mistook as Google Glasses. After going through some interesting posters, and interacting with few NRIs, went for the student career luncheon at Palaffari 2nd floor, just opposite to Fortezza da Basso. The luncheon was very informative with around 15 companies offering jobs in Speech and Audio, so they collected our resumes and e-mail, so that they can contact us for internships and jobs after PhD. The food was also good, and got to know that in Europe, vegetarian food by default includes fish/eggs. After the luncheon and browsing through some more posters, set of towards the sunset at Piazzale Michelangelo, which showed us spectacular views of the sunset and the lighting of Firenze buildings/towers.
Basilica of Santa Croce
Day 8 (May 9, Friday):
Entrance of Fortezza da Basso
Leather Factor@ Santa Croce
Fort like Building
Uffizi Gallery
@ Uffizi, another view
Pote Vecchio
Arno Riverside
Musicians @ Ponte Vecchio
Sunset@ Firenze
Guitar performance @ Michaelangelo
Baking @ Gusta Pizza
Limo !
Fountain of Neptune @ night
The last day of the conference, as usual spent the morning browsing through the poster sessions, attended two oral papers and nice food during coffee break. Afternoon, we yet had to have a taste of Pasta outside the conference venue, so we gathered together and had tasty pasta with olive oil few 100 m away from the conference venue. Then collected the certificate of attending the conference and headed towards Basilica of Santa Croce, doing some window shopping on the way. Came across nice chocolate shop, don't remember its name, but we were in a hurry to reach Santa Croce, to visit the leather factory. But, that too closed at 5 pm, were 5 minutes late. Then, walked towards the Ponte Vecchio through Uffizi Gallery, met our other friends on the bridge and climbed towards Michaelangelo to celebrate our last outing in Firenze. Saw some tourists with a rented Limo, and enjoying the views and sunset from the top. The place was like a exhibition of DSLRs, point and shoot cameras, many busy with taking pics of the fantastic views. After sunset at 21:00 CEST, few guys came in a car, to celebrate their friends bachelor party, were cheering and enjoying Champagne. As we descended back for a pizza dinner, locals were seen partying and dancing on the Friday night in pubs/ restaurants. We ordered take away pizzas at Gusta Pizza and went to the vast free space in front of the Palazzo Pitti to cherish the last pizzas in Florence. And while returning back, everyone was celebrating and dancing even at around 23:00 CEST. We reach our hotel and packed quickly for the return journey next day morning.
Day 9 (May 10, Saturday):
Finally, the day to leave Firenze, did not realize how quickly the past 8 days passed by. I had to catch 09:04 CEST train to Roma Termini from Firenze SMN, so had MTR Tomato rice for breakfast as flight to Colombo from Fiumicino Roma was at 15:55 CEST. I had to travel back to India alone as all others were destined to be in Rome for next 3 days. The train journey was quite comfortable with plush seats as it was a Business area Silenzio. Reached the busy Roma Termini station at 10:40 CEST where the platform was more crowded than the Chennai Central. Made my way to a shop to purchase a Terravision bus ticket to Roma Fiumicino airport. The bus journey was fine, felt sleepy on the way and reached the airport in an hour. I checked in and got the boarding pass, while I got confirmation of hotel accommodation at Colombo by e-mail from Sri Lankan airlines. The security check was not as strict as in Bangalore, but they did not allow to take water inside. The emigration guy was very jovial, saying Hi to everyone. I roamed around the duty free shops and bought few Venchi chocolates. The flight took off at right time and I was feeling hungry as I did not have anything on the way from Firenze. The lunch was served at around 17:00 CEST and was passed off time by watching few movies on the seat screen. The food was not so good as the onward journey, rice and few boiled vegetables, with fruit salad. And due to the time difference, the flight journey seemed short.
Tram at Firenze SMN
Waiting at Firenze SMN
Side view of train
My coach to Roma Termini
Street side cafe at Rome
View from Roma Termini
My flight from Fiumicino
Structured/ Mushroom trees in Rome
Day 10 (May 11, Saturday):
The flight landed very smoothly and comfortably at 04:50 IST, 15 minutes before the scheduled arrival time at Colombo, the immigration was smooth and got the confirmed hotel booking letter. I exchanged 10 Euros for around 1700 Srilankan Rupees at the Bank of Ceylon counter. The Srilankan Airlines then also gave a local sim card with some talk time for free. As I waited for arrival of car for going to hotel, I took few tourist maps from the tourist counter, the local tourist trips arranged by them seemed cumbersome for such a short time. So, left for the hotel by a cab arranged by the airlines only, with a guy who is also travelling back to India from Rome, and came to know that Indian priests do some Master's course in Rome to learn more about Christianity and preaching maybe, the guy was coming back after completing the course.
The Gateway hotel reception was very nice, and gave me a clean single room, with all facilities, as it was a 5 star hotel. Connected to internet through wi-fi and called home through skype, made some Ceylon tea with teamaker in room, took soothing bath and went for the buffet breakfast. The breakfast, so many options from salads, vegetables and fruits, idli, cakes, Chinese, Mediteranean, Italian to local food. Had a nice nap for one hour after a sleepless night in the flight, and went out to explore the hotel garden, and to get a view of the lagoon and possibly go to Negombo beach outside. The weather was hot and humid, and I explored the Sri Lankan countryside, went on the Highway to get a view of the sea and lagoon. The roads were well maintained and its an offence to walk on the highway there. Came to know from a local shopkeeper, that Negombo beach is 5 km and need to change 2 buses to reach there, and it was already 13:30 IST, so went towards the hotel to have lunch and pack up to leave at 16:00 IST for the flight back to India. The lunch was a buffet as well, and it was difficult to choose what to eat. After the lunch and relaxing around the pool, went back to room and pack up. The hotel staff were very courteous and had a pleasant stay. As I had exchanged local currency, I wanted to spend it, and bought famous Ceylon tea bags, lemon, masala and green flavored, and waited at the lounge for the 18:45 IST flight to Bangalore. The flight journey back seemed very short and landed in BIAL while giving amazing ground views, lights glowing like on a sea shore while landing. Got back my BSNL signal, collected my check in baggage and came out after vigilant Indian immigration. So, finally reached the busy Yesvantpur tollgate, and our own quiet, serene IISc campus finally.
My room in Taj Gateway Hotel, Seeduwa
Gateway Hotel entrance
Garden in the hotel
Exploring places in Seeduwa
View of lagoon and sea from Highway
Nature captured from Colombo- Negombo Highway
Green Coastal Area
A house in Seeduwa
Shop in Seeduwa?
Gateway Hotel entrance
Shelter in hotel
Coconut trees in hotel
Flight back to India
So, overall it was a learning and entertaining experience, took lot of pics as suggested by my friend. A a very comfortable trip also. The most absolute necessities are a smartphone and comfortable shoes for going around. Will update more on my next perceived trip. Till then, have a nice year!
