For an avid amateur photographer like me, taking a picture needs no second invitation.And the clicking started while we were still on the plane to Ljubjlana.
Being a neighbour to Austria, which has been written as one of the most beautiful places in Europe, Slovenia had to have atleast some this beauty in it too.
And sure it did have loads of it.
The first evening itself we were all spellbound by the quaint setting of this small town called Bled, where we were staying. And this was supposed to be the venue for a test fest.
The most unlikeliest of places for business, Bled was better known for its placid lake, a thousand year old castle and many classy hotels around them.
This town for me defined Europe in one word, "Vintage".
However, since we were there for work and not on a holiday, we had to do what we had to do. During the test we met a lot of interesting people, a few of whom were kind enough to pose in this picture at the social event organised by OMA.
The social event in itself was more of a food and unlimited booze binge party, where we also got to experience some loud and pompous Slovenian traditional music.Not to mention, a dozen types of wines from the region, stocked in the oaken casks of the restaurant's wine cellar.
The food, was .00001 per cent as spicy when compared to Indian food that we get to taste back home.And the Tira Misu tasted as if from straight out of heaven.
We were free on a sunday during which we trekked up the hill to see the castle's museum.And also successfully managed to find a nice wine cellar out there.The person incharge was very happy to know that we were from India, as we were probably the only Indians to be there for a long time.
A nice wine cellar meant a good place to stock up half a dozen bottles of Slovenian wine as souveniers.Little did we know that only half of them would ever make it back to India.
We borrowed a few glasses from the wine cellar guy and also one bottle of white wine.The objective was to enjoy the wine from the best view point of Bled, the castle rock.
Our first tryst with fast cars started right at the airport, where the taxi driver took us to the hotel in a brand new Citroen.For all of us used to Bangalore's 10kmph speeds, the speed of 170kmph that she touched on the highway was an instant adrenaline rush.
During our entire stay there, we got to see some superb cars, which Europe is always famous for. BMWs, Mercs,Audis, Alfa Romeo and the likes were commonplace here.But I also got to spot and capture on camera, a very rare and hyper expensive SLR McLaren Mercedes Roadster.Something which I didn't get to see in my entire three month stay in the rich state of California last year.
After all the hard work, we were left with some free time on Friday afternoon.We tried to make maximum use of this, by going to a place called Vintgar falls, just a few kilometres away from Bled.
It was party time again as Steffan, Vishwa and I managed to make the most of the few drops of wine that was left over during our botched attempt to break open the cork.
Our walk to Vintgar falls, even in fading light was indeed rewarding.We got to see crystal clear water gushing down the gorge, making the view a totally surreal one.
Added to that, the passing by of a train, over an old medieval looking bridge, added to our joy and also left us awestruck.
In all this had to be the best travel experience so far. Right from the ultra smooth landing of the jumbo jet at Frankfurt, upto the equally smooth landing back at Bangalore airport, everything was like a dream.Then again, the unending wait to get our baggage at the airport and the hustle and bustle at the taxi stand woke me back into reality. The reality called 'Life of an ordinary software engineer in Bangalore'.
