Travelling young

In London they stayed a week with some friends. They were impressed by the lush lawns of Cambridge, horrified by the stone block in the Tower of London where Mary, Queen of Scots and other aristocrats had parted with their heads, gained a certificate by climbing the hundreds of stairs to the very top and were transfixed by Madame Tussaud8217;s waxworks. For Shampa it was the chance to surprise her penfriend Ilana.

8220;At Calais, we joined up with a travel tour, which took us to Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy. They would make the travel and hotel arrangements, and give us breakfast. We stayed in each place for two to three days and went around on our own, with instructions to join up with the coach at a certain time and place. The 17-day tour ended in Paris where we stayed for four days with friends,8221; chips in Shampa.

8220;The place we liked best was Italy. It is noisy, dirty, colourful and loud 8211; and it made us feel absolutely comfortable, just like home. It is a fun place even though the canals of Venice are filthy. And the Italian men are so gorgeous. Whether it is waiters or vendors or cops, all look wonderful, not cheap like our rasta chaap street side Romeos,8221; gushes Arti. Well gals, that8217;s where the original Romeo was born!

8220;We fed the pigeons at St Mark Square which has lovely sculptures, especially of lions, high up on the ancient monuments all around. One of the prettiest sights was at Burano where each house is a different colour in lovely pastel shades. At Florence, we saw the most jazzy cars and bikes, all in incredible colours and designs. Pompeii was pretty ghastly with its petrified figures still in same pose as when they were engulfed by the hot ash. Capri was the most beautiful sight with the sea in the distance and a chair lift to take us to the top of the cliff, where we immensely lucky to see a modelling shoot in progress,8221; continues Arti.

But perhaps the most exciting time for the teenagers in Italy was when they visited Eza. 8220;We had just read Sidney Sheldon8217;s Sands of Time a couple of weeks back and much of the action took place at Eza. We spent a lot of time going up and down the winding streets which are actually steps carved into the hillsides,8221; comments Shampa.

Though the tight budget prevented them from buying much, the teenagers picked up some local dance steps, stepping in with gusto to do the Tarantula Italian Spider Dance and the Tiroleam at Austria with a bit of yodelling thrown in.

Since mamas were not on the horizon, they satisfied their healthy appetites with loads of pizzas, burgers and cokes, but with the former at 5 and the latter at 1.20 it made a considerable dent in their pockets not to mention the fact that, 8220;Our Indian pizzas are more spicy and better tasting. The same goes for the cheeses all over France. But we sampled everything, even a snail dish covered with a green sauce, which is supposed to be a great delicacy!8221;

Typical teenage resilience, however, they enjoyed every moment, 8220;Although the whole thing was really exciting, returning home felt great,8221; chorus both of them as they start weaving plans to make it to Australia maybe after degree results?.