The week-long escape from reality culminates to this final day in Vienna. After a lazy start, I went for a run along the rainy Danube Canal and through the Hapsburg hunting grounds. Strolling through palaces of the rich and royal in Austria, our next destination is actually a restaurant (a very food-y trip indeed). This place is super interesting though: an all-you-can-eat Pakistani cuisine place with a pay-as-you-wish system. I know – it’s hard to believe that combination of words existing in any context let alone in the middle of Vienna. But it is what it says. Greeted with a buffet of food and a plate, I ate way too…

A delayed flight from Charles de Gaulle deposited me in the Austrian capital of Vienna at midnight. From the airport to the central city, a well organized bus system existed and I got on to the one that took me closest to my friend’s house. My first human encounter in Vienna was pretty cool; I got chatting with the gentleman sat across me in the bus who had a fascinating job – a light engineer. His company builds lighting systems for historical buildings in Vienna and across Europe like the Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera). On recounting this to my friend, apparently this kind of friendly behaviour was not very…

Yep you read that right! A ridiculously hot few days in the City of Love come to an end as I finally get a chance to put some “thoughts to paper”. After a sad goodbye to Basel with a final swim in the Rhine, I caught the TGV straight to Paris! Its crazy how close everything is in Europe and how well connected it all is. I think the fluid nature of the border helps – only a few minutes later, I had entered France and didn’t even realise until I checked Google Maps. Trundling through French countryside, passing quaint towns and major cities, the 3 hour trip didn’t feel…

Another day, another city! The sun is high and streaming through the window at 7am so I don’t know how I didn’t wake up earlier. But we got up around 9, had breakfast and made some sandwiches, and off we went to the train station, Basel SBB. Have I fangirled about the public transport system here yet? Well, after coming from England where you *plan* to have delays on the train, the Swiss really know their stuff ‘bout this. We made it just in time for the next train to Zurich and literally as the minute changed on our phones, the train departed. It was an hour’s journey and we…