[chikkars]

Originally Posted by Jignesh

Hello Chikkars,

Though all the Photographs & Information in this Travelogue is incredible, but I found your information on this Central Park really amazing.

It is absulotely surprising to see a Park of 843 acres in middle of busy & sky-scraper lined city, where space is most limited in supply.

I am sure any such Park in an Indian city would be already eaten up by Builder's lobby.

Also if the extimated value of Central Park was USD 528,783,552,000 in December 2005, I wonder what will be the current valuation?

Thanks,

I agree that such a park in India would be razed in no time to make way for more sky-scarpers!

Another interesting bit of trivia I learnt is that the Park constitutes its own United States census tract; according to Census 2000, the park's population is eighteen people, twelve male and six female, with a median age of 38.5 years, and a household size of 2.33, over 3 households.

[chikkars]

Alrighty, time to post some videos!! Here's some from NY; please bear with the low resolution as all videos were captured using my humble P&S cam.

The Times Square

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt3yIZBj4B8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nnx82FgNwI

The following videos from Central will give you an idea of all the fun things happening there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfsWICa4pw8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ExJ9MX4bpg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IX--wBsvSNw

And this is my favorite of them all. Look at the small kid who's so excited that he joins the dance!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtyE2lcO3GQ

[chikkars]

I am trying to post the videos using the embed link option. Doesn't seem to be working. What am I doing wrong?

[arindamray]

Chikkars and Jignesh, I beg to differ on your observation, the Indian City of Kolkata do have such a lung space (called Maidan). I could not find the area of it, but here is the link to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maidan_(Kolkata).

Also you can see the similar picture there to the last one you posted Chikkars, though skyline is much hombler compared to NYC skyline.

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by arindamray

Chikkars and Jignesh, I beg to differ on your observation, the Indian City of Kolkata do have such a lung space (called Maidan). I could not find the area of it, but here is the link to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maidan_(Kolkata).
Also you can see the similar picture there to the last one you posted Chikkars, though skyline is much hombler compared to NYC skyline.

Hello Arindanray,

Thank you for the information.

We in Mumbai too have a lung - Sanjay Gandhi National Park - 104 Sq Kms., which also happens to be only National Park in city in entire World. Sanjay Gandhi National Park - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

But as unluckily, it's land is slowly grabbed by Slums & Builder Mafia from all sides.

Anyways, good to know that Kolkata is having a well maintained maidan.

Hello Chikkars,

Sorry for going in your Travelogue, we are once waiting for vitual tour of USA through your eyes.

Thanks,

[SajiNSalin]

Hello Chikkars,

Great travelogue with express detail of all you saw and experienced. I would like to know if while traveling on Lufthansa from Mumbai to Chicago via Frankfurt, a Schengen visa or transit visa is required. The connecting flight is about 3 hours later at Frankfurt.

On the return plan to take Lufthansa from Chicago to Mumbai with a 23 hour stopover at Munich. I understand that one can spend the layover time in the Munich airport and a visa is required to exit the airport and travel around Munich. Is this correct?

[chikkars]

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

Hello Chikkars,

Great travelogue with express detail of all you saw and experienced. I would like to know if while traveling on Lufthansa from Mumbai to Chicago via Frankfurt, a Schengen visa or transit visa is required. The connecting flight is about 3 hours later at Frankfurt.

On the return plan to take Lufthansa from Chicago to Mumbai with a 23 hour stopover at Munich. I understand that one can spend the layover time in the Munich airport and a visa is required to exit the airport and travel around Munich. Is this correct?

Thanks Sajin. While travelling to Chicago via Frankfurt, I was not required to have a Schengen visa or transit visa. I think for travelling around Munich (outside the airport), a transit visa may be warranted; but not sure.

PS: If you still have the option to change the airline, I would strongly suggest to choose Emirates (even though it might mean 2 connections)

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by SajiNSalin

I would like to know if while traveling on Lufthansa from Mumbai to Chicago via Frankfurt, a Schengen visa or transit visa is required. The connecting flight is about 3 hours later at Frankfurt.

I think the confusion started when they demanded you need to have a valid visa/passport for the country of origin. Which is probably because a lot of people were returning from US after their visas expired. Technically they will need to be sent back to origin country (of flight, US) if something went wrong and that will not be possible, hence need for a transit visa. If you return without a valid visa for re-entry to US, you may have to ask your airline if you need a transit visa.

[chikkars]

Originally Posted by chikkars

I am trying to post the videos using the embed link option. Doesn't seem to be working. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks mods, for fixing the youtube link problem!!!

[chikkars]

Back at Cinci

The flight back to Cinci from NY with a stopover at ORD was pretty uneventful. Was back at my apartment by noon on Monday. Decided to do some laundry and rest the evening, and prepare my self for a hectic last week at work ahead!

The rest of the week passed by pretty much with the routine stuff. Did a couple of trips to the malls, to finish off all the shopping for my folks back home in India. Now that all the videos have been uploaded on Youtube, let me share them here.

This one is my favorite! One evening while I was just taking a stroll near the Fountain Square, I noticed this man doing a funny dance and enjoying himself. See for yourself!!

Funny man dancing at Fountain Square, Cincinnati - YouTube

Here's some videos from the Reds game

Red's game - YouTube

Reds game2 - YouTube

Reds game 3 - YouTube

Newport Aquarium

Cincinnati Aquarium - YouTube

Some videos around the Ohio river

River Ohio - YouTube

Speed Boat - YouTube

Ohio speed boat - YouTube

[chikkars]

Here's videos from Chicago, some of them are just random.

Cincinnati Airport

Cincinnati Airport - YouTube

United express - YouTube

Downtown Chicago

Chicago at night - YouTube

Millennium Park

Millennium park - YouTube

Cab ride to Airport

Cab to ORD - YouTube

Chicago traffic signal - YouTube

Sears tower

Sears tower - YouTube

Sears tower2 - YouTube

[chikkars]

Last week in Cinci...

The last week was kinda busy at office, and a couple of days I had to stretch beyond the normal hours. I did make a trip to the mall to finish off with the shopping for all my folks back home. The list included souvenirs, perfumes, watches, apparel, footwear, and of course lots and lots of chocolates and candies. I reckon the bag which I filled with MTR stuff while going, was filled mostly with chocolates while returning!

I was scheduled to attend a meeting there on Monday morning the week after, and take the flight back to India the same afternoon. This meant that I had one last weekend to spend in the lovely town. Initially I had decided to either visit the famous Zoo or the Kings Island, which is the largest amusement park in the Midwest. But later dropped the plans as I had to make another trip to the mall to exchange some stuff. On Sunday, I spent some time at each of my favorite spots, such as the fountain square, lake front, and the Newport mall. I watched "Angels and demons" at AMC cinema just get the movie watching experience in the US. That evening I spent a couple of hours packing my luggage, as Monday was going to be hectic with a meeting to attend at work, vacating apartment, reaching the airport to catch the 2.30 PM flight.

As expected, Monday turned out to be quite hectic. Went to office by 8, attended the meeting from 9 -10. Spent almost an hour meeting my friends & colleagues at the office to say good-byes! Returned to the apartment by 12 after a quick last lunch at Wendy's. Checking out was quick as there were no formalities as such, I was told the deposit would be credited back to my card in a couple of days. Was at the airport well within time; and this time, I made sure I was always around my luggage.

The flight journey from Cinci to Chicago, the layover there, the flight from Chicago to Frankfurt were all uneventful. However, in Frankfurt I had only 45 minutes of layover. Further, I had to change the terminal which meant taking a tram ride and a lot of running around. I was at the boarding area just in time, when most of the passengers were already inside the plane. I walked up to the airline staff and asked the lady for an aisle seat, like always. She smiled and said, I dint have the option to choose as all the seats were taken. I finally managed to get inside the plane, which was choc-a-block already. To my horror I found my seat already occupied by a lady; she said her kid had been given the seat next to where she was sitting now (my seat) and asked me to swap. But there was lot of confusion because that seat again was occupied! I walked up to the crew member and asked him to help me out. He suggested that I wait for a min, until the door was closed. Then he would quickly spot any seat that was empty and give it to me. Luckily for me, it was the seat in the front row with additional leg space!

After a 9 hour flight with some special Indian meal , I arrived at BIAL a little past midnight. Did some shopping at the international duty free section before proceeding towards home sweet home.

Et voila, mes amis. There you go! That brings us to the end of my travelogue; a month long trip to the US of A! I hope that you liked the pictures, reading my stories as much as I enjoyed writing them. Thanks for all those who read, shared feedback & comments, and motivated me to keep it going until the end. And. thanks to my non-bhp member friends, who shared their feedback off the website.

Until the next Travelogue (which btw is already in the making), tchao!

[Jignesh]

Originally Posted by chikkars

There you go! That brings us to the end of my travelogue; a month long trip to the US of A!
Until the next Travelogue (which btw is already in the making), tchao!

Hello Chikkars,

Congrats on your successful trip to USA & indeed it was very nice following your thread.

Thank for virtual tour of USA, the Photograph were really & your narration skills are really good. Even my wife appreciated the photographs in your travelogue.

Also good to know that you are already set to write another travelogue & do remember that we are eagerly waiting for a another virtual tour with you & your lenses.

Thanks,