Woke up and caught the train to catch the bus to the Swiss embassy. Yesterday i had looked up the bus number, route, stops etc and we had got kinda lost. After telling me in no uncertain terms that i am useless at maps and directions, a thing i think he took personally given what he does, the dude took it on himself to plan the journey. Go to station A, catch bus B, get down at stop C, turn left and walk 20 steps and whatnot. And then we went to station A and got onto bus Z and got lost all over again :D
We walked into the Swiss embassy and told this girl there our sob story. She took some time to understand why Indian tourists were in the Swiss Embassy in Italy. Then she tool all of our documents and came back 20 mins later to tell us that since we were dont with the swiss leg of our journey and were going to France, we should ask the French people for a Visa. We had to convince her that she was our only hope. Very reluctantly she took in our papers and made copies of every one of them. Did you read that, Indian Embassy? She said she would try her best, but it all depended on whether the Swiss Consulate in India sent her the information she needed. Dude had asked Bhai to contact the Swiss Embassy in India, so we knew they were ready and willing. "Call me tomorrow morning, and i'll let you know if you if you need to come", she said. We paid up the Visa fees and got out to a fine Roman mid-morning.
Next stop - the French embassy. We wanted to know if there was any chance we could fly into France without a Visa. They said haha.
We then went to the Pantheon and walked from there to the fountain of Trevei and had gelato there (much hyped, IMO). Got back to the hotel, had slightly better Upma for lunch and then just lazed around. In the evening we went to the Spanish steps. Got back. Pasta again. By this time, the dude had discovered some huge knives in the kitchen and was lost to all useful activity. Some childhood show, it seems, where some guy comes and does funky things with big knives. He went at all vegetables we had with the knife, i think that was the most excited he was during the entire trip.
All during the day, i had the pre-exam feeling in my stomach. I kept dreading the phone call that would decide whether we got to go back home according to plan. You see, the day was Thursday, tomorrow would be Friday and our return ticket from Paris was on Sunday. If we didnt get a Visa on Friday, we'd have to stick around in Rome till Monday (at the least) and look for other flights home and what not. The dude however, was fine. Better than fine. I dont know if he had a dream about it or something, but he knew that we would get the Visa tomorrow. For a change, i was the worrier.
We walked into the Swiss embassy and told this girl there our sob story. She took some time to understand why Indian tourists were in the Swiss Embassy in Italy. Then she tool all of our documents and came back 20 mins later to tell us that since we were dont with the swiss leg of our journey and were going to France, we should ask the French people for a Visa. We had to convince her that she was our only hope. Very reluctantly she took in our papers and made copies of every one of them. Did you read that, Indian Embassy? She said she would try her best, but it all depended on whether the Swiss Consulate in India sent her the information she needed. Dude had asked Bhai to contact the Swiss Embassy in India, so we knew they were ready and willing. "Call me tomorrow morning, and i'll let you know if you if you need to come", she said. We paid up the Visa fees and got out to a fine Roman mid-morning.
Next stop - the French embassy. We wanted to know if there was any chance we could fly into France without a Visa. They said haha.
We then went to the Pantheon and walked from there to the fountain of Trevei and had gelato there (much hyped, IMO). Got back to the hotel, had slightly better Upma for lunch and then just lazed around. In the evening we went to the Spanish steps. Got back. Pasta again. By this time, the dude had discovered some huge knives in the kitchen and was lost to all useful activity. Some childhood show, it seems, where some guy comes and does funky things with big knives. He went at all vegetables we had with the knife, i think that was the most excited he was during the entire trip.
All during the day, i had the pre-exam feeling in my stomach. I kept dreading the phone call that would decide whether we got to go back home according to plan. You see, the day was Thursday, tomorrow would be Friday and our return ticket from Paris was on Sunday. If we didnt get a Visa on Friday, we'd have to stick around in Rome till Monday (at the least) and look for other flights home and what not. The dude however, was fine. Better than fine. I dont know if he had a dream about it or something, but he knew that we would get the Visa tomorrow. For a change, i was the worrier.
2 comments:
I'm eagerly waiting for "EU Diaries - the Swiss Embassy Day 2".
I'd say this is better than a fiction book/suspense movie :P
If u produce a Bollywood movie based on this story, it'll be a super-hit! NOT kidding.
Kaushik: I should have mentioned that the guy did funky things with big knives to food. Iron chef, i have been informed.
Ashwin: :D As long as i am not asked to star in it :P
Thanks for reading. It helps very much in feeling less lazy in getting out the next installment.
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