The Petite Frau

Last New Year’s, my parents and I embarked on a somewhat impromptu road trip from Heidelberg to Brussels at the behest of my lovely aunt, who wanted us to pay her a visit in the Belgian capital. Luxembourg is a short detour from the usual driving route. The extremely tiny and exceedingly wealthy country of Luxembourg had been on my mind for quite some time owing to a Luxembourgish friend of mine, Constantine, a 20-year old who always gushed about his country and could speak 4 languages, namely, German, French, English and Luxembourgish, like most citizens of the country. We drove for a few hours along the route dictated by our trustworthy GPS device and at some point, veered from the autobahn into the countryside, through small towns and rolling vineyards. Just as we crossed the border into Luxembourg, a town with a very familiar name greeted us - Schengen. Normally, when a person travels from one country to another he or she requires permission to enter the country which is given...

Prague Castle in all its glory, as seen from the Charles Bridge . Once upon a time, when I was still a student in Munich, I had all the time in the world and had none of the responsibilities that come with being a working professional like I currently have. And so, I made plans to go off to the Czech capital, Prague, for a weekend with my then roommate, Surabhi. Surabhi was, and hopefully still is, a vivacious girl and had come to stay with me for a couple of months. Before she moved into my place, we were mere acquaintances from our university but thankfully, we got on really well, like a house on fire. We had initially planned on visiting Prague with a few other friends, who for various assorted reasons had to cancel. So this was a defining trip for the two of us because it was the first time I was charge of a whole trip and it was just us two girls travelling by ourselves. I couldn’t have asked for a better travel mate! We booked our hostel online and set off to Prague...