The Belgian Comic Strip Center

For families with children visiting Brussels, the Belgian Comic Strip Center should be the first stop in Brussels.

This is a dream come true for all children and children-at-heart to see their favorite comic strip characters come to life in a Museum.

The museum has taken care to showcase every small detail of the Comic strip history and covers the latest in comic strip industry.

Since Tintin originated in Belgium and Kalpak is a great fan, he was truly delighted to be welcomed by Tintin theme at the entrance and throughout the museum. 

 

The exhibits show how the comic strip was invented and how it has evolved through times.

It covers different art forms such as Pencil drawing, inking, coloring and Digital art. It shows the various methods invented and used in creating popular cartoon characters.

It exhibits various comic characters in an interactive and fun manner.

 
Useful travel information about Belgian Comic Strip Center:

You can easily spend 2-3 hours at this place depending on your interest.

Please visit their website for opening times and entry fees - https://www.comicscenter.net/

Please find the map of the center below:






© Paras Doshi, 2018.

France Miniature - Good family fun time

Not too far from the famous Palace of Versailles in Paris is a wonderful outdoor park named "France Miniature" offering good family time.  The visit to this park can be combined with the visit to the Palace or its beautiful gardens.

The park contains 1/30 scale models of more than 150 landmarks of France in an open setting. The realistic setup of the park brings to life the beautiful architecture and culture of France.

All the monuments are arranged as per their locations in various regions of France. There is a variety in the monuments which includes villages, forts, towns, chateaux, amphitheaters, railway stations, stadiums, and so on. All the monuments have been re-created in great details.

A well paved paths takes you through the entire park and the path contains many interactive activities to keep everyone entertained while watching the landmarks.

The fountains of the miniature Palace of Versailles are controllable making it a real fun for the kids.

The park has its own Railway station and a miniature train system running through the park over models of real bridges.

There is more to this park than just monuments. It has good adventure rides for the kids and adults.

The park also has indoor attractions which kids will enjoy.

Visit this park to get a unique insight into beauty of whole of France.

Useful travel information about France Miniature:

It is easy to spend 4-5 hours in this park. Be prepared for a really long walk though as the park can be covered only by a walk.

It is located just 20 minutes drive from the Palace of Versailles. 

The map below shows the location of France Miniature. 

It is closed in Winters.
Please check their website for opening times as well as ticket rates - http://www.franceminiature.fr


© Paras Doshi, 2018.

Tower Bridge - In its full glory

Tower Bridge is one of the most prominent landmarks of London. No visit to London is complete without visiting Tower Bridge.

It is possible to make this visit even more exciting with a little bit of pre-planning. If you plan your visit during the time the bridge opens for ships to pass-through, you can witness and appreciate the engineering marvel of Tower Bridge.

Visit this page to find out the Bridge Lift times and plan your visit accordingly.
http://www.towerbridge.org.uk/lift-times/

© Paras Doshi, 2018.

London - Princess Diana Memorial Playground

This is a hidden gem of London, especially if you are traveling with kids.

Just behind Kensington Palace which is on the map of most tourists, is this little park which kids and adults will enjoy.

The park has a big ship made of wood that kids can spend fun time with.

It is surrounded by small little gems of activities which will keep everyone entertained.

A little further from this garden are the round pond, kensington gardens and the Princess Diana memorial fountain.

In all, you can easily spend 1 hour in the garden itself and more than 3 hours in the entire area.

Highly recommended if traveling to London with children.

Here is the map of the garden -





© Paras Doshi, 2018. 

Golfways - A great place to play indoor golf

Golfways is a very cool concept for family entertainment. It is a 18-hole golf course, to be played indoors !! As you enter the place, you are completely dazzled by the bright and vibrant look of it.

To start the game, you are given a fluorescent score card, a club and a small fluorescent ball. Everything around is designed in such a way that it glows in the dark. The pictures here just do not give justice to the actual effect found over there.

Each hole has a different fluorescent design, a unique theme and a unique challenge level. As you move up the levels, you come across various themes. Some are straight forward courses where the hole is visible from the starting point. But in some places you need to pass the ball through some obstructions to reach the hole. One of the course takes the ball through really nice geometric formation, while another one has really difficult obstruction to get through. The overall level of difficulty of the game is simple, but you can take your own time to move through various courses, while enjoying and admiring the lights around you.

They have a nice little online game on their website http://www.golfwayindia.com/onlinegame.php to see the various themes used in the actual courses.

Once you reach the last course, there is a surprise in store for you. If you hit the ball into one of the three holes , then you get another round of the game for free.

The entire round of 18 holes costs Rs. 190 for adults and Rs. 170 for kids. This price was Rs. 100 some time back and they have been increasing the price steadily now !!

Apart from the golf course, there are a number of arcade games for kids to enjoy from car racing, biking, basketball, bowling, and so on. The small kids who are not interested in playing golf, can spend time on these games. For Rs. 100 you get to play five different games.

Overall, it is a great way to spend an evening.

Useful travel information about Golfways:

Unfortunately, this place has closed down. 

It is on the opposite side of road to the Weikfield IT park and the Hyatt hotel on Nagar Road, Pune.

It is open from 10:00 AM to 10:00 PM.

© Paras Doshi, 2010.

Desert Safari @ Little Rann of Kutch

When we think of Desert, we think of endless land with no water. India's largest wildlife sanctuary known as Little Rann of Kutch is a unique seasonal land. During monsoon, it is submerged in water by an interesting reverse flow of water from the sea into the land, but after that it turns into endless mass of dry land.

The main attraction of this sanctuary is Wild Ass. Now don't laugh at why would someone be interested in Asses of all animals. These endangered species are only found in this sactuary now. It is a very unique animal in the sense that its face looks like an ass, but the body is a mix of Zebra and a Horse. It has speed and built of a horse, but at the same time elegance of a Zebra.

Other attaction are the migratory birds. During the monsoon months, the huge wetland attracts thousands of lesser flamingos and 9 other types of Migratory birds. While Greater flamingos prefer the Great Rann of Kutch, the lesser flamingos prefer its smaller version :). This is also their breeding site, so after the monsoon months, is the best period to sight the hoard of flamingos. We also sighted Common Cranes and Pelicans among other birds.

Our Safari started from the nicely created and well maintained resort of the Desert Coursers located at Jainabad, 10km off the road from Dasada. It has nicely made A.C. rooms for night stay (called koobas). A nice dining area and open space for kids to play around and for campfire.

We had opted only for the Safari, so once we reached around 3:00 PM we waited in the dining area. Some of us had tea while others enjoyed excellent chaas.

We started off on a military grade vehicle that can seat around 12-14 people comfortably. The sactuary is around 30 KM away from this base location.

As we entered the sanctury, we first sighted the Commom cranes lazing around elegantly.




Next, we headed to the large lake formed during monsoons. We were delighted by the sight of the thousands of lesser flamingos standing in the lake. We parked the vehicle at a distance and started to walk towards the lake. Just then a couple of other cars came very close to the lake and the entire group of flamingos just flew in the air. The sight was just awesome.

There was also a group of Pelicans on the other side of the lake. We could not reach close as they also flew and went to the far side of the lake. We headed to see the Wild ass next.

The driver was quite knowledgeable and knew where to take us. We spotted some asses and went as close as possible. They were quite supportive :) and gave us some good poses. They were looking quite amusedly at us :).

It was just time for Sunset and we places ourselves at a strategic location to see the gorgeous sunset in the desert. It was just the vast expanse of land meeting the sky and nothing in between.

It was time to head back to the base camp. Their jeep also dropped us to Dasada for our onward journey. The entire trip in the open jeep speeding at more than 60 km/hour was just awesome.

Click here for detailed travel information on Safari.

© Paras Doshi, 2009.