Anirudh Tomer

Anirudh Tomer

I enjoy conducting scientific work, visiting mountains, cooking, landscape photography, and solving problems. I am currently doing statistics/machine learning in the field of medical science and biology for a living.

Italy (2016, 2019, 2020)

Italy is my favorite country in Europe, and there is so much to see and explore there, be it food, culture, or landscape. I have been there three times for exploring Apulia with Naman Goyal, in Aosta with my wife, and once with my brother-in-law. Italy is fascinating, and I hope to visit it at least a few more times in my life.

Trails

Multiple trails in Aosta, especially near Monte Bianco, and some in Apulia.

Food

Local food is at par with any other sophisticated cuisine in the world. Simple yet flavorful can be a tagline for Italian cuisine. Just brilliant.

Transportation

Hitchhiking in Italy was not easy, but public transportation is anyway fairly cheap by western European standards. In some places finding bus tickets can be a pain as they are sold in specialty shops that only the locals know about.

People

The most lovely people I have met outside India. Extremely helpful, fun, and full of spirit. You can never get bored being in the company of an Italian.

Special Experiences

On my first trip with Naman and I got a hitchhike ride from a doctor called Luca driving a sports car. On the way to return, a Senegalese man offered us a ride even though we had almost reached our destination. We did not mind his unsolicited offer and enjoyed his company. The purple sunset in Tuscany was an extraordinary experience too. In some monuments, Italian police stopped us (thanks to our brown skin), only to leave us immediately when we told them we are from India. At one railway station, we were sitting far away from the railway tracks to eat our bread. Suddenly an Italian station master came running to tell us that our train was about to leave and that we must catch it. That is something impossible to expect in Germany or the Netherlands. On my second trip with my wife, we had the fortune to buy handmade artisan Ravioli in Aosta. We immediately fell in love with them because of their variety and taste. Unfortunately, on my next trip to Aosta with my brother-in-law, we found that the shop was out of business.