Jindobre Polska!

To be completely honest, I never thought I would visit Poland when I first landed in Germany. Little did I know then, that it was to be one of my best trips in Europe!
Well, my dear friend Pappu (who is Polish and used to work with me in Germany) made this trip possible. We (myself, Bhaski, Yeda) had to get a Polish visa since our Schengen visa was not valid in Poland. Pappu helped us with all the necessary documentation and we were all set to usher in the new year 2006 in Poland!
But an emergency at work resulted in me having to stay back in Hildesheim. Bhaski and Yeda left for Pappuland on thursday night. And I left on friday night. I reached the Hannover ZOB (Central Bus stand) and waited for the bus, which Pappu had told me would have "EST" written on it. When I did get into the bus, I felt like I was on display in a museum. Everyone was staring at me, obviously because of my brown skin and it is probably very rare for brown-skinned people to travel by bus from Germany to Poland. The conductor hardly spoke English or German, so a couple of youngsters sitting near me in the bus had to turn into "interpreters" for my sake.
I noticed that Sandra Bullock's "Miss Congeniality" was playing on the TV inside our bus, but in a weird way. The normal English dialogues were faintly heard in the background and a guy with a gruff voice was giving a running commentary in Polish, simultaneously. I assumed that Polish people must be big-time sports lovers since they like to watch even movies with a commentary!??
Anyways, Pappu had warned me about a million things and to be frank, I didn't follow many of them (I hope Pappu never reads this blog). I befriended a cute Polish girl traveling with me and she taught me a few Polish words. Though I was tempted to try out the dirty Polish with her, which Pappu had taught me, I decided not tarnish my country's image..;-)
I reached the Northern Polish city of Gdynia in the morning and I fell in love with Poland the moment I stepped out of the bus. I had to call up Pappu who would pick me up. Hardly anyone spoke English or German, so I had to resort to sign language. I had only 10 zlottys with me and I had to eat something and buy a calling card with that. I looked around and saw a cute girl in one of the shops. Bingo! This was a critical time for my charms to work. I went to the shop and asked her if she spoke English or German. Unfortunately, she did not. I used sign language to tell her what I want and I asked for a loaf of bread, a cup of coffee and a calling card. She gave me all that and asked me to pay 10 zlottys. I was relieved 'coz that's all I had. The rest of my money was in euros.
Anyways, I called up Pappu and he said he would be there at the bus stand in half an hour since he had drive from a neighbouring city called Sopot, where he lived. As I waited, I noticed that the it had snowed beautifully. It was really charming. Pappu came with his mom (Chocha, which means aunt in Polish) in their car and we drove to Sopot. I told Pappu that I paid 10 zlottys for all the stuff and he was surprised since the entire thing costs atleast 15 zlottys. I realized that my charms had really worked on the girl..;-)
We reached Pappu's home and Bhaski and Yeda were still asleep. Pappu told me about their exploits the previous night and I cursed the emergency at work for having made me miss out on the fun.
Chocha, who speaks only Polish by the way, made me a nice breakfast and lemon tea, asked me to take a bath and go to sleep. The cold weather and the cosy bed made me go to sleep very fast. It was around 12 in the noon when I woke up and Bhaski and Yeda were already upto something. They were preparing to cook some Indian food and I joined in. Chocha gave me the exemption though, since I had traveled the previous night. Food was ready and we ate nicely. We watched some Polish TV, played some games on Junior Pappu's (Pappu's brother, who was away on a new year weekend party) computer. It was evening and we got dressed for the new year party. I wore the Polska T-shirt that Pappu had gifted me and a white shirt above that, like an apron, to look like a doctor, since the theme for the party was "Emergency Room". Pappu dressed himself like a patient with a severe cold (though he looked more like a buffoon) and Bhaski wore a dressing band around his head, to look like an accident patient. Yeda decided to be the plane jane, violating the party theme. We had to carry the food with us, since they served only drinks at the party.
We reached the party venue and it was a small pub but the crowd looked great! It was a pub where most of the people could speak English. There was a girl whose dress was entirely made up of the cloth used to dress wounds! Quite creative, I thought. The bartenders were dressed like doctors/nurses and the music was good too. Our skin colour was again distinct but that made us popular.
I was smiling at a lot of good-looking girls. I had short chats with a few of them and I had some Polish vodka too. We started dancing and I met Madame M. I thought she was cute and we started talking (she spoke good English) and dancing. She took me to the beach, which was very near to the party place, when the clock struck 12, and we saw fireworks. As we returned, I saw Bhaski was in a bad shape and Pappu and Yeda took him home. Only Pappu came back and I was with Madam M all the time. I don't remember what all I blabbered to her but she gave me her mail ID..;-) We danced till 3 AM and then I said goodbye to her and walked back home with Pappu. We had a long chat during the walk, with the food that we had got from home still intact..;-)
Next morning, amid teasing from everyone (including Chocha) about my so-called 'love affair' with Madam M, I woke up and had breakfast. Chocha took us to Gdansk, the largest of the three cities in the tri-city area (Gdynia and Sopot being the other two). We walked around the city, had some nice coffee at a coffee shop and paid a visit to a beautiful church. The church had some carvings in German, indicating the German occupation of Gdansk in the past.
We had lunch at KFC where we watched a veggie Bhaski eating only salad and French fries.
We returned to Sopot in the evening, packed our bags and went to Gdynia to catch our bus to Hannover. After saying our goodbyes to Chocha, we were on our way to Hannover.
Jenkuye Pappu and Polska, for the great trip!!

Bonjour Paris!

Bonjour Monsieur! I was in Paris! Our tourist bus from Hannover travelled all night to reach the most beautiful city in the world, Paris! As our bus was manoeuvring through the busy early morning traffic on the way to the city centre, I could catch a glimpse of Stade de France, site of the 1998 FIFA World Cup Finale, with Paris 2012 written on it, along with the 5-ringed Olympic symbol. That was because Paris was bidding for the 2012 Olympic Games at that time, which eventually went to London.

First stop, Sacre Coeur (Sacred Heart), on Montmartre. The beautiful church complex, atop the hillock, offers a tremendous view of the city of Paris, and I was thrilled to see Eiffel Tower from there!

After a stroll in the church complex, we went on a short trip of the city centre with brief photo-sessions near the Eiffel Tower(also with the Paris 2012 logo on it) and Notre Dame. We checked into our hotel which was near Marie de Clichy (I hope I am spelling it right).

I set out to explore the city on my own, armed with a map, something that I absolutely love to do. I got into a shop to buy some souveneirs and a very beautiful French brunette greeted me "Bonjour Masseur". And she didn't know English. I tried with some "merci...oui" etc she made me point to the stuff that I wanted to buy. That cute smile on her face was radiant. She gave me a good discount and a smile. Little did I know then that I'd realize the next day that I had paid double the price for those souvenirs. The brunette had tricked me with her radiant smile! :(

Next stop, Notre Dame. What a beautiful place! People don't call Paris "the most beautiful city in the world" for no reason. And the French are real romantics! Romanticism oozes in everything they do: in the way they speak, in their names, in the city architecture. Just everything.

I had a sumptuous lunch at one of the cafes facing the street, something which Paris is known for. I tried a few French delicacies, an entree named "Amuse Bouche" and a chicken delicacy.

Next stop, was my dreamland, Roland Garros! To watch French Open 2005, live! I didn't have a ticket, but I knew about these evening tickets and I was just hoping that I would get one. I hopped onto the Paris Metro, which is very convenient by the way, and reached Roland Garros in the afternoon around 2 PM. There was a huge crowd but I chatted up this couple who were part of a larger group of youngsters and I sneaked into the front with them. And I managed to get a ticket! I was on cloud nine! And the ticket gave me access to the center court (Philippe Chartier) and also to the side courts! I went straight into the centre court and as I entered, Roger Federer had finished his match. I was disappointed, but soon got over that as I saw Mary Pierce coming in! She has been one of my favourites since long and I saw her play live! After watching a couple of great matches involving Patty Schnyder and Elena Dementieva (oh....she is so hot!) and getting autographs from Arantxa Sanchez and John McNroe(!!), I sat down to watch a mixed doubles match involving our very own Mahesh Bhupathi. I also watched a Spanish teenager named Rafael Nadal win one of his preliminary round matches - he went on to win French Open 2005 as a rank outsider! I think he has great potential! I was among the last to get out of there that evening. A very fulfilling afternoon indeed.

I was off to the city centre again to see Eiffel Tower by night. I was too late to climb the tower, but I was there right on time to watch the lights on the tower glitter.

Next morning, I got up and I was excited to visit my other dream destination: Muse du Louvre. I was in the metro again and the best part about Paris Metro is that one can easily get around the city with it 'coz there is a metro station right near every tourist destination.

The Louvre complex is amazing and I was thrilled to be in the Grand Gallery! I was even more thrilled to see the "Mona Lisa" but unfortunately couldn't catch a good view of it because of the crowd. After that I had my lunch in another restaurant and I reached Champs Elysees (which is one of the 12 great avenues) and took a nice walk down the avenue till the Arc de Triomphe (Victory arch).

After brief stopover at Place de la Concorde (with the millennium wheel) I was back in my hotel for the day.

Next day was to be my last day in Paris. I took a trip to Chateau de Versailles. Absolutely stunning place and extremely well maintained. I was back in the city by afternoon and I set out to explore the post-modern part of Paris: La Defense. After roaming there for sometime I was back in the city again visiting Place de la Bastille and I shopped for some Parisian perfumes, for the two most beautiful women in my life: my mom and my sister..:-)

After a brief stopover at the Eiffel Tower for the last time, I re-joined our touring group. We were on our way back to Hannover soon and I just couldn't stop thinking about Paris all through the night.

Portugal!

Ah! Portugal! One half of the two great Iberian imperial powers of yesteryears! Today, it is a country of merely 10 million people. It is also the land of great sailors like Vasco Da Gama.

Portugal has been one of my dream destinations, ever since I read about it in school. And it was becoming a reality! Moreover, I was happy to escape the chilly November German winter, even if it was only for two days.

My Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to the Northern Portuguese city of Porto, took a little over 2.5 hours. The city of Porto looked beautiful from the flight. The buildings looked typically European with inclined and tiled roofs. And the North Atlantic Ocean was right there, less than 3 kms away from the swanky new Porto Airport.

I was on a business visit, so a Taxi was waiting for me at the airport. The Taxi driver spoke Portuguese flavored-English but impeccable German. Our destination was Braga, which is a small city situated to the North East of Porto. The driver told me that the journey would take a little over an hour and that I can relax and enjoy the picturesque beauty of Portuguese countryside.

The countryside retains a lot of remnants from Portugal’s glorious past, blending well with symbols of modernization. Portugal is also among the most Catholic countries in the world.

I got into a casual chat with the driver and he talked about Portuguese history, about their fall from being one of the most powerful countries in the world to being a mere also-ran. He also talked about the bloodless revolution of 1974, which brought democracy to the country, and also about how joining the EU in 1986 has helped the country prosper again, with the growth of a service-oriented industry.

I was a bit surprised a when he asked about Goa and the Portuguese occupation of it. He told me that his uncle was an army officer in Goa prior to its takeover by the Indian Army in 1961.

I learnt a few basic Portuguese terms from him, like Ole (Hello) and Obrigada (Thank You).

He dropped me off at the office and my Portuguese colleague received me. People there are very friendly and very attractive too! They took very good care of me and were very keen to listen.

I noticed that some of the workers looked African. One of my colleagues told me that Portugal has a lot of immigrant workers from its erstwhile colonies in Africa, like Angola and Guinea Bissau and that they are very well integrated into the society.

I happened to meet a lot of people in the office and it seemed to me as if every second guy was named "Pedro" and every third guy was named "Ricardo".

Time for lunch and I was excited to try Portuguese food. The food was mainly seafood and I enjoyed the fish and prawn delicacies. I was accompanied by 6 of my colleagues at the lunch table, each one trying to feed me something special. It reminded me of the hospitality back home in India.

I finished my work in the evening and a Taxi dropped me off to my Hotel. The Hotel was classy and the staff was very helpful. An “Obrigada” from me made them extremely happy.

I freshened up and set out for my evening walk, accompanied by two of my colleagues. They showed me around the city, which looked historic and I shopped for a few souveniers. I was in for a surprise as I found an Indian restaruant named "Ristorante Indiano Rangoli". But we didn't go there as I wanted to try local food. I was taken to the classiest of restaurants in the city for dinner and I relished on more seafood and authentic port wine.

I was woken up the next day by the Hotel staff and breakfast, which was typically European with cheese and butter, was served in my room. I set out for my second and last day in the office and I found the same Taxi driver as the previous day, waiting for me. I greeted him “Ole” and he said “Sie lernen zu schnell” (You learn very fast, in German).

I enjoyed another day at the office, with my work successfully completed by the end of the day. I left for the airport, unwillingly, amid goodbyes from my colleagues.

My Air Berlin flight from Porto left for Hannover, Germany via Palma De Mallorca (an island off the Spanish east coast).