Long Overdue

Yes, it is. Never found the time once I returned to just sit down and write down all my experiences. And the way 2005 ended for me, the experiences just kept piling on right till the last minutes of the year. So if December started with a short, hectic and hopefully successful tour of Europe, it ended with a growl from King Kong. Add to that - really late nights in Mumbai and a near-death motorcycle crash in Bangalore barely a week ago, and I had the most happening month in a long time.

Last, but not the least, a bittersweet meeting with Dee in Milan.

I cannot possibly write about everything in one single post. Also, I am still really constrained on the time front, so I will keep it short and simple. I will probably add to it from time to time as time goes by.

So here goes…

After my last post, I shut down the laptop and got into the waiting car. Arya came along with me to the airport. I wasn’t nervous or anything, was just hoping that all would go well. I was ill-prepared for the trip – I hadn’t a shred of warm clothing on me and frankly, I wasn’t quite sure that the trip would happen at all, given the previous close shaves.

Anyway, I found myself sitting at the window in AF0135 from Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai to Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris. Soon, I was to realize how similar CS and CDG were to each other…everywhere in Paris, I could see statues of CDG sitting on a prancing horse, sword pointing straight ahead. Not unlike statues of Shivaji in Mumbai.

So anyway, I had a three hour stopover in CDG enroute Stuttgart. It was 2 degrees Celsius outside, but the airport was okay. It was 22 degrees when I took off from Mumbai. I deliberately opted for transit via Paris instead of Frankfurt, so I could show entry via France. More on that some other time. I whiled away time by chit-chatting with the gun-toting commandoes guarding the airport. This is usual for me and I quite enjoy giving tips on improving security stuff. I did get some weird stares from a lot of people, probably coz I was carrying the laptop in a backpack? This was a cross I had to bear throughout my travel in Europe. I did get mistaken for a Spaniard a number of times; only a few people thought I was Indian…

It was quite an experience to travel the way I did…

Dec 14, Mumbai – Paris – Stuttgart
Dec 16, Stuttgart – Milan – Turin
Dec 17, Turin – Milan – Paris
Dec 20, Paris – Mumbai
Dec 24, Mumbai – Bangalore

Though I didn’t get an awful lot of time in each city, but I did get to see a cross of cultures from one country to another. I also got to see the lovely Alps, albeit from a distance. I flew over them at least 4 times, and managed to take some photographs as well. Next time, I hope I can actually get closer.

Going to Europe at this time of the year had one big disadvantage. It was getting quite cold and I had to deal with sub zero temperatures. Losing sensation of one’s nose can be quite an experience as I realized.

There was also one big advantage. It was X’Mas and I was in time for all the discounts. I got to see some lovely X’mas markets and places done up with lights n stuff, all decked up for X’mas. I didn’t do much shopping though, just picked up a good leather jacket, a pair of hefty trekking boots and this headlight-torch I have been craving for a long time. I did all my personal shopping in Paris though, didn’t really want to lug around too much weight.

Had some amazing experiences in Europe. The GPS driven automobiles in Germany probably topped the list. It was also so good to see pedestrians walking on the pavements as opposed to the main roads, like in India.

To be continued…