OvEr & OuT!!!

Hello All,

Its been a couple of days since I am back... to count in hours almost 50 of them are through....
SO I write this post to share my feelings about my journey as a whole!

Though I dont have the exact stats yet.... I visited maybe a dozen countries... saw a around 25 cities.... spent almost 40 days travelling around Europe.... its UNLIMITED memories for liFE!!!

Can never forget these days and will always look back upon them as fun, exposure, learning and a great opportunity well used.

Thanks to the French Embassy and EGIDE for their help and scholarship! it was godsent and truly made our stay there a pleasure... cant thank everyone at EM Lyon enough for they made us feel very comfortable right from day 1.

Now its time to move on to other things... better thngs.. an upcoming placement season.. a career and a whole new set of experiences... CAnt WaiT to GeT StArtEd.......

You can all email me anytime at pranav10@gmail.com

Au revoir!

You KnoW iTs FRANCE When...........

Travelling every weekend, Sunday's I feel like I wanna be back home (in Lyon) so that I can sleep peacefully, check my email, share the photos we just took....and the works....

Each time.. there are a few things which tell me.. that .... Voila! France is Here!!

The TOP 5 Things that mean you are in France are

1) The gurls just get a lot lot prettier and sexier..... NO doubt on that :-)

2) The boys are seen wearing pink, yellow and light pastel shades.....

3) The people are holding baguettes (french Bread, the long hard types) and eating them as they head to work

4) Guys! kissing cheek to cheek to greet each other,...though you do that with the gurls too ;-)

5) Every 2nd person in the bus, train or metro has earphones in their ears....

there you have it.. i said it.....
Now the next time you spot these 5 things at the same place... Welcome to France,!! Bonjour Monseur!! :-)

PAR ad IS e ViSiTeD!! Wanna go back....

If someone asks me how PARIS got its name I would probably say its derived from the English Word PARADISE!!! and this is just seeing it in the day, for a day (if you get what I mean, reminded of CAT?? :P)

A day trip to Paris for always planned and chucked out because of some reason or the other but today it finally happened and Boy AM I HAPPY!!

Leaving early today morning at 6 am was not easy especially after having worked on a case solution most of last night. But its been worth the effort and the wait!

We began our day with the Catherdral of Notre Dame and it was a nice way to start off visitng Paris... mainly because the place has a calm which was very nice, reminded me of the beautfiul churches in Italy.

NExt we headed to the Louvre, now the Da Vinci Code and Dan Brown were responsible for bringing this very famous and hugely popular museum into common knowledge globally and let me tell you its ............. oh chuck it, I aint trying - SEE IT TO BELIEVE IT!!!

IT houses amongst other things the MONA LISA and boy is it Tiny! hehehehe,,,, yes it is really really smaller than what I expected it to be. Beautiful no doubt :-) and the smile was really ..... what can i say.. Nice ;-)

From the Louvre we headed to the Champs Elysees and this is one of the most important streets in Paris, reasons are many, mainly commercial and political cause all major brands have huge stores here and political cause the parades and other ceremonies happen here often.
I wouldnt say it was something unique probably because today, a standard mall would house almost the same brand width and depth. Some years ago I would have liked it more..... the famous Parisian cabarets, moulin rouge and Lido both happen here and are awfully costly at 100 Euros per head .....


The Arc de Triopmh is where the Avenue des Champs Elysees comes to an end! Its a memorial with its very own version of the Amar Jyoti commemorating the unknown World War I soldier who is buried beneath it.


Next on the itinery was The Eiffel Tower, probably the most popular symbol of Paris. Surely one of the first things you recall when you think of Paris. The Eiffel tower, to say the least was BREATHTAKING!!

The reason is not only its beauty but also the fact that we chose the cheaper tickets up which only allowed us staircase use... huge number of stairs over 500 for each level and then we reached level 2. At level 2 chaos reigned supreme and the lift to the 3 level was just 2 mins :-)

The views from the top can only be expressed in pictures and for that you must visit my web gallery on http://picasaweb.google.com/pranav10/PARAdISE


Another wonderful thing was the timing we visited the tower, on our way up it was daylight and we could experience it in natural light and when we made our way down it was lit up those giving us many more photo Ops :D and great views...

However to point out 2 things,
1) At many places they had these signs that said DO NOT LEAVE ANY OBJECTS ON THE EIFFEL TOWER!... and i wondered whether it was just bad translation or had people in the past really left back "objects" on the visit to the tower! if yes, then i wanna see a list of the most bizzare and funny ones... sure to be a good laugh....

2) On the top level they have important cities of the world charted in the direction they are in from the tower along with the distance. Now Delhi and Mumbai were most likely going to be there but I was pleasantly surprised and happy when I also saw Madras, Bangalore and Hyderabad which takes the toll to 5 Indian cities probably second to no other country there, which had a maximum of 3 cities (USA)

Also I personally suggest, one spend a little extra time and walk as much as possible in Paris as it sure is beautiful and the people there are really very helpful.

Thus came to an end a great trip to Paris....right now back in Lyon and cant wait to crash... have had a long day and a longer week awaits us ahead....

Au revoir till then...

One Of ThE BeSt HoL(a)iDAy!!

HolA ALL,

THis post is delayed but trust me its much deserved. It comes straight from the heart and is bound to be a long one.

We always thought and heard that Spain would be nice but I personally feel it was better. Better and I believe it could have been more fun :-)

We planned this trip for 6 days on a very special week in France, the French transport employees were striking and we were out holidaying.... We headed straight to a city just across the border from France called Irun, where we caught a train to madrid.

A pleasant surprise when the train stewardess gave us an earphone set each. Expecting its for music, we noticed the TV screens light up for Garfield II and then another movie called the Skeleton KEy. Though they were both in Spanish we were very happy with the change and the surprising welcome to Spain.

We got to Madrid at around 3 and were told there is no Night Train to Sevilla, we finally found a hostel and then headed out to see the city and the lights. Now people may calll me crazy, but I think Madrid was more like any other London or Paris or Major city. Lotsa mayhem, tourists and fun :-) Though we couldnt see much, we walked the entire centro of the city and liked it quiet a lot.

A peculiarity in Spain were the large number of fountains everywhre and that began from Madrid itself. We slept peacefully that night to catch an early train to Sevilla, further south. Now the train we took was the AVE which is the best Spain has to offer and I sure felt out of place.

We were 2, 20 somethings in a compartment full of executives and professionals. The best part about this train was they showed an English Movie in ENGLISH!! which was really nice.... :-)

Sevilla was bound to be super and it really was, catching the cathedral we saw amazing things there and also the palace. Starbucks was there to help us and the weather was perfect. Not Hot ans surely not chilly, it offered the perfect background for the day out in the sun and we surely enjoyed a lot. Just walking by the city, we saw several street cafes, flamingo dancers, fountains and gardens... plus those tiny shops which sold loads of stuff from spanish dresses to Tshirts.

We wanted to go out and party in Sevilla but unfortunately we ate a very heavy meal and fell asleep. Only to head to Granada next morning, which in my opinion was a let down mainly becaue the Alhambara is the main attraction there and rather the only attraction. It was not something unique for us as we have seen Arabic cosntruction back home in parts of India.

From Granada we headed to barcelona by the Tren hotel which sadly didnt have a TV or the movie. Reaching barca next morning we hit the streets early to catch up on the Cathedral, Gaudis creations and the Sagridia Familia. Now barca is a place that desrves a more detailed
mention....

It has beautiful beaches, a port full of yachts of all sizes, cobble stone streets in the Bari Gothic and an amazing night life... at 2 am people were shouting and partying on the streets... something thats rare in Europe atleast... and surely Illegal in Mumbai :P

From barcelona we had a train to Montpellier on Saturday only to realise its cancelled cause the strike is still going on...we took the Eurolines bus there ans amazingly it had the same travel time as the train though we took 2 halts for a total of 1.45 hours.

By afternoon 3 we were in Montpellier and it felt like home, France surely feels good and familiar now. The bonjour and Merci Aurevoirs are now strongly a part of me :-)

We took a train to Valence in the evening which is just an hour away dfrom Lyon, but however once we got there , there were no trains or buses to Lyon that night and we put up in a nice hotel to take the nest train in the afternoon on Sunday.....
I was very impressed with Valence considering its size and the gardens and fountains they had. A great city !!!

MY pics are uploaded and all there to view on http://picasaweb.google.com/pranav10/BarcalonedFoReVeR

Getting home in 2 weeks... the countdown is on and so is exam season.....
Love you all and thanx for reading....

PrAnAv

HAIL ROMA!!!

What better way than to spend the Diwali weekend (Happy Diwali Everyone!!) in a city that houses one of the most studied civilisations of ancient times and the smallest country in the world (VaticaN) which is Home to none other than the Pope!

In one word all that i can say for ROME is WOW!!!
Its one thing to have ancient ruins and another to make them look beautiful probabaly as much or even more than when they were made...

Our trip started with a whirlwind visit into Modena enroute to Maranello which is the home of Ferrari and the Ferrrari factory!
After getting kicked outta there we headed back to railway station and took an overnighter to ROMA!
Hitting rome early in the morning we checked into the hostel and then moved on to the vatican, the world's smallest country!

Once there we caught up on the church and the museum of the vatican which has the sistine chapel painted by Michelangelo on the ceiling amongst many many amazing things :-) but it took a grueeling waait and a loong time to reach the chapel through sevral exhibits and halls all over the museum.

After the museum we moved on to see the anicent Roman civilisations, main amongst them being the Colloseo, The Pantheon and The Tevori fountain!
All this was on Diwali day and it didnt feel like it at all, though we were constantly remimded of it by each other.

We headed home totally tired and exhusted as it was wasily the biggest city and the one with max number of places to see and a lot of tourists!

The next day we took a train to Pisa to see the Leaning tower of Pisa (what else) ;=)
This was a small detour but toally worth it as the city was gr8 and there was a HUge street market to go through when we walked back to the railway station!

and just by the time we had picked up some Italian, with our share of Ciao, Grazis and Statiozione we had to take the train back home

Italy was beautiful with a great mix of cities like Rome,Venice, Pisa and Milan..... fast cars, beautiful girls and a great sense of fashion along a backdrop of ancient structures and churcches that dont cease to amaze!

I love the country and its pplaces.... (hope the coin in tevori fountain brings me back there soon ) :-)

EvEnTfUl DaYs!!

The reason why this post doesnt begin with the destination of my weekend trip was because this week has been really fun and really full of stuff:



To begin with on Wedensday we got our tickets preponed to the 5th of December, mainly because our classes get over on the 3rd and to get 20 days back home would be great.

Also cause we are broke and we cant afford to travel for 10 days towards the end.



Then came a gret weekend in London (yes, I went across the channel agaiN) taking the same ferry and all... but this time the interesting part was I met a lot of great people.

On my way there I met a British Firefighter who had been backpacking in mainland europe the past 1.5 months, a german girl whose boyfriend lived over in Britain, 2 American girls backpacking in Europe and a older couple from Serbia who had settled in the UK but had gone to France just to shop for the day :-)



I reached London and met up with my great friend and cousin Vishal and his colleaue who were over from India on an assignment for their company plus 2 other colleagues from their company who were over for Indian dinner. :-)

On friday I headed out alone to look at the parts of London I couldnt last monht... So I trodded along to London Bridge, Tower Bridge , Tower of London and the liverpool area. Surprisingly it was sunny, with no sigh of the wind or the rain (quite unlike London and it remaiend that way all weekend)

Saturday we headed out shopping to oxford street , bond street and Picaddily circus, also paying a visit to leicester square and trafalgar square.... Thos lions at trafalgar were a challenge but i managed half way....

I left early sunday morning... and got home only 22 hours later on Monday1!!!

Then began the most eventful week in E M Lyon....

Monday : Midterm exam in the morning class followed by a presentation in the afternoon session folowed by cooking till late at night as we were hosting some friends over for an Indian dinner considering its Diwali

Tuesday: Presentation in the only class for the day, plus a visit to the grocery store and the post office for other work... and the entire evening was a great one with 3 of our freinds over for dinner. Had a good meal and I swear anubhav is now a great cook, no doubts! The dude made the best kheer possible in the situation....

Today we again had a presentation in the morning session and now have to head to a CHampions League match in Lyon.... where the home team takes on Stutgart....

Cant wait!

PLUS : A good weekend in sight with a planned trip to the cities of Rome and Pisa and a possible detour to the ferrari factory at maranello.

love you all and miss u all too

PrAnAv

BENELUXury

The last weekend was a fun filled one, we had a party from the city of Lyon, for all the foreign students in Lyon. Yes, thats true, the city (the local government) here threw a party with DJ, drinks, in a nightclub for the foreign students, even offering us free invites and a complimentary drink.

NOW THATS WHY WE LOVE FRENCH UNIVERSITIES !! :-)

So that was a great start to the weekend... a day of rest on Thursday followed by the party and a 06.20 AM train to Amsterdam.... hehehe... even we didnt know why we did this.


ON our way up North we crossed Belgium where we decided to stopover at Antwerp for a couple of hours and enjoy our first taste of waffles, which ofcourse are a Belgian speciality.

The trip truly began with the visit to Netherlands, and a night in the city of amsterdam. Amongst other things whats most popluar there is the RED LIGHT DISTRICT which we just had a glimpse of. Otherwise the city has some great night life and awesome pub culture. Though again we had to steer clear of the cannabis vending "cafe".

The next day we headed to Belgium again and visited Brussels, getting a quick glimpsse of the Mannekin Pis (yes Pun Intended) which is a 1-1.5 feet bronze statue of a 2-3 year old boy PISSING!!! YES YES
PISSING!!!

and believe me almost every tourist to brussels visits the Mannekin pis to top it all we also heard that they have in the city somewhere a pissing girl and a pissing DOG! however I think I had filled my quota of urinating idols.

The main square was absolutely amazing with great architeture all around us and we also walked past the Royal palace which was shut for the Public.

The rest of the time was spent visiting the area which is a huge shopping district similar to the Champs Elyss in Paris. It was great to see huge brands vying for my wallet (though it didnt have any money) :-P

Next we hoped onto an hour long ride to Bruggs which Is the highlight of pur trip and was easily one of the best cities I have visited on this Euro tour. A small place, a quiet place, great food, canals and Italian restaurants give it a huge Italian flavour. To add to it they have great chocolateries which dressed their windows with the most amazing artwork all made from chocolate ofcourse!

Next day saw us leave early and run to catch the train to Luxemburg and 4 hours later we were there at the GRAND DUCHY OF LUXEMBURG!
bang in the centre of Luxemburg city, only to know that the whole city and its shops would open at 2 pm.


We checked out the Royal Palace and the Town centre which are great pieces of architecture no doubt. AT 2 on the second, we started barging into the shops, picking up perfumes ( my friend bought many) and I just tested a couple of dozen :-), buying candy and eating at the Oberweiss pastry and chocolate shop. IT has the most amaxing choclaote mousse pastry with a mix of chocolate sauce, chocolate mouse, macroons and biscuits in the centre.. something that I dont mind goingback to Luxemburg for!!

All in all it was a smaller weekend and the cities we covered desrved more time by all means, however I feel I did justice to each city I visited and that the BENELUX countries are surely a great place to spend some quality time with friends and family.