Season's tales: English County Delights

So, the sophisticated British.UK is an all new world,with respect to culture , accent , elegance , driving on the left, and especially for engineers, their miles, feet, pounds and ounces. I've been to London before, but since its a mega metropolitan, I couldn't quite experience the real English life, which I was always fascinated by the images that were painted in my brain from the works of Shakespeare, Dickens , Tennyson , Wilde and even Rowling and I wanted to see something more than her majesty's empire. So this little deficit was filled by an invite from my British-Indian granduncle to spend a long weekend at his place in the summer. He lives in a lovely little village that's built on a hill, right outside Scunthorpe and drives to work at Lincoln everyday. Luckily, KLM flies direct from Amsterdam to Humberside, which is just a 20 minute drive to their home. Its less than an hour's flight , and I landed pretty much the same time I boarded , as NL is an hour ahead. Aunt Uma was eagerly waiting for me at the arrivals gate and Uncle drove us all on the left side of the dual carriage way (the correct way to drive!!)to their Big, Beautiful ,British home .

After I dropped my stuff in the lavender room I was given upstairs, I had some yummy snacks in the kitchen and tea in the conservatory to catch up on some family talk. Aunt Uma is a fantastic cook, and I had an elaborate south Indian dinner,the choice was too much and I wish I had a stronger appetite. Its always a nice and familiar feeling when someone complains that I don't eat enough,because I actually do!

The next morning I woke up pretty early to join Uncle Vijay for his morning walk around the quiet village. It was so refreshing to see the fields down the valley and taking breaths of the English country side, and when we came home a delicious breakfast was waiting us. I take pleasure in gastronomy, trying new cuisines, but this time all I wanted was home made south Indian food, and Aunt Uma gave me more than that though she's been in the UK for almost 40 years. I had hot steaming idlis, with peanut and coconut chutney, and drumstick sambar. What more can I ask for! The following breakfasts were as tempting as this one, which was upma on saturday and crispy paper roast dosas on Sunday served with the authentic side dishes they generally go with. I was wondering whether I was experiencing England or India.

But soon after the breakfast we set out to visit York, one of the beautiful cities that still kept the glorious Roman past. Parking is a bit tricky in the city, so Uncle parked the car in a 'Park and Ride' station about 10 km from York, and there is also a huge outlet store there. After briefly checking out the complex and finishing a refreshing milkshake, we rode in a coach to York.Its a vibrant city with narrow and beautiful streets, and has the highest pub density for any English city. We took the York Pullman tour bus, sat on the top deck and enjoyed the ride around the walled city, with a recorded guide commentary. It was nice to know the interesting traditions of this pretty city. Then the most famous York minster was due for a visit. I'm not so much of an expert on Christian worship, but minsters, churches and cathedrals are different with respect to administration, and the way they are run, but the one at York is both a minster and a cathedral. The current building dates back to 1220, but the site itself has more than 2000 years of history. It has magnificent domes, an astounding quire, embellishments on the ceiling and impressive stained glass paintings on the massive windows, truly representing the style of the Roman cathedrals in England. The building has an underground crypt hosting all the Roman heritage left behind. I was just on time to be present for the Minster's choir practice and I was swayed by the red-robe clad hitch pitched voices.

After a tour into the past, we strolled in the delightful streets of York, we reached the world famous Betty's tea room for a late lunch. After a wholesome lunch, the best part of Betty's - the sinful pastries were too good to be true. After having a heavenly chocolate-raspberry brownie infused with kirsch, I bid goodbye to Betty's with an in-house cappuccino. The aroma lingered around for quite some time.

We went home in the evening and again I was fed with some awesome food. The following day started again with a morning walk around the village and Uncle suggested going to the cinemas in the day and there was a social gathering of the doctors and medical practitioners of the Scunthorpe and Lincoln area, later in the evening. Without even thinking I said I wanted to see Inception, so we drove to the cinemas at Scunthorpe. Maybe because it was a noon show, there were less than 6 people for the entire screen, but the movie mesmerized me beyond words. It was pure magic. The director is the personification of creativity.

Later that evening I joined Uncle and Aunt for the social gathering and had a sneak peak into the English social life . It is always interesting and great pleasure to meet new people and hear their stories in a nice setting.

Sunday was more relaxed and in the evening Uncle drove us to the Lincoln County Hospital, where he works as a Consultant-Radiologist and showed me around. I learnt a lot about the NHS in UK. Later we visited the famous Lincoln cathedral. It was closed during that hour, nevertheless the view from outside was great by itself. A part of the movie the DaVinci code was shot in this cathedral. After a brief tour around the cathedral, I was treated to a grand dinner at the Harbour city restaurant on the Burton Waters.

My flight back to Amsterdam was on Monday morning. So after having such a great time with family , I had to say a heavy goodbye . I was thoroughly spoilt all three days and I was so glad I made the trip. I wasn't very tired when I came back to Delft. My house mates were on vacation, so I knew there wont be anyone to give an exciting cry when I'm back home. But the Pantaloon clad old gentleman next door, was smiling at me, and said welcome back. And of course his amiable smile was contagious. I had a happy face all day!

Season's tales: Capital Z

So ,Swiss. I've always wondered, how its so unfair that they have all the money, the beautiful Alps,all the pristine nature, were never affected by the world wars,have happy cows, orgasmic chocolate, ambrosial cheese and the most precise and precious watches and what not!. The picturesque image of this little landlocked country I had, goes way back into my childhood. Thanks to all the Indian movie directors that shot in-numerous duet songs in the Alps , Switzerland was one the first European countries that I visualized.
So with this child-like enthusiasm combined with sating my never-dying hunger for travel,and the prospect of visiting a good friend, I booked my train tickets to Zurich in the previous exam period. I have this funny habit of planning my travels during exams periods, to make the vacations that follow the exams more exciting and motivating. The tickets arrived in my mailbox soon after, but forgot about them as the Zurich trip was so far away, as I had a couple of other trips planned before that. But as the date approached I was as enthusiastic as ever, and even the cancellation of the concert of my favorite Indian musician in Zurich couldn't dampen my spirits. Yes, I'm a travel junkie.
Finally it was time to go to Switzerland. I took the not-so-comfortable city night line train for an excruciating 13 hours from Utrecht . I happen to be way too long for the berth, and its supposed to be an European train. Irony! So after a lot of complaining , cursing, sleeplessness and with the slight pleasant company of Dan brown's Lost symbol, I managed to reach Zurich HB. The train was right on time and my friend Ashish came to pick me up. I stayed all four days at a student house, hosting students and researchers from ETH and all other Zurich universities So after a quick breakfast and refreshing shower, and a strong cup of coffee, I felt my co-ordinating mechanism back to function and I was ready to hike up to the highest point in Zurich - at Uitleberg.
The transportation system in Zurich is amazing. Almost every section of the city is well connected by trams .buses, water taxis and even the funky little train called the Polybahn that constantly carries passengers to the buildings on an higher elevation near the Zurich Central. I found the pretty little red toy train adorable. And a 8 franc day ticket is valid for all these modes of transport. So on my tram ride to ETH, before going to Uitleberg, I was observing the names of the streets and I had this faint Déjà Vu and ofocurse I realized why in no time. The Bourne Identity strikes again. My friend was showing me the major swiss banks, and with a playful disdain claimed that he is cool because he has a swiss bank account. I have to agree, its cool indeed and I would like to have one too, preferably the one that comes with the black credit card. But I should say from the outside, the banks don't look ostentatious enough for what they are worth. Maybe thats what they call as keeping a 'low profile'.

After paying a short visit to the ETH campus, joining Mayanka , we had lunch at a Pakistani place. I felt Zurich was definitely expensive, but my friends dint find spending 10 euroes for a normal meal extravagant. So after a tasty refueling, we set out to the hike. It was amazing, though it took a great deal of energy. The view from the top was spectacular, and again a'running out of adjectives' syndrome hit me. We were thorough;y exhausted , and went back home for a mouth watering udipi style dinner made by Kartik, God bless him. The student house has quite a lot of Indians and one of them was celebrating his birthday so there was a little party that night,so we stayed up late to cheer the birthday boy. In four days my Hindi improved considerably spending time with these guys.

The best part about visiting a city with people that are familiar with it is that, you don't have to carry a map and be all touristic. My intention was to be a subtle tourist so it worked great for me. The next day we just roamed around the streets of Zurich, and when I heard there was some Sri Lankan place that served Dosas, my joy had no bounds. I mercilessly devoured the five dosas infront me with unimaginable glee. Yes, I'm a food junkie too. Especially when it comes to Idlis and Dosas which I haven't had for almost 6 months. We went home a little late to watch a nice Coen brothers movie with a group of friends in the cinema room with a nice projector. After which Asthana was reciting some awesome stories about incidents greatly exemplifying Murphy's law.

The next day was the most touristic. We went to the Rhine falls. I was instantly in love with the gushing volume of water and the beautiful river. After being dazed by the breathtaking sight, we took the train back to Zurich, which was roughly an hour's ride from the falls. Our ticket was valid even for a 2 hour boat ride to Rapperswile, another beautiful location near Zurich. The boat trip was very good, and as I share this unexplained love and respect for water, I'm always enthusiastic about boating or swimming.

The last day in Zurich was quite eventful as well. I bought a beautiful swiss watch, after which we had a nice buffet at an Indian restaurant. We then left to the Lindt chocolate factory close to Zurich, and as soon as I got off the bus the heavenly aroma of chocolate was like a powerful magnet. After buying enough chocolate, I though they wouldn't survive the train journey back as I would finish all of them in no time.

But there were some random things that I noticed in Zurich . for eg',For such a prosperous city , I dint spot a single Ferrari on the roads anytime in the four days

My train to Holland was later that evening, but time had passed so quick and I had an awesome time. I was boarding the train with a handful of goodies, bagful of dirty clothes, and a brain full of thoughts. The return journey was even more horrible, and I swear I'm not choosing that train ever again. I reached Delft in a bad shape, and I was waiting for the rattling of my trolley wheels against the brick road to stop, and it never felt so good to be home. I rushed upstairs to just crash into my bed and slip into a dreamless slumber and guess what!

MY BED WAS GONE!!

Season's tales-Part 1

So its summer.Its quite unusual for me to normally get so delighted about the sun, as I've had 21 Indian summers and lets say I'm not a big fan of 42 degrees and 70pc humidity . But after I decided to experience the European summer for a change( Mum wasn't too happy, had to deal with a great amount of cajoling and convincing her to let me stay here) , I'm quite thrilled at the sweet surprises , planned and unplanned activities that are making my vacation so eventful and a plethora of adjectives. For the first time, I like the summer sun and for the rest I'm having such a wonderful time. Netherlands being in the world cup final , and the fact that I can watch the game here in Holland being the cherry on the topping.

I did plan a lot to do this summer, but sometimes some of the most spontaneous things turn out be awesome. When Felix, invited me to join him to sail on a Saturday with a group of friends , it sounded like a good idea. I'm a sailing dummy, so I wasn't too keen on embarrassing myself with the sails, but I thought at least I could swim or get towed if I choose not to be on the boat. And also it was with a great group of people so was something fun to look forward to. But now, I can assure you that all the adjectives in this piece are seriously understated, and the scaling factor to elevate their meaning is too high to decide.

I wasn't complaining too much when I woke up at 7 to get to Apeldoorn at around 10.30am , as proposed by the host. Pierre and I took the train at 9 , and as soon as the train moved dear Pierre happily dozed off for the rest of the journey, but it wasn't so bad to stare at the window and enjoy the surroundings on a bright sunny day

The boat was at Zwartsluis, which is about 65 kms from Apeldoorn, and a good hour's drive. We were received by Felix, Jelle and Sander at the Apeldoorn station with sunglasses and shorts , and Jelle was so nice to drive us back and forth. When we reached the dock of Felix's boat , it was such a pretty site with beautiful boats of all sorts neatly lined up, personifying the spirit of summer vacation.

The wind wasn't too strong so Captain Felix decided to turn the engine on , so before we set into the main water body, we waterproofed our electronics, put a big thermos basket filled with food and ice-cold drinks for a hot summer day, just like the way it should be. After a few minutes into the water, the sun was perfectly hot for a quick dip. So we anchored and started enjoying refreshing jumps into the lake. We were having so much fun as normal(read crazy) as a buncha of 22 year olds can have. I was refusing to get on the boat and preferred being towed, which can be quite tricky when you don't wanna lose your clothes to the current . I was quite lucky in that aspect. After a long swim , I was beginning to feel a little tired and my soaked hands and feet were getting slightly uncomfortable,so I got on the boat. Luckily after that the wind was getting stronger to open the sails, and I was watching uselessly, enjoying nevertheless, when the boys were working with the sails and maneuvering the boat. Chilling on the boat with a cold drink in the hand , waving at all the other happy people on the other boats, jumping into the water after the sun quickly dried the clothes, playing funny games with friends, getting thrown off into the water when one least expects, cooling down the warmed up beers underwater by tying a rope to the crate,and when the bottles get washed away, diving in to find them, and rejoicing after finding all of them in the bed, talking a great deal and laughing all the time without checking the watch, and playing titanic, annoying the ones happily asleep , trying to fish in absolute vain, were just a few things to sum up the whole boat experience. Its been a while a long time I experienced such a kind of child-like glee.. Just way too happy to bother about anything else.

The day was getter better and better. We were invited by Felix's family for a barbecue in their garden later that evening. After drying ourselves and bringing the boat back to the dock, we set off to Felix's place. His family house is really beautiful, and his family even more beautiful. We were greeted warmly by his parents and we sat in their lush green backyard, with inviting smell of charcoal with succulent meat ready to be served. I was the only non-Dutch among the 12 people there and they were so considerate and were trying to speak in English all along and constantly checking on me if I was comfortable . I was slightly embarrassed that it never occurred to me that Dutch people can be so polite and caring. I had such a good time, and was a great feeling to have dinner with a family. But after it started raining it occurred to me that I need to get home, they insisted on me staying over but I wanted to get back to Delft and Pierre like always was polite , din't let me go alone, accompanied me though he wanted to stay over.After dessert and goodbyes, we were dropped off at the station, and we took a train back to Rotterdam to get back to Delft, and if that happened it would've been a perfect story.

But whats the fun if things happen the way we want them to happen. Ten minutes after the train left Apeldoorn, it was halted because the cable were stuck by a thunderstorm. We were stranded for 1.5 hrs in the train, during which Pierre was enduring my endless chatter, only to be sent back to Apeldoorn. We made a call to Felix, to accommodate us and we took a cab and went back the house. The parents went to sleep and we joined the kids and friends who were happily talking in the garage. We finally set to rest for a few hours, and woke up quite early to get back to Delft. As expected the parents were pretty surprised to see me in the morning. They dint let us go without breakfast and Felix's dad, who has this reassuring wise doctor tone, drove us kids back to the station. It was so obvious that nobody was working on a day when Netherlands was in the final, so it was exceedingly uncomfortable to take a rail detour to get back to Delft.

I've had many holidays that I had great fun and many that had a very nice feel-good touch to them. This Saturday was the perfect mix of both and was one of the most amazing days for me in the last 11 months in Holland. I really saw a new face of Netherlands-with respect to people and places and I loved it. I'm so glad I have such fantastic house mates and I'm overjoyed about the fact that we are becoming such good friends, and also I can actually perceive the amount of fun we are going to have in the coming days. We can be such kids and I like it!!

For now, Hup Holland Hup!