newlogo2small.jpg (42033 bytes)
 
lefttop.jpg (700 bytes) righttop.jpg (701 bytes)

 
 
13 February 2003

Liebe Freunde, ('Dear friends' in German!)

    Wishing you all a lovely Valentine's day! Another day in your lovely life to express that you truly love your valentine.

    Columbia  Shuttle - A tragedy on space! Seven passion-driven great souls disappeared in thin air. Occasion like this tells us that advancements made in the fields of space technology notwithstanding, still man is at the nature's mercy.

       As the movie '2001 - A space Odyssey!' puts it: "Despite achievements in space, man is still like fish out of water in space; No air to breath; Floating in space like a baby".

        Both India & US are happy & proud that Kalpana Chawla was among (us) them. In fact, she was a Global.. no Universal Citizen. When she was up there in space, she was able to see the whole world in a size of a ball, there are no way to tell where the boundaries are between the countries. Just a huge ball in the space among millions of such balls like stars, planets etc.

      May her (& others) soul rest in peace!!
 

Initial Hiccups!

   Paris - Most famous & beautiful city in the world. Paris was my top destination ever since I landed here. So, along with my parents & friends, I started to plan for the Paris trip.

     Initially, I mailed a Bus Travel Agency for the 4-day trip to Paris three weeks before the long holiday, asking for reservation. You can confirm the booking by paying for their account in ur bank. (app. 900 Euros)

     Meanwhile, train looked a better & cheap option, so we booked in a special offer & paid for it.

     Fours days before the travel, it occurred to me that I should cancel the bus reservation. Well, I informed them through mail and subsequently called them up.

Travel Agency : "We got ur mail to cancel the reservation. Fine, you can cancel it. But pl. send the cheque for 80% (around 600 Euros!)"
 Chandru  : (Shocked) "But don't you confirm only if I pay the amount". 
Travel Agency : "Not in Germany!"

    First hand experience of German way of working. After discussing with friends, decided to take the bus trip instead of Train. I went to Railway station to cancel the train tickets.

Railway Station:
 
 Chandru : I would like to cancel this ticket.
 Counter : Sure. (smiling) Give me the ticket. Hmmm…. I’m sorry! You can’t cancel this ticket. This is a special offer and we cannot cancel it. 
 Chandru :  Oh! Is it? … Please postpone the ticket to next weekend. (May be I could give it to some other colleagues who might go next weekend!)
 Counter : Sorry! It’s a special offer, it's not transferable. 
 Chandru : Oh No! What can I do with this ticket?
 Counter : Take the trip or (Pointing to bin) drop it there. (with the smile still in face)
 Chandru : Grrrrr! ("Its 450 Euro, Sir!!) Okay. Thank you.
 Counter : Have a good day!
 Chandru : ??????!!!!!!!!!

     Till we start, we couldn't find any one to buy any of the tickets. Decided to take the Bus with train tickets being the backup. It was a 8-hour journey from Stuttgart to Paris. It's very much like our Private Interstate bus services. Get in at 8 PM in the evening from Stuttgart, Jump out at 6 AM in Vienna or Paris or Venice. (I told you Europe is like India, size wise)

   Paris- Finally!
 

     Entering into Paris, we found the whole city jammed with Traffic, thanks to strike by a group of dissatisfied employees. Hey, I have seen such traffic congestion back in India.("Paris streets and traffic is no different from our cities" - My mother) To add to woes, we were asked to walk to our hotel due to traffic problems. (around 20 min walk) 

    To top it all, our hotel was situated in the area resembling a downtown in US.  Handful of African friends with Hey-I-am-going-to-grab-your-bag-and-run look, it wasn't a great first impression of Paris, the most beautiful City of the world. (Supposedly!)

    Later that evening, we went to a walking tour. It included the Music school where Leonardo Da Vinci had worked, Moulin Rouge (Nicole Kidman -starred), a Cafe featured prominently in the French movie "Amelie" (that was pitted against Lagaan in last year Oscars!) etc. 
 
     All of a sudden, it started to rain and we had to cut short the tour. Luckily, none of the African friends were around when we reached the hotel around 11 PM. And my Video Camera was also safe in my room where I had hidden it. I began wondering how its gonna be for another three days!

      Is this Paris? What about all the books, poets who were full of praise & hype for this city? Am I wrongly informed?

     May be I have not seen much of Paris yet? or NOT?

 to be continued...

       
********************************************** 
Valentine's Day Special - Quotes for the week 

My most brilliant achievement was my ability to be able to persuade my wife to marry me.
 - Winston Churchill

To keep your marriage brimming, with love in the wedding cup, whenever you're wrong, admit it; whenever you're right, shut up.
 - Ogden Nash 

I was nauseous and tingly all over. I was either in love or I had smallpox.
 - Woody Allen 

You don't love a woman because she is beautiful, but she is beautiful because you love her.
 - Anonymous (somebody playing safe?)

********************************************** 

That's all folks!! ciao!

Your Friend,
Chandru
Editor, 
Euro Times
http://eurotimes.50megs.com


boomerangs.jpg (2823 bytes)

 Check the response for the Euro Times arrow_smallblueround.jpg (820 bytes)

leftbottom.jpg (723 bytes) rightbottom.jpg (721 bytes)

Cut&Pasteright Euro Times 2002