June 2006 Central Europe tour (third stop Vienna, Austria)

Vienna, Austria...Just the name is enough to bring to mind everything that is stately, refined and culturally rich.

Viennese coffee houses (cafes), a tradition which has resulted into coffee shops all over the world... Vienna remains the absolute heart of Western Classic music (with many music festivals all round the year in celebration of all the famous artists who made Vienna their home.. The likes of Mozart...)

Vienna still retains it's imperial character and prides itself in displaying the its glorious architectural forms.

Horse drawn carriages carry you for visits of the Hofburg palace. The town hill is architecturally rich and so are the parliamentary houses

We had 2 doctors with us who wanted to visit the famous Sigmund Freud museum and they did.

The character of Vienna is very German. We had an Austrian guide who had a very German character, always precise about historical facts and not allowing even a second to get lost anywhere.

Hard for Indians who are not always a disciplined lot. He behaved like our master and we listened to him. In a way I felt that it was too much of discipline because we were tourists and tourists are bound to feel a need to take pictures, gaze at the lovely streets etc.

But his point was well taken. 5 mins extra at one place can start getting accumulated and at the end of the day, we would end up missing many good sights

Personally I like to spend time just walking on the streets instead of ensuring every moument, every cathedral needs to be covered...And so I did. I told the guide that I am around taking pictures of people, streets, trams and he was happy to allow me, provided I was clock precise when rejoining the group (which I am normally)

We stopped at an Indian restaurant for lunch and he even scolded the owners of the restaurant for bringing nans late!

But then he sat down to enjoy the Indian meal and described how much he loves India and how many times he has been too India...and all of us were stunned. He loved especially the Southern part of India.

Walking on the streets of Vienna was a lovely experience. Beautiful red and off white trams passed through the streets. The frequency of trams was high and talked a lot of about a very high quality public transportation system in Vienna.

We visited the Hofburg palace in the afternoon which is very massive. I ofcourse did souvenier shopping.

Vienna is famous for it's very very heavy and creamy desserts served with Veinnesse coffee. For viennese schnitzer (Wiener Schnitzel)

The trip from Hungary to Austria was filled with stunningly beautiful countryside
Vienna was beautiful even on a rainy day...

We had stayed overnight at the city of 'Linz'. Linz is a beautiful town.
Next day after doing the day tour of Vienna we had returned back to Linz

In the evening, we sat at a table in the middle of the street drinking beer and observing the snow capped mountains, the young and trendy people of Linz enjoying themselves the summer time in Europe. The waterfront was so pretty. Bright flowers kept at every corner, the snow capped mountains, the sun doing down amongst this beautiful evening weather... As evening faded into night, the lights came up and everything looked magical.

Next day we bid goodbye to Austria to go to Czech Republic. We were about to witness Europe's medieval treasure...The fairy tale city of Prague.

The music of James Last

Among light instrumentalists, another artist who has made light instrumental music consistently popular is James Last. He is a German composer and orchestra leader. Very popular for band music instrumentals of popular songs, medleys, catchy beats, James Last is a great composer for listening to music which has a fast catchy tempo

Here are some of the 'Youtube' video links to his music

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Carnn8XWNCM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NFT0vYMNiCg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrHr6MLUnrs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYQt95pfXP8&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0g2MlaCAFQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dqny26sFonQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SWuI9vlzfc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeoERIAjk2U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkZjK0mR39U&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goBCurNa7TM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrHr6MLUnrs&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2epsvd9EjzU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9sOnOJuzE0Q&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQlUAhdvkXA&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2gdLK2njQs&feature=related

Malaka Spice- South East Asian specialities

Went to "Malaka spice", the South East Asian restaurant in Koregaon park today.
The restaurant has moved it's location to Lane 5 in Koregoan park.

But the experience continues to be absolutely wonderful. The restaurant has become very spacious and comfortable

The menu card which is probably the best designed menu card I have come across ever in my entire "culinary odyssey", is still the same.

It's creativity, history, food and coziness, all packaged into one very special menu card.

The restaurant continues to display paintings of upcoming artists.

And the food...simply high quality Asian cuisine and in many cases very close to authentic.

We had skewered vegetables (tofu, mushrooms and green pepper etc) served with nice peanut sauce as a starter.

We ordered one glass of red wine (Ivy Malbec for me) and Rose Zinfandel for my lady friend.

After that we had herbed brown rice and egg plant preparation done with tamarind and chilli sauce. The preparations were exquiste...The taste still lingers in mouth. The perfume and aromas of basil in the brown herbed rice, the delicate texture of grilled tofu. Wonderful.

This surely is the best South east Asian restaurant featuring cuisines from Thailand, Vietnam,Burma, Malaysia, Laos, China & Japan.

And frankly after having been to many South East Asian restaurants in different parts of the world, I would put "Malaka Spice" among the best.

Here is the website link of the restaurant.

http://www.malakaspice.com/home.html

After the really nice lunch, watched the movie "The Reader". Liked it a lot. Kate Winslet, Ralph Fiennes in a post war German setting.

I always enjoy movies with European settings more... In this case, the movie was shot in Germany.

The music, the acting, the cultural background all contribute to the experience...
For e.g in one scene the young boy takes Kate Winslet on a cycle trip in the countryside and stops at a church to listen to a choir (similar to a Viennesse boy choir). The trams going past small European towns, the images of post war run down buildings...

This movie dosen't dissappoint at all. Both Kate Winslet and Ralph Fineness are fine British actors. With a small but intense storyline, the movie continues to hold the audience through very intense acting moments. Winslet went onto win an Oscar for her fine performance.

The movie is for an audience with a mature taste. The idea of a boy reading Homer's Odyssey or Anton Chekov's short story is unlikely to appeal or even make sense to a primarily teenage audience at E-Square.

Gudi Padwa festival food

"Gudi Padwa" is celebrated all over Maharashtra today. It's the first day of the new calendar year for Maharashtrians and it begins the season of spring(Vasant)

The sun starts increasing its intensity. The harvested crops are ready for consumption, Mangoes start appearing in markets, flowers bloom...

The day marks the end of one harvest and beginning of another.

There are many legends associated with this day, but the most important one is about Brahma(the creator) creating life on this day.

We all begin the festivities by eating the bitter leaves of the neem tree. The neem tree is considered extremely good for purifying the body of all the bad elements.
It's the right way to begin the new year!

Ofcourse I eat it because I like it a lot:) The leaves themselves are bitter but when grounded and mixed with little jaggery & crushed dal (with entire mixture made into a paste), it's a lovely combination of bitter-sweet taste.

I feasted on 'pooris' (wheat/maida dough balls which are fried) and boiled potato vegetable. I had lots of neem chutney

And it dosent stop there.... The amrakhand (mango skhrikhand) was also there but I am going to have all that in the evening

All in all the new marathi calender year truly began in a nice relaxing way, with all the food goodies...

More light instrumental music for a weekend afternoon

Paul Mauriat's Penelope...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFaaQlMnnnA

As I am listening to another Paul Mauriat tune, but this time with vocal background by Danielle Licari. A perfect light instrumental about the beautiful city of Paris and a nice video too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=crGVlhxz7d4&feature=related

Some more of Francis Lai's music
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKGnw4LkZFE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qfc4NPNMFro&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-QbDnsmsx0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYO930drqCk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmPGytQzcXY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90_KjzN3-Rw&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTY-vvnO1AA&feature=related


Raymond Lefevre
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ci-N0KLfwk4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFuZhQWNMgU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltGgHbtCm70&feature=related

Danielle Licari version of Love Story
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzqLTSzA8XE&feature=related

Grill food restaurant in Pune

Went to "Mad House Grill" restaurant in Koregoan park, one of those rare restaurants in Pune focussing on grilled food. This one is surely for grilled meat lovers.

When I was eating meat, this was one of the really nice restaurants for eating grilled meat which was lightly spiced. Grilled Lamb especially was very good.

However since I have turned vegeterian, I am left with choices which are still good

Had a grilled veggie plate with herbed rice. It was very good. The vegetables were really nicely grilled and served in a tomato sauce. The rice had small pieces of red pepper and was beautifully herbed.

My friend ate the restaurant speciality which was cottage cheese stuffed with spinach served with mashed potatoes, grilled veggies and served with a brown wine sauce

Excellent....

A very good restaurant if one prefers something non-greasy, light on spices with resonable portions.

Perfect for a Sunday morning lunch.

A windy evening with shades of autumn hue -- Paul Mauriat music

When the evening is soft, the sun goes down and different colours spread over the sky
there is nothing which can express this moment in time. There are no words. I can only think of beautiful music at this time.

I am just posting more Paul Mauriat links...Soft instrumentals. Not too overtly romantic but conveying feelings which are mixed and perfect for a beautiful windy evening, with the evening light showing autumn colour hues.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtuowSjlt6k&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKeTAx7EHSE&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfBK7WJrowg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-_I93drMCk&feature=related

Lovely photo of a typical Paris street in autumn after a shower. The lovely hue and colours in the slide of the Paris street... Perfect for my thoughts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cer9BKQHDew&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9ktXOLULmo&feature=related

Wish I could make such beautiful music! That is not possible in this lifetime!

The genius of Miyazaki

Everyone of us grows up watching American animation/cartoons. Some of them are really nice but half of them are actually very violent and naturally kids get addicted to them...I still enjoyed watching American animation but it was turning out to be predictable (the animals, the songs, the constant bashing/hammering )

In the animation industry, 'Pixar' studio in Los Angeles does produce really high quality films and sets the standards of animation technology. However many of these films tend to express American cultural values.

The characters are computer generated and lack a human touch. They are nice, enjoyable neverthless.

Anyway... one fine day when I was picking up a rental movie in a nearby 'Blockbuster' U.S video store, I bumped into an animation film produced by a Japanese animation artist.

Little did I know what world is going to open up for me. I watched the film. It was "Princess Mononake" by Hayao Miyazaki and the production house was Studio 'Ghibili'.

The film changed my world. It was so beautiful and so stunningly done. The animation was taken to a level I had not ever imagined. But more importantly, it brought back tenderness and human values into the films. You could see Miyazaki telling us something constantly in his films, a theme which expresses a message of telling all of us to go back to our roots and look at the world we have left behind. The forests, the springs, the simple life, family, old people... and much much more. On many occassions, he wants us to believe in the fairly tales...the tales that our grannies told us and the ones which we were told not to believe in, after we grow up. And the animation...when we watch his films we experience the shades of trees, the changing weather, the sunshine on the leaves after a shower...unbelievable...

I watched many of his films and have started forming a DVD collection
"My friend Totoro", "Spirited Away", "Kiki's delivery Service"...

I am posting one lovely Youtube video from his film "My friend Totoro"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIhQ4XEo3Is

The world is unlikely to see another 'Miyazaki' getting created. Miyazaki still produces hand drawn animation instead of computer generated characters and his characters look so very natural. His studio spends years and years tireless working on a film. The end result is for all of us to see and experience.

In my mind, if there is one country which deserves all the respect, it's Japan.
Japan is a miracle...Every engineer knows and understands that. It's a country with
zero natural resources. It was completely destroyed after World War 2.

But today, we can blindfold ourselves and buy Japanese products and they are always high quality. I am so glad, Japan produced an artist who gives so much joy to me and to many people in the world who have been lucky to watch his films.

Here is a wonderful site for all the Miyazaki fans around the world
http://www.nausicaa.net/wiki/Main_Page

Swiss food in Pune

Yesterday evening we went to Swiss Cheese Garden, the restaurant in A.B.C farms, Koregaon park for enjoying Swiss food.

This restaurant has been around for a long time and I still remember the first time I went there was way back in 1996. It's still remained exactly the same.

The restaurant has a Norwegian touch to it's interior design. The interiors are made from babul logs, which create an atmosphere of Swiss Log Huts. But it was too warm inside and hence we opted to sit outside.

Swiss cheese garden serves excellent 'Fondue' (The famous Swiss dish. It's a pot of melting cheese brought on the table with bread croutons where each person can take the bread piece and dip it into the melting pot of cheese).

The table given to us was tucked into the corner and we really had a good time. We ordered a plate of mixed vegetable rosti (standard potato rosti but mixed with veggies).

We also ordered a pasta with mushroom sauce. Both of them turned out to be excellent. And we had a pint of Kingfisher beer with garlic bread as a starter dish.

The beer complimented the food extremely well.


With me ofcourse was the special person that I am interacting with, these days. She expressed that she tries to avoid cheese and hence the Swiss Fondue plan was dropped.

The Swiss Fondue is done really nicely in Swiss Cheese garden. The cheese comes from ABC farms and I strongly recommend everyone visiting Swiss cheese garden to taste authentic Swiss Fondue.

I enjoyed Saturday evening and it was with someone very special. We have differences unfortunately... And that keeps a check on my feelings. But hey nothing will stop us from spending evenings at these nice places in Pune!.

More important...I am extremely proud of the city of Pune which has the ability to remain very cosmopoliton (by opening Swiss restaurants 15 years back..Who would have thought of that) and yet very traditional. Most people don't know this side of Pune and don't realize it either.

Swiss food does remind me of Switzerland. It is a very pretty country.

I still remember my Year 2000 trip to Switzerland...The picture postcard views of the Alps, the red Swiss trains, the very modest Swiss towns, beautifully preserved from the 16th century and the clock work precision of everything that is Swiss.

Swiss people are very hard working and extremely well mannered

Alpine meadows, snow capped peaks..Church bells, alpine cow bells, the sound of trains climbing up the Alps, the beautiful cities of Lucerne, Zurich...

Switzerland remains one of the richest countries in the world. But the well mannered and modest Swiss never show off their wealth.
So no glitzy malls,no artififical lighting... No big houses either...

Just quaint towns everywhere in the country... Once in a while one can walk on BanfhofStrasse in Zurich and ofcourse realize why it is one of the richest countries in the world but in most cases the commoners walk along side the world's super rich and thats a rare sight in the world but a common sight in Switzerland.

So popular is Switzerland among Indians, that Indians account for 25 per cent of tourists visiting Switzerland. One even finds notices in Gujrathi. It is an amazing sight to bump into one.

It's a country where the goverment officials take trains to go to their offices and a classy Swiss tennis player like Roger Federer can walk as an absolutely normal person on the roads without ever getting noticed.

It's one country that I will love to visit again and will.

June 2006 Central Europe tour (second stop Hungary)

The Polish airflines flight from Warsaw (Poland) to Budapest (Hungary) was surprisingly very nice. Very spacious seats.

We arrived at Budapest in the evening. It so happened that some of members Hungarian VISA were expiring the very day we landed. So on paper, we had few hours in Hungary!
We were all worried...But everyone was allowed entry and we all expressed Hurrah.

We had a very soft spoken Hungarian guide with us. He talked about Hungary's history and its post World War 2 experimentation with Socialism and Communism. Hungary always viewed India as a role model for being a socialist country. The guide told us how the Indian PM Nehru was very popular among the Hungarians. Hungary respected India's non aggressive approach to tackle the communist-capatilist fight.

Budapest is actually made up of 2 cities Buda & Pest. The Danube river flows between the 2 cities. We went out for dinner late evening and then requested our bus driver to drive us around Budapest in the night.
It was an extraordinary sight...Paris by night is special. But Budapest was out of the blue. The famous Chain bridge (most Indians would recogize it from the climax scene from the film "Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam") looked so stunning. The cities of Buda and Pest, the parliment buildings at night beautifully lit was a sight none of the group members could forget for the entire tour. If there was one magic moment of the tour, this was it

Next morning after having our breakfast, we were waiting for our bus to arrive in our hotel to take us on a day tour of Budapest. But it did not. So the travel company arrange taxis and it was fun. Taxi drivers were very excited about an Indian group doing sightseeing in their city. They all talked about the usual topic of Hindi movies. It amazes me how much Indian cinema spans across the globe without having a marketing engine like Hollywood.

Everyone talk about one theme of Indian cinema. The emphasis on family culture and values seen. This is something which attracts Europeans strongly because this system has dissappeared in many parts of Europe

We reached the Parliament house. It is built in the 19th century. It is huge
President George Bush was supposed to arrive in Budapest just the day after we were visiting the Parliament. So the security was tight.

The views from the back side of the Parliament were magnificent. The Danube river flowed beatifully and we could see small sight seeing cruises along the river.

After that we went to see the Buda Castle located ontop of a hill

After that castle visit, we moved to the castle-like Fisherman’s Bastion, well-known for the wonderful panoramic views it provides of the city of Budapest. The castle-like Fisherman’s Bastion was built in 1905, mainly for decorative purposes. It’s located near Matthias Church in the Castle District of this interesting city.

Finally we stopped at the Chain Bridge. There was a live music concert on the Chain Bridge. Me and my friend walked along the Chain Bridge taking lot of pictures of the bridge and all the festive atmosphere.

The 1230ft long and 16 meter wide bridge was considered a superb engineering feat and was opened in 1849.

The bridge ignited the economic revival that would lead to Budapest's golden century and it was one of the factors that made the towns of Pest and Buda into a fast-growing metropolitan. In 1989 people demonstrated on the chain bridge for freedom and independence. Since then, the bridge has become a symbol of Hungarian liberty.

After that we had our lunch in an Indian restaurant nearby. The food was excellent. Yup Punjabi food in Budapest! In came all the nans, dal makhanis, raitas, papads, butter chicken ... And how can anyone not have beer! The restaurant was very popular with lots of Hungarians sitting inside enjoying Indian food.

As it happens everywhere, the Indian restaurant owners go out of the way to make Indian groups happy.

After our heavy lunch, we went back and sat idling around in the beautiful park before the entrance to the Chain Bridge. All the couples went around teasing me about my single status and asking me when I am going to dip

But Budapest was on my mind. Nothing else mattered...

What a magnificent day it was and it continued to be. Later in the day we started for the long bus journey to Vienna, Austria.

If there is a name which brings back images of being stately, refined, polished and culturally rich city with a beautiful name, it's Vienna

I was experiencing parts of the famous Austro-Hungarian empire. And now it was Austria.

We passed through many beautiful villages, passing over the Danube bend, passing many orchard farms.. As we moved closer to Austria, the countryside became very beautiful

Austria is one of the most beautiful countries in the world. A recent Hindi movie 'Yuvraaj' captures Austrian countryside very well.

This is where the movie "Sound of music" was made.
My heart and my mind carrying images of Budapest was now very much looking forward to visiting Vienna

More about Vienna in the next few posts.