Holiday in Europe-Few impresssions

I recently had a wonderful holiday in Europe, visiting Turkey, Greece, Paris, London, Birmingham and Dubai.

A few impressions.

Turkey is not a third world country at all, so developed it is. It is the only place where I could use my credit card to make telephone calls from the public phone machines. May buy shares of Turkish Telecom.

Greek men are very handsome and the Arab girls in Paris are the most beautiful, taking your breath away. Hope they don’t take to wearing the veil .

The best Indian food I ate was at Jimmy’s Spices in Birmingham. The buffet spread is fantastic, covering Indian, Thai, Chinese and Italian dishes. I had to restrict myself to the Indian items. Wish I can go again 3 more times to try out the others.

Paris is a beautiful city, even though I am the 100th billion person saying so. Grand palaces and museums need a life time to view. ‘Paul’ is a superb patisserie with delectable scones, rolls, etc. They have branches in London too.

Raki and Ouzo are similar drinks from Turkey and Greece respectively. It is fun to watch them turn cloudy when you add water. My daughter preferred the Turkish variety though.

The Eurostar station at Gare d’Nord in Paris was not easy to navigate, with climbing up and down required. Very tough on travelers with luggage. May be good for daily commuters with just a briefcase. The coach numbers are not on the coaches, but pained on the platform edges. Do they expect people to walk with downcast eyes?

Thanks to the Sales Manager at De Beers in the Mall of the Emirates, Duabi who allowed me to hold a 5 carat diamond ring, worth USD 125000. They had very limited items of jewellery on display, but each one very beautiful and I am sure costing the equivalent of a good sized house each in each of the major cities of the world.

Dubai has developed a lot and you need an helicopter to go from one place to another. The legendary traffic jams prove that Dubai is firmly in 21st Century. They are building a metro. Hope they cover all the Emirates and especially have a dedicated line to Abu Dhabi, taking the pressure off the road traffic.

Speaking of Metros, can’t help but appreciate the vision of London civic authorities who built their Underground ages back. It is being upgraded regularly and is a model for the developing cities everywhere.

But poor Queen of England, living in an unimaginative and architecturally challenged box of a home. No wonder the members of the Royal Family always seem depressed and are grim and unsmiling (Diana excepted of course, God rest her soul)

The Wooden horse at Troy masquerading as the Trojan Horse was smelling of fresh paint, but the view from inside the horse was very good, though I could not get a glimpse of Helen or Brad Pitt's butts.

Had a Turkish bath and Oil Massage in Kusadasi (Turkey). Very thrilling and relaxing. Do they have anything like that in Auckland?

Visited all the memorials in Gallipolli. Felt like I have done the Haj required of the New Zealander. Why is there no memorial for the more than 1200 Indian soldiers who died in the war there? It is sad to realize that the world is still creating more Gallipollis in places like Iraq, Afganisthan, etc. When will the madness stop?

Most of the Paris shops, especially on the Champs-Elysee had tall, strong Africans as security guards. Very intimidating but very gentle when you ask them something. The one at the Lacoste shop was very helpful, in fact he acted as the salesperson, helping me to select the right size etc. Thanks mate.

The National Gallery in London was superb with a special exhibiton on Impressionist paintings. Got to see an early Picasso which was not cubist. Painting of a small girl with a dove in hand and a coloured ball at her feet. Great. And they have one of the four Sunflowers by Van Gogh. The whole holiday was worth it because of these 2 paintings alone.

The Aegean Sea is really a very large swimming pool, with clear blue calm waters. I had to restrain myself with much difficulty from jumping off the bus/taxi into the water. Very inviting.

Half the Athenians are on the sidewalk during the day, enjoying a light lunch, drink etc. Made me feel very jealous. The cafes are very colourful.

The visit to Troy, Ephesus, Delphi etc rekindled the interest in Greek Mythology and I have bought a couple of books to read up on that, with good photos.

Louvre in Paris is so vast and stocked with art works of all kind. I M Pei's glass pyramid is really a bold addition in the middle of the old architecture. Bravo the French for taking a huge risk and pulling it off. I heard that Louvre will be soon opening a branch in Abu Dhabi and is getting a big funds infusion from that Emirate. Wonder what they will think of next? May be a mosque in the middle?

I applaud the French for sticking to their style of cuisine even for the tourists and not diluting it for an international uniformity. The dinner on the first level of Eiffel Tower was superb and I tasted the best ever Onion Soup (garnished with a large cheese spread and nice bread) at a nice cafe as part of the Paris by Night tour. Moulin Rouge is definitely better than Lido's.

It is very convenient that all the major attractions in Istanbul like the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sophia, Top Kapi palace are all within walking distance of each other. One strange thing though that all of these are on the European side of the city. One would expect them to be on the Asian side.

Once you visit these places you can see why it was very stupid of the British to try to conquer the Dardanelles and capture Istanbul during the WW I. It is very easily defendable and I am sure whoever tries it can be choked and defeated. The best way to conquer these places is with a digital camera not with ships and guns, which is what I did.

My daughter made me carry a package of painting and poster all over Europe and bring it to Auckland. I almost lost it at the Athens airport, leaving it in the toilet. Luckily found it again. But I did leave a packet in the toilet at Louvre and had to spend money again to buy a couple of books and prints.

The Yeoman guard at the Tower of London who took us on a small tour was very witty and tailored his jokes to suit all the nationalities in the group, though he picked more on the Yankees and that was good too. I was thrilled to see that Duke Wellington was a Yeoman Guard too, but did he really have the title of Field Marshall when he was alive?

It was good to see Aishwarya Rai and Jonah Lomu at Madam Tussaud's but where was Sachin Tendulkar and Helen Clark? It is not fair that John Howard is there and no Helen Clark to keep him company. By the way when are they going to have Abhishek there? Seems odd to see Amitabh only next to Aishwarya Rai. Or is it their way of telling the world that the union of money is more important?

The visit to Sherlock Holme's house at Baker Street and the exhibition there made me think for a moment that may be Sherlock Holmes was really alive once, though I knew otherwise. Anyway checked with George who drove me from London to Birmingham to confirm that Holmes was a fictional character. George was a great company on that drive, giving me his insights into what is happening in UK and Ireland. He was an ex-fire fighter and told me one of his daughters is considering a move to Australia. Best wishes then George.

London is not an environmentally friendly city, apart from Tony Blair flying around increasing the carbon emissions. The tabloids give out millions of papers free everyday to commuters in the morning and evening, which are read and thrown away in a few minutes. Imagine how many trees are being slaughtered daily for feeding this habit. Why not issue a Tablet PC to regular commuters (who purchase season tickets) and beam the news directly on to the computers which the commuters can read. Of course advertisers could have their own channel too. I wish Bill Gates can read this and get Microsoft to do something about it.

Many airports provide free trolleys but some charge and you have to pay coins in a slot to get a trolley released. Very inconvenient if you have arrived just then and don't have the local coin. Why not add some small amount to your fare when you purchase the ticket and get the trolleys free at all airports. Can call it the Trolley Tax. Will Emirates or Singapore Airlines start this?


Will add more soon.