Vienna .. auf wiedersehen

Ahmed, my Egyptian contact told me once when he heard me speaking, broken Arabic in an Egyptian accent, “if you stay here for a month more , you will speak like a local”  ..the love for a language can make the toughest of them all, easy to learn and a country or a place is no different.

Austria and the city of Vienna is one such place. No I mean in the opposite. No matter how beautiful a city is ,if you cant get yourself to love it ,it simple doesn’t work.

I came here to Vienna first in 2009. When I arrived at the train station it seemed like a regular European station ,when I stepped out and walked on its streets ,the buildings were just so beautiful ,each of them seemed like a palace. Renaissance style was invented in Italy but it seemed it was fully adapted by this city. On my first night ,I remember I felt nothing ,this night in Vienna felt flat after Krakow.

The next morning I just stared at the beauty of this city ,whether in its buildings or its parks. I tried to fall in love with it ,atlast it came from similar quarters ,when I went to a wine growing region nearby got drunk on cheap wine. Cheap and Vienna don’t match but there they served wine in a steel jug. Can you imagine the cost of wine in a jug was less than that of a glass in the city 4 star hotel. Well all those buildings and their shining façade and after all my trips  (this being the fifth time) .. All I remember of this city, is the sun shining on that steel jug that day.

Vienna has a museum quarter a booming restaurant scene and lots of opera houses .. it all seems like a beautiful woman whom you never connect with.  I am glad I am moving out of here. Tonight is my last, here in Vienna and I dunno if I would ever come back again(we are quitting on Vienna and putting in Croatia for our Autumn 2012 onward tours).

I thought I would feel a little about this city on this last night here. But all I can say is auf wiedersehen .. thats 'bye' in german for you .. 

Poland

The Schindlers List .. The Pianist and all the other war movies are our only images that we see from that period. To watch these movies is one .. to see where it all happened is an entire different experience. This is my 3^rd time in Auschwitz ,the largest of the Nazi Concentration camps here in Eastern Europe. Today I can sit under a tree and write ,but the first time I came here ,I couldn’t really bring myself to sleep in the night’s that followed.

There were images on the wall .. images of the first polish and Hungarian jews that were brought in. The images were hung on the wall of Block 10. The block from where only your corpse would come out after being sent in. For 2 consecutive nights I woke up to those eyes on the wall.

History has never been of any interest to me. Coz for me ,history was Egypt and then the civilizations of Machu Pichu etc .. but this was not history this is the past ! The past which my driver shared  with me. Both of his grand parents were executed here in Auschwitz .. suddenly it all seemed very real and of recent years.

The polish over the years have suffered a lot ,first at the hands of the Nazis and then the red army.  Actually these people hate the Communists more than the Nazis. There was once a year in the 80’s ,he said ,when in Krakow the only ration available was bread ,milk ,salt and potatoes. Can you imagine an entire year eating the same food. How different is it, than starving which the Nazis imposed ?

The Euro 2012 starts in 10 days .. Poland is one of the hosts and everywhere the football fever is alive. I know the polish national team is not very strong compared to the other European teams. I hope one day Poland wins ..

Krakow . 2010 . 2012

Krakow 2010

I walked the market square with an old town hall at its centre. Sat in a café had my beer and spoke to some English people next to my table. Read a book about Krakow as I sipped on the lager but couldn’t really concentrate on the book and was more into looking at the people walking around the square ,the polish women to be precise.

Krakow 2012

I am on the first floor of a café which overlooks the market square but the only reason I am facing the square is that I have a better connection speed here to the local internet. I am drinking a coffee and not really interested in the table next to me. The book on Krakow is out being replaced by a map of Russia on my desktop on which, from the last 2 weeks I am trying to locate a flight that will take me to Siberia on a shortest connection from Mumbai.

The only thing common – my love for Krakow  and in general the Polish land. Why do I feel different about Poland and why I don’t feel the same about Germany or Austria ? Well I really don’t know and don’t care .. coz for me East Europe has always been about Poland and Hungary. These are two crazy countries with people who though don’t understand a word of what I speak ,still look inviting, to me. The food is the other big draw ..  I am sure some year there will be a new place to be explored in here and I will return to my beer and book mornings and then there will be the settling down times with a coffee again.

As of now its lunch time !!! 

Turkish Airspace

I should’ve ideally written this from Turkey around twenty days back. This year we discovered Trabzon and the region around it ,Discover !! no .. it was there asking to be visited. I am glad I answered its first call. Its funny how a place sometimes owes its quotient of attraction to the place you are getting there from. I used to always enter the city of Istanbul from Mumbai and fall in love with it everytime I took the bus ride from the Airport to the Hotel. This time however I was coming from Trabzon ,Uzungol and Sumela in Turkey. Istanbul was just another city !

As I write now the map on the flight monitor shows Istanbul still 90 minutes away but Trabzon is to my right ! Yes it’s the Turkish air space .. I have never flown from west to east over Indian air space ,but I guess the feeling would be the same. Home is right under ! The frequent flier miles was what I used to fly this airline for ,but I guess its that and the sound of Turkish !

I had set to write this one about Berlin and my travel to Central Europe but I would like to keep it to where I am .. Turkey !

My Christmas moment ..

The image of Santa riding a reindeer sledge ,makes a whole lot of sense, when you actually see both even though not doing what the image is supposed to show.

Just a few days back when my car stopped at a traffic signal , a boy who sells the Indian flags for independence day ,heart shaped red balloons on valentines day was doing his job this time , with a santa cap in the Christmas season. He was wearing one himself ,the one that has lights and the familiar reindeer figure.  From the 20 deg centigrade artificially cool air in my car I went to the time when I actually did ride the reindeer a week back. After a few meters,  it seemed a little touristy and so I stepped out to feel the snow under my boots rather than under my sledge. Today at the traffic signal, the reindeer suddenly made the calling again , and it was more than it made in the – 12 deg in Norway.

That, I thot was my Christmas moment. I didn’t care if it was 3 days before today the 25^th Dec. I decided to cook myself a Christmas lunch.  I wont get into the single item menu .. but as I set the prawns in the oven ,I heard some old goan folk songs from under my building. When I went to the window ,it took me no time to figure out its source. The music was coming from a car stereo above which hung a good sized holy cross and in front of which I could only see a news paper wide open. "He must be Christian" my mom said ,"celebrating Christmas in his own way" ,her tone was with pity for all those who have to work on festival days. We contemplated for a while to go down with a piece of sweet, to wish him, maybe that would just make his day ,my mom thought. A complete stranger giving sweets on Christmas. 

So I went down and broke the listening and reading session of the driver. A little alarmed at first ,he was when I said "merry christmas" and handed him the plastic 'sweet pouch'. I then stupidly asked him whether he was a Christian .. I dunno why ! he couldn’t understand it ,my question nor what was going on .. With his accent he certainly seemed not from Goa .. and the songs weren’t goan either. Actually when I came up I thot he wasn’t a Christian either. But I wished him ..and he smiled ..  I wished him like I hadn’t wished anyone before even on a diwali or a new year.  I felt a little foolish down there but when I came up I was happy , like my day was made. The meal later was just an addition to my Christmas moment.

The ICE HOTEL

Kiruna .. The northern most town in Sweden. It runs throughout the year on the money that comes from its mining industry and has been doing so over the last 100 years. But then around 20 years back some minds with similar creative cravings got together and a masterpiece was born .. THE ICE HOTEL !

When you create something to challenge your own standards then more than often, new standards are set and others simply follow you sooner or later.  I don’t know who originally devised the ice hotel and I really don’t want to go thru the history of it.  The true creator is not interested in personal recognition, he just wants people to see what he has created and for them to enjoy it .. while he steps aside and watches them wonder at it because by this time he has already moved on, to something else.

The guide at the Ice Hotel, told me that normally the temperature, this time of the year is around  – 30 deg centigrade .. it’s the 15^th Dec and the temperature today in Kiruna is – 2 Deg .. There is a whole other discussion about the effects of global warming in the Arctics and I am not getting into it. As far as I go ,its just that I got to see an incomplete ice hotel and the term global warming made a whole lot of sense than just cribbing about the + 38 deg in Mumbai ,in December. 

Looking at the ice hotel from a distance .. I thot its rather rough, with the cranes still moving the huge blocks of ice .. As I walked through the rooms the outside view didn’t matter. I could feel the warmth of the reindeer skin which covered the entire length and breath of the bed.. all the people including me clicked the pictures lying on the  ice bed .. I never thot how it would be to sleep the night on the bed .. I never wanted to stay in that room .. much like I don’t want to touch an object so  beautiful that, to just look at it from a distance is enough !

I want to write about how involved, the people working in the ice hotel were in their jobs .. the lady at the reception to the man sculpting a guitar from a block of ice in the ‘Rock n Roll Suite’ of the ice hotel (the suites in the hotel are theme based).  But they were just doing what they like .. coz everyone believed in the ICE HOTEL .. just like its creators believed in it !

When you love your work .. the belief comes with it .. and with belief comes joy .. Success and money are just byproduct’s ! The people from around the world look at the ice hotel and applaud the human engineering and the success the many ICE Bars have achieved around the world.

For me, I just applaud all those who love their work and believe that an hotel is possible from a block of ICE !

Santa's Salmon ...

The north of the Arctics .. is  different ! Not only for its climatic conditions .. but also for the locals that live there. Norway .. Sweden and Finland meet up north and the people speak more or less the same language.  I’ve already had very good experiences talking to the Nordic people in Norway. Today it was a Lappish ,Salmon chef .. and lover of good food that made me eat the best Salmon till date.

The Santa Claus village is the most visited place in Finland .. it’s a real big deal to see the real Santa for many. After the first few pictures with the real daddy of santas all around the world ,I got  a little bored of the touristy areas in the village and wandered away to a quiet little corner. I’ve given up shopping for sovenirs and food is always on my mind whether hungry or not. It was already 5 hrs past breakfast .. so when I saw the little wooden board that said .. Salmon ! I did not think twice before entering !

Inside, there was fire burning in the centre and benches arranged around it. Kettles lay over the fire and on the other end was magic being performed. When I read the menu .. it read … Salmon with potato salad and bread .. beer .. coffee .. warm Cranberry juice.. that’s it ! 

When u specialize in something ,it generally ends up on the good side. This .. was far far better than just good ! It was 15 years ,he said ,it took him to cook the fish the way it was being served. The skin was perfectly burnt .. the meat …was so well cooked that at times it melted in my mouth. We sat across the fire and spoke about Salmon .. he told me stories about how this recipe came to him from his parents and how much of an effort it takes right from selecting the wood for grilling the meat to serving it on a plank of a pine tree..

Effort well paid ..

This goes to all those ‘single item’ menu ,food places and their owner /chef’s which after serving the same food day after day to people .. look forward to eating it themselves ! 

And I thot I am going to write about Rovaniemi , the snow and what not !!