For Once; I have LOTS to say….

Hi friends, I am back…. safe and sound after a long, lovely, three week trip to Europe. Hope to catch up with all your posts this coming week.

What did I find the most beautiful…

That Europe is beautiful is a well known fact. While I had visited the more touristy spots of Italy, Austria, Switzerland, France and UK the last time we now made it to UK (so that my dd could join us from here) Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Czech republic. If I were to pick up only one best place from my trip this time it would be the Neuschwanstein castle built by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in the 1800's. Its situation could not be more idyllic, built on the top of a rocky area with a splendid view of the picturesque mountains, the deep blue lake and the Alps. No wonder that Walt Disney modelled his Cinderella castle in Disney world on this particular one. But while this is typically an English grey, Disney made it in a lovely pink and I am totally with him. Of course castles have gotta be pink. Otherwise how can you imagine a Snow white or Cinderella in them, right?

Summer… ? What summer???

The entire trip was planned by my hubby and daughter (more as a way to celebrate our twenty fifth anniversary which fell on this June first) and all that I had to do was to google up for the weather forecasts and pack accordingly. And I goofed it up just assuming that it is summer. Do they really have one? Or is it just cold cooler and coldest? And what is with that icy wind blowing in London throughout the day or those cold sudden showers? I hate the English weather!! I only liked the fact that we had daylight till midnight. Germany was pleasant and Prague was comfortably hot. And so, there was a huge wardrobe malfunction with me carrying only those cool cottons. My daughter's jackets and hot yummy chocolate milk (Yes, I was probably the only one having that even in those Beer gartens in Germany, LOL) at regular intervals made me bear the weather.

On toilets and kissing ..

Except for the toilets in the airports and long distance trains almost everywhere else it was pay toilets. And what with the cold (and all that choc milk, no doubt) I had to keep visiting one almost every 3- 4 hours and once my dd cheekily announced " amma ,today you have pee'ed for nearly 6 Euros ".Even Mac Donalds charge for using their toilets and at some of their outlets, for the sauce packets too. Can you believe that? Nothing comes free in these so called developed countries.
Of course I am no blushing teenager to be gawking at people kissing on the streets but I had to hear a lot of " amma, do not stare. It is bad manners" from my daughter to which I retorted with "and doing that in public is what? Good manners?" Actually, I was amused at the fact that most of them kiss in the escalators. Is it because they are so long and so many in number or is it the fact that much of their time is spent here, I wondered. Or the moving motion underneath ignites their passion? I gave up figuring that one.:bonk

(continued.....)

 

Restaurants and Eats..

Looks like Indian cuisine has really caught on but though we had many north Indian meals, not one south Indian joint did I find. Also, I have become more adventurous and was game to try anything… as long as it was vegetarian. I had Spanish paella, Mexican cheesy wraps, Arab falafels ,frites or French fries not with the traditional tomato ketchup but with mayonnaise and a tangy sauce called andalouse (spiced mayo actually) that the locals highly recommend ,but ohhh those Belgium waffles with hot chocolate and strawberries and powdered sugar sprinkled on them?. I could literally live on those and also on those colourful and juicy strawberries, cherries, plums, peaches and nectarines.

A chocolate, is a chocolate is a chocolate?

Apparently not! Priced at one Euro for a piece slightly less than one sq inch, I personally thought that Belgium chocolates were grossly overrated."Yummmm, Just look at the way they melt in a second and there are absolutely no grains" was my family's verdict, the connoisseurs of chocolate.

Home is where the heart is…

"puan puan dan tuan tuan" went the announcement in Malay and I knew I had come home.(it means ladies and gentlemen. there is no plural in Malay language. each word is repeated twice to denote the plural which I find very funny) HA! the relief of removing the jackets, the toilets that had hand bidets, the sight of our driver who had come to receive us (my hubby never calls him during weekends, he had come on his own) and of course my contented taste buds after a self cooked meal of my favourite vetha kuzhambu and kathrika curry…all made me feel elated that there is no place like home.

There was not a single day that I did not think of my father in one way or the other. Talking about him with my daughter brought me a lot of pleasure but pain too. Why is it that even happy memories bring on the tears, I wonder. I kept remembering my good Friend's advise "Mourning a dear one's loss is not denying ourselves the pleasures of life. On the contrary, we must carry on with our lives with the knowledge that their souls will be in great rest seeing us happy and enjoying our lives." Believe me that really helped me enjoy my trip.


Also today when I opened my overflowing mail box, I found one exuberant mail from my niece (cousin's daughter) saying " HI CHITHI…..guess what???? I am pregnant and………"
which made me smile and realize that, Life goes on…..