Contemplations and Ruminations

Went to old town the next day... almost every place here in Europe, has an old town... where medieval architecture and history is kept alive. These old towns have a charming vibe to them, cobblestone paths, small winding roads... the whole feel of the place takes you back to another era. sights on the way... cobblestone walls A fountain in old town... The Jet d'Eau , Geneva's defining symbol... Picked up this wristband (the brown one slightly apart from the rest with its celtic like weaving pattern) during the  Fêtes de Genève for six swiss francs... well, he said eight, I brought it down to six. I tend to pick up wristbands at different places I visit, the others seen here were picked up at Salzburg, Nagercoil, and Perouge. So the old town in Geneva has a lot of shops, we walked into H&M and tried on dresses... This was too cute, but where would I wear it... so didn't buy it. Anyway, whenever we went mall hopping here we would hear the same ...

Back home in Madras, Sunday is always magical and that's primarily because of the choir in St. Theresa's church and Lourdes church. The choir in St. Theresa's (in the mass that I attend) is without a doubt the best I've heard in all the churches I've been to. These choirs tend to give you a natural high, they put a zing in your bones that buzzes throughout the day. This Sunday, I attended mass in the English speaking church in Geneva... St. Nicholas De Flue, and there wasn't any choir... everybody had gone home for vacation. But it got over quite soon, the priests here do not drone on like they do back home. The day was quite bright so we decided to visit a few known nuns from our hometown And this is their quaint little chapel... Saw this stunning statue inside... an African Mother Mary and Baby Jesus After socialising with the nuns, we headed out to Plainpalais where a Farmer's market takes place every Sunday. Farmers, bakers and ma...

I miss reading The Hindu here... I miss the smell of it. Waking up and not seeing the paper, not waiting to read it... feels strange. Anyway, the day after we landed it was pouring non-stop and we had to pick up some stuff from Ikea, so after the rains stopped we got ready and walked to the bus stop.  Just a pretty scene on the way... our ticket taking skills were a bit rusty, but after a few minutes we figured out what to do.  Here's the ticket dispensing machine, you have to select where you want to go,  We selected the one hour pass (3 swiss francs/person) and dropped in six francs and out popped the ticket and we were good to go. It felt good taking bus no 23 after ages... me and Nam were all smiles as old memories kept popping by. Anyway, got off at Ikea, picked up our stuff then went to a Lebanese place, Parfums De Beyrouth , for dinner.  Had the Turkish buttermilk...    Some hummus and kuboos with lamb.  Some lam...

So I am back at my tertiary home after two years and judging by the amount of visa-related drama it took to get here, this trip is already promising to be quite epic before it has even started. Till last week nothing was certain, the signs weren't hopeful and the 'travel planning' group on whatsapp was left in a huff of bureaucratic disdain and annoyance. Anyway at the very last minute things started falling into place and it feels good to be back here in Geneva with the siblings.  We flew through Emirates and this was lunch on the Dubai bound flight, lentil curry with rice and avial... not that great.  Taking off from Dubai...   Chicken, mashed potatoes and broccoli on the flight to Geneva... again food wasn't that great. I remember Etihad food was really good, Qatar airways was okay too, but Emirates was surprisingly not upto these two.  The fascinating terrain below... Land, water, horizon...   Flying over some mountains... Snow clad ...