Back in Sunny California

Reached here yesterday, way past midnight, thanks to Muneesh for picking me up at such odd hours.

Weather here is gorgeous. I felt tired and exhausted in the last flight from Dallas to Sacramento yesterday, but now after a night's rest I feel better and relaxed.

Reflections

As I am waiting for my flight at Barcelona Airport, I have been thinking about what I saw and what I learnt in this trip. Over the course of this and the previous two trips in three consecutive years, I have visited many cities in Southern Europe – in France, Italy, Spain, and Greece. People everywhere have been extremely friendly and welcoming. Wherever I have visited, I have been treated warmly, with respect and politeness, with people eager to overcome the language barrier and help me. Most cities are extremely safe, and I have never been anxious even at late hours of the night.

This is a continent which has seen a lot of turmoil and loss in the early and middle twentieth century. Yet, it is refreshing to see the fervent brand of nationalism which was pre-dominant in the twentieth century gradually fade, and observe people becoming increasingly liberal and tolerant of each other. Regions which have fought bitter wars with each other in history now share a common border. People are increasingly multi-lingual. I have met students from Italy studying in Spain and Belgium, Germans studying in Spain, and the French studying in Greece. The increasing diversity of population is evident in most cities.

This is one of the most positive things as we have moved from a very bitter twentieth century to an equally dangerous twenty first century beset with enormous challenges in global terrorism. May we all broaden our vision and outlook so that we can accept each other, co-exist, and prosper. May we all become global citizens so that we can travel to any place on the earth as birds can, without national borders and barriers inhibiting us.

Hotel in Barcelona

Had a difficult time finding an hotel here in the evening. The airport tourist information was not very useful in finding a hotel, so I came to the city centre. Then I tried at least 4 hotels before I found an available room in one. Turned out that I had forgotten that tommorrow is May Day, a holiday and therefore this weekend is a long weekend here. Reserving hotels in advance is always good, just that you loose the flexibility and do not know where it is located. I took a chance just because I was familiar with the city, where the hotels are, and was sure I would find one hotel or another.

This hotel is very good, and above all has free internet access. Wish I had stayed here instead of Hotel Prisma. This has easy access to the metro station too, it is near the Espanya square, and I can catch the airport bus nearby.

Benaki Museum

Blogging from Geneva Airport. Today the skies are beautiful and I had great views of the Swiss Alps as we flew over them. How much I long to be there someday. I didn’t have my camera handy then, but I will keep it with myself to take a few pictures in the next flight.

At Athens the weather was pretty murky and it was raining in the morning. Went to the Benaki Musuem in the morning. This museum has excellent collections from the Paleolithic Age (before 7000 BC) and through the history of Greece into modern times. There are 36 halls in 3 stories with artifacts arranged in chronological order. Collections include samples of stones, axes, etc., dating to the Paleolithic Age, pottery, bronze, gold and other metal works dating to the stone age, and paintings, dresses, ornaments, and weapons dated to more recent times. I got inspired to learn about Greek history and bought a book later from Athens airport.

The trip to the airport from the youth hostel was longer than expected, the bus from Syntagma square is definitely a better option, it is cheaper and has better frequency.

Bought some chocolates for myself and friends from the Geneva airport duty free shopping. Not sure where I am staying tonight, I didn’t make any reservations, hope to find some hotel close to the airport. My flight from Barcelona is at 9:20 am tomorrow.

Dinner at Scholiarhio

Must narrate this amazing dinner that I had. Went to this place that serves authentic Greek Food and was recommended by my travel guide. Actually landed up here by accident, because I was looking for another one, and that was shut down.

Well here, the waiter comes to you with a plate of 20 dishes, and asks you to choose amongst them. I chose three, chicken and rice rolls, a seafood dish, and sausages. Now the waiter poured some olive oil on the sausages and set them on fire. The saugages burnt in front of me for 10 minutes.

And the food tasted really good. Thereafter, I would strongly recommend anyone visiting Greece to have dinner here. The food, the ambience, and the service is great, and it is very cheap.

Before dinner, I had a nice evening stroll around the Temple of Olympian Zeus, and then on to Syntagma square where I witnessed a small guard ceremony outside the house of the Greek Parliament building. From there on to the Ermou, the shopping street of Athens, and around the Plaka area till I reached the restaurant. These areas are very nice for walking and have very lively shops.

Athens is the first European city where I have seen street dogs and stray cats. My travel guide mentions that there are about 150,000 stray dogs in the Athens metro area. It also mentions that every one of them has been tagged and sterilized, and they don’t bite. Although sometimes they bark at each other and in groups, and I am not too comfortable with that.

Tomorrow morning, I go to one museum, I have decided to go to the Benaki Musuem. And then I begin my long journey back home. The flight is at 3:50 pm. Interestingly, of the 3 other people in my room today, one guy was at the IPDPS conference in Rhodes, and one girl is traveling in the same flight as me to Geneva. Some coincidence.

In Athina

Reached the airport at 10 pm yesterday. The friendly Greek lady next to me in the plane had informed me that the metro is not available after 8:30pm and so I should take the bus instead. Bus 95 is to Syntagma square, the heart of Athens. This bus was jam-packed, there was hardly any room for breathing, with almost every passenger having brought his luggage inside.

The journey to Syntagma was long, took over an hour. From there I took the metro to Acropolis and spotted the Athens backpackers youth hostel. Cities in Europe are so organized, and public transport is so efficient and well marked, that I wasn’t at all nervous although it was so late at night. It was almost as if the map of the city was at the back of my mind. So thank you Athens, for making the directions so friendly to tourists.

I have lived in many youth hostels in Europe and this one has been one of the cleanest, the only better one I have experienced was at Vienna. Youth hostels are fun, they are very lively, you get to meet a lot of students, they offer cheap beds, and they always have English speaking crowds. But they come at a cons, you have to sleep in a room which has 6-8 other beds, there is less privacy, you may not sleep well if you are disturbed by other people coughing or snoring. In my room, there were five girls who came from Boston, a guy from Chicago, and another from Melbourne. I got to sleep at 12:30am, but sleep was intermittent and I was up by 7 in the morning.

After a quick breakfast at the youth hostel, I started for the Acropolis. Athens has done an excellent job of keeping its historical sites well maintained in the midst of a growing and modern metropolis. Although the Acropolis area is located in the heart of Athens, it is well cordoned off from the commercial areas. The weather was nice in the morning, not very hot and humid. I had been advised by my Travel Guide book to avoid afternoon hours at the Acropolis because of large crowds and high temperatures at Athens which makes the climb to the top painful. The Theatre of Dionysus, Herodes, Pathenon, Erechtion, Temple of Athena are important sites here, and I will post pictures later. It took close to two hours to survey the whole area. The Acropolis Museum is also very good. The views of the city from the top are breathtaking. It is impressive how various geographical considerations such as water, mountains, line of attack from an enemy, were taken into consideration while building this place by our ancestors.

I gave my camera to a person to take a few shots, and he introduced himself as Costas from Crete and his friend Sam from Thailand. Sam turned out also to be working in computer science, for IBM in Thailand. These guys were very friendly and asked me to join them to the Acropolis Museum. They were good company till we parted ways at the exit of Acropolis. It was nice to have a native person around because he explained a lot of the Greek history and art. Costas had also lived for a month in India in 2004 in the Bombay-Pune belt, and he had lots of stories to tell me about his stay.

The directions around Acropolis are not well marked, although there are maps at a number of places, they don’t come to the attention of tourists very easily. While I was sitting at a crossing trying to decipher the road to the Roman Forum from my map, a number of tourists came to me and asked for directions to the entrance of the Acropolis.

After the Roman Forum which has the ruins for an ancient commercial and administrative center, I went to the Agora, the Athens ancient marketplace, founded in the 6th century BC. Among the many attractions here are the Temple of Hephaestus, and the Tholos, where members of the first parliament in history worked and lived.

The sun was out now and it was getting pretty hot. I has lunch of Moussaka (country casserole made of eggplant). Thereafter, a short visit to Kerameikos, the outer walls of ancient Athens. It was getting very hot and my legs were tired, so I decided to return to the hostel. I am blogging from here.

Day at Lindos

After two days of excellent sunshine, it is rain on the only day that I have left to explore around Rhodes. After checking out of my hotel, I had to take a cab to the Rodos Palace Convention Center. The taxi fare, 7 Euros for a distance of one kilometer. Real ripoff. Good that I can get it expensed. Here is my advice for this place: Negotiate your fare in advance, and mention that you are paying for the whole taxi if you are travelling in a group, for some reason taxi drivers here think they can charge per person, which I find very wierd. And they have no taxi meters, so it doesnt depend on the distance you drive.

I attended the keynote talk in the morning and then joined Avery and Rishi. We left the hotel at around 9:30 in a tour bus. The route is along the east coast of Rhodes driving 60 kilometers to the south.

The drive was very scenic, and hour guide was very good. She explained the history of the island
, which in many ways is similiar to that of India in terms of rule by forigners, intermixing of cultures etc. The three main industries of Rhodes are tourism, pottery and olive oil. The island is dotted with olive trees all around. She explained the process of harvesting of the olives, and that it takes 5 kilos of olives for 1 kilo of olive oil. The best olive oil actually comes from a neighbouring island Cretes, and I will try to buy a small bottle from Athens.

Lindos is one of the most visited villages in Greece. It was a major maritime power in history. It is gifted by an unique coastline and strong acropolis (fort at the topmost point). The current village still preserves its antiquity and its traditional architectural style. All the mansions are white, and the streets are narrow and very beautiful. The guide told us that any building or house that comes down must be restored in the very way it was designed in coordination with the archaelogical society of Greece.

We got beautiful views of Lindos, the acropolis and the sea beyond as we entered that town. After be alighted, we walked to the center square. There our guide explained us the significance of various things, and then we walked along the streets of Lindos to climb to the acropolis. It was drizzling by now. The streets here are very lively. The views from the acropolis are fantastic, I wish I could post them today, but my camera cord is inside my backpack, and I dont have time to dig in for it. I will post them tomorrow. At the acropolis, there is the Temple of Athens, which has been restored between 2000 and 2005 as the original one crumbled down. The beaches down by the sea look fabulous, but there was no one at the beach due to the rain. After spending time at the Acropolis, we walked down the streets, bought souveneirs at a shop, and then had lovely crepes.

We didnt have time to visit a pottery factory, because the bus had to return to the conference by 1. Due to the bad weather, I decided not to go to Rhodes old town, and stayed at the conference. I am now blogging from my hotel, and will leave in 15 minutes to the airport. My flight to Athens is at 8:30 and I hope I can reach the youth hostel I am staying at in Athens by 11.

Evening walk along Ixia

After a long and tiring day, the evening walk along the coast of Ixia was extremely refreshing. My hotel is about 15 minutes walk from the Rodos Palace Convention Center were IPDPS is hosted. The main road of Ixia is lined up with hotels on one side and beaches on the other side. The aroma of the coastal waters and the sea breeze was great. Although its about 10:30 PM at night here, there are lots of people taking their evening strolls alons the beaches. Most of the people are elderly, this place seems to be very popular with the rich elderly people, havent seen too many young couples spending their honeymoon here.

Blogging from conference venue

Just done with my talk an hour ago. It has been a tiring day. Waiting for the banquet which is in 15 minutes.

Tomorrow we are going to Lindos, and I am excited about that. But the trip is at 9 AM, and I have to check out my hotel before that. Will get to Athens tomorrow night , and hopefully dont have a tough time getting to the youth hostel I will be staying at. Have heard that the Olympic Airlines is always late, so hope it doesnt get too far into the night tomorrow.

Greek Hospitality

I believe half the flight from Athens to Rhodes were people travelling to IPDPS. Met Avery at Atnes airport, knew him from my internship at Los Alamos last summer.

The taxi ride from the the Rhodes airport to Ixia reminded me of coastal India. The street was narrow and dimly lit, the taxi driver was driving erratically. Strong resemblence with Trivandrum in South India.

The hotel greeting was very nice and comfortable, and later I had an excellent dinner with the waiter receiving me very well. This island I believe lives solely on tourism, and I think they do a remarkable job of selling themselves to the tourists. Very friendly and congenial atmosphere. I think many places, particularly in India, can learn from the people over here how to sell tourism and become rich and developed from it.

Todays day was at the conference venue. Internet at the conference was very bad, so am blogging from my hotel at nite. Had a nice lunch at a restaurant facing the beach with Avery, Rishi, Pavan... We have booked a group tour on Friday was going south and a drive through teh island, it was very nominal, 30 euros only including the costs of entering the musuems.

Waiting for the last flight at Athens

Am blogging from Athens airport waiting for the Olympic Airlines flight to Rhodes. Today has been a long day flying. For some reason, every airport in Europe seems to require transit passengers to go through security check. This is a pain, it is much easier in the US when you can directly go to the gate. So today, I have had to stand in long queues at many places. Also over here, they like forming different queues for different counters, rather than having one queue feeding into the different counters. The later would give much lesser average service time, besides being fair to customers when additional counters are opened. In the former, people make a mad dash to any new counter that is opened. Somehow I have this feeling that if simple mathematical principles were applied to things in our daily life, the same would be much simpler… I think I am tired and am in a sour mood, and therefore writing these lines….

At Geneva Airport

Am blogging from Geneva Airport, waiting to board my flight which is scheduled to leave in half hour. I chose a window seat so that I could have a sky-view of cities while I took-off and touched-down. Barcelona was sunny today, and the view of the coastline along Catalina was brilliant. And Geneva is very green, I have read a lot about the Swiss pastures and the Alps and wish to do a 2-week trip to Switzerland sometime. The aerial view of Switzerland is certainly very elegant.

Yesterday was a busy day, spent entirely at the conference venue. Met some folks I knew before: Jason, Byrav, some from INRIA whom I had met in Lyon last year, and got introduced to some new people as well.

Has a nice full-course Spanish dinner sponsored by Ciena, the desert of mouse cake was particularly nice.

Barcelona has a lot of vending machines. While returning back to hotel with Jason, he drew my attention to a book vending machine at Maria Cristina metro station. He remarked “That’s the first book vending machine I have seen in my life”.

I have caught a cold now, having underestimated the Barcelona weather for the last three days, I believed April would be warm here.

Geneva airport offers excellent duty free shopping, particularly for Swiss chocolates, I intend to buy some on my return trip.

The Streets of Barcelona

Barcelona is a nice city on walk in. Traffic is very well managed; some fo the narrow roads in the old city are closed to traffic and open to the public, the walkways near the port are wide and well designed, and La Rambla is an excellent avenue for an evening walk.

My first destination in the morning was La Sagrada Familia, the work started by Antoni Gaudi in 1882, still under progress, and which will take 80 more years to complete. I reached there at a great time, locals running for a charity marathon were just completing their run over here which was the finish point. A large crowd had gathered to cheer the runners. The architecture here is very impressive, a picture enclosed. The interior shows all the signs of ongoing construction, support pillars, cement etc. I took the staircase up. It was extremely windy today, and I was very cold in my single layer of a cotton shirt. The views of the city from above are great. I took about an hour for the climb and decent given the crowds. Lots of people stop at the view points where there is not ample space, and this increases the congestion. Downstairs I ventured into the museum which has pictures of the construction of this cathedral in the last 100 years.

I boarded the subway to Jaume 1, in the heart of the old city, which had abundant crowds. The narrow lanes were full of people. I reached the cathedral in good time to witness the ongoing Sunday mass. Outside locals where performing the sardana, the folk dance of Catalina. The music was great and the atmosphere was vibrant. I must have spent more than an hour in this square.

Later, a stroll to La Rambla, alive with the Sunday crowds. I had a full course Spanish meal; chicken soup, veil with mushrooms and potatoes, ice cream, and coffee. The food was great and cheap. Here in Spain, lunch is taken quite late in the day, usually between 2 and 4, which is quite different from some other parts in Europe. Dinner will be taken between 9 and midnight. People stay in the restaurants sometimes into the late hours of the morning.

I strolled around La Rambla, taking pictures of the numerous flower stalls. The roses here are so pretty. La Rambla ends at Placa de Catalunya, which serves as the hub of the Barcelona transportation system. People were feeding pigeons over here, and I have not seen as many pigeons over here other than the central piazza in Venice.

A metro ride took me to Placa de Espagna, where I walked to the National Museum of Catalan Art. This building is impressive in its architecture, a picture enclosed. From the top, you have lovely views of Placa de Espagna and the lovely mountain of Montjuic beyond. We could see a football fest at the Espagna for which hundred of people were beginning to line up.

Port Vell is a great place for a evening walk. The Rambla de Mar is a nice walkway which takes you deep into the port. This area has seen massive development of late, making it the heart of Barcelona entertainment activity. Rambla de Mar took me to Maremagnum, Barcelona’s biggest shopping complex.

I walked around the waterfront which took me to La Barceloneta. This place is famous for its seafood restaurants. Then a metro ride took me back to the old city, where I strolled in the streets and reached the Santa Maria de Mar. This is a 14th century church, a masterpiece of Gothic art. The church is supported by slim octagonal colums, which give it a very spacious look inside.

After having dinner of Tapas and Sangria, I returned to my hotel all weary and exhausted. I was looking at the pics in my digicam, and have no idea when I fell asleep. I woke at 4 in the morning, and unable to sleep, I am blogging right now.

adeu

Sunday Morning

For a change I am up on a Sunday morning at 6:30 am. I slept very well yesterday night, didn’t have much jet lag because I slept all throughout the journey from Chicago to Madrid. Have been listening to a lot of Spanish Music on TV, I love the beats here. When you hear music in a language you don’t understand you can focus on the beats more.

I start at 9 today and will be exploring the city in the next 10 hours.

In Spain

Madrid airport is very organized and clean. I reached Barcelona Airport at 10 and my hotel at 11:50. Lots of construction work going on in this city, I spotted numerous buildings coming up, cranes everywhere, and roads being widened The tourist office at Barcelona Sants proved very helpful in locating my hotel on the Barcelona city map..

Spain is a relaxed and fun country to be in. People-watching is fun here: the expressions of the people tell it all - their relaxed lifestyle, the “I am enjoying life” attitude -.

I walked around the streets in Barri Gotic where the Barcelona Cathedral is. I will explore the cathedral tomorrow. Barcelona is famous for this diverse architecture.

The next stop: Museum Picasso. Picasso, one of the famous painters of the twentieth century, is renowned for his depiction of nature and human figures and expressions. His work has a lot of realism, depictions of mountains, trees, flowers, humans appear extremely realistic. This museum is excellent: a must see for anyone visiting Barcelona.

I then headed to the Parc de la CiutaDella. The evening market and crowd near the Arc de Triomph was refreshing. With local students performing the Catalinan dance, the atmosphere was very vibrant. Here is a picture of me at the Parc de la CiutaDella. I wrapped up the day with a sample of tapas and house wine at a restaurant near Museum Picasso. There I watched the soccer match between Chelsea and Liverpool.

I find it amazing how quickly I grow familiar and comfortable with a new city. Barely 7 hours ago I was a stranger here. Looking all lost. And now I have a hang of the city, how to commute, what to eat. I miss the lifestyle of a big city, I grew up in one, and I always find the narrow lanes, the busy streets, the hustling people, a familiar and comfortable cite.

Hopping around the world

I will surely remember this trip for the number of airport hops I will make en-route. I have been waiting for the past 7 hours at Chicago O'Hare. I changed flights at Dallas in the morning. I change flights once more at Madrid. From Barcelona to Rhodes, I change flights at Geneva and Athens. The same number of hops on return, except that I fly via Miami instead of Chicago.

Free Wireless at Sacramento Airport

Was amazed to find free wireless at SMF airport here. This is not advertised anywhere in the airport, so I was looking for available hotspots when I found this one.

This airport is very convenient, barely 20 minutes from home. Not crowded, no long lines, and the TSA staff today was the friendliest that I have ever found. Now I am waiting for my 12:30 am flight to Dallas. Free wireless service is a nice way to kill time while you are waiting.

Off to Spain

After a couple of anxious days, got my Visa today. These consulates love holding back things till the last moment. Till yesterday night, I had no idea whether I would be travelling. I was relieved when I saw the mail with the tracking number appear.

My flight is in 3 hours, will blog later...

Backpack buying

Bought a Gregory Z Pack from the REI store in Sacramento. My old backpack which I bought about 2 years ago from a store at the Arden Mall is in shackles. Funny, I had initially bought it for my Europe trip 2 years back, but have carried it to every trip ever since.

A nice backpack is an excellent investment. They are light, sturdy, have lots of pockets and padding, which make it ideal for casual travelling. I hate rolling the big suitcases down the airport hallways. And if adjusted to fit well with your frame, you will not feel even if you ahve 50 pounds stuffed inside.

Now that I am so excited about the trip next week, hope the Schengen Visa is issued in time.

Trip to San Francisco

Made a trip to San Francisco on a very rainy day to the Spain Consulate. Consulates try to be very friendly to visitors, to give a favorable impression to tourists. Yet, they are often understaffed, as in this case, only one officer was assigned for Visa related work.

This lady was friendly, and familiarized me with all the paperwork. Luckily there was a copier shop across the street, and I could get some of the documents copied. Then, a long wait before she could attend to me. My chance came at close to 1, after a 2 hr wait. Visa requires excessive amount of paperwork these days, and some were missing. I need to send them an official letter from my insurance company stating that I am covered for health insurance worldwide, hotel reservations, complete flight itinery, and the latest bank statement. Lot of paperwork indeed.

Visa Agonies

Citizens of India require to have a Visa to travel to most parts of the world, no matter how short a duration it may be. Getting the official sanction is sometimes a nightmare. Some consulates are good about it, they allow the application to be sent in via courier. But not this time.

Tommorrow I will be driving 75 miles to San Francisco to present my case to the Consulate of Spain. I called them up today, and they informed me that they cannot process the Visa on the same day. It may take 1 to 3 weeks for them, to process.

Ouch!! That means 2 trips to San Francisco for me. Why cannot countries make it easier for people to travel. After all, the world is shrinking. Its good that San Francisco is only 75 miles for me, I wonder what they would do for someone located far away.

Going to Spain and Greece

Got a chance to go to Spain and Greece in 3rd week of April. Will try online blogging during the course of the trip, my first attempt at this. Should be fun.