Brrrrr..........
It is 6 in the morning now brrr........and I am using the internet connection provided by the apartment to write this post....
But what am I doing at 6 in the morning....well I am still trying to get over the jet lag. Though the time difference is only 4.5 hours I am finding it tough to settle down. May be its because its totally dark here by 5 in the evening and i am yet to see sunlight this morning.
I took the flight yesterday at 2.20 in the morning. There were two more people from my workplace along with me. After reaching the airport at around 11 pm, and paying the taxi guy 50 bucks extra for luggage which sounds ridiculous.....but once you tell a taxi guy your destination is the international terminal he gets pretty greedy, I stood for 3 hours in a overly crowded waiting lounge. The waiting lounge in Bangalore pretty pathetic compared to even the one in Delhi which I was in a couple of months back. I am sure it will be a big relief when the new airport comes up.
The Air France flight departed on time for its 10.5 hours flight with half capacity filled. It was uneventful and even the air hostesses were not worth mentioning. But I dont know why they serve snacks at 3 in the morning, though I did not complain cos I was really hungry. I slept for around 4 hours and then watched the movies - The devil wears Prada and My super ex-girlfriend. I landed in Paris at 8 in the morning, European time.
The Charles de Gaul airport is something worth mentioning with the waiting lounge for my next flight alone being bigger than the entire lounge in Bangalore. But the security checking being very thorough. First it was the immigration check where the guy check your visa and your purpose of stay. During my first trip the guy in Amsterdam airport was curious to find out the purpose of my visit and I had told him, business. I got a long stare from him and he finally asked what kind of business do u do. Then I realized my mistake and told him the company I work for and stuff like that and he let me off. But this time in Paris I was not asked anything.
The security check is a more elaborate process here where the check will be more strict if you are an Asian. I was asked to remove my shoes too along with all the accessories. The Europeans are let off more easily. The next flight from Paris which took me to my final destination is an Air France flight which is smaller than the volvo buses that run in Banagalore. It has propellers on both sides and can seat around 40. Whenever the air hostess opens the front door you can actually see the cockpit and the pilot. The flight duration was 1 hour.
The weather in both Paris and Eindhoven was the same.....around 10 degrees Centigrade and continuous light drizzling. I realized that 10 degrees is also actually cold and was dreading the 2 and 3 that I was slated to face. We took a taxi to our apartment. The taxis here are all Mercedes but this time around I was not overwelhmed since this was my second trip. The only difference that I found from my first trip was that the leaves on trees that were then green were now brown. The apartment I am staying now is also different from the first one. This time its a studio apartment that is a part of a hotel and again I am staying alone. I will post pics of the apartment later.
After I reached the apartment at around 1 pm I went to my friends apartment to have some chappatis that his mom had packed and both then went to the bus stand to get a bus pass made. A bus pass is a good option if you are here for a month. It costs 60 Euros. We then took the bus to reach our office.
I came back to the apartment at around 8 pm but was feeling really sleepy cos of the jet lag. I did go shopping to buy some things like curds (they dont call it curds here), buns, some spreads, fruits and cakes. Being an experienced guy I knew what to buy. I cooked (that would be mis leading) some tomato rice. I saw that this time there was a dedicated channel in the TV for "u know what". The internet connection is really really fast and I would say this is by far the maximum speed I have ever experienced. I spent a mundane evening and was soon asleep.
More about the gals in this small town in the next post
But what am I doing at 6 in the morning....well I am still trying to get over the jet lag. Though the time difference is only 4.5 hours I am finding it tough to settle down. May be its because its totally dark here by 5 in the evening and i am yet to see sunlight this morning.
I took the flight yesterday at 2.20 in the morning. There were two more people from my workplace along with me. After reaching the airport at around 11 pm, and paying the taxi guy 50 bucks extra for luggage which sounds ridiculous.....but once you tell a taxi guy your destination is the international terminal he gets pretty greedy, I stood for 3 hours in a overly crowded waiting lounge. The waiting lounge in Bangalore pretty pathetic compared to even the one in Delhi which I was in a couple of months back. I am sure it will be a big relief when the new airport comes up.
The Air France flight departed on time for its 10.5 hours flight with half capacity filled. It was uneventful and even the air hostesses were not worth mentioning. But I dont know why they serve snacks at 3 in the morning, though I did not complain cos I was really hungry. I slept for around 4 hours and then watched the movies - The devil wears Prada and My super ex-girlfriend. I landed in Paris at 8 in the morning, European time.
The Charles de Gaul airport is something worth mentioning with the waiting lounge for my next flight alone being bigger than the entire lounge in Bangalore. But the security checking being very thorough. First it was the immigration check where the guy check your visa and your purpose of stay. During my first trip the guy in Amsterdam airport was curious to find out the purpose of my visit and I had told him, business. I got a long stare from him and he finally asked what kind of business do u do. Then I realized my mistake and told him the company I work for and stuff like that and he let me off. But this time in Paris I was not asked anything.
The security check is a more elaborate process here where the check will be more strict if you are an Asian. I was asked to remove my shoes too along with all the accessories. The Europeans are let off more easily. The next flight from Paris which took me to my final destination is an Air France flight which is smaller than the volvo buses that run in Banagalore. It has propellers on both sides and can seat around 40. Whenever the air hostess opens the front door you can actually see the cockpit and the pilot. The flight duration was 1 hour.
The weather in both Paris and Eindhoven was the same.....around 10 degrees Centigrade and continuous light drizzling. I realized that 10 degrees is also actually cold and was dreading the 2 and 3 that I was slated to face. We took a taxi to our apartment. The taxis here are all Mercedes but this time around I was not overwelhmed since this was my second trip. The only difference that I found from my first trip was that the leaves on trees that were then green were now brown. The apartment I am staying now is also different from the first one. This time its a studio apartment that is a part of a hotel and again I am staying alone. I will post pics of the apartment later.
After I reached the apartment at around 1 pm I went to my friends apartment to have some chappatis that his mom had packed and both then went to the bus stand to get a bus pass made. A bus pass is a good option if you are here for a month. It costs 60 Euros. We then took the bus to reach our office.
I came back to the apartment at around 8 pm but was feeling really sleepy cos of the jet lag. I did go shopping to buy some things like curds (they dont call it curds here), buns, some spreads, fruits and cakes. Being an experienced guy I knew what to buy. I cooked (that would be mis leading) some tomato rice. I saw that this time there was a dedicated channel in the TV for "u know what". The internet connection is really really fast and I would say this is by far the maximum speed I have ever experienced. I spent a mundane evening and was soon asleep.
More about the gals in this small town in the next post
posted by Sriniketh S at
9:22 PM
2 Comments:
thats a very nice description so far...good stuff..
so you have finally decided to update your blog after a long time. lets see how long it continues...because i have the sneaking suspicion that soon you'll get engrossed in "work" and wont have time for it..
Karthik
By
Anonymous, at 9:35 PM
so atlast some firangi description of your desi trip to wind mills! good to see u back in action...
By
Rupam Bhattacharya, at 6:17 AM
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