Sunsets are always a treat, especially when you are on a boat away from the shore and all you see is the infinite stretches of waterbody... and those beautiful full moon nights with moon light reflecting off the water.. I am jus lovin it! Some of my pics which came out very well.. Enjoy!
Sun just vanishing beyond the Hoziron... leaving back quite an impression! 
Aurora Borealis, other wise called Northern Lights is supposedly a Celestial Phenomenon which can be observed in places above the Arctic Circle on a Clear night. To read more about Aurora go here. One of the places where it can be viewed best is North of Norway. So we decided to go to Tromso, a city in the North of Norway which is located 70 Deg. North of Arctic Circle, aslo called gateway to the Arctic. When you hear Arctic Circle, you already feel the cold as if you are going to be shut in a Freezer or in a Eskimo Igloo. Well to a large extent, it was like that. Temperatures around -5 and -10 Deg. C and even colder in the night with chill winds. 
Few of us friends from work decided to go here to try our luck to view the Aurora. First factor was the Solar activity which cannot be predicted much in advance and second is weather, which stood against us. But we took out chances with a forecast of not so clear skies and cloudy weather with some snow fall and medium Solar activity. Unfortunately when it cleared out, Solar activity was at its low and we could not see the Aurora even after staying in tromso for 4 nights. We did get to see some of the Arctic Museums, a Cool Arctic Cathedral and also did Dog Sledging on a Very Cold Snowy night(padded up with a warm suit to survive the Cold Outdoors :) and finished off with Dinner and Coffee in a Sami(Original inhabitants of the Arctic region, Sort of tribes) Hut. It was a cool(literally) trip all in all, but due to our bad luck we couldnt see the Aurora. Oh.. well.. maybe next time... 
Ave caesar! Morituri te salutamus - Hail Caesar! We who are about to die salute you. (gladiators before the fight) ... Kill...Kill..Kill...
entering the Colosseo. Now all that remains is just the ruins of a great Roman empire which once ruled much of Europe and some parts of Africa and Asia. Marching along the different streets or 'Viale' of Rome, chances are that you will come across a historical monument every 100 metres. Such is the beauty of that city and its just a view to watch a technologically advanced fast car zipping through a road with the Roman ruins and Colosseo in the background. Its purely a city of Wonder. You need a lifetime to truly explore and understand the history of this magnificient city. Remember "Rome was not built in a day". Being and there and done that, makes me feel very happy now. 
What better way to follow up one beast with another one... I mean a Concorde followed by none other couple of Scarlet red Prancing Horses! I saw a couple of Ferraris when I was touring Italy in Rome. The Home of Ferrari... What a beauty! Enjoy....
This F1 car was sighted in a Ferrari Store on 'Via Tomacelli' in Rome. The store was closed and I couldn't go inside. What a tragedy! They had lots of Ferrari Accessories for Ferrari Fans and naturally looked very expensive from Outside.
Little bit of Aviation History here.. The last of the Concorde Fleets which has been exihibited at Aeroport de Charles De Gaulle in Roissy in Paris. Doesn't it look awesome? Cant imagine this has a beast of an engine and the only Commercial Supersonic aircraft in the history of Humankind.. Quite a view! Sad indeed that this has to be sitting like this instead of flying like a Monster at supersonic speeds..
If you’ve read Slartibartfast talking to Arthur Dent in Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy, you would have heard that he received an award for designing the Broken Coastline, full of Fjords, of Norway, when they designed the Supercomputer called Earth to find the Ultimate Question to Answer (Meaning of life). Now having been to the Fjords myself, I can say that maybe he really deserves such an award even if was reality. Such a wonder, these Fjords are... Truly amazing!
Summer is the time you would want to be in Norway :) Nice weather and Good sunlight lets you do lots of fun activities in the evenings after work and in the weekends. and July is the Vacation time. Even some shops close for Summer vacations. Thats quite a contrast to many other places.
Then he let us work in teams to figure out how to sail into the wind and also with wind on the side and then how to make turns or tack, as it is called in sailing terminology, by shifting the sails from one side of the boat to the other side using the sail ropes. It was a great experience. Since he is an engineer, he also gave us some insights into the fluid dynamics of the wind around the sail which makes it move forward.
Allez les Blues.. Allez les Blues.. That seemed to be the chant all over the stadium once the game was over and doubts put to rest by the most graceful footballer in the current era.. A finishing touch by the Maestro put spain out of their misery and booked a place for France in the Quarters against Brazil. For Spain, Its a series of continuous misery. They just cant seem to proceed ahead in the Knockout stages and the sadness continues. They had such a good team and good budding stars, but didnt help against a great team with proven winners, though fading.
Yipeee.. finally its here.. After a long wait of 4 years, World Cup football is back in action with the best of the best fighting it out for the most coveted trophy in the world. I beleive the FIFA World cup finals is the only sporting event watched by most number of people in this planet, although the americans would claim the same for SuperBowl. If the World were just the US of A( as it is often joked about them), then their claim would be true.
Its amazing atmosphere here watching the games with so many people, just like watching cricket or football in big screen in besant nagar beach or watching formula one in the Forum Mall in Bangalore. 
I watched the Brazil Vs Socceroos game here and the whole place was full of yellow and green.
Hope someone kicks his ass and gets his game to very top and lead from the front. So you can see, I am very busy with Football. Between Work, Football, Food and Sleep, I just dont have time for anything else until this event ends...
Only Nemo and Dori are missing.. :) .
Time line: April 1st and 2nd, 2006
Bon Jour.. Mesdames et Messieurs..
After so much of confusion and indecision, I finally made the decision of buying the train tickets to Brussels from Paris upon my friend's insistance. He was nice enough to offer me a ride in his car from Brussels to Luxembourg and back to Brussels, in time, so I can catch my train back to paris. After lot of considerations, what if my plane gets delayed, what if there are strikes in France (which is so common these days!) and lots of other what ifs, I booked my tickets in Thalys for the TGV train from Paris airport to Brussels.
Next day, we started early to Luxembourg. Having lost the way initially and losing some time enroute, we finally reached luxembourg. As lonely planet describes, it is a tiny country on the map with not enough space to contain the letters of its name. Considering the size, you can easily travel north to south or east to west of the country in about 2 hours time. As expected it was a very beautiful city. We took the map and started making our way through the streets, full of fellow tourists. We went to a old Fortress which consisted of 2-3 levels and long corridor which was mainly a hiding place and a bomb shelter during the WW2 from the German attack. We then walked the market place and saw the Grand palace from outside and a few old cathedrals.
I assume it must be every cricketer`s dream to play for his country and to play at Lord`s Cricket Ground some day. Just for the same reason, it must be every cricket fan`s fantasy to watch his team win at Lord`s. Well I got pretty close, except that noone was playing and tt was open for Public Viewing.
Yes... I went to Lord`s Cricket Ground and..My god.. It was a great feeling to be Up Close and Personal with the Lord`s Lushgreen Outfield where many a great cricketing heroes have stamped their authority. Well this is how my trip goes...
It was a Grand view of the ground from there. Its the same balcony where Kapil`s Devils celebrated their 83` World Cup Victory and where Saurav did his Famous Strip tease and thumped his barechest after beating England to clinch the Natwest trophy in 2001. Many a great cricketing moments come to my mind right now related this same balcony. 
It was much like the Media Center at Aggie Football stadium at Texas A&M with many small rooms for different channels(Closest I can think of in Comparison - then again not trying to compare these 2 gounds. That would be a sin). We were breifed about the Design and planning of this Odd Space ship like structure. Infact it is just an inverted Hull of a ship which was actually contsructed by a shipyard company in England. So many times we have seen the view of the ground from this center on TV, but it was a different feeling to be there to see it. Then we came down and we were shown the practise ground where players usually practise before the start of the game. Finally before we left, I signed the Guestbook, the same book where the 'Pigeon'- Glenn Mcgrath had also signed.
First weekend I went to Brussels upon my friends invitation and from there he took me to
Then back in Paris, I was able to visit almost all of the main tourist attractions and enjoy the most beautiful and romantic city in leisure using the Metro trains and buses and ofcourse 'with a little help from my friends'. I will blog about each of these trips seperately with some pictures taken later.
Very calm and nice place, it was. Come weekend, I went to London and stayed right in the dead center of city, Piccadily circus. I found out later that it is the most happening place on a saturday night in London where all night clubs and famous pubs are located. Got lucky I guess, but at a high price(Had to shell out close to 50 pounds for a room/night with shared failities and it was the cheapest I could find.. ridiculus maximus!!). Got to see many a famous places incl. the Lord's Cricket ground (which was on top of my list), 221 Baker street (which actually doesn't exist !), Former house of H.G.Wells on Baker Street, palace, Big Ben and all that. But couldnt find time to knock on 10 Downing street or to see the Famous London Tower Bridge(I feel like an ass for having missed out on this). Also did the Famous Open top London Bus tour(which I feel is very overrated and not cost effective). I felt more comfortable taking a map and using the underground to go different places. Anyways Will Blog in detail later. Never thought touring is so easy in such big cities esp. when you are single.
I am still on a floating high from the last 3 weekends. I am not sure if it was from the sheer thrill of seeing these places or just excessive French Wines and Warm English Beer from London(Asterix takes a dig at British for drinking their beer warm:-). After such a hectic touring (or should I say official touring!), I am back in Oslo in the middle of an extended never ending winter which is just not giving away to Spring. I miss the wonderful and Sunny weather from Paris and London :(. But snow is slowly melting now and thats a welcome sight for me. Spring is coming.. yee..haw.... Watch for more travelogs..
Sledging is lot of fun. Not the sledging between players in sports, but Snow Sledging. It was a small sledge where one person can sit and go down a hill packed with snow(see pic). Last sunday was fantastisk with Bright and Sunny day and perfect for outdoor activities. Getting used to the idea of sitting on a sledge and going downhill at reasonably high speeds negating some dangerous turns and quite a lot of dangerous bumps was bit of a challenge. After couple of trips we sort of figured out how to steer the sledge in steep turns and to avoid hitting fellow sledgers.
Since it hadn't snowed for couple of weeks the course was more of hard packed snow than fresh snow. So sledge picked up speed very fast as you go down hill and those bumps were very dangerous for our Bums. We almost fell off the sledges few times, but it was total fun. Plan to do some more this weekend with lot of fresh snow and also try snowboarding.
I was watching 'Seinfeld - Merv Griffin Show' yesterday night and I decided to dedicate atleast one of my blogger posts to the Legendary 'Cosmo Kramer' a.k.a Dr. Van Nostrand.
for the racing fans.... yesterday i went for go-carting as part of a group activity. It was fantastic. it was bloody cold , almost 5-6 Deg C and it was raining on the track and it was night time and floodlights all over. basically vision was blurred bcos of misty, rainy and cold conditions and on top it track was bloody slippery. well def not a great way to have a first time experience on carting. We were given a pair of thin cotton gloves which didnt help much and got wet and was even more difficult to drive with. after making whole lot of spins on track bcos of slipping and hitting ppl with full speed headon.. i can feel how diff it must be out there even for the best F1 drivers... it was bit scary and fun... ofcourse carts are not at high speeds.. but was nice experience to know that YOU DONT BRAKE HEAVILY when it rains and also DONT Go at HIGH SPEED when roads are slippery... out in the cold and rain after 10 mins i really wanted to run back in.. cos my hands were just frozen and were dead meat in those conditions... but was a fun excercise... you guys should try some carting if you get a chance and opportunity .. i highly recommend.. esp for racing fans...
Though I am not a great fan of Rajni or anything.. but this was a forward I got which was damn funny...
There is a popular story saying that wherever you go, you will find atleast a Rajinikanth fan, here is an interesting new story!...Rajinikanth was bragging to Jayalalitha one day, "You know, I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone- anyone, & I know them." Tired of his boasting, Jayalalitha asked, "OK, Rajini how about Tom Cruise?" "Sure yes, Tom & I are old friends, I can prove it" Rajini said. So Rajini & Jayalalitha fly out to " />Hollywood & knock on Tom Cruise's door, & sure enough, Tom Cruise shouts "Thalaiva! Great to see you! You & your friend come right in & join me for lunch!". Although impressed, Jayalalitha is still skeptical. After they leave Cruise's house, she tells Rajini that she thinks Rajini knowing Cruise was just lucky. "No, no, just name anyone else" Rajini says. "President Bush", Jayalalitha quickly retorts. "Yes", Rajini says, "I know him, let's fly out to Washington". And off they go. At the White House, Bush spots Rajini on the tour & motions him, saying, "Rajini, what a surprise! I was just on my way to a meeting, but you & your friend come on in, let's have a cup of coffee first & catch up". Well, Jayalalitha is very shaken by now, but still not totally convinced. After they leave the White House grounds, she expresses her doubts to Rajini who again implores her to name anyone else. "The Pope", Jayalalitha replies. "Sure!" says Rajini, "My folks are from Poland & I've known the Pope a long time". So off they fly to Rome. Rajini & Jayalalitha are assembled with the masses in Vatican Square when Rajini says, "This will never work. I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs & I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope." And he disappears into the crowd headed toward the Vatican. Sure enough, half an hour later Rajini emerges with the Pope on the balcony. But by the time Rajini returns, he finds that Jayalalitha had a Heart Attack & is surrounded by paramedics. Working his way to Jayalalitha's side, Rajini asks her, "What happened?" Jayalalitha looks up & says, "I was doing fine until you & the Pope came out on the balcony & the man next to me said, "Who's that on the balcony with Rajini?"... regards rajni
