Oresund Bridge - Connecting Sweden & Denmark

This article from Uma reminded me that I haven’t still posted about my trip details to Copenhagen and Norway. How can I miss Norway #@#, I’m gonna spend more time towards the weekend and finish the same. In the mean time here is some amazing fact about how Sweden and Denmark are connected. Its called the Oresund bridge and this
links Copenhagen(Denmark) & Malmö(Sweden). The Oresund Bridge consists of a tunnel, a bridge and an artificial island. It’s a magnificent drive that I undertook from Malmo to Copenhagen. It was in the morning hours and I was traveling from Malmo, the third largest city in Sweden, to Copenhagen. Its an amazing site to see how the bridge enters the tunnel which is constructed in an artificial island. This was done so that the shipping is not affected due to the construction of the bridge. Here is more info on that Read on
The picture on the left gives u the ariel view and the one on right gives a side view how the bridge submerges.

Catching up

When was the last time who had a cuppa like this? I was yearning to have T like this for long, here my dream comes true in Bangalore on a Saturday evening after a playing a nice prank on one more my friend, details to follow soon.

Well dreamt

I wanted to share with you all this, A very sensitive issue beautifully dreamt . Read the dream here

This flower is a gift is for the Dream Vendor for the nice write-up.

Some thing to learn always

Every time I visited a country there was always something new to learn.

Here are some facts that I learnt during my trips as time comes I shall share others later.

"Galette des rois" - The story goes like this , this is a celebration of Christ being visited by the Magi, the epiphany was set to January the 6th, Also known as le jour des Rois, this is the day when the three kings are traditionally added next to the crib. Over the years, this religious festival got converted into a fun filled activity. There is a dry cake is prepared for this purpose,
The cake contains a lucky charm (une fève) which originally was a bean, a symbol of fertility. Whoever found the charm in their slice of cake, becomes King or Queen and had to buy a round of drinks for all their companions. It's a puff pastry rather flat cake or thin pie filled with almond paste or some other paste. One can eat it for breakfast or as a snack or as a dessert - is there's a reason for this tasty gateau. Now It's sold in all French bakeries and eating the galette at the beginning of January is a very popular tradition and an opportunity for families and friends to gather around the table. The person who finds the fève in their slice of galette becomes the King or Queen and is given a golden paper crown. The King or Queen then has to choose his Queen or her King, by dropping the lucky charm in their glass, that’s what they say.

The above picture is taken when my house owner gifted me a dessert before I left from Grenoble. Taking about choosing their partner here are some here are some stories in those lines.

# In Italy, the groom's tie was cut into pieces and sold to the guests at the reception. The money earned is used for the honeymoon.

# In Poland, guests pay to dance with the bride and this money is used for the honeymoon

# In old England it was traditional to bake a ring into the wedding cake as a symbol of bliss and happiness. The guest whose piece of cake contained the ring, it was said, could look forward to a full year of uninterrupted happiness.

Bonjour

Of late I have been getting a lot of forwards about France: In particular why we should learn French. One of the most interesting video I watched goes like this

In Japan, very little fat is eaten and the heart attack rate is lower then in the USA.
In France a lot of fat is eaten and the heart attack rate is lower than in the USA.
In India very little red wine is drunk and the heart attack rate is lower then in the USA.
In Spain a lot of red wine is drunk and the heart attack rate is lower than in the USA.
In Brazil people have much more sex than in Algeria , the heart attack rate is both the countries is lower then USA.
In other words : Eat, Drink , Have as much sex as u like,
What kills you is speaking English.

The below board is an hilarious one

Turning point

Here is a beautiful turning point from Jag. He says there is a lot more you get to know & understand during u r travel, this is a great analysis.
Yesterday I was thinking how I miss the public transport system. This is a very easy, economical & a convenient mode of transport, but not like how is it in India. I used to get to spend a lot of time for just myself. This is the time I used for very many things like
@ Listen to u r favorite music
@ Read the book you always wanted to
@ Make friends, I got some good few friends while traveling in tram & bus
@ A time to do some creative thinking (some of my ideas I got them are during my travel only like the wine&coffee, project dirty dozen).

World tallest building

The other day I was talking to R and was fighting, She told me that she is staying in the world tallest building in Taipei. I got into an argument saying that only Petronas Towers (452meters, 88 stories) in Kuala Lumpur are the world tallest, little did I know in the year 2004 this Taipei 101 (509 meters, 101 stories) built in Taiwan is the world tallest. So this is an update for u people - just in case u don't know.

Latte art lovers

When was the last time u have been to a coffee shop... The last time I went to Barista it was on a very chill-windy day so could not enjoy much. Waiting for next time to go there

Those who love latte art check this site LatteArt

Blue hour

What else u can ask for more for a holiday weekend:
Staying in the country side with loads of people around you,
Someone to talk to you always,
Watch girls in pattu paavadais and later they change to jean's & tops reminding u of changing times
The house u stay is surrounded by garden on all sides,
Get some food which u haven’t tasted for long
Watching the blue hour as u travel on the roads with the coconut & palm tress set as a fore-ground and later watch the full moon accompanying you all through u r journey.
This reminded me of the line which I wrote earlier
Later in the night as u r lazy to eat, get an nila sorru kind of food served to u, just take the mixed rice in hand and eat … what else u can expect from life for a holiday

HAPPY PONGAL

Got this nice wishes from R. After a long time this time I'm gonna spend some time with family on this occation.

Klueless

Many of you would have heard about KlueLESS from IIM – I got this link from a friend of mine recently. WOW gr8 fun.
Struck at 13 level – pretty bad number eeeh ...got the logic but still fighting to decode

http://www.iimi-iris.com/iris/irising/klueLESS/

Update: Spent a whole night to solve this. Phew Fantastic it is. Worth a night sleep. It’s fun to solve it with a friend. There is something more to this, I'm done with this anyway.

Where to go

This is some thing which I encounter often only in Bangalore. In the recent 2 months of my stay here when ever I go to people asking for direction this is how the conversation turns out as

After u reach Mekari circle there is a right which leads to xxx.
Yes I know
Don’t take that road.
Do u know the road that takes u to Yeshwanthpur?
Yes I know the straight one
Don’t take that road.
Then I should take right one?
Yes but u should go to the extreme end of the road so that u can avoid subway.

Thanks angel

Many things untold leave an inerasable mark in heart. Bad for few, good for many. Thanks for R being there to help me on. God sent angel to me.

Bon appétit

Lets analyse what are the similarities between wine tasting in France and coffee tasting in India especially, if you are traveling by the great Indian railways. This source of inspiration for writing this article was due to my numerous travels made during the holidays by Indian Railways.

Many hands make good coffee or a wine, I hope everyone will agree with me. In spite of being a teetotaler I have learnt a lot about wine. People don’t accept that fact that I don’t drink wine when we get-together for some drinks, I talk so much about them. Wine tasting & coffee tasting by itself has a lot to learn.

Learn more these topics on Coffee & Wine can be learnt.


Red, Rose & White wine are there. For the coffee we have light, medium & strong, I mean the quantity of water not the milk thickness in India. A good cup of coffee is the legacy of the people who grow, pick, process, roast, and serve it.
But if u go for a coffee shop in India u get these option (Reminds me of the Kotak securities advertisement)
Cappuccino or Espresso
Coffee – Black or white
Sugar – with or without
With Sugar – White or brown
Beans – various varieties to chose from
Roasted – Mild, medium or strong (Just the beans, not the coffee on the stove)
All this for just a cup of coffee ….
Ok now let’s go back to the similarities between wine & coffee. The observation process that requires your eyes, nose and palate, for the coffee with milk and sugar.

Using your eyes:
Wine: Check the reflection of light on the wine n shining of the liquid. More it shines, younger it is.
Coffee: Check the reflection of light on the coffee, the more it’s transparent the lighter the coffee is or in other words the less the milk is there.
Some diamonds sparkle more than others, some wines shine more than others. If u observe the same phenomenon in the coffee straight go ahead and throw that in the bin.

Viscosity can be a geographical indicator or a measure of residual sugar. Watch the streams of wine that run down the sides of the glass after you swirl it.
Wine: An oily look indicates a high level of alcohol.
Coffee: The non-sticky look indicates a high level of water some time if the sugar content is also high u will get the sticky look.

On to clarity: Looking through the side of the glass, preferably against a dark background, try to see if any particles are suspended in it.
Wine: The better-the wine is very clear. A cloudy wine will lack finesse.
Coffee: The better-the coffee is opaque. Any sign of translucent indicates the lack of quality.

I’m not discussing about the color of the wine or coffee here. That will be an article by itself.

Smell: Now you have to smell it, first just smell it simply as it is. Then stir it little bit and smell it. Try this 3 - 4 times.
Wine: The smell is a strong indicator it tells us where the wine was stored, the kind of soil it was grown all these can be found with this property.
Coffee: The same can be applied. Be careful not to stir for long as it will get cold and go taste less. The smell is a very strong indicator for the coffee. Some people add brick powder so that u can get a color but the smell can come in hand to help you in this regard.

Taste: Now finally take it in mouth. But wait, wait, wait...just take it in mouth, don't swallow it.
Wine: Keep it there for a while, that will increase the temperature of wine upto the body temperature and also let a little amount of air go in the mouth and mix with the wine
Coffee: Keep it there for a while, a word of caution. Don’t blame me if it’s piping hot as you get in some parts of south India. But the initial taste itself will tell you if you consume the whole glass or just throw it down.

Gift from my friend

Bon Vacances

Happy new year to all.

Had a fantastic holidays. Went and stayed in my brothers house and visited lots of places. Invariably had been spending the nights only on traveling by which I ensure I get to spend the day time with family & friends. Went to Nellore from there to Vizag over to Chennai and then to Kumbakonam and then back to Bangalore finally. Thought it was a very tiring trip still managed to complete 90% of the plan I made for these trips.

The biggest event is meeting the guy who has given up his single and available status, since I was injured and was grounded he came and visited me. He even offered to buy a coffee for me. Thank dude for the same. Next time we meet kindly make sure u invite me for lunch or dinner ;-)