Naye Varsha Ki Shubhkamanyen!

That would be Happy New Year in Hindi J

So last night I was told by the hotel manager that it was mandatory for me to go to their annual New Years party. Mandatory! Can you believe that? So I went. At first I was like ok get me out of here. I was required/forced to wear a multi-coloured turban (sorry kids, no pictures of that are available thank you very much!!), and then I was sent to singles hell by being at a table for one in a sea of tables for two - but you know what? Turned out it was pretty fun (after a few rum and cokes mind). I met a couple from Italy, and another from Australia which was pretty cool. I ended up passing out though – in my room, not at the table - completely missing the New Years countdown but that's ok. A surprisingly pleasant evening after all – who knew?

Here's to 2011 - should be another interesting year (I hope!)

Just breathe…(long post alert)

I had a few hours to kill before I caught my plane to India, so I took advantage of the great weather in Rome and went out to take some pics. The hotel is like 10 minutes away from the Coliseum so I managed to get some pretty good shots of the place and the general area. I really was in a great area, it was a beautiful day and I really didn't feel like leaving...

But leave I must so it's off to the airport. Now everyone pretty much knows that air travel is a necessary evil right? Right. Well thankfully my trip to Italy on Alitalia was uneventful.

When I say that, I mean that it wasn't as horrific a journey as you are led to believe - particularly if you read the endless, terrifying opinions about Alitalia on the internet. Mind you I flew business – so I guess the equation is the higher the class, the less complaints right? Or so you'd think - but I digress. When I got to Italy it was fine. The flight was fine, the food was surprisingly good and hooray, I made it safely. My bags? Nowhere to be found. Luggage was missing for about five other people too. Luckily after about two hours of waiting and discussions with helpful baggage officials, we all got our bags and a Merry Christmas was had by all. Awww, nice story eh? Not so fast. That it was Italy.

Now comes part two to this post.

Flying to India is fun. Yeah, actually not so much. Whether flying business or economy it is a long, long flight. I left Rome for India and flew with Royal Jordanian airlines. We first flew to Amman, Jordon (sidebar: have to say that airport is a little, change that, it's a LOT scary – WAY too many military people lurking about) before we changed planes and flew on to Dehli. That's where the trouble began. They put us on the plane no problem (quick question for anyone who can answer this: on the flight to India, why were there plainclothes men sitting up in front with the airline hostesses, as well as a few more special 'passengers' sitting in business and economy?? Hmmm).

Anyway, when we finally made it to Dehli it was foggy. I mean serious, dense can't see three inches in front of you fog. I said a small prayer as we landed (let me tell you that that was a VERY scary experience, one I do not wish to go through again) and when we did land we could barely see the landing strip or make out the airport terminal at all. But we made it. My bags did not. Neither did anyone else's. I'm like WTF is going on here? Not again - first Italy and now here too?? All I was thinking was" just breathe Steve, for your peace of mind". Fat lot of good that did :). Seems they put us on the plane in Jordan without a hitch, but decided, hey, why bother loading everyone's luggage too?! We didn't realize anything was wrong until an hour later and we're still standing there wondering where the f*ck are our bags, hating the passengers strolling away with their carry-on bags!!

A very harassed airport official then broke the news that no luggage will be coming – at all. Well if you could imagine pandemonium, then you'd feel right at home at the Delhi airport. People made a mad dash to the baggage claim area and let me tell you there were a LOT of angry people yelling at the staff! I wasn't angry - sort of. At first I really didn't care 'cause in my mind it was a great excuse to get some new clothes – that was until I realized like an idiot I packed all my meds in that suitcase instead of carrying it aboard like most smart travelers – THEN I panicked. I was getting tired and cranky after three hours of dealing with the baggage claim people. I was pissed off at India at that point and wished I stayed in Italy - of course I knew it wasn't India's fault, it was Jordan's but I was still pretty pissed!!!

Three days later after many calls from the incredible and very patient Miss Poojah at Shanti Home Hotel I got my suitcase. No apologies from the airlines though, no nothing! Nice. A great start to my trip to India eh? It didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. I was India now and boy were my eyes about to be shoved wide open!

Next post: Hello Dehli – goodbye reality.

Chow Italia!!

What? Yeah I know, lame heading, but isn't it just a little bit funny? I mean c'mon, this post is about food so see the connection?? Ciao – Chow?? Let's move on then.

So now I've heard from a few friends that the blog is long on adventure and short on food, so I'm going to try to remedy that! I only had one full day to experience a bit of Italian cuisine, and I made the most of it. That one day was Christmas, where pretty much everything - except McDonalds (no surprise there – ya know, I think I going to count how many times I mention that place once this trip/blog is finished!) was closed for the holiday. Turns out it was serendipity that other restaurants/trattorias were closed. The hotel where I was staying featured one of Rome's top restaurants, so I made a reservation and proceeded to have a rather tasty, non-traditional (at least in my family) Christmas dinner. The restaurant is located on the top floor of the hotel. Hotel guests may get to the room via their floor but outside guests must go through a really quaint garden in order to take the private elevator. The room was done up in true Christmas fashion (tastefully), and each table offered some outstanding views of the city! Ya know, I'll bet in the summertime it must be stunning to look out over the roman hillside, with a nice warm breeze to accompany your al fresco meal. I think I'll find that out for myself one day when I go back to Italy!

Right then, on to the food. I wasn't seeing turkey on the menu (surprise?), but I was seeing one of my favorite pasta dishes; Pasta alla Carbonara. There is nothing like this true Roman classic dish for Christmas dinner eh? Ha-ha. Damn, it was so f**king tasty I'm salivating just remembering it!! After a rather bad starter of shrimp tempura served with a not-so-great dipping sauce, out came the carbonara. Now if you're a pasta lover, you'll love this dish: delicious spaghetti (or fettucini,rigatoni or bucatini), smothered in a sauce made from cream (or butter or olive oil), egg yolks and parmesan (pecorino romano), and topped with crispy, julienned bacon. This is a very, very rich dish, and it makes no apologies for that whatsoever. It was so freakin' good, so good - I repeat, so good. I practically kissed the plate when it was over - ok I didn't do that, but it was close. The dinner left me so full I had no room for dessert, but that's ok, I left the restaurant with visions and thoughts of carbonara on the brain. Now if only I could get that recipe. I asked, they laughed. They thought I was joking – I wasn't.   

Here it is, in full colour!

Buon Natale a Roma

Merry Christmas from Rome! God it's so beautiful here. Sadly though, I'm not going to get much of a chance to explore the city. This is mostly due to last weeks colossal mess at the airports thanks to the snowstorm and the resulting cancellation at airports across Europe. My flight was one of many affected so I was supposed to be here on Wednesday morning but didn't arrive here until very late in the week, and now I Ieave for Dehli tomorrow! Oh well, I got here safely and that's what matters. Besides, I know I'll definitely be coming back here. The city is so beautiful and just driving to the hotel in the cab, looking out the window at the buildings/architecture, the landscape and yes the gorgeous Italian people makes me think without a doubt I'll be back again. That's my grown-up Christmas wish J

A few observations though;

Umm, are there actual speed limits on Italian highways or do drivers just sort of take it upon themselves to go whatever speed they wish?

I flew Alitalia. You read it right, Alitalia! No horror stories to tell about the flight itself, in fact it was really good. That is until I got to the airport and was one of five people who didn't get their luggage. FIVE PEOPLE! After about two and half hours (and receiving much needed help from someone who could speak Italian to talk to the baggage desk people), I got my bags (phew). Talk about lucky eh? Although my driver who was supposed to collect me at the airport did a runner on me, no doubt thinking I ditched him. Got a cab instead which led to observation #1. Ah well,I made it, so no complaints!!

 

Buon Natale!!!

What I’ve learned so far: my top ten

I know just about everyone loves lists and I'm definitely one of those people. So now that there is a bit of a lull in my travel plans before I hit Italy I decided to compile a top ten list of things I've learned - figured out – avoided, etc, etc, so far on this journey:

1. Learn the language! Don't try to pretend, they'll see right through you and just speaking English is kinda rude. Attempt to at least learn one thing while on your trip. Trust me, the locals appreciate it which brings me to tip 2.
   
2. Don't assume everyone speaks English. They don't and you really need to be on the ball if that happens because next thing you know you're being driven to some god forsaken place where you're wondering hmm am I going to get out of here alive??
   
3. Eat, eat, and eat some more!! Ah, food – glorious food. When in a foreign country, really try to taste as many traditional foods as you can stomach and if all else fails or you have a case of toilet trauma, go to McDonalds. Again not advocating it but it is a safe bet (and can I just say how lucky the people in the UK are? Their McDonalds has the apple pie we used to have in Canada -you know the one, the crispy, deep–fried pies instead of that gross baked apple substitute? Awful!! Don't ask me how I know that. Damn those nutritionists for ruining a very tasty guilty pleasure!!)
   
4. Fly business class if you can: Ok so there have been a few occasions so far on the trip where my flight has been cancelled and I ve been forced to wait for long periods at the airport. So you have a choice. Sit with grumpy travellers pissed off they aren't going to fly out anytime soon or sit in a VERY comfy business class travel lounge, eat and drink your face of for free and wait for the next flight in comfort!!! Hmm what to do?? Obviously money plays a part in this but if you can at least try to afford one flight in business. Do it, you won't be sorry!!
   
5. Treat yourself to something really nice hotel-wise. Even if you're on a budget, try to take at least one night in your travels and stay in a fancy schmancy hotel! Again, just do it - you'll thank me for it later.
   
6. Notice the little things! Sometimes when you're travelling you may overlook (or not) things, certain quirks and weird things that seem so odd to you but are perfectly normal in whatever country you're in. For example in Iceland, with the traffic lights, you start to move your car a bit the minute the light goes yellow than you go when it's green, the opposite of what we do in North America. See? Little things like that are cool to keep track of.
   
7. Be careful, not paranoid or you'll definitely attract trouble. Be aware of your surroundings and be vigilant, doubly so when you're travelling alone. Just don't overdo it so you ATTRACT attention right?
   
8. Money does make a difference!! Budget travelling is fine of course, but money ALWAYS talks. Have plenty in reserve, just in case.
   
9. Pictures are great –video is better. I have to remember that myself!
   
10. Keep a blog of your travels (narcissism thy name is Steve J). Ok granted, to some a blog may be the equivalent to watching a travel slide show people used to bore friends and family back in the day but for your own personal purposes it's a pretty cool to have an electronic journal to remind you of your travels and some of things you may not want to (or may want to) forget!
    

 

Catching up…Berlin update 2

Alright, so I'm admitting that I ve been very, very bad lately about the blog. Totally neglected it but that's about to change starting now.

Ok so now that I'm about to say Auf Wiedersehen to Berlin, I thought I'd share a few thoughts about it.

What can I say about Berlin? Well not much since most of my visit was spent in bed and not in a good way. I wish I could say it was an adventure but truthfully it wasn't until the last two days of my time here did I really get a chance to explore and look around the city. And I took LOADS of pics so I think I more than made up for the lost time spent in my hotel room.

SO, if someone was to ask me my impressions of Berlin, I guess I'd say the following if these questions were asked:

Is it beautiful? Well it's a huge city with this indescribable energy you can feel when you're out and about. It also has an incredible history but beautiful? Not so much. Underneath the dirt, however, there is beauty but it's not Paris beautiful or even Munich beautiful.

Is it cool? Yes very much so. But I bet it's a cooler place to visit in the summer.

Are the people friendly? Yes. I can say with a resounding yes, they are. I mean I'm sure other people have had differing experiences but overall it was pleasant.

Am I happy to be leaving? Yes mostly because I'm tired and that little incident earlier on where I couldn't walk didn't help my mood.

What about the food? Yeah, wasn't really as exploratory as I thought I would be. Honestly I was just happy I had Weiner Schnitzel!

And as for pictures? Got plenty of those. For a taste, see below.

Exhibit of a few pieces of the Berlin Wall in Potsdamer Paltz – about 5 minutes from my hotel!

The Berlin Wall: very sombre but behind the wall is a beautiful museum dedicated to the history of the wall.

Schoneberg – a suburb of Berlin

R. Wilde Park, Schoneberg. This is a beautiful park and the subway station is in the background!

Alexanderplatz; The main square in Berlin. The tower featured in the pictures that bears a similar look to Toronto's CN Tower is called Fernsehturm TV Tower.

More pics to come!