Summing up the trip

Today is my last night in Europe. I am at Stuttgart and fly to Frankfurt tomorrow morning for further connection home. This has been a great trip as I got an opportunity to go to places which you usually dont travel. In my last trips to Europe I had visited only the metros but this time I got an opportunity to go inside small towns, villages - places like Bad Salzungen, Leimbach, Fulda,Burghaun, Rottweil, Aichhalden in Germany - Graz, Zeltweg in Austria, Turku, Tampere, Lahti in Finland. I travelled on planes, cars, trains and buses. This gave me a great perspective about the continent. I went into mines 800 meters into the ground and 110 meters up on the tower. I went into the Eastern part of Germany , the historic border which at one time was making so much of tension in the world. How removing the borders has bought peace and triumph. Is it not so unfortunate that how much trouble we create with these man made borders. The trip in the mine was so enthralling. How difficult it is for some people who work there in the dark. Such a hard job some part of the society is doing to make our life comfortable. Touched World war 2 history there. Theres a cave in the mine where Hitler had hidden tons of Gold, Billions of Dollars and best paintings of Berlin Museum but unfortunately US noticed it and after the war dug out every thing. Its said they carried every thing and till recently have been returning to the different countries there Gold and money. I saw a Crystal mine there with sparkling crystals and they do a light and sound show there. So dazzling.

I got an opportunity to try different food. Things I don't eat at home. It was difficult to get lot of choices in vegetarian food but never slept hungry and unsatisfied. Drove motorboat in Baltic sea and Dakota bike - so much like our bullet. Was so close to nature. Air never breathed so fresh. By the way I had mentioned name of a place above Bad Salzungen. Bad does not mean BAD but Bath. At all places in Germany where they use Bad before the name of the place means there is a natural water source which cures diseases. The walk around one of these source - gives you such a wonderful feel. It really feels something has touched you in.

but the biggest gain has been the people with whom I interacted. They were so nice and homely. The hospitality was so great that we don't even do anything like this in India though we call ourselves good hosts. How happy these guys live - not creating unhappiness by there own doing. They accept the situation as it is not trying to worry about things not in there control. I am really bowled over by the touch. Another lesson I learn was punctuality. How I was able to plan every thing nicely as every thing moved in time. A train, a bus, an appointment, a taxi call. If we can do this back home how much more we can deliver. I have a whole day journey tomorrow and it will be tiring. I hope I carry on this writing once back to the daily chores at work and home. I also look forward to my trip to US which starts in a fortnight.

What a Day

I am at my hotel roon now at 10.30 PM after a great day, may be one of the most memorable days of my life. Its still day light outside. My host here Teppo picked me up from my hotel and we drove to his beach house on the Baltic sea some 30 kms from Turku. The house is located amongst some of the most scenic places you will see facing the sea. Turku is in the south west of Finland with Baltic sea on the west. Teppo has a weekend house here and its a great place to spend you weekend. It was cold and windy Temperature around 5 degrees during the day and Teppo suggested my jacket that I was wearing was not good enough for this place and he gave me a complete dress with trousers , jacket, cap, gloves etc. And then we rode on his Motor boat into the sea. What a fun. He let me drive his boat and it was thrilling. Here inside the deep sea I was driving a motor boat at 150 km per hr and what an experience. Its hard to describe. Such a great fun We went into an island and roamed around. Then we drove back to his home. He is into motorbiking also. And he has at this place a old 350 cc Dakota motorcycle he bought from the army. It has place to keep two machine guns. We drove it to the woods and he allowed me to drive it in the woods. It was such an adventure driving this motorcycle into the woods on tough terrains, real fun. We came home at around 3 pm where his wife had cooked a wonderful meal and with all the adventure I was really hungry and my plate was all clean. Teppo is very much into F1 races and so we again took the motorboat to another island to go to his fisherman friend who has a TV and saw the F1 race. Unfortunately within the first round Force Indias one car was out and saw Vijay Mallya looking shocked but his another car was 10th. One of the basic reasons for Teppos interest I believe might be because todays champion Kimi Raikkonen (I believe thats what its spelled) is from Finland driving a Ferrari and he won the race. Its always a proud moment when your countrys flag goes up on the podium. We drove back in the evening to Turku and am surprise to meet Rajesh rathore with whom I am going to have a meeting in Burlington, Canada in three weeks is also at Turku and we go out for dinner three of us in a boat in the river behind our hotel. Good Food and we have a great time. During the day I came in close contact with Teppo and I learnt couple of things from him todays which I will never forget. When we entered his house in the morning I asked him how safe it might be in this country as his motor boat or house remains un attended for weeks and nothing is lost - is he not worried about this. At our home we cant even think of locking the home for few hours and going out for a family dinner even though we have servants etc there. He replied he never falls in love with his materialistic things , its better to keep in cash then love your car or boat etc. If it goes insurance is there but these things are there to bring enjoyment not worries. So rightly said. Maybe we try this time all of us going to Purulia for my birthday locking the house for 4 days and enjoy being together away from the daily hassles of life when in your town. Another thing he said which I will remember forever was its not how you begin but how you end that counts. So right. I have already requested Teppo use of his property for a vacation in summer some time in the coming two years. Its a place to see and enjoy. No pollution, no noice and complete peace. From tomorrow again the routine meetings start. I will be in Finland for the next two days before I fly on tuesday to Germany - again a long journey - train from lahti to Helsinki and then flight to Frankfurt further flight to Stutgart. Stutgart will be my two nights stay again before I fly back home.