Day6 - Broccoli and Sirocco..!!

Yet another lovely morning at Isle'd Abeau. My mind still is battling wildly as I can't decide the itinerary for the following Saturday. Some new things I've managed to observe/learn during this Euro trip ::

1. The usage of fork and knife. Mostly eat with the fork.

2. Hardly any use of the spoon.

3. Eat as silently as possible, without the noise from the porcelain plate and without water !!

4. Pedestrians have the right of way, followed by bicyclists when crossing streets. 

5. A coffee here is most likely going to get you a decaf or an espresso.

6. Almost any person you come face to face there's almost always a head nod with "Bon Jour".

Last night during a stroll, Dave and Dennis went ahead by a few metres I waited till the car would go by but the driver gestured that I could cross the road. A smile and a wave at this discipline. It certainly is something worth a mention as I can't see this happening back home !!! 

A breakfast routine follow this morning with a couple of pancakes, a tiny bottle of honey and a few slices of cheese. I headed out for a stroll and stood gazing at the horizon with the sun rising on the French motorway D1006. I can't help but mention again about the traffic and the disciplined driving. 

Timezone differences apart, the daily life seems to be on a 'pre-pone' mode. The breakfast time's between 6-8am and lunch at 12:30pm. Things seem to come by a lot earlier than normal. The menu for lunch looks like -- fried rice which resembled peas pulao, fanta, a rice+milk concoction with fruits for dessert and some boiled broccoli and carrots with some sprouts. The menu for non-veg looked quite enticing (just because I could see they were made of spice and some yummy looking gravy). Quite heavy that I skip dinner tonight.

The break of dawn on D1006.

Being a cyclist myself couldn't help but capture this ride.

Alfa Romeo makes some of the Beautiful cars and here's an example of one. Still waiting to capture a Brera.

Oh yeah here's the VW Sirocco :-). A beauty from the VW stables.

Day4 - Trip report !!

The Second day to work -- Had set the clock to wake me up at 6 and it did its duty unlike I. Ended up extending the sleep  for 2 more hours till I realized that I hardly had time to even look at the restaurant for breakfast. Finished morning chores in 15 mins which reminded me of the song "Jame Raho" from the movie Taare Zameen Par. Reached office on time. New campus, new country, change in cuisine and bone chilling temperature. Work at new office, the welcome change in climate and food kept the mind bysy. By noon I already was fancying my chances of a visit to decathlon which is about 10 kms from Isle'd Abeau in a small town of Bourgoin Jallieu. A new friend added to the arsenal from Liverpool UK (David Malone). A very nice and well spoken gentleman. We thought of visiting decathlon together as David was driving a rental car and he would look for fishing related stuff and I'd opt for cycling accessories.

The visit had to be postponed for the next day as we saw a long line of cars towards the horizon on the highway D1008. So we bid farewell. David stayed at the Hotel Mercure in Bron as the rooms in Mercure at Isle'd Abeau were full.  So it was back to Dennis Hilverts from Netherlands to decide which way to head for dinner. We decided to take a taxi to a supermarket nearby which google indicated as a hotspot for restaurants. A visit only revealed a couple of kabab joints and a pizza corner. As there was a supermarket I ended up buying a good load of chocolates and some snacks to go with the MTR ready to eat packs that I'd brought along to keep me tummy happy whenever there was an emergency :-). 

No Euro-food tonight but time to relish the Masala Rice from MTR. Here's the combo :-)

 

   Dennis just outside the Supermarket as we await the taxi back to the hotel Mercure.

Dennis managed to call the reception to request a cab and here's what arrived, a Peugeot 607 and it was a comfortable cab but the fare almost doubles after 7 in the evening.

20 Euro's for about 4kms..!! No more taxi's for the rest of the stay here. Better to take the bicycle out  :-)

I eagerly await the dawn of 25th to enjoy the incidents, adventures and meeting new people that make life beautiful and meaningful !!!

France- A-travel-back-in-time....!!!

This was quite an stir on my brain. Travelling at ~800kphAltitude of 32000ft dark skies, flying over countries, states and territories that I;d only have imagined this was an offer too good to be true. Anyway, the company i work for has arranged a weeklong training in Lyon and today... err.. yesterday.. err.. Damn.. what day is it I wonder.


The usual bout of excitement follow as I finished the last minute formalities by 18th. All prepped, packaged and ready to fly on 21st early morning from Bangalore.  There isn't a direct flight but a connecting flight from Paris to Lyon. Hired a cab till Bangalore International airport and my brother agreed to give me company. Reached 4 hours early which gave enought time for the check in and keep all the documents in place to go through immigration without hassles. Gate no 15 and after 2 hours the wait seemed looong..!!! The last 45 mins were the ones that made me dizzy. Lot of folks travelling to Paris. The boarding process started 10 mins early starting with elite, business class and then the boarding by row numbers and mine turned out to be in the first batch :-) Yippeee...!!! 
Once on the flight the wait for the take off began which was another 45 mins away. That to me is the best part in travel by flight. The sheer power of the engines to launch the heavy bird to the skies.   Some pics follow ::

 

Once I checked in to Hotel Mecure at 12:30pm, settled down for a while and did the usual, FB status update :-). After about an hour headed to the restaurant for lunch and had the only vegetarian item on the menu. Rice with salad and a couple of variety of cheese. Started with soup (Actually crayfish soup minus crayfish) and some delicious  and a strange variety of bread (similar to crossiant but harder and much more like soya). Also went out for a stroll to check out where the company premises were and to my surprise right in the backyard beyond the highway. Time to call it a day as I need to get some much needed sleep. Lets see how it pans out for the rest of the week. :-) Hope to log some miles on the bicycle too.