Reflections Part III

These past few months have been in many ways complete opposite of last summer. I can say in all honestly, this has been one of the best times of my life. Good food, good friends, and fantastic culture. This experience forced me to take a step back, and reconnect with the things that are most important to me in life. Writing, culture, philosophy, depth; things that provide pure joy. Once back in Chicago, I will remember, life is not always on the go…take time..make time…for whatever is important. I know it sounds stupid and obvious, but it is still unfortunate that most of us don’t focus on these things.

Last Days in Paris

Last day in Paris is bittersweet. Fully immersed in French culture, I feel like a different person; evoking more of my spiritual and philosophical side and my thirst for new adventures and experiences. I spend the day wandering around Montmartre (once a Roman killing ground, hence the name), but now it is a haven for artists. I absolutely adore the winding and hilly streets that lead up to the basilica, Sacre Coeur. Some of the cool places around here are Van Gogh and Picasso’s former residences, and the cabaret that Picasso used to frequent. Each arrondisment (area) in Paris has its own aura, making wandering all the more fun. Au revoir, Paris, we’ll meet again one day.

Sky Dive Dubai

Looks like I’m back in Dubai, and it hasn’t even been a year. The starts were perfectly aligned for me on this visit; my friend from NJ is here on business, the exact same dates as me. This couldn’t be better timing, my friends attend a business conference during the days (while I lounge and go shopping) and then we party up at night. The weather here in March is the complete opposite of the summer; it is sunny, warm, and breezy, with very little humidity. On Thursday we hit up Republique, I had heard good things about it, but the music was perfect. I can’t remember the last time I’ve been to a club where I like every song that is played.

Other than to visit friends, I came to Dubai to go sky diving. With the sickest drop zone I’ve ever seen, I knew this would be the perfect place to do something crazy before graduation. I felt like I was signing my life away, initialing all the disclaimers on the agreement. After the first 2 pages, I just stopped reading and thought; If I’m going to die doing this, well, what a way to go! Surprisingly, I wasn’t too scared while I was waiting, just had more of a nervous energy. I realized, sometimes you can’t think too much about things and you just have to do it. Once in the plane, I was preoccupied looking out of the window at the amazing views of the Palm Jumeriah, The World, the rest of Dubai, and the water. The last thing I saw before the jump was The World; pretty ironic isn’t it. It isn’t so scary since you as strapped to your jumpmaster and you really don’t have to do anything at all. I honestly think bungee jumping is much scarier. So we jump at 13,000 feet, free fall 8,000 feet in 45 seconds, and then parachute down starting at 5,000 feet. The views of Dubai were just phenomenal, especially when you are falling into it. The Palm and the World can be clearly seen, and seeing the span of the Dubai skyline, you notice the Burj Khalifa glittering into the clouds with large empty space between the marina and downtown. Falling into the foaming green water is especially beautiful against the hazy yellow desert. This is the best way to see Dubai from above.

I built the nerve to face my fear of heights in NZ 2 years ago, but didn’t have time to go sky diving..I guess I’m glad I waited to do it here. I wonder what I’ll do next..base jumping? Rock climbing? Deep sea diving? Stay tuned…

My last night, we spend at Castello’s my favorite sheesha spot in Dubai. The paan rasna and mint sheesha is just divine. You don’t even feel the smoke, but just the essence of paan and minty goodness that freshens yours throat and lungs. Dubai is much more fun when you are here just for a visit, without the thoughts of having to live here. Now I’m off the Paris to say my final goodbyes before heading home.

The 1% : Zurich, Switzerland

How does it feel to live like the top 1%? asks a friend of mine. That’s right, Zurich, where some of the richest in the world live, and also where everything is disgustingly expensive. $8 for a drink (coffee, soda, whatever), and most meals cost around 50 euros. The taxes in Switzerland are rather low, and perhaps offset by the ridiculous traffic violation fines. A Kellogg friend met me there, so a temporary break from solo wandering. We started the first day by just strolling around Zurich (it’s not that big), the lake, downtown and old town area. It’s nice to aimlessly walk through the cobblestone pedestrian streets, wondering what you will see around the corner. There was a nice panoramic bar which served champagne cocktails (something an INSEAD friend said I had to try), which turned out to be a great way to spend the afternoon. As it was a gorgeous day, we grabbed a case of beers (the specific brand was once part of my friend’s extended family business) and enjoyed the sun. It is just an amazing to see the water, and mountains far in the background. Watching the sunset, the mountains look unreal, just like a painting. We meet one of my dad’s friends for dinner who lives here for some classic Swiss fondue. I always joke around that I am my dad’s ambassador, getting to visit all his friends around the world, as he rarely does. Zurich is a nice break in between hard core sight-seeing in Vienna and my next stop, Dubai.

Music in Vienna

In Vienna, the birthplace of classical music, if you don’t really have a particular interest in music, you definitely will once you leave. It is so refreshing to be in this city, as it is a more spacious version of Paris. The streets are much wider, filled with tons of Baroque architecture, which has been preserved very well.  I stayed with a friend of my dad’s who works at the UN. I got a nice tour of UNO-City and even saw the Nobel Peace Prize that his group, the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) received in 2005. I don’t consider myself to be musically inclined, but the Haus der Musik is an exhilarating experience in sound. There is a perception lab which explains the different dimensions of sound and how what you hear is altered based on various factors including an internal volume we have different types of sounds. Cool stuff!  Another floor showcased the most famous composers of Vienna (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven etc). 

Musikverein is a remarkable music hall built in 1870 (with heavy Greek influence) is the best place in the world for an orchestra to play. The design allows for maximum deflection of sound from the many hollow wooden objects so that mics are not needed and you just hear pure acoustic sound. Though, just looking at the Golden Hall, you wouldn’t quickly see all the wood. With 2000 seats, a seat for the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s performance goes for nearly 1,000 euros, if you are lucky enough to win the lottery for tickets that is. I was lucky enough to get tickets to see another orchestra; I must say, half of the experience lies in just sitting in this magnificent hall.  

And for a little taste of Austrian history, I visited the Hofburg and Shonbrunn palaces, the former residences of the Habsburg dynasty that rule the Austro-Hungarian Empire for nearly 6 centuries. I was keenly mesmerized by the story of Empress Elizabeth; a royal who did not have an interested in her royal duties but rather wanted her freedom. Through the palace, you learn about her strange daily routine.  She was not well liked in her depressive life, yet was revered after her assassination by an Italian anarchist. For art, the Belvedere museum is one of the best; housing one piece called The Philharmonic by Max Oppenheimer. This fiery painting portrays an intense conductor and it’s as though you can see the sensation of sound through this piece. All in all Vienna was astounding, I leave wishing I had a few more days and wondering how my life would have turned out if I grew up here, surrounded by classical music, culture and arts.

Where’s the Easy Button? : Stockholm

Everything seems to be too easy and efficient in Stockholm, I don’t think I can handle it. Especially after living in France, where to me personally, it seems as though they find the hardest and oddest way to do things which takes an 5 extra steps, or just make no sense at all. As a friend mentioned Europe developed their highway system after the US, yet they still changed many things to make it so f’in difficult.  Anyway, I am greeted by tall, beautiful women with a smile everywhere in the airport. And they speak English with no hesitation. I guess this will ease me into the shock of going back to the service focused US.

I walk around the first day and head to Gamla Stan, the old part of town. Home to Alfred Nobel the founder of dynamite and the source of the Nobel Prizes, Stockholm is a set of isles with gorgeous waters and canals that flow in between. I took a bus tour around the various parts of the city, but was in and out of sleep during most of it, so unfortunately I won’t have much to add here on the history. All I remember is something about a blood bath in the 1500’s, witch hunts, the plague, and the 3 crowns being the symbol of the country. However, I got the chance to visit the Vasa Museum the next day, it has the sunken Vasa ship excavated after being under water for 333 years. It set sail in 1628 for all but 20 minutes until it sank since it was too top heavy and narrow. It was pretty cool to see the remnants from the ship and imagine daily life in those times. The Nordic Museum also had interesting tidbits on Swedish history, and striking exposition on fashion through three centuries explaining fashion as a way for people to fulfill the need to feel together and the desire to be different at the same time. One thing to mention, in Swedish,  hej(pronounced hey) is the word for hello. And typically in the US, hey is more of an informal greeting used between friends, thus I find it very strange when everyone says hej! to you here. I have been forewarned, the all the women in Sweden look like models, I guess I should look at the men as my friend didn’t have time to look at them as he was busy admiring the beautiful women. Based on my amateur research methods, I can confidently say that the women are much hotter than men here (statistically speaking, with 95% confidence).  Looking forward to going to Vienna tomorrow, especially for the warmer weather.

The Missing Link between Chocolate, Beer, Comics, Waffles, Mussels and Lace

This is one strange combination of things to be famous for. The journey to Brussels was rather simple; it took less time to get here (1 hour and 20 minutes) than my journey from home to school, to the train station, to Paris. I spend the day walking around as Philip, the owner of the bed and breakfast has given me an entire itinerary of how I should conquer Brussels. The first thing I notice is that I see comics decorating random building walls everywhere. Little did I realize that this city is the Comics capital of Europe, home to many famous comic strips such as Tintin and the Smurfs.  It is interesting to see carts on the streets selling moule frites – aka mussels and fries. Beligum is landlocked; I wonder how they got famous for having mussels. I wander around and take an elevator to the high section of the city, and see the Palais de Justice. Near the Place Royal, I end up checking out the Bellevue Museum, as I knew next to nothing about Belgian history. 

The vibe in this city is pretty cool. All I see is chocolatiers and art galleries everywhere. I stroll through random stores, buying chocolates for friends; even from the most famous, and apparently the best chocolate in Belgium being Pierre Marcolini. I buy one piece of dark chocolate filled with raspberry from Neuhaus. I don’t even like chocolate and this thing tastes amazing. It has a dark chocolate outer coating, with a layer of caramelized sugar as the next layer, filled with raspberry goo; delicious!  I’m excited to finally have a chance to wander around alone in a city. I see signs for Jacques Brel and follow them to see that there is exposition for him. I had heard about him from a French friend a while back, he is a famous Belgian singer, one of his best songs being “Ne me quitte pas”.  I stumble upon the Manneken Pis, which is a famous statue of a young boy peeing. I knew I had found it as there were dozens of tourists in front of it. There are many legends behind the statue, one being that he peed on a fire in order to save the city. 

Many folks have told me to watch the movie In Bruges before visiting the city, but alas I haven’t had the time. Perhaps that is why I am stuck in the hotel while it is snowing; I guess I’ll have to save Bruges for another time.

Goodbye Fontainebleau

I leave France with a heavy heart. This is been one of the best times of my life. Living in rural France, attending school, traveling around every weekend. Though many things were strange to me, as I am accustomed to everything being done quickly and efficiently, in France I am convinced that they find the hardest way to do anything. But alas, after some time, you get kind of used to it and like it. From round abouts every 100 meters, to waiters who just don’t want you to leave restaurants (I assume table utilization is not a top concern for restaurateurs here), I will miss it all! I gaze at Chateau Montmelian through the side view mirror and see it disappear into the trees. Maybe I’ll be back one day… My fairytale life over the past two months with glimpse into Beauty & the Beast, Harry Potter, the Secret Garden, Narnia, and Rapunzel has now come to an end. But it is not all sadness; I have a few weeks of adventures around Europe to look forward to before heading home.

Pass the Dom P

I’ve been waiting for this day for a long time, and here it is. It is nearly the end of my stay in France, and we have a day trip planned to the Champagne region. Most of the champagne houses don’t open until later in March, but luckily I was able to set up a few visits. On the itinerary for today – Moet & Chandon, Alfred Gratien, and Pommery. The first stop is in Epernay, only about a 2 hour drive from Fonty. It is nice to see the different villages in France. We pass through long fields, vines, then villages. The fields almost look lime green; perhaps it is a sharp contrast to the dreary sky and barren trees. Moet & Chandon is located on Avenue de Champagne in Eperney, equivalent to the 5^th avenue for champagne houses. All of the houses have golden writings on the wall with their names and symbols. 

Moet has 80 miles of cellars underground; as we walk into one of them stretching 18km, it is a weird feeling to be in cold and humid setting. The walls are moist, yet the air is cold. They use 3 types of grapes, 1 with white skin, and 2 with dark skin and mix the 3 for a consistent taste. It is outlawed in this region to use machines to pick the grapes, thus it must be hand-picked. The basic process is to first make wine, and then add yeast and sugar in the bottle to follow for a second fermentation. The yeast is then freeze dried and removed after the bubbles are created. Even put back some of the wine from the original fermentation to get the right sweetness. Moet and Napoleon go way back, thus they named their traditional champagne the Imperial, in honor of Napoleon. Dom P himself founded the grapes, thus the bottle is named after him. This and the vintage champagnes are only made in years with the best grapes. Thus, if there aren’t any good grapes, then it won’t be made. We decide to splurge at split a bottle of Dom P at dinner among the 6 of us…as I thought –when in Champagne..

Alfred Gratien is a smaller house that produces about 250,000 bottles per year, a self-imposed production limit. They focus on handmade champagne through all the steps, picking each grape to turning each bottle during fermentation. They differ from the big houses as they do not grow their own grapes and use oak barrels to store the champagne (most houses now use steel cases).  The highlight of this tour was to see the champagne assembly line- watching workers uncork the bottles, add back wine, and record them. Many of the houses keep old bottles of champagne – when asked why (since bottles will usually lose their bubbles after an extended time), we were told that the lords used to enjoy saving and comparing their vintage collection.

The last stop of the day was Vraken Pommery, a house that was run by a woman, Madame Pommery. She blended the art of champagne making with art itself, housing many art pieces within the quarries and cellars. There is even one piece that plays the sounds that you would hear if you were inside a glass of champagne. It is said that Madame Pommery invented Brut champagne by adding less sugar; 95% of all champagne sold in the world is Brut. 

Lucky for us, all 3 visits were very different, Moet the behemoth and star of champagne, Alfred Gratien a smaller house, and Pommery known to infuse art and bubbly. We end the night at Bistrot du Broc, the best restaurant near Fonty with our bottle of Dom P. Seven glasses of bubbly for the day, I am one happy camper.  

The Enchanted Castle in Portugal

Portugal is officially my favorite country in Europe, next to France of course. It is nice to go to a place with warm weather, in the high 50’s to low 60’s. Our first night we check out Lisbon’s bar scene at Barrio Alto, a hip part of town that houses the nightlife. We go from bar to bar, sampling various versions of the Caipirinha, a Portugese drink, and listening to their music. This is probably the most chilled out bar scenes I have ever been to, people just hanging out on the streets and in the bars, wandering along.

The next day we hire a car, squeeze 6 people into an Audi and make our way to nearby cities, one being Sintra, highly recommended by friends.  Driving through the winding roads lined with stone walls, we stumble upon Quinta da Regeleira, an old enchanted castle and gardens. This site embodies the romantic and cultural landscape of the city, filled with promenades, underground walkways, caves, towers, fountains and wells. I instantly fall in love with this mythical playground that evokes themes of heaven and hell, akin to Dante’s Inferno. Behind the magical castle, lies the terrace of the Gods, a pathway filled with sculptures. Depending on which path you choose, there are numerous mystic surprises ahead. Seeing a pond filled with ducks, there lays the entrance to an underground cave. We enter, using the light from our cell phones to guide us through. You literally cannot see anything inside, other than water through random openings in the cave. Exploring through, we take a flight of stairs and end up above the pond. The entire garden is sprinkled with such caves, connected underground. I get flashes of the movie, The Descent, about a group of women who get eaten by monsters as they explore caves. 

Making our way to the next level of the gardens, I feel as though we are on the quest for paradise, encountering mysterious abodes along the way. The walls that follow the winding paths are covered in vines and hanging trees. I feel like I am in a fantasy land, waiting to cross paths with a unicorn, a leprechaun or heck even an oompa loompa. Still trying to figure out what fairy tale to place this site in, the closest I can think of is Rapunzel. My friend climbs up one of the towers and looks out of the window, reminding me of the fairytale and I tell her to let down her long hair. Near the top, you can see the famous castle of Sintra in the hills. Making our way down, we check out the castle. One particular room is notable; I like to call it the Library of Illusions, as there is a mirror encircling the edges of the floor, making it feel like you are standing on a thin platform with books extending to the below floors. If this makes no sense, check it out for yourself. This is one of the most amazing sites I have seen, right after Petra in Jordan. In other words, if you are looking for romance, magic, and enchantment, Sintra is the place to go! 

We drive through the forests of Sintra, and along the coast, in search for the western most point of Portugal at Cabo da Roca. The forests are filled with eucalyptus trees and when you do get a glimpse of the water when there is a shortage of trees, it looks as though the sky and the ocean are one. Driving up and down the winding hills makes it feel like a joy ride, though more fun for the driver than those of us stuck in the back seat (it feels much more like a rollercoaster). At Cabo da Roca, the water is light green and blue as it splashes along the cliffs; I definitely want to go back in the summer time and learn to surf (as Portugal is a surfer’s haven).  Next was the city of Cascais, which also lines the coast of Portugal. I like to call it the lost city, the city that can’t be found. We drive from city to city in the region, wondering why it is so elusive and difficult for us to find it. That is an adventure in itself, searching for the place (maybe we just had a really bad GPS). After a nice dinner, we walk along the harbor, admiring this picturesque little town.

The last day we spend exploring Lisbon, finding a monument that is dedicated to the discovery of the seas and tasting the one of the best known pastries, the Pateis de Belem, an egg custard in a flaky shell. The store makes roughly 15,000 a day in order to meet the demand for these sweet treats.  Looks like I will have to come to Portugal again as my time here was not enough to indulge in the wonders of Sintra.

Chamonix Mont Blanc : The French Alps

I succumbed to peer pressure, or perhaps effective negotiations from a Kellogg friend who persuaded me to come to Chamonix. How could I live in France in the winter and not go to their most famous ski resort (akin to Aspen in the states).  Just a 5 hour drive from Fontainebleau, we head to the Frenc h Alps with some of the INSEAD folks that we call the Korean mafia (dubbed so as we saw them huddled together for some time while planning Korea week at school). 

Every place I’ve been to in France reminds me of some fairy tale or other. Best guess for Chamonix is Narnia. Walking around the mountains and snow lined streets; I wouldn’t be surprised if some mysterious woman with Turkish delights tries to lure me away. Some of us decided not to ski, and just hang around Chamonix for the day. There is a gondola that you can take to Aiguille du Midi at 12,602 ft to see Mont Blanc and other mountains that are in Italy. My lungs are rejuvenated from the fresh mountain air. We stop a drink in the afternoon, deciding to indulge in molleaux au chocolat and mimosas. In my mission to find the best molleaux in France, this one is quite good. Although, it does not compare to the one in Bistrot du Broc in Bourron-Marlotte.  In my desire to make a mimosa, I pour the OJ into the champagne flute. Bad idea. I stumble upon a science experiment as the drink explodes and flows out of the glass like a volcanic eruption for a good 10 seconds. However, if you pour champagne into OJ, there is no problem. Good to know for future reference. 

On the drive back, it is during the daytime so we can get a nice view on the mountains and scenery. As we get slightly lost, we enter Switzerland for all of 10 minutes; I wonder if I can now add this to my country list. All in all, a fantastic weekend in the mountains.