Eagles live

I heard Hotel California for the first time in the 1980s when my brother put that song on air as he hosted the All India Radio international music program "In the Groove."

Since then Ive been hearing it over and over again - in many different versions.

In 2000, I watched Don Henley live in Oakland, California and heard a different rendering of this song. That was as authentic as it could get - straight from a former Eagles member.

Little did I know I would get to see EAGLES play together again - live. On 20th June 2009, Mannheim, SAP Arena - I did.

They introduced themselves as "we are the Eagles - the band that refuses to die and belongs to the last century."

But they were as good. They played a good mix of old favourites and titles from their new album.

Munich Impressions 2: Dirndl & Lederhosen

I was made to understand that like most 'traditional' clothing, this too was scoffed at for being 'old-fashioned' and 'conservative.' So I didnt expect many people in this metropolitan city of Munich to be wearing them.

But I saw plenty of locals wearing them. They were not the ones creating photo opportunities for tourists & we were far away from Oktoberfest too. They were normal locals, going about doing their daily routine.

• young girls
• young women
• middle aged women
• old women
• normal dirndl
• dressy dirndl
• long dirndl
• short dirndl...they were everywhere.
• Men wearing long/short lederhosen
• with/without the classic white shirt and suspenders.

There were plenty of stores selling them too.

I thought they looked nice in them.

I always felt that India is one of the few countries where we still see majority of people (women more than men) wearing traditional clothes. Was refreshing to see that traditional clothing still had its place in Bavaria :)

I want to wear a Dirndl once!!!

Munich Impressions 1

We were there from 11th - 14th of June. We primarily visited Museums and tasted Bavarian beer - both of which seem to be important aspects of Munich :)

Deutsches Museum walked us through some really pre-historic stuff, to war planes and ships...

The Residenz opened my eyes to the very impressive, French 'rococo' style of art, interior design, furniture. Its richness and ornate designs were something I never expected to see in Europe. There was so much gold! Almost everything in the Residenz today is a careful remake of old artifacts. This is fascinating. The entire place was lost during the war - looking at it today, I cannot imagine that.

The swanky, hip, new BMW museum was fascinating too - in a different way. I still think the Mercedes Museum in Stuttgart is better. BUT!!!!!!! BMW museum beats it just because there is a whole section dedicated to the BMW design team, their philosophy, their works combined with some interesting audio clips. That made my trip to Munich WORTH everything!!!

We walked around many areas - Hofgarten, other parts of the Englisher Garten, sipped beer at the Chinese Turm...watched the nighlife in Leopold Strasse...hopped in and out of the metro a zillion times...walked...took pictures...walked more...

On our way back, we drove to Spitzensee - did a small hike - ate fresh strawberries, cream and ice cream by a wayside restaurant.

The question: would we like to live in Munich?
The answer for both of us was: 'yes, wouldnt mind it.'

So we both liked it better than Berlin. Why?

1. Found Munich more 'characteristic.'
2. Felt it being more 'compact' (its scale)
3. Encountered many friendly local people
4. More picturesque
5. Is more 'walking friendly' (again scale perhaps)

We liked it so much that within a day, we were back in Munich - on a working day - woke up at 4 am - drove to Munich - to have coffee and croissant!! ;) ;)

Admiration for railways

On the train
Originally uploaded by satya75

First, we drove onto a train to get through the closed Furka pass.
We sat inside our cars, as the train went through the long tunnel to transport us to the other side of the Gross Mutterhorn mountain.

Next, we took a train up to Gronergraat at 3000+ m above sea level to see the panoramic view of Matterhorn and the glaciers around it.

I have really come to admire railways after our trip to Switzerland

• It works during some really bad weather conditions
• It works at various altitudes
• It is so ecological compared to roads

Why didnt the Chinese think of considering a railroad to the Everest Base Camp instead of a motorable road? In such pristine environments??

Why doesnt Nepal consider building railroads to connect some of its remote villages?

Why doesnt India do it either? - we have a history of the largest rail network in the world. why not extend it? why not make it more attractive to consumers?

It would definitely provide employment too!!

Why do we have to build roads up the mountains - encourage road users to drive up - all that fuel emmissions and loss of precious habitats!! There are living, working examples around us. Why cant we learn from them?