How long is the tunnel?

During my childhood, we used to visit Ooty often for summer vacation.

I was fond of the toy train or the Nilgiri Mountain train. One striking feature of this trip from Metupalayam to Ooty was the number of tunnels that the train passes through.

As a child, Whenever the train enters a tunnel, I used to wonder, when the darkness will end, as I am not fond of the darkness.

Now, as an employee, I am awaiting for one such tunnel to end to see some light.

I hope I see it soon..

Trip to Black Forest

The Black Forest is a wooded mountain range in Baden-Württemberg, southwesternGermany. It is bordered by the Rhine valley to the west and south. The highest peak is the Feldberg with an elevation of 1,493 metres (4,898 ft). The region is almost rectangular with a length of 160 km (99 mi) and breadth of up to 60 km (37 mi). The name Schwarzwald(German for "Black Forest") derives from the Romans who referred to the thickly forested mountains there as Silva Nigra or Silva Carbonara because the dense growth of conifers in the forest blocked out most of the light inside the forest.

On May 16 2013, my family along with Douglas Anna Ganesh and co started our trip to the Black forests Germany. We decided to go by car and we rented a car from Airport (Brussels) and we planned to meet at 6 PM at the SIXT entrance.

As usual, I had some last minute works at office, and we arrived late :( making Ganesh and co wait.

We could get only Volkswagen golf  and not Audi as there was no stock and after some lengthy conversation with the Staff, we started at around 8PM. We were supposed to stay at a forest in Luxembourg. It was one of the most eventful drive in the forest at midnight as encountered Deer, Rabbit, porcupine playing right in the middle of the road.

Finally we reached hotel at around 1 AM and we slept in our respective rooms.

The next day we started at around 10 AM and we drove patiently all the way. Thanks to Padma, we had rice and sambar mix at our disposal for lunch :-) On the way, we stopped at LIDL to buy curd.

After a drive of almost 7 hours, we reached Triberg. We checked in and went to the lake and came back to rest.

The place was one of the most silent and greenish place I have ever seen. No wonder, many duets in Indian cinema have been shot here.. 

Ganesh was kind enough to give us the VIP Suite in the hotel. The room's backdoor was facing a beautiful view of the lush green grass field outside...

May 18 - 

We started early to the Triberg waterfall. we climbed 2 steeps. Arthi was showing enormous excitement for this climb.. not sure why :-)

After that, we went to house of 1000 clocks,we bought 3 clocks as a remembrance. We went to the place where Black forest cakes were famous. I must say, it was superb.

We then started back to the Lake Constance. The drive was one of the most awesome drives that I had in Central Europe. We clocked 220 kmph in our  Volkswagen Golf. 

We reached the place at around 4 PM and we started to board the boat straightaway. We visited one island which was awesome.

After spending some quality time, we boarded the car and started our long drive back to Triberg.

During the night, we were playing cards and pulled each other's legs with timing jokes :-)

May 19 - 

Our final day of the trip. Arthi was having tears as we were leaving.

We started slowly. I offered the car to Ganesh, who began his aeroplane drive ;-)
We first went to Freiburg, one of the oldest civilisations in German and to our surprise, it was not really that old as the buildings were all renovated :-)

We started back to Triberg to see the house of Cuckoo. Ganesh was driving like a F1 racer ;-)

Cuckoo house was not something to be excited about, but we took some good snaps and started our leave.

After a drive of alsmot 7.5 hours, Ganesh handed over the car to me at Luxembourg.

We reached Brussels at around 10 PM bearing in mind that the next day was a holiday.

This will be rated as the trip to remember for its driving and the sheer scenic beauty of German.

Special and Sincere thanks to Ganesh and Padma for their awesome Mixed rice varieties and cooking rice for all.

Hoping to be back there soon!!

2014 - a new beginning

Wish you all a very happy new year. As I step on to one of the most exciting new year of my life, I wish to look back at the past year.

Not much was achieved in terms of work ;-) (who cares if you are enjoying your work day in and day out).
It was an eventful year for me. I cleared my Belgian Driver's License practicals and held the license proudly.
At the same time, my stay was shortened, though the reverse could happen anytime soon...

Personally, I received a promotion as a proud dad. It was one of those unforgettable moments of my life, holding the little one on your hand and receiving smiles from it :-) We waited with excitement and prayers for 9 odd months for these moments. I should be thanking all my elders, friends and well wishers (in no particular order) for their prayers, wishes and blessings.

Overall, it was a profitable year for me personally.

Looking forward to 2014 with hope and confidence.

May God bless us all.