Crazy Marathoners (Chicago, 10-10-10 )

(Picture taken by Kamil Iskra)

More pics from Karwar

Good collection of pictures of Karwar by Madhukeshwar at: http://pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/madhukeshwart/album?.dir=64bf

Micro-Trek at Muttatti

Saturday the 21st of January 2006, we (1st photograph from left to right: Chitra, Rekha, Neha, Lokesh, Chandan, Gururaj/Gunda, Swetha) left for a trek at Mutatti a nice place little beyond Kanakapura. The journey was about 3.5 hours and we reached the place at around 12 in the afternoon. After getting down from the vehicle we straight away headed to the river. We had to cross this one inorder to begin our trek. We took the coracle to get to the other side of the river. After we reached the other side of that really shallow river we straight away headed for the tiniest peak there to begin our 'adventure'. The trek time (which included the rest time people insisted on taking ) one way was about 35 minutes :-). We stopped at the peak for about 1o minutes or so and on realizing that reaching the summit didn't mean much to most of the people, we began our descent from the other side of the hill. We initially tried to follow the sound of the water mistaking it to be a small version of a waterfall. Only after we finished climbing down the hill we realized that there was no such thing. It was only water hitting the rocks. The river bed was actually just rocks. We were all sitting on the tiny rocks in the river and I had been thinking about descending into the water and I happened to slip and fall into the water. That was the 2nd time that I slipped and fell into the water that day. I spent some time in the water like a Hippo and one by one everyone decided to do the same, the guys I mean. After I thought I had enough and had slipped and fallen into the water for the 5th time barely missing my face (hitting the rocks) on a couple of occasions and hurting my left foot badly, I came out :).

After this we had lunch and left the place at 1630 hrs.

The Paris Itinerary

Saturday the 27th. We reached Gallieni, the main bus stop towards the east end of Paris. First thing wee needed to do was, buy the metro pass valid for two days and then go to the hotel near Gare du Nord(the main railway station) and check in.

Basilica of the Sacré Cœur, Montmartre
The first place we visited was the Sacred Heart church on Montmartre hill. After reaching there we did not take the funicular railway that takes one uphill but decided to walk all the way since it was only morning and we were all beaming with energy.
The church is built in the 'Romano-Byzantine' architectural style. This place is associated with the beheading of Saint Denis who after his beheading is believed to have picked up his head and walked to the place is now called by his name. Paintings of this incident can be found in the Musée de Montmartre - a museum, which has paintings of several artists, very close to the church. The name 'Montmartre' means 'Mount of the Martyrs' which signifies the martydom of Saint Denis and his companions. Later the place was visited by many other saints including Saint Joan of Arc. The view of Paris from the Montmartre hill is amazing.


Palais Garnier (Paris Opera)
The Palais Garnier is a thirteen century theatre and regarded as one of the architectural masterpieces of its time. It is named after its architect Charles Garnier.
(Left : The entrance, Right : Ceilings)


Arc de Triomphe

Our third visit was to the Arc de Triomphe(left).
It lies in the west end of the inner Paris north of river Seine.
This 50 meters high arch is the second largest triumphal arch in the world. It was built in 1806 by Napolean Bonaparte. It is believed to be built in Neoclassical version of the ancient Roman architecture. There is a tomb of the unknown soldier(right).
From the top, one can get a beautiful a beautiful view of the city as thirteen roads lead to this arch. I did not go to the top but have seen phptographs of this in numerous tourist guides. For the pedestrians there is a subway however from the Metro station Charles-de-Gaulle. Ended the first day's adventure with a visit to the Tour Eiffel.









The next day was reserved for the Louvre. I probably would not say anything about it at all. That is a picture of me at the grand entrance of the World's largest museum.

Postcards from Heidelberg

I woke up late Sunday morning since I left from Munich and reached Mannheim late on Saturday night. The trip to Heidelberg was due on Sunday. Although Heidelberg is just 16 min by train from Mannheim, I reached Heidelberg only at around 12:30. The first thing that I needed to do was to go to the tourist information desk and get a map of Heidelberg. The map had information about a walking tour of the old city region. It was marked with 45 different places in the old city. But before that I had to make a visit to the Castle at Heidelberg.

The Heidelberg Castle
The Castle of Heidelberg is one of the most famous ruins in Germany. It was built during the 15th century. The first building was built during the time of by Prince Elector Ruprecht III. After that the castle underwent many modifications and additions as newer Prince Electors came to power.
One of the most noticeable things is that the entire castle is built in two different styles. The northern and the eastern parts comprise of the newer Renaissance buildings built around the 16th century. The southern and the western ends are comprised of the older buildings built in the Gothic style of architecture.
Information for tourist : From the Hauptbahnhof (German for the main railway station) take the bus to Bergbahn. At Bergbahn buy a ticket to the castle for €2. On reaching the Castle you will have to buy an entry ticket for €3. The guided tours are available in English, German & Japanese. A guided tour in English will cost you €3.5.

Walking tour of the old city
The Walking tour of the Heidelberg old city starts from the Universitaet Platz(University square) which is a 20 minutes walk from the castle down the hill. There are a few places of interest, at the University square, like the old & the new University buildings, the University library, Jesuit college etc. A walk on Hauptstrasse (main road) from the University square will bring you to the Marktplatz (Market square). This is a very busy place even on sundays due to the presence of many restaurants. The Church of the Holy Ghost, the Hercules fountain and the City hall can be found here.

There are a lot of other interesting places that I was not able to visit since I had to take the 19:30 train back to Mannheim. But I am definitely going to come back. This is possible since Heidelberg falls midway between Rot-Malsch(where my office is) and Mannheim(where my hotel is).

More photographs : http://www.harishgnaik.net/photos/heidelberg-21.08.05/

Visit to Munich

Saturday the 20th of August. The only thing right about that day was the fact that I chose to visit Munich. Well actually it was not that bad in the sense that I saw the most important thing to be seen at Munich - The Deutsche Museum, the largest technological museum in the world.

The Deutsche Museum

• First thing you get to see as you enter the main hall is the Marine Navigation section. There you'll find ships with sails. A quarter of the hull, of the biggest ship there, has been cut open for us to see what it is like inside. If you climb down the stairs(of the hall not the ship) you will find a number of marine navigation equipments - propellers, anchors, a whole section showing generations of compasses. There is also a lateral section of a U-boat.
• I went to the Aeronautics section next. This is divided into 2 parts - Historical & Modern. There are a few old aircrafts and a few new ones(full size). Many aircraft engines are also on display.
• After this I went to the Astronautics section. At the entrance there is a demo setup of a hydrogen rocket. A few people tried their hands at it. It shot up with a big sound. There was also a rocket engine and a few dummy models of the Columbia and other US space shuttles and other man made satellites.
• The section that interested me the most was the section on Microscopes. A collection of microscopes from the earliest times to the latest electron and optical microscopes.
• The diesel engine section had one engine designed by Rudolph Diesel himself.
• The power machinery section was very good as well with huge big power generation equipments of the olden and modern times.
• There was one entire section on Albert Einstein with descriptions relating to the Special & General theories of relativity, measurement of the speed of light, Michaelson-Morley experiment for proving the absence of ether etc.
  
• There were other sections like the hydraulics, textile engineering, printing technology, musical instruments etc. Which I was was unfortunately unable to visit as there wasn't much time. I already had spent half a day at the museum.
  

The Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial Site
This place is mind blowing. I reached late at around 16:15 and it closes at 17:00. I still had time to do a quick run around the entire site. Since I was late there was no guide available. But they have a system of a self guided tour in which you are given a map and a large telephone like equipment. The map has numbers denoting important locations in the camp area. When you reach a particular place you look up the number for that place and dial that number on the instrument. A description of the importance of that place is then given. They have also maintained a museum and with photographs of the prisoners, the responsible officers at that time, doctors who administered gas into the gas chambers, secret letters, recorded experiences etc. I gives a different feeling when you are actually there, standing and imagining about the horrific events that happened many years ago at the place right under your feet.

The sadest part about both these visits was that I went alone and there was nobody to take my pictures. I have shot videos of both the places though.

Lots of information here :
http://www.muenchen.de/home/60093/Homepage.html
http://www.munich-insider.com/en/

Arrival at Mannheim

I reached Mannheim on Sunday. Since my direct flight to Frankfurt could not be confirmed, I was routed via Dubai (Dubai airport was almost like India with all the airport officials being desis). That meant 17 hrs of travel instead of 9. I reached Frankfurt 13:45 local time.
We reached Mannheim at about 1500 hrs to a Hotel called Tulip Inn. This place is like a tiny India in Mannheim with mostly SAP employees. As soon as we got here the first thing I had to do was to get a Pass. I must admit that the public transport system here is awesome. The train timings are like 7:29, 7:59, 18:37 and so on. The pass that you buy is valid for buses, trams and trains. The region is divided into zones and you can travel any where within the zones using either the trains, trams or the buses.
The roads are nice. Not very big but sufficient enough for the traffic here. On every street you happen to see rows of Mercedez, BMWs, Wolkswagon, Opels etc. parked.
You can navigate to any end of the city with a Map and the pass.
One more thing is that there is daylight here till about 2130 hrs.
TV programs are all boring. They have some really stupid soaps on TV. Most of them are English movies or serials dubbed in German.