HBD Sumana

Many happy returns

An Unusual Game of Musical Chairs

The music blared. The three people went round and round. One was relegated and two were left. The music has stopped----------------- and nobody is sitting down in the one chair!
Who is the winner? Who is the CM and which is the ruling party of Delhi?

What do you think should happen?

HBD RAMAMOHAN AND BHARGAVI

Many Happy returns of The Day.

Fried rice prepared by me

cell phone

 అను దిన  సంతాపంబులు
జనిత శ్రమ తాప దుఃఖ సంవర్ధకముల్
సెల్లులో  సంభాషణములు
మనుజులకున్  కర్ణయుగళ వ్రణ కారకముల్

every day woes
developers of  sorrow and tiredness that arise from the hard work
the cellphone conversations
cancerous to the ears of humans

1.a lot of beauty is lost in translation
2.with apologies to hiranyakasipa in bhagavatham (pothana)

Baking away for the holiday party!

Extensive dessert buffet planned for this Saturday's party, so baking away!!! Drool worthy pics shall arrive soon.

Reception pics of Manasa akka and Chaitanya bava

My cam pics

Marriage Photos--More to Follow From Chaithanya/Manasa

Only Essentials not the fun filled ones.

Pig..hoo..oo.ey and the Efficient Baxter!

This long weekend marked the introduction of PG Wodehouse to Aditya. We broke the ground with Pighooey and he continued on with The Crime Wave at Blandings!! He came back for more recommendations and already learned a few new words, including a Bohunkus and a sneaking, ornery, low-down, double-crossing, hornswoggling skunk!!!!! 

I am hoping Aditya will fall in love with Wodehouse like I did, especially since I credit 30% of my vocabulary to his books. 

Congratulations Manasa and welcome Chaitanya!

Wishing you a long and happy married life!

Happy Birthday Rangababai and Manas!!!!

Can we hope?

The AAP is contesting Delhi elections this time. There are many encouraging features of the party being a viable alternative to the current parties in the fray. Details here:

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/the-aam-aadmis/article5276645.ece?homepage=true

Some excerpts:

Of the 63 candidates declared so far, seven are women

One of its oldest candidates so far is 60-year-old Baljeet Singh Mann and the youngest is 26-year-old Rakhi Birla

It has received Rs.16.8 crore in individual donations till date, and lists all donors on its website.

Among the candidates are a Muslim contesting from a Hindu majority territory, an auto driver and a decorated ex-commando.

Politicians are egoists and manipulators, and nothing can be done of that. And the AAP seems to be a single agenda party (Wipe corruption out). Still, all the above seem to be heartening signs that we can escape the grip of the corrupt and the violent that are the options till now. 

Can this be an one-time opportunity to change the course of India? 

Thoughts?

Remembering Giri Mama

For all the times I stayed at their home in Bitragunta, for the time he made me push the stalled bike for 3 kilometers, for all the chocolates he bought Aditya and for all the mosquito bites Srinivas endured to watch the Chiranjeevi movie he insisted on taking us to. And for all those people who lose their lives in highway accidents.

We will miss you Giri Mama.....

RIP Manna Dey

Cannot be more true.......

                          

                      తులసి మా లక్ష్మిలొ చిన్ని పిచుకమ్మ 

A pichukala gudu in tulasi chettu!!!

I am so glad

Best Dasara Ever!!!!

We had a great Dasara celebration this year.

First, my quick trial setup of bommala koluvu snowballed into a major effort (as things usually do when I start something, never by half-measures :-) or as nanna says, if a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well). Until I set it up, I did not realize I had these many dolls, so a quick research later, the koluvu steps are built with stair risers and stair planks from home depot (can be dis-assembled with a quick screwdriver effort and stored flat)

Quick setup later Lord venkateswara is added as the first murthy, followed by ammavaaru(didn't attach the head before I took the picture :-().

You have already seen the final efforts, so I won't repeat them here. Aditya and Mrudula spent a good amount of time building the Christmas Village and the Camp Half-Blood and Mrudula helped immensely in putting together the final decorative touches like the hanging garlands and the bells.

Aditya also got involved in the process, even though forcibly at first, but started enjoying the whole "ayudha pooja", where we got the cars washed and decorated our laptops and aditya's books with flowers, pasupu and kunkuma. He mixed the "pappu bellalu" for prasadam, gave harathi and dhoopam to our "ayudhams", and offered the coconuts. Arjun did his part by banging the bell (ganta) on the cars when asked to ring it for the harathi.

"Ayudha" Pooja

Cousins and their iPads

Aditya was also responsible for "deeparadhana" for the kalasam setup as part of the koluvu for these whole 10-days. 

We had a lot of our friends visit our house for the "perantam", partake the excellent pakodas, guggillu and kharjuram sweet by Nabeela as well as my Rava Kesari (that turned out excellent, even though I say so :-) ), enjoy the koluvu, discuss the significance of various dolls with their kids, compare the traditions with their own Dasara setup and take tamboolam. 

Finally, Sudha and Mrudula sang aigiri nandini and Sudha read Lalitha sahasranam for a great end to our celebrations.

All in all, one of the best festival celebrations and further introduction of our customs and culture to the kids. 

Bommala Koluvu 2013

After bringing two suitcase full of dolls from the recent India trip, I setup my first Bommala Koluvu in USA. This time around it was a trial to see what setup I need and I plan to have this for Sankranthi from next year. This will give Aditya time over the winter break to work over displays more complex than the one he put together this time.

Here are some pictures...

Gods & Goddesses

Settamma, Settayya w/ Gotalu full of sarukulu and a traasu

Professions

Add caption

Dolls of the world -1: Nicaragua, France, Dubai, China, USA, Kenya, Peru, Panama, Japan, Austria, Canada, Bermuda, Indonesia and Vietnam

Dolls of the world - 2: Uruguay, Romania, Germany, Australia, UK, Switzerland and Malaysia

Winter Village - setup by Mrudula and Adi

Camp Half Blood from the book series Percy Jackson by Aditya. Poseidon in the  ocean; Greek Half-blood Heroes fighting Medusa, Minotaur; Pegasus, Centaur, Cyclops and Cerberus; a Starwberry patch (full credit to Mrudula)

ANIMALS FARM

If kirankumar reddy CRITICISES it is DHIKKARAM and anti govt . when rahul ABUSES it is voicing  concern .
All are equal some are more equal.
GEORGE ORWELL  a great visionary

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUDHA  

Vasudha Singampalli at her best! :)

I know this video is being posted a month late. My bad. I'm sure everybody is going to enjoy it as much as I did.
I'm not going to talk about what's in the video and spoil it for everyone. Let me just say Durga peddamma and vasudha are on a roll here! :D ENJOY!

Link to the video:

https://plus.google.com/photos/110067517657080850173/albums/5789324116372478337/5927453544870269234?authkey=CIHkno24y8q0YA&pid=5927453544870269234&oid=110067517657080850173

Nina Davuluri

Can Europeans only become Americans?

Asian Americans are always second class?

They are called Qaeda and other names.

The dot busters were too early to be forgotten.

Dreams of  Martin Luther King

 The “cradle of democracy”, Great Britain gave voting rights to woman only in 1920s.

 Americans gave voting rights to black Americans only in 1967.

Even now it very difficult and costly to enroll as voter and so most of them do not register and vote.

Compare this with free India where adult franchise was adopted from day 1. In spite of cynical comments about their capacity to decide (mostly by people who do not vote).the people know what is good for them. They put Indira Gandhi ,NTR On highest pedal and threw them of the crown, the minute they did not deliver.

Regarding untouchables, we can not say it is completely gone but no ku klux klan  here .Reform is slow but sure.

Are Americans exceptional?

A op-ed by Putin in NY Times has America up in arms, especially the last paragraph. Comments?

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/12/opinion/putin-plea-for-caution-from-russia-on-syria.html?_r=0

miles to go before we achieve equality .But before that in the Indian context creamy layer has to be removed.All said and done matti lo manikyalu are coming up in life despitemany hurdles.

Vinayaka Chaviti 2013

After many years, it's just the 3 of us, no other friends, family. I was recovering from a slight episode of dehydration yesterday, and Srinivas is really busy with his Oracleworld marathon, so I decided to do a "simple" pooja today. Of course, once I started, it snowballed pretty quickly, ending up pretty close to the usual scale, but since we did not need to wait for any guests, we were able to start early. Of course this also meant I was able to take more time and explain the pooja in detail to Aditya and also make him read the story (english translation of course). Aditya and Srinivas went and gathered the leaves and decorated the mandapam, so full family participation this time.

The amazing mind of JKR

On Quora (If you don't know Quora yet, it is a social content website like Twitter or Facebook, but built in the format of a question and multiple answers by anyone who is a member. If the question is interesting, the answers are just great, since they usually come from people who 'know'. It is like wikipedia, in a more interesting format), there was a question "What are some amazing knots/coincidences/events that are untied in the Harry Potter series?"

A couple of interesting answers:

ANSWER 1:

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: Harry and Dudley are attacked by Dementors. 

After returning to the house:

"How many times do I have to tell you?" said Harry, temper and voice both rising. "It wasn't me! It was a couple of Dementors!"
"A couple of - what's this codswallop?" (Uncle Vernon)
"De - men - tors," said Harry slowly and clearly. "Two of them."
"And what the ruddy hell are Dementors?"
"They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban," said Aunt Petunia.

Two seconds of ringing silence followed these words before Aunt Petunia clapped her hand over her mouth as though she had let slip a disgusting swear word. Uncle Vernon was goggling at her. Harry's brain reeled. Mrs. Figg was one thing - but Aunt Petunia?

"How d'you know that?" he asked her, astonished.

Aunt Petunia looked quite appalled with herself. She glanced at Uncle Vernon in fearful apology, then lowered her hand slightly to reveal her horsy teeth.

"I heard - that awful boy - telling her about them - years ago," she said jerkily.
"If you mean my mum and dad, why don't you use their names?" said Harry loudly, but Aunt Petunia ignored him. She seemed horribly flustered.

Harry assumes 'that awful boy' is James Potter, when in fact it is Severus Snape. We learn this in a flashback in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Snape and Lily are talking about the wizarding world:

"Tell me about the Dementors again" (Lily Evans)
"What d’you want to know about them for?" (Severus Snape)
"If I use magic outside of school -"
"They wouldn’t give you the Dementors for that! Dementors are for people who do really bad stuff. They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban, you’re  too -"
He turned red again and shredded more leaves. Then a small rustling noise behind Harry made him turn: Petunia, hiding behind a tree, had lost her footing.
"Tuney!" said Lily, surprise and welcome in her voice, but Snape had jumped to his feet...

JK Rowling is truly amazing. I remember reading Deathly Hallows all night when it came out: when I got to this part I was floored, had to go back and check in Order of the Phoenix.

ANSWER 2:

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first thing Snape asks Harry in Potions class is, "Potter! What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?" 

According to the Victorian Language of Flowers [1], asphodel is a type of lily meaning 'my regrets follow you to the grave' and wormwood means 'absence'and symbolizes bitter sorrow. The entire question has a hidden meaning of "I bitterly regret Lily's death".

[1] Victorian Language of Flowers:
http://www.victorianbazaar.com/meanings.html

Note: I did not discover this myself. I saw it in a Harry Potter fanfiction forum some years ago, back when I was a rabid HP Fan. Sadly, I do not remember the exact forum/location.

ANSWER 3:

In Chapter 35 of 'The Order of the Phoenix', Lucius Malfoy deflects a stunner sent by Bellatrix and it breaks various prophecies. When they are broken, the people who did the prophecising rose from the broken glass and began to say the words of the prophecy. Only two dialogue lines come from them.

An old, bearded man says: "...at the solstice will come a new..." while a little later a young woman said "...and none will come after...".

I looked up dates of the solstice in the Harry Potter wiki, hoping that something important happened on one of them. The first one I searched as June 21st. As it turns out, that was the day when a chosen one could gain access to the Fountain of Fair Fortune (from "The Tales of Beedle the Bard").

So, I looked at the wiki page for the Fountain of Fair Fortune and could see nothing to link it to the story of the novels, until I read that it bore the symbol of the Deathly Hallows. So, it could be safe to assume that the older man talking about the solstice was Rowling's subtle hint at the Deathly Hallows being involved (though there was no way of knowing at the time). Combining that with "and none will come after" is fairly simple. 

Harry is the last owner of all the Deathly Hallows.

That's why those two lines of dialogue were chosen in particular.

J.K. Rowling continues to astound me.

The link to the question here:

http://www.quora.com/Harry-Potter-books-movies-and-creative-franchise/What-are-some-amazing-knots-coincidences-events-that-are-untied-in-the-Harry-Potter-series

What an amazingly convoluted mind she has!  

Fun Times at Half Moon Bay..

https://plus.google.com/photos/100439682375564182182/albums/5918894758615541953?authkey=CNu88f6Oz6DWZg

Birthday Celebrations .....

HBD KRUPAKAR

Many Happy Returns.
Enjoy the trip

50th Anniversary of a dream

Tomorrow, the 28th of August, is the day in 1963 when Martin Luther King gave the famous speech "I have a dream".


I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of captivity.
But one hundred years later, we must face the tragic fact that the Negro is still not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize an appalling condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men would be guaranteed the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check -- a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to open the doors of opportunity to all of God's children. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment and to underestimate the determination of the Negro. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny and their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, that in spite of the difficulties and frustrations of the moment, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal."
I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a desert state, sweltering with the heat of injustice and oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day the state of Alabama, whose governor's lips are presently dripping with the words of interposition and nullification, will be transformed into a situation where little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls and walk together as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith with which I return to the South. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"


Has the dream been fulfilled? 

I request views on that as well as a view of India in a similar situation (not the same)
 

Happy Birthday Amma!

Vasudha, Swathi, Lavi, Harika, Srikanth, et al -- at Ranga Babai's.

https://picasaweb.google.com/113116853867637584522/VasudhaSwathiLaviEtAlAtRangaBabaiS?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJ2OqsH9paqJ9AE&feat=directlink

HBD KRUPA

Many Happy Returns of the Day.

4 days in Paris (not just an evening...)

Here is the next part in the series, Paris.
We continued our European journey by taking the high-speed TGV train to Paris, reaching the Gare de Lyon station in Paris at around 1 PM.

Day 1: Rest Day
The Paris station could not have been more of a contrast to the ones in Switzerland. It was crowded, chaotic, comparatively dirty, feeling a lot like Chennai central. We grabbed a couple of taxis and got to our hotel Des Ducs D'anjou. A purported 4* hotel, it was a converted town home, which meant the rooms were small and cramped, standard fare for a central Paris hotel. We got the "Blue Suite", which is the glorified attic, but the location can't be beat for access to all Paris sights. Aditya loved his personal bed with curtains.

The first night in Paris was a night for relaxing and getting our bearings. That is also the night when we discovered the definition of "Close" in Paris terms. We were told Louvre was "close", so we started walking in that direction on Rue di Ravoli, only to find that we arrived at the tail end of the museum away from the entrance after a 40 min walk.....Giving in to the whines of the kids, we took the metro back, reaching our hotel in exactly 8 min.

After a dinner consisting of excellent Onion soup, Toasted Goat Cheese (my new favorite cheese, so smooth, so creamy) and Chocolate cake overlooking the Pompidou Center, we turned in for the night.

Day 2: Versailles and Musee d'Orsay
The next day dawned bright and early, again finding me on my morning wanderings while Adi and Srinivas slept. I found the local grocery stores Monoprix, Franprix, a creperie for breakfast and a Starbucks for the unadventurous in our party.

Once everyone was ready, we got on the metro towards Versailles, home to the famous Palace of Versailles, seat of the French Royalty until they were overthrown during the french revolution.  Arriving before the palace opened, we were one of the first few folks to enter, and we were able to enjoy the place with relatively fewer crowds and hardly any lines.

 The sheer magnitude and opulence of the palace was shocking, that too considering the fact that a majority of the possessions in the palace such as furniture and art was burned during the revolution.

The paintings, the decorations, the bed chambers of king and queen, the walls, the ceilings, the gardens and the grounds were vast, imposing, beautiful, opulent...you can add your favorite choice of adjectives and they would not do justice to this place.

The king's bed, with a lady statue representing France, watching over the king

Queen's Bed Chamber, where Marie Antoinette escaped the rioting crowds via a secret door

Hall of Mirrors, where the Versailles Treaty that ended World War I and that caused World War II was signed

The famous painters and sculptors whose works I was able to view are too numerous, and in fact, they deserve their own post and I will chronicle their names from our visits to the various palaces and museums in Paris and London, so I shall refrain from referring to their names here.

After grabbing lunch again consisting of Onion Soup and Goat Cheese for me (I really liked those two...) Pizza etc for Aditya and Srinivas, we rested our weary legs on our way back to Paris on the metro.

Arriving in Paris, we ambled over to Musee d'Orsay, home to some of the most famous Impressionist paintings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism
By any token, our family is novices when it comes to art, so I was quite pleasantly surprised by the level of interest Aditya displayed in the various museums, which admittedly at 2 hours was less than what a connoisseur might feel is worthy, was beyond my expectations for him and Srinivas. It did help that I bought a few history/culture books for him earlier, which meant he was familiar with most of the artiste names, and even some of the works, dragging me across the gallery excitedly, to show me those....

Famous works at d'Orsay:
 Starry Night by Van Gogh
Dance in the Country by Renoir
Lunch in the garden by Monet

Day 3: le Louvre and le Tour Eiffel
The day started spectacularly, with a Mont Blanc Pastry and Chocolate Chaud(hot) at Angelina's, a world famous Parisian bakery on Rue di Ravoli. Again getting there early helped us save the trouble of standing in line to sample the wonderful delights of this place. We then met our tour guide for the museum and made our way to the Louvre pyramid entrance, walking across the Tuileries gardens and, under the Arc du Carousel (may I suggest a refresher to the Davinci Code?).

Of course, the guide started her tour stating unequivocally that no one is buried under the inverse pyramid and the Louvre pyramid is not made up of 666 glass panes (trust Aditya to know the significance of 666).

We then made our way through the museum to see the 3-famous ladies of Louvre: Nike aka Winged Victory, Venus de Milo and Mona Lisa. Having seen reproductions of these famous works many times, seeing them in person raised goosebumps on my arms.

      

We also saw a few other famous works : Da Vinci's Madonna on the Rocks, Napolean's coronation, Sculpture of a slave by Michelangelo etc in the European section before  moving on to the Egyptian wing for a glimpse of the Sphinx from the Valley of Kings in Egypt. From there we made our way to the Mesopotamian wing for the Stele of the Code of Hammurabi, the first known human laws ever made.

Spending 4 hours, we barely covered a tiny fraction of the huge museum and in fact, I would love the opportunity to come back and visit this museum again, sampling few more of the historical artifacts on display here.

We then made our way to visit the Eiffel Tower, another if not THE iconic landmark of Paris. While no longer of any significance when talking tall buildings (the current world's tallest is almost twice as tall), it was a beautiful and imposing structure, offering great views of the Seine river and city of Paris from the top.

Our drive to le Tour Eiffel took us along the famous Champs Elysee, from the Egyptian obelisk at Place du Concorde to Napolean's Arc de Triomphe, barricades from the Bastille Day military parade of the previous day still intact. An early dinner was in the works, followed by a good night's sleep, as tired out from the day, we decided to skip out on our plans to visit the Eiffel Tower again in the night.

   




Day 4: Notre Dame Cathedral and Latin Quarter
With scarcely  half day left in our Paris stay, as we were catching the Eurostar that evening to London, we packed up our stuff, and walked over to the Notre Dame (Our Lady) Cathedral, immortalized by Victor Hugo in the Hunchback of Notre Dame. The cathedral is built in the Gothic architecture, unlike the majority of cathedrals following the Romanesque style.

  

We arrived in time for the afternoon Eucharist mass, our first ever mass attended.

                                                      
Already familiar with the ceremony of Eucharist, or the Holy Communion, a reenactment of the last supper, I explained its significance to a fidgeting Aditya, who started giggling at the rendition of "Hallelujah"  , remembering a recent Mr.Bean episode he watched.....

Notre Dame is a beautiful church and it's treasury holds the "Crown of Thorns"-  purported to be the original Crown on Jesus's head, as well as a fragment of wood believed to be from the original cross and a "Holy Nail".

The crown of Thorns

It's a building rife with history, where Napolean was crowned king of France, where Joan of Arc was canonized (a statue of her is visible in the collage above) and is the home of the famous gargoyles and chimeras that spawned a new architecture style.

After our visit to Notre Dame, we walked to the Latin Quarter, home of the Parisian artist community, but more importantly Paris food scene, grabbed our final lunch in Paris and walked back to our hotel.

Collecting our baggage, we left for Gare du Nord(North Station), completed our immigration formalities for entering the United Kingdom and boarded the Euro Star for our Chunnel ride, landing in King's Cross station after an uneventful journey.

Me and my "French": Through my years of Agatha Christie and 8 years of Actel with French colleagues, I surprised myself at how much French I absorbed:-) In a supposedly rude country where people are downright nasty to tourists, its a wonder how much a "Bonjour" or a "Pouvez-vous m'aider sil vous plait" or "merci beaucoup" gets you. I used my broken french and their broken English to find out the location of a second elevator at the Eiffel Tower, translate the French translation of Code of Hammurabi into English at the Louvre, been asked  "French?" from a "garçon" after ordering "un evian, un confit du canard, sil vous plait" and answering "ce bon" to a question about how good the food was...It was extremely gratifying to be able to read a lot of the signs in a completely foreign language and understand what they meant :-)
Aditya also thoroughly enjoyed the experience, asking the waitress, "excusez-moi madame, Où sont les toilettes ?" and saying "merci beaucoup" to every one....