Solar musings

 If only he could tell us...

Imagine you are the sun, wandering in the deep space roaming around the centre of the galaxy for billions of years, and wondering when will you be going to expand, and swallow the children and die, and then will start anew as a protostar, and what would happen then to the little creatures on the surface of your third child! Imagine what would he be thinking! Us humans are sending different observatories on the satellites and he must be proud that his children who have come a long way in a few hundreds of years.

Heliocentric ideologist Kepler

It was not long ago when these humans were believing that everything revolves around the earth! It has been very difficult to convince the people that contrary to the popular belief the sun doesn’t revolve around the earth, but it is the other way around. Kepler gave laws of universal planetary motion in the early seventeenth century. Even though they have their limitations, it was a path-breaking discovery. Science populariser Carl Sagan described Kepler as "the first astrophysicist and the last scientific astrologer.”

Heavily criticised Copernicus 

The other notable step towards the heliocentrism was by Copernicus. He claimed that there is no centre of the universe and earth is definitely not it. The centre for heavy bodies to fall is the earth’s centre, but that’s about it. He also claimed what appear to us as motions of the sun is not because he moves, but because the earth, with which we revolve around the sun like any other planet. The earth has, then, more than one motion. He was heavily criticised for these provocative statements. On the same path, Galileo was sentenced to a house arrest because of his beliefs against the church.

Sun thinks, surely, the human race has come a long way ahead in terms of scientific knowledge and understanding, and there is still a long way to go. The scientist who thinks

of some revolutionary idea or thinks actually out of the box is thought to be talking nonsense. He finds them to be ahead of their times. At the same time, he wonders, there are people who believe in the earth being flat, and vaccines killing people, and in recent times, the masks suffocating their civil rights! The sun is a simpleton, and he is confused that the same human race who sent probes towards him to understand him more, is fighting with each other about some perishable oil. The sun is confused!

Happy in the Long Distance Relationship!?

 If the Sun were even a tad different, if it were even a little bit more or less active, or smaller or bigger, or a little farther or closer, there won’t be life as we know it.

Perfect distance Earth-sun relationship!

Life is totally dependent on the Sun. The proximity decides the temperature of the planet. If Earth were farther, it would be too cold to hold life, and if it were nearer, it would be too hot. Not only it decides temperature, but also the amount of radiation hitting the surface of the earth. Like we put UV protecting sunscreen, and trees get cooked in hot tropical summers, if the radiation is more, all types of life will be affected.

 When the sun is in the later stages of life, millions of years later, excess radiation would affect the earthlings severely. One of the suggestions is to spread some absorbents in the stratosphere, as it would happen after a volcanic eruption or nuclear war! But that’s in a far future. And, as it would be an eventual rise in the amount of radiation and temperature, the species will evolve accordingly, if they survive!

Earth as seen from the space

If the Earth were not solid, but a gaseous planet like Jupiter, the life as we know it, would not be sustained. For terrestrial life, the soil is an essential component. The soil contains macro and micronutrients. The process of accretion and formation of planets had led to the formation of these elements essential for life. These are the most crucial part of the day-to-day chemical processes that make life possible, and they come in the food chain from the soil.  

It is a lucky coincidence that our earth has an atmosphere and it is made of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other gases. This cocktail ensures that there is enough oxygen for life to survive, but not too much that everything goes on fire. The atmosphere also maintains the temperature owing to the greenhouse effect. It also filters solar radiation and saves us from severe sunburns. The activities that we consider quite basic, like talking and listening, or flying, or seeing birds in the air, will not be supported if not for the air.  

Fortunately, most of the asteroids are attracted by the planet Jupiter because of its strong gravitational field. The asteroids which come towards earth don’t reach the surface most of the times, because while entering the atmosphere they face the air resistance and burn down. This saves the life from any external impact.

The magnetosphere of the earth: saving us
 from solar winds and activity

Curious scientists have been looking for life on other planets. They define habitable zones as the range of orbits around a star where the planets can hold liquid water depending on the atmospheric pressure. It is this very special Earth-sun relationship that has led to the possibility of sustainable life. Arthur C. Clarke has said very aptly, “Two possibilities exist: either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.”

The habitable zone: Not too hot, not too cold!

The stellar wind and activity affect the planet’s space weather in different ways. The solar activity leads to the beautiful phenomenon of aurorae. But it also affects the satellite communication. It interferes with the signals, stops the satellites from working and in extreme cases, it fries the machinery in the satellites. These winds, if stronger, they could also affect life. The magnetic field of the earth also plays an important role in saving us from these frantic attack of ionised particles. 

The Coronal Mass Ejection

 It is important to understand the stellar activity in order to predict the possibility of life on the planets revolving around that star. The stellar activity would influence the temperature, radiation, constituents and elements on the planet, possibility of atmosphere and many more factors. Understanding the relation between stellar activity and these factors determining the possibility of life would be the first step in looking for alien life. Because as Carl Sagan said in Contact, “The universe is a pretty big place. If it's just us, seems like an awful waste of space.”

The Wait

The Wait: Part One

It all started when a very interesting workshop on observational solar physics was declared. I registered for it, I was very excited to apply, I wrote a little SOP as well, and then they mailed me on 28th February that I am selected and should apply for the UK visa. I did. I had an appointment on the 6th of March, and there I submitted my passport. Who knew, this is going to be the pivoting event that would lead to a very interesting story in my life. No, not the workshop, not the trip to the UK, but merely the visa application is going to be the lead character in this story.

Now, we must keep in mind, that this is set in 2020. So, somewhere in China, a person has already started a drastic chain of events, that is going to stir this story inside out. On the 10th of March, my university declared that, from the next day onwards, all the employees should start working remotely and strictly not to enter the university campus. A little backstory, I have been working here, not so long that I can have a deep connection with the city and its people (I have a few, and I love them!), but long enough to get a little homesick.  So I planned around February end that I would go home during the Easter break so that I can use that almost a week-long holiday as well.

So, when we have to work form “home”, few of my colleagues went to their “homes” back in their native countries, and that was the trigger that inspired me to do so! Now, forgetting that my passport is with the UK embassy, and not with me, I preponed a ticket for the 13th of March and then immediately postponed it to 20th! Now started the first phase of the wait.

I started working from home from 11th and the difficulties faced for that is an altogether different topic of discussion (I wrote a blog about that then here). Then the Indian Government declared the travel ban on all the passengers travelling from the EU from the 18th of March, till 31st! I was hoping that I would get my passport back before that deadline, and I got it on the 19th of March (with a six months UK visa, btw :P)!! Very much in time for my ticket on the 20th and just a day late before the travel ban. So, then there is nothing much to ask or say. The next hope was the lifting of restrictions on 31st of March! :P

So, hoping that the date of lifting the travel restrictions comes just in a couple of weeks, I guess I stopped following the ban. Meanwhile, there were days when I could work and study. And that kept me sane. Then towards the end of May, I got an e-mail, that there is a possibility of travelling to India with the Vande Bharat Flight. It is a mission by the Government of India, that “rescues” stranded Indians. I was not stranded, but by then I almost had lost hope of seeing my family and friends in the near future. So, I jumped on the opportunity and filled the form. Yes, I filled these forms multiple times. If I am not wrong, I filled it 5 times at least.

Then came the even difficult part. The wait. The wait for the mail from the embassy, that there is a flight to India, and you can board it. The wait to see my family, my people. By then, the lockdown in  Norway started getting lifted off. I could go out for long walks, meet friends, go to the office and get back to normal life. I fell in love with the Scandinavian summer, I cooked and ate loads of Indian and Neo-Indian food. I was trying to keep myself sane. And I am happy to declare, that I believe, I succeeded. I did my work with lesser efficiency, I agree. But this was the waiting period.

The Hurry

My baby plants at my landlady's place

Cut to 6th of June, I got an e-mail from the German Embassy, that I have to fill a few more forms, give a ton of money and I can go home from Frankfurt. I have to book my own tickets and the eventual quarantine, but I CAN GO HOME!! So, then the rush started.

All set to fly back home.

I got an email the very next day, that I have to pay for my ticket from a shady link of “world-pay” without any pretext with a deadline, and I called the embassy to confirm. So, trusting their words, I paid for the ticket and waited for the confirmation. It came after 3 hours or so. Meanwhile, I booked a Lufthansa ticket for the journey from Oslo to Frankfurt. At the end of this “wait”, I had the ticket to Mumbai!

Then I cooked some food for the journey, packed my bags, arranged the remaining stuff nicely, talked to my guide, who has been very stable support, went to the office (after doing the infection prevention course, of course!) for some formalities, mailed the head, the co-ordinator, and, extended my rent contract with my landlady, gave my little plants to them for caring and watering, finished all the perishable food that I had, packed the long term food nicely, and finally, I was set to go!

Oslo Airport! With all its beauty, waiting for people!

I took theplas and
cake with me
for the travel

On 10th morning (7 AM), my landlady took me to the airport, bid me a goodbye and told me to keep sharing pictures, and told me that they will miss me, and I told them that I will miss them, and off I went inside the empty Oslo airport, a very unusual sight. But this was just the start of the unusual journey!

After the usual check-in and waiting, it was the only flight going out of the airport at that time (9:50 AM). It followed all the social-distancing norms, kept us one seat apart, the middle seats were always empty, they didn’t serve food (now, the importance of packed home cooked food kicks in!), one baby was always crying in the background (otherwise how can the flight survive!), and yes, the turbulence: I guess a usual Covid-19 flight. Then I had to claim my baggage (12:05) and I went on to the counter where the Vande Bharat flight was scheduled.

Frankfurt airport. All the aircrafts docked inside!

In the queue to board the
Vande Bharat flight!

Now! Firstly, Frankfurt is a huge airport. It took me a while to find those counters. Then there were a few long (read: loooong) queues for the following things: 1. Thermal check, 2.verification of documents, and submission of the declaration saying that we will complete a 14 days institutional quarantine, and if anything happens to us it is our responsibility, not Government’s, basically the standard stuff, 3. Checking in the baggage and collecting the boarding pass. Now, after this (which took approximately 3 hours, so @3:15), we were to go to the gate B43 and wait there till the boarding (5:20).  There I talked to my family and a couple of friends, and they called us in a queue yet again. For putting a stamp on one of the documents, I guess. By this time I was really exhausted! Then came the real test! Till this time, people were following the social distancing norms more or less diligently. But, when they called for boarding the flight, people started behaving in a very Indian way. The German security personnel even said that why is everyone suddenly misbehaving and not following social distancing! It was chaotic. But yes, our flight was full, as in one person on one seat, without any gaps and that actually made sense. If you are in a closed room, sitting far away from a person doesn’t ensure that you are not going to share the air they exhaled!

Inside the Vande Bharat Flight.
With a face mask and face shield!

So, at 6:20, the flight was supposed to take off. We were all inside it, our flight attendants were all in the PPE kits and we were given care packages containing dinner and breakfast boxes and some snacks, and most importantly, face shields, masks, and sanitizing pouches in it. The flight took off and everyone shouted “Vande Mataram!” There was continuous turbulence and were told to keep our seat belts on throughout the flight, repeatedly. There were kids who were scared of the roaring turbulence and were crying most of the time. So, not many could sleep in that long 8-hour flight. Then we finally landed at the Mumbai airport. It was a very emotional moment. Everyone clapped for the successful mission and I must say my eyes went misty (Maybe because of the humidity in Mumbai, maybe not!).

Inside the Mumbai airport. Faded charm!

We went out of the flight (5:15 AM IST) in a very systematic manner, following the social distancing. Then the first thing that we were told to do, was to install the Aarogya Setu app and show it to the officials that we have signed in and the app is working fine on our phones. Then there was a queue for the immigration and then started the second last phase of the wait.

The entrance of the Mumbai Airport.
All barricaded and empty, yet beautiful!

After getting our baggage, we were told to get to a counter where they would verify our destination city and will tell us the bus number for that city on a form. Keep this in mind, we have not been informed about the quarantine facility, or the manner we were going to be isolated and its whereabouts till this point. So, we went in the direction we were pointed towards the waiting area near the airport parking lot. All passengers, going to Pune, Nasik, Telangana even, and to various places in mainly Maharashtra, were sitting or standing in the small waiting area along with the Mumbai Police and bus drivers who were going to take us to the destination.

In a queue, boarding the State Transport bus.

Here came the tricky part! After a while, everyone started to get bored, desperate and irritated. At around 8:30, we, the people going to Thane were told to stand in a line near one wall and were verified on one of the lists that they had. Then we were told to get into the bus. We followed all the social distancing norms and went to the bus, which was an MH20 State Transport “Laal Dabba” (red steel-structured very basic bus, which has no facility for keeping big luggage nor was it AC.) We kept our luggage on the back seats and in the aisle and took seats. We had to pay for our tickets (Rs. 300) via cards and it took around 1 hour in that process. But thankfully we left immediately from the airport!

But! We had one of us as our leader and he got a call from the police at the airport that we had to go back because we had forgotten the list and one of our co-passengers. So, our beloved driver started to take a reverse on the bridge, where other vehicles were going in the forward direction at the speed of 80-100 kmph! When we reached the point where it is one way out of the airport, a security guard came and stopped us and we had to go all the way around the bridge and finally, we were inside the airport again! And, the lady, who was left, was taken by a police vehicle to the same point on the bridge where we told that we had to go back to the airport. So we waited again for the buses in the front to move so that we could pass and went again to the same bridge and got that lady on board. Off we went to Thane (9:45).

Nobody, not the driver, not the police officer who was calling our leader, not any other authorities, apparently knew, where we were supposed to go. So, We were headed in the direction to Thane, without a destination. While going, we got a call from another officer saying that there are arrangements done for us in a hotel in Vashi, and we had to pay a ton of money (yet again!). Thanks to our leaders, and their awareness about the owners and political connections of those owners, we got out of that trap and we were heading to the district collector’s office in Thane, to discuss the exact procedure for quarantine. Many of us could have stayed home in an isolated room or an isolated house nearby, only 7 out of 22 people were in need of the institutional quarantine because of the situation at home. His assistant/guard (I was not in a position to understand and/or remember) said that the Collector will be arriving by 11, so the wait started, yet again (10:20).

The view from the quarantine hotel. Silver-lining!

This is how we are
given the pre-plated food

Around 11:30 or so, one of our leaders called collector or his assistant, I am not sure because I had no physical or mental strength to comprehend anything anymore. It was decided that we should check out nearby hotels in Thane and if we are not happy with that choice, the bus will take us to Vashi. The first hotel that we came to, took us to a nearby apartment complex, saying that once used for quarantining people from abroad, the hotel will be needed to be sanitized and that would cost a fortune, whereas the service apartments are isolated. The apartments seemed up to the mark. 6 of us took these apartments as our quarantine-homes (1:30 PM), and the rest went away to see the next facility.

The Wait: Part Two

"Good food"

If by now, you think that the wait is over, no! Wait for it. On the very next day, At around 3 PM, the electricity went off due to some failure and a little fire (hear-say). So, in the night, at 9:30-ish, we were shifted to the hotel, where we thought we were originally be quarantined. We were told to pack important stuff and take clothes and essentials for spending just the night, and we walked with the masks in the rain to the hotel (just a couple of hundred meters.) It’s the third day of quarantining in the hotel now. We have been checked for our temperatures, we are fed really good food, and we can walk inside the hotel, but cannot leave the hotel premises.

So, now the last phase of the wait is going on. They say, after 7 days of quarantine, we will be tested for COVID-19, and when we will get our test results to be negative, we will be given a certificate of completion of the quarantine along with our passports. (Oh! I forgot to mention! Our passports are with the hotel authorities. So that no one of us runs away! And they took it while the registration was going on and then it started raining and our passports might have gotten wet in the process.)

When we could meet 

I know, to the core, that these are unusual circumstances and everything is unpredictable and unknown. I know this is the best that could have happened to me during this time. I know many many working hands are required to function properly to get all of us here. I am genuinely thankful for this amazing opportunity to get home with this first-hand "Airlift" experience. And I know that I am still amazed and not able to believe that I am in my city - Thane, and actually seeing my parents!

Yes! I can see my family, with masks, from a distance of 1.5m and only for 15 minutes. I got some Alphonso mangoes to eat and books to read! And definitely, I have my ever-exciting work as my companion! Needless to say, the constant solid support of my parents and close friends was, is and will be my oxygen. But yes! After this, I will have to do a home quarantine for at least a week and then I will be able to see my family and friends. So, the wait is still going on.

Trip to France: French Hangover

Trip to France: French Hangover: The "French Hangover" is not over yet. I don't know how long it will take to get over the excitement of this awesome, excit...

French Hangover

The "French Hangover" is not over yet. I don't know how long it will take to get over the excitement of this awesome, exciting, and incredibly beautiful trip, but writing the whole thing down would help, I guess! So here it is! My first official travel blog. Mind you, it is going to be a little long since the trip was 12 days of full-fledged backpacking!

The concept behind it was to get away from the cold loneliness and into the cosy comfort of meeting some IISERB friends, and I am really happy to go all around France by train or bus, stayed at Airbnb, then came back to Paris and parted our ways. The route was Paris, then Nancy, Strasbourg, Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Montpellier, then Toulouse, Dordogne, Bordeaux and then back to Paris. But  (spoiler alert!) due to the train strikes in France, we had to modify this on multiple occasions.

 Les Invalides

So, we first met on 21st morning on the train station of Parc des exposition near the airport and started our tour together. Getting to our Airbnb in Creteil was a challenge, because of the train strikes. Finally, with patience and frustration and booking an Uber, we reached there, freshened up and started the outing in the afternoon. First, we went to see the most precious Eiffel Tower (read "My Precious"!), then les Invalides (palace-like structure) and the l'arch de Triomph (Arc of Triomphe). It was a beautiful start to the fabulous trip that we were to embark. We had a Dominos pizza for dinner and went back home by Uber again.

Louvre in the night

L'arc de Triomphe

The Museum halls in the night

Me trying to pose like 
a statue in Louvre
(PC: Diksha)

Mona Lisa!!

The next day was something even more challenging. We started late (owing to different sleeping habits!), were lost in a suburb due to unavailability of public transport, booked an Uber, went to Subway (since we were famished!) and finally, in the afternoon, reached Louvre! The museum is beyond expectations! The grandiose of the art there made me speechless. People from all over the world came to see various centuries-old arts and it amazes me. This gives me hope that the world will sustain! We saw many many halls full of paintings, sculptures, vessels and also, the Mona Lisa! The time flew very fast there. I spent 4-5 hours, just flowing from one gallery to the other. Then after the closing time, when the guards told me to leave, I went to see the Notre-Dame of Paris. Since it caught on fire in April 2019, we cannot see it from inside, but nevertheless, it was grand and the holy spirit was all around the place. We had some pasta and Ubered back to home.

Next day, December 23rd, 2019, was the most happening day of this trip!! In the morning, we had a train to Nancy at 7:28. We left home at 6, went to the station for a metro, which was supposedly working. But they terminated it midway, from where there was no public transport available and we Ubered to the station. We missed this train and were really stressed about our next journey. But, to our surprise, we could exchange tickets for the same journey in the evening and got one more day in Paris. We decided to make the most of it! We kept our bags in nanny-bags and started our day on foot (because there was no public transport whatsoever!). First, we went to Sainte-Chapelle, a 14th century, royal Gothic style Chapelle, the inside of which gave off sacred vibes. This started our series of churches in France!. In front of this, they have their Justice court. Next, we wanted to visit the Picasso Museum, but it was closed (Meh!). So we sat in a park nearby and had a little aloo bhujia. The pigeons in that area also grew fond of it! 

Paris from Montmarte

Then we went to the Montmarte, also known as Sacre-Coeur, which was a challenge after the "spectacular" start of the day we have had! It is one of the highest points in Paris. It is a beautiful Church from outside and inside. It also has a high tower, from where the view of the city is fantastic! It takes more than 300 steps to reach the top of the tower, and it is totally worth it! 

The corner where my friend

almost got mugged!
(PC: Diksha)

Here, a guy tried to mug my friend by taking her phone from her jacket pocket. I saw it and as a reflex, I shouted really loudly, "Abey, kya kar Raha hai!" (Hey, what are you doing?) He gave back the phone and disappeared on the stairs. The people around us came to me and they consoled us. We were in shock. Things that happen to you in Paris! We had an Indian Lunch at a closed restaurant where we ate with the staff because they felt like offering us some food! While coming back from there, since we have been walking for the whole day, we were tired. We waited for a (tasteless) Falafel and headed back to the station. After getting the bags back we were short of time and ran for 30 minutes to catch the train to Nancy! That was a cutthroat experience! Then there was this connecting train to Strasbourg and we had a much-needed sleep at night.

A scene in the quartier Petite France

In the morning, even though we started a little late (than I expected), we saw the whole Strasbourg. First, we went to the most sacred Notre-Dame. It is a really old church, touching the skies. There is a museum near it which shows the evolution of the city and the architecture of the old church. Then we went to "petite France" - a quartier (area) in Strasbourg, which has houses and structures in the old village. It has a canal through it, which makes it even more serene. 

The bridge in front of this quartier, now named as Vieux Strasbourg, was a dam constructed in the 17th century. There the river Rhine is divided into four parts so that the streams become narrower and big attacking ships cannot come in the village. This defence mechanism is very intelligent and it also benefits the villagers as the water bodies are more accessible now.

The division of the river as seen from the wall of the dam turned bridge

Christmas Market in the Christmas Capital

 In the evening, we went to the park near the united nations building. The main aim of going to Strasbourg was to experience the Christmas market. Strasbourg is the Christmas Capitol of France! It was fantabulous. We had Chaud/Glogg, which is the masaledar (spicy) orange juice hot wine that most of the Europeans drink during this holiday season. We also had a vegetable bagel. Then we went to an Indian restaurant and caught a night bus to Lyon.

Vieux Lyon

Intricate design inside the Basilica

We reached a little early in the morning (surprise surprise!). We were supposed to reach at 4:50, but since we were half asleep, I will not comment on the exact time that we reached, but we spent the time till around 7 in the bus station sleeping on the staircase and freshening up, and then we went to the nearby nanny-bags in the Hotel Campanile. There we spent another hour couch-surfing and then after "enough rest" we started our day! We had an incredible pain au chocolat (chocolate bread) with chakli that I brought, in a cafe and went straight to the cathedral. We saw the Christmas mass and offerings in the church. 

Lyon from the banks at the sunset

The Notre Dame is situated on the top of the city. It has brilliant Vieux de Lyon (view of the city Lyon). after seeing this traditional Christmas celebration, we went back to the city via the old town in search of the food! All the restaurants and eateries were closed because of the festival. Luckily one falafel place was open and we had the first meal of the day! After that, we went to the beautiful banks of the Saone river and roamed around in a park till the sunset. Then we went to the capitol place: place du comedy, bought some groceries and sat on a quiet park bench and ate cheese and bread as our dinner (the whole city was closed, remember?). We roamed around for a while and went back to the hotel Campanile to kill time till our bus at 00:20 arrives! Those hotel people were really very nice to let us stay (read sleep) on their couch till 11:30-45. Then we went for the bus to Nice.

The bench where we had our best meal

We reached Nice early in the morning. We went to the nanny-bags place directly from the bus station, freshened up, had breakfast and went on foot. First, we saw the cathedral, and then the stunning Capitol place where they have the dance of fountains.

French Riviera

The grandiose inside the cathedral

Then from the small capillary-like streets, we went to the basilica. We wanted to eat, but the restaurants open only after 12, so we had some chakli and brownies and started for the Vieux Nice: the palace. we went all the way up, saw the ruins of the ancient palace, a small park and the waterfall of the palace. But most importantly, the view from the top was mind-blowing: the orange city on the side of sparkling blue water on the mediterranean sea. We clicked several pictures there, listened to some live music that a guy was playing and came back to the sea level half-heartedly! I would have loved to stay there for a longer time, but we had to eat! We had an Indian lunch and then we went straight to the beach to experience the French Riviera. The beach didn't have sand, it had tiny boulders! This was new to me.

mandatory click

Me enjoying the sun and sea (PC: Diksha)

We went mad and clicked uncountable pictures and while it was still a little sunny, went on a spree of museums. Through the small streets first, we stopped at the music of France museum, which had several different never-seen-never-heard-of instruments, and then to the Musee du beaux-arts. It was a contemporary art museum, which had loads of modern arts! I tried to understand or feel the art (and failed! Modern art is “different” for me!).

Collection of violins in the music museum, 
the smallest one is called 'kit'

One of the artefacts inthe modern art museum

Next, we went to the unique Russian Cathedral. It is very asymmetric and tiny from inside. It had an entirely different structure and it stood out from all the churches that we visited on this trip. Then we went to the Airbnb, had warm dinner(upma and Maggi), some dessert (the host offered us some cake that she made) and slept like babies!

The uniqueness of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral

Nice, seen from the top of the museum building

We left the home at 5:40, caught the train at 6:23 to Marseille, which was to be followed by the train to Montpellier. This train got cancelled! We managed to exchange it for a ticket on the next train and had 2 hours to spare. So we went to see the Palais Longchamp. It was one of the most wonderful structures that we saw in a while! We clicked some pictures and came back to the station to go to our destination.

Palais Longchamp

Porte de Peyrou

Long arches at Porte de Peyrou

Notre Dame

One of the structures in the Antigone area

Basilica Saint Sernin

After reaching Montpellier, we had a pizza and went to the Musee Fabre via the place de Comedie. It is the museum of evolution of arts. Then we went to Airbnb via the cathedral. This Airbnb was like a treasure hunt. The host gave us instructions to get the keys via a number lock and after opening the building gate climbing two flights of spiral stairs, we reach an iron gate followed by a glass gate, which led to the home which has a bathroom on the upstairs! It was a very mysterious place. (I got an odd nightmare in the night and couldn't sleep!) After keeping our bags and freshening up, we went to the Porte du Peyrou. It is a bridge on the road in from of l'arc de Triomphe. In the shades of sunset, it was very pretty. There is a very famous Dance school in Montpellier. People were performing their art-forms on the streets and it was a pleasant sight. Then, we walked to the Notre Dame of Montpellier and went on to see the Antigone. It is one of the areas which has inculcated old gothic styles in modern structures. We saw the gigantic Olympics swimming pool there and came back to our home. Had warm dinner (upma and sandwiches) and slept.

We left home at 5:30 as we had a train to Toulouse at 6:20. It got cancelled (and I found out that all the further tickets that she booked were on the same day!!!). All the upcoming trains were cancelled and there was no way to get out of Montpellier by rails. The bus was very late and expensive too. So we decided to go by Blabla car, which is a service where people post their route and we can book seats in their car (carpooling with strangers). We booked one, and the owner left without picking us up.  Then we booked another blabla car and luckily she waited for us and we got our ride to Toulouse. We had our "breakfast" and some leftover sleep in the car. 

Saint Stephan's Cathedral

We reached Toulouse by 12:30 and saw the first glimpse of the pink city as the jail which was made of pink bricks. Then we went home, managed to get inside by contacting the "best friend" of the owner and finally rest our shoulders by putting the bags in the home! Here there is this side story of "accents". The owner was in Paris celebrating the holidays with his family there. He left his best friend in charge of the house and left keys with him. He had written Flexi timing on the Airbnb site. So when we reached the home by 2 in the afternoon, we thought we should get inside. When we called him he gave us the number of his "best friend" (we never knew the name of this guy!). He said that he has to walk till 4 and then he will come to let us in. We thought, how could he just let us stay on the road for two hours, for walking! These people are fitness freaks, but this was not acceptable. So we made him come and let us inside the beautiful home. It turned out that he had to "work"! If only we could communicate better! Anywho, then we went to roam around the pink city of France.

Pont Neuf

First, we went to basilica Saint Sernin, which is the largest church there and then to Saint Stephen's cathedral, which is pretty asymmetric. Then, since the Musee des Augustins was closed (to be opened in August 2020), we just clicked some pictures there and were headed to the Pont Neuf. It is the most beautiful place on the river Garonne. There the old building of aeronautical industry is situated. It is out of work now, but an amazing piece of architecture.

Then we went to the place du capitol. Next to the Couvent des Jacobins, which had the ashes of saints from the fourth century. There we saw many police cars rushing to the church because some public strike was about to take place. It was really very quiet. People gathered, shouted quietly (I know, but for this, you need to see public outrages in India) for a maximum five minutes and went away peacefully. I was amazed! So then, we bought some groceries, had warm dinner (Dal and Maggi, separately!) and we were done for the day.

Le Capitol

Canal Du Midi

This day, we were supposed to be in Dordogne. But alas! We had a calmer and more relaxing day. We started our morning late, went to a nearby cemetery, visited the canal du midi in Toulouse and letting the host's black-cat-with-neon-green-eyes inside the house, we went to Bordeaux. We had no trouble finding the place there. We went to the railway station for confirming the refund procedure for our cancelled trains, had Indian dinner (in a SriLankan restaurant, we were greeted with "vanakkam" (Tamil greetings) and surprised by that, I greeted back with "Bonjour"!), and called it a night.

Chat Noir

The asymmetric Church of Holy Cross

Cailhau Gate

Pey Berland Tower

Next morning, we first went to the church of holy cross which is triangular originally ( in 14th century) but has been constructed in stages so now just asymmetric. It was closed, and they were not going to open it since the next day they had multiple masses for new years eve. I saw a man going in from the back door and interestingly he let me inside this UNESCO site to see the interiors of this historic place. It was simple and elegant. Then via the Pey Berland Tower, we went to the Cathedral. Then we visited the capitol, which was holding a circus at that time and we saw the place of Quinconces.  Next, we visited the Cailhau gate which is a castle-like structure in the middle of the road. They offer short films about the history of Bordeaux in french. Then we went to the Miroir d'eau. But there was no water.

Mirror of water (without water!)

Also, the palace behind was under refurbishment. So we clicked some pictures in front of the beautiful backdrop of the castle, monument aux Girondins and the Pont Neuf of Bordeaux and went to have some lunch. We saw the big bell of Bordeaux. They give public access only on Saturdays, so we could see it only from the street. Via Notre Dame, we went to the museum of fine arts in Bordeaux. It was a collection of all the arts that were made by artist staying there. Here we witnessed the cutest thing, a school trip of 5-year-olds to the museum and their teacher explaining them the art, they were very interested and open!

Li'l ones, very curious!

Now the visit to Vieux Bordeaux was pending. I was in time to get in line for that, I was one of the last people to get the chance to see the awe-inspiring view from the top. This is a part of the cathedral saint Andre and had four bells even larger than the big bell. People used to stay inside the tower for almost a century until it was felt safe to use the bell tower in the 18th century. Meanwhile, we also saw the gate of burgundy and the place of Victoria.

Bordeaux from the Pey Berland Tower

This was enough for the day. Our host was a middle-aged man with a kid. He was going to and fro the home to his mother’s place who was struggling for life (in the last stage of cancer!) Still he was smoking a lot! This part of the culture is surprising for me. Anyhow, we went home, made dinner, ate, packed for Paris and went to the bus station.

Sunset from Montparnasse

We reached Paris early in the morning. We ubered to the Airbnb in Arnouville and slept for a while (read hours). After freshening up and eating, we went for the Tour Montparnasse. This was the last thing left in our "to visit" list! It is the skyscraper in Paris which gives access to the top floor and the terrace to the tourists. It has the most marvellous view of the city of Paris. We were happy that we figured out how to go to places in Paris without having to Uber in this time of strike! So, we reached by 4, the sun was about to set. We clicked the crazy cliched pictures, saw the sun setting for the last time in the year on top of this fantastic city, witnessed the dance of lights on the Eiffel Tower and then went to have the last meal of the year.

Spectacular shades of Paris

Us with the chef!

Indian food (made by someone else)
after sooo long

The next morning we left early, we parted our ways, and again using public transport (cannot stress too much on that! Uber is very expensive in Paris) I reached CDG airport and her on the Gare du Est. This was the end of the amazing experience that we had.
There are some observations that I would like to mention here. French people hardly know English, which is good in a way, to conserve the language and unique culture. On the other hand, this makes people not knowing french feel like an outsider. Luckily, I learnt basic level French during my masters, so it was not a problem (I felt satisfied that I have not lost the touch and I could read, listen and understand the people talking, and they could understand me speaking! Another achievement!!)

We went to the Sarvana Bhavan, which is a south Indian restaurants' chain. Upon entering the restaurant, we had the most captivating sambhar khushboo(aroma). It was irresistible. We had idli, dosa, uttapam, Dahi Wada and filter kaapi! After having so many meals of weird sandwiches, upma with namkeen and Maggi, this made us burst into tears! (not really, a figure of speech) We personally thanked the chef (he must have thought that we were high!) and went back to our place (with public transport, achievement unlocked!). The host was a very decent guy, he offered us chocolates. He worked at the museum as a technician. It turns out that he was very interested in physics and when I told him that I am doing a PhD in theoretical Astrophysics, he started showing me all the science books that he reads in his free time. We wished each other Bonne Annee. He was "touched" by my "fluency" in French!

The painted glasses depicting
biblical stories on the

window panes of the churches

Church organs at the backside
 of the church

Another interesting observation is that the whole country has a very homogeneous culture. All the cities we visited had more or less similar structures, no variety (For an Indian this is news!).  Every city has similar-looking gardens, contemporary churches (Notre dame, a basilica, a cathedral, etc.), if there is a river, then Pont Neuf, and so on. These picturesque sights are beautiful and irresistible, no doubt! It is just that they are very similar.  The churches also have very similar structures and patterns.

A Typical French Bridge with locks

Also, smoking is not banned anywhere in this country (maybe churches). Even people with toddlers in one hand smoke with the other! That did not feel right. One more thing, people here like to do public displays of affection! Not only physically, but they also put locks on the bridges, but any bridge on any river also has plenty of locks with names carved on them. It made me a better person. It enriched me in many ways (For example, taught us how to live in an Airbnb, without disappointing the host or how to "backpack" in a whole country!). Also, this gave me a boost. Now I know that I can go on a solo trip! I can carry so much weight on my shoulders (I have had a bad injury!)! I could see the most missed sun (I live in Norway, and it's winter). Being a student, they give us so many concessions! In museums, transportations and wherever you go! This made the trip really affordable. To sum up, going on this trip was one of the best decisions I made in 2019.