'Home' again!

Another weekend of my sojourn here in France/Europe went by, leaving my mind body and soul with a feeling of nostalgia and familiarity. I say this because I found myself heading to Nottingham this past weekend. Now one must think, that Nottingham is no Paris or Venice or Rome, so how such a fulfilling experience!.. Read on

'Nottingham' located in central England, is the home to Robin hood and the Sherwood Forest. It is a vibrant city with the presence of a few universities in the region, thus showering upon
the city, The college goers. There is a decent nightlife and a few restaurants here and there. I personally recommend any Fried Chicken place, especially after a long night of partying. Greasy food topped with mint yogurt and chilli sauce is blissfull in the cold spitting British rain,trust me. But despite the cabs you only see in England, a few places to party and typical British weather, Nottingham doesn't have too much to boast off for the novice traveler looking for a lot of excitement.

Nottingham is very close to my heart though! It is here that I had met my love on a beautiful summer day, over one too many a brew, on what are called the 'Downs'. A vast expanse of grassy uneven land, in the midst of the Nottingham university, University park campus. 31st May 2008, the day I met my love. Even though the memories of the day are passing, I have a sort of surreal feeling of that day. I feel drawn to that day, to the memories that were the 31st of May 2008. What a wonderful day, what a wonderful story!

When I landed at the modest(no offense) East midlands Airport, I was met at once by a sense of familiarity. I was the first one out of customs, and with one bag on my shoulder, I found to my surprise my Love and her friends welcoming me with flowers and banners. This was joke obviously but was indeed a pleasant surprise. For obvious reasons that I cannot state here, I did not leave my room too much!...

Don't worry I don't intend to make this a post about my emotional connect with Nottingham but a little more about the place. This past weekend was my 7th Visit in the last 20 months. When I first went there, never would I have thought that I would be visiting it that often. And mind you, the visits will continue. Nottingham to me is a sort of a 'Second home' or a 'Third home', well since Delhi is my first and Atlanta should be my second as I have lived there some 2 and a half years. I personally love British culture. Be it the politeness of the British, or their wonderful accents, the amount they love their beers and football(soccer for you Americans), or just the Charmingness of it all. Maybe it's more so because having been brought up in India, having being taught the Queens English, it feels great to hear words like dust bin or biscuit or just to spell Color, Colour!

Anyway, back to the topic of Nottingham. So what is there to do in Nottingham you may ask, and to which I shall reply, if you drink, you can keep yourself occupied for a while. There are plenty of pubs, like in any English town, but there A shot I took in the Nottingham University, on a nice summer day

also some very trendy clubs and pubs. One of my favorites is called Pit and Pendulum. The bar has a very gothic theme to it and serves some really exotic cocktails. Vodka Revolutions, is a place you must definitely go to if you're a lover of Vodka. Everything from Vodka shots, to vodka cocktails to even vodka inspired food. One of my personal favorites. If you're out with your date or girlfriend or spouse or whatever and want a cosier evening, I suggest tantra or coco tang. Both places have long beds you can lounge on or you know, get a little frisky! All these places are in downtown Nottingham which is an easy cab ride from wherever you might be living. If we're talking clubs, there's Oceana, which is by far the best club in town. Monday nights are college nights, so expect a crowd. There's a few other clubs you might want to visit if you're looking for a disc, called Halo and Ocean. They play top 40's generally, what is called 'Cheese' music in England.

A visit to Nottingham is not complete without dining at Nandos. It's a chicken place. You order your chicken, quarter,half or full and you choose your peri peri sauce. The peri peri sauce is what makes this place a must visit.

I just realized that this post sounds like a travel forum more than my own personal experience in Nottingham. But over my 7 visits, I have visited most of the places. At least the ones that are worth going to that is.

I am probably going to find myself in Nottingham once again to meet my love in the coming weeks, but in the meantime I may visit some places in France itself. There are talks of Lille and the Champagne region, so lets see where the road or the tracks take me this weekend.

Till then like the British like to say, Cheers Mate!

p.s: All my references to my 'love' are kept that way for some secrecy issues. Our story in itself is a tale that I can narrate for hours on and would still not get bored. We do intend to write a book of some sort sometime later in life!

Mon Voyage a Strasbourg!

As our first weekend here approached, we started exploring possibilities as to where we could go. After much deliberation and thought, it was decided that Strasbourg would be our first destination. Strasbourg is a French city that shares it's border with Germany. It has gone back and forth between Germany and France and as a result there is a Great German influence in the town.
It is part of the region of Alsace which is famous for its vines and tarte flambes, a sort of thin crust pizza.

We arrived in Strasbourg bright and early, ready to explore and soak in what the town had to offer. A bustling town, with a great tram system bang in the center, this was a great first impression. With the snow slowly melting as it was a slightly warmer day, the people were out on the streets.

We headed for the Cathedral de Notre Dame a Strasbourg. All we had to do was follow the tall tower of the church we could see from the distance. What a sight. One of the most beautiful cathedrals I have ever seen. Magnificent facade with intricate work on the exterior. It took us all a while to soak in what our eyes were seeing. We were able to climb up to the top of the church from where there was a gorgeous view of the whole city.

We had soon built up an appetite and headed for a traditional Alsacian meal at a pretty fancy restaurant. It was a 3 course meal that included a Tarte De L'Oignion to begin with. The entree was basically sauerkraut with some sausages and boiled potatoes. Not my favorite meal but interesting nevertheless. The night was ended with a few pints at a local bar.

The highlight of the next day was a visit to the Kronenbourg Brewery. Kronenbourg brews about 500,000 bottles in an hour and is a huge beer producer in France. The tour of the brewery was followed by a tasting of about 10 of their products. Two of my favorites were the Kronenbourg 1664 Wheat beer, which had a very sweet taste to it and the Kronenbourg Gold, which was a double brewed beer.

Soon it was time to head back to Metz! This first weekend turned out to be successful. Till next time, Cheers!

A New Beginning

I have been intending to pen down my thoughts for a while now and might finally get down to it. Blogging seems to be the norm these days anyway. But I do it not to follow trend but to maybe give the countless thoughts in my mind a more definite form.

I intend to start this off as a talk about my time here in Metz, France and my travels around the region. Its been about 10 days here and I feel more than comfortable already. I could get used to waking up every morning, watching fresh snow fall's. The town is charming, the people are kind, and I am ready to explore and expand my horizons!

Watch out for more postings on my travels and even more!