The wall and the fence

Museggmauer - the great rampart walls were built along the northern edge of the city of Luzern, in 1386. I was following a popular tourist walking path along the city, which took me up one of the towers of the wall. I walked over the fortification for some time. I walked past several towers on my way and descended from one tower to the outer side of the city. There was this walkway going around the rest of the wall, back into the city. I was trying to take a nice photo of the fence and the green field beyond, when suddenly the fence gave me an electric shock, as I accidentally touched one of its cables. On one hand there was this great & modest wall that may have retaliated the attacks of big armies, literally letting me walk all over it; and on the other hand, there was this petite & impudent fencing. Doesn't this remind you of Aesop's fables?

Over the fields we go...

It is a great feeling when the parachute lifts you up from the ground. You are supposed to run down the slope of the hill, when it fills up with air & takes you aloft. (Well, what if it doesn't? Didn't worry about that!)
Just after take off, to make small talk, I asked my tandem pilot-Richie-an old & hearty fellow that why do we need to wear the helmets? If anything goes wrong, death is inevitable... But, I did not have to wait long for my answer. About 10 minutes later, some hook in the chute went off & struck heavily on my helmet. If it weren't for the helmet, it would certainly have knocked me unconscious. Richie & I shared a good laugh upon this.
Richie had stayed in air with a parachute longest for 8 & a half hours, as a personal record. During which, he had responded to the call of nature at the cost of his pants. I know, the same question popped into my mind, as yours... why didn't he ....., which I did not ask!
The Thun-Brienz lakes & Interlaken area was looking like a real paradise from above. I tried to take maximum pictures of the views. Now that I think of it, I must have observed the surroundings for at least 40% of the time from the LCD screen of my digicam!
We also did some tricks like banking & spiral twists. It stirred my stomach in the beginning, but was a thrilling experience. I also got to control the chute for 3-4 minutes, no tricks though.. just twisting and turning.
To sum it up, it probably is "the awesomest" thing I might have ever done.

Stendhal syndrome

This photo was taken inside the Vatican museum. (Needless to say, it is a "cropped" version of a bigger photo!) It pretty much sums up the reaction of being overwhelmed by the fantastic artworks in Roman Musei Vaticani, Musei Capitolini, Galleria Borghese & Florentine Galleria degli Uffizi, Galleria dell'Academia, Museo del Bargello & numerous other galleries/musea. Especially Florence, being the home of da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello (all artists; not Ninja turtles), Galileo, Botticelli, Vespucci, Machiavelli, Dante, Boccaccio, Ms. Nightingale & many others... just too many for a single city!

Eiffel (2)

On the night of 31st May, we (approximately, 30 students of Indian Institutes of Technology, mainly of IIT Bombay, interning at various locations in Europe) decided to have a nightout below the Eiffel, the purpose being the enjoyment, adventure & saving money!
It being the la Ville Lumière (the city of light, Paris), I had expected that the wonderful lighting of the Eiffel to last throughout the night. But, to our dismay, after a glorious show of lights at 1 a.m. the Eiffel shut down its lights.
Me & some others suggested that we should spend night in Jardins du Trocadero, garden on the opposite side of Seine than that of Eiffel, which was illuminated enough. But, "when we say that we had a nightout below Eiffel, we should be at least on the same side of the river as that of Eiffel" was the motto of the herd!!!
The dark, bushy garden below Eiffel was in a real mess by the night. People, mostly young tourists, were drinking, smoking, fighting, yelling, throwing up & doin' "it" !!! It was an insecure place. We chose a comparatively well lit spot & made a circle. I, luckily was not on the periphery! Some of us, who could not sleep, kept guard. And there were our dear Indians, selling cheap liquor to the public. Those among us who bought, bargained in Hindi! They were Indians, or that is what they told us. I mean, they could have been Pakistanis or Bangladeshis instead. There was a group of 3-4 guys and 2 gals at a distance from us. One of the guys noticed us, crouched as a huge lump of 30 guys trying to sleep. He was heavily drunk & couldn't speak English. He was very excited to see all of us, took our photos & wanted to jump over us & join us along with his girlfriend (thats what he addressed her). We tried hard to drive him away, but he would go away & return a few minutes later only with new vigor (& may be with new shot of his drink!). At about 3 a.m. we had to leave the place as the nuisance of him & his friends grew worse. But, one thing was certain, that they were surely no thugs. The maximum damage they could pose was by throwing up on one of us.
As we were pacing for a safer place that I & others had suggested at the beginning of the night, we were stopped by a girl. The girl being beautiful, some people stopped to listen to her. She was stammering, could barely speak / think... she just said, "Guys, could you help me??... Could you help me, F**K those f**king guys??", when some of her companions came, consoled her & took her away.
The part of night from 4 a.m. to 5-30 a.m. was quiet... nothing special happened & most of us slept except those 5-6 worried souls. We were awakened in the morning by the growing chills & the stares of Parisians passing by...
The gardens & surroundings which were clean & most happening 12 hours ago had turned into a mess, with garbage, bottles & crap all around, amidst a cover of thin fog. Eiffel did not want to look down... at all. He had the fog cover wrapped around to distance himself from all those things. Suddenly, I realized why he had shut the lights in the first place...

Eiffel

The moment I landed in France (Paris airport), I had "seen" the Tower of Eiffel. It felt neither impressive nor majestic at that moment. In the morning through the evening of 31st May-when we visited Paris as tourists-we occasionally spotted the tower from a distance: sometimes between skyscrapers, sometimes between historic buildings, from Montmartre, between trees or plainly rising above the river bank. Eiffel tower is not a thing to hide (obviously), what I mean is: it does not flash before your eyes just like that making you extremely excited & so on. You look at it throughout the day occasionally, and you approach it gradually (so far you are on foot!).

I got the first clear view-entirely, from top to bottom-of Eiffel in the evening when we reached Trocadero; & literally touched "the metal" about half an hour later!