Post cards from Germany - 1

Its been almost a week here in Nuremberg, Germany but life has already become a routine, just as if I have come down to settle here. And its far more one-dimensional here than back home in Mumbai. Each of the last 5 days have been almost a carbon copy of the other. Wake up at 6.30 am, have the same breakfast everyday (bread, cornflakes, juices etc), catch the same train to our training venue (no car pickups and drops J), eat the same kind of lunch as well (corn, vegetable rice and salads gulped down with 500ml of Coke), come back to the hotel by around 6.30 pm, spend the rest of the evening in some mall (since its too cold outdoors) and then have something to pass of as dinner at a nearby McDonalds or Burger King.
Hopefully the weekend should be more interesting !!

One thing which is really new to me is the cold here. I have lived in Mumbai for all but two years of my life and hence, anything less than 20 C was cold in my books (even when I was studying in Bangalore, the minimum I can remember was 12 C). Here in Nuremberg, the maximum is about 9 C !!!. Last evening, while traveling to the underground railway station from my training venue, I experienced my first hail. All of a sudden, small bits of ice started raining down from nowhere. Thankfully, they were not that big and I had to cover a short distance to the underground (have heard the hail can hurt you). Even with all the protection that I had come equipped with, it has been a novel experience.

However, all said and done, Nuremberg is a beautiful city. Not too large (only half a million people, I imagine about the same as Borivali and Andheri !!) but at the same time quite modern. It has a historical past (think Nuremberg and you think middle ages, Nazi times and the famous Nuremberg trials) and the history can be seen in almost every street of the city. One of the most lovely places is the Burg, or the Imperial Castle, which we had visited the day we landed. A castle dating to about 1200 AD, it has survived through a lot over the centuries (Nuremberg suffered a lot in the WW II) and still retains the charm of a castle. The towers there give a panoramic view of the city. Hope to cover a few more places over the next week.

Also, another new experience for me was to get a taste of English soccer madness, On Thursday, Everton clashed with the local club FC Nuremberg. Near our hotel was some English pub presumably showing the action. But that pub was way too small for the hundreds of English fans who had crossed over from England to see the match. The fans were all over the street in front of our hotel. Banners were waved proudly, beer was flowing at will and people were high even two hours before the match. The German police were, of course, on standby to ensure things did not ugly, which can happen fast as historical evidence suggests. But to walk down that street (and avoid bumping into a group of rowdy fans or tripping over a crate of beer lying on the road) that day was some experience. And yes, Everton won that game, so I can imagine even wilder partying that night. Thankfully, by next morning, the street (alongwith the thrash on it) was clear.

The saddest part of the trip is, of course, missing Diwali !! Anyways, here’s wishing all the readers of this blog, and their friends and families, a fantastic Diwali !!! May the lights of Diwali illuminate your road to happiness and prosperity !!!

Cheers
Amit