Archive for December, 2009

Santa University

santa_claus

Its true!!

Well, just imagine  -  in some remote corner of the world all the Santa Clauses coming together for a training session!! Yes, it does happens!! The Santa Clauses actually attends University to prepare himself to be more receptive to people he meets around the Christmas eve!! Isn’t this news to you?? It was certainly news to me!

The Noerr Programs Corporation, a digital event imaging company trains Santa’s every year in the Santa University at Arvada, Colarado. The training program the Santa’s receive helps them answer tricky questions often put up by children and also to get the shy kids to come forward and share his/her Christmas list. These Santa’s even are given pointers as to when to ho,ho,ho!!

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Priya Q on December 24th 2009 in Author's muses, Information / Reviews

Vienna Attractions

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image : Priya Q

One city I fell in love with during my first visit albeit short one in the year 2006 is Vienna the capital city of Austria. I consider myself lucky, for 2009 gave me one more opportunity to visit and see Vienna up close and that too leisurely.

So what is it that attracts one to Vienna? Plush green gardens, larger than life architectural buildings, markets, music and culture? The answer is each one of these things, yes everything!

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Priya Q on December 23rd 2009 in Travelogue..My Travel Diary

Dachau Concentration Camp

image: Priya Q

image: Priya Q

Walk of Shame & a gory glimpse into the past….

I was in Munich when my friend asked me whether I would be interested in visiting the first Nazi concentration camp opened in Germany. While on a vacation one generally tends to visit places and do things that are pleasant; but here I was looking at visiting an important chapter from the history which I had read back in school. Reading about something is alright by me, but I also think that seeing is believing! We had already visited the Anne Frank’s house at Amsterdam (I will post about it in the days to come)  and had seen how a Jewish family had lived under the very nose by the Nazis. So I decided to visit the Dachau Concentration camp the very next day.

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Priya Q on December 15th 2009 in Travelogue..My Travel Diary

Freetown Christiania – Copenhagen, Denmark

That's me at the entrance to Christiana image: Mr.Q

That's me at the entrance to Christiania image: Mr.Q

A Country within a Country!!

Traveling from one place to the next during our Europe trip was made on sudden impulses and mostly based on suggestions from our local friends. There was no Lonely Planet and the likes, just us and our whims!! And the only way we kept up with our friends or rather the other way around was through Facebook!! My status on Facebook usually was the easiest reference point in locating us. While I was in Copenhagen the capital & the largest city of Denmark, when my friend from Slovenia mailed me urging me to visit Christiania, a Freetown located a few minutes walk from Downtown Copenhagen. So the next day that’s where we headed to…. Christiania!!

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Priya Q on December 8th 2009 in Travelogue..My Travel Diary

Welcome to City of Cambridge

This post has been written together with Mr. Q, a quiz master by profession and my travel partner across Europe.

Autumn in Cambridge..

Autumn in Cambridge..image : Priya Q

I wasn’t planning to write about Cambridge any time soon till I saw the promos of the new Amitabh Bacchan and Abhishek Bacchan’s Bollywood movie ‘Paa’. Memories of my trip came rushing by as I watched Vidya Balan walking around the streets of Cambridge. The very same streets which I had walked around just 2 months back!! :)

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Priya Q on December 5th 2009 in Travelogue..My Travel Diary

Kolkata, India: A City Holding onto its Past

This is a guest post by Lyndsey Biddle who writes for leather briefcase, a website that offers luxury briefcases direct from the manufacturer. Lyndsey currently resides in Kolkata, India, where she is learning Bengali and Indian cooking.

Kolkata street...the first city in India to run trams!

Kolkata street...the first city in India to run trams!

I moved to Kolkata, India a little over a year ago to study Bengali and to learn more about Bengali culture. Though it is not my first time in India, my introduction to Kolkata left me somewhat bewildered. What a peculiar mixture of old and new this city is. With India developing and changing at an alarming rate, Kolkata is not excluded. There are constantly new tall, modern buildings popping up and neighborhoods are now seeing shopping complexes, cafes, bookstores, and all the conveniences that come along with a modern city.

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Priya Q on December 4th 2009 in Guest posts

Meet Greyfriars Bobby

Greyfriars Bobby

Greyfriars Bobby

From time immemorial, people have vouched about the unconditional love and faith displayed by their pet dogs. People even assert that their dogs are their stress busters! But who would have imagined the undying love of a dog for its owner long after the latter’s death?

While taking a city walk in Edinburgh I came across a statue of a dog inviting lot of attention from people who were evidently tourists. Who was this dog? And why was there a statue instituted for it? I was quite intrigued.

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Priya Q on December 2nd 2009 in Travelogue..My Travel Diary

Oresund Bridge (Øresundsbron) – Connecting Denmark and Sweden

Two man made marvels & what a sight!! ……Oresund Bridge (Øresundsbron)

Two man made marvels & what a sight!! ……Oresund Bridge (Øresundsbron)

With the Copenhagen summit preparations going on in full swing and every news media house piling in with snippets about the country of Denmark & its beautiful capital city Copenhagen, I would like to showcase a sight & two man made marvels – which I saw couple of months back when I was traveling from Copenhagen.

Both the marvels I saw were on my train ride from Copenhagen, Denmark to Malmo in Sweden. One of the most beautiful stretches of travel that had a refreshing touch and an everlasting imprint on my memory.

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Priya Q on December 1st 2009 in Global Warming, Travelogue..My Travel Diary