Vienna Traveblog..

Vienna is as grand as history proclaims it to be, certainly not a city to be covered over a weekend. Architecturally its in the same league as Paris, culturally its the most advanced of the germanic lot and culinary fare is outstanding. Pictures should be forthcoming soon... We took the train into Vienna which lasted a little under 4 hours, not long enough to contemplate taking a flight especially with environment friendly queen in tow. I must admit we were a little disappointed during the taxi drive from the station to the hotel especially when comparing it to Munich. Though as the taxi ride progressed our initial disenchantment started wearing off after seeing some of the better geometrically formed building and famous viennese cafes. I was still jetlagged from my last business trip so a few hours into our sightseeing, we had to head back to the hotel for a catnap, wiener schnitzler (pan fried pork steak) for lunch did not help either. Walked along the water for a bit and finally settled at a fish restaurant for dinner, good choice. We dedicated most of the next day to Museum hopping - visited the art Museum, architecture (I spent all of 10 minute there), Modern art museum and Leopold Museum (paintings) and went for a concert in the evening. Vienna has a Museum quarter which houses all the major museums and is enclosed in a very large square filled cafes and live music making for a very interesting place to spend an afternoon brunch. Discovered an artist called Egon Schiele who painted for only a few years (like Van Gogh) and his work is very reminiscent of modern greats like Picasso however much darker. Saw a few Klimts too, interesting too. No trip to Vienna is complete without sampling the sacher tort. Even though we only had a coffee and cake, it was definitely calorifically the highest. The cake was excellent. My blog reticence is usually a good indicator of my travelling schedule, been on the road for far too long now. Hope to be back in Munich next weekend.

Plex got engaged!

It feels good to be back home, this was a long stressful trip. Caught up on a few movies on the flight into Munich courtesy Thai airlines. Watched most of Last King of Scotland and was quite impressed with Forest Whitaker's accent and also saw Wild Hogs which was also worth the watch. I also saw Guru, very reminiscent of Dhirubhai Ambani's story and not sure it is meant to have any similarities, and it was also well made. The wife is tired of Munich so we are off to Vienna tommorow, things that I have to do balance work and wife :) We have not taken any time off for some time primarily because of my knee. Today is public holiday though spent most of it fixing my wireless at home, working and sipping apple juice at the beach bar. The big news in town is that Plex got engaged! Not sure whats more suprising, the fact that he found the guts to ask someone to marry him or the fact that she actually said 'yes'. This is the best news this year, wedding is in India. Looks like we will making a trip to India next January:) I must say both of them look great together, though Plex seems to have been taking extra helpings since the last time that I saw him:) The lucky lady's name is Sheba. I am quite excited just writing this... Plex can I post some pics?

When in Singapore..

Back in Sunny Singapore again, always look forward to these gastronomic trips. All meals are planned from the moment that I make plans to go Slingland, checked off Muthu's Fishhead Curry Restaurant a couple of hours after I landed. Was blessed with company of the better half of Sarojaman and the newly crowned Head of Strategy, Mr. Girdhar, and keeping true to our previous track records we ordered everything on the menu. Everything was great except the fishhead curry :). The great Singapore sale is on so tried to do some shopping with the fishhead monsters aka Fashionistas and eventualy settled for staid striped shirt at Marks and Spencers. Had to trek halfway across Orchard to park Saroj's car, not sure why Saroj has a car? Making up for something :) Hit Jumbo Seafood, the crab was absolutely fantastic! Did the mandatory vegetarian meal at Komala Vilas, still craving for more. Took a few colleagues along and they were very amused by the amount of rice that I was able to tuck away. A trip to Singapore is not complete without a lazy shackout lunch at Raffles, which I really enjoyed this time. A bit expensive though.. I am avoiding the weighing scale like the plague. Everytime I am in Singapore, it seems to get busier and more crowded. I hear that the goverment wants to double the population to 6Million in the next decade or so. I remember when I was living at INSEAD, always thought Singapore would be a good destination to invest in real estate and in hindsight that it seemed obvious but many that I spoke to then thought that it was a dead market. The property and construction boom seems to be unstoppable right now. Hoping that I can get back to Munich this week, the days become weekends become days and routines essentially revolving around work thats due and meals that need to be eaten. Friends at Ixigo have launched, so if you are planning to book flights, please use them.