:D

Later ;)

Of Research, Comics & Ph.D. Comics

Darn .. learnt it the Hard way !!

Grande

Whereas, Grande in English, means something impressive and magnificent, it simply means Big in French. Hence, while a small Coke, is mois Coke, its opposite - a Large Coke, is Grand Coke. Simple enough.
But the French have it in them , for being flashy and classy. As a result, when they decide to do something Big, its Grand nonetheless.
Yesterday, was July 14 - the day, when the French Revolution began - way back in 1774, by storming the then prision - Bastille . Til today, 14^th is remembered and celebrated as Bastille Day. The morning has the usual Army Parade. Well, I would have called it, the French equivalent of 15th August Parade, but it has actual Army Jets flying about & not being carried atop army tanks, as a exhibiion. As I hear, these, Jets actually fly at near ground level, along the Champs Elysees. I don't think, we ever do that.
Similarly, later in the evening, there is a fireworks show at Eiffel Tower and its, well, Grand! I haven't seen - 4^th of July fireworks, but I don't think, they can get much bigger than 40 minutes of a colour splattered sky. I haven't seen so many people on the streets either. It was actually crowded and I was loving it. With less than a week to go, I couldn't a better last Saturday. There was a proper feast on the streets of Paris. People were in readiness of the fireworks. Locals, were more relaxed - had beers and wines handy, packed their picnic dinners, comfortable and portable chairs out. There can't be a more romantic dinner, than by the Seine on lush greens, as fireworks celebrate overhead. No one minds, the milling crowds at such times, anyway.
On similar lines, Paris has other Grand landmarks. The Grande Arch at La Defense, seems to be created for no particular purpose - Just for Fun!. But once, they set at doing it - they made it so Grande - that I am sure that the whole of English couldn't come up with a better suited word for it, than well, Grand. Its in the middle off nowhere - but has the view of over 3 kms. from La Defense to Etoile to the Concorde - all along the Champs Elysees. For trivia, the road from Grande Arch to Etoile - is named Rue de Grand Army.

:D

I don't know how JKR got it so right, but when your worst memories and fears are being relived, when you feel demented beyond hope, when all charms fail (basically, you get the point ...), a chocolate can cheer you up!
I wasn't having my soul sucked out but when Stephane came and offered me some chocolates, that a belgian visitor had brought, I took two and am happy.

Avez-vous su? - 10 St. Sulpice Church

Another 'Da Vinci' Myth-Buster:

The meridien line materialised by a brass inlay in the pavement of this church is a part of a scientific instrument built here in 18^th century. This was done in full agreement with the church authorities by the astronomers in charge of the newly established Paris observatory. They used it for detailing various parameters of earth's orbit.

Contrary to fanciful allegations in a recent best-selling novel, this is not a vestige of a pagan temple. No such temple ever existed in tits place. It was never called Rose-Line. It doesn't conincide with the meridien traced through the middle of Paris Observatory which serves as reference for maps where longitude are measured in degrees east or west of Paris.

Please note that the letters P and S in the small round windows at both ends of the transcept refer to Peter and Sulpice, the patron saints of the church and not to the Priory of Sion.

The inlay exists, it leads upto the marble construction with a globe at the top.
More interestingly, patches of the marble inscription have been, chiseled to erase out what they said.

An Intern's Guide to RyanAir

After a 3 way RyanAir journey, here are a few pointers

• RyanAir does give cheap tickets. Be sure to get them.
• All Ryanair flights to Paris, are marked not with the customary '*', but a (BVA). It means that the flights operate out of the Beauvais Airport, not in Paris. Beauvais is a good 100Kms away from Paris center & takes more than an hour to reach from Paris. One of the many side-businesses operated by RyanAir include fleecing passengers by charging an exorbitant 13e single way to transport you from Port Malliot to Beauvais.
• Many Ryanair airports are pretty far from the city, and special conveyance is required to reach the city. All factors included & jokes apart, RyanAir still makes a good bargain. (Interesting to note than - RyanAir calls the Malmö Sturup Airport, in Sweden as the Copenhagen Airport).
• RyanAir prides itself in being on time about 80% of the time! So, if you are making a 3 leg journey, as we did - good chance that atleast 1 flight will be delayed. RyanAir didn't disappoint us by flying more than an hour late from Venice.
• RyanAir flies Europe's chillad public. As a result, its perfectly normal to carry your own bread and butter and chomp on it while flying.
• Expect a rush for Window seats & be sure to grab yours. They try to eke out a few extra euros from a few people by giving them priority boarding, but not many fall for it.
• Interestingly, those who pass the boarding desk first get pushed to a corner in the bus that conveys you to the plane & might not be the first off the bus, onto the flight. An interesting & open, optimisation problem.
• RyanAir has huge operations & handles many Boeings / Airbuses. So those hoping for the joys & thrills of Propeller Jets might be dejected.
• RyanAir makes it publicly known, in the rare event the land perfectly on time. One is supposed to cheer on such occasions. It isn't too bad an idea to cheer, whenever you land -- on the airport, by clapping loudly. There is a good chance the rest on the flight will join the celebration of surviving the flight.
• On a practical note, pay the extra baggage charge to check-in atleast 1 suitcase per group. Stove all the toothPastes, Colognes, Deos on this. When in Rome, dont stink like IITians do!

Avez-vous su ? - 9

[The list below, is just compiled for the sake of information & doesn't intend to make any comment on Christianity or Papacy, both of which I hold in regard.]

Vatican Facts :-
1. The St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican where the Pope is famous for making public appearances, isn't the official seat of the Pope. The Basilica of St. John Lateran, located across town in San Giovanni Piazza, is the official ecclesiastical seat of the Pope, as the Bishop of Rome.
2. The St. Peter's Basilica isn't the largest basilica either, though it was when it was built. The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, in Ivory Coast, built in & closely modeled on St. Peter's is.
3. Medieval times have seen Anti-Popes, cardinals who contested the position and seat of the presiding Pope & whose claims were widely recognised.
4. Wikipedia also lists a handful Sexually-active Popes. While St. Peter, the 1^st Pope, was known to be married, its ironic that Pope Innocent VIII had several illegitimate children, so did Pope Pius IV.