by Bobby
Long Lost Blog Contributor
(pictures will be re-uploaded in more detail later)
Having Ma & Pa in for a week was great! Running them around town via a 'joint custody' format, I think that they were able to hit all the major London and Paris sites in 1 week! Incredible for even a seasoned tour operator I must say. Congratulations to all!
I ushered both Ma & Pa to LHR early Saturday for their flight back to the states, and wouldn't you know, but my India elective class required me to fly out at the same terminal at nearly the same time. So we piled onto Heathrow Express and whizzed our way to LHR. We said our good-bye's till July and their Air Canada flight and my Gulf Air flight departed on-time (which is an extremely rare occurrence at LHR) flying in opposite directions.
I arrived the next morning in Bangalore (Bangaluru) to begin my week long elective class investigating current Outsourcing and Off-shoring practices by foreign and domestic multi-national corporations (hmm...sounds complicated). It
was an amazing experience. The course was intended to exhibit India's rapid corporate emergence against the backdrop of their cultural positioning. Overall the course accomplished this extremely well.
What was personally most apparent upon landing in India was the sheer size of its population and how visible that population is. Bangalore, a city designed for maybe 1 million people has 6 million living their now and Delhi (our second stop on the course) has 13 million. The concentration of people in these urban areas is both a blessing (huge potential consumer base and large human resource base) and a curse (extensive poverty). While India possesses the largest 'middle class' population in the world, it also has a population near to that of the US living on close to $1 a day. It was a world of contrasts.
I had a chance to get out and explore Bangalore on Day 1 with my good pal Takeshi. We walked up MG Blvd. to what could be considered the city centre and saw the sights, even taking some time to check out the local Art Museum (tickets were $.10 each, WHAT A DEAL!). The cramped urban landscape of Bangalore was completely different to the wide manicured avenues of South Delhi.
Our hotels were immaculate. Staying at the Leela Palace and Taj Residency in Bangalore and Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi put another spin on the contrasts existing in the country. On advice from one of my classmates, I, Dr. Svenning (of course) reserved a table for 10 at the all-you-can-eat-and-drink brunch at Citrus in the Leela Palace. Probably one of the best culinary displays I have tasted, but a very sterlised perspective of Indian cuisine and culture.
Our access to companies during the week was amazing. We visited Dell, Motorola, WiPro, SAP, and Deutsche Bank among others in Bangalore and Bharti AirTel (India's version of Verizon Wireless) in Delhi. The visits typically comprised of a presentation and Q&A session with some executives on the impact of their location to the overall value chain of the company, and also included a tour of their premises. Some like SAP and WiPro, are enormous campuses which house 10,000-20,000 employees while others like Dell or Motorola were just big singular buildings. Whatever the case, these companies are driving a massive amount of infrastructure development in the country (which is what is desperately needed). I could go on here about details...but I'll spare you for now.
After finishing our tour of Bangalore we headed to scorching Delhi on Kingfisher Airlines (also the largest beer producer in India, what a combination) for a couple days. We got a chance to visit sites such as the Akshardham Temple and India Gate, shopped at Palika Bazaar (an underground mall, which was a great idea considering the temperature) and even got caught in my first sandstorm! Delhi was 109°F for both days. Baking hot.
I was very careful about what I ate and how I ate (only cooked food and lots of hand sanitizer, Keri would be proud), but in the end had no issues (just in case you are wondering about my GI status) and the food was terrific. Dining highlights were typically away from the shelter of the hotels, when small groups of us in Bangalore experienced 'real' Southern Indian cuisine on a few occasions served on banana leaves.
There is much more to tell, but I can't keep writing as I'm losing interest in my own story (something that happens quite often to me). All in all an amazing experience, which I can't wait to revisit at another point in the future.
Tata.
So...its been a while. There's a lot to catch up on. The easiest post for now is to put up pictures of our new flat!
As a part of Bobby's birthday present, I got him tickets to the horse races at Ascot, which is a famous track here in the UK. We used to go up to Saratoga with his grandmother and family and we had the best time, so we just had to check it out here too!
We grabbed some Pimms and lemonade (which we served at my bachelorette!), put a few pounds down on some horses with funny names and set out to our seats to watch the races. It was a beautiful day here in the UK - very rare! - and we got lucky on a few horses, but it was mostly just fun to sit outside and people watch in between! 
We went back to Boston for over 2 weeks in July - what a busy and fun trip! First we went down to Washington DC for Mike and Elena's wedding, which was just such a gorgeous and special weekend. Here's a pic of the happy couple cutting the cake
While Bobby was away in China, my friend Lauren came to visit! I know Lauren from when we interned together at PwC in Boston (she's also a good friend of Mimi's from Holy Cross) and her and her husband Dan just moved over to Stuttgart, Germany a few months ago. 
Bobby eating duck brain (and eyeball
Keri and Lucio came to visit at the end of May for a mini-European tour! They stayed with us during the last bank holiday weekend, then went to Paris for a couple days on the Eurostar, then to Rome to visit Lucio's family and then back to London! 
Probably the most memorable part of their trip was checking out a science fiction exhibit called the London "Telectroscope", which was supposed to look like a giant underground tunnel that connects London Bridge to the Brooklyn Bridge (really it was just a tunnel popping out of the ground with a webcam showing NY at the end). We waited in the queue for more than an hour, paid £1 each to see it and ended up not even really getting to see the it because a family was hogging the whole space! Not to mention that we were all disspointed when we actually got to see it up close - skype is even much better! Although, I don't know what we were expecting! HA
Last weekend we headed to Paris (or so we thought) for a long weekend away at Bobby's MBA tournament. We ended up an hour outside the city near HEC's campus, where the tournament was being held. About 80 people from Cass attended and there were about 1500 people from 14 different MBA programs in Europe that came to compete in 26 individual and team sports.
. And, even though he was talked to by the referree a few times :), he was a superstar on the basketball team! 
I arrived the next morning in Bangalore (Bangaluru) to begin my week long elective class investigating current Outsourcing and Off-shoring practices by foreign and domestic multi-national corporations (hmm...sounds complicated). It
I had a chance to get out and explore Bangalore on Day 1 with my good pal Takeshi. We walked up MG Blvd. to what could be considered the city centre and saw the sights, even taking some time to check out the local Art Museum (tickets were $.10 each, WHAT A DEAL!). The cramped urban landscape of Bangalore was completely different to the wide manicured avenues of South Delhi.
Our hotels were immaculate. Staying at the Leela Palace and Taj Residency in Bangalore and Taj Mahal Hotel in Delhi put another spin on the contrasts existing in the country. On advice from one of my classmates, I, Dr. Svenning (of course) reserved a table for 10 at the all-you-can-eat-and-drink brunch at Citrus in the Leela Palace. Probably one of the best culinary displays I have tasted, but a very sterlised perspective of Indian cuisine and culture.
Our access to companies during the week was amazing. We visited Dell, Motorola, WiPro, SAP, and Deutsche Bank among others in Bangalore and Bharti AirTel (India's version of Verizon Wireless) in Delhi. The visits typically comprised of a presentation and Q&A session with some executives on the impact of their location to the overall value chain of the company, and also included a tour of their premises. Some like SAP and WiPro, are enormous campuses which house 10,000-20,000 employees while others like Dell or Motorola were just big singular buildings. Whatever the case, these companies are driving a massive amount of infrastructure development in the country (which is what is desperately needed). I could go on here about details...but I'll spare you for now.
Bobby's parents visited last week! They got in last Friday morning and "checked into" our tiny flat while we were at class/work (we insisted they stayed with us and loved it!). That afternoon they explored parts of Westminster on their own, then met me and Bobby after work for drinks on Villier's street. Then we went to dinner at a tiny greek restaurant in Covent Garden - Bobby was psyched because they served the bread free with the hummus! It's the little things in life...
Saturday Bobby had a full day of class so Bob, Ellen & I headed out for the sights - Portobello Road, St. Paul's, Tate Modern Art museum and Harrods... We even walked and saw a gibbet outside Clink Prison (a gibbet is a structure that was used to display the dead bodies of executed criminals to the public) which now has special meaning for Bobby and I since it is also the name of the place we're getting married - how romantic. Anyway, after Bobby got out of class we headed up to Hampstead Heath for dinner, but couldn't get a table anywhere! So we ended up having a liquid meal at a couple pubs that Andrew showed us and then headed back to our flat for a few more glasses of wine. There was a lot of catching up to do!
Sunday we prepped for Bob & Ellen's trip to Paris with a dry run to King Cross station and had to see platform 9 3/4 while we were there! We went to Covent Garden again to watch some street performers and grab a traditional pasty as a snack before meeting up with Bobby for a tour of his school. This was actually more difficult than you'd expect because of the security at Cass - they treat it like Fort Knox! Afterwards, Bobby gave us a walking tour of the financial district and then we stopped for a traditional Sunday Roast. That night Bobby got us tickets for the Keys Ceremony at the Tower of London - a traditional ceremony where they lock up the Tower that has been going on for over 700 years. It was one of the highlights of the week - amazing!
Bobby's classes were finished, so he was able to go with them up to Windsor Castle on Wednesday. Only problem was that April 23rd is St George's Day in England (who knew) and it's one of 5 days all year that the castle is closed to the public! They at least were able to walk around and see Eton College as well (where the princes went to school) and stopped at some cute shops along the high street. When they got back to London, they took a trip to our local grocery store to buy some ingredients for dinner. Bob cooked a delicious meal for all of us and Frankie too - I think the only leftovers were a few green beans! Afterwards, we went to see Spamalot and then whistled the tunes as we walked to Soho to get a drink at a trendy little bar. It was a busy day!
Thursday Bobby and his parents went to the Tower of London tour (saw the crown jewels), took a tour of Chelsea, and saw Kensington Palace. Bob and Ellen took a walk around Regent's Park and saw the zoo, rose gardens, etc. We all met back at the apartment for drinks and apps before a wonderful meal at Pattersons that Bobby's parents treated us to! It was such a special night!
Frankie and I spent the weekend in Salzburg. It may seem like a random location for a girl's trip and an early celebration of her 21st birthday (so soon!), but there was a lot to do and see! It is a gorgeous city.
We took a 3:30 am bus to the airport to catch our early morning flight on Friday and ended up getting into our hotel in Salzberg around 10am. We had a "sound of music" themed room and the movie was showing on the TV 24 hours a day - ha. We wasted no time, got ready and started to explore! Our hotel was a 10 min walk to the "old town" so we went to the Getriedegasse, the main shopping street, and got some new cute shoes and tops. We walked up the River Salzach, to the Mirabell gardens (where they shot the "do re mi" song - recognize it from the pic?), through the market, and headed up to the Festung Hohensalzburg (literally "High Salzburg Fortress" in German). You can see the fortress in the background of the pic on the left.
The next day we woke up early and went to see Mozart's birthplace and residence. It was interesting to learn that he was composing at the age of five, he spent over 10 years of his life touring Europe and that he disliked Salzburg very much! That afternoon we went on the Sound of Music tour - what we had been waiting for! Such a fun time. We sang to the soundtrack in the bus, learned all facts about the movie and the actual Von Trapp Family story, and re-enacted all our favorite scenes at all the locations!
