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Cuba from  my experiences- Part2

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Cuba from  my experiences- Part2 The Republic of Cuba is one of the world's last remaining socialist countries. Cuba was a different holiday destination from my all holiday destinations till now. Its a third world country. One needs to have open mind to accept the ways the things work there , should have patience to adjust to different way of living, culture and mind set. I am not going to lie but I was really not happy the first time I arrived there. It was hot, dirty, was not able to understand the language and in that in my first casa the host was not able to speak a single word of English. So with my limited Spanish vocabulary after 11 hrs. of flight I was really frustrated .   But slowly I started liking it. May be I accepted the way things are or the country and people are so nice that they made me fall in their love. Whatever it was but  later I enjoyed my stay more and more.  Old Havana is really dirty but the country side of Cuba is really beautiful....

Cuba from  my experiences- Part1

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Cuba from  my experiences- Part1 2 years ago few of my friends talked about going to Cuba but that was just a talk . As every year I was planning my birthday trip I suddenly though of Cuba. I asked many friends  to join me but as usual every one had some excuse to let me go alone. well I am used to this now.  Any way I finalised my destination and started googling about Cuba. I was really not knowing much about this country and also had some prejudices. First important thing was to find a right agency to plan a trip. After long search found really good company Cuban Adventures to plan my trip. As I was going alone in this country for the first time I was a bit afraid to do on my own all things. So decided to do a group tour and I must say I chose the right company to do this tour with.   I chose the 8 day round trip which started from Havana followed by vinales, Cienfuegos, Trinidad and back to Havana. I don't want to write about these places as everyone can ...

Meetup Group: My new friend

Its been really long since i write anything. But now from this year i will try to write something new as much as possible.  The best topic for the first day of new year cannot be better than my new Best FRIEND : Meetup Group.  It has changed my life for better, had saved me from going into deep depression, had helped to bring out my organisation skills, made me laugh, never left me alone....can never thank enough to this best friend It doesn’t matter if you are in a new country, city , in your own country or returning to you home country after living few years abroad; there always comes a point when you feel alone, or you try to find like minded people , or people with similar hobbies , interest. In such situation the best answer is joining Meetup Groups. What is this Meetup group….. well it’s a worldwide organization ,actually an Internet group which connects people from different countries, different cultures but with same interests , same hobbies and help find ...

Monte Negro- Country of black mountains

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This year I wanted to go to some new, different place for holidays. Just got bored of usual typical holiday destinations in Greece, Spain and Italy. And suddenly remembered of Monte Negro. I heard this country first time when I watched the James bond movie Casino Royal. Since then I wanted to see this country. But it’s not that popular holiday destination and so was difficult to get information about this country. Finally started to Google Monte Negro. And got the email id of MonteNegro tourism office. I emailed them and got all the information about when to go and how, best tourist city etc… They gave me email of their travel agent and I must say this travel agent from Monte Negro was really good. Very friendly, very helping. Always answered all my emails very patiently. Offered a very good deal of hotel, different tours there. This country is actually very new. Very small but very beautiful country. Monte Negro was a part of former Yugoslavia and now since 2006 they got indepen...

Christmas is in the air

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I've been obsessed with Christmas ever since I was a kid. Back then, I’d flip through storybooks and stare at pictures of Santa, sparkling trees piled high with presents, snowy scenes, and tables loaded with cakes and cookies. I was totally captivated and always dreamed of celebrating it for real. Fast forward to December 2000: a friend and I were hanging out at a mall near Westend Cinema in Pune. The place was decked out for the holidays, packed with beautifully wrapped gifts, and the vibe was just amazing. As we sat there sipping coffee, I turned to my friend and said, "Wouldn't it be incredible to celebrate Christmas in a place where they really go all out—like somewhere in Europe or the US?" Well, Santa must have been listening! Just a year later, my friend got married and moved to the US, while I landed a job in Germany. Talk about a wish granted! By 2001, I was finally experiencing a real European winter, complete with snow and holiday cheer. But something was s...

Halloween at Burg Frankenstein

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The German word Burg means Castel. Burg Frankenstein is about 5 km south of Darmstadt in Germany. This castel was first built in 1100 and expanded in the 14th and 15th Centuries. In 1976, American soldiers stationed in Darmstadt founded an annual Halloween festival at the castle, which has grown to become one of the biggest Halloween festivals in Europe. There are few stories about this castel. Every year there is a big famous halloween event at the castel for 3 weekends near halloween. On these weekends , there are different horror shows, enactments of some horror plays and party. Last year one of our friends told us about this and we decided to attend this halloween show and party this year. It is necessary to buy the tickets well in advance as the tickets are limited and many people attend this shows. Well i was very excited to go there as this was my first Halloween party ever. One day of this halloween weekend is for children above 7 years and other day is for adults above 14 y...

My Patisserie Course

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Yesterday I attended a Patisserie course at crown plaza hotel. Till now I always used to wonder this dessert buffet at crown plaza . Always used to think that it must be something that only professional cooks can do but never thought its actually really simple to make even at home. This was my first time to attend such course here in germany. We were almost 13 people in the course. course timing was at 14.00hr. and exactly at 14.00 hr. the head cook with his 3 assistants came where we were seating and introduced him and his team to us. Perfect german timing..... :) Everything was well organised. the whole staff there was also very  friendly. We all got one cocktail as welcome drink. when we heard this one of our team member asked oh...is it possible to cook after drinking alcohol? the chef said....well professionals like me can manage it better after 1,5 promillo but u should not :)  well he was kidding. But we all got anyway alcohol free cocktail. then we all got a...