the flight from paris to seattle

the flight from paris took off at 1030 am . thankfully got a window seat
we were flying back in time landing in seatlle after a ten hour flight at 1130 in the morning so it was daylight all the way
it was the most amazing flight ... we flew over greenland........for two hours we flew over sheets sheets sheets of flat snow with nountains often peaking out
then blue deep blue sea
looking in the distance it seems like there is land and is it a beach .such a clear cut of land it seems ...but tits snow..........
pix cant capture the expanse so white as far as you can see
sometimes it seems that there is ince over lots of water
when there are breaks in the snow you wander is it water?
is the white clouds?

sitting next to a young ukrainian who is going to alaska to work in a restaurant the flight costs him 1400 dollar he has paid 1000 dollars for the work contract.he will work 2 jobs a day at 10 dollars an hour, rents a place of 200 dollars and will make back his expenses and also some more for his education..he is studying engineering
we have a gud time cheering to f=champagne then red wine then white

whilst watching out have movies going on ....... watched the curious case of bengamin button, woody allen scoop, last chance harvey, christina goes to barcelona......... cant see the end of that ..flight is landing

its been so great to meet suzie........ her daughter rachel comes for dinner.suzie has the diary we had kept during our trip.in 1967.we had dopped out of college when i was 17 and drove from protland to montreal to new yord new orleans to new mexico.... at places it is faded out the parts that went into the water... her daughter reads the short descriptions on each day and we relive our adventures....much laughter......... next day we went to lunch with the poet gary
snyder.evening his poetry reading with 2000 people paying to hear him. he dedicates his reading to ron and suzy. rons book has come to suzy the day before, the one he finished proof reading on his bed ........... he died with suzy and his two kids holding his hand......... in the house where we are......... its amazing to me that suzie and ron are so respected for the work they have done in linguistics...........

we had calvados apple brandy a speciality from brittany france to celebrate......

off tomorrow to theolymic national park camping

pix at brittany at maharaj saptah

my room mate mangala from italy she made lovely pasta and we went for lovely walks on the beach and talked of life advaita philosophy
maharaj and siddharameshwar maharaj after the puja my garland on nissaradatta maharaj what flowers
the garland i made
us dancing
the samadhi >>> it says I am always with you.lawrences room looks out at this us all doing bhajans behind

a close upof the samadhi >> the calligraphy book i had made for lawrence on the left side with a flower
the samadhi with thegold kalash which had been made in front
puja time at samadhi the sea behind
yours truely in front of the flowers for the puja
the green house from which we went to pluck as many roses we want...... allunder the white thread cld be taken
we tied baskets around us and walked down collecting roses in it
roses roses roses
wow windmills onthe train ride to quimper in brittany

pix from paris

andre breton museum of modern art
outdorr market at bastille
well indians have reached there also
the bastille
montemarte
floe in the gardens
recycling glass in paris
andre bretons surrealis painting in the museum of modern art
painters on the street at montmarte
moulin rouge theatre..... cost of a show was 90 euros..... 4000 rs so was happy with the outside and seeing the pics outside
me at the same flower garden
a stained glass window at notre dam
now you know what this is
the famous pyrimid in front of the louvre......... remember da vinci code
floe andme at the cafe after having coffee

in brittany france

Brittany is 5 hours from Paris, took a train through farms green fields all in straight lines also saw several windmills

Am staying with my freind Laurence who has a pyrimid house in a big garden.. her place has a view of the sea and there are nice walks going to the cliffs with waves crashing into the rocks

there is a three day festival for our guru... ranjit maharaj who has made several trips to europe. there are about 50 of us here... indians, french, germans; italians, one from the states..... its amazing . these guys know the marathi bhajans by heart.. i have to refer to my books.....singing with cymbals an drums and clapping

each day we start at 9 with morning kakad arati . about 45 miutes of singing. then one group makes six seven garlands with roses. two days ago I had gone with some to a large green house..almost 200 rows of roses half a kilometer long each.. we went down the rows plucking all the roses which were not growing straight up.. pink white red mixed colous pink and white red and pink.... 

then 12 we do the puja where the galands are hung on the samadhi and the pictures... lots of singing and also readings from the Das bodh and from maharajs lectures.. in french german and english...

then we have mahaprasad indian food for about 20 of the guests.... i have been helping in the cooking......

at 6 a video of maharaj when he was in france is put on.... then 8 night bhajans .. there is a lot of dancing in the afternoon doing titli . crossing hands and going round and round.. this can go on for half an hour and there is much laughter as people twirl till they are almost falling down... then at nght . its a simple two step dance but its done with so much gusto and dancing and singing. it goes on for 2 half hour sessions.. ends about 930 _10... then dinner and sleep .....

its really lovely .lots of nice talks with people...

finally the trip is being sorted out.. have to still make my talk for reed. then denver to meet jana, sante fe to meet karen, seattle where suzie and i go for almost a two day trip to meet a couple freind who are staying in a village on an island..... its way off and they have not been off the island for years i mean decades..... that is going to be an adventure.drive from seatle, bus for 10 hours, spend nite take fery for 10 hours.again spend nite and then to koyoko and dougs place.both of whom were at reed with us.........

taken pictures but dont know how to download.hopefully when reach vikrams...

its really been a gud trip... seeing how different people live, and having much time for reflection.. laurence lives here alone..its not as isolated as the farmhouse; and everything is much more organised; electicity water garbage collection a big supermarket and garden shop within 4 kms tarred roads... but seeing her live here alone is giving me a lot of gud feeling and feel haapy that will be coming back to a farmhouse which is built...... 

take care

paris ooh lala

It was cold and grey and windy for 4 days in paris.

I had bought a pass for one week to go unlimited on buses and trains .. all the places i went to earlier were all full of tourists got sick of loud americans and japanese perpetually taking pictures and complaining about costs  so i decided to take local buses all over town.. so each day i would go on buses for at least four hours and i think i saw most of paris with regular parissianes.///all the monuments, panteon, opera, arch of triumph called etoile, various museums and squares......one part called la defence was full of tall new buildings made of glass which reflected all the buildings around in shimirring images.... nice after all the old buildings all over. these old buildings are so big covering almost a km it seems each side .. it can get tiresome/

yes; went under the bridges of paris...... its lined with all these big monuments.....

Spent a day at the Lovre saw mona lisa with all people taking photos of themselves...i think digital cameras make people take photos not see  the ouvre is sooooo large that you walk walk walk and most of the pictures are old old old.. meaning like 1600 and mainly dark portraits of christ and or nobility.... there are various rooms on different civilisations which i was hearing about for the first time..... got tired andfrankly bored of seeing so many pics with so many people around... feet were paining so much just went home to put them up

the next day went to the museum of modern art ...... mattise and andre breton.it was museum nite so all the museums were open for the nite... there was a music concert in one went to it but it was formal chamber music... saw the eiffel tower all with lights coming on and off

paris is actually a beutiful city wherever you go .. there are statues or monuments all over .. i think the environment around a city gives a certain mood to the place.. parissianes seem very alive, the cafes are full outside with people having coffee wine beer .. they talk with a lot of rhythm and making a lot of gestures uch hugging and kissing lots of babies and kids

the dogs are the cutest. Most of them are small and many are not on a leash. u can take them in the busses and the metroes.. the person comes to the door of the bus; slaps his her hand on the thigh calling out the name and the dog jumps on the hand and gets carried into the bus... and they are lways lookign around very actively.

Went to famous bastille and there was an open air market .. full of very gayly coloured clothes hats from all parts of the world<;;; there were stalls from india too..... one kashmiri ofcourse; another pondicherry .......you just cant get away from them can you?

paris has this cute scooter which has two wheels in the front...... damn cute.

was alone almost all the time in paris but it was fine since i had my own place. it was light till 10 at nite so would come home have wine soup and sandwich and go to bed... all channels on TV in french and got one one day where there was a discussion on legalisation of marijuana..... 

sunday took the train to quimper in brittany where am going for gurus saptah a clebration. lawrences house is in a village with a view of the sea..it is cold but today the sun has come out but still very windy. over 50 people are expected and there are already § people here .from france india germany UK italy... its ovely talking singng bhajans ..... here till next monday..

okay have to go for bath there are ( OF US IN THE HOUSE AND IT TAKES 15 MIN FOR WATER TO HEAT UP..

really got too many clothes..and what shoud have included is Moov or balm; corn caps cotton and bandages .for sashas future reference....but thks for the really gud packing

museums and eating in paris

so now have had coffee in 5 cafes in different parts of paris;

but eating is another matter.... i was going to order ergots.. and luckily floy was with me and realised they were snails........ they eat a lot of that sort of stuff here
i wanted to buy pate but noone spoke english. i picked up something which said pate de foie:::: or something like that ; turned to the guy next to me and i asked is it chicken; he loOked at me I said pig, he still looking now more strangely I then do cluck cluck and flap my arms now hes really wondering and he says quarck quarck, i say chicken, he repeats quark quark bring it home make a sandwich::: floe comes i ask her; she is lauging away and says its duck. Somehow it just didnt strike me. Any way had diarreoha the next day so am sticking to cheese tomatoes and things i can see not transalate.
`
been many places.notredam wHere there was a service going on; all very serious; deep organs And choir in white; eiffel tower, latin quarter; pantheon, the botanical gardens; montmarte; Pigalle, saw the moulin rouge from otside. entry with dinner is 180 euros, catch me spending so much to see girls lifting their legs high up ...... area around montmarte is lovely, cobbled narrow streets; many cafes and outdoor stalls selling touristy stuff; like gateway .......

loads of tourists everywhere...... mainly americans... in the bus they dont stop chattering away all the time..... often complaining about prices

paris is actually lovely, there are so many historical monuments which are solid and gigantic that you pass on any buss ride. At most of these monuments there will be guys with guitar and amp playing music, the people are very openly qffectionate often hugging and kissing. There are lots of girls and guys dressed in long skirts, scarves on their head asking if you speak english ; older zomen sitting at the entrance of churches asking for money. Floy says they are rumanians ;

as i look at the blog and how its expanding amazing that so much has happened........every day passes and frankly hardly anything remains..... oslo and fiords could have been a year ago, ten years ago.and so i will wonder if i was there or not. Its already happening in Paris.. have been here twice in the past, and wonder did i come here when i was here before?

am enjoying being at floys and listening to the tons of cds she has, shes a musician and sort of chilled jazz type with vocals:::::: in french so its music im hearing for the first time;........

had chai with lemongrass that i had dried from dominics near coimbatore......made regular chai with the mik in and wowowow it was so goooooood

in paris

left sunday & reached grey paris in two hours and it has been grey ever since...floy the musician with whom i am staying was moaning oh india where you wake up every day and the sun is shining......

she lives a two minute walk fron the subway in the outerskirts of central paris; It is a studio apt, one room with a bed, open cupbard comp table..... the kitchen is compact ... must be 4 ft by 4 ft it has fridge under é burner stove, a washing machine oven there is just enuf space for one person to stand... she pays a rent of 600 euros about 40000 rs. she has rented it from a lady for 3 months..... everything was here she came with a suitcase..the girl from whom she has rented has gone off for 3 months....... nice concept

sat in an opencafe and had coffee..... paris is nice thataway lots of people on the street and people of all colours.....

Got a 7 day metro and bus pass and just hop into and out of buses so have just been driving all around. Yesterday went to Louvre; in the glass pyrimid; in that movie ....... got so tired in the bookstore and walking in the pyrmid....... so many people....... i shall go on friday inside..... then went to the eiffel tower......

being in a home is sort of nice... i went and bought bacquette (long bread) and cheese and pate, which i really like and lettuce to make my sandwiches....... a euro is approx 90 rs....... and thats the main thing that you get.......

floy is going to berlin on the 14th to do mixing on her new album but i can stay on in the flat. I went through a difficult time yesterday wondering if i should go to my freinds at brittany earlier or experience being in a foreign city by myself. As usual my two minds, this no that......was surfing finding trains....... lawrence freind in brittany said someone is driving down on the 20th which means that i will have less time in brittany but will be able to be there for saptah.....

confused as usual, and then freind and guru bandhu linda who is in US now, she tayed at my place in pune came on line and we chatted..... listening or reading my ups and downs she repeated some words of maharaj......firstly not to identify with the mind; who is it that decides, and to just take every opportunity to be a gift, that this was an opportunity to live in an apt in a gorgeous city and drive down ;; how fantastic she said you will have the space to just explore and then go for a three day saptah....... my mood lifted at once. no anxiety or confusion

will not have a comp and will try and find a cybercafe......... alls well, take care

museum day in oslo

There are 34 museums in Oslo...phew.... its thursday and its cloudy and grey.

Like a gud norwegian I go on the net and look up the weather forecast.... which says that its going to be cloudy and rainy all the days I am here... next sunny day is MOnday. Oh well... welcome to NOrway....

Bundle up thermal underwear, sweater, coat, gloves......... got to go....

first one is Fram Museum.....Fram is the worlds strongest wooden ship and the one which has sailed the furthest to the North and the South. It was used in the great Polar expedition by Fridjof Nansen 1893-96.... quite an extraordinary guy. Me at the wheel steering the boat.

Then went to the Kontiki museum .the ships used in the expedition

Enough of ships...so didnt go to the viking museum. Took the bus to the national theatre, where sat in the plaza, where there was music playing...many people, especially guys with prams. Nicest part of the day actually.

Music, and there is a parade going to the royal palace.

Starts raining, so look at guidebook, find tht there is anational gallery nearby...which has free entry...up umbrella, coat, gloves, hat and walk there. Over 40 rooms, sit with pix of storms and ships at sea. So tired, close eyes, go to sleep till a group of japanese tourists on tour chatter away and wake me up.

suns out...so off again to the vigeland sculptor park, which has over 200 statues of naked men, women and children in various activities... quite an experience......

walk walk walk...am so tired bus to the station, and onto the subway to get to asker, where am staying.... much needed glass of whiskey, grouse which ipicked up at duty free,,, nice drinking gud stuff in the cold. my day at the museum... enough. willhave to go to museums in paris also!!!!

norway in a nutshell........ the fjords

Caught the train at 800 am, lovely trains........ checkout the cafe

About two hours out of oslo there are hills all covered with snow.... at the highest point.....

we arrive in Flam and take a train down the flam valley which is described by lonely planet as the best trainride inthe world...down down down with many stops ... waterfalls allover the valley falling into this river which is so amazingly clear

no smoking on the trains...smoking is a good way of making freinds ........ i ask a japanese for a light..no dirtying up the platforms either... i stub out the cigarette and the japanese hands me a leather (?) pouch in which to put the stub.

Next station I meet another smoker, an american lady. We sit together for the rest of the trip, making it even more enjoyable.

She is here to give a workshop on money and spirituality .......these americans can think of anything........ she was in Pune for 3 years many many years ago...Osho........ another useful connecter.......

We then enter this boat which takes us down the fjords...... high hills, often very green, and with many many waterfalls coming down all sides............ it is difficult to describe the fjords, difficult to photograph, cause it is so big and awesome..... at one of the biggest waterfalls, the boat goes to touch the rocks and the boat men put out a pipe and we run to get water from the waterfall in glasses............. so cold, so fresh.................mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. We stand out at the begining of the boat in the open....... have everything on..... thermalunderwear, sweater, jacket, woolen hat, gloves, socks, scarves and its still cold !!

After a two hour ride in the boat we come to this village. We climb onto buses, there is now a slight drizzle and drive to Voss, a major sking centre. A river, mountains around.

And from there catch a train to Bergen, a historical city .......... the driver of our train tells me that it once rained for 100 days without stopping in Bergen. it rains a lot... it is raining when we get there, and I wait in the train station and catch the nite train back to Oslo.

Lots of seeing.

around oslo

went with hazel to the hospital for her checkup... she is 6 months pregnant.... the hospital was lovely... paintings, nice one down all the long corridors, and the kids section was amazing..

she was seen by a midwife, who is the one who will oversee the delivery. You only meet a gynac if there are problems or complications. Hazel has a bad cold and allergies but they give no anti biotics or anything. There is no homeopathy.... or any alternative forms of therapy.

Yesterday we went to one of their freinds house and the wife was suffering with really bad migraine. Since I used to have it, and it was cured by jal niti (the yoga technique where you take warm salty water up one nostril and out the other) suggested it. Suprisingly I was told that there was only one yoga centre around....... so maybe this is a good place for people doing alternative therapies..............

The houses here are built primarily of wood...only some old houses in oslo use bricks and cement.. which comes in neatly cut and polished logs... all the cutting nailing is done electrically... all very high fi. Wwe went to one apartment block which looked like it was made by screwing aluminium sheets together..

Lots of statues around................ heres a lion with hazel and kurt......

Also went up a hill and saw the skiclope that is being remade for the winter champtionships.... all construction..but there was a old wooded church

The weather here changes all the time..... its cloudy and windy then the sun comes out... am still getting used to the fact that its cold with the sun out.... today is the first time i am sitting inside the house with a sweater on.funnily it is getting colder in my experience.... not getting used to it as yet... its more like the cold entering your bones...........