Talent

(Left: Gothic Landscape by Lee Krasner; Right: Autumn Landscape by Gaurang Fabian Prabhu)

Alo had the opportunity to visit the Tate Modern museum in London. When Alo saw Fabi´s recent abstract painting, it reminded him of Pollock's and Krasner's works.

This reminds me that I should go and get some brushes and water colors to have at home. Who knows when the little artist will get an inspiration for another landscape!

Travel Diary - Alonso in Erlangen

Nidhi asked if I had shown my brother Alonso the University and the building where I had been as a student. The answer is "leider nicht" (no). I thought about it, but the truth is my brother didn´t actually see much of Erlangen...not even the Schlossgarten!

I made a list of what he did see -as a form of travel diary- so that next time he comes, we can pick up from there.

November 2007

Monday 5th: Alo reached Erlangen in the evening. Had dinner and shared stories about his visit to England, Holland and France. We all slept very late.

Tuesday 6th: We all got up late, had breakfast and got ready. Took a bus to Kaufland. This was his first visit to a "real" european supermarket, so we got a lot of goodies (besides basic necessities like cereal, juice and milk, we also got different types of cheeses, antipastos, seefood, Spanish ham, Christmas cake, sushi, etc). We had a feast during the days he was here. After having a Döner Kebab for lunch, Fabi and Alo came back home and took long naps. Our visitor was so tired from the previous weeks that he even turned down Ishan's invitation to go out for a beer.

Wednesday 7th: Fabi still had a bad case of jetlag, so Alo had to wake him up at noon. We finally managed to go by bus to the "Wasch Saloon" at Lorlebergplatz to do laundry. While the clothes were getting washed we went to the main Sparkasse building in Hugenottenplatz to change money into euros and then went to the Erlangen Bahnhof to buy a train ticket for Alo to go to Berlin. The highlight of the day was definitely going to the Thalia bookstore and later a quick stroll through Erlangen Arcaden, which was a first for me also!

Thursday 8th & Friday 9th: Alo took a very early bus to get to the train station and head for Berlin. He came back the next day, almost at midnight.

Saturday 10th: Alo´s last day. He spent most of the morning playing with Fabi and we thought we would go to Nuremberg, but at the end decided to stay in Erlangen. Ishan took us to have lunch at a Turkish restaurant. The menu included a Dürüm Kebab and Baklava for dessert. After a quick trip to Kaufland again (Ishan was preparing for his trip to India!) we went to the Greiner store and found so many neat things there, including some Rosenthal studio-line designs. We strolled down the Nürenberger Strasse (main street) in Erlangen and went to the Arcaden again. This time there were a lot of people at the mall. Eventhough it was our second time there, we still haven´t seen everything at this new shopping center. We came back home and Alo helped me install a shower curtain rod and spent a very long evening playing with Fabi (while Ishan and I went out). He finished packing at 2:00am just in time to sleep for a couple of hours before he had to head for the airport on his way to Mexico. Two days later he landed in Costa Rica.

We enjoyed your (little) time here! ¡Gracias por todo, Alo! Come back, soon!

(Opa José, Fernando and Titi receive Alo at the Costa Rican airport.)

A taste of Berlin

In his recent (first) trip to Europe, Alonso had the opportunity to visit England, France and Germany. Among the cities he visited, he was able to do some sightseeing in London, Paris and.... BERLIN, a favorite city of mine!

It´s funny how each person notices a place according to their own perspective. Alonso - an industrial designer by profession - was very pleased to be able to visit the Bauhaus, which is practically his mecca. He got Ishan -and me- a very cool ballpoint pen from USUS in a "revolutionary magnetic design".

When you take the pen out of its package, it originally appears as closed:

To open the pen (and use it), you are suppossed to twist it, so that the tip comes out. The magnets hold the two halves of the pen together:

When it´s time to refill, you just separate the bottom half:

Cool! Isn´t it?!

I´m also enjoying my Ampelmann souvenirs. He´s cute! Can´t get enough of the Ampelmann!

(Click on picture to enlarge)

ALO!

¡Miren quien llegó! Ayer en la noche llegó Alo desde París, después de su visita a Francia, Holanda e Inglaterra. Esta semana será muy emocionante mientras Fabi le muestra a su tío el lugar donde vive: Erlangen y los alrededores.

Look who´s here! Last night, Fabi´s uncle - Alonso- came from Paris, after visiting France, Holland and England. This will be a very exciting week as Fabi will show Alo the place where he lives, Erlangen and its surroundings.

Musica

At least we know Fabi's uncle -Alonso- is making the most out of his trip to London. Hope he enjoys THE concert!

UPDATE

You're right, Rong: the concert was at the Wembley Arena...! Here's a cellphone shot: