Easter at Paris April 2010

It's a pleasant experience to be back in Paris, the romantic city that hosted me for three years. Of course, my journey by Eurolines bus tested my patience as it left after 90 minutes from Brussels Nord Terminal. Anyway, after reaching Gallieni at 11 PM, i could get 318 bus to Chateau de Vincennes and the 124 to Les Parapluies where my dear friend Bharath lives. After chatting upto midnight, I took a sound sleep.
Sunday was the day of shopping. After eating Indian food at my favourite "Restaurent Dishney" at La Chappele in Indian quarter of Paris, we started the shopping spree. I should mention about "UNIQLO" located at Opera. the japanese chain is giving the established European chains a run for their money. The quality and price is very affordable. Do not forget to fill your shopping bag from this chain. Of course, we did not miss the jewellery boutiques around Opera especially Cartier, BVLGARI etc.
Sunday was more relaxed as bharath had previous engagements with his friends. But, we went to Jaggu Bhai's house for dinner. The dosas with chuteny, sagu and finally rice did not make me hungry even after 18 hrs!
Monday morning, luckily I could catch the bus in time. Surprisingly, we reached Brussels 30 mins in advance. I was in Leuven within 45 mins. In essence, I had a nice easter.

My Milan visit 28th June to 1st July

I visited Milan for official work to learn some techniques in a collaborator's laboratory. The climate was very sunny, hot and humid; but very appealing. Landing on sunday at Milan Malpensa airport by EasyJet from Brussels was an unique experience. Being a low cost airline, I had to pay for check-in baggage that made me to think twice before using easyjet in future. I shall post in detail in my next post.
Sunday, 28th june, we went to see "Jodha-Akbar" in Indian Film Festival. Chaitanya and Sai Santosh were very good hosts. We had nice time chatting about our student experiences.
From monday until wednesday, I had to be in my collaborator's lab. Dr. Gianluca Matteoli, the senior postdoc in the lab of Prof. Maria Rescigno, showed me the subtle procedures involved in isolation of Lamina Propria Mononuclear Cells (LPMCs). I did a trial myself before leaving Milan. Interacting with the members there especially Elisa and Deepak (PhD students) was very memorable.
Since, I had been to Milan in May 2006, I did not go around much. I shall post my pictures in series of posts on my travel. I returned on evening flight from Milan to Brussels by EasyJet. Probably, this will be my last trip with EasyJet.