Le Bourget - The Paris Air Show

Le Bourget Air Show in Paris is a premier event in the aviation business and is held once every two years. I was lucky to have made it for the one held this year. The primary reason for my visit to Paris was ofcourse, to witness and experience the Fete de la Musique.

The short time that I was there, was insufficient to see all that was on offer. However I made the most of my time - had a delicious lunch with the Airbus reps in the chalet, watched the flight displays and met some friends and acquaintances.

The Korean A380 was on display and did the fly past. Amazing to see such a monster of an aircraft climb so steeply. Also saw the Zero G aircraft which is used to train the astronauts in aclimatising to high altitude.

Here are some of the pictures............

A summer break in Geneva

Geneva is absolutely gorgeous and never fails to stun me with its beauty.
This trip was a fleeting one but I managed to sit in the park and watch the world go by (even if for a short while).
I walked around the lake and took pictures of the beautiful Jet d’Eau. Even managed one with a rainbow caught in the spray of the fountains.
I stayed in a magnificent home in an old apartment block right across from the Jet d’Eau on Quay Gustav Ador.
An ideal base to do day trips to Montreaux, Lausanne, Chamonix, etc.
I look forward to going back to beautiful Geneva.

A Moroccan wedding............

My friend Martin sent me an email out of the blue asking if I would be in Europe around the 25th of June because he would like to invite me for his wedding. As luck would have it, I was going to be in Sweden for the slots conference and the conference was going to end on 25th June!! So I accepted the wedding invitation and there was a mad scramble to find flights and connections to make it in time for the reception in Archamps which is a town (or village) outside of Geneva.

The theme was Moroccan because Hasna and her family are immigrants from Morocco. Martin is German and so there was a bit of German, French and Moroccan influence. A truly unique celebration for me. I missed the civil ceremony and the cocktail in the town hall of Archamps where they live. But I was in time for the evening reception and dinner which was held in the Salle Polyvalente in Archamps.

Everything was beautifully decorated around the Moroccan theme. Each table had a placard with a place in Morocco and pictures of that unique city. I was seated at the table which was named after a beach resort and I later learned that it was because one of Martin's friends is a beach buff and surf boarding enthusiast. The people around my table were all single and mainly Martin's friends from his wrestling club and ex Privat Air. There was a female wrestler too! Though she did not look like one - she was petite and beautiful.

The food was outstanding. We had mint tea which was awesome followed by a platter of sweets prepared by Hasna and her mum. Then the dinner commenced with the first course - a pastilla of chicken which is supposed to be a dish for guests of honour. It is a delicate pastry stuffed with chicken and almonds, coated with icing sugar. This is the great specialty of Fès and should not be missed. The main course was a beef tajine. A Tajine is a meat or fish stew, delicately flavored with olives. But this one was prepared with prunes and apricots and it was delicious.  The guys at our table were so taken with the tajine that they had a second helping each!! Finally dinner ended with a gigantic fruit platter which we could not sample as we were absolutely stuffed.

As for the celebrations, there was a lot of Moroccan music and dancing. They had a special belly dancer who performed for us and that was supposed to be a surprise for the bridal couple. The women of Hasna's family danced pretty well and I think they have perfected the art of belly dancing themselves. The German side of Martin's family had a game where we had to pass an umbrella loaded with balloons around. Each balloon had a wish in it. So when the music stopped and you had the umbrella in your hand, you had to burst a balloon and make the wish for the couple. Jan at my table had a wish to carry the bridal couple with 2 others and wish them luck.

Another interesting thing about Moroccan weddings is that the bridal couple change their outfits 7 times!! But Martin insisted that he did not want to spend his evening changing clothes and this couple only changed their outfits once. However that did not stop their guests from changing clothes over and over again. The clothes were very elaborate and beautiful. After the change of clothes, the bridal couple were paraded around the room and then made to sit on ornate chairs and carried around. Finally, they had to stand and kiss each other whilst being carried around.

The last part of the celebration was the cake cutting. By then it was almost 3 in the morning and most of the guests had left!! They had 3 different types of cakes and I would have loved to have tried them all but I was so stuffed that I just tried one - the raspberry cheese cake! Finally, I left the party at 4 am. Was surprised that none of the neighbours made an issue about the noise, etc. Maybe we in Bombay can learn a few things about having a party from the French.

The beautiful decorations

Another one

The belly dancer

She mesmerised us with her hip movements and shimmies

The German wish game

Jan and friends carrying the bridal couple

The heavy duty sweets prepared by Hasna and mum

The Pastilla

The Tajine

The fruit platter

The parade of the bridal couple

The modest kiss

The cake cutting ceremony