Starry Starry Night

Started writing this blog right after visiting the Van Gogh museum, Amsterdam, while sitting on a bench overlooking a canal watching a lone boat passing by... Saturday (7th March) morning just walking by the canals watching ducks on my way to the museum gave me a very tranquil feeling (picture below was taken on the way)... Could hardly believe that this was the same city I arrived in Friday(6th) night, which was so busy and crowded with people partying till the wee hours in the morning, and clubs and nyon signs at every turn. I came to Amsterdam just for the weekend (my new city for March). Visited the major museums like Van Gogh, and Rijksmuseum, walked around the city and of course checked out the red light district. I think Europe is turning me into a real Culture Vulture!

For a long time my favourite Van Gogh painting has been Starry Night (I don;t know whether i saw the painting or the heard the song first, have always loved the song Vincent by Don McLean too). I was really lucky when i visited the museum cos they were having the 'Van Gogh and the Colours of the Night' exhibition, and had got down the 'Starry Night' painting specially for this exhibition from the Museum of Modern Art, NY. They also had the 'Starry Night on the Rhone', which is another of my favourites... There is something about the deep rich blue sky and the bright stars... This exhibition was a celebration of his dusk and night time paintings and in Vincent Van Gogh's own words he had said "It often seems to me that night is much more alive and coloured than day having hues of the most intense violets, blues and greens."

Starry Night on the Rhone

Starry Night

I have always been fascinated by stars, what is it about night time that is so romantic? the stars and the moon? I guess when you stare into the night sky it all seems like a big mystery... what is out there, that feeling of anything is possible and feeling your insignificance in the grander scheme of things...

Weekend in Madrid

I started writing this post on the flight to Madrid from Geneva last weekend… A couple of years ago who would have thought I’ll be flying to Spain for the weekend! For that matter, who would have thought I’d be living and working in Switzerland…
Those days to me, Switzerland was that far away beautiful country which was the holiday destination for the rich and the famous not for me… flying off to another country just for the weekend was unheard of …
This was my first time in Spain and it was amazing! It was one of the best weekends ever. (I know I keep saying this after most of my weekends but its true…) I loved the atmosphere, the culture, the busy streets and never seem to sleep. (when my friend and I walked on the streets past 1am it was still crowded!) The Museums (I visited the Prado Museum and the Reina Sofia Museum) and the architechture of the city was wonderful, I guess I miss that kind of culture sometimes in Geneva, since it has become so international now, that you don’t really see the Swiss lifestyle and culture here.

Here are some of the lovely pics of my weekend in Madrid

I was rather surprised to find out that Don Quixote was from Madrid, cos I had heard about the crazy story of how he tried to fight a wind mill, and it was so cool to find out the origins of stories that you had heard about as kids. Templo de Debod - Egyptian Temple dedicated to Gods Amon and Isis. One of the most beautiful sites in Madrid in the night.

I was very lucky, this festival only happens once a year in Madrid when all the farmers bring their sheep and bulls and parade them on the streets and I was there to see it.

Next Stop Rome in November…

Wonderful weekend in the Swiss Mountains

Last Friday I left Geneva with some lovely new friends that I met here, to spend a dream weekend in the town of Zermatt where the famous Matterhorn is located. I've been wanting to see Matterhorn even before coming to Switzerland, cos this was one mountain I had heard about as it was on the Toblerone chocolates (being the chocoholic I am!).


Felt like we were in the midst of the wilderness. Nothing but mountains, and trees and lakes for miles and miles…it was a wonderful feeling to be so close to nature... I guess one way of worshipping God is to appreciate all the wonders of the work of his hand!

These are some of the pictures of the magnificent Matterhorn and the other mountains around...but my words or the pictures cannot do justice to the experience of being there...

Another thing that I really liked about Zermatt was there were no cars. You had to leave your car outside and arrive to the town by train and inside there were only electrically powered buses called "Electros". It was nice to be away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

This weekend I literally stopped to smell the roses! (or should I say Edelweiss) which reminded me of the movie ‘Sound of Music’ which has been an all time favourite movie since the time I was a little kid. I never knew that the Edelweiss looked like this, though I liked the song Edelweiss from the movie.

There were even a few people in the Zermatt town square yodeling which again reminded me of the Loanly Goatherd from Sound of Music . It’s so amazing to experience things that you had heard about or seen on movies in real life…

Even though there are so many mountains and nature reserves in Sri Lanka, never in my life have I really gone to explore them, never tried hiking... I guess after my undergrad degree I joined the 'Rat Race' and everyday was pretty much the same, work till late, come home, TV/Internet, eat, sleep and work again… Even meeting with friends was mainly for a dinner or something, not really to do much outdoor activities. Maybe once or twice a year I would take a break and go on a vacation with my family, but not much else...

It is so nice to just take a break away from everything, but I wonder if it also requires a certain frame of mind; peace with self. Maybe we actually hide behind the busyness when we don’t want to face our selves…After a long time I can honestly say that I feel complete peace of mind, with no worries, just taking life as it comes... Maybe that was another reason why I was able to really enjoy this weekend. I have also noticed that I don't need to be doing something all the time, just a long walk can be satisfying. So now I'm trying to change my life style to be more intuned with the outdoors.

I'd just like to finish this post with "Merci beaucoup pour un merveilleux week-end!" to my new friends, if you are reading this...And here's looking forward to many more marvelous trips!

Paris... the city of Love

I can't believe that it's been over a month since I updated my blog. So much has happened since then...

This year has been amazing. Another one of my dreams came true, I visited Paris!!!!! I sometimes have to pinch myself to make sure that this is not all a dream.

The HEC Business School Paris organised an inter business school sports tournament in Paris from the 17th to the 20th. So about 60 of us from Cambridge also took part. (when I say took part I mean went along, I didn't play any sports, I mainly went for cheering, partying and of course sight seeing) Many other European Business Schools were also there, including LBS, Oxford, Manchester, Insead...

We walked from Arc de Triumph to Eiffel Tower down Champs Elysee and that walk was simply gorgeous. No wonder they call it the city of love. We also visited the Notre Dame Cathedral and Louvre and the Vasailles Palace. I had been dying to see the Louvre ever since I read the Da Vinci Code, and of course as soon as we went there we did the typical touristy thing of going to see Mona Lisa behind the thick glass and had to push through the huge crowd there to see the painting.
Some of us in front of Eiffel Tower at night
With our Volley Ball team who came to the finals

Partying in Paris
Entrance of Notre Dame Cathedral
Vasaille Palace
Roof of the Vasailles Chapel
Famous pyramids of the Louvre

Here are some of the photos we took there, I've uploaded a lot more to www.flickr.com/photos/roshanthi

I had to take a vacation from my vacation with all the walking and partying till the wee hours of the morning and then sleeping a couple of hours and going sight seeing again! Watching and cheering for the sports was really fun too, and it was cool to see how this brought the kids in all of us. When I came here I thought that everyone will be serious business people but it has been so much fun. I'm feeling sad to have to leave the MBA and join the real world soon...