Road trip in Sicily, part one: A difficult start

(Date: 14.07.2007)
(Written: 17.07.2007)

Our trip to Sicily started under a bad omen, but thankfully all was solved after a few days. First we went to Zurich airport quite early, to avoid stress (it was going to be a very busy day in the airport, with most of Switzerland starting the summer holidays that day). We didn't have any worries though, and had time to check-in quietly, have something to eat and then join the boarding room with no rush.

Rush we did, however, in Napoli, our first stop. The airline (Air One) had planned only 40 minutes to change plane, and we trusted them. Unfortunately, we left Zurich 15 minutes late (not too bad), and we had to go through immigration in Napoli. After that, we had quite a rush to join the boarding gate for Palermo, and even then the plane had to wait on us and our fellows passengers. Bad planning Air One, but the worst was to come! They lost our bag! Apparently, the reason for the loss was not even the rush in Napoli, but the bag never left Zurich at all.

After waiting for quite some time in Palermo, it was quite clear our bag would not arrive. We were not alone in that situation, apparently all the bags from Zurich were lost (I am still wondering what the heck our plane carried in its belly, since our luggage was definitely not there!) So after a while, we lodged a 'lost bag' report and went to get our rental car. That went well, and a moment later we were on the road for the one hour drive from Palermo to Marsala, in a very nice Fiat Punto.

The bag story went further. After calling the call center a few times, and not getting any information about the location of our bag, one idiot at Air One's call center found very clever to tell us that the bag was in Palermo! Very happy about it, we drove the Marsala-Palermo highway again, only to find out that the idiot didn't even know how to read the system, and in fact the bag was still missing in action. Not only that, but no one was able to tell me (24 hours after our arrival) where the bag was exactly (probably Rome), and to tell me on which plane it would be loaded. Hard to believe, in those days of terrorism where you'd expect that every luggage is carefully registered and tracked, but apparently Air One loads luggage in their planes without telling anything to anybody, and without any trace of this in the system. Anyway... since no one was able to tell us when the bag would arrive, and not wanting to wait any longer in Palermo airport (not the nicest place in Sicily), we drove back to Marsala. These were really wasted hours.

The next morning, a bit worried because we were leaving Marsala that day, and not wanting to have Air One send the bag to our hotel in Agrigento (we were thinking that if they are unable to load a bag on a plane, these idiots would probably be unable to load it on a truck too...), we finally got the expected phone call, this time not from the dumbasses at the call center, but from the nice guy at the lost and found office. Even nicer since he was still shaking from my scolding him the previous day (I know, it was not really his fault, it was in fact Air One's fault, but sometimes you just have to unload... retrospectively I am not really sorry).

But wait, the story is not finished! When I finally got my bag back, I immediately noticed that it was damaged: the telescopic handle you use to roll the bag was missing entirely. So more paperwork to get a damage report, and the promise that our bag would be repaired or exchanged for free, but only if we would report within 7 days in a prescribed luggage shop in Palermo, Trapani or Catania. Talk about bad service! So after going out of the airport, we decided to solve the matter immediately, and instead of driving to Agrigento at once, we drove to Palermo. And since this is Sicily, the land where time stops between noon and 4PM, and since it was a Monday (shops are closed on Monday mornings), we had to patiently kill time until 4, visiting a museum, strolling the small market streets, drinking lemonade (yummy), etc... until finally the shop opened.

OK, it's not a bad way to spend the day, and eventually the very nice people at the 'Quattrocchi' luggage shop were able to repair our bag in 5 minutes (thanks Samsonite for making such good bags), so all in all, this bad start ended well, and we were able to finally take the road to Agrigento.

So, the rant is out now, and I can go back to normal programming, i.e. telling you about our 2 wonderful days in Marsala. Stay tuned!!

Back home after two weeks in Sicily

I am back home after 2 weeks spent in a road trip around Sicily, Italy. We had a great time, and I will document the trip gradually in the next few days on my PhotoAlbum. It was really nice to let go for a moment, and I barely did anything work related (except reading 4 chapters of Adam Nathan's WPF book and catching up with blogs during the last hotel stay of the trip). I found no wireless connection during the trip (except once in Taormina and then in Palermo) but I didn't look for them either. I really needed a break and it was good to think of nothing but the sun, the sea, the antique monuments, the excellent food, and having no harder decision to make than choosing if I wanted red or white wine with my dinner (my wife doesn't drink so I enjoyed the 'vino della casa' alone).

In two weeks, we drove from Palermo to Marsala, Agrigento (after an unwanted stop in Palermo again), Caltagirone, Siracusa, Catania, the Etna region, Taormina, Cefalu, Bagheria, Monreale and then Palermo again. More details soon!

All the pictures from Calcutta Rescue are online (and a movie too)

I finished posting all the pictures from Kolkata. Many many pictures taken in the humanitarian projects of the association Calcutta Rescue. Through my volunteer work in the Swiss foundation Calcutta Espoir, together with the other members of the board, we support Dr Jack Preger's work in India.

The projects displayed here are just a part of the activities. I visited clinics (Chitpur (lepra), Tala Park and Sealdah (general medicine) as well as schools (Tala Park, Number 10). Other projects include tuberculosis patients, HIV patients, an outreach program bringing health education and health care to isolated villages outside of Kolkata, filters against poisoned water, workshops to give work to ex-patients and to produce handicrafts sold in Europe, etc...

It was simply wonderful to visit all these projects, and it gave me a lot of new ideas to help the poorest in Kolkata. The difficult conditions due to the monsoon only made the visits more vibrant. Getting back to life in Europe was not easy, even after such a short stay...

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More pictures from Kolkata online

I just posted additional pictures from Kolkata on my PhotoAlbum. I still have quite a few to sort and catalog, and I will go through them in the next few days. Very tired, not quite fully recovered from the jet lag, so pardon me if I don't write more :-)

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End of WPF training in Pune / Visit to Kolkata, India

Ending the WPF training in Pune

The WPF training in Pune, India went great. We finished on time, I spent the last afternoon showing various resources and demonstrating how to create a basic Silverlight application, as well as make Silverlight videos. This is not strictly speaking in the scope of the training, but with the WPF background acquired during these 3 days, moving on to Silverlight is really easy, and really motivating too.

After Pune, and after a very nice dinner with Nikhil, the indian team's manager, I went back to the hotel and packed, for I was to wake up at 5:15 the next morning, and fly to Kolkata!

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Visit to Kolkata (part 1)

I have been a member of a small swiss NGO named Calcutta-Espoir for quite some time now. The projects we support are mainly those of Calcutta Rescue, an association by Indian right founded by Dr Jack Preger more than 25 years ago. Today, with clinics and schools and an row of additional projects, Calcutta Rescue offers its services to homeless patients and children.

After a very early wake-up call and the 6 o'clock shuttle to Pune airport, I took a Kingfisher flight to Kolkata through Ahmedabad. The flight was very good and we didn't experience any problems, in spite of the rain. In fact, I reached Kolkata 30 minutes before the planned landing time!! At the airport, I was picked up by Frédérique, a swiss volunteer pharmacist spending 9 months in the projects. We took the Calcutta Rescue jeep back to the guest house where most of our volunteers are staying, where I rented a room for the night (350 rupees for one night, not bad :-).

Once settled in, we walked to a nearby restaurant for a quick lunch, and then to Calcutta Rescue's offices. Reaching the doorstep was the occasion to give me a "monsoon baptism", walking in dirty water up to my knees :-) In the office, I met the personal as well as Dr Bobby, the administrator. We had a great chat, discussing various points and making sure once again that we are on the same wavelength. It was really nice to have a face-to-face chat instead of the usual emails.

After that, we went back to the guest house, where I got a quick shower, before spending some time with the volunteers waiting for an hypothetic cyclone announced by word on the street. In fact, it was not a cyclone, just heavy rains, so we eventually walked to a restaurant not far, where we all had a very nice dinner and great talks. A few hours later, we all went back and I got a good night's sleep.

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WPF training (Indian edition) underway

Today is the 3rd day of the WPF training I am giving to my indian colleagues in Pune, India. This is the 3rd edition of the training, after Milano and Zug.

The training is going well, even if I had a few more "demo effects" than usual, maybe due to a general tiredness (I need holidays, and thankfully they're coming soon, yay). But my trainees were kind enough to give me a little time to correct the code, and all goes well in the end. If the monsoon allows, I will fly tomorrow to Kolkata, where I will go and meet the people who run the humanitarian projects that I help supporting (www.calcuttarescue.org). I am still not sure if that will be possible though, and I cross my fingers!

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On the road from Mumbai to Pune (India)

Things I want to remember

• The wall of human faces waiting outside of the Mumbai airport, most with names on signs; endless faces waiting patiently.
• The black taxis simply everywhere in the city, with the meter outside of the car; the small 3-wheelers, painted in the same way as the cars, roaming and honking in the traffic.
• The drive out of the airport's parking, our car led with a millimetric precision between the other cars parked in the middle of the road.
• The constant honking, not aggressive like in Europe, but rather to say "I am here".
• The nice ladies at the hotel desk in Mumbai who, after finding that my driver dropped me at the wrong ITC hotel, called the other one and changed the booking so that I didn't need to drive further in the night and the rain.
• A traditionally clad man, all in white, with a turban, a beard and a dagger at his belt, walking between the cars jammed in Mumbai.
• The women in sari sitting "amazon-like" on the backseat of scooters.
• The people I photograph and who wave at me and smile.
• A farmer plowing his field under the rain, guiding his 2 cows pulling the plow.
• Monkeys on the highway, watching the cars.
• Donkeys and cows on the road, the many dogs roaming and playing together on the highway. The occasional dead dog on the road.
• The trucks, old, rusty, but decorated and painted with bright colors. The "please horn OK" hand painted in bright colours at the back.
• Dinner on the roof of the hotel in Pune, wind and rain, indian music playing, sound of the trains' horns in the background, sometimes so loud that all the chatter stops.
• Betelnut after the meal to freshen the mouth.
• Men in european costumes and women in saris going to attend a banquet. To write that they are beautiful is such a ridiculous understatement that I prefer not to try and describe them.
• The monsoon rain pouring.

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