And then came the New Year

 On our penultimate day which was the New Year we ticked off the Secret Garden which was historically rich along with being a beautiful garden. The evening was spent riding camels in a palm oasis near Marrakech. This was a bit of an underwhelming experience because the oasis wasn't very well maintained. The trees seemed to be lacking the love and attention that the gardens in the city were getting. But the kids had a lot of fun and that was very satisfying.  That was one good New Year spent.

That evening marked packing up. Packing up lovely memories. Packing up being pampered by the facilities in the hotel. Packing up the experience of the most wide variety of breakfast every single day which ranged from European fares to traditional Moroccon ones which included the freshest cheeses, dips and breads. Packing up a really wonderful holiday at the end of year which was quite tied down and sedate. Shoukran Marrakech!

The tours and the trips and bye to a year

 The second day in Marrakech was a trip to the high Atlas mountains. It is populated by the native Berber people who still keep a lot of their traditional lifestyle. It was a very interesting trip with lot of beautiful places to stop by. We were taken through a lot of traditions that people still follow such as the importance of the village elder and how they determine a lot of the happenings in the 11 or so villages, the tradition of many generations living under the same roof and so on. It was a very nice tour and the cherry on the cake was a camel ride through the outskirts of Agafay desert. We got dressed in traditional Berber clothes and rode the camels. It wasn't a real desert and more like the outskirts of it. So the adults felt a bit duped. But the kids just lovedddddd it! Once the ride was over, they spent some time petting the camels and taking pictures. The girls kept clamouring for more camel rides and I booked in the last day to spend one evening riding camels 😊

The second day we went to the Le Jardin Majorelle or Majorelle Garden. It is a beautiful garden by French artist Jacques Majorelle which was revived by Yves Saint Laurent. It was a beautiful garden in the most vibrant blue and yellow colors and the most majestic cactii. The blue and yellow colors are trademarked and hence for sale in the gift shop. But since we did not have any check in luggage we were not sure if we would be allowed to bring the color cans in our hand bags. We had to give them a miss but one day we intend to go back and get those out of the world colors. 

Once back, the kids and K took to the swimming pool. Once they had burnt some calories doing that, we went to ingest some. 😆 We made our next attempt to reach the historic quarters of the Medina. It was to be a nearly 30 mins walk in a straight line. But we got side tracked, got lost, asked a bunch of people and finally landed in the hustle and bustle that is the Medina. The Medina is not for the faint hearted. I am from India and have seen crowds. But they dont have crowds here. Its a bee hive as has been quoted in many sites. There is utter order in the comings and goings but the busy-ness is something one has to see to believe. There are souks which are the traditional shops which sell a variety of stuff from carpets to bags to spices and garments. We had food in a small shop and made our way to the main square called Jama-el-Fna. This place was an assault on the senses. There was just so much going on from street vendors to street performers to post hotels. There were all sorts of aromas and it was being in a live museum. We went to have some refreshments in a roof top hotel and enjoy the sights from there. As dusk fell and the lights got switched on, the atmosphere turned electric. There was music, dancing, hawkers asking to try their wares. We bought a few souvenirs and took a few pictures and tried to capture this novel experience. We took a  horse drawn carriage to our hotel. It felt like home being in the modern part of the town to be honest. The Medina was a bit over whelming for our mild senses 😀

The next day was spent mostly sight seeing in the Medina. It was amazing to see the architecture in Bahia palace, be wide eyed at the beauty of Badi palace and savour the work in Madrasa Ben Yousouf. It was a tiring day. So much so we still had Le Jardin Secret or the Secret Garden remaining for the last day. It was also New Year's Eve. I have never been away from home on 31st December. It was a novel and unique experience for me at least. I loved to see how a different city decked up for New Year. There were people walking with little children around 2230 which is not a sight I get to see in the UK. I did not see any fireworks etc either which is more of the UK tradition. It was amazing to do nothing but stroll around an unknown city, discovering little bits of it, unmindful of a man made construct such as a New Year.

It has made me think if going away and doing something non New Yearly for New Year. Takes the pressure of doing something special. But then its a bit of a landmark to celebrate as well. The calendar itself is changed and not just a page turned. I am not sure which is better. But I certainly enjoyed ignoring it last year. 

The next day was to be our last day of tours in Marrakech.

Land and reset

 The day we took off to Marrakech was also a Pumpki's birthday. It was an amazing experience for her to get to travel on her birthday. The flight took off and since we had spent a rather sleepless night, we did nothing but drift off to sleep. 4 hours later we woke to the views of sunny Marrakech. We had booked a cab from the hotel. So our transfer was very seamless. The hotel was real posh! We had porters to carry our luggage, very friendly staff welcoming us and we were given a lot of love and attention. This sort of service is not present in the UK and we enjoyed it a lot! 

After we had admired our lovely room and marvelled at how beautiful and spacious it was, we ventured out to get some food. Since the hotel was in the modern part of the city we had lot of restaurants within easy access. We stopped at a place called Vert Midi. We were famished. But the food was delectable too! We had a scrumptious lunch and then proceeded towards the historic quarters of the city. 

The place was wondrous and I just marvelled at the cactii growing to ridiculous heights! They were  just magnificent. But while we were nearly at our destination the dead birthday girl needed the toilet and we had rush back 😂

In the hotel room the girls wanted some well deserved rest. They drifted off to sleep while we adults caught up with family and took showers etc. Around 7 in the evening we decided to walk the girls up and grab some dinner. We had it at a place called Pasta Kech. As the name suggests the pasta there was amahzingggg! The girls had no idea about time and thought they had been woken up the next day. They were shocked to learn that they had just slept for a few hours and not the night. We had one helova hearty laugh at the silliness of the kids 😂All stuffed we made our way back to call it a day since our actual touring was to kick off the next day 😀

No start without a hiccup

 As I said in my last post, we were making our first trip to the airport in our car to catch the flight to Marrakech. The flight was at 630 in the morning, which meant a 0300 check in. Which meant at least a 0130 start from home to reach airport within the time. Which in turn meant a funny night of trying to sleep but not sleeping actually. 😉

We had an early dinner. Around 1830 in the evening everything was wrapped up, kitchen cleaned up, dishwasher loaded and run. 1900 I asked the girls to brush their teeth and get into bed to get some 4ish hours of sleep atleast. They did so with amazing enthusiasm. There were no complains. They wrapped up like little kittens and tried to sleep earnestly instead of fooling around with art and craft or books as they generally tend to do. I still had some chores in and around with packing food for the flight etc. I went up to have a look at them an hour later and they were really asleep! That was something indeed! 

I tried to get some rest as well. There was a raging storm outside. As Storm Gerrit raged, K and I worried about our travel. The rain was relentless. When it reduced a teeny tiny bit, we rushed with all the luggage and packed the car so that we didn't get drenched at the last moment. 

We tried to get some rest. But there was nagging thought or other at the back of our heads. Finally it was 0100 and we could rouse the girls to make our way. It was very exciting and novel for them to scamper around the house in the middle of the night. More than the real thing it is these small experiences I feel that make up life 😊0130 and like thieves we got into our car and off we went!

The rain was pure madness. Visibility was poor and it was tremendous effort to drive. But the lack of traffic post Christmas made for some solace. We finally made it at 0245ish to the airport. It was just as quiet at the airport. The staff were immensely helpful. Our checkins were done fluidly and off we went to wait :) 

Pending Post

 In the mayhem of all the refurb work that was going on in our house I did not mention the holiday we had in December last year. After our Iceland trip in 2022, we were keen on some place warm for our next holiday. K had seen the ice and now was in for some desert. Somehow Morocco in general and Marrakech in particular dawned upon us. In late 2022 itself we started thinking about it( Yes we are avid mad planners, especially me 😁) We would go sparse most of the year and then undertake the holiday to Marrakech God willing in December. 2023 mid year was filled with concerted effort towards looking at ticket and hotel prices, zeroing in on things to do, places to see. We soon realised that it was a big country and Marrakech itself would take up a good 5 days. Also since it wasn't a European country, we couldn't be sure of some of the amenities. It would be a good idea to be cautious and keep our touring plans a bit conservative. This was an a excellent cry from the madness of break neck planning for Iceland. Some where in the month of June we booked our flight tickets and the hotel. There was a good 6 months to our upcoming vacation and we weren't even excited about it. It was just something we had talked about and just went ahead and did it. Something like buying a packed of butter biscuits 😐

We did not want to hype the kids too much either. Hence it was quite late in the game around a month later that we divulged the upcoming plan to them. The months rolled by with the usual house work, work to earn the salary and school stuff. Finally around December when the holiday stood like a reality, we put our foot on the gas. The locations and tours we wanted to go on were booked. We decided clothes and things to pack. We had also decided to drive to the airport instead of taking a cab. That would be a first for us after nearly 13 years of existence in the UK. A thing to be excited about. 

Christmas holidays started and the trip to Marrakech was upon us!

The Tours - IV

 The last day in Iceland was the most relaxed day. The start was at 1030 in the morning which gave us 2 additional hours to relax in the hotel. All our earlier days had started around the 0830 mark.On this day we had to visit quite popular and close by places. The first stop was the Thingvellier National Park which is a valley that lies in the middle of the Eurasian and American continental plates. It was amazing to walk in the midst of the valley. Our next stop was the Gulfoss water fall. It was beautiful, but nothing matched the beauty of Hraunfossar which we had viewed the previous day. After a few more waterfalls and scenic locations, we made our way to the creme de la creme. The geothermal pool called Secret Lagoon! Icelanders are avid swimmers. And all swimming pools in Iceland are open, open air and heated by the geothermal sources! Apparently it is quite easy to find little pools of perfectly heated water across the country and anyone can have a swim. But we are not the adventurous kind, so we had to book in a few hours at the pool. 

The pool was a unique experience. People take a shower before they step into the pool. They do not want to chlorinate the water too much and make it loose its natural goodness, so rather they make clean people get into the pool. It is imperative for people to shower properly with soap in their birthday suits and not the swim suits. It was something I felt might be a bit too weird for me, but didn't turn out to be so because everyone just went about their business quite mechanically and methodically. Showers done, we had to just put one foot in the water to feel the luxurious warmth of it! It was an amazing experience to soak in the warm, tending towards hot water. The hot springs that heated this water bubbled nearby. The sun was shining and nearly roasting us. It was amazing letting out bodies soak away the tiredness of the previous 3 days.

It was difficult to relinquish the warm hug of the swimming pool. But all good things come to an end don't they.  We had to give it up to an evening of packing. We bid adieu to Iceland through a very scenic drive to the airport in Keflavik. 

It was an amazing 4 days and 5 nights. An amazing time that left me very tired. I had enjoyed to the fullest. And I am definitely going back for more. Some day! 

A lot of little steps

 The adults kept looking at the weather app like mad people. After the soaking of the previous evening we were very wary of getting drenched again. But it was supposed to be a super duper sunny day and we decided to make the most of it. 

The first visit was to Gorey Castle which was a splendid monument. It was a beautiful and picturesque structure with some breath taking views. The star of the tour was a cat called Maggie who loved being cuddled by all of us :) 

 

The next stop was for food and this time we decided to take the bus to get to the restaurant. K and I always like to travel and soak in the life of the locals. And taking public transport to get from one point to another is our preferred way to do so. The interactions we can have with the local people and the time spent just marvelling at how local life moves on is best accomplished by travelling like the natives and dining like them too. It was quaint to see the main roads being so narrow, for Jersey is a small island after all. And the people were so friendly. The  bus driver gave us detailed instructions on how to get to a certain point, they would offer to let us know when our destination was reached. One time while waiting for the bus, we forgot to raise our hand to haul it(its standard practice here, if you dont raise your hand the bus doesnt stop. How would the driver know whether you are waiting for a ride or just hanging around in a bus stop :D) When I glanced at the bus a millisecond later I was aghast. A passerby raised his hand and the bus stopped a few metres away. This would have been an unheard of incident in Leeds :)

Our next stop was the Elizabeth Castle. This castle is set near the sea, and one of the ways to get to it, is via walking on the sea bed in low tide! It was the most amazing experience I have ever had. Walking the super long stretch with the kids towards the towering castle on the sea bed felt unreal. End of the day we checked our phones and had walked a whooping 12kms! Even the tiny feet of the kids. 

 

The next day was a bit relaxed since the first stop was an old barn depicting the rural life of Jersey. For me it was a bit underwhelming because I felt my grandma's house which is atleast a 100 years old now holds way more history. From history it was unto to realm of science with the Jersey Maritime Museum. This highly interactive museum was such a delight! I do not enjoy museums a lot, I get bored. But in this place I was reading everything and soaking up the science, the geography, the history, the people who pioneered the maritime relationships. It was just super duper amazing. It was like three subjects from year7-10 back in school in a two storey building :)

 

Penultimate day we made our first visit to an  old Celtic site. Which was followed by a unique trip to the Jersey War Tunnels which gave a view of life under Nazi occupation in the island. It was a very different experience where the trials and tribulations of the local people was superbly depicted. It was again a museum which had me enthralled. 

 

Jersey was one of a kind trip. For a small island it did pack a punch. There was still so much more to see, so much more to do. We walked a ton through the roads and hope that one day we can go back and recreate it all again. 

Crossing a body of water

 The pandemic is over. Atleast for most governments :) So we planned a holiday :) 

This was to take care of the Easter break from school. My holidays are planned way in advance. Atleast 2-3 months in advance because I am a very jittery traveller. I need a lot of preparation before I get going. And this is true for any travel, even travel to work etc. I need a lot of prep. Anyways, so we had the tickets booked somewhere around February. We had no idea what the rules would  be like by early April, but since we were fully vaccinated, we reckoned it would be fairly easy sailing.

Our trip was to the island of Jersey which is crown dependency of the UK. It is not a part of the UK but the UK is "responsible" for it. Funny political stuff. K and I both have an affinity towards beaches and beach side holidays. I infact hate mountains with a passion. So going for an island was an obvious choice. The island weather looked promising as well since it was closer to France which is lucky to have better weather than England. 2 weeks prior to the holidays it was "scorching" in the UK with temperatures around 17 degree Celsius. We were looking forward to amazing weather! But as luck would have it, around 8 days before the slated vacation, the weather started taking a turn for the worse with 17 loosing 10 degrees. Wish I lost weight at such alarming rate.The dipping temps created a wardrobe chaos. We had been geared with floral dresses and skirts. And now, it would  be jumpers and cardigans and jeans and boots and gloves and all sorts of paraphernalia :( . Such was the mayhem that 2 days before the journey we were shopping for appropriate clothes. Not too hot not too cold, just right for layering. We were proper Cinderellas. :D

All wasnt smooth sailing from here either. News channels were flooded with news of murder and mayhem in the airports. Seemed like since a lot of ground staff were calling in sick with Covid, there was a scarcity of them. This was causing delays in flights and people were kept waiting fro 2-3 hours. I do not follow the news much, but K was super impacted by all this. He is an even more jittery traveller than I am. He was insistent we start earlier etc. But the taxi driver who is an acquaintance now assured us that all would be well if we start as the usual time. We reached the airport nearly on time. There were long queues, but then check in glided in smoothly too. 

The flight was fairly smooth. Jersey weather was fabulous. It was to get worse over the next few days. Check in to the hotel done, we set off in search of food and found a lovely place serving paninis, sandwiches and wraps. The name of the place was The Taste and indeed everything was very very tasty. :) Lunch done, we took a stroll and were utterly properly drenched in a downpour! We crossed a body of water from the UK to land in a place to get doused by water from the heavens! God knows what the future days had in store for us :|

I will let someone else talk

And that someone else is little Chiyaa. Who is technically not so little any more.

So we went on a holiday and once we were back, she wrote post cards for her class teacher ( I know postcards don't work like that, but I did not want to correct her yet. I was  keen to see what she was upto. Yes I felt a bit like Kristoff who does not tell Olaf what summer could do to him in the movie Frozen.)

She writes ' On Wednesday I went to Portugal. First, when we left the airport, we got a taxi. Me and my family went to 'Pizzi Hut' for dinner. I still had ear ache from the landing of the plane. Next, we went to our room where we were staying. After that my sister and I started playing with our toys. My dad did things on his phone and my mum started doing chores. The next day we went to a majestic tower that has lost its importance. It was called Belem Tower. We went to the prison. One night later, we went on a 'tram. It was bumpy and I was tired from the walking. Yesterday we went to Sintra to see the amazing palace and Castle. There were bee s but they didn't sting me.'

She wrote about her next two days as follows: ' On Saturday  we went to Rue de Augusta Arch. One of the people on arch was Vasco da Gama. On top of the arch I could see the core. There was also a gigantic castle. It was the highest thing I could see. Underneath there was a lady pretending to be a statue wearing a wedding dress. There were also two people doing the same thing. '

She also wrote up the words she had learnt.

I was very impressed with the way she had absorbed various facts. We had a very enjoyable time. It was our first vacation outside UK as a full family ( except our trips to India) The kids enjoyed every bit to the hilt. They used to walk close to 3 hours every day. They never moaned about the type of food. Rather they throve in the difference. We try to live like locals when we go on trips , shop like locals in supermarkets and use public transport as far as possible. We live far from the touristy places to just see normal life from close quarters. Part of the reason is that the non- touristy places are a bit less expensive. Also there are less chances to getting conned. Over zealous tour operators and tour agents are also conspicuous by their absence. Everyday after breakfast at the hotel, we used to take the local train to city centre from where we used to venture for the day. After the tour of the day we would make a trip to the nearby supermarket to get milk and some snacks for the kids. The kids thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. 

Back in the UK Chiyaa and I were reminiscing about the wonderful holiday, talking about the wide roads, the food, the majestic castle, the beautiful beach and everything in general. I cannot wait for another trip with the kids who are fast developing a personality of their own to appreciate and admire cities and cultures. 

Love locked and feet dead

I better get done with my Paris reverie else my mild OCD will not let me pick up anything till I am done :(

 

Day3 was slated for general roaming and loitering . Our top priority was food - yes not sight seeing. ;) As I might have mentioned umpteen times, K somehow always wants to have Indian food! We had decided on a place called coffee India, based on Tripadvisor recommendations and proximity to our hotel. The place was a little one and the fare was gourmet. The masala in the Masala Dosa had all sorts of vegetables (really healthy but then who wants to eat healthy in a hotel?!) . It was served with some really creamy chicken curry which was very tasty but my 'Indian' food sensibilities were crying at this outrage of authentic cuisine. K ordered a dish called Kothu which is some sort of scrambled dosa with some curry. The curries were again so rich and creamy and yes tasty but un-authentic. I hoped someone rescued French people from this travesty - but then sometimes lies sell :(

 

 We caught a tube to the Cité which was an island in river Seine. First on our itinerary was the Notre dame.  The church was a very majestic and magnificent. From there it was a long walk to Pont de Arts. This bridge has an urban legend regarding putting a lock on the bridge and throw the key in the river which in essence locks your love forever. We too followed tradition and bought a lock. It had 3 keys , I took one gave to K and the third to Chiyaa. As per tradition K and I dropped our keys into the waters of Seine. When asked to put her key, Chiyaa merely threw it till the edge of the bridge. Little kid, we let her try again. Same result. Huh. Ok third time lucky maybe? But same result. Hmm.. was she wishing for her parents to have their options open and not be another ever after ;) so we grabbed the key and threw it :P Of course we did not want any options :)

 

Since it was a foot bridge we allowed her to go crazy. She was running, crawling, jumping and squealing all over the place. We grabbed some coffee in a local café. We had read that the quaint restaurants and cafes in Paris were not to be missed. But we somehow found that facet a bit over romanticised and over rated. We did not get a decent brew in many places. I feel the vending machine at my work place serves better coffee. There was absolutely no variety in menu. French bakery which is supposed to be very renowned did not wow us at all just like the famed Mysore Masala Dosa did not cause a stir in our tongues. Some things are just over rated that’s why I never judge a movie or a book by what critics say :) As a side I just watched The secret life of Walter Mitty and simply lovedddddddddd itttt!!!!! Do do do watch it for some escapism, some too good to be true drama, some surrealism. Ok enough of this digression.

 

As it  was getting close to dusk, as per ritual we sighted our light house - the Eiffel and started our long walk to the coveted land  :D I know this portion is getting too monotonous and routine. But there is some pleasure in sticking to tradition. As usual we saw the lights at Eiffel, started the walk to the hotel and made the Little Birdie walk the final stretch.

 

The next day was our very last in Paris. We had to dedicate it to the famed Louvre which housed many artistic jewels of the world. I was most interested in the entrance which had been made oh so famous by the movie The Da Vinci code. Once I saw it and got a few clicks with it - I had had enough of Louvre. But the museum enthusiast K was not even warmed up. He got the audio guides and got started. Handling a pram, a bored toddler in it and the Nintendo DS which was being used as the guide and was very unintuitive - I was getting more irked by the moment. I gave up and allowed K to have a good wander. But as time passed, it was getting a bit out of hand with Chiyaa. She wanted to be let out of the pram. And if I let her out she went about touching the artefacts! The security at the famed museum was not too happy about it and I was getting 'the looks'. We viewed Venus de milo after which I started nagging K that the kitten was getting bored. K was enraged and we were in a deadlock situation. K wanted to continue his study in ancient arts, the kid and I were bored to our bones. Technically we should have won 2 against 1. To make matters worse, since we both were bored, we were getting hungry too :P I recommended we grab some grub after which K could return to the largest museum in the world, while I would take Chiyaa back to the hotel and somehow make do. K did not agree with it since he wanted us to be with him. Even I wanted to be with him, but then we can't have everything right? Anyhoo first things first, we had to get some food and zero in on a place for it. K with his utter fondness for his native delicacies recommended a place called Krishna Bhawan. (He was still peeved at Coffee India for having sold him some hocus pocus in the name of Indian food). The place was a bit far off but the 'Bhawan' in its name screamed authentic to K.

 

Authentic it was. Not only the place but the locale too. It was an south Asian dominated region. There were places marked with the south Indian languages, stores selling sarees and bangles! Wow ! Again a veritable Ranganathan street :) We got crazy with the ordering, it was Masala Vada, Idli, Spinach Vada, Thali and customary K dish of Kothu. Seriously mazaa aa gaya!!! Food made us think more clearly. We went to the museum where we decided on seeing stuff together come rain or storm. We had only managed Venus de Milo in the morning and there were so many pieces clamouring for our attention. Coming all the way to the Louvre and not seeing the Monalisa was something I did not agree with. I decided to have a dekko at that fabled portrait and then get on with taking care of the kiddo. I do not know whether something was amiss but I was not awed at all! I have no idea why the picture is so famous. Another over rated Parisian feature? :) Well maybe :)

 

Surprisingly the kid cooperated and fell asleep! We walked about, K diligently on his audio guide and dropping information to me. It was good fun in fact. Though our legs were dead with the hours of incessant walking, we kept going. We also remained true to tradition - in spite of the legs that were going numb, we saw Eiffel one last time and made the kid walk the last stretch one last time!

 

Aah Paris, je t'aime!

Revision time

As we gave our super duper tired legs some rest on Sunday night, we thought we would never be able to make it on Monday morning. In spite of our best intentions to give the next day an early start, it was 0930 by the time we saw morning. We made some quick calls to home and got cracking.

It was revision time and hence the visit to Disneyland. We opted for Disneyland Studios since Parks had been ticked off in August. As soon as we entered, we saw the little mermaid around. She was being hounded by little kids but our little kid had no patience for her. We made our move towards the Animagique show. There were five minutes to the show by the time we were seated and those five minutes were like five hours. I felt like Willy Bank might have felt as he watched his hotel being razed to the ground in 3 minutes. Why? Because Chiyaa wanted to run away. She wanted to run to the screen, shout out and unleash her most destructive powers. It needed the force of 2 adults to keep her seated and boy was it tough. Finally the show started and she started shouting Mimmie Mimmie. Well.. her initialisation to the Disney fold was via Minnie Mouse which she refers to as Mimmie. And poor dear does not see the difference between Mickey and Minnie. So though it was the Mickey Mouse on stage she was excited to see her Mimmie and from then on thoroughly enjoyed the show.

After the show was over, we kick started the rides  by one on magic carpets. The eager beaver again could scarcely rest till the ride started. She just wanted to go crazy. Thankfully this time the wait was in the region of 90 seconds and one we were off to a start she went about whooping and yaaying with us.

We were in dire need of some grub, but there seemed to be long queues in front of the stalls. And the stalls sold pancakes as the only fare we could have. Frustrated we had to get on with a big bag of chips and some carbonated beverages. That was not too bad since we had the live show of Stitch and Lulu to cheer us up. The show was really entertaining and a big surprise. It was getting close to nap time for the kiddo and as she drifted off to sleep, K chose to visit the Tower of Horrors. This ride/show was not recommended for kids and there was a sitting area where most of the abandoned families waited on the deserters to come back. I was not disappointed at all and grabbed a cup of cappuccino and chocolate drizzled waffles to keep company. With the kid asleep and K away I had some awesome time all by myself, sipping the warm cup, relishing the chocolatey treat and watching passers-by. After some time I thought of getting a smallish walk around and getting a drift of what remained. There was an Armageddon show which was closed down for repair work and a stunt show which was over as well. We had just a couple of shows remaining and as I was making my way back to the ‘waiting’ area, I caught K emerge.

We made our way to the Cinemagique show followed by Disney junior. Well the day was drawing to a good close and to best way to sign off would be with some good food. On our return we grabbed some chicken burger and fries. We were to catch the metro back to our hotel. Once we got down at our station, we could not brush aside the urge to pay another visit to the Eiffel tower. We walked in the opposite direction to have a glimpse of the beauty. We ended up being in a different part of the building this time and the light show at the strike of the hour awed us as usual. We started our trek back to the hotel and as usual the final leg of the journey we made Chiyaa walk with us J

Sunday start to finish

Well, we were off to a not so flying start. But a start is a start. At 2145 we reached Paris. Yep we had fallen in love with Paris one time in August. While talking about our next vacation destination we could not think beyond it. That was the only place both of us wanted to go, savour some more.

By the time we checked into the hotel it was way into mid night. But ah! The pure pleasure of checking into a hotel J I did mention K and I have very low standards when it comes to appreciating hotels. We literally like all of them. This time too we felt it was super awesome. We managed to get Chiyaa to have some milk and she drifted off after mid night. Inspite of a rather exhausting time at airports, we kept surfing mindless French channels till 2 in the morning. K can literally watch any tv (ok maybe not Odia tv :P ) And I have no idea why I can give him company K All the channels were French and the English ones were BBC world and CNN. They kept repeating the same news over and over. And we kept flicking over them. Senseless – I know.

It was 0930 that we woke to a lovely sunny Parisian morning. The Kabuki was a bit clingy. She did have an annoying cold to blame a bit. We had a bit of a tough time handling since she needed mommy only. The beautiful River Seine flowed right in front of our hotel. There was a replica of the Statue of Liberty near it which was a mini tourist attraction of sorts. We got there to kick start the touristy activities. Chiyaa also got into the flow and got posing for pictures and being the naughty little kitten that she is. We started wandering by the banks of the river to the nearest metro station. One thing that hit us hard was to see the number of people exercising. They were jogging, walking, running with a dog, cycling, you name it! In fact there was like a public open gym of sorts near the bank of the river with the basic twister exercise disc, rowing equipment, treadmills and some weights. There were people actually using it and boy were they making us feel bad. K suggested we get a big fat burger and eat it in the most noisy fashion possible to ‘break their spirit’. I wonder if that would have done the trick, those people seemed ultra-serious.

Not to be bogged down with the health freaks we walked on(I bet we were burning ‘some’ calories that way).  Our first stop was Arc de Triomphe. It is a beautiful monument commemorating the soldiers of the French revolution and the Napoleonic wars. It also houses the tomb of the unknown soldier from World War II. We got the tickets to visit the Arc up close and personal. We were trying to find a way to get inside since we had read reviews that the view from the top was not to be missed. Since most places in Paris are pretty ‘pram unfriendly’ we were retracing back. When all of a sudden a door opened – yep something like Open Sesame. And it was the elevator to the top of the Arc. The view was breath taking. I made some amateurish attempts to capture the beauty.

I was very insistent on trying French cuisine J So I kept asking for an ‘authentic’ place. Much to K’s petulance. I can pretty much ‘try’ anything –though I may not necessarily enjoy it. K poor dear had omelette as the best bet. We made our way into a small pub/restaurant. I  ordered some chicken dish and K a veg pancake. My dish was ok. K’s had chicken L He does eat chicken(but only if its very very spicy – so spicy that you don’t recognise the chicken)  and though the food on his plate was very unpalatable, he grinned and bore for lady love. Yea yea I am oh so lucky :P.

Our next stop was Cleopatra’s needle. I did not care much about the hows and whats of the place, but there was a couple who had just got married and they were being filmed dancing and prancing about in fountain that was not spitting water (yet). More than the actual monument it was very very amusing to watch them J I am not even sure if they were celebrities of some sorts. After having a look around, we made our way towards some building which we thought was important. It was. But unfortunately it was closed L Not to be despaired, we headed to a nearby coffee house. I ordered a Mocha and K a chocolate milk shake. They were delectable. It was the most unique mocha that K and I had ever tasted. And trust me we a lot of mocha in our blood J

Caffeine charged we were off to our next point Pont De Alexander. It was a grand bridge that stretched over the Seine. Dusk was slowly approaching and Paris was lighting up. It was changing colors gradually into a vibrant being. We kept wandering over bridges and roads, passed bustling shops and Christmas bazaars. It was around 1920 when we saw our light house – The Eiffel Tower. Luckily our hotel was a stone’s throw away from the tower as well. We decided to continue our walk to The Tower. We were to make it at the one hour mark since it lights up and does a dazzling show every hour. The deadline was a close one. And we made it! And watched The Eiffel make the most fantastic show J

That was quite some walking that we had done. We had the final trudge to the hotel. The final stretch of the walk, we decided to make the lil one walk too. She does a funny sort of march holding both our hands. It was brilliant fun. We wanted to see Paris through our eyes and legs and the first day was definitely hitting all the right chords.

Hiccups

Well I did say what a stupendous start we had to the holiday. I am the proper believer in karma. If something bad happens something good is coming up. The cosmic equation keeps getting balanced in its own weird way. We had that fantastic 30 minute duel for two pieces of bread. What did it mean? Of course a wonderful problem free vacation was hiding just around the corner.

Chiyaa was a bit funny through the morning. Her paati had left to India 2 days back. She was not able to put her finger on the problem. Something was amiss but she could not fathom it. The head count was not 3. It did not make sense to her and she was super annoyed. She was also a bit wary should the count go even further down. Now that would worry any toddler would’nt it? So she kept cribbing, whining, clinging and not being her usual enthusiastic self. To make matters worse, all the altercation between her parents! Boy were things topsy turvy. We literally turned a deaf ear to her persistent crying and got her ready. The moment she was out under the clear blue sky – well she started doing march past! We should just leave the raccoon to frolic in the open.K

The taxi to the airport came on time. The crying and fretting had tired Chiyaa and she slept peacefully during the hour long drive. We reached the airport and seeing K managing a suitcase, a bag, a back pack, a folded up pram and me handling a super squirmy 21 month old a man remarked – it’s like moving houses is’nt it? Of course it is! I think moving houses is in fact easier!

Boarding pass – check. Luggage drop – check. Security check – check. Smoooooooooooth. K happened to cast his eye over the flight listing. Our flight was scheduled for 1445. ETD – 1830. Status - Passengers wait in lounge.  The color ran off his face. He showed me the screen. Me being the proper optimist pooh poohed it saying- ‘Oh come on don’t panic. Let’s move on to the departure gates.’ Thankfully at the departure gates there was an airlines customer service desk. I casually asked her (to confirm that my intuition that the information being displayed was incorrect ) ‘When might the flight depart’. Nonchalantly she replied – ‘1800 as of now per current air traffic. But it might be sooner.’  Seeeee… told you so I told you so .. it could be sooner. All this information displayed just to harry innocent passengers.

We got some sandwiches, two steaming cups of coffee and some muffins for the Munchie. We could engage her in eating for some time. After that she lost interest. She started getting bored. She had to be unleased from the pram. She had to be let go to roam the confines of the airport terminal. And we were to keep pace with her. We were running out of energy much sooner than she was. We kept praying for The Great Rescuer. No not the flight – sleep. It did come eventually and the Cutsie drifted off for an hour. We had our toilet breaks, had some more coffee(we were given coupons from the airlines for getting refreshments), and munched on a pizza (yayyy airlines sponsored airport pizza – so much for gourmet food!). As she woke up and started her afternoon round of activities again aka running amok, trying to reach for the garbage bins, putting her finger in the plug points – we got a waft of good news. The flight would start boarding at 1750! Again the optimist in me started doing the jump in joy – 1750 is such a magnificent improvement from 1830! We are in for a treat, we are in for a treat.

We got into the flight by 1815. By 1830 we would be off cruising to our destination. What we got instead was ‘This is your captain speaking. There has been some problem in the air traffic control at Birmingham which has caused the delay. We have you seated so that we can start as soon as situation improves. As of now we anticipate a delay of 45 minutes to an hour’ Arghhhh. Come on cosmic equation. Balance yourself now. Have’nt we had enough already????

The kid was hating being confined. How long could I keep making plane noises, showing her red light, green light and trucks carrying baggage. She wanted more. Even the cell phones did not pacify her. She wanted to play with the front seat tray table. Pop it down. Push it up. Lock it. In adult speak – annoy the passenger sitting right in front of us. There was a nice lady sitting next to us. She found an extra seat and moved away so that we had an her seat. God bless her! We kept Chiyaa in the middle, and since the seat in front of her was empty – she had a field day banging the tray table! I know kids! *rolls eyes*

K and I started betting when the flight might take off. Anything in the vicinity of 1900 seemed too good to be true. Finally at 1910 we got the frightful PA ‘This is your captain speaking. We anticipate a further delay of an hour but we are not sure. In sometime our crew members will come over go through any journey cancellations you may want to make’. K and I looked at each other. We had quite some money to loose in terms of the hotel booking. We hoped that the return flight would be refunded. We started doing the maths. K started getting in touch with the hotel and going through pressing button 1 through 9 to get to someone to talk to. While he was grasping his way through the labyrinth of customer service, the PA crackled again. ‘This is your captain speaking. And we have some good news. We should be ready to take off in 20 minutes.’ Of course there is a Father in Heaven. Halleluiah. 1940 we left terra firma.

The vacation had officially started!

We are kids again

I am not a Disney fan.I prefer Pixar cartoons. But you cannot go to a place with Disney land and not visit it. Day2 was for Disney land. There is something seriously hypnotic about the place. The place is filled with a lively zesty music. One cannot help but get a hop in ones feet. It feels silly yes, but I saw every single person, have a smile on their face and skip in their gait. The crowd went on open to be enchanted. 

What hit me first was the way the whole area had been set up. It took me back to some other time, some other place. It had an old wordly charm about it. Seemed like I was transported to the America in the 50s(my knowledge of how America might be looking in the 50s comes entirely from novels and movies so  I may be excused in making this judgement). We walked on and we spotted Eeyore. Aww he looked so cute with his sad little eyes. K was totally smitten and wanted a picture taken. Here too as with the Eiffel Tower there was the 'queue' price to be paid. We anyways stood in the queue in the blistering sun. I would have loved to go away and enjoy some more sights, but then I had to look at K's enthusiasm to get convinced to stand in the queue. We were closing on, but then they said that Eeyore would need a break and would come back in 30 minutes. :( Were we disappointed :( K would have loved to wait on, but somehow my patience was at its brink. We decided to move on. 

K was crest fallen. Not for long though.There awaited the Disney castle which had been recreated as the castle for Sleeping Beauty. The walk through it evoked so many childhood memories. We had lots of stop overs at adventure land where the Pirates of the Caribbean island was our favourite. I was prepared for the long queues and waits for the rides. One thing that  heckled me was the pram 'unfriendliness' of the place. We have been to amusement parks and theme parks within England, and were amazed by how child friendly they were. In Disney land there were more places that were inaccessible by pram. There were elaborate and big -guess what - queues of prams parked in many  places. Wish they were a bit more considerate to parents with younger kids. 

The plethora of merchandise also baffled me.At the drop of a hat there was a glittering shop with lots and lots of wares. One would need the self control of a sage to not get pulled into the commercial whirlpool. We too bit the bait and ended up buying a huge coffee mug (I have a fancy for coffee mugs ) and a little bag for Chiyaa. 

We were not bogged down by the number of places we were not able to go to because of the pram. We randomly went into a cafe area and saw the live dance performance by a group. It was very well executed. I am not much of a dancer (I have 2 left foot ) and I am very shy of it. I do not enjoy seeing dance much as well. Somehow the performance reminded me of the footloose and fancy free graduation days. Hmm... those times without a care in the world. I literally got tears in my eyes at one point.Now how ludricious is that! 

We took a train ride around the park. Randomly we went off to a steak house. The fact that drew us was the decor. It was set like an old western bar. The details were superb with rugs, guns, hoes, saddles. Luckily they served some vegetarian burgers, but we would not have minded sipping coke just to savour the decor. Out of no where I spotted Pluto. K spotted Donald Duck. We literally ran out of the restaurant for the photo op. Chiyaa was totally scared of Pluto.No matter how much he tried to cheer her, she was totally wary. She was all right with Donald. Lo and Behold we had Chip and Dale too! I think there is something intrinsically cute about squirrels.She was more than happy posing for the pictures with them. K noted how animated I was around the characters. He mentioned that I was literally jumping up and down (something I was completely unaware of). The hypnotic effect of Disney had smitten me.

Totally over whelmed by the sights and sounds we dragged our tired bodies back. We were to be treated to the Paris by night tour after which we were in no position for any more thrill. A good nights sleep was what we yearned for!

And we landed

The next day was a real early start.We were at the pick up point at 0500. The crowd in the bus was a medley. There were elderly couples travelling alone, there was one big family, groups of friends, there was even a couple who were clearly in their honeymoon phase (oh how obnoxious they seemed! I am quite averse to PDA . Imagine there is a wiki link to PDA!! Cool!! )

We were to cross the Channel through a ferry. We let Chiyaa play on the deck and boy did she go crazy.That kid has some secret source of energy (I believe all parents think so about their wards :D ) Ferry ride done, it was again a long-ish drive from the port Calais to Paris. As soon as we entered Paris, the kids in bus started chanting Eiffel Tower- Eiffel Tower. It was hilarious. Their enthusiasm was so endearing :) Even the tour manager could not help contain his giggles. He decided to make the first stop at the tower. 

The Tower was visible from afar. As all good things come at a price, the price for this were long queues. Queue to get in, queue to get into the lifts, queue to get a good spot for a photo, queue to get souvenirs. But then that's a small price.

The first sight of the building did not evoke any thoughts in me. I had hope to be awestruck with wonder. As had happened to me with the Taj. When I had had the first glimpse of the Taj Mahal, I was open mouthed. It was really poetry in marble. It was the most peaceful yet imposing structure I had ever seen. I did not have that goose flesh feeling with the Eiffel. I was to be surprised. When we reached the second landing, and I had a view of the city - was I blown away. The city looked marvellous! The view was breath taking! We proceeded to the summit and by that time I was head over heels in love with the place. Once we were back on the ground, I could not help looking at the daunting structure. It is one that needs to be admired from a distance. It is something like a rainbow I feel - beautiful from a distance , from close up maybe just a giant prism(I know I know me and my horrible similes ). The Eiffel was over whelming from a distance. The gardens in front of it with the well tended lawns and trees just added to the glory of it. We decided to grab an ice cream. I don't know whether I was seeing everything with Eiffel tinted err ...rose tinted glasses or was  it a fact - but that ice cream was the best ice cream I have had in a long time. It was one HUGE dollop of chocolate ice cream in a BIG cone. It was delicious. I could not keep up with the melting of the ice cream - because I was so distracted snatching glances at the tower and of course my kid who was going berserk in the garden. I was like a child all slobbered with ice cream. It was ridiculously silly.

Finally we had to bid a temporary good bye to the steel  giant and head to the hotel for sleepy time. There was lots more fun awaiting us the next day!

The preps

We had been looking at making a trip to Paris since  a long time. Somehow one thing or the other hindered us. It would either be the case of leaves not being there, weather not being ok, personal engagements or for that even finances keeping us down. I had plans to go with a chartered tour because of the kid. I wished for the nitty gritties to be taken care of already so that we could sit back and enjoy the ride.

We decided to go by the highly recommended Star Tours.Like most places, UK is also highly capital centric. So the tours start and end at London (with pick ups being available from other locations). The pick up  was at an odd hour of 0100 which would not have worked well with Chiyaa. We decided to go one day ahead and put up at London itself. 

It did end up being a very good decision. K loves London. He for the matter loves the tube in London. He feels like Indiana Jones, reading the maps, deciding which line to take and where to go. He could spend the whole day hopping from one train to another. We did get to London and then of course we got tube hopping. Finally we got to our hotel. It was awesome. There is something about hotel rooms - the initial cleanliness, the spic and span towels, the soaps and lotions, the tea and coffees, the tv, the way everything is there in that small space - a sofa, a coffee table, a working table, cupboards, hair dryers, iron boxes, laundry (seriously  is'nt literally a home fitted into the small space) . Even the budget hotels make K and me go all ooo aaaaa :) Or then maybe we are simple-tons who are easily impressed :) 

The first thing we did was hit the bed. We literally had to drag ourselves out of the bed at 1600. The area we were putting up at was an Indian dominated one. K started doing yet another of his favorite things - search for Indian restaurants! I somehow see no point in eating Indian food in a foreign place , is'nt that what we eat at home. To top it,in our house, we cook fares from all parts of India (ok maybe not from the west :D ) . We have the regular south Indian meals, and I cook stuff that are essentially northern or eastern. So I don't see much point in getting the same food in a hotel. I prefer going for a cuisine which we cant make at home. But K  of course thinks differently. He just likes having the same food in a hotel :| We finally we opted for - guess what - Chennai Dosa :| Huhhhhhhhhhh.

On the way to the place, literally every person we saw seemed from the Indian sub continent. The place was crowded and the shops had an ethnic Indian feel to it. K even spotted a shop with the name written in Tamil and did a woo hoo. To add to the authenticity the afternoon was hot and sweltering. It was literally like walking on Rangathan street in Chennai! 

We were flooded with nostalgia as we entered Chennai Dosa and started ordering like crazy. We ate like little piggies till a point we could move no more. That's when we decided to do our bellies a favour, stuffed a paan and headed out. To alleviate some guilt, we decided to take a walk. We spotted a park and of course we had to let Chiyaa have a go. She went berserk and we ended up being exhausted. I am sure we burnt more calories than we had consumed ;) 

We wrapped up the evening with some fresh juices and headed back to the hotel. We had a very early start and a really long day ahead of us. As we snuggled into the duvet, I could not help thinking - the afternoon made me miss my friends. Not Chennai, not BBSR, not my family, not my acquaintances, but my friends. I wished to see them - Sam, Ashu, Roomie dear, S. I missed them a lot somehow. I have no idea why. 

With my thoughts hovering around my lovely bunch of friends, I drifted off to a coma like sleep.

Did someone say adventure? Hampi Day1 Episode1

I was totally unprepared for Hampi and boy how unprepared was I!

Alighting at the Hospet station, we had to take an auto rickshaw to get to the Tungabhadra river banks. Our idea was to cross the river and get an accommodation on the "other side" of the river. Sam had visited the place before and she was more or less the tour operator. As we were going, I was able to catch a glimpse of some of the ruins. Being a history buff myself, I was getting too excited to get up close and personal with the archeological sites.When we inquired the auto rickshaw driver as to the ferry timings for taking to the "other side "of the river, he said, they exist from 6 am to 6pm. Now when Sam had come before the ferry ran till 2000 hours. Having the services cut 2 hours prior would not be a bit tight in case we wanted to roam around a bit more. When we reached the river banks, Sam said, we would relax for the day come to this side to see the ruins the next day. I said, we could give the day to visit the sites on the "other side". Then she said, there was nothing much on the "other side", it just gives the laid back feel thanks to the cottages and huts. Whatever I had read about Hampi, never gave me the picture that there was nothing of importance on the other side of the river. Somehow all websites and blogs and travel portals I visited gave me a feel that the ruins were equally dispersed on both sides of the river. I felt a bit crestfallen, because I am a touring tourist :) Rest is not my idea when I come to a place like Hampi for sure. But when I learnt that on the "other side "of the river, rest was what was primarily done, I felt disappointed. But then I was a bit curious as to what lay on the "other side", so did not want to spoil the plan to cross the river either.

The ferry that came up was a motor boat to be precise and a pretty decrepit one at that. Once we reached the "other side", we were hounded by people advertising their cottages/hotels. We checked a few and then got into Hema cottages. They are small huts, cottages is a pretty fancy name I think for the amenities they have. You get the bare minimum, cots, fan and a bathroom and if you regard network for your cell phone and electricity as bare minimum - you do NOT get them. Yep, its a veritable village and many things we city breds take so much for granted are unknown there. There is a daily power cut from 8 in the morn till noon and again from 5 in the evening till 8. In between it has its whims and fancies and comes and goes at will. I was a bit taken aback by this wanton electricity supply. None the less we somehow refreshed and went ahead for breakfast to a nearby hotel.

The "other side" as this side of the river is called is a proper hippies getaway. Here lot of foreigner especially Israelis abound. And there is a slow pace with which things go on. The food here is divine and we did gorge on some awesome continental and Israeli cuisine. But all the while I was yearning for the history that I was missing :( So I said it might be a better idea if rather than staying till the next day in the guest house, if we checked out in the evening and crossed the river. That way we would be able to start early on the coming day and complete the share of sight seeing. Sam was more inclined to taking the lazy way out and being on this side of the river, generally relaxing, eating good food and spending the time doing nothing. K played the perfect devil's advocate and said, If we were going to check out of the guest house, rather than waiting very long, it would be better if we did so sooner, like 4-5 in the afternoon so that we would have time in hand to search for hotels. Else if we decided to stay on this side itself, it would be better to check out around 12 the next day so that we would do some sight seeing at least. He was like coming that far and not doing any sight seeing at all might not make much sense. After a lot of debating we decided, we would finish breakfast, go for a cycle ride and check the ruins that lay on this side, come back, refresh, finish a late lunch and cross the river.


Breakfast done, we started on the cycle trek. We had an awesome time! There was a gentle breeze flowing and we had the sun screaming down on us. We were sweating like proper rustic folks and we were getting one hellova tan too. The hand beyond the shirt sleeves were nearly turning black! But it was some feeling. At points when the road was a downward slope and we did not need to paddle, wow! When we were all drenched in sweat and suddenly there would be a waft of cool wind, bliss! On the way a bunch of school kids hi-fived us, suweeeet! We intermittently stopped under shaded parts to rejuvinate and gulp some water. K at one point got rid of his tshirt and used it as a turban - a la pukka rural tam ishytle, and Sam and I were sure jealous of him. But we urged him not to strip further cos he was not a proud possessor of the body like those Israeli hunks ;) He teased back saying, we were not any close to the damsels either else we too would have started shedding. The banter thus went on and we had no idea how far we had cycled. We had reached a village called Anegondi - which K insisted on calling Anaconda :D

At that point we decided to just turn back and head home. It was a 50 mins solid ride home. On the way, we just stopped at a point where the river was a bit shallow and went down. It was divine to soak our tired feet into the cold water.

This time we gave a ride to another group of school kiddos who were walking back home. In a nearby stall we all shared some soft drinks with the kids.

Once we returned to the guest house, we realised how very tired we were and how very tanned we were :) It was already 1500hours. By the time 3 of us freshened up and headed for the place for lunch it was 45 minutes past. Now as I had said, the "other side" of Hampi is for lazing around. We made it very clear to the waiter, that we had only an hour to spare since we did nt want to be late for the ferry. We ordered stuff which would get ready sooner. But inspite of our urging him to move things faster, inspite of our coaxing and threatening to cancel the order, by the time we got done it was 1730. Everyone else was sipping their beers, smoking their cigarettes, lolling on the mattresses as if they had alllll the time in the world. And we three were gulping our food as if we were having a heart attacwith K giving the time by the second. At a point I said "Stop it! The wall clock is right in front of me and I see the darn thing ticking and moreover I wear a wrist watch too which you dont and I am inclined to seeing that and getting more NERVOUS!"

We scrammed out of the place and ran towards the river bank. It was 1750 then. We saw the ferry being parked a bit further, not in the designated place. Dont know what sadistic pleasure the ferry drivers get by making their customer wade through ankle deep mud when they can very well park in drier places. One good old man showed us a narrow pathway to get to the ferry. It was very narrow, a bit unsafe and slippery(because of people having walked on it with wet feet) and steep downward incline. With Sam and I having 2 heavy backpacks and K a travel bag, we started climbing down.

We had climbed some paces only when we heard the engine of the ferry rev up. We got franctic. Sam and I started shouting Bhaiyya! Bhaiyya! and started flailing our arms to make the boatman stop....

The kickoff - Project Hampi

I am alive and kicking :) And Renu, it was immensely sweet of you to come up to my blog and ask how come I had gone invisible. Thank you so very much :) That was a very warm gesture.

Now that I am back, I am going to mow down my readers with some very very long posts (*evil laugh*). Yep, and this is going to be a part by part post - the current one being part1 :)

September is a real sweet month this year. It comes with 2 extended weekends back to back. First a holiday on 21st for Eid, the next on 28th for Dussera and then October joins forces to give 2nd October as a holiday. K and I were looking forward to a vacation during one of these extended weekends. But for some reason or the other, the plans always used to go kaput. Then one afternoon during a casual call my friend Sam said she was going to Hampi on a 3 day trip. She was generally cribbing about one of her friends having ditched her, which would compel her to travel alone from Bangalore to Hospet - and Hospet not being a very bright place, she was a bit jittery about making the trip alone. At Hospet she would have been joined by another friend of hers from Hyderabad.

When I heard the plan itself, something kicked in me to ask K to join in as well. We had been making and breaking vacation plans, cancelling and redoing train tickets and were in a whole lot of mess when it was coming to travelling. I was having my reservations when I went ahead and asked K if we could plan on a trip to Hampi. But I was amazed to get a whole hearted thumbs up from him! Now first hurdle crossed, we had to check tickets! Cos the due date was just 2 weeks away and that being a holiday time, people would be flocking like crazy to the place. And we had a big set of tickets to be made yet again - Chennai->Bangalore, Bangalore->Hospet(closest station to Hampi), Hospet->Bangalore, Bangalore->Chennai. Now if God unwilling any thing went awry, it would need 8 tickets to be cancelled. Still, we thought, lets give it a shot.

As I had said in one of my previous posts, 2 weeks is a long enough time for many things to change. And in this case too they did. The other friend of Sam's who was supposed to come had to cancel her tickets since she had some emergency and Sam decided to return with us rather than staying an extra day as was her initial intention. For her it would have been a trip that would nt have happened if K and I had nt booked our tickets. Its strange the way providence ties people up :)

Strangely the day before the trip both Sam and I were pretty restless. Sam has been my oldest friend- one since school. She and I connect very easily. And we both having the same feeling on a day prior to the travel was pretty uncanny. We tried to reason as to why we were feeling that way. Maybe it was because, it was a very impromptu trip for which neither of us was 100% prepared, or maybe it was because we were a bit bothered by the fact that we would be away from work for 4 days, or it was because she had a different perception of how the trip was going to be and with K and I coming into the picture, it might be a paradigm change or maybe it was because I who always loves to plan out every bit of a vacation was not able to gather much info before the travel was feeling a bit less prepared. We were not sure if it was a bit of all these feelings or any thing else which we were not able to figure out at all. None the less, we tried to keep the pace of normal work and some how tide over that one day before 4 days of vacation began.

The journey to Bangalore was good but once I hit the bed at Sam's place, I realised how exhausted I was - cos I slept 3 hours straight. I could have slept more if Sam and K had not kicked me out of the bed. Though we had planned to shop and eat out and God knows what not, we ended up spending most of the day inside the house, generally talking, finishing some chores, last minute packings and arrangements. Pronto at 2000hrs we ventured towards the station. The entire crowd in the train seemed to be going to Hampi. There were so many people with RAC tickets who were travelling. All the while Sam was praying that we should get a proper place to stay( Yep inspite of Sam and I both being finicky about planning and being meticulous to the core, neither of us had been able to get any reservations done!!) The optimistic me kept reassuring her that things would be fine and the ultra pessimistic her kept wondering what if things were not fine :) K being K chose to doze off and let the ladies do the thinking :D. As happens whenever old friends meet, Sam and I were talking till 0100 at night and hit the bed pretty reluctantly.

The train was supposed to reach Hospet at 0745 hours. At 0645 K woke me and asked if we had arrived, but I said there was still an hour to go. We decided to snatch some more winks. All of a sudden a lady came and said "You going to Hampi na?" We jolted YESSSS. She said "Its Hospet station get down get down, just take your luggage and get down". Maa kasam, aisa mere saath pehle kabhi nehi hua!! I freaked out, took one of the backpacks and scrammed. K and Sam were in deeper sleep I suppose, cos they took some more time. I was like hurry hurry come fast all the while. We jostled out of the train and stepped into the glaring sun of Hospet.

We were giggling silly at our stupidness. And we thought, wow quite an adventurous start!!

Scarce did we know - the adventure had just began!