One of my favorite places in Florence, the Gardens of Boboli had a nice surprise - Cats! They didn't want much to do with anyone, but I think if I'd had more time I would have enough cats to make a calendar.
As we walked home one night, I also noticed these boxers and immediately thought of Dad - so I snapped a picture.
Labels: Florence, Honeymooning, Italy
portions originally written Oct. 12th, 2007It's truly amazing I can fly for 17 hours and still feel at home. Everyone speaks English, the stores are the same (well, high end, Bvlgari, Gucci, Burberry, Fendi everywhere - it's like a large Santana Row or Plaza), the food is fairly similar to the Bay Area. The world is indeed becoming flat.
Commercials are the one difference I've seen. Here people of every race, countries all over the world advertise. Pretty different from our white-bread world where "diversity" means you throw in a hispanic or two because the buzz in marketing is they are a very large and growing minority with disposable income. Though, I'm not sure if it should be called diversity or capitalization. I guess there's a fine line...
The Qatar commercial was the one that was playing when this ran through my mind. It would never have run in the US. An Arab man and his son are skipping stones in the water. It goes on to promote business in Qatar... suddenly I find myself wondering where Qatar is and feeling as dumb as the Americans who can't find South Dakota on a map.
It is clean here. I had this realization while riding the cable car over to Sentosa Island and noticing with the construction they were trying to keep pollution out of the ocean. Once we arrived at Sentosa Island we decided to stick around. We went to see the statue of the merlion and were able to watch a wonderful short film explaining how this symbol of Singapore came to be - the stylized animation was awesome.
Seoul was also a nice airport to visit. Clean, nice design, wonderful lighting. And the airlines are nothing like the US. They're effificient and still know what customer service is. Take for instance - we boarded 5-10 minutes late. They were apologetic - unlike the US Airlines that tell you to be happy they got you on a plane 4 hours late. Gee - that trip home at Christmas is going to be just wonderful.
Labels: Honeymooning, Korea, Seoul, Singapore
Portions continued from the October 24, 2007 handwritten (*gasp!!*) diary entry...
After wandering through the Forum and the Coliseum, Raju and I headed up to Palantine Hill. Raju, being the more observant of the two of us, noted how the grass was indeed greener for the rich folk. I, probably being the more sarcastic of the two of us, thought the bullshit spewing forth from these politicians must have made great manure (the smarmy continues...).
No matter how smarmy tonight, at the time, this is where it really hit me as to why art flourished in Italy. The light is just so damn beautiful, as are the colors of almost everything in Rome.
My feet hurt like hell after Rome (though, truly, I didn't know what tired feet were until Florence). But Palantine Hill was definitely one of those moments where time slowed, where we forgot we had a million and one things to see in Rome, and we enjoyed meandering down the hill, away from the palaces and back to the land of reality. Those few moments are one of the treasured on this trip.
Bracolli Floretta on Palantine HillLabels: Honeymooning, Italy, Rome
Portions originally written October 24, 2007.
It was one of the first things that ran through my mind in Rome. We're staying near Vatican City, and the place is surrounded by junk shops and street vendors hawking pictures of the Pope, Jesus, and pretty much any other religious figure you can think of.
Everything in the city of Rome elicits a small "WOW" from me, followed by silence because I'm floored by the beauty of it. Toward the end of day one I figured this out, after seeing St. Peter's Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and Hall of Maps at the Vatican Museum, while enjoying a gelato in front of the Trevi Fountain. I know it's all the tourist spots, but I'm not sure what isn't in Rome. The entire city is like one big museum, only people live in and around every piece of art in it.
The mosaic work in St. Peter's is amazing
The proportions of the buildings and the lighting add to that WOW-factor I believe. I'm a huge fan of the golden light, unfortunately, I only see it in the early morning here in the U.S. -- and I'm not a morning person. It's pretty much a golden hue through most of the day there, as you can see from the photos.
We also got to see the Pope this morning, not so much because we planned it, but because we were walking by and noticed the crowd. We decided seeing the Pope might be a once in a lifetime thing, so we stuck around.
Unfortunately I had left the longer lens at home, so you get to play "Find the Pope!". Should be a good way to kill an hour of your Monday morning.
The entire popage-sighting was very spooky though. He was brought out in the pope-mobile and driven through the crowd, so it appeared he was floating in his white robes. Add to that some organ music, and the entire event seemed made for Halloween. Odd, interesting, unforgettable.
Labels: Honeymooning, Italy, Observances, Rome
Heineken, I've learned, is much better in other countries. I'm not sure what they do to it here, but I won't drink it. However, in Dubai and Europe, it's not a bad beer -- not my first choice, but drinkable.
So I wonder, what did we ever do to the Dutch?
Labels: Honeymooning, just a picture, Observances
Though, most of you already know that. It's back to work for me today -- somewhere in Zurich it hit me that I did indeed have a job and didn't travel for a living.
In Belur, this carving inspired me to pick up the feet pictures (like the one I took in Tahiti last year), especially since at the time I was barefoot and my feet were quite pretty covered in mehendi.
Courtney's feet in BelurRaju said one of the women there noticed what I was doing and was laughing at me. Since it was our honeymoon, I thought maybe we should capture our feet instead of just mine.
Raju and Courtney's feet in BelurAs the trip went on, and we were in Dubai, I began to document the Mehendi wearing off, and then the feet pictures became a trend. Maybe I should take one in each place we stopped.
Courtney's mehendi wearing off in the desert of Dubai, at sunset
Raju's feet at the desert camp in Dubai
Courtney's feet in Vatican City
Raju's feet in the forum, RomeIn Florence I believe I may have forgotten my feet. But, Raju was being a daredevil at the Campanile, wanting to get a picture through the grate to show the stories we had been on below, and he managed to capture his feet in the process.
Raju's feet at the Campanile, FlorenceIn Venice, as we relaxed on a gondola ride, we went back to photographing the feet together which became a trend the rest of the trip.
Our feet not on land in Venice
Huddled together for warmth on the Eiffel Tower's second level in Paris
In Old Town, ZurichThen we made it back to the States and I put the camera away permanently. Not a single picture of the days we spent in New York.
It's good to be home, but I'm sure I'll be ready to do this again sooner than our wallets will be.
Labels: Honeymooning
The keys are only slightly amiss here in Zurich. The Z and the Y key are switched, which is messing with me every time I want to type my name (and I've never noticed how many y's one types in a sentence until just now).
Zurich is wonderful -- I wish we had spent more time here. As earlier, no photos -- too long to upload and I have too many things to do in my 30 minutes of internet time.
I'll soon be home and even sooner back to the real world. Still enjoying the love of doggies in Europe, still enjoying stacks of food in the window-fronts of eateries. Pictures, pictures everywhere when I get back. In the meantime I can share more pics with you from the mehendi party. These are from Bhanu:
Bhanu's pics on Picassa.
Labels: Honeymooning
I should have really nice legs by the end of this trip. I'm sure I will appreciate escalators more once I get home. We've had a great time thus far in Italy. We've seen the pope float across a crowd, had a few gelatos, and walked up (and then down) thousands of steps, literally.
Rome was like one large museum -- you could spend months, maybe even years there, and not see it all. Florence, on the other hand, is rather small and no matter what direction you are headed or what street you take, you seem to end up back at Piazza del Duomo. Every time.
I would have uploaded photos, but the internet seems slower here, so no photos for now :-( Ah, and Nin -- wirehair dachsunds seem to be in here...
Labels: Honeymooning
As a wedding present Raju's cousins sent us on a sunset trip into the desert, dune bashing. It was oooooh so scary but ooooooh so fun. The Land Cruisers were sliding this way and that way, and some were getting stuck, but not our driver.
We headed into a camp after watching the sun set for eating, drinking, camel riding, falcon holding, and watching belly dancing. We made friends with the other passengers in our car, Saresh, Sandeep, and his mother Mrs. Kunder. They really made the night -- we watched Sandeep mimic the belly dancer by balancing his mother's cane on his belly!
I've made a highlights gallery with some of my favorite pictures so far from Singapore, India (Bangalore, Bandipur, and Belur), and Dubai and Sharjah. Lots of animals and some nice sights, too!
Labels: Honeymooning
The picture above is not mine -- our friend Pathy has already posted pictures on Picasa of our wedding in Bangalore and I thought I would share.
Click here for pictures.Update: A bit of a recap of the wedding from Raju's cousin, Indu.Raju & Courtney Wedding:
The Bangalore Finale You've seen the movie, now read the book.
As the pictures show, it was traditional, colourful, solemn in parts, joyous in most, and a splendid time was had by all.
But what the pictures don't yet show are the befores and the afters
So here's a verbal picture of that too... The pre-nuptial excitement set in with a grand lunch-and-mehendi party hosted by Latha and Shankar at Chimes Inn. Ashok and Bhanu, the 'inn-keepers' had everything meticulously in place to give us a sparkling welcome. Apart from the Uttar Karnataka fare, there was Latha's own delicious parsley soup and lasagne, and Shankar's puliogare bhat that were competing for our compliments.
Then the mehendi lady began her work on the bride's hands. The visitors were given a quick background of the significance of mehendi: the darker the patterns, the luckier Courtney would get…with her mother in law! And that as long as the designs remained, she would not be expected to do any housework. (Furtive applications of lime juice over the mehendi patterns assured very dark designs...)
Soon Bollywood music was switched on.
And then began the dancing—also known as the seduction of Shankar by the dancing ladies. As Shah Shankarjehan lay about on the takias, red rose in hand, Aishwarya, Madhuri, Hema Malini, and Rekha (names changed to protect their identities) performed several item numbers in the grand Indian film tradition. Then it was mayhem as everyone was lured to take the floor, and dance their way towards Courtney and bless her. Raju did a particularly deft number.
How much we missed Anu and her adorables, Nina and Rhys, the dancing sensations of America...
And then the Wedding!
Even as we were rushing about searching for our mascara and mallipu, a flood of guests arrived very early... (unusually clear Bangalore streets devoid of traffic was the reason!) And then Raju and Courtney made a royal entrance.
"Asal bommai attum irruka! Aha…Raja madiri irrukan!" were frequent exclamations. We welcomed the gathering and then Mrs Sharma the Arya Samaj high priestress conducted the hour-long ceremony. Debra (mother of the bride) and Tammy (her sister) were dressed by Leela in grand silks and looked like they'd worn sarees all their lives. Courtney articulated Sanskrit slokas with ease. Raju flashed his devastating grin. And it was a lovely, intimate moment when the entire gathering moved up right around the stage to shower the lovely couple with flowers.
While the official pictures were being taken, some of the guests moved over to the Banquet Hall to see a fun audio visual , earlier played at the Washington reception, showing clear evidence that that this tryst was ordained since the baby days of Raju and Courtney. Then as guests sat down to enjoy lunch, the couple moved around and greeted people at every table.
A truly wonderful day.
And now... we hear there's shortly going to be a Bollywood version of the earlier Hollywood hit, starring Jennifer Lopez, "The Wedding Planner". This time of course it will star Bhanu. A rousing applause here!
Krishnamurthy and Leela met up with so many cousins and pals who'd made the effort to be there. There was much catching up, smiles and laughter.
And then a family tradition that began with the time Krishnamurthy and Leela got married over 40 years ago was religiously repeated, at the wedding of their son.
Several relatives accompanied Raju and Courtney on their honeymoon :-).
A bunch of determined cousins, who decided they needed a treat after the hard work at the wedding, merrily joined the couple on a fabulous trip to Bandipur Game Sanctuary. The American visitors were delighted to find that we have animals in our forests too, apart from the ones that roam in our streets.
Fortunately the cousins have stayed back from the rest of their honeymoon plans, and even as you read this, Raju and Courtney are enjoying themselves in Dubai.
Cheers!
Labels: Honeymooning, Wedding
Singapore, Chingi Airport, October 12th, 5:10 pm:So, really, not much has changed from my day-to-day life. Except soothing voices are paging passengers as I type this.
We arrived at SFO Wednesday (it's Friday here, I think it's Friday at home). I was bummed because we were seated in row 1 on the plane -- I would have seat to stick my luggage under. Mind you, this is after Raju has said, "We can get in the First Class line".
So, internalizing that I'm bummed, I then realize, "Row 1 -- wait, isn't that first class?" Raju smiled a small grin. "Surprise! I've been trying to keep this from you forever." Apparently that's not too hard, as it didn't even hit me when we were in the first class line. At that point, had he not smirked, he probably could have told me it was a one time, during-the-trip upgrade.
This life rocks. Sitting in lounges, eating free food, drinking free drinks. The best part is the new Singapore Airlines first class is apparently tops -- 35 inches of seat, that lies flat into a bed. Your own 23 inch flatscreen, filled with the newest movies as well as TV shows from around the world (old and new, I got to watch Pinky and the Brain which I haven't seen since high school). Oh, and as much vintage Dom and Krug as you can drink. I seriously was ready to spend the next 30 days on the plane. I just need to take a moment and say the husband -- BEST HUSBAND EVER.
But, they did eventually land the plane, and we're in Singapore, which is pretty cool. We arrived last night, and hopped in bed in the airport's hotel. Today, they let us through immigration, so we headed out to explore. We took a cable car from the Harbour Front over to Sentosa (I think... tourist trap I'm sure, but the cable car ride sounded fun and that's where it took you) and saw the merlion statue. The cable cars were pretty high over the water -- a bit scary, especially when they left the station. Then we headed back over for a trip through the mall. I have never seen so many high-end shops. Between the airport and the shopping center we went to, I've been bombarded with Fendi, Bvlgari, Gucci, Burberry, Cartier, and the list just goes on, and on, and on. These people have money. And I should have never worried about buying beauty products before leaving -- the airport has many duty-free shops that definitely rival Sephora (though, a huge thank you Kristen for that Caudalie travel kit -- the refreshing spray is just that - jeez my skin is soft now).
Pictures, I'm sure, will come at some point, but not today. We're set to take off for Bangalore in a few hours, so for now, I'm just going to relax, and continue sipping my champagne.
Labels: Honeymooning
