God's Own Country

Christmas eve day we arrived in Cochin, Kerala.  Kerala is a state in the southeastern part of India.  Our first stop on our vacation was the isolated mountain village of Munnar.  On our drive from Cochin airport we passed plantations growing every possible type of fruit and vegetable as well as some beautiful waterfalls (see below).  After quite a long drive we arrived in the city of Munnar. The scenery in this part of Kerala is absolutely breathtaking.  There are tea and spice plantations blanketing every possible stretch of land as well as beautiful flowering trees and shrubs.  However, our arrival in Munnar was only the start of our trek out to our hotel, Camp Noel.  It was just getting dark when we left Munnar and when the sun finally sank completely we were left to drive in total darkness, the kind of darkness that simply does not exist in Mumbai.  We drove about an hour, straight uphill, past the city.  The road grew narrower and more perilous as we inched along narrowly avoiding collisions with sadistic motorcyclists and rickshaw drivers seemingly intent on sending us hurtling downhill to our imminent doom.  We finally arrived on the top of the mountain and were then transferred from our car to an aging but sturdy jeep.   Our driver bid us a fond adieu as we nervously stepped into the jeep with two ominous looking Indian men smoking glowing bidis.  What followed was 40 minutes of white-knuckled anxiety holding on for dear life as we bumped along following a dirt path at a 90-degree angle.  It was COMPLETELY dark and for a while we figured we would probably be robbed and left for dead in the middle of millions of acres of tea.  Every few minutes the lights of a small village of plantation workers would come into view and we would think, “We are here!”…but alas.   When the hotel finally did come into view we were overjoyed!   It is a little piece of heaven in the mountains (like Dollywood, only it's India and there is no amusement park, no funnel cakes, no TV, and no cell service).   We had our own little cottage complete with two fireplaces to keep it cozy since it is only 40-degrees at night during this time of year!  We had a lovely buffet complete with tandoori goodies and jelabi.  Come Christmas Eve we were lazing in front of a roaring fire and thinking of all our wonderful friends and family and wishing they were here to share in our Indian adventure!

Merry Christmas from Mumbai!

Just wanted to say Merry Christmas all the way from Mumbai.  Though we certianly don't miss the cold, we will certianly miss our friends and family this Holiday Season.  In order to avoid the depression that would surely manifest if we decided to work during our first Christmas in India we have decided to take a trip to the southern Indian state of Kerala, leaving on Friday the 24th!  Follow us on the blog as we embark on our sunny Indian Christmas adventure.  Should be an elephant riding, tiger spotting, riverboat lounging good time!

The Dutch Comes to Visit

Last weekend we had a friend visiting from the Netherlands so we decided to do a proper bit of Mumbai sightseeing on Saturday.  We visited Cafe Mondegar or "Mondy's" as it is affectionately called for a drink and some Tandoori Gobi.  To me it seems like the "Cheers" of Mumbai (that one is for you Jana Adams)! Then we walked down to the Gateway of India and took some pictures with some amazing Indian kids (see below) and stopped in the Taj Palace for a bit of a look around inside.  We walked around Colaba and marveled at the beautiful colonial architecture and stopped in my favorite store Fabindia to purchase a few traditional dupatta and salwar kameez!  We ended the day at the uber-posh Tote on the Turf adjacent the Mahalaxmi Race Course.  All in all, a pretty good day in my favorite city.... :-)  Oh and the first picture may well be my favorite picture ever...that kid is priceless and I have no idea how he made it into the photo without anyone noticing!

Tivoli Gardens

I spent my last night in Copenhagen visiting the iconic Tivoli Gardens with friends.  Christmas in Tivoli is celebrated with lights, shopping, rides, food, and Glogg.  The park was decorated beautifully with thousands of lights.  We were even able to visit the notable Groften restaurant which serves traditional Danish food in a cozy kitch atmousphere, perfect for a traditional Danish Christmas lunch!  It was so nice I couldn't resist taking a few pics :-)

 

 

Da Bello di Padova

I am finally back in Mumbai!  Hooray!  I have been a lazy, lazy blogger so I will attempt to catch up this week!  My second weekend in Copenhagen (i.e. about three weeks ago :-) ) I was able to visit la famiglia Pasqualetto in Padova, Italy.  I flew into Milan airport and was able to get a couple of photos of Milano's Central Station in it's full Christmas glory on the way to Padova.  I spent a wonderful weekend in Padova living the bella vita and probably gained about 5 lbs. :-)  We visited the thermal pools, sipped spritz, shopped, and of course ATE entirely too much.  As always, the food in Italy is too, too good.  Pizza margarita con prosciutto, Risotto con funghi, Gnocchi con ragu, the list is endless.  I was sad to say Ciao but all good things must come to an end...