Today was checkout day. We had a relatively later start. We had discussed and the camp manger had offered to have their staff direct our driver to a gorge nearby where baboons live. It was 5 mins from camp. We were to see that and then start our drive to Nairobi. After breakfast, checkout etc. we headed to elephant gorge. We didn’t see any baboons but did get a fantastic view of Mt Kilimanjaro! We were so lucky. Our driver said that many tourists have to leave without a view if it’s covered in clouds.
Mt Kilimanjaro
The drive back to Nairobi was uneventful . Long for sure. We reached Nairobi at ~ 3 pm and our driver took us to a strip mall with all Indian restaurants and shops. Got a decent lunch, service speed something to be desired. Got back to our apartment and rested. That evening the plan was to have dinner with Vatsan uncle and his daughters. We took an Uber to their place, 10 mins away.
Rithvi being her goofy self
They truly are wonderful hosts. Dinner was kicked off with chaat that I over-ate. Dinner was bisibele baath. I was too full from all the chaat and rest was more like tasting. after dinner, some chatting, Shruthi and Shalini dropped us back to our apartments. The next day was driving to lake naivasha and from there to Masai Mara. So we had to pack for 3 nights and checkout from the apartment in the morning again.
The plan was to be ready by 5 am to head out to Amboseli National Park. We were right on time and breakfast was already loaded into the car. Fairly quick drive into the park. Saw more elephants again, they are such beautiful calm animals ❤️ saw the pride of lions again, this time they lazily sauntered away and we then saw a hyena come in their spot scavenging for any leftovers. The special treat in this game drive was when driving via one road, no other vans/jeeps around, I thought I saw a lion but it also looked like a lot of a tree. Tanush then shouted it’s a lion and lo and behold we saw a male lion for the first time. It was amazing, sitting by itself wondering why we were staring at him. He got up and walked away behind some bushes. I was terrified he will suddenly come up from somewhere else and attack us 😅 this was a unique experience as we were the only one, there weren’t 50 other jeeps around us with their mega lenses around us. We felt super lucky and special. After this, another treat to their eyes was seeing 100’s of zebras and wildebeest near a river. It was beautiful, we even saw two wildebeest get into a fight.
The lone lion that only we got to see
After this it was breakfast time. Our driver drove us to a hill where we could have a picnic breakfast . When he said he needed help carrying the food up the hill, I quickly opted out and said we would all have breakfast near the jeep and then go up the hill for the view. I was disappointed to find that the coffee and tea flasks that were promised to be packed were not in there after all. Aside from that, everything else was there. Our omelettes, fruits, toast etc.
After breakfast we went up the hill and the view was indeed amazing. With our binoculars we were able to spot 8 or 10 hippos, plenty of zebra, wildebeest, birds etc. my dad and uncle claimed they saw Mt Kilimanjaro for a bit but I saw no trace of it. after this I don’t quite remember much else in terms of animal sightings and we headed back to our camp for lunch.
I couldn’t wait to have some coffee and helped myself to 2 cups of delicious Kenyan coffee. Saw a herd of elephants again near the watering hole and this time a group of baboons as well joined. Such a nice view right from where we were seated for lunch. as mentioned earlier, service is not about speed. While I thought I was clever by putting in our lunch order at 1:30 pm, all of us freshened up and seated ourselves at 2:00pm. ,our food came to us at 2:45 pm, I’m not kidding.
When my dad was being himself and asked our waiter “where is our food?!” I enjoyed the banter between Rithvi and my dad. She started with “thatha, you are kinda rude”, after his pushback about how long they are taking she says “your tone isn’t right” 😂 it was a lot funnier that it sounds now.Rithvi was very happy to get Arun thatha’s support in her feedback about her thatha. I had to defuse by pointing to her that her Ajji sounds rude too, to get some of the heat off. It’s also true – to anyone she interacted with “do it!” “Give it!”. I had to remind my mom to use her thank you’s! And she retorted that it was weird 🤦🏾♀️
The evening plan I.e. 4 pm was to drive to a nearby Masai village and learn about their culture. We headed out as planned and our driver drove us into one village and introduced us to the chief. On our way, the clouds finally cleared and we were able to see Mt Kilimanjaro!! We got a lovely shot where a giraffe was munching on the side of the road with the mountain in the backdrop! It was perfect. At the Masai village, the chief explained that these visits and our payments contribute to a common fund for a collection of masai villages. We paid $100 for the 6 of us. They started with a dance that I, Tanush, mom and uncle participated in. Dad took videos while Rithvi watched, she didn’t want to join.
The woman who held my hand during the dance was 39 years old and said she had 4 kids. after this, we went into the village, started with a little bit about their traditional medicines. After the walk through they were looking to us to purchase any, unfortunately no volunteers on that. Next was showing how they quickly start fires in the traditional way, then a tour inside one of the homes. This did feel weird, being in someone’s personal space. They are mud homes with tiny holes to let in light. Pretty cramped and while my eyes adjusted to the light in the home, I met “Happiness”, the cutest little baby sitting on his mammas lap and cooing away to glory 😘
Long video of me, Tanush and uncle dancing
After this, the chief walked us to the market. Here the women each had laid out their bead works and we walked around while they coaxed us to buy their work. We came away with many times, bracelets, rings, earring, a total of $150. Still not bad for what we got. We wrapped with another dance and then headed back to our camp.
Video of market
We were pretty beat. Tomorrow was checkout day. Had our dinner and retired for the night.
Flight to frankfurt was 8:30 in the morning, everyone got up ~4/4:30, finished our remaining pack up and took a cab to airport by 5:15 am. Everything went smooth for the most part and we were at our gates well in time.
While waiting at the airport, got some coffee & breakfast. Got to do FaceTime with sis and mom/dad. Everything went smooth with the flight, landed, went through a quick check of passports at the gate and were out with our carry-on for pickup.
It was soooo good to see Tuli and Samarth!! Samarth was meeting sanjeev for the 1st time and Tuli was seeing him again since our marriage 15 years ago. Their home is just 10 mins away from the airport. As soon as we got home, Bono was so excited to see us and the kids absolutely loved him! R loved petting him and he loved it too!! Was meeting Riti for the first time and Chaiti since she was a baby.
Was soooo nice to hang out with all of them. Tuli has such a cute house, pics of the kiddos, family, friends everywhere. So warm and sweet. Riti had to give her room for our kiddos for the night. Both girls had to study for some exams coming up. They did hang out with us for a bit. Samarath made kadak chai, perfect after our flight.
We headed for a walk outside with Bono, so beautiful near their house. You walk across a bridge over the autobahn and its farms everywhere, bliss for Bono. Kids loved the walk, enjoyed holding on to Bono’s leash. The community has tiny parks for children on our way back, R played on a tire swing for a bit.
Got home and settled in for hot aloo parathas that Tuli warmed up. We seriously overate! We also sample Tuli’s daal, so yum! She has a special way of making it. It was good to eat hot Indian food after a week. We even started with some wine and whiskey. R settled in with some drawing and sketching and didn’t look like she would be game for going out of the house anymore.
It worked out well, as we left her with both girls and headed to the Christmas market. The 4 adults along with Tanush headed out. It was super cold. I had no idea it could get this crowded but loved the holiday lights and spirit. We walked into a book store first where Tuli wanted to check gifts for the kiddos. There are no signs for English around here and simple things like finding a restroom would have been hard for me without Tuli.
We then went to an indoor store, a lot like Macy’s. Tuli bought an advent calendar for R and Tanush picked a 1500 piece puzzle as his gift, a scene of city in Spain. We then started walking to the heart of the Christmas market, wow super crowded. We first sample some mulled wine, hot and sweet. Felt quite warm and happy after that.
Next we tried some crepes with cheese and ham, a fried bread with cream cheese. Good food to go with the wine. Wrapped up with sampling food and headed back home. R had done well, Riti made some Maggie for her and she was happy with drawing and watching TV. Freshened up with shower and sat down to chat for some more time with alcohol and snacks. Was good to catch up on life during Covid, life in Germany etc.
Went to sleep and had to catch our flight the next day at 10 am. We had some garam chai at 6:30 in the morning and got to the airport by 8 am. Kiddos had some bread as well for very early breakfast.
All checks at the airport were smooth, boarded our flight by 10 am. Just before take off, we found out there was a technical issue. One thing led to another and we were sitting in the plane for 3 hrs without taking off. Thankfully it did take off and we reached SF at 2:45 pm instead of the original 12:30 pm. After take off everything was smooth, kids slept, watched movies etc.
I finally watched Jordan peele’s “Us”, wasn’t as scary as I had thought but unexpected ending! I also watched “everything everywhere all at once” hilarious! Absolutely loved it 🤣
Phew! Took an Uber back to home sweet home. Ordered in dinner and everyone hit the bed early.
Got good rest, everyone got up around 9 am. Needed to get ready quickly as our drive for the days tour would be at our hotel at 10 am. He called sharp at 9:45 am for pickup. We had a day trip to Toledo which is 1 hr from Madrid. We didn’t get a chance to get breakfast and he told us we could do that 1st thing when we got to Toledo. Kiddos were ok, managed till then.
Drive was nice and we didn’t hit much traffic. At Toledo we met our guide who would walk us around for the next 3 hrs, but first chocolate and churros! We tried porras instead with chocolate, which are thicker/bigger churros. We met a few desis from Kerala in the kitchen who didn’t know much English or Hindi 😄 our guide told us that 50% on the nuns in Toledo are from India, fun fact!
After our coffee, chocolate and churros (taste was very ok) we started with a drive around the city to get the context. Toledo was the capital city before Madrid, everything here is old in the order of thousands of years 😳 when our guide mentioned a new bridge, he meant something that was 700 years old.
The drive was beautiful, he obviously knew the right spot for great pics, mentioned many airbnbs now available for great views of this historic city. We then got back to the main entrance to the city and started our waking tour from a central square that used to be a market. The nice thing about everything we saw in Spain was that even though it was 100 years old, everything is operational I.e. people live and work there, it is by no means abandoned and purely for tourists.
Our guide said what he does is generational, he lives in Toledo and his grandpa & dad were guides too. We walked his hotel that is managed by his family. The tour was nice, very typical stone cobbled streets, large cathedral, square with bishops home conveniently attached to cathedral, city hall etc. guide Javi was really good in talking about power dynamics between church and monarchy. Toledo even today houses the boss of all bosses bishop 🤷♀️ don’t know enough about this hierarchy to comment more.
Javi walked us to an old well, that was discovered when the city tried to do some work for garbage disposal underground. It is now preserved and shows us what level the city used to be at. Fun time for R as we cooked up a story about dragon underground.
We then walked into the church which was mesmerizing. While the churches are extravagant, the history is rich. He pointed so many influences over its construction and how typically a church is built over hundreds of years and passes from generation to generation who have different influences of the time. It had Roman, gothic, Arab influences in its construction.
It was truly special, he pointed out interesting points around how one of them built something around light coming in through a window, its significance, the stained glass windows and the colorful light coming in.
We wanted to get lunch before heading back to Madrid, so that did shorten our walking tour. We are at a place that is supplied by nuns. The nun bake bread, traditional sweets and someone transports it here. This enabled them to earn money, the nuns do not leave the monastery.
The food was very yum, we had some ham & cheese and chicken pies and the dessert was super yummy. We bought some marzipan which was not as sweet as the ones you get in the US. We got marzipan cake which was delicious. We wrapped up our tour though it felt quite short. I could have walked for longer. This tour guide was definitely about keeping time.
When we started our drive back ~2 pm we definitely hit more traffic. Anyway we had good recommendations from Javi on what to do in Madrid. Once we reached the hotel, kiddos and sanjeev rested in the hotel while I shopped in Zara. Kiddos were happy to just watch some TV.
Zara was amazing, how typical of me to demonstrate American consumerism on black Friday in Spain. I didn’t even know Zara was from Spain, the collector here is sooooo much better. After I finished and came back, of course dad also wanted to shop at Zara, and before you know it we again spend time at Zara shopping for kids as well. The prices are so much better than US!
Finally started walking to a churro and chocolate shop that is been doing this from 1800’s, same family, same business!! This place had a long line, but totally worth it. The richness of the chocolate, soft and crispy churros were next level. I got an Irish coffee and they are not stingy with the alcohol, I couldn’t finish it even though it was so good. After this spot, we then walked to a nice market that was recommended for many food stalls. It was great holiday spirit and enclosed in glass on all 4 sides. Did a walk to check out all the stalls but decided to come back after walking a bit outside to build an appetite.
The walk was nice, surrounded by more souvenir shops and tiny art museums. We bought more souvenirs, jewellery and hung out at a tiny art museum. R did remarkably well through all this. As long as she’s dressed warm she’s happy.
We then walked back to the food court place, was super crowded. I had some good wine, multiple tiny bites. Sanjeev and kiddos didn’t have much of an appetite but I made the most of it 😄
We walked back to the hotel, holiday lights everywhere, felt very lucky to experience it all. I don’t think we realized we would get to experience it when we planned the trip!
Got back to hotel and packed for early checkout the next day. End of Spain trip, so amazing!!!
Got up early and everyone took a shower, ate some leftovers from the last couple days and took a cab to the train station. Traffic was heavy and took a decent amount of time to get to the train station.
At the train station we had to work with broken Spanish and their broken English, relying on hand gestures to figure out our way. All signs were in Spanish. Pretty much like an airport, there’s security etc and waiting at gate. Got in well in time and settled into our seats. Feels like a spacious aircraft, plenty space to keep all our luggage. They had coffee and breakfast service just like on flights, but more comfortable. Kiddos were glued to iPads for the 2.5 hr journey.
Countryside was nice, started to see the formality in the buildings as we approached Madrid. Made our way out of the train station and to the line for taxis. Was a 30 min ride to our hotel.
Hotel looked really fancy, was super busy and checkin wasn’t until 3 pm. We were there by 12 pm. Zara was right next door, so we planned to spend some time there and head out to lunch and out sight seeing. Left our luggage at the front desk.
While we were at Zara we got a notification that our room was ready. So walked back to hotel to settle in. Room was very nice, fantastic view. I freshen up while kids were excited about sofa bed, they watched tv. There was light rain outside. After getting freshened up we headed out to a lunch place I had bookmarked from Yelp. When we got there it did not look great, only bar seating, didn’t seem suitable for kids.
Saw a decent sit down place opposite and went there. Food was very average, got American food like burgers, fries etc. then walked over to check out the royal palace. Massive and great views of the city. after that took a cab to try out the cable car ride to a park that gives good views of Madrid.
Our cab driver missed exits atleast 3 times, when we finally got there, there was nothing, looks like it was closed for rain? Communication was definitely challenging, sanjeev just adding “o” to every English word and the cab driver speaking Spanish louder when we didn’t understand. Once we confirmed cable car ride is closed, we asked him to drop us to retiro park.
Rithvi took a nap with all the driving and was very cranky/cold when we got to the park. Had to hold our umbrellas because of the light drizzle. She and dad sat in one spot while tanush and I walked. Needed to use restroom and that was again a challenge figuring it out with no signs in English. Finally found a tiny toilet in the back of hotel and barely made it 🤦♀️
Asked sanjeev and R to join us for some churros and chocolate. R was feeling much better now, she had woken up from her nap. Then sat down for some chocolate and churros right near a lake, rain had come down and we enjoyed some hot coffee while kids enjoyed the churros and chocolate.
Walked more around the park, lovely place. Lots of joggers even though there was light rain. We then walked across to visit el prado art museum. Found out it was free all evenings from 6-8 pm and it was after 6 pm by now. Found a very large line but moved quickly. The museum is massive and it’s impossible to walk all of it as well as absorb every painting in there. I walked the most, tanush 2nd. Sanjeev and R sat down after some time and enjoyed the painting in that hall only.
Sanjeev’s colleague from Madrid recommended we try out a sky bar with a view of the city for dinner. Took a cab and mid way due to traffic and road closure the cab driver asked us to get down and walk. Fair to say I was very cranky to walk after all the walking at the museum. We found out today was the first day they had put up Christmas lights everywhere. It was like a mela. After much walking and crankiness from me, reached the place. Thankfully Sanjeev had made an online reservation. The view was very nice as was the decor of the place. The food to me again was just ok, nothing wow. Sky bar was quite close to hotel, but man, this city does not sleep. We were walking at 9:30 pm and everything was still open, including a nail salon with customers inside getting their nails done!!
We’re we’re quite tired, and everyone retired to bed. We used the blackout curtains and slept until 9 am next day.
Day 2 – felt much rested on this day, we had picked up apples and grapes from the previous day. Everyone had some fruit for breakfast and we planned to check out park guell before our tour at 11 am started.
We got delayed and couldn’t spend more than 30 mins at park guell. As Fred had mentioned, the place was super crowded. Walked around as best as we could, took in Gaudí’s work.
Let our guide for the day know we were running late. It was a wine and tapas tour where we would sample 4 restaurants in gothic quarter and born market. To our pleasant surprise, we thought it was a group tour but it ended up being a private tour 🎉
Natalie our guide was great! She’s originally from Brazil but born and brought up in Barcelona. Rithvi definitely liked her, she was great with kiddos. The time was perfect as we had an appetite to eat a lot. This was my favorite guided tour as I ate and drank really good stuff. It was hard to meet this standard. Natalie was also someone you could tell has a passion for food, she knows the details and what to appreciate, the specialty.
We started at the 1st place with cured meats and cheese. Omg so good, R cleaned the cheese and meat plate 😄 Natalie remarked that our kids definitely know what is good and have evolved tastes. She also talked about the skill of cutting the meat so thin you should be able to see the knife through it. The pork meat was cured for 25 days, the salt was perfect. Sanjeev had cured tuna and it was so good! The wine too, the blended red wine was so good too!!
Next stop was a place for pintxos, small pieces of bread with different toppings. This is a north Spain food. Very good again, the drink was apple cider. Sanjeev always had some cheese or fish options and they were really good too.
Enjoyed walking all across the streets. Next stop was a place where we had cava via a pouron, something that is shared I.e. pouron is passed around for everyone to drink from. Food here was anchovies, simple and yum!
We then walked to a sit down place, had tomato bread, Spanish tortillas, bravas, more red wine, don’t remember what else. It was really good!
Natalie bid adieu to us at this point, she herself was recovering from jet lag flying in from Argentina. She gave us gelato and food recommendations. Tour finished at 2 pm, so we had plenty time but also had a dinner and flamenco show at 6:45 pm as well as early checkout next day to take the train to Madrid.
We decided to check out the cable car ride to Montjuic. Had to walk quite a bit to the port/beaches to to the cable car ride. Beautiful day but feet were definitely killing me. Finally got to the place, bought tickets and got the tickets for Montjuic. Beautiful view of city & water. At the destination we could walk up to Montjuic but thankfully we talk a cab, it was an uphill walk.
Montjuic is an elevation point and fort used historically for any ships that might come to attack the city and has cannons all around to protect the city. It was a good walk and kids had a good time learning, huge square in the middle with a little cafe. R had a good time chasing pigeons.
Before heading out we got some coffee and snacks. The trouble was there were no cabs around so we had to walk downhill until we found one. Thankfully found one and got back to the hotel without much time for packing for the next day, train at 8:30 am. Did our best, freshened up and headed for the show.
The dinner at Tablou Cordoble was buffet and very average IMO, I was spoilt from all the good food earlier. It was cold dinner. After a meh dinner we then headed to a separate section for the flamenco show. The performance was splendid! I don’t have words to describe it, the music, songs, 💃, such passion and soul! Fantastic!!
Took the cab back home, wrapped up some more packing and cleaning up the apartment. Barely slept as we had to head out early for the train to Madrid.
Day 0 – took train to sf airport, smooth, got free checkin for additional bags, didn’t sleep in the entire 10 hr journey to Frankfurt, kids slept very little too.
Watched both downtown abbey movies and where the craw dads sing. DA was super funny ❤️ and wtcs is a very good movie!
3 hr layover in Frankfurt, tried to nap with no luck. Boarded flight to Barcelona and landed at 3:30 pm. Our ride to take us to apartment met us and we drove from the airport.
Loved the drive, got to see all the beautiful old buildings on the way. City doesn’t allow any updates to exterior but inside can be completely updated. Preserves the look of the city.
Got into our apartment, comfortable, 2 bed/1.5 bath with living room and kitchen. Sunset was at 5:30 pm, so got dark within no time of us getting to the apartment. Freshened up. Original plan was something else but since it was dark went with the hotel receptions recommendation to walk around, there was a light drizzle.
Walked around, took pics and took in the feel of the city, found a tapas place for dinner and walked up there. Love that the city is all for walking, huge sidewalks and so well lit!
Dinner place we had planned said they can’t take us and gave us another recommendation , sister restaurant right next door. Worked out well, not as crowded, went in ~7:30 pm which is very early for Spain, typically dinner is 9 pm.
Drinks and food were good but dessert was the best, matcha cheesecake and ginger dessert. Walked back to apartment and settled down for the night by 10 pm.
Day 1 – sleep was messed up for everybody, I got up at 2 am, R at 3, T at 5 and sanjeev overall not good sleep as R was up. Kids started complaining about being hungry by 5/6 am.
Sanjeev stepped out ~7 am, got coffee, chocolate milk and pastries. Bread is sooooo good here. Kids gobbled up food and chocolate milk, then started watching TV. Sanjeev went for a run, apartment was right behind the famous sagrada familia church.
Everyone got ready and headed out at 9 am. Plan was a walking tour including tour of park guell and sagrada familia, that starts at 11 am. We were 2 hrs early, so let the guide know and started walking around. The La Rambla is a huge sidewalk with road on either side for cars. It connects to the port so walked up to the port. Slightly windy day, we were a bit tired and cold. Discovered a stall selling tickets to see very old ships at the port.
Tanush absolutely loved it and learned about how people sailed across the world, what they ate, survived etc good way to spend time and then walked back to meet our guide for the day a few mins before 11. Fred was great, very good at helping us understand history and influences. Walked to a square where, I already forgot what he said about it. But beautiful square and today has a lot of Airbnb houses, great spot for it.
Mainly his story centered Guell family, extremely rich family that became wealthy as a cotton textile company imports from US. Then about Gaudi, artist who has built most of the buildings and sculptures in the city + the architect of the sagrada familia.
Fred walked us to the 1st home (or one of the homes) of the guell family, doesn’t look great from outside but his description was that it was massive, each room has a chimney and the terrace shows the different designs of the chimney. We then walked to the famous Mercado bouqeria , was so fun! Colorful stuff all around, fresh sea food! Sample a few empanadas at a couple stalls, very yum! Loved the hustle bustle all around.
We then walked into the gothic quarter, the oldest part of the city, the more you walk inside you are going back in time to the point where the Roman lived a 1000 years ago. The lovely part of Barcelona is he pointed out the influence of some many different empires over time starting with Roman’s, Visigoth’s, Arabs (800 years) and Christian’s. So great that they have discovered old ruins and preserved it.
Fred showed us the store with figurine of the boy with pants pulled down and his poop, perfect store for R to have good time. It’s a good luck sign, pooping fertilizes the soil and gives good harvest. This store extended it to have figurines of all the celebrities. Trumps was sold out, how accurate.
We enjoyed walking all over the gothic quarter, lovely buildings, stone cobbled streets. Fred showed us some churches, talked about historical significance, and then the last 3 columns preserved from the Roman era.
We then saw the cathedral, remnant of the wall surrounding the city and water ducts that carried water into the city from 11 kms away, fascinating to see all the remnants.
We then stopped for coffee at a shop that Picasso used to hang out at, fogatos (4 cats). The owner didn’t have a name for his eat/drink place saying 4 cats wouldn’t come here, so he named it 4 cats 😄 coffee was great! Kids had some chocolate milk.
Walked away from gothic quarter and passed the guell house with the depiction of George (knight?) driving a sword into the dragon, Gaudí”s creation and the story of the squabble between the neighbors to one up each other on how fancy their home is.
Next stop was lunch at 2 pm, tried some cava (Spanish white wine, made like champagne) and really yum. Food was good, tried Spanish tortilla for the first time, much thicker, like a very thick pancake.
R was quite cranky on this walking tour as she had not dressed warm enough and while it didn’t rain it was quite windy. She had also walked a lot, she had something to drink and went to sleep at the table. Enjoyed the food. We then took a cab to park guell. R was insisting to go back to the hotel to rest.
To her luck PG was closed as it was too windy, Fred gave us an overview from outside, got us updated admission tickets for next day. Park guell was guell family’s idea to have a community of wealthy houses in this area, designed by Gaudi. Idea never panned out, only 1 house built and repurposed as a public park later. The one is still occupied today, by a doctor.
Fred pointed out that getting a pic with no people around is impossible, so it being closed and getting a pic of the stairwell without people is rare.
We had admission tickets for sagrada familia at 5 pm and Fred came back with us to the apartment. R dressed warmly this time and around 4:30 pm we headed out. It was super convenient as we just walked 1 block. Fred gave us a historic background and the 1 hour tour was the audio tour. He bid his adieu to us.
He gave us a really good historical and current day political overview. French guy who has lived in Barcelona for 15-20 years, new dad. Talked about the language Catalonia, how Barcelona/state of Catalan are not happy about being part of Spain, Spanish is mandated for them. Would like to eventually be an independent country. Have their flag ready. Seemed to imply that it is more progressive compared to Spain and would prefer to be separated.
Sagrada familia is a marvel, construction has still not completed but started with the passion of Gaudi. Can see the work, faded where it started to the newer part, extremely massive and grand inside. described as a stone bible, 4 sides to depict the 4 phases of Jesus’s life. It’s very impressive but personally not something I can relate to I.e. why this much instead of doing the real good work to help your community. Why this superiority and promotion of a religion? Can’t appreciate beyond a point.
Before Fred left we asked him for recommendations for dinner and shopping. After the SG, took a taxi to born market for the shopping. Drivers go over the stone cobbled streets and are limited in how far they can go, definitely a city where residents walk everywhere.
Was productive, did some window shopping, bought a few tees. Then started to walk to the dinner place hotel Salamanca for paella. Quite a walk, restaurant is a family run place for a very long time and brings seafood from the south of Spain, salamanca.
The paella was next level, so good. Minimum order is for 2 people and quantity was more than that. Delicious!! Dessert was to die for too, there was stuff that was on the house, which was good as well as the tiramisu. If I visit again, i will come back here.
Took a cab back to hotel and this night everyone slept well. We were exhausted with the walking.
Got back on Friday 9/11 from our trip to Twain Harte (near Stanislaus National forest and 1.5 hr drive to Yosemite). Had booked a cabin back in July to get away and celebrate Tanush’s 9th birthday. It was an “interesting” trip.
The day before our trip a fire started 4-5 miles south of Yosemite. Our entire trip was with bad air quality and closures – from either covid or bad air quality/fire risk 🤨. Also, our Airbnb Host told us that due to fire risk the electricity was going to be shut offfrom Monday nightand might come back upon Wednesday night😳. Our trip wasstarting Tuesday night9/8 and checkout Friday 9/11. We were wondering what to do – we decided to go 😐.
Had booked a restaurant in Danville to celebrate Tanush’sbirthdaybefore we start driving. Wonderful lunch and tiny celebration before the drive.
As expected there was no electricity when we got there, unloaded stuff from the car and were wondering what to do along with the realization of our dependency on electricity. Decided to checkout if any restaurants were open nearby, nobody was answering phones + there was no cell phone reception. Decided to drive up to a place and thankfully it was open and there were people dining out. And pleasantly surprised when they said power just came back. 🤞had dinner and went to the cabin – no power yet. Found torches, lamp, candles and turned on a movie for the kids on my iPad. Thankfully I had downloaded some. With nothing to do we were getting ready to sleepat 8 pm😄 and lo and behold power came ~8:30 pm! A day early! Such a relief, able to unpack more easily and actually see the cabin.
Before the trip, we found out that due to covid you now have to buy tickets online for entry into Yosemite park. It was sold out for the days we were there. Two days before the trip, we did get tickets and booked it for Wednesday. Started driving to Yosemite on Wednesday wondering wondering why the air quality was so bad! The park was open but the rangers said the air quality was bad due to a fire very close to the park. Got lunch in the valley, this area is so beautiful but we could barely see anything through the smoke. The ranger had said air quality was slightly better further north and that was true. The good part is we got to explore an area we had never driven through before. Made a note to come back in better times and visit here first. Kids watched 2 movies back to back in the car 🤷♀️. All they had done was eat and sit in the car. When we got to the meadows further north we did a small hike with masks on. Kids finally had some fun even though there was smoke everywhere. Drove back and got to the cabin ~6 pm.
Next day we thought we will drive to nearby dam which is known for family friendly hikes – closed due to covid 🤨. Then drove to Columbia historical state park – thankfully open. Kids had fun, there was place with rocks that people mined for gold, T & R climbed them and played there for a long time. Then decided to drive to Pinecrest lake – got there – closed. Due to fire risk in nearby forests all state parks were closedfrom Monday🤔. Got home, dad made yummy tortellini, everyone ate together, played a board game and kids went off the bed.
Friday was checkout day – Had brought the kids laptop and had planned for them to dial in to their school meeting and do their usual school work until we checked out – Tanush was not happy! 😄 Finally time to leave!
In conclusion, we escaped the eerie orange skies in the Bay Area but couldn’t escape the bad air quality or closures due to covid or fire risk.
Planned to celebrate Rithvi’s 4th birthday at Aulani, a Disney resort in Oahu. Flew out on Tuesday Feb 6th 9am and back on Saturday feb 10th 9:30pm. Flight was smooth, everyone excited 😊.
This is our 2nd trip to Oahu. The last time was when R was 8 months old and T was 3. In retrospect I can appreciate how much more easier this trip was. I didn’t of course appreciate that when I was there (of course). R spilled juice on herself on the airplane but other than that uneventful. R watched boss baby back to back and T had a field day watching movies back to back. Will there be a Day when passenger airplanes have bigger restrooms for parents of babies & little kids?
After we landed ~2:30pm, picked up our rental car and headed out to get some lunch. We now know not to expect to find anything decent near the Honolulu airport. Mainly industrial area with plenty of hole in the wall places. Picked a Thai place, food was ok. We then headed straight to the resort and kids super excited to get on ‘lazy river’. A long stretch of gently flowing water you can go on a tube. We loved it!
we then moved to hang out at the infinity pool and as it got cooler in the evening, kids loved the hot tub/jacuzzi.
our room was decent, had a partial island and ocean view.
wrapped up the 1st day with shower and dinner and snoozed by 9pm. On most days kids were so tired from playing in the water that they would struggle to stay awake for their dinner and sometimes skip and sleep through it all. Had dinner with live music, good appetizers and drinks. Sanjeev did some light groceries so we could do breakfast in the room through our trip.
the next day was just hanging out at the resort and let kids play as much as they want in water. We hit the beach first (private beach of the resort), Rithvi too focused playing in the sand and Tanush loving the sand and water.
then went back to the pool followed by lunch. We tried to convince both kids to go to “Aunty’s beach house’, a place that kids can be dropped off and they apparently love. Not so lucky with our kids but they finally relented. They liked it there but needed to be convinced every time to hang out there. Rithvi watched a movie in princess dress up clothes.
In the evening Tanush hit the beach again while Sanjeev got some amazing pics. Rithvi couldn’t make up her mind and kept going from jacuzzi to pool & back.
Routine same as previous day, shower & dinner at another restaurant on the resort. All of us were exhausted, especially kids
the next day was Rithvi’s birthday & we were greeted with a rainbow in the morning.
The plan was to drive to the Polynesian cultural center the whole day, it would end with luau and show. The kids spent the morning at Aunty’s beach house while I packed.
Aulani is on the south tip of the island and we needed to drive an hour to the north tip of the island. We loved the drive, along the coast.
reached the Polynesian center around 11:40am. It’s basically a large campus where you learn the culture of many Polynesian islands including Hawaii, like Samoa, aeterroa (part of New Zealand), Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga etc. each island has a show, activities that you can participate in. There is a canoe pageant show at 2:30pm that is quite popular.
Us watching the welcome show at Samoa center
T helping with making a Samoan raw banana & coconut milk dessert
Rithvi & Tanush learning how to start fire the Samoan way
Me showing off my Aetorroan tattoo
Rithvi & I at the canoe pageant show, she has an arm tattoo too
Rithvi was absolutely mesmerized by the Hawaiian drums
Dad & kids learning the Hawaiian dance
We had the luau (dinner & dance) scheduled at 4:30pm. Headed off there after getting Rithvi to wear something special. Pic at the entrance of the dinner area
Dinner was a buffet and the dances & songs were very nice. Kids enjoyed though Rithvi asked why she wasn’t getting any gifts for her birthday. 😊 Sanjeev & I volunteered with others to dance on stage. Sanjeev was made bakra & asked to dance solo after all of us. He ended up very popular and lots of people complimented him after 😇😍
After dinner we did a canoe ride, hung out at some more island areas, watched a short movie about Hawaii & then headed for the 1 hour show @ 7:30pm. Kids were super tired & Rithvi slept when the show started.
Reached the resort at 10:30pm, very fun and tiring day. Skipping all the ‘fun’ we had working through logistics of carting kids from one place to another, restroom breaks and accidents 😊 still better than 3 years ago.
The next day was our last full day at the resort, the plan was to take it easy and let them be. To summarize, learned to play the ukulele as a family, R got pics with Moana, T with Mickey and Minnie, lunch followed by shaved ice.
Got to be a part of a pool party, quite fun. It was a challenge getting Rithvi out of the water on this day & she really tested my patience.
Did an early dinner at 5:30pm, the restaurant was ocean facing and I loved our last meal, the drinks, appetizers and dessert. Sanjeev got do more amazing photography and we definitely have fond memories of our trip.
Pics of our drinks & desserts
Pics of our view enjoying the sunset while we ate
The next day flight was at 2:30pm, Tanush hung out at Aunty’s beach house learning the dance again. Flight back was smooth, a tad delayed but not too bad
Day 0-1- flight from sfo to blr, kids super excited, stayed up & played till the flight at 1am. boarded the flight & watched movies, slept ~4am pacific time. not for long. R super diligent throughout trip to do potty in the toilet (joy ;)). stayed awake for most part of the SFO to hong kong flight. Tanush watched back to back movies, repeated cars twice. rithvi watched boss baby back to back without any volume 😀 in hong kong i left my boarding pass on the plane, thinking we would board the same plane to singapore. apparently not, i had to have the boarding passes printed again. was stressed about that while kids ran around, the counter to print the boarding was not open. in retrospect nothing to be stressed about. HKG to SGP kids continued in same high mode. didn't eat a whole lot. service and food was great! Had an 8 hr layover in SGP. visited butterfly park which the kids loved! i loved the tropical type climate. kids spent a decent time at play structure, R threw a tantrum bcoz she didn't want to go down the giant slide and didn't know how to get down. ate at the food court, super expensive and not great. lost R's baby giraffe at the airport. R asked if it would be sad 😦 kids watched the fishes in the koi pond, did a decent amount of block coloring at the art station. did another trip to butterfly park. i was exhausted & i could tell kids were too but they didn't want to miss anything. SGP to Chennai flight R crashed, followed by T soon after. sent their food back. finally landed!! R refused to walk & had to be carried through customs & baggage claim. She got a healthy dose from me while she was cranky. To add more fun, i had a hand written indian passport & was informed that these r not supported anymore. so longer wait, consulting, walking to office etc with cranky R on my hip. finally finally i was out of the airport! saw pappa 1st, R started getting in to form. T was excited. saw mom & so relieved the flight was done! drove to woodlands hotel to settle in. by the time we slept R & thatha were fast friends and they slept together in 1 room while mom, T & I shared another room
Day 2 – i had my visa finger printing appointment at 1pm. had breakfast, me trying to figure how to order a carb free protein breakfast. no such luck, ordered a sandwich with cucumbers and tomato. before the appointment i realized i don't have a printout of the appointment. thank fully Radhi & Prasad bhava had come by to visit us. They drove us to the appointment and prasad bhava got us the printouts. appointment was smooth other than me being mortified about having to repeat my fingerprinting multiple times because of my hand sweating. There are assistants to help you wipe your hand & get a good fingerprint (eye roll). after the appointment we had a really nice lunch next to woodlands. great ambience and food. had some yum non veg i don't remember now. went back to the room to take a short nap that turned into 3 hrs, got up at 6pm. relaxed the rest of the evening & slept. R with her thatha as usual.
day 3 – had my visa interview at 10:30am, went there with dad, appointment was smooth, was out of there by 11/11:30am. got back to the hotel and headed out with the kids to the beach. T had a good time and R chose to play in the sand. headed back to the hotel and had lunch. started driving the blr after lunch. kids slept through most of the drive. R insisted she needed a bandaid somewhere in the middle of the drive and I'd rather off load all the luggage in the back than tolaterate her crying, so that's what i did. By this time R and I had a good no. of mosquite bites and were constantly scratching ourselves. Thankfully T was ok, he was very diligent about mosquito repellent since he landed. Reached blore at ~8/8:30pm. house looked great, not v kid friendly of course hehehe.
day 4 – next day was rest day, the help we had hired for the kids was a no show. kids hung out around the apartment complex while mom passed the word around that we need help for the kids. visited Roshan, Rishma & their lil one in the evening. took an uber. baby is adorable. had dinner, amazing mangalore style fish. Rosh dropped me back home.
day 5 – visited raggiguda temple, R was excited about petting stray dogs and i had to give her strict warning to not pet them. We tried to do some shopping, but had to retreat quickly after Rithvi pointed to a dozen jewellery sets and said she wanted them 😉 in the evening took the kids to jayanagar 4th block to shop for some traditional clothes. Tanush loves these clothes and very excitedly picked what he would like. Rithvi lost enthusiasm pretty quickly and needed to be forced to try out clothes.
day 6 – started driving to mysore 1st thing in the morning. i was impressed with the freeways, very cool. stopped for breakfast at our usual spot. the kids were able to spot monkeys. continued driving and did a pit stop at Ranganthittu bird sanctuary. took the boat ride and spotted a number of crocodiles along with many birds. Really enjoyed it! Continued driving and finally checked in at sports club in Mysore. nice place, kids loved that they could see the stuffed wild animals like bear, deer, boar, tiger. the plan was to meet all the uncles & aunties in mysore. Most folks showed up and it was really nice to them. Rithvi took to Sridhara uncle and they were fast friends. by the end of lunch she said he was her favorite. after lunch we went to Nagesha uncles's house & get my aadhar card done very close to his house. that took longer than expected. after that went with kids in tow to see another cousin who had just had a baby. was nice seeing everyone and hanging out. got back to the sport club after that, crazy no. of mosquitos there!
day 7 – the next day we visited mysore zoo, took the car and was done in a hour. then we took a tonga to the mysore palace. took the guided tour at the palace, i enjoyed the tour. R got lost for a bit in there but we found her pretty quickly. her favorite uncle joined us for the zoo & palace tour. got back for lunch and rested. in the evening we drove to lalit mahal, drove around a bit and got back. had dinner and rested.
day 8 – next morning drove up chamundi beta, kids saw lots of monkeys. darshan was too crowded. started driving back to bengaluru. stopped on the way at Palahalli to meet Kanthakka aunty. Kids were fascinated by the chickens, dogs, cows nearby. rest of the drive to bengaluru was smooth, kids slept after lunch. got home in the evening, had dinner & slept
day 9 – had called all our relatives in Blore over for lunch. Was good to see everyone. Pappa had ordered biriyani which i tasted. it was very good!kids had a really good time with everyone. Tanush was fascinated by the jeep gifted to him by Mukesh uncle. R just had a good time with all the uncles. The kids who came by had a good time with play-doh. It was good to catch up. everyone left about 4pm. rest of the day was relaxing.
day 10 – still no help for the kids. 1 lady we spoke to the previous day fell ill. mom & i were super stressed about WTH is going on. however in this case the lady had genuinely fallen sick. Eventually she started coming from 2 days later. Didn't do much, was supposed to have a friend come over but he couldn't come
day 11 – caught up with Harshitha & Rakshitha at Orion Mall. food was good, pigged out on dessert, i.e. waffles 🙂 after they left, we still hung out at the mall. The kids played legos at Landmark with mom while i shopped around. got R another ghagra and some salwar suits for myself. when i wrapped up, i found a decent collection of childrens books at Landmark. headed back home and rested
day 12 – The help for kids finally started. Smitha came by with Saanu! took our help Malar with us to Vishveshariah museum. museum was good, kids ran around and tried different stuff. had lunch at the cafeteria on that floor. wanted to watch some shows there but there wasn't enough turnout so we headed out. thought we would try the Nehru planetarium but apparently auto drivers don't know how to go there and don't care to. then we took an auto to UB city mall but the guy was driving us around somewhere else so we got off at Bangalore Central. It was already evening by this time so we headed home in separate autos. was fun though!
day 13 – caught up with Pradeep, Supriya and Deepak for lunch at BBQ nation. I went without the kids while Prad got Chirag. food was amazing & the dessert! was good fun catching up with them. Prad & Supriya/Deepak hadn't seen each other in 10+ years!
day 14 – started driving to Dharwad after breakfast, kids slept during the morning. freeways were good and the drive was smooth. stopped for lunch and continued driving. kids had a good time hanging out at the aquarium in the lunch place. kids enjoyed seeing tons of windmills and enjoyed the drive. got to Dharwad by ~5pm. We needed to buy sarees for aayi & Sanjeev's aunt whom we were going to meet. It was a nightmare driving through Dharwad market place, so much traffic and we have no idea where the saree shops are. finally located it, got the sarees and headed to the hotel. Hotel was in a nice spot and rooms were decent.
day 15 – had breakfast and started driving to Kulgod. kids enjoyed the ride, they spotted a lot of goats and sheep on the roads. lost our way couple of times but made it to aayi's house. kids had a good time at the farm, petting a buffalo calf and running around a kitten. From aayi's house headed to Kaaka's house. kids loved his house, went up & down the stairs to walk on the roof several times. thankfully i didn't have to run around them as kaaka's son Mohit was there. Had lunch, hung out for a bit and then headed to our hotel in Gokak. On the way mom & dad commented that there is so much water there that we should check out Gokak falls. There indeed was! it was quite beautiful, other than the tons of people everhwere. kids enjoyed. R was fasinated with the women in burkhas and asked if she could have one. did some shopping at Gokak Mills, good quality clothes! finally checked in at our hotel, had dinner and slept
day 16 – next day we made another trip to Gokak falls to walk on the suspension bridge, R was scared & had to be carried. from Gokak falls we headed back to pick up Aayi & go to Kaaka's house. met the other 2 kids of kaaka, supreet and samarth. they were so excited to see the kids and all the kids played well. mainly hung out on the roof and had a really good time. had delicious lunch with obattu and chapati/palya. talked with kaaka for a decent amount of time to understand how things run and his challenges. it was nice to talk. ~3pm we started driving to davangere, out pitstop before reaching bengaluru. stopped on the way at a hotel that had ducks, birds and a dog. kids had a good time again and we continued driving. finally reached davangere. nice hotel but badly maintained. mom dad's room had a rat in their toilet. coudln't sleep very well that night.
day 17 – started driving to bengaluru in the morning, but 1st had the famous benne dose of davangere. it was delicious! drive was pretty smooth and we reached the last metro station nagasandra around noon. dad recommended we try the metro station and i'm glad we did. i was very impressed with it and we reached jayanagar in ~1hr. dad continued to drive and reached home almost an hour after we were home. relaxed for the rest of the day. got a pedicure, heaven!
day 18 – went shopping in 4th block to get gifts for akka & nieces. Rangoli is a nice store for traditional clothes, checked out Global Desi opposite it and really liked it. got akka a suit and myself a t-shirt. got the kids back for lunch and i headed out by myself using Uber to residency road. got myself a saree and wall hanging at Utkalika. Shopped for more kids books at Sapna book store. mom called at this time that R was throwing a tantrum and that she wanted me. i think she thought i had left to US. i had been prepping her about my departure. then i headed to koramangala and shopped some more. wrapped up & headed home.
day 19 – took the kids to nehru planetarium, T enjoyed the show. after the show we headed to hard rock cafe. great food and then headed to cubbon park. kids enjoyed the train ride, followed by a couple of rides at the park. played on some of the play structures, was a really good day. in the evening took an uber to a rooftop restaurant in koramangala to meet Arun, Naveen, Roshan and Prathima. very pleasant weather and enjoyed the place. was so good catching up with Prathima from school. i barely knew her then but knowing her know i have to say she is so cool! we've been doing fitbit challenges together & decided to catch up in bengaluru.
day 20 – started packing & weighing the suitcases, was nervous about leaving the kids behind. was done with most packing on thursday
day 21 – headed out to buy sweets and add that to the luggage. good bye to the kids was not bad, mom took them downstairs to play. hugged them and headed to the airport with uber. indian trip over! Bengaluru airport was impressive, not sure i would say the same about air india. passengers were badly behaved. food and service was ok. reached US on saturday!
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