Paris finale

I will not be able to post any pictures, we have Internet access on our iPad but no access to a computer. I think there was only one thing that I missed sampling in Paris and that was ratatouille. It is not commonly found in Paris because it more of a southern France delicacy so I could not find it any of the French restaurants. I had sweet and salted crepes, the salted one was very disappointing, (actually could not finish it) the sweet one I picked up at the Sunday farmer's market near our apartment. We did go to the Latin quarter for falafels at Maaz and pizza for dinner. I wanted to avoid Italian food in France but it was not possible and somehow we ended up eating pizza for three meals in a row after that! I do not know why Rick Steve does not like the Latin quarter, yes the restauranteurs are pushy but you can sample many types of food in a small area it offers good vegetarian choices.last but not least I had pastries from Laduree, which seems to be a very popular place, we had to wait in a long line to be served, it was very crowded. I had milles feuilles, Prasad a chocolate pastry. Sindhu picked some overpriced lollipops and rushil did not want anything. I wish I had tried the elephant ears pastry, I remember eating them in Montreal all the time, but they are not readily available in the US. They had different flavors at our local bakery near our apartment, I meant to buy them on our last day, but it was closed on Sunday. On our first day, I saw my my most favorite cookies of all time, at the local supermarket in Paris. they sell them in the US but of course not in India. They are called Pims and I made sure we were well stocked throughout our Paris stay, they are readily available everywhere. If you have not tried one, stop what you are doing and go out and buy some. If you are able to eat one and stop yourself from eating the whole packet, all I can say is you have a lot of willpower.

On our last day, we saw Musee d'Orsay, the kids enjoyed this museum more than the Louvre, probably because it is smaller and more contained. We read through Rick Steve's description of the various artists and a few of their paintings and this worked out very well. Later we took the open top bus tour, which was a big hit, they gave us headphones, and the kids retained some Paris history by listening to it. We are now in Italy. The weather is warmer, Venice was very pleasant but Florence is very hot. More on Italy in the next few days.

Working around the allowance

At the airport, Rushil and Sindhu wanted to buy gum. I said fine but this comes out of your Italy allowance. Rushil asks what can he buy in the store that won't have to come out of the allowance. I said, "Umm milk!"

Top Ten Things to do and eat in Paris

I was going to do a whole post on food but then that seemed a bit excessive. The food looks so scrumptious and healthy. Here is my top 10 list for Paris, food ofcourse has a lot of prominence.

1) Patisserie items.  We have had croissants for breakfast which are delicious and all but it's the sinful pastries that always catch my eye. Every time I pass by a bakery, I peek inside and drool for a few seconds before moving on. I have yet to eat a pastry, we always seem to be full or it's the wrong time. I did taste some macarons which are yum.

2) Crepes, ratatouille and wine on the go. I have seen small creperie joints and ratatouille at a fast food joint but I always seem to find them after we've already eaten.  Wine is being served everywhere but so far we have only had wine at our hotel, we need to drink like the French.

3)  The best vegetarian food is available at the Latin quarter, at least this is what Prasad and I remember from our last trip.  We have been trying to go there for the past 2 days but our days are pushed out late so we have been running out of time.  I remember eating  falafel and Moroccan food last time and I'm still waiting to get there to see if it's still as good.

4) The Louvre ofcourse.  I asked the information center to highlight the most interesting rooms for children. She pointed to the temporary exhibits, the Greek exhibits (by the end of which Rushil was asking us why all the men were naked in the sculptures), the Egyptian exhibits (Sindhu was like why are we  seeing this all over again, didn't we do this in Egypt already?) and finally the Mona Lisa (to which we had to uselessly walk through the Itailan painter's exhibits according to Sindhu). Rushil is curious about the stories behind the dramatic Italian paintings so I think if we have a good guide, he will enjoy the Florence museums. So overall, we were probably there 1 hour too long for the kids but it was memorable anyway. Prasad had a good idea and enticed them with McDonald's if they asked him interesting questions as we walked through the museum, this actually worked quite well because they had to compete with each other to get the required number of points.

5) The Arc de Triomphe  - enjoyable place for the kids and the explanation behind it is easy enough to comprehend. (again the naked sculptures raised questions)

6) Notre Dame Church, Saint Chapel, Conciergerie - The first two must be seen but the 3rd was the most interesting because it was our first time visiting it. It is the palace and prison in which Marie Antoinette was executed, you can see the cell that she was confined to for a few months before her execution and there is short slide show on the French Revolution and her story. The book store even had an interesting book for children on the French Revolution which Sindhu flipped through.

7) Hop on hop off buses - There are a number of companies that offer this service but we went with L'Open Tour. I was a bit hesitant to sign up but S&R were intensely excited about taking a double decker open top tour bus. We used it only once today so we'll see if the excitement continues through tomorrow. It is a lovely way to tour the city with ease and take some interesting pictures too. It's a break from the subway system, S&R find it overly crowded and tiring but I love it!

8) Shopping - We gave S&R a budget and said they could buy whatever they wanted, it was my sister's idea and I must say, a great idea. You would be surprised at what they are not willing to buy when they have to shell out their own money. Sindhu picked up a Yves Rocher perfume for girls (50% off) and some keychains and Rushil selected a Paris t-shirt. This was Sindhu's favourite part of the trip, she really enjoyed strolling down Champs Elysees and wants to go again! There are sales at pretty much every store but with the exchange rate, it's still too expensive. But it doesn't hurt to browse....

9) Eiffel Tower -  This was the sight that S&R were waiting to see. We experienced a small unforseen adventure today.  I wanted to take the elevator up to the 1st level and the kids and Prasad wanted to take the stairs and there were two separate lines for each option and we realized this after standing in line for 45 minutes. One security guard tried to get us in the front of the other line so we wouldn't have to wait again but that guard would not budge. S&R and Prasad finally bought their tickets and walked up the 300+ stairs to the 2nd level. I dropped out of going up the tower and was initially going to wait for them  but since there wasn't much to do in the area, I decided to head back to the apartment. Unfortunately, one of the cell phones had run out of battery and I had no way of telling Prasad and the kids that I was heading back. They were worried I was lost when they came down from the tower and couldn't find me. They were finally able to convince a policeman to call my cell phone, by then, the kids were hysterical and sure that |I was kidnapped or something. Anyway, Rushil has decided that we won't be separated for the rest of the trip.


Top10  and pictures to be added tomorrow. Maybe Musee D'Orsay will be on the list, we shall see.

Ah Paris!

We are in Paris now! Sindhu begged us to go, she learnt French this year and was intensely interested in visiting France even though she doesn't understand more than a few words :-)  It was very difficult to find a reasonably priced place in Paris so I opted for an apartment (http://www.holidays-france-rentals.com/)  in the Montparnasse area. This quaint 1 bedroom place that is hardly 47 sqm is apparently valued at 550K Euros and it's not even in the heart of Paris! Nevertheless it's perfect for us, it's near a metro station, grocery stores and is modern, neat, clean with internet access. I remember 10 years back when we came with Sindhu, we stayed at a tiny dumpy hotel room somewhere in the outskirts of Paris, this is far better. We took the metro to reach the apartment from the airport and regretted it immediately, although we saved a bundle (metro prices were less than 1/2 the usual price last night) but we were exhausted by the time we arrived at the apartment. We experienced the same feeling 10+ years back when we dragged Sindhu in the rain on the subway station after arriving jetlagged off the plane. Like last time, we'll probably take a taxi to the airport on our way back :-)

London was fabulous as always except for the weather, it was rainy and cold most of the time, I thought we had guaranteed warm weather towards the end of June but apparently not. (Paris seems to be the same). The kids had a wonderful time with their cousins and were inseparable all 4 days.  We visited South bank, Queen's park (amazing park next door to Shailaja's place, went there every day) , Kensington Palace, Science Museum, malling, Kungfu Panda 2 and an adult's dinner while Shailaja's nanny watched the kids.  Shailaja whipped up some elaborate meals, we watched movies and chatted late into the night. We'll be back at the end of our trip for a few more days.  A good friend of mine told me many many years ago that her relationship with her cousins was different from relationships with her siblings and friends and was a special relationship on its own. We always lived too far away from our cousins as children and could not really appreciate what she meant but seeing S&R with their cousins always reminds of what my friend said. Living in India for the past few years has also strengthened my relationship with my cousins and I wish we could have had similar memories when we were younger.

Monkey bars at Queen's park

Subway

Mandatory piggypack picture

At Southbank (near all the main sights and museums)

Kensington Palace -  Excellent museum for children, they had a great time there.

Sindhu's new look - Wigging out

Queen's park

Cool tire ride at Queen's park

Sachin - Don't mess with me

Trampoline in Shailaja's backyard

Soccer match at Shailaja's backyard

Hyderabad Visit

We finally visited Salar Jung museum. The museum is housed in a beautiful building that is well maintained. The collection was impressive although my mother-in-law claims that many pieces were stolen when the collection was moved from one building to another a few decades ago. I remember the musical clock and the painted rice grains from our childhood visits to the museum. The clock is still intact although I remember it being bigger and the rice grains are apparently in storage and no longer displayed.  It is definitely one of India's best museums and if you're in Hyderabad, it's not to be missed.

The other highlight was a dinner we hosted the night before we left.  Many of our relatives came and it was a memorable way to end our stint in India.

I don't think it has quite hit us that we have left India, the move happened so quickly. We had mixed feelings, it was sad to say our good byes but we were also excited about the future.  I think it will sink in after our arrival to the US.

Preparing mango pickle (magai)

At the dinner. My cousin and aunt.

Cousins

Prasad's college classmate and family

2nd cousins

My father's cousins

My father's sister and his cousins

Ishwita - Prasad's cousin's daughter

Prasad's cousin Vandana and uncle

My father's cousin's children

Prasad's sister's inlaws

My father's sibling, cousins and families

My cousins and my father's siblings

Prasad's cousins and uncles

Prasad's uncle and cousins

My mother-in-law and her siblings

Last weekend in Bangalore!

It's been a whirlwind of packing, cleaning, sorting, panicking and meeting friends and family. Today, we had breakfast at a friend's place, lunch at Prasad's cousin's place, dinner with Prasad's college classmates and in between we ran quite a few errands. At the end of the day, I couldn't remember what we had eaten and where. So many goodbyes have been said over the past few days....

Prasad's college classmates and families

Exams are Over!

Finally Sindhu's exams are over and she was elated that that holidays had officially started. To celebrate, I took 6 of her friends to the mall for lunch, an hour at the arcade, a bit of shopping and ice cream at Baskin Robbins.  The girls had so much fun and I can't believe how easy it was to manage them. Sindhu will miss them, she has built some strong friendships over the past 3 years. The internet certainly makes it easier for them to keep in touch and I'm sure she will remain friends with a few of them in the years to come.

At school just before we headed to the mall

At the arcade

Waiting to be picked up to go home.

The SJ Gang

Sindhu and Rushil's gang from the complex. Rushil had a small going away/early end of school party today. We had so much pizza leftover that we asked Sindhu's friends to join too.  Sindhu will be having her end of school party (I'm not allowed to call it her "going away party") on Friday with her school friends at the mall. Since all our furniture will be gone by then, I couldn't have it at home so I'll be taking 8 girls to the mall for lunch and games at the arcade, wish me luck!   

What a compliment!

There was a stall advertising the removal of dustmites on beds and sofas at our complex. Since they offered to do a demo, I invited them over to see how our mattresses are faring. We shocked the demonstrator because he couldn't find any significant dust on the children's mattresses!?! We had one mattress sitting near our front doorway due to lack of space and that one had more dust but still not very signficant. He then asked if any of our sofas or chairs needed cleaning and I told him that we just had our upholstry cleaned so they should be fine. He checked himself and grudgingly admitted that I was right. As he left , he said, that this was the first house that he tested with mattresses and furniture that were so clean!! If you walk into my house, it's always a mess but heh, I win the award  for less dust mites...

Status on the Move!!

The movers come tomorrow and by next weekend we will be leaving Bangalore with a heavy heart. Three years have gone by and yet it feels like we just moved. Believe it or not, we're NOT ready. I'll be frantically running around the house picking up what we need for the next 2 months as the movers carry on with their packing.  I remember when we were moving to India and the movers had packed my purse into one of the boxes, fortunately, I noticed that it was missing fairly quickly and we only had to re-open a few boxes before we found it, I'm trying to avoid just that but I have a feeling we'll run into something like that next week. It takes double the number of movers and double the amount of time to pack and load up in India but at least you have a bit more time to breathe in case you miss something.  Sindhura has exams till Friday so we're juggling that along with trying to see everyone before we  leave and wrapping up our life here. Even though I took a whole year off,   I still drive by a  store or a restaurant and wish that I had the time to drop in. There is much left to explore. We'll be in Hyderabad for a few days, we're off to Europe for a couple of weeks and then to the US. It's all happening too quickly and and did I mention we're not ready!!!