India and Thailand - Part III

Our week long vacation in India continues...

We spent most of Tuesday relaxing and taking it easy and just doing whatever we wanted to do.  No schedule, no to do list.  Around mid-morning Mo and I took a rickshaw over to one of the schools that his mom and dad founded and that his dad continues to actively volunteer at, both in the morning and afternoon sessions.  We spent some time with the children and listened to what they were learning.  We also had the pleasure of meeting some of the teachers that Mo's dad works with.  Both the children and the teachers were very sweet and welcoming.  What they are doing for these children really warms the heart and puts life into perspective.  It makes you reflect on your own life and how fortunate you really are despite the daily challenges that leave you feeling depleted.  I for one definitely needed that reminder and as I sit here and type this blog entry I'm reminded yet again how fortunate I am.

After visiting the school we went to a restaurant near home called Gajalee.  Mo and his dad tried it for the first time when Mo visited in December.  While the restaurant has been around a while, the one we went to is a newer branch.  We were the first table to be seated for lunch that day and it never got too much busier, but I suppose that's what should be expected of a Tuesday during lunch in a fairly suburban, residential area.  Lunch was delicious and the service was top notch.  Mo truly enjoyed himself...and would probably rank it among the top 5 meals in his lifetime. 

The remainder of Tuesday was laid back and we just spent time enjoying Mo's dad's company.

Wednesday was a long day!  We left home around 7AM and headed to Pune to visit relatives. The journey was moving along fine and it seemed we'd managed to escape morning traffic.  Day trips in India always start off as planned, but traffic is so unpredictable in India, the journey ALWAYS takes much longer than expected.  This time was no exception.  Instead of traffic or an accident delaying us we got majorly lost.  Mo's dad aways takes the train so he is not familiar with the driving directions.  We essentially missed the turn off and it wasn't until we reached the center of the city that we realized we missed the turn and had gone too far.  We ended up totally lost as none of us, including the driver, was familiar with the city.  Why oh why did the driver not have GPS?!?!?  Eventually we pulled over and called one of Mo's cousins to come meet us and lead us back to his home.  He showed up about twenty minutes later by motorcycle and we followed him to the house--the home of Mo's aunt (his father's eldest sister) and her husband and their two sons and their families.

Mo and his dad with relatives in Pune

Mo's aunt and her daughters-in-law had prepared delicious snacks which they insisted we have, in true nurturing, female, Indian fashion. As we were visiting mid-week and in the middle of the day, Mo's other cousin took a break from work to come all the way home just to spend a couple of minutes visiting with us. I had never met these relatives before and Mo had not seem many of them in quite some time so it was well overdue and well worth the effort made.

So that we wouldn't spend any more time lost, Mo's uncle, Bhai mama (his mom's eldest brother) came by motorcycle to lead us to his home.  Bhai mama and his wife Lata mami and daughter Sonum used to live in Nasik but relocated to Pune a little more than a year ago.  This was our first time visiting them in Pune.  Of all of Mo's extended family, I know them best as I have spent more time with them than any of Mo's other relatives.  Also my visits with them are much more interactive because Bhai mama and Sonum speak English very well which allows me to join in the conversation more easily.

Lata mami prepared a delicious lunch.  Mo loves her mutton curry and she made some just for him.  Lata mami is an excellent cook and they are especially careful to take all the food preparation precautions to ensure that what I'm eating will not cause an upset stomach.  I can always eat whatever Lata mami prepares and know that it's safe to do so.  After spending about an hour or so with them, it was time to hit the road and get on back to Mumbai.  We were hoping to miss the rush hour traffic.

Of course things couldn't go smoothly.  Our driver was quite young and he must have been inexperienced because he did not know his way around Mumbai and he totally got lost again!  He ended up just pulling over and asking for directions no less than a dozen times before he finally figured it out and got us home. Mo and I had an over/under going on how many times he would pull over and ask directions...I took the over and I won! We could not have been more glad that day trip was over!!!

Thursday morning we went to Star Mall for a few provisions in preparation of going to Kelve for an overnight stay.  We met Farookh around 1PM at the designated pick up spot which is literally on the side of a highway. He lives in another area of the city and to come all the way to pick us up just doesn't make sense so we always take a rickshaw to the designated place and wait on the side of the road until he arrives.  It would be an odd sight to see in the US, but there are so many people all over the place in India at all times, you are never the sole person standing on the side of the road.

Farookh drives and has a car so while he and Mo's dad typically take the train to Kelve, since there were four of us, he drove us.  Our journey to Kelve consisted of several stops.  The first was a dhaba (traditional roadside restaurant for travelers) for lunch.  The food was really good and this dhaba had alot of character.

Lunch at the dhaba with Mo's dad and Farookh

The next stop was Papi's house, Mo's dad's youngest sister, who lives near Kelve and more or less on our way there.  Just about every time Farookh and Mo's dad go to Kelve they stop by Papi's house because she always prepares some food for them to take along for dinner that night.  This time was no exception and I knew that we were in for some good food because she prepared it for us the last time we went to Kelve in November 2009.

Our final stop before reaching Farookh's house was the small, nearby village for some groceries--milk for chai, eggs and a few fruits and vegetables.  Mo and I just waited in the car while Farookh and Mo's dad went about talking to the villagers and making their purchases at each individual's stall. Over time they've gotten to know many of the villagers quite well and they periodically bring them items that they need from Mumbai. It took considerable time for Mo's dad to purchase the eggs because we had to wait for them to be delivered...apparently the egg shop had just run out...but finally a motorcycle arrived with about 50 plastic crates stacked one on top of the other on the back of the motorcycle.  How you transport eggs like that and keep them balanced much less keep them from breaking, is beyond me.  Amazing India! Wish I had taken a picture of that!

Finally we reached Kelve.  It is about a two hour drive outside of Mumbai close to the coast.  Mo's dad owns a home there and his friend Farookh owns one opposite.  The area is really rural and these two homes are some of the very few around.  Farookh spends quite a bit of time there and his house is beautifully furnished and cozy--he probably visits almost on a weekly basis.  Mo's dad's house is more of an apartment building with six units that Mo's mom envisioned  becoming sort of a retirement home for them and some of their friends.  Mo's dad rarely stays there so he doesn't keep the utilities on all the time, therefore, we all stayed over at Farookh's house.

Mo's dad's place on left and Farookh's on right

Farookh's kitchen

Farookh's family room

Farookh's house

Mo's dad and Farookh on Farookh's front porch

Friday morning Mo and I made breakfast--french toast--definitely not a typical Indian breakfast, but a nice break from curry for me.  Then we went across the street to Mo's dad's house for a bit.
He keeps a bunch of old family photos there so we had a great time going through the photo albums and reminiscing.  It was quite emotional seeing all of the old photo's of Mo's mom and grandparents.  We even saw some photos of Mo's parent's wedding for the first time and Mo's dad let us pick out a couple to bring home with us. 

Us in front of Mo's dad's Kelve house

Mo and his dad in front of Kelve house

When we returned to Farookh's house, we freshened up and packed our bags and then he showed us around his plot of land.  He's doing a lot of farming and has been for some time, but he's now starting to yield enough to sell some of it.  He grows many fruits as well as rice and onions.  He sells the onions and he and family and friends consume the rest. After the tour we packed the car and headed back to Mumbai.

If anyone is interested in a stay at Chateau Farookh, just let me know.  Mo and I both give it two thumbs up!

Farookh's remaining onions in the store room

Farookh's unofficial pet/a stray dog that's stayed around for years

Farookh's farm

Hibiscus flowers in Farookh's garden

That evening the three of us went to see Bombay Talkies at Prithvi Theater.  We all thoroughly enjoyed the production though some of it was a bit lost in translation for me since the actors threw in some words/sentences in Hindi here and there.  We went to the 6:30 show so afterwards we went to Mo's dad's favorite little hole in the wall seafood place.  We are talking extremely local.  I may be the first tourist that has ever eaten there.  The seafood was good and cheap.  Afterwards we headed home.

Saturday was our last day in Mumbai.  Mo and I went to the early movie to see The Avengers. We were able to get reserved seats in the VIP area complete with popcorn and coke for about $11.  It sounds expensive by Indian standards, but now that we are used to London movie prices of about $45 just for two tickets, we were thrilled and amazed by how cheap it was/seemed. 

VIP waiting for The Avengers to begin

We also saw this movie poster in the lobby while we were waiting...am I the only one that found it hilarious?

Don't angry me...you rowdy rat whore!

That afternoon, I went for a few beauty treatments.  After capitalizing on the inexpensive movie experience, I decided that I needed to capitalize on other things that are inexpensive in India and super expensive in London!

That night Mo's dad cooked us a nice dinner at home and we packed up and got ready to embark on the next leg of our trip...Thailand.

Our goodbyes are always emotional, but this time it was not nearly as tough as normal because we  knew we would see Mo's dad again in a week on a stopover before we headed back to London.

India and Thailand - Part II

On Sunday we decided that we would go into town on Monday and play the role of tourist in Mumbai. The last time we did this was my first trip to India back in December 2007/January 2008. Mo's father arranged a car and driver for us for the day which cost about 1,300 Rupees (approximately $26) for eight hours--what a bargain! If you've ever visited India you will understand that it's not a place where you want/should attempt to drive if you aren't used to it. There's very little observance of the rules and regulations of the road. After the car was arranged we figured why not plan the day or at least make a rough list of the things we wanted to see and do so that we could put it into some meaningful order so as not to waste time in the car going back and forth. On the way to town our first stop was Dhobi Ghat where most of the cities laundry is done. The hard labor of washing and rinsing happens in the morning so we missed that part but we saw all of the laundry hung out to dry. Kind of strange to think that the towel you use in a Mumbai hotel room is likely sent here for cleaning each day.

Dhobi Ghat

Next stop was Crawford Market, the oldest and liveliest market in Mumbai, mostly selling fruits and vegetables as well as other necessities like toiletries. We had a look around and returned to the car so that we could make our way to Cafe Britannia for some lunch before it closed.

On our way to Cafe Britannia, we drove by Victoria Terminus now known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus. A beautiful structure designed and built when the British ruled India and one of Mo's favorite Mumbai landmarks. Today it continues as a public transportation hub and thus a lifeline of the area.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus

We arrived at Cafe Britannia around 3:30 in the afternoon with a thirty minute buffer before closing time at 4. The restaurant is Parsi owned and specializes in Parsi cuisine. It is one of the few remaining restaurants of its kind and is located in the business district of Ballard Estate. We had their signature berry pulao, fried Bombay duck (which is a soft fish) and dhansak. The gentleman running the place was easily in his eighties. He was so happy to chat with us and find out where we were from. He also had a few stories to tell of his own.  He has such a colorful personality and was full of energy.  Sadly, I forgot to take pictures of him or the restaurant.

Next, we drove around the extreme south of Mumbai, Navy Nagar.  A military area established in 1796 and currently shared by the Indian navy and Indian Army.

With our bellies still full, we were ready for a little walking...or some browsing as it turned out along Colaba Causeway. Mo tried his hand at a little bargaining with one of the street vendors for a couple of pair of counterfeit Ray-Ban's (one for him and one for me). We ended up purchasing two pair for 320 (about $6) after an initial quote of 350 for one.

The shopping didn't end there, we also hit up Cottonworld, probably my favorite Mumbai clothing store. Most of the styles are western with a hint of Indian detail.  Think Indian Gap. I was on the hunt for a pair of linen capri pants but ended up purchasing a linen skirt and t-shirt instead. Indian sizes just don't work for me when it comes to pants...skirts are no problem and I wear the same size as I would wear in the US or UK. Regardless our shopping was a success and concluded for the day.

Our next destination was Leopold's Cafe, a well known establishment among international travelers. It was one of the places targeted by the terrorists during their attack on Mumbai on November 26, 2008. The bullet holes are preserved as a reminder and a warning that the city, its people, and the patrons of Leopold's cannot and will not be broken so easily.

After Leopold's it was nearly dusk so we got in the car and took a driving tour of a few more of the iconic sights of Mumbai including The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel and Gateway of India. We drove along Marine Drive also known as Queens Necklace after the illuminated curve of the bay front road at night.  We continued on  through Malabar Hill and also passed the tomb of Haji Ali which was all light up at night and busy with pilgrims crossing the narrow causeway between the mainland and the tomb which is only accessible at low tide.

No trip into town is complete without some major traffic.  We headed home via the Worli Sea Link highway before abruptly stopping in classic rush hour traffic that Mumbai is known for.

Nearly reaching home, we decided to stop for dinner at Regency Hotel for old time's sake. It was the site of Mo's birthday celebration when he was about five or six years old. They feasted on Chinese food (though they also offer Indian) and so we did the same.  Sadly, most of those present at the birthday party are no longer with us but Mo and his father share fond memories of the place and that night.  I've heard it mentioned so many times before so it was good to experience it myself. There was nothing remarkable about the place per se but it was a nice detour down memory lane that just happened to be on the way home. 

Upon reaching Regency, we settled up with the driver so that he wouldn't have to wait for us through dinner so after dinner we took a rickshaw back home for a good night of rest after yet another busy and fun day.

Yay! Vacation Time - India and Thailand - Part I

Our flight out of Heathrow on Saturday, April 21st was at 6AM. So, while the rest of London was sleeping or still partying their Friday night away, we headed to the airport at 3:30AM. On the prior Thursday, Mo arranged for a car to pick us up outside our flat. Wouldn't you know that when they had not arrived, Mo gave them a call and discovered that there was no record of our booking. I witnessed the booking, so I knew Mo hadn't dreamt it, but obviously this was not the start to our big vacation that we were hoping for. Fortunately, we are believers in packing light so it wasn't much trouble to walk over to Piccadilly Circus and hail a cab. 45 minutes later we were walking up to the ticket counter of Swiss (formerly Swissair). A very nice gentleman checked us in and tried to make sure we had the best seats available for the flight to Zurich and onwards to Mumbai.
After a quick stop by the restroom, a coffee from Cafe Nero, and the compulsory browse through the duty free shop, we went on to find our gate and board the plane. Our flight to Zurich was only about a third full which was a relief because our layover in Zurich was brief and less people equals a quicker deplaning process. Our flight got off a little late and we subsequently landed approximately 30 minutes behind schedule. Still we had adequate time to make our next flight. The approach into Zurich airport was amazing. Gorgeous views of the snow capped Swiss Alps against the brilliant green forest, deep blue of the lakes, and the sunshine, made it a landing to remember.

We boarded the plane for the leg to Mumbai and settled in to our seats for the next 7 hours. The plane was quite nice and roomy compared to Delta so that was a nice surprise. The plane was equipped with individual televisions with an array of movies available on demand. Typically I've seen most of the movies that are available and of interest to me, but this time was different. I wasn't sure what to watch first. I decided on The Descendants and Mo chose Sherlock Holmes. Our movies carried us all the way through dinner service. Both of us thoroughly enjoyed our movie choices. I don't know what it is, but it seems the older I get the more easily moved I am...I cried enough during the movie that at one point Mo looked over at me and asked if I was okay. After dinner I moved on to movie choice number two and proceeded to fall asleep almost immediately...I woke up to credits rolling. I still need to see Iron Lady. As most of you know, my falling asleep had less to do with the quality of the film and more to do with my narcoleptic tendencies. By this time we were about 4 hours into the flight. Next on the movie reel for me was War Horse. Such a good movie and once again, a tear jerker, at least for me. Shortly thereafter the lights came on, snacks were served and we began our initial descent.

We landed about twenty minutes early and thanks to rapid movement through immigration and baggage claim we were united with Mo's father minutes after we were supposed to land.

We were both wearing our signature travel outfits consisting of running shoes, jeans, a t-shirt for me and a collared dry-fit for Mo, and light fleece pullovers. The heat and humidity of the Mumbai night enveloped me and the pullover had to come off. We arranged for a cab and began the ride to Mo's childhood home ("home" for this leg of our trip).

We reached home put our luggage away and headed out to dinner. By this time it was almost 11pm.  We walked over to Urban Tardka, one of our favorite, local, Punjabi style restaurants. In true Indian fashion there was still a wait but as soon as the host caught a glimpse of my milky white skin, a table became ready. Probably unfair for the other patrons, but I may never tire of the special treatment I've received over the years while visiting India. It's the only place in the world that views me as a VIP and I will take it as long as it lasts.

After a tasty meal of dal, roti and chicken, our bellies were full but not to full for my favorite Mumbai treat...Natural's ice cream. We caught a rickshaw to Juhu and the ice cream shop was packed! They were out of my first choice (choco almond) and also Mo's (custard apple). Most of the flavors at Natural's are fruits, but a girl loves chocolate. I actually went back four other times and they were still out of choco almond.  This was my first trip to India without having my favorite ice cream.  Definitely a disappointment.
After ice cream we headed home, took a much needed shower, and went to bed.

I woke around 10:30 on Sunday morning. I don't know what it is about India but I could sleep forever here. We went over to the next door neighbors house, Auntie and Uncle's, for breakfast consisting of South Indian cuisine of idlis, mango lassi, sambar and coconut chutney. Once again our bellies were full and we were content.

Now we needed a walk after all this food. Where better to go than our favorite shopping destination...Star Mall. Mo and I think it's related to Tesco, our UK grocer, because they had some Tesco products available. Star Mall is an Indian Wal-mart of sorts. I was on the hunt for some linen capri pants since my favorite ones, holes and all, got thrown out when we moved to London. I tried quite a few and nothing was quite right but I can say with confidence that in Star Mall sizes I'm a XXL ...yes a double extra large and that's after shedding a few pounds since being in London...nothing like a little Asian sizing (no pun intended) to dash your hopes about the way you look, or more specifically your size! We picked up a few groceries and toiletries...yes, I did say this place is like Wal-mart, and headed home.

Around 1:30pm we headed to Andheri station to catch a train to Bhayander to visit Mo's uncle, Vilas (his mom's younger of two older brothers). This was a momentous occasion as it was my first local train experience in Mumbai. To give you some context, it was a Sunday, the least busy day for train travel, and we had first class cabin tickets, and we still had to stand up for most of the journey. We also met a fellow Deloittean along the way who was headed home after a Sunday morning in the office...go figure!

On the train returning to Mumbai

Mo's uncle lives in an old age home among about two hundred other folks. He was thrilled to see us. We only called him once we reached the station as we didn't want to excite him too much or cause him much trouble in the way of preparations to meet us. We visited with him for a bit and gave him some treats that we had brought him. After a while he walked us to the main entrance where a rickshaw was waiting to take us back to the station. It was a very emotional goodbye especially for Vilas.

Being an XXL already , we figure what the heck, we would stop by Natural's on the way home from the station for a little pre-dinner treat. I still got ice cream though choco almond was still unavailable. I got anjeer (fig) this time and Mo got jackfruit. Many of the fruit flavors available at Natural's (or in India for that matter) I had never seen or heard of prior to my trips to India. Once we reached home, Mo's dad prepared a delicious dinner of fried fish, cabbage, dal and chapaties. We settled down for the evening, Mo watching cricket and me with my current book. Another lovely day of vacation and it was only Sunday, so by my count it was still the weekend and official vacation would begin tomorrow.

Procrastination

Okay, enough procrastination already.  A little background for you...I keep an ongoing list of the trips/events, etc. that I want to post about or have already partially written a post about but not finished editing or adding photos to.  I initially was dead set on keeping this blog in chronological order, but now I give up.  I'm just going to have to try to catch up over time.  I've got posts on my list that date back to December that I haven't yet completed!!!  So without further ado, I'm going to be posting a series from our recent vacation to India and Thailand.  Just bare in mind, you might find a post from May 2012 followed by one from December 2011. 

India

We had already booked our tickets to the US for Christmas but I still had some unused vacation leftover.  So, I decided to go back to Mumbai for 6 days before our trip on December 22^nd to Atlanta. Since it’s only an 8 hour flight from London as opposed to an 18 hour flight from Atlanta I thought, why not? I was very excited about the Mumbai trip as this was the first time back to the place I grew up in over 2 years.  These days it’s just easier for my dad to come visit us now that he is retired.

It was great to see my dad at the airport although I whizzed through immigration and security and ended up waiting for him.  The 6 days went by super fast as they always do.  One whole day was spent visiting my relatives in the small village where my dad grew up and another half day was spent with my uncle outside of Mumbai. The rest was really good, quality time with my old man including spending time at the school where he volunteer teaches. It’s a street school for underprivileged yet, absolutely amazing kids.

Train ride on our way to visit relatives

I’m not sure if your parents are like mine, but to get my dad out to a somewhat decent restaurant is like pulling teeth.  It is just not in his DNA… but I somehow convinced him to go to a couple of places. I must also say that my dad is a really good cook and I really enjoy his food but it is nice sometimes to take in what Mumbai has to offer.  In this case some incredibly delicious seafood for a quarter of the cost in the US and UK.   

All in all it was a great trip and Mumbai never fails to serve as reality check on how fortunate I am.  It’s funny…growing up I never once batted an eye at the homeless, the stark poverty, or the struggles of average Joe to put food on the table.  It was just part of the world I lived in, but now that I get to see it from a different point of view (for better or for worse), it most certainly shakes me to my core and reminds me about the big bad world we live in.

Monte Carlo & Nice

We had a free night’s stay at any Starwood Resort property that was going to expire December 21^st if not used, so Mo did a little detective work to find out that there was a Starwood Resort property in Monte Carlo and we could get a cheap flight via Easy Jet to Nice which is about a 20 minute bus ride from Monte Carlo.

Mo’s detective work consisted of doing a flight search on www.skyscanner.net.  This website is a great tool for determining the cheapest flight from any of the London airports to anywhere that you can fly on a given weekend or other range of dates.  We routinely use it during the week to determine if there are any deals on destinations that we may want to visit for weekends when we don’t have other commitments.  So far we haven’t actually done a trip that last minute, but it’s only a matter of time, I hope!

As with most Easy Jet flights, the cheapest ones are either first thing in the morning or late at night so we decided to book for first thing Saturday morning.  Our flight was at 7:20 AM which meant we arrived in Nice around 9:30 which was 10:30 local time.  After taking a bus to Monte Carlo, we checked in to our hotel.  We were upgraded to an ocean side room which is a nice perk of being gold status with Starwood. 

We didn’t waste much time. After dropping our bags and picking up a map from the front desk, we began a leisurely walk towards the city center.  Our hotel was on a beach just outside of town, but Monte Carlo is not large (about 3 kilometers) so we were able to cover all of the areas of interest on foot.  Our first stop, and not too far from our hotel were  several fancy car showrooms including McLaren, Ferrari and Bentley.  After gawking at the fancy cars and taking a few touristy photos, we continued our walk. 

The next site worth noting was the McDonald’s Restaurant, which I have bestowed with the award for the McDonald’s with the best view.  Imagine looking out over the Mediterranean while you chow down on a Big Mac and fries...does it seem as funny to you as it did to me?  Needless to say this was one McDonald’s we had to visit during our short stay in Monte Carlo, so we had breakfast on the rooftop terrace overlooking the Mediterranean on Sunday morning.

Next we walked through the Christmas markets and began the steep climb (via very pedestrian friendly staircases built into the cliff) up to the Old Town where The Prince’s palace is located.  We wandered the quaint, winding, stone streets for about an hour or so and had lunch at one of several cafes.  We made our descent down a different pathway for variety and ended up by the Monte Carlo Yacht club.  I’ve never seen so many superyachts in one place.  We wandered a bit more including walking by the famous Monte Carlo Casino as well as the high-end retail district and made our way back to the hotel for a short, afternoon nap.

After our naps, we got ready for dinner.  We chose a place that the hotel recommended.  Both our dinner and the restaurant were very nice.  It was located across from the Art Center so they had a fair number of patrons having dinner before the night’s performance.  After dinner we walked back over to the Monte Carlo Casino to check it out.  They observe a dress code, which we knew, and since we were dressed for dinner we knew that we would not be refused entry.  But we were wrong!  We needed our passports in order to enter and had left those in our in-room safe at the hotel.  It was okay though because we debated whether or not to go in since the tables were likely to have high minimum bets and it was 10 Euro per person just to walk in and look around.

Instead we stood outside the front doors of the casino and took in the Christmas decorations and the fine automobiles that filled the casino’s parking area. 

Sunday morning, as I mentioned, we went to McDonald’s for breakfast.  After we got ready, packed up and checked out of the hotel, we decided to walk to the train station.  I was not at all prepared for the stairs.  We went up too many steep staircases to count and though it was a nice cool 60 degrees or so I was sweating profusely by the time we made it to the train station.  We took at train from Monte Carlo to Nice and the views were amazing.  On the train ride, we decided that we needed to come back and rent a villa for a week at some point.

Our time in Nice was really uneventful.  We had about 4-5 hours before we needed to be at the airport to catch our flight back to London. We stored our bags in luggage lockers at the train station and set out.  We had lunch and did a little window shopping.  There were lots of people shopping.  Besides being the weekend there were only about two weeks left until Christmas so that should explain the crowds.  We walked along the Mediterranean where there were Christmas trees for sale.  We had a coffee at one of the cafes directly across the street from the Mediterranean around sunset.    I have to say that thought both Monte Carlo and Nice have similar natural surroundings, I prefer Monte Carlo.  It seems more secluded, is cleaner and calmer. What a beautiful part of the world.  Too bad you have to be a millionaire many times over to be able to afford to live there.  It reminded me of the best parts of California and Florida combined and now I dream of retiring there!

Driving Miss Daisy

Since we live in the area of central London called The West End, which is home to London’s live theatre—much like Broadway in NYC, it’s quite easy to keep up with the shows that are coming and going at any point in time.  When we moved in October, I made a mental note that Driving Miss Daisy was playing, starring Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones.  I decided that for the casting alone, this show was high on my list of ones to see.

In early December I saw an ad announcing the closing of the show on December 17^th.  Almost immediately I began monitoring the discount ticket booth (TKTS) to score discounted tickets before the show was gone.  One Thursday evening, I checked the listing online and discovered that tickets were available for half off.  I gave Mo a call and we agreed that if decent tickets were still available when I walked by the TKTS booth on my way home from work, we would go that night.  Fortunately there were tickets available and they were in the center section approximately 15 rows back from the stage.  Just before I made the purchase I was told that Vanessa Redgrave may or may not be performing the part of Miss Daisy that night and that it wouldn’t be determined until just before the show would begin at 7:30 PM.  I decided to go for it anyway and I’m glad I did.

The show was amazing.  It was such a neat experience to see Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones together in a live performance. Our seats were amazing and Mo and I very much enjoyed it.  Unlike the other shows we have seen to date, it was not a musical.  The set was very simple and if anything that only made the performances stand out even more.  Yet another great theatre experience.  We are really getting spoiled living so close to so much live theatre...and the TKTS booth isn’t bad either!