India 2005-2006

As if our trip to Europe wasn't enough....we tackled India as well this year. Since my Ba (my dad's mother) could not travel here for our wedding, we went to her. My parents and Neil joined us on our trip to India that started on Christmas morning. Because of the time difference, we would not arrive into India till the 27th of December, basically skipping my birthday all together. But my romantic hubby didn't want me to miss out, so he called Korean Air and told them about me celebrating my birthday while we fly over the International Date Line, and they brought out a cake and drinks to celebrate my birthday! It was very cool!!

The flight was the longest Alby had ever been on, and definitely one my mom will never forget (she unfortunately got a very very bad frost bite from some dry ice the attendant gave her on the plane).

Once our plane touched down in Bombay, you could say the new country hit us immediately (the smell of Bombay hits you at the tarmac). While in Bombay we stayed with my Dad's sister and her family; Usha Foi, Tushar Fuva, Shvetal, Sonika and Ba. Lucky for us we had lots of family traveling to India during our visit, so we got to spend time with everyone.

In Bombay, Alby took his first Rikshaw ride (one that ended in a flat tire), and adventured out into the crazy traffic inside Santa Cruz Market.

From Bombay we flew to Ahmedabad to visit my dad's home and see family. We had a great time visiting with Pravin Mama and Purnima Mami. Alby was also able to meet the rest of the Haribhakti family that were not able to attend our wedding.

After a few days in Ahmedabad, we flew back to Bombay for New Years Eve! We had purchased tickets for the largest New Year Eve's Party in Bombay being held at the JW Marriott. What an amazing party!!! We have never been to anything this big in our life, and it was great seeing our friends from back home at the party.

New England Trip & Neil's White Coat Ceremony

Neil started med school in August at New York Medical College. In October his college has a White Coat Ceremony, where the families of all the students are invited to visit the college and see their family member get awarded their official first doctor's white coat.

We all flew over for the ceremony, and stayed with Samir and Nilam. It was our first time meeting Seleena, and what a cutie she is!!

After Neil's ceremony, we drove up into Vermont to see the fall foliage. The colors of the fall leaves were amazing, and something we definitely do not get to see living in California. We stayed in Vermont for a night, and then drove through New Hampshire and into Maine. We drove into Portland Maine, where we filled our bellies with New England Lobster :)! Neil flew back to school from Portland, while my parents and us drove into Boston. My parents and us did a little siteseeing around the city, and then they drove on to Shobha Aunty's house and Alby and I went to visit with our friends Vidya and Nigel.

We spent our time in the Boston area to see the beautiful college campuses and visit with many of our friends going to school and working in the area. Nigel gave us a great tour of MIT, showing us the hidden parts of the college that an outsider would never see. We also got to visit with Sujit over at Harvard Business School. HBS is amazing, the amount of money donated to that school is astronomical.

Overall, our New England trip was fun! (but I doubt we could ever live there)

Big Sur

With the summer weather at its peak, Alby and I decided to take a day trip down the coast and visit Big Sur. Our drive down was just amazing. Highway 1 is such a beautiful drive. Once we to got into the park, we found a nice camping area and decided to hike out to the ocean. The view was like a postcard with the waves crashing onto the coast. We ate dinner at the well known restaurant, Nepenthe. The food wasn't as great a the view, but it was a fun experience. Maybe next time we'll make it a weekend trip!

Post Europe Trip...our Travel Counter reaches 5%

Paris

Our final stop on this crazy tour was Paris. We arrived in the evening and took a quick tour of the city of lights at dusk. We took a ride up the Eiffel Tower to see the ultimate view of the city at night.

Unfortunately this was the only city where we actually woke up to a rainy sky :( We decided that since today was the actual funeral of the Pope we would try to catch a glimpse of the ceremony being televised at the Notre Dame. Notre Dame was a mad house filled with people, so we walked by and decided to hit the tourist sites since it looked like all of Paris was at Notre Dame.

The Louvre was amazing....just how I envisioned it from the Di Vinci Code :) We loved roaming through the museum. Saw the Mona Lisa :) and all the beautiful art housed in the massive place. We grabbed lunch at a cute little French cafe. Alby figured since we were in Paris, he might as well try out escargot... so he did....

By mid afternoon the rain had slowed down, and we took a walk up the Champs L'ysee (sp?) shopped and made it up to the Arc Di Triumph.

A lot of people say Paris is their favorite city...I can't really say it was mine....but maybe it was the weather.

That night we went to see the Moulin Rouge. The show was amazing! What a great way to end our trip of Europe.

The land of Swiss Cheese?

After leaving Florence we said good bye to Italy for now (we know we'll be coming back soon we hope!) and drove into Switzerland. So the little I know about Switzerland comes from what my mom has told me and from what I've seen in the Sound of Music! We definitely didn't see Julie Andrews singing in the hills, but we did see the amazing Alps, and the beauty of Switzerland. Lucerne was gorgeous (and super clean). Alby got a Swiss Military watch and we took a cruise out on the Lake Lucerne.

Florence

From Rome, we drove to Florence. I loved Florence. It was one of the cities that didn't seem overly touristy. It might have also been less crowded since so many people were going to Rome for the Pope's funeral. We were able to go see the Statue of David, wander around the street, eat more gelato (the best we had in Italy) and do a little shopping. The evening ended with a traditional Tuscan dinner out on a vineyard. Later at night we went clubbing :) Definitely a fun experience.

Rome

So the day we drove into Italy, we heard the news that the Pope had passed away. It was a very sad time in Italy, and we anticipated a very sorrow filled city when we arrived into Rome. There was a huge pilgrimage of people flooding into Rome and the Vatican, making the city bursting at its seems. Alby and I decided we'd try to visit as much of Rome as we could, but we'd definitely make another trip back to visit the Vatican and see Rome in a happier time.

I have already ready Angels & Demons before the trip, but Alby was actually in the middle of the book when we arrived in Rome. For anyone who hasn't read the book, it takes place in Rome, and there is a scavenger hunt like storyline in the book. Alby and I thought it would be fun to actually read and follow the path the characters take in the book, in real life! What fun! It was great being able to actually see the sites that are described in the book right in front of us, and it really allowed us to see Rome from a different stand point.

The history of Rome and the ancient-ness of the city were overwhelming. Walking into The Coliseum, roaming through the ruins, ogling at the massiveness of the Pantheon, and lounging at the Spanish Steps filled an entire day. We took massive numbers of pictures, but here are a few of our favorites. If I were to go back anywhere, I'd definitely go back to this amazing city!!

Venice...the most romantic city in the world!

Our first stop in Italy, and it is Venice!! Definitely a place Alby and I both have dreamed about visiting. The city was so romantic, with cozy little sidewalk cafes and restaurants. We took in the tourist sites, including a glass blowing demonstration, St. Marks and the Capinelle. Before going on our gondola ride in the Venetian canals we picked up a bottle of the Venetian Peach Drink (tasted like a bellini). We had our first bites of gelato after dinner, and boy was it yummy!!

Venice is amazing city, but really, 1-2 days are all you really need here. I'm glad we had our time here, and I'd love to go back for a romantic weekend!

Austria

With our bellies filled with German beer, we headed south to Austria, specifically the city of Innsbruck. Our drive took us through the Alps, where we got some breath taking views. We sampled snitzel (not too good) and went touring the Swarovski Museum. Nothing too crazy to do here, but it was a nice city to visit.

Beer, Brauts, and Sauerkraut

From Amsterdam, we traveled over to the Rhine Valley in Germany where we stayed in a cute little town called St. Goar. The town is located right on the Rhine River, with beautiful old castles still nestled in the hill sides.

It was here that we were introduced to amazing Riesling Wine and Ice Wine. We stayed in St. Goar for a night and then headed over to Munich.

Munich was great!!! I'm not much of a beer drinker, but I think you have to be when you visit Munich. Alby and I both enjoyed the great German food at the Hoffbrau, and loved roaming through Munich's main square during the evening.

Amsterdam & Space Cake

In London we met up with the Contiki group and boarded our faithful bus. We had an early morning start and drove through England, and boarded a train that would take us across in the English Channel in a Tunnel (aka Chunnel). Once we were across, we drove north into Denmark and drove into Amsterdam.

Amsterdam is a beautiful city. We arrived early in the afternoon and wandered a bit through the main town. We both love food in different places, and we definitely found some great grub in downtown Amsterdam. Our first snack was a shewarma sandwich from a street vendor....so yummy!! After a brief afternoon walk, we settled into our motel, changed, and came back to downtown to see the city at night.

Amsterdam and the Red Light District are just crazy! Talk about being very liberal and open! We definitely saw some interesting shows and museums in Amsterdam and sampled some of their famous Space Cake. If you want details you'll just have to ask us ;)

The next morning we walked over to the Heineken factory, and through the parks, and Anne Frank's home.

Overall for a quick day and half we got a great feel for the city and hope to visit again!

Gloomy London

We boarded the American Airlines flight to London from SJC (via Dallas) pumped for the next 2 weeks of hard core traveling :) But boy was the flight long!!! I was thrilled when we landed in London, even thought we arrived to a pretty dreary looking sky. We hoped off the plane and boarded the Gatwick Express that would take us the main station of the London Tube.

One small detail we didn't realize when we booked our tickets was that we were arriving into London over Easter weekend, and much of the city was closed for the holiday. Alby and I both were pretty tired from all the traveling, but were determined to make the use of all our time in London, so we showered and headed back out onto the Tube. Public transit in London was great, we loved the ease of getting everywhere quickly and cheaply :)

The first day in London we made it over to Buckingham Palace, and our timing was just right to see the changing of the guards. It's a pretty elaborate tradition, that really doesn't seem to serve much purpose but provide something for tourists like us to watch.

The rest of the day was filled with lots of walking and Tube rides with Alby and I traveling all over London, trying to visit all the highlights. Some of the places we were able to visit were: The London Eye, Shakespeare's Theater, London Bridge, Big Ben, Westchester Abbey, National Muesuem. We ate great Indian food for dinner, and visited London's China Town ....how's that for hitting both our cultures :)

The Kwoks Tackle Europe in 2005

Alby and I both had not been to Europe, so for our next big trip we decided to take on as much of Europe as we could in a quick sweep. Our friends had taken tours through Contiki, which is a tour agency for people age 18-35, and we thought that this would be a great way to see a lot of Europe in a short period of time. We booked the tour called European Discovery. The tour started in London, went across the Chunnel and went to Amsterdam, Rhine Valley (Germany), Munich, Innsbruck, Lucerne, Venice, Rome, Florence, and Paris. We loved the trip, and definitely recommend it to those who have never been to Europe and want to see a lot in a quick time. We'll definitely be returning to Europe but this time to see the places we know we loved and want to spend more time at.