Our last day (Day 4) in Barcelona was a gray, dreary day. There was a continuous drizzle that dampened our plans. But we stuck with it, and spent the day walking around trying to take in the architecture of Barcelona. Which is completely worth all the trouble. Nowhere else have I seen such diversity and range of architecture, from the historic to the bizarre to the modern. It was simply amazing.

The big influence of course is Gaudi, whose Casa Milá and Casa Battló are two of the most distinctive, intriguing and weird buildings you will ever see. Casa Milá looks like it could have been hewn out of a mountain face or something.

Casa Battló is probably one of the most exotic buildings in the world, looking like something straight out of a fairy tale.

And the Casa Comalat, designed by the Gaudí-influenced architect Salvador Valeri i Popurull, is an unusual looking house that has two different facades, formal at the front, more playful at the back.

And then there were the modern looking buildings that dotted the graceful Passeig de Gràcia.

The day ended with us trying to seek shelter from the rain at a children’s play area, followed by another round of delicious  tapas. And just like that, four lovely days in one of the most intriguing cities I have visited came to an end.

Day 3 has been all about exploring some of the diversity in beauty that this city has to offer. Our first stop was the beach, where the Sunday crowd was out in force to enjoy the sun and the sand. Not too many people were in the water though, which was pretty cold. But the beach was a fun place to hang out, and the fact that it was right there in the city (it didn’t take a 1 hr drive or 2 hr train ride to get there) was awesome.

We also enjoyed some excellent fideuàs (paella with noodles instead of rice) at the grand Can Majó. Sipping sangria while enjoying the food, the sun and the view of the blue water was exactly what this vacation needed.

This was followed by a trip up the mountain of Montjuïc, the largest green zone in the city and home to a castle, the Olympic park and lots of greenery. But be warned – don’t try this trip with a stroller or you will be dead by the time you are done!

In the evening, we descended to the base of Montjuïc for a unique spectacle. Dancing fountains may be all over the world now, but the Magic Fountain outside the MNAC is pretty spectacular, built as it was  for the 1929 world’s fair, and still one of the best (better than anything in Vegas, even if the musical set started with Disney tunes).

Excellent tapas at Taller de Tapas rounded out the night, though their attempt to solve the mystery of tapas by spelling everything out in English does need to be matched by understanding service. Even getting caught in a downpour on the frantic walk (run) back to the hotel did nothing to dampen our spirits from the day of fun.

Again, random photos from our trip have been uploaded to this tag on my flickr account.

It’s been 2 days in Barcelona, and here are some random thoughts from two tiring but inspiring days in a city I am coming to love.

Day 1 was all about being reminded that I was definitely in Europe. The bus ride from the airport to the main plaza near my hotel was painless and a pleasure. The bus was clean and new and definitely kid friendly, in that the windows went all the way down so Arav could look out while sitting down the whole ride. There were grand plazas, fenced in by historic buildings on one side and great sidewalk cafes on the other, and there were grand avenues to walk down, admiring the sights and sounds of a grand European city.

Day 2 was all about Gaudi, the most honored of Spanish architects. We started the day in Parc Güell, a place for which the word “whimsical” would be an understatement. It’s like someone who grew up on a steady diet of Hans Christian Anderson went wild and started creating a fairy tale world in a park.

We then topped that by a visit to the world famous Sagrada Família, a cathedral unlike any other in Europe, whose unique shape and adornments are amazing to behold. The fact that it is still being constructed is ridculous in of itself.

A visit to the not-too-bad aquarium was added to the end to make the day a bit more palatable for the munchkin, who greatly enjoyed the excellent children’s play area at the end of his tour. And a fitting end to the bizarre and wonderous sights of the day was an all-dessert dinner at Espai Sucre, where our 3 and 5 course meals of all dessert based dishes was a true joy, and a fitting reward to 2 days of walking our soles thin.

I can’t look forward to what else Barcelona has to offer in the two more days I have here. I am going to keep uploading random photos from our trip to this tag on my flickr account. Check it out if you can.

It has been a really long time since I have updated this blog, or posted any pictures to my website. Well, I’m about to embark on a trip to Vancouver tomorrow morning (in a few hours actually – T is going to kill me for still being up). So I thought I would get these albums out now before we head off (and I come back with more albums to add).

I added a new album for “Vermont” to the ‘Travel Journal‘ section, cataloguing our July 4th long weekend trip there. I also added pictures from our San Diego trip to the existing “San Diego” album in that section. And I added a new album called “High Line Park” about our exploration of the newly opened park in the ‘New York, New York‘ section.

It’s been almost 5 years since the last time I was in Delhi. So much has changed since then. The new economy of India has meant lots of development, and a change in the lifestyle of the middle class.

Malls are everywhere, as are cars by companies like Hyundai and Honda. The Ambassador, long the symbol of the Indian automotive industry, has all but disappeared. The Metro is the pride of Delhi-ites, bringing a sense of civic pride and order rarely seen in the blase Indian set. The government is fighting the good fight to improve traffic conditions, and the roads of Delhi are more confusing than ever. Shiny new buses, comparable to the best in the world, transport people in relative comfort. There are more TV channels here than in the States, and the quality of advertising beats that in the US down cold. Movies and cricket still dominates everything, even the cacophony surrounding national politics and Pakistan. Every one has two cellphones, with customized ringtones that blare Hindi film music. And the price of everything has gone through the roof, though it is still cheaper than the west (for the most part).

Yet the inherent quality of Delhi is still the same. It still has a small town feel, where people know their neighbors and shopkeepers greet you by name. Everybody is tired of the politics that seems so out of touch with the lives of the Delhi set. Driving is still an adventure akin to grown-up bumper cars, lanes on the road are still searching for purpose in life, and the horn is a more important driving instrument than turn indicators. And the number of people is still insane (though it won’t be overwhelming to anyone coming from New York).

The dust has been the biggest issue. It is still everywhere and ever-present, despite the massive reduction in pollution. An hour after cleaning, there is a visible layer of dust on everything. This has been a big problem for Arav, because we’ve had to curtail his crawling to keep him on “designated areas” like carpets and rugs, much to his displeasure. The poor kid also fell sick, afflicted by a chest cold because of the sudden change in weather and pollution.

But the biggest thing I noticed is the sense of optimism that has engulfed all of India. There is a palpable sense of expectation, a feeling that the country is poised to take over the world. All the talk is about “bigger and better”, about national pride, about a country that is to be reckoned with. And it is said with a sense of confidence, not the false bravado of old. A young democracy is flexing its muscles, and liking what it sees. Even as the economy collapses around the world, here in India it is viewed as an opportunity to show the nations strength. And the strength is real, the future bright.

It’s an interesting time to be in India. To be an Indian.

We arrived in San Juan in the evening after a fun couple of days in Ponce and San German. Our hotel was the Caribe Hilton, and I have to say that it is one of the best beach resorts I have ever visited, despite not being an all-inclusive. The room was great, and the hotel has so many amenities for adults and especially children (it didn’t mean much to us this time, but I can see their value). Most important, there was a swim up pool bar and drinks service on the beach.

The next two days were spent relaxing on the hotels private beach, and enjoying the sun and the ocean. We had a great ocean view room, and between that, the ocean-side daybeds, the hammocks and the beach chairs, our itinerary was mostly set.

We did take some time out to wander off the hotel property and visit Old San Juan. It is a small (deceptively tiring to walk though because of all the uphill streets) area that is chock full of historic sites and buildings. Unfortunately, we underestimated the time it would take to explore it all, and had to skip quite a few things.

We took a walk along Constitution Avenue, which has some really great looking buildings (like the Puerto Rican legislative building), to get to the old walled city. We then took a stroll on the esplanade called Paseo de la Princesa that follows the city walls and the oceanfront. There was a really great photo exhibition called “Earth From Above” that had been set up on it. We also saw some great sculptures and fountains. And, of course, we got to admire the old walls that were once part of the most impregnable fortress in the New World.

Within the walls we came across some great piazzas, historic buildings (including a building that houses the Academy of Music and Art that was originally built as an insane asylum) and statues commemorating events in Puerto Rican history (the funniest was a statue that commemorates a time in 1797 when British soldiers mistook a religious procession for the arrival of Spanish reinforcements and fled).

Dinner was an interesting experience. We met up with all the others in the evening, without an idea of where to eat. We just picked a place called Ostra Cosa near the old Cathedral. The proprietor, Alberto, decided to spice things up by ordering for us instead of letting us pick the dishes. He spent a lot of time initially chatting with us and learning what we liked, and then he just sent out one great dish after another. The ceviche was especially good.

Later, we walked around a little bit to enjoy the night sights. The trend of fantastically lit up buildings continued in Old San Juan as well, the best being City Hall (photo below).

That was it for our journey through Puerto Rico. The trip was way too short, and there was so much more that we wanted to do. We will definitely be making our way back there, once Arav is a little older and can appreciate it. Need to give ourselves enough time to savor the beach, the history and the beauty of the island.

Website Updates: I added photo albums for our Puerto Rico trip and our Napa Valley trip to my website. Both can be found in the Travel Journal section. Keep in mind that the Napa Valley album is actually titled “Wine Country”. Reflects my hope to add more photographs to it when we make our way back there, and when we do a trip up to Sonoma.

After our all-too-short stay in Vieques, we were off to our next destination. Getting on and off Vieques was a real challenge. There are only 3 ferry trips off the island on the weekends. So we found ourselves standing in line to buy ferry tickets at the ungodly hour of 5:30am on a Saturday (the next ferry was to be at 1:30pm). The ferry ride itself was fairly easy (though very full), and so we found ourselves hitting the road at 8 am. 2 hours later, after a nice drive on a sunny morning, we found ourselves pulling into the Hilton resort in Ponce, on the southern coast of PR.

The resort is pretty nice (a bit outdated though), with extensive grounds and a really nice pool area next to the ocean. There is a small beach, but after the gorgeous beach in Vieques, it couldn’t compete. We had a great room on the ground floor with an outdoor patio overlooking the ocean. We spent most of our morning and afternoon in the resort, hanging out with Sonika (Tanu’s cousin) and Manish, who had already arrived there the previous day, and sipping daiquiris.

Late in the afternoon, we headed out to the historic district of Ponce. The city has recently undergone a major restoration project to revitalize the old city and its historic buildings, and it shows. The town square is quite a showcase, and buildings like city hall and the tourist center (a gaudy red and black building that used to be a firehouse, photo below) make it almost feel like an outdoor museum. Especially since the streets were deserted because everything was cordoned off to accommodate a concert that was to take place in the town square later that night. We had a nice time walking the 4 or 5 blocks around the town square and admiring the restored buildings.

The next day, after a morning spent relaxing in the resort with everyone (Sapan and Monica arrived late the previous evening), we headed out to San German. A small town about an hour west of Ponce, it is the 2nd oldest city in PR, and the site of the oldest church in the New World. The Iglesia Porta Coeli is at one end of a cobble-stoned plaza, the Parque de Santo Domingo, that is really quaint and where we had a late tapas lunch that was quite good. Tanu and I both loved the place; it has a very tranquil, old world feel to it.

The town of San German is definitely worth a visit. We would have loved to spend a few more hours there, walking around the cobble-stoned streets and checking out all the historic buildings and town squares. Maybe next time.

That evening we left Ponce for our next (and last) stop, San Juan.

So this one came together rather quickly. For almost a month, Tanu and I were trying to figure out where to go on vacation in December, but we couldn’t decide on a place. And then we talked to Tanu’s cousin Sapan and found out that they were planning to go to Puerto Rico. Well, PR was one of the places on our list, so we decided to tag along and join them. Our first family vacation.

The first stop on the trip was going to be the island of Vieques. So after arriving at the airport outside San Juan, we took our rental car and drove about an hour to the port city of Fajardo, where we could catch a ferry to Vieques. We arrived at the parking lot where we would leave our car just a few minutes after Sapan and his family got there. So we were able to do the 90 minute ferry ride with them.

The former US military base is now an idyllic Caribbean island that is still relatively undiscovered. We stayed in the town of Esperanza on the southern coast of Vieques, and it was one of the sleepiest places we had ever been. There are no major hotels, accommodations being in the form of guest houses. We stayed at the Villa Coral Guesthouse, a comfortable little place run by a lovely woman named Mireya. The room, while small, was tastefully furnished and very comfortable. It had the things that are needed (AC, shower) and none of the things that aren’t (TV, internet access) on an island getaway. The only negative was that it was about a 10 minute walk away from the waterfront and the local strip, all uphill (which is a problem when you are trying to get back and pushing a stroller or carrying a sleeping baby in your arms).

But that was all forgotten the next day, when we went to the Media Luna beach (on Mireya’s recommendation). It was a gorgeous crescent shaped beach of perfect white sand, palm trees and calm waters. And it was almost deserted (there was just one family there when we got there), making it feel like we were going to a private beach. But the fact is that it is a free public beach that is better than the expensive private beaches you find at most resorts in the Caribbean.

After a lovely afternoon spent on the beach, we relaxed in our room before heading out at night for a boat tour of bioluminescent bay (or biobay), one of the main attractions in Vieques. The biobay is a unique bay containing up to 720,000 single-celled organisms called dinoflagellates per gallon of water. These half-plant, half-animal organisms emit a flash of bluish light when agitated at night. So on the tour (an entertaining and informative one run by the guys at Island Adventures), we went out into the bay aboard an electric boat. Everything was dark around us, and there were no lights on the boat, so all we could see was the brilliant starry sky above (I have never seen the sky full with so many stars) and the glow of the organisms in the waves created by the wake of the boat.

But the best part was when they stopped the boat in the middle of the bay, and let us get into the water to swim. It was one of the coolest things I have ever done. Watching the water glow around me (sort of like a halo) when I swam, or moved my arms, or kicked my legs, was just amazing. And for a few brief moments when it rained, the glow at the points where the rain was hitting the water made the water look like a reflection of the starry sky above.

And I would be remiss in not mentioning the bus ride we had to take getting back and forth from the biobay. The bay is in the middle of a nature refuge, so there are no real roads getting there. The bus of the tour company (an old school bus) seemed more like a roller coaster at some times, navigating its way through massive holes in the ground, and driving through low hanging and dense vegetation. It was pretty crazy.

That was the end of our day in Vieques. Some day I will go back there for an extended time, when I need and can better appreciate the slowing down of life on the island. In the meantime, go soon if you can, before the island gets overrun by hotel chains.

As I mentioned in part 1 of my post about our Napa trip, our first day through the valley left us hungry for more. So we decided to head up that way on the following Saturday as well. Our first stop was at Oxbow Market, an elegant marketplace that manages to cater all your dining pleasures with just a few small but good stores. It is a real treat to just walk through the space, savoring the aroma wafting around, a mix of chocolate, wine, cheese and assorted foods.

After that, we headed to Bistro Don Giovanni for lunch. A pretty bistro right on Highway 29, the tasty Italian fare is accompanied by an excellent family feel to the place. The proprietor of the place, Donna, was really taken by Arav. I walked into the place after having parked the car to find him laughing away in her arms. After that she whisked him away to show him off in the kitchen and to various other patrons. Arav finally rejoined us after a good 10 minutes of play time in the bistro’s kitchen, which produced some very good food that we greatly enjoyed.

After that, we drove off to visit a few vineyards. Domaine Carneros looks like a chateau from France, and actually is modeled after a real one over there. Not much to look at, to be honest. The vineyard we really wanted to visit was Schramsberg, with its underground caves used as wine cellars. But they wouldn’t let us take the tour with Arav, so we had to pick another place for a tour.

We decided to go to Sterling Vineyards, which has a self-guided tour, so being with Arav became a non-issue. The dazzling white Mediterranean-style building is set up on a hill, and getting there requires taking an aerial tram (included in the price of the tour). The setting of the building is stunning, overlooking the valley, and the tour is pretty comprehensive, showing all aspects of the wine-making process. We also got to taste 5 pretty good wines, one at the start of the tour, one on the roof, where we could look out at the surrounding hills and the valley, and three in the tasting room at the end of the tour. The 2007 Cellar Club Malvasia Bianca, a muscat-like wine served at the end that our hostess said would go great with spicy curried food, was especially good. All in all, it was a pretty good experience. And we got a good wine recommendation out of it too.

That was all for the trip, as we were ready to hit the road and head back to our hotel at this point – a little tired but pretty happy. The two days in Napa were really fun, and I look forward to returning at some point for a more in-depth and relaxing Napa experience.

This past week, I had to be in California for work at HQ. We decided to use the weekends sandwiching the week to spend some quality time enjoying the great weather on the west coast. Exciting, because this was going to be Arav’s first plane trip. And he was an angel on the flight, both ways. We didn’t give the rest of the passengers too much to complain about.

Having Arav in tow meant we had to figure out something to do at a leisurely pace, that incorporated the nice weather without being too rigorous. So, we headed up to wine country, our first time despite all the trips we have made to the bay area over the years.

We explored Napa Valley by driving up highway 29, which goes through the heart of the valley. Along the way, we stopped at a few wineries to taste the offerings and enjoy the lovely settings. A lot of the wineries (like the Robert Mondavi winery in the picture above) have beautiful buildings set in the middle of the vineyards, providing a great place to enjoy the beauty of the valley. We were there a few weeks after the harvest, so the vines were bare, but there was a hint of fall color in the leaves, which made for some pretty lovely views. Unfortunately, some of the wineries we wanted to tour were either full or wouldn’t let us tour with a baby, so plan ahead when you go. We also visited the “Old Faithful Geyser” in Calistoga, but it wasn’t very impressive, so save your money. Arav did enjoy seeing the animals that were on the premises though.

Going with Arav meant that we couldn’t go to the French Laundry for dinner, something Tanu has been wanting to do for a very long time. But we did try to do the next best thing and go to Thomas Keller’s other place in the valley, Bouchon. It is a much more casual dining experience, with a nice french cafe feel to it. And the food is quite good. We also have it on good authority that the pastries and macaroons from the neighbouring Bouchon Bakery are really good.

We ended up wanting more from our time in Napa, so we decided that we needed one more day there. That will be the subject of the next post.