Back to USA!

As it happens, our last morning in London turned out to be bright & sunny as well! Ravi was so nice to come to the hostel at 7:30 am to help get us to Victoria Station. We got a cab to Victoria to catch the express train to Gatwick Airport which is a cheap and convenient way to get there. We said our goodbyes to Ravi at Victoria and we were on our way! Gatwick Airport was certainly easier to negotiate than Heathrow but still lines were long and the security was extremely high. Once we were at the gate, we could not leave to even go to the bathroom without leaving your passport with an official! The flight took 9 hours and was uneventful. We landed at the Atlanta airport about 3:00pm but didn't get out of there till about 4:30pm! They have so many steps to go through with border control/customs etc. The most ridiculous thing was that we had to go through security with all the passengers who were catching connecting flights even though we were leaving the airport. The system is bad!! Anyway we finally got out of the airport.

Tom and Drew were there to meet us and it was great to see them after it seemed like ages but not really I suppose! I think Drew has grown taller for sure. He said he had a wonderful time at camp and can't wait to go back next year. Tom said he was so bored without us. Anyway we will drive home tomorrow and then get back into the routine. The vacation (and camp for Drew) was wonderful and we are so glad we did it. It's still good to be home too!

We also want to say a big thank you to Mahen & Brigitte, and Vienna wouldn't be the same without you and of course Maya & Jeremy! We are also so glad Ravi is in London and was there to help and advice when needed! Now we hope to see you all here one day!

Last Day in London :(

Swami Narayan Temple in Neasden, London

Us in Ravi's Apt.

Our last day here turned out to be bright & sunny! We came over to Ravi's and I added a bunch of pictures - finally! We then went to a place called Bharathi Vidya Bhawan (A Indian cultural center) to eat as they have vegetarian food but unfortunately the cafe was closed. We saw a small art exhibition that was there and then took the underground to the other Indian Vegan restaurant we had eaten at twice before called Govindas. That food has been really good all the times we ate there.

Ravi wanted to show us a large Hindu Temple outside of London where the main building was carved entirely of white marble. They apparently got traditional Indian craftsmen from a particular village to come to London and carve the marble structure. The craftsmen from this village have been continuing on this tradition for 6000 years. We had to take the subway and a bus to get there. It was a very beautiful temple! We walked around a little and then came back to Ravi's.

Well this will be my last post from London! We have had a wonderful time here and I think I am fairly familiar with London with all the travel Erin & I did on our own on the underground. Ravi had to work but we did have fun on the weekends with him! He was a great help to us too. We hope to see him soon in the USA!

Kensington Palace

View of Gardens at Kensington Palace

The Sunken Gardens At Kensington Palace

Today is our second to last day and last day by ourselves as we are going to hang out with Ravi tommorrow. We decided to visit Kensington Palace as the forecast called for more drizzle today. Another grey day here! After getting off the underground, we walked to the Palace through some of Hyde Park and Kensington park. The Palace was apparently the birthplace of Queen Victoria and was the main palace before Buckingham Palace. Princess Diana lived here too after her divorce. It seems that about half the palace is open to the public. The staterooms as they are called are grand and beautiful. There also was an exhibition called the "Last Debutantes" which was a debutante ritual that ended in 1958 and a small exhibition of Princess Diana's dresses along with some historical dresses. We were able to walk outside as the rain had stopped and saw a beautiful garden called the "Sunken Gardens". The gardner who was there started chatting with us and we found out he had visited Sri Lanka and even climbed Adams Peak! What a small world. We walked around the Kensington High Street area and went back to the Indian restaurant that we liked for lunch. We were tired so we took the underground back home even though it was only one stop away.

I am planning to use Ravi's computer to add pics tommorrow so the prior post should have some good ones!

Covent Gardens & Rain Again !

Neat street around Covent Gardens

Today was another rainy gloomy day here! The weather forecasters predict no real sunshine till September!! Erin has a cold too. We decided to go back to Covent Gardens as there were covered areas there so we could take shelter even if did rain. We basically walked around some cool areas, saw some street performances, ate lunch and came back home. It did remain damp and drizzly the whole time. Erin also says that when we were walking by an old homeless man he gave her a kick on her ankle!! I did not see this but she insists he did. We had a good laugh over this. It's ironic as she always thinks that she loves the homeless people! Ravi dropped by again after his work for a chat and a cup of tea. Basically we did not do much today!

Tate Modern & Mohamed Al Fayed!

Tate Modern Museum of Modern Art

View of St. Paul's Cathedral From Tate

Harrods!

Erin really wanted to see The Tate Modern art museum so we set off in the am as usual. It was easy to get there although it's across the river. It was free as well like most museums here. It is full of very interesting art and was well worth the visit. We probably saw 80% of the works, then got tired. St. Pauls Cathedral is right opposite the museum back on the main side of the river and is connected with a neat bridge for pedestrians only. St. Pauls is magnificant to say the least. They were not letting in visitors till later due to a private function and the tickets were a bit expensive so we opted not to go. We got sandwiches, sat on the steps and ate lunch. (BTW there are no trash cans in some important areas of London due to the possibility that a bomb may be hidden in it.)

I wanted to show Erin Harrod's so we decided to go there next. That turned out to be a strange experience! Of course the store is so large so we got lost in the store right away. Then we ended up in a teen section by chance and Erin was looking at some stuff when Mohamed Al Fayed walks by with two bodyguards. I pointed him out to Erin and I had told her the whole story of Princess Diana and Dodi and their death etc. before, and that he was the owner of Harrods etc. so she knew who he was. Then he as he was walking back he actually smiled and said hello to us, which really surprised us! Anyway we walked around the store more but amazing as it is, it is overwhelming and very expensive. The other interesting thing though was the amazing display of wealth - a whole road outside as a parking lot for the most amazing cars and the chauffers in three piece suits, and the amount of women in Arabic dress - covered in black from head to toe - shopping like there's no tommorrow! Like I said no shortage of money here!

Then it was back home for a bit of dinner and bed!

Walked & Walked!

Covent Gardens Market

Flowers By Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

We decided to head onto Covent Garden today. We got on the underground at about 9:30 am and all was fine until about three quarter way into the trip the train stopped. I'm still not sure what the exact reason was but we were stopped for about 40 minutes! There was nothing to do but wait! Also London subways have a problem with heat so people were sweating! We were glad to get moving again.

Covent Garden (not a garden at all) is a neat area with market stalls, cafe's, and street entertainers. This was the site of the first Punch and Judy show in the 1600's so it has a long tradition of street entertainment. We watched a guy juggling kives in a kilt, walked around and quickly got lost in the maze of small streets! After we ended back at Trafalgar Square we were hungry so we ended up going back to the Cafe In The Crypt for lunch which was good and very reasonable.

After lunch we decided to walk to Buckingham Palace along the Mall. There were lots of cars parked along the way and we ended up seeing alot of formally dressed people going into the Palace for a Garden Party! Very interesting. Did not see the changing of the guard though. The area around the Palace is beautiful and grand. We hung around, watched the people going into the Palace but did not know who anyone was of course. We then decided to walk to Marble Arch and Oxford Street to go to a particular shop we had heard alot about so we walked along Hyde Park and this walk was long! We wanted to go to Primark which is a very cheap store and has been the subject of controversy as they state they are against child labor etc. The store was packed with shoppers. I did buy a cheap umbrella as I'm sure the rain will be here again! Got the underground back to the Hostel - no problems this time!

Busy Day In A Busy City......

View of Big Ben from Westminster Abbey Area

Admiralty Arch

Trafalgar Square

National Gallery

We have fabulous weather today - high in the low 70's and sunny! The underground is back to normal too! We decided to go to Westminster Abbey first. Got there by 10:00 or so and took the self guided tour. The history of the place is amazing - founded in 1065 AD and functional up to now. We saw the most amazing tombs and we were especially interested in the Tudors and Queen Elizabeth I. Along with royalty the Abbey also contains the graves of poets/writes/scientists etc. The architechture was amazing as well.
After that we walked on over to Trafalgar Square, took some pictures with the Lions, and then went in to the National Gallery which has a superb collection of art. We saw the Impressionists first and then wandered through the museum looking at the other art. We spent a couple of hours there and then decided to get a bite to eat. I had remembered that about 15 years ago Tom & I had had the best bread pudding in a great little cafe and I was hoping to find it again! A few steps and there it was! It was the "Cafe in the Crypt" - actually in the crypt of the church St.Martins in the Fields, with graves and all, and the bread pudding was still a tradition. Erin loved the pudding served warm with custard!! We were rejuvenated after that so off we went to the National Portrait Gallery which was right opposite.
This museum is full of portraits from old to modern and again we loved the ones of the Tudors. Amazing art and just too much to even try to describe. The other nice thing is that both these museums are free! We were tired after that so we got back home, bought heat & eat meals from Marks & Spensers food store - nice selection of fresh made food - and ate back at the hostel. Tommorrow should be a warm day too!

I will have to post pics later - no pics allowed inside anything we saw today anyway

Oxford Street & Shopping!!

Flowers at Holland Park

Hobbit House?

Japanese Gardens at Holland Park

More Pretty Flowers

We had breakfast and then walked around Holland Park (which is where the hostel is located) which is described as Londons most romantic park! It is truly beautiful and has lots of beautiful flowers and a lovely Japanese Garden too. We are actually sort of sad to leave the Holland Park hostel today for the Earls Court hostel because of the park, symphony music etc. but will be glad of the privacy of the other place! We did meet several interesting folks and especially another mother & daughter from Brazil. We got a cab back to Earls Court after that.

After we checked in Erin & I decided to get a bite to eat and then headed on to Oxford Street for some shopping although we had no high hopes as everything is more expensive with the pound! The subway was still out so we took the line to Picadilly Circus, then walked up Reagent Street to Oxford Street. This is a very nice walk with grand buildings lining the street. The area was packed with shoppers. There does not seem to be any recession here in London from the likes of all the tourists etc! We actually got some very reasonable things even in Dollars, then took the Underground back as I wanted to do laundry - our jeans are very dirty I'm sure!

Ravi dropped by and we chatted a while. The best thing about today was also the weather - finally a sunny day and much warmer too. Hope it continues...........

Buckingham Palace, Parliment, Big Ben, Westminister.......

Westminister Abbey

On their way to Buckingham Palace!

Closest we can get to # 10 Downing Street now

Houses of Parliament

I cannot believe how cold it is here!! Rained last night. I almost bought more clothes but resisted due to the high prices! I feel like I am in the winter now!! Today is Saturday and Ravi is not working so he came over to the hostel and we decided to go to Westminister Abbey. The Central Line of the Subway is out this weekend so the subways were confusing and packed. The Central line is the line the the tourists use the most! Anyway we managed to get to the area of Buckingham Palace, walked by Clarence House where Prince Charles lives and down the Mall towards Parliament and Westminister Abbey. We saw some Guards riding horses towards the palace and another small parade of guards. This whole area is very majestic and grand and very British! Unfortunately the whole area near the Abbey and Big Ben was full of student groups because it's the weekend. We opted to just walk around the area and see the sights and then come back on a weekday. I must see the Westminister Abbey!

We went back to the vegan Indian restaurant we ate at the first day and had a vegetarian lunch which was really good. Then we came to Ravis room where I can use the computer to do this blog! We are moving back to the original hostel tommorrow where there are more computers to use and I can do Laundry!!

British Museum

Interior near Entrance

One of the exposed mummies

Erin & I had a fairly decent breakfast and the night was actually not too bad. The hostel is busy because this is the height of the tourist season with alot of teenagers coming to London from all over the world which Erin finds very cool!

We decided to go to the British Museum today. The best part about this museum is that it is free. They have a collection of artifacts from all over the world and most interesting thing for me anyway are the Egyptian mummies. The Rosetta stone was on display too. The Greek section was very interesting too with the highlight there being the Parthenon Marbles which are from the 5th century BC. Of course there is alot of controversy over these and Greece basically want them back but the UK is not budging!! Interesting issue though. There was also the most amazing Samurai Armor in the Japanese section. Of course there were so many amazing things to see and we spent about 5 hours there. We were sooo tired after!

We took the tube back to the Hostel area and since it was not raining we walked around the shops to pass the time and then we ate very very spicy hot food at an Indian Restaurant close by. It actually started raining just as we were walking through the park to the hostel so we ran. Chatted with a very nice elderly British lady who lives in Australia and comes to London every summer to see her son. She has travelled all over the world and has been to Colombo too. The night was actually fairly quiet in our section so we slept well.

Tower Of London

Erin & her Uncle Beefeater!

View of the Tower Complex Courtyard

Tower of London

We had to leave the Hostel at Earls' Court in the am and move to another hostel at Holland Park. It was a short taxi ride over. We found out that this hostel is a "group hostel" which means Erin & I are going to sleeping in a dorm!! Oh well - but we will be moving back to the Earl's Court hostel again on the 13th where we get a private room again. The Youth Hostel is quite an interesting organization and are worldwide. Basically they are pretty bare bones but clean and at least these two are in fabulous locations. The Holland Park one we are at now is in a beautiful park and in the evening the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra palys outdoors next door so we hear the music all evening. We also met some interesting people - there are many adults here as well, not just teenagers. Thye underground stations are close to both so it's very easy to get around.

After we checked our bags Ravi went to work and Erin & I took the tube to the Tower of London. Needless to say it was wonderful. It drizzeled a little but did not bother us. We spent about four hours there and saw almost everything. The Crown Jewels were the highlight and they are amazing. The other amazing thing is the history of the place. The ancient grafitti on the walls written by prisoners is really amazing too. The whole experience was very worthwhile and we learnt alot too.

We headed back to the hostel and basically went to bed in anticipation of tommorrow!

London at Last!!!

Us With The Umbrella We Were Given

Ravi Insisted We Take This Picture at Heathrow!!

We got to London!! The flight was delayed by about one hour because of a runway change and then after we landed, the door to the walkway was not working so we had to wait for steps to be brought to the plane! We had to walk to the terminal in the rain and we've been doing that since! (Of course we did land at the new Heathrow terminal #5 which had all the problems before!) Fortunately the rain is actually some weather system and not the typical London rain. Ravi was there to meet us at the airport and we took the underground to the place we will stay at tonight. We checked in and then went back by the underground to Ravi's place. When we were walking to the station, I commented that we need to buy umbrellas and a nice Englishman gave us an umbrella just like that!! Basically we will settle in today and tommorrow then start doing some serious sightseeing and hopefully the blog will keep going. Tonight we are going to eat at a vegetarian Indian restaurant in Soho that Ravi likes as he is a strict vegetarian.

That's it for now.....we'll keep you updated.

Last Day In Vienna

Wagner Apt.(on left)

Naschmarkt(from internet)

It is our last day here in Vienna - it's hard to believe that we are going to be on our third part of the trip tommorrow - on to London!

We visited the Naschmarkt today and it was impressive as usual. It is an open air market with probably every kind of food you can imagine from traditional Austrian to pretty much any other ethnicity! They have a cheese shop with probably a hundred or more varieties of cheese. We had lunch at a crepe place and I had a crepe with ratatouille (spelling?) which was really good and now I know what that really is! Eel is a delicacy here and Erin had actually wanted to try some when we had gone to the lake but it was not available at the place we ate at. The market did have smoked eel but it was very expensive and they also had live ones swimming around that quickly changed her mind! An added bonus is that you can see some beautiful architechture next to the market area - the most famous being an apartment building designed by Otto Wagner which is just amazing.

Well, we had a wonderful time here in Vienna and got to spend time with Mahen & family. We are hoping they will visit Florida one day! Erin also talked on the phone to George and Joyce, and they sounded like they are having a great time in Florence. They said that by the end of the day they've done so much stuff, and are completely wiped out by the heat that they have no energy left! They are enjoying their time in Florence very much!

It's Erin now!! :) I'm sad that we have to leave today, but I think that our trip here has been awesome. We got to see some pretty awesome stuff, and spend time with family. Maya and Jeremy are soo much fun, and so ridiculously cute. Sometimes when you look at them you just want to give them a great big hug!! I'll miss them tons! Even if they're naughty sometimes :O I have also loved all the time I've got to spend with my Uncle Mahen and Brigitte. I think that this trip has also been very relaxing, I have enjoyed it very much!

Stephansdom in the rain

Stephansdom(pic from internet)

Erin & I took the subway to Stephansplatz which is described as the heart of Vienna. We wanted to see the Stephansdom (huge cathedral) again and walk around the area which is really nice. We also wanted to take a tour of the Catacombs under the Stephansdom. We walked around a little and had lunch but then it started to rain which was unfortunate. We went into a couple of shops but then decided to go back to the cathedral and wait for the tour.

We had toured the catacombs on our last visit 2 years ago, and we were the only people on the tour. The tour guide let us take pictures and explained lots of things to us. This time there were about fifty people on the tour and he spoke mainly German - (we had the same guide!) and picture taking was not allowed! Of course we are here at the peak of the tourist season. The catacombs were as interesting as ever as they contain remains of the royals dating back to the 1600's as well as stacks of bones of the victims of the black plague, modern coffins of Archbishops, etc. Lots of interesting history here and strange things to see. The architechture of the cathedral is amazing as well. We decided to go back home after the tour as it was actually getting cold and we were unprepared as usual with no umbrellas, jackets etc. It was the coldest dreariest day we have had on the vacation so far - hope it's better tommorrow :(

I may not have pictures to post till later - not at all sure what the situation will be in London.....

Day Trip to Rust & Lake Neusiedler

Kids & us on the paddle boat

View of Neuseidler See

Acres of Sunflowers

The weather continues to be very good so we drove to a little town called Rust ("roost") which is by a huge lake - Neusiedler See - in an area called Burgenland. The Austrains go there to enjoy sailing, wind surfing, swimming etc. The drive there took about an hour from Vienna and we saw some of the most beautiful countryside we have ever seen! There were rolling hills with fields of wheat, corn and even vineyards, but the most beautiful were the acres upon acres of Sunflowers. The town of Rust is very picturesque as well. We rented a paddle boat and Brigitte, Erin, the kids and I paddled away while my helpful brother Mahen volunteered to watch our bags with his eyes closed under a shady tree!! Needless to say we were hot and tired from paddling while he was well rested.

Lunch was very good with me eating some kind of local fish which I have no idea what the English name would be. This lake is by the Hungarian border so we had a dessert that was Hungarian - a yummy cake type creation that we all shared - portions are really large here in Austria. We stopped at a roadside stand and bought apricots and then came back home. It was a good day trip to do from Vienna and just seeing the countryside is worth it.

It's hard to imagine but we have only two more days left in Vienna. Erin & I will definitely go to Stephansplatz and the Stephansdom which was our favorite place at our last visit. Hope to do that tommorrow.......

Schönbrunn

Palm House at the Zoo

Gloriette at Schönbrunn Palace

Front of Schönbrunn Palace

We have been having really great weather - it is not that hot at all especially compared to Italy. We decided to go to the Zoo at the Schönbrunn Palace. We had seen the interior of the palace at our last visit 2 years ago, so we decided not to do that again. The zoo was founded in 1752 and is the oldest zoo in the world. We saw some neat animals, nice flowers, had a picnic lunch and then took a train ride around the castle grounds. The palace complex is truly amazing and is the size of Monaco! Also it it amazing to think that this was the only the royals summer residence! This trip took pretty much the whole day and were were tired when we came home. Mahen stayed home and had cooked us dinner so that was nice as he a very good cook!

Stelze at the Prater

Giant Ferris Wheel

View of Vienna from the Ferris Wheel

Stelze!!

Erin & I walked to the nearby mall in the am to check on the photo situation - success! We will be able to publish some later as I can load them on a CD, so the pictures will be added to the blog later. Our main activity will be later at the Prater!

One of Brigitte's friends was having her birthday celebration at a restaurant at the Prater, which is an amusement park with a lot of history behind it like everything else here! We went a bit early and the kids enjoyed the rides etc and all of us went up on the giant Ferris wheel which was built in 1896. The veiws of Vienna are superb from the top. (We did this on our last trip here and enjoyed the experience alot.) The dinner was the most amazing part though! It was at a restaurant called the Schweizerhaus which is famous for a traditional dish called Stelze - a roast leg of pork. It was an open air place with people enjoying large beers, great food, and each others company. The pork is generally accompanied by some sort of potato dish, cabbage or cucumber salad. It was quite the merry feast! There were a couple of tables where the men would raise their beers in the air and start singing! This was a great Austrain experience for us.

An Underground Sea & A Monastery

Courtyard of Monastery

Tunnel in Sea Grotto

We had a change of plans and could not go to Salzburg because Jeremy had an ear infection. Mahen opted to stay at home with him so Brigitte, Maya, Erin & I went to see a place called the Sea Grotto in Hinterbrül which is about an half an hour out of Vienna. It's a vast underground area with water filled tunnels. It was a mine back in the 1920's or so that filled up with water. Prisoners were also kept there during WWII. Unfortunately the guide explained things only in German so that was a little problem! (Brigitte did some translations for us though). We then stopped at a monastery called Stift Heiligenkreuz and had lunch. It was good hearty Austrian food! We also got some wine made by the monks - will have some with dinner. The little bit of the Austrian countryside we saw was beautiful - lots of houses and buildings have beautiful colorful flowers growing in window boxes.

Later on, Mahen took Erin & Maya on a long bike ride along the Danube - Erin on Mahen's Italian racing bike! This seems to be a biking city - the sidewalk is divided into a half for walkers and a half for bikers. I have to constantly try to walk on the right side so as not to get run over!

Day 2 in Vienna

Maya, Erin & Jeremy with Erin's Birthday Cake 0n July 1

Mahen & Erin walking down the path along the Danube River

Taking a break on our long walk

Mahen, Maya, Erin & I went for a long walk along the Danube yesterday evening. Mahen's apt. is pretty much next to the Danube. The weather was great and it is green and beautiful along the river. We walked across the bridge to the other side where there were lots of outdoor restaurants along the river with music etc. There were also huge cruise boats docked all alongside the bank.

We did not do anything major today - we did some grocery shopping this morning and later on in the day we drove to the Ikea store which was huge. They do have the neatest stuff!

We are going to Salzburg tommorrow - it should be a good trip. I'm still not able to do pictures but am working on it. We will make an early start tommorrow so we will eat soon and go to bed!

I've added some pictures now!! (7/4/08)

On to Vienna

I am writing this in Vienna at Mahen's! We got here!

Our last full day in Florence was June 29th. We met up with George & Joyce after their busy day and had dinner. They had visited an old cemetary with their group - they are kept very busy during the day. It was good to meet up with them although we had only three days of overlap. We then had to pack and get ready to leave the next day.

Tom left earlier than Erin & I on the 30th for his flight to the States. Erin & I had our last Italian Cappucino from the corner store, waited for the landlady, turned over the keys to her and then got a taxi to the airport. We flew Brussels airlines to Brussels and then onto Vienna. It was a very good airline and the Brussels airport was beautiful but extremely expensive. We got a mini pizza (from Pizza Hut of all places) and a water which cost 10.40 Euros!!

We landed in Wein at about 8:oopm and Brigitte had come to pick us up with Maya which was great. We got back to their place and settled in. Maya and Jeremy are very cute and were very excited to see us, especially Erin. We ate good home cooked rice & curry and then settled down to sleep!! It is much cooler here in Vienna than Florence. As George says, we have to switch to the German language and culture - quite different from the Italian I have to say.

Today Mahen & Brigitte had got a cake for Erin's birthday (on 1st July) so we had Birthday cake for breakfast - it was very tasty - and set off with Mahen to Mariahilferstrasse which is a large street with lots of shops for a little shopping expedition for Erin for her birthday. She got some nice clothes which actually were reasonably priced due to major sales, even with the sad state of the Dollar! Actually the Euro Cup final was here in Vienna on the 29th and there are still lots of crowds here so the shops have good sales these days. We even saw a very cool McDonalds "player support plane" in the Vienna Airport.

We are going to walk along the river (Danube) later today when it gets a little cooler. This is going to be a great trip, and Vienna is such a great city!!!

Right now we can't put any pictures, we'll work on it and hopefully we will be able to soon, if not we will eMail some seperately :)