Summer Vacation Part 2 - Paris

My plan for Paris was to see as much as possible in 5 days. I think I was pretty successful in terms of museums, monuments, and such, but unfortunately that exhausted me so much that I didn't get to see much of Parisian nightlife. Although I was there by myself so that may have been a bit awkward anyway.

I also took the Eurostar train through the Chunnel, which was really cool, and it allowed me to see some of the British and French countryside as well. Northern France is really quite beautiful. While in London, I bought a 2-day museum/monument pass, and I had a lot of recommendations from Christi, Marjorie and Justin, and Doug, so I spent my time on the train planning my trip. And the stamp on my passport has a cute little train on it :-)

Overall, I like Paris a lot as a tourist place. I wouldn't say I'm a complete Francophile at this point; I can't see myself living in Paris the way I can see myself in London, but it was certainly a wonderful place to visit, and I think that next time I'd like to see more of the country and not stay in Paris as much. But with only 5 days I couldn't wander too far, so Paris it was for this trip.

The first day was really bad weather, I started to think that I brought the rain with me from London. My plan for the first afternoon, Monday, was a walk along the Champs Elysees, but that was pretty much ruined by the rain. Combined with the fact that I had to walk through the sand and grass because they set up the seats for the last leg of the Tour de France about a week in advance, I was pretty gross by the time I gave up and looked for an indoor tourist attraction. I settled on the Opera Garnier, the Paris Opera House. Two minutes in that place and all my discomfort from the rain had melted away. It was absolutely gorgeous and I got there just in time for an English tour. I could write a whole blog post just about what I learned there, but the coolest thing, and the overall theme, was that the architect (Garnier) won the contest to design the opera house because he embraced the opera as an important social gathering for Paris's high society of the time. So everything is ornate and looks really rich because it was a place for the wealthy to gather.




Garnier's favorite spot in the opera house, where he could see the most of his design

One disappointing thing: no phantom. Apparently the guy that wrote the Phantom of the Opera made up most of the stuff about fires and murders and subterranean lakes. Sad.












The second day was the first of my museum/monument pass, and I started with the Musee d'Orsay, the impressionist museum. The architecture and sculpture there was really interesting, and the collections by Monet, Van Gogh, Pissaro, and all the impressionists are so extensive that it was like a new famous painting was in front of me every time I turned around. I am admittedly not very knowledgeable about art, but the Orsay had more originals of paintings that I recognized than any other museum I've ever been to. My favorites were Monet (cliche, I know, but there's a reason he's so famous!), Sisley, and Pissarro.

my new favorite Monet painting

And, they let you take pictures as long as you don't use the flash! After I left the museum, I got a delicious croque madame from a cafe (mmmm, ham and cheese).













Next I went to the Pantheon, which took quite a bit of time since I exited the very wrong direction out of the metro stop and wandered the streets before finally finding it. Wandering was nice at first, but after awhile I was getting frustrated that I couldn't find a gigantic building with a huge dome built on a hill in an otherwise ordinary Parisian neighborhood. (This was to become a theme in Paris: the metro always lets you out really close to where you want to be, but somehow just out of sight of the huge monument/building that is your destination). Anyway, once I got the Pantheon it was really cool. I went downstairs into the crypt first, and saw the graves of Voltaire, Rousseau, Marie and Pierre Curie, and many other famous minds. When I was little I had a book about Marie Curie - it was one of my favorites in a series of biographies for children - so it was pretty cool to see that. After that I climbed to the top of the dome for a great panoramic view of the city. While I was up there I realized how close Notre Dame was, so I headed there next.


Notre Dame was beautiful inside and out, but there were so many tourists there that it was hard for me to think of it as really spiritual place. I did get the audio guide, so I was able to learn about the cathedral and the history of the church in Paris. I wanted to go to the top and see the bell tower and the view from there, but the line closed just as I got there. I still had a bunch of daylight left, so I walked over to the Place des Vosges, which was very pretty, and I saw the home of Victor Hugo there, but didn't actually go into the museum (gotta save some stuff for the next trip!)












One of the French sculpture squares in the Louvre.


The third day I went to the Louvre. I was intending to spend quite some time there, but I didn't expect it to be as overwhelming as it was. They have art collections and sculpture from every era of history and cultural exhibits on other parts of the world. There were also a couple thousand people there, I think. I had to elbow my way toward the Mona Lisa, which was pretty cool to see but I'm not sure it was worth the crushed toes. My favorites were the squares with French sculpture, the Napoleon Apartments, and the Venus de Milo. And, it was great to see that the Louvre is now offering a "DaVinci Code audioguide tour of the museum." Nice that no one is immune to that bandwagon. After seeing a lot of art and sculpture and the Islamic arts exhibit, I decided I had to get outside for a bit, and by that time I had been in the museum for almost four hours. The Louvre is at one end of the Champs Elysees, and it was a beautiful day, so I decided to walk all the way up to the Arc de Triomphe.
I climbed to the top of the Arc, since it was free with my 2-day museum pass. There were some great views, especially back down the Champs Elysees, from up there.





















From there I tried to go to the Eiffel Tower, but the line was about 2 hours long and the top deck wasn't even open, so I went to the Centre Pompidou instead. The modern art museum there is absolutely awesome. The architects built the building with the pipes on the outside, color coded for water, air, and electricity. Inside they have some installation art, some theatres for live and film productions, and more classic sculpture and painting. On the top floor they have a chronology of the world's most famous modern artists, including a bunch by Picasso, the Delaunays, and my favorite - the Matisse room (below). The whole place just has a very unique aura about it. My feet were absolutely killing me by the time I made it through the museum, and it closed pretty late anyway, so I went back to the hotel after that.










The fourth day I went to Versailles all day. It actually is a pretty short train ride from downtown Paris. I went to the Chateau first, and saw the apartments of the Kings, Queens, and Princesses. They also had a beautiful chapel, since the French kings at that time believed in Divine Right to rule, and wanted to thank God every day for their power. Oh the things that money buys - besides the gigantic building itself, there were paintings commissioned from the most famous artists of the day, stained glass windows, furniture, and the beautiful hall of mirrors. I also spent a long time walking through the gardens, appreciating the naturally-occurring green :-) I actually just sat in the grass for awhile and just breathed, it was awesome. I also saw Marie Antionette's estate, which is on the ground of Versailles but a bit separate. The "summer palace" was there, along with her peasant village. Basically, she saw a painting that depicted life in a peasant village, and she thought that the painting was cute and made peasant life look charming. So she had them build a little village for her to use. (I'm not sure if she caught the irony of telling a bunch of poor people to build her a village because she thought it was cute, but whatever...) I stayed in Versailles pretty late and then still had to take the train back, so I didn't do any Paris touristy stuff that day but it was totally worth it.


Marie's peasant village











um, I don't think this picture really needs a caption












On the very last day I finally made it to the Eiffel Tower, after a week of seeing it everywhere I finally took the elevator up! There's not much to it, its mostly just a big tower, but the views are amazing (and how could I go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower??). Afterwards I went to Montmartre, a neighborhood built on the highest hill in Paris which also serves as the artsy area of town and the red light district. Many of the impressionist painters that I saw at the Orsay were inspired by scenes in Montmartre, so it was very cool to then go there. I also saw the Moulin Rouge. I had been hoping to go inside but didn't realize that it was still a working theatre, so I checked out the chronology that they had outside, which was pretty well done and quite informative, actually. Then I went to Sacre Cour, which ended up being one of my favorite things in Paris. Its a Catholic church built on the highest point in Paris, and I happened to walk in just as mass was starting. If I could go to church here, I would go every day. It was so peaceful and welcoming, even though there were tourists all over and the mass was in French. This time that I spent in Montmartre was really the only time that I really felt like I could live in Paris. It was very comfortable, in a way.

A street carousel in Montmartre, with Sacre Cour in the background.











My last stop in France was the Pere Lachaise cemetery, where I saw the graves of Chopin, Oscar Wilde, and (the primary reason for the visit) Jim Morrison. I don't know how Chopin, Wilde, and all of the other famous people buried there would feel about the fact that Morrison's grave is the busiest one in the entire cemetery. Mostly people wearing Doors shirts. I took pictures for my Dad :-) Wilde's grave attracts a crowd, too, but its entirely different kind of "cool" crowd. Wilde admirers kiss his grave while wearing lipstick to show their appreciation of his work. There's a sign that says "please do not graffiti the graves" but somehow I think that Wilde would be ok with the kisses.

After that my five short days in Paris were over and it was time to head back to London, then the next day back to Qatar. And that's the story of my summer vacation. I wish I could have blogged it sooner, but in a way it was kind of nice to be able to go back a couple of weeks later and think about it again. Life gets so hectic sometimes that its good to be able to take a couple of minutes to remember stress-free holidays :-)

Summer Vacation Part 1 - London

After a lot of debate on where to go for my summer vacation, I finally decided that spending five days in London and five in Paris sounded like a pretty solid idea. Its really too hot to travel in the region, and I wanted to see Bryan before he moved out of London, and I had never been to Paris before... so that was what I decided.

London was awesome once I got there. Travel out of Doha was an adventure which shall be documented in a separate entry at some point in the near future.

When I finally got to downtown London, my high school friend Bryan came to meet me at the station and take me to his home! It is in central London, super-convenient location, and such a great apartment. We (Bryan, Manuel, and myself) immediately went off to meet their friends at an outdoor reggae concert by Tower Bridge. We danced and enjoyed the weather and it was so much fun. The sun isn't setting until about 10pm in London these days, so after waking up at 4:00am in Doha, flying all day, and then being in London during the middle of summer, my body had been awake for about 20 hours and the sun had been up the whole time. It was very confused and sleepy, but I pulled it together enough to have a couple drinks with their friends at an outdoor cafe, then we went home and crashed.














My plan for London had been to just hang out, since I had been there and done most of the touristy stuff before. Bryan was working my first full day there, so I decided just to walk around the Knightsbridge area and go to Harrods. I also went to Harvey Nichols, just 'cause I like people-watching in fancy stores. The one thing I said I wanted in London: rain. I hadn't seen any since December! Oh well I got it. That first morning, London got more rain in one hour than it does in an average month, and that's a lot of rain for that city! There was so much that it flooded out some bus lines and tube stations, and yours truly was caught in the deluge. Lesson learned: be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.






Bryan and Manuel's back porch in the rainstorm.











I did make it to Harrods, bought some tea and went to the bookstore. In the main staircase they had a woman singing opera live, and I thought that this was pretty cool, since your average person is much more likely to go to Harrods than to the opera on their London vacation. I walked around Knightsbridge some more and looked at all the pretty window displays, then headed back to Bryan's flat. He wasn't home yet, so I took a walk around Battersea Park, which is right next to his place and overlooks the Thames.



The view from Battersea Park










That night we went out with two of Bryan and Manuel's friends from the arts festival in Zimbabwe - two Welsh lighting designers who were quite entertaining. After drinks we got some food at this place called Wagamama which was pretty delicious, then we went to Waterstone's Bookstore at Piccadilly Circus to look at all the people in line for the Harry Potter release at midnight. Oh lord it was crazy. The line went all the way to the Ritz hotel, almost a kilometer I'd say. And there were news crews and other madness.














The next day was Saturday, and I walked around St. James Park and the surrounding neighborhoods (still in the rain) and took these very touristy pictures:

































I then met up with Bryan and Manuel for some coffee and grocery shopping to stock up for their drinks party that evening. They have very nice and very entertaining friends. The party went pretty late but I think a good time was had by all.

The next day I woke up and went to the National Gallery, and Trafalgar Square, where there was a steel drum band competition going on and it had finally stopped raining! Then I met up with Bryan and Manuel to go to the Tate Modern for the Dali exhibit that included his paintings, movies, and sculptures (in general I try not to say this about artists, but wow, he was a strange guy...). There was also an exhibit on urbanization and cities of the world that Bryan wanted to see that turned out to be really cool. After the museum we went to get dinner and then we just hung out for the rest of the evening. I woke up very early the next morning to catch my train to Paris!

Overall the best thing about London was being with Bryan and Manuel. I did do some touristy things, but for the most part it was a chance for me to see what its like to actually live there. Aside from the astronomical price of everything, I think I would love living there. Its really a great city, with lots to do and lots of people to meet, fun random events... and even though I complained about it by the end of this trip, I really do love the rain.

Stay tuned for Part 2 - Paris. It will have more pretty pictures :-)

"Caryl's Kennel" continues

Don't worry, Marjorie and Justin. Tribble the cat is in good (and increasingly qualified) hands while you're in Gabon.

In other news, I finally planned a vacation! Which means if I had a pet, I would need someone else to take care of it. Well, I suppose I will need to find someone who can feed Mr. Fish. Any of the people I've been pet-sitting for want to step up?? :-)

In case you're wondering, my vacation is to London for a weekend, and then Paris for the week. Yay!

Pittsburgh trip!

I know, I know, I seriously suck at this "updating blog in a timely manner" thing. Work has been busy since I got back and although I have work to do right now, I've chosen, um, not to do it. Blog post instead. Also, in my defense, I've been writing this post for about 3 weeks now, for about 5 minutes at a time.

In a way the blog post is kind of like work, since its about the trip I took to Pittsburgh with the students! Yes, lots of work, but in a fun way. And I got to see some of my favorite-est people in the world. Chronologically is the easiest way to do this post, I'm thinking.

We left Doha, flew through Amsterdam and Detroit and finally to Pittsburgh. Note: 1.5 hour layovers are not enough time to get eight Middle Eastern students through EU security and U.S. immigration. Thankfully we did actually make it to Pittsburgh, with two bags still in Amsterdam, and two bags still in Detroit. Upon registering all lost baggage, we finally left the airport, made a stop at Target for the half of our students that were missing all of their luggage, and went to the hotel (approximately 28 hours after leaving Doha). Forty five minutes later, most of us were back on the bus headed for one of my favorite events of the CMU year - Greek Sing! Too bad the students were too exhausted to enjoy it. I did though!

After returning the students to the hotel, I got a chance to see Paloma and Justin, Allie and Ben, Josh, Lacey, Little, Jack, Eugene, and BHirsch - all at good ol' PHI. Mmmmm, my first Yuengling in 8 months was soooo good.

On Sunday we took the students (all Muslim) to the Southern Baptist church in East Liberty. I had so much fun - singing and dancing makes church way better - and the students LOVED it. I thought they would like it, but I had no idea it would be such a hit. It helped that the preacher was an awesome speaker with a universal message, and that they got a standing ovation when our presence was announced. After church we had Sunday brunch at the Grand Concourse where I ate lots of bacon and pork roast (yay!) and so did some of the students (oops! - but its ok, its not haram if you didn't know it was pork).

After that I left the students for their tour of the city and met up with my dad, brother, and stepmom. We went to the Science Center, since none of us had ever been, and then got dinner at Monterey Bay, where (as expected) restaurant turnover has claimed all but two of the people that I worked with. Unfortunately I felt really ill and exhausted, but my family had to get back on the road home anyway, so they just took me back to the hotel.

One of the students' photos from their trip up the incline :-)











On Monday, the students took a tour of campus and participated in a leadership workshop while Jumana and I did work for our jobs in Qatar. I took a break to stop by Tridelt and get some truck food for lunch. Then we all went shopping in Shadyside, where I bought a bunch of stuff in about a half hour, then sat at the coffee shop with the boys, waiting for the other girls to finish exploring.

On Tuesday, we started the first of three days of community service in Carnegie, PA, which was devastated by the flooding in Allegheny County in 2004. My memory of this flood is being at a Pitt-Nebraska game, in the stands behind the endzone, and seeing an entire marina float by the stadium and get stuck near the fountain at the Point (all of which was underwater). Somehow it escaped the CMU community that entire towns in the suburbs were completely destroyed - Carnegie was one of those towns. We first took a tour of the area that had been flooded, which included most of the businesses on Main Street, and met the group of Seventh Day Adventist volunteers that we worked with for the week.

Main Street in Carnegie, which was underwater during the flooding in 2004











At that point I left to go back to campus to give a presentation to people who are interested in doing my job in Qatar in the future. It was fun showing pictures and answering questions. While I was gone, the students put together a business plan for an internet cafe that the non-profit group will use to generate revenue for their community projects.

Wednesday was hard labor day! We cleaned out a basement of flood silt, then painted the room with waterproof paint to protect it in case of future flooding. At lunch, we also were able to meet the Turkish man who owns the business, which was enough to give the students the energy to keep working.

Mehrunissa uses her newfound skills with a hammer to attack some stubborn nails in the basement

















Oh that's right, the chaperone did her part!











Even though I was exhausted that night, I managed to make it out to half price at La Fiesta with Paloma and Justin, Little, and GA.

On Thursday we also did hard labor, at the Carnegie Carnegie. That would be the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie, PA. The library is actually the reason that the town got its name. We cleaned out the storage room in the music hall, and repaired the 100 year old seats. We also reorganized the children's section of the library. For me, it was like my entire childhood was in this 10 square foot area - they had the Berenstein Bears, Babysitters Club, Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, Boxcar Children - everything I used to read when I was little. And just being in a Carnegie Library is enough to make me nostalgic, of course.


Maha and Nasreen figure out what nuts and bolts are, then repair the loose and missing ones in the Carnegie Carnegie Music Hall.














After the work, we had a reception at the library with people from Carnegie, including the people who had organized all of the community service. The rabbi from the synagogue in Carnegie was there also, and even gave one of our students a yamika, which the student now keeps in his dorm room on campus. Later that night we also went to a performance called campus superstar, which gave a scholarship to the winner and raised money for Hillel. Although it was the end of the trip and the students were exhausted (I've used that word a lot in this post), I think they really enjoyed it. They clapped a lot when the CMU person won :-)

group shot (with Renee and Jim) from the last day











The trip home was uneventful. Some of the students wanted to leave the airport and go into the city of Amsterdam, but thankfully we only had a three hour layover so they couldn't. The last thing I needed was to bring a group of students back to Doha after letting them loose in Amsterdam for a couple of hours. One more piece of lost luggage to deal with, and then thankfully Ramzi was at the airport to pick up his brothers, so I didn't have to spend time, money, and effort getting a cab back home. I finally made it back to my apartment around 11:30pm on Saturday night. And I was at work around 9:30 the next morning. Ick.

Being in Pittsburgh did make me nostalgic, it was great to see my family and friends, and the trip to the CVS and hairdresser were key. I think that my favorite part was watching the students see these things for the first time, because I really wanted them to like my hometown. But I really did realize when I got back to Doha that I was happy to be home then. No hotel, no knowing that I had to be back on a plane in a week. Just back to my job and my compound and the routine of my life here. With the regular nonstop flights to D.C. and New York starting soon, it will be a lot easier to visit the U.S., and that makes me happy, but for now I think I'll stick to travel that doesn't require flying over an ocean.

Important Travel Information

For those of you in Qatar:
They are tearing up D-Ring way faster than they are putting it back down. From Landmark to Salwa flyover, you can't use any of it, and then one lane is closed from the flyover to the Roundabout with the light. Allow an extra 15 minutes for all trips in the general area of D-ring. Which is most of Doha.

For those of you not in Qatar:
Qatar Airways is starting non-stop flights (daily) to Washington Dulles this summer, and Newark (4 flights/week) on June 28th. Book now! But don't actually come in the summer - wait til the weather is nice, like November.

Airbus A380

As I was watching EuroNews this morning, a story came on about the launch of the Airbus A380. Apparently all of the airlines that have ordered one got their logo painted on the side of the new plane, and sure enough, there was Qatar Airways, home of my not-so-many but ever-increasing frequent flyer miles. Apparently QA is planning on nearly tripling the size of their fleet, which currently has 54 planes and orders for 94 more (including two A380s). They are also starting non-stop flights this summer to Newark and Washington Dulles. This is good news for a travel-holic such as myself.

Dubai

So I just got back from a weekend in Dubai. Very interesting city. A little overhyped, I think, but the group that I went with - CMUQ faculty and staff - was pretty cool. (I know I still owe a vacation post about Hong Kong, but its taking me much longer!)

We covered most of the Dubai basics in the three days we were there - the first day we took a boat ride on the river that cuts the city in half, and then we wandered around the souq (market) area for awhile before eventually going to Jumeirah, a famous beach and shopping area. We hung out on the beach until sunset and then went back to the hotel and crashed.
from the boat cruise, the Dubai business district and the old-style fishing dhows - a pretty common sight all over the Gulf, actually.












the gold souqs :-) the middle necklace can be yours for the low low price of $12,000USD











On Friday, we went back to the public beach at Jumeirah, where we relaxed in the sun and I didn't get sunburned! That afternoon we went to Wild Wadi ("wadi" is Arabic for "seasonal riverbed"), a waterpark that has a decent number of slides and a wave pool. We had a good time running around the park, and floating on the lazy river. It's also in the shadow of the Burj al-Arab hotel, probably the most luxury hotel in the world, which definitely provides a nice background to the lazy river.
The Jumeirah mosque













Andrew and Ryan have a "how much sand can you hold in your hands" contest












On Saturday before our plane left, we went to the Mall of the Emirates - most ridiculous shopping experience I've ever seen. Super expensive stores, moderately priced shops, world famous brand names and locally famous Arabic designers. Multiple food courts, a toy store with gigantic stuffed mammoths and camels, a huge arcade area, and to top it all off - an indoor ski slope. Yeah. Crazy. Tim and I even rode an indoor rollercoaster simulator in the arcade at the mall!
The interior of the mall of the Emirates.




















The stuffed mammoths















Ski Dubai, the indoor ski slope in the Middle East













Obviously I had to go to Dubai, because I'm so close. Now that I've seen it, I could definitely go back on a weekend when I want to just get out of Doha and relax. Go to the beach, maybe back to Wild Wadi... if I ever make a huge amount of money, then the Mall of the Emirates. Doha could definitely learn something in the way of highway construction and quality English language bookstores. But in the end it was pretty much more of the same. The common complaints about Doha were only compounded in Dubai - traffic is awful, the "money can buy happiness" mentality, and the lack of real cultural opportunities such as quality theatre. I'd rather live in Doha and visit Dubai. But for a relaxing mini-vacation, really it has everything you could ask for. I did hear a rumor that you could get real bacon there, too, but didn't manage to get my hands on any...

Travel Plans!

December is coming up, the students are gone, most of the faculty and staff are leaving, and I have to work for most of the month. But no worries, I've found myself some vacation days and some places to go!






December 7th-10th I'll be taking a short trip to Oman. Its on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula and apparently is very green and mountainous (the opposite of Qatar). Its just a long weekend but it will be nice to get away, especially because the Asian Games are making the city CRAZY!



I also finally finalized my plans for my trip to Hong Kong to see Chev! I'll be there from December 27th-January 3rd, and I'm gonna sightsee while Chev is at work, and then we're gonna go out for New Year's, and I hear that Chinese New Year is really cool. I'm so excited to see Chev and to finally get to see Hong Kong since I've been wanting to for a few years now.

The Taj Mahal

My first view of the Taj














An absolutely gorgeous building. It was built by Shah Jahan, the third Mughal (Persian) emperor of India as a monument to his beloved wife, who died giving birth to their 14th child. It was her tomb, and he was intending to build an identical building in black accross the river, as his tomb, so that his soul could eternally see hers. Unfortunately his son was quite power-hungry, and imprisoned Shah Jahan in Agra Fort. Even the son knew how important the Taj was to his father, though, and imprisoned him for many years in a small room in the fort from which Shah Jahan could see his wife's monument. After his death, one of his daughters took his body to the Taj and buried him next to his wife. Their tombs are the only part of the building that is not completely symmetrical. He even built a mosque on the west side of the Taj, and put a completely empty building on the east side to preserve the symmetry. Ah, the crazy things you can do with enough money.

The mosque at the Taj

The carved walls of the Taj

The view east from the steps of the Taj at sunrise

Ranthambore Wildlife Park, Rajastan

Ranthambore is about a 5 hour drive from Jaipur. When we arrived we had lunch at the hotel and went on our first of two wildlife safaris! The big attraction is supposed to be tigers, but we didn't get to see any of those. We did get to see a lot of monkeys and deer though, and a crocodile, and the park itself is absolutely beautiful. The next safari was the next morning at sunrise. Ranthambore was actually my favorite overall place of the trip, for the following reasons:

The mountains and fresh air were awesome, especially after living in a desert. It was so nice to be outside in real autumn weather, and to see real trees!











The little town by the park is not very touristy, and our guide was so cool. He went out of his way to show us a Hindu temple in town, and then took us shopping at a place where actual Indian women would buy the fabric for their clothes. We could tell it was local because the owners didn't even speak enough English to bargain their prices, so the guide helped us bargain in Hindi. Then he took us to a pretty cheap souvenier store that donated a portion of its profits to a children's charity. He also answered every question we had about Hinduism and Indian culture.

women on their way to the temple

Our hotel was awesome. It was an old hunting lodge from British colonial days, and if you've ever seen a movie about the British in India, this is exactly what the hotel looked like. There were little tables with umbrellas next to cricket and croquet fields, big porches on the main building, and a hammock that I laid in and read every free moment I had. It was so peaceful and relaxing, which is totally what we needed in the midst of all the chaos that I mentioned before.











Monkeys are cute!