Few days of Heaven in Washington

This has been the most special vacation as this is probably the last vacation before we hibernate for the winter. The trip was physically tiring but mentally invigorating. I loved being in the city, though my husband didn't like the noise and the traffic, I on the other hand loved being independent in the city.

We travelled on Sunday and reached Hyatt Regency at Bethesda at 7pm. We had carried dinner, so we went around Bethesda on foot and came back to eat dinner.

I wanted to rest the next day and after a good and heavy breakfast, I went around Bethesda in bus and got to see the town. Bethesda is known for its hi-profile shops and fine dining. I did a lot of window shopping and came back for lunch. We travelled to Washington with my husband's friend and his family. The family had plans to go to the Discovery museum and I went along.

I wasn't sure that I would enjoy it but I liked it. There is a plane which you can sit and move a few parts of.

The discovery space shuttle is amazing too. I knew that it would be big but this was HUGE.

I also saw Amelia Earhart's uniform and other cool stuff that I don't remember. :)

The Bellman at Hyatt, Raul helped me understand the city and the metro. He told me about the one day bus tour and I took it on the second day. I went to Union station and took the bus tour. The bus took me to the memorials

and gave a good commentary about almost everything. I saw the city and went to the NGA. With some help, I saw some works from Pablo Picaso, Da Vinci and other big names that I don't remember sadly :) I also saw some really interesting paintings. I think it was American art that had a part of it almost bright and white and gave a lovely embossed effect to the painting.

I liked the architecture of the city, it reminded me of CST. The tour lasted till evening but took me everywhere. Tired, I reached the hotel at 7pm.

I spent the second day on my own completely but started my day a little late. I went to the National museum of American History and took a one hour tour. The tour showed the highlights of the museum. The star spangled flag banner, the red ruby shoes of Dorothy, Abe's hat, dresses of the first lady and many other interesting things.
One thing that really took me by awe was this dress. The fiancé was saved by the parachute and the mother of the girl sewed the wedding dress out of the parachute.

I wanted to go to the Natural History Museum next and spent a good time there. I liked all the exhibits and enjoyed the butterfly pavilion the most. I also liked looking at the Hope Diamond. I didn't know that it was there. :) I didn't click any pics. I went to the botanical garden after this.

At first, I wasn't sure I made the right choice as it is Fall weather and most of the plants were barren but the Chrysanthemums took my heart.

 

I was super tired but as I went to the conservatory and sat there without my jacket and took in the oxygen. The tropical plants were amazing and sat took my aches away.

I went back early as we had found a group meditation place near our hotel and decided to go there. It was lovely to go there on the day of Diwali.

Thursday was my husband's presentation and I decided to watch and be part of it. After the presentation, we ate some delicious south Indian food and went to the zoo. The best part of the zoo was watching a real deer who came near us as we were waiting for the ride.

Friday was the day to come back. We went to the US capitol and then drove back to home. A lovely and memorable trip.

The essex train ride and the fall colors in CT

Have you ever been to a place where no matter where you point and shoot with the camera, the image is simply perfect and ... stunning? The Essex train ride was one such ride.

When I got up on Sunday, 25th October, I was super excited. My husband was going to take me shopping. It doesn't happen very often and I was soooo looking forward to it. Sure, it isn't as fun as shopping in mumbai but shopping is shopping!!! I had planned the day hour by hour. Not just clothes, we were also to buy things for the house. So, I was excited about it and knew it would bug him to eat out so I also made sandwiches and planned... really planned the day.

Fortunately or Unfortunately, My day didn't go as per plan.
In the morning, as I checked my whatsapp before leaving the house, my friend, Jaya told me that a couple of them were planning to go to a train ride. The Essex steam train ride to see the fall colors. It is a historic train ride with all the bells and whistles. I told my husband while eating our standard sunday breakfast - cheerios and knew that he wouldn't be very keen on it. He wasn't. I wasn't very unhappy either as I had shopping to look forward to. We packed and left. We met friends for the morning group meditation and had planned to eat muffins when Jaya invited us for breakfast. We went along as we had an hour before the heartfulness group meditation at Mystic Yogashala.

I still don't know what happened but somehow my husband said that we can go and push the shopping to later. Everyone got excited but we didn't have tickets. My sandwiches were still uneaten and we ended up having lunch at the magnetic house of Jaya and Ramky where once you enter, it is super difficult to leave. Somehow as fate would have it, one of our other friends, Saranya got tickets arranged and we left for the ride. Somehow we got late and were the last ones to leave.

The train was to leave at 330 pm and our GPS told us that we would reach the place at 330 pm. Frantic calls were made and specific instructions were given for parking. We reached the place at 329. I got a phone call from one of our friends, Phani saying that we shouldn't rush as they are making the train stop for us. I thought that he was kidding but I saw that it was 330 and the train hadn't left. From the window we saw the ladies sitting and telling us not to rush. And as we reached the almost deserted platform, we saw the conductor and two of our friends with him. They showed our tickets, we gave our thanks and at 336 pm we boarded the train and heard "All aboard." Almost red faced as I took my seat, my dear friend Phani said that the trip is more exciting because of all this. It was a relief to hear this and made us feel better.

Here is the kind hearted man who made it possible. I have never had a whole train wait. It still quickens my heartbeat when I think about the start of the trip. I normally don't write so much but I had to share the events to make you feel as if you are with me on the trip

So, the ride is gorgeous to say the least. The colors are prettttty. My phone or my photography might not do justice to the beauty of nature but it was an amazing experience.

 

They really do have the whole experience of a steam train with the bells and whistles. The smoke is so pretty to look at. Also, the train is so cool. They have some old advertisements and as you can see, antique lights. Worth going to once.

Well, here are all of us.

The trip ended beautifully. We still had uneaten sandwiches which we shared and one of our friends didn't eat lunch.

Anyway, we went shopping after this. We completed 3 out of 4 tasks and since we got late, we ate at The Indigo - Indian Bistro which was the cherry on the cake. I personally doubt if the food is fresh but it was delicious.
A very thrilling day that makes me smile and grateful for my life here.

I am not done yet. I have fall colors to show you. People had told me that the fall is the best time to be here. I so AGREE.
These are some pics from around the area where we live.

The roads are so pretty now a days...going places is fun and not very tiring.

The view from our house isn't bad either. I didn't get the chance to click images when the trees were in full bloom and vibrant but they look so pretty none the less.

 

This plant has leaves that look like petals. I love this weather. It makes my walks so much easier.

A day in Newport - 18th Oct 2015

The International Student & scholar Services (ISSS) of UCONN arranged for a trip to Newport. I have been after my husband and our friends for a visit to Newport from a long time. So, when my husband told me about the trip... We went.

Newport is known for the mansions and the cliff walk. Sadly, we didn't plan our trip well to be able to go to the mansions but here is what we did.

The bus left UCONN at 830 pm and we crossed the Newport/Pell Bridge to Newport. We saw the Light house but were so fascinated with the bridge that didn't really click any pics.

Our first stop was at Fort Adams. We tried to get a shot of the bridge in the background.

It was cold!!!I was prepared for snow! The chilly air didn't let us stay out in the open for long. This is a pic of Fort Adams from the bus. :) What I found interesting is that there is grass growing on top of the building. War Aircrafts will find it hard to locate. Smart job!

We quickly left this to continue on the Ocean drive. We crossed the Eisenhower summer home and the summer white house to see the belted cows. Each mansion is simply wow. We kept looking at each passing mansion. I have to mention that even if someone told me that they would give me a mansion for free (my wishful thinking) I would not be able to choose. They are sooooo wow!

The lawns are so nicely cut. Mansions are a sight to see. We crossed the Brenton State Park but didn't see any kites. It was toooo windy. We did see a few birds though :)

We stopped for lunch and then went to the Sea food festival at Bowen's wharf. Non Vegetarians in the group enjoyed it best. We spent some time and then went out exploring. We also saw the ship making yard.

I think it is best to know about a town from its museum. We visited the Brick Market: Museum & Shop on Thames Street. It isn't a very big museum but did give us a small peek into the first people who came to Newport and the kind of furniture, wagons, printing press of that time. Since this was a sunday the NMAI was closed. So we made the most of this open museum.

This tile work is right outside the museum. Pretty interesting!

After the Museum, we walked on Thames Street. Although it was unseasonably cold, we saw all the nice big shops and their merchandise.

We took rest at the visitor's centre before going to the cliff walk.

The cliff walk is one of the 50 things to do in life. The view is stunning, sadly my photography isn't.

 

On the left is the beach with unimaginably white sand. Then there is the majestic Atlantic ocean and on our right were the beautiful mansions. 

But honestly, we walked till the 40 Steps and nothing changed. We got bored ;) and I was tired. We decided to head back for some coffee.

Love is the same everywhere. Like in India, we saw many locks tied on the safety rail on the way. Symbols of LOVE!

Cliff walk was our last event of the day, We walked back to the visitor's centre. We had already seen the Thames St and parts of the Bellevue Avenue, we took the Spring St. There are many many pretty houses on the way. I love a house covered with green, just like this.

The small houses had some really neat architecture. We ended our trip with some time on the Bowen's wharf. The seafood festivities were almost over. We took in the sunset.

We didn't wait there too long. As soon as we finished our coffee, we headed back to the bus. It was almost time to head back home.

A nice trip. Next time, we take our car and the pass to see the 5 mansions. We have to see the breakers and the Elms.

Niagara on the labor day weekend.

The best trip of my time spent in USA so far... Niagara Falls!!!

We decided to start at 5 am on Saturday, 5th Sept. As IST always works, we started our day at 830 am. Anyway, fresh and eager, we started and headed towards NIAGARA.

We luxuriously made a very very comfortable trip with many stopovers. We made it to the falls in the evening. We checked in at Holiday Inn and after freshening up, headed to our dream destination.

In the car, after crossing the bridge, we saw a white cloud in the distant. Within a few seconds, we guessed that it could be the falls. The men told us that they are the falls. WOW!

And as they say, the mist is the first thing you notice about the falls. We are glad that we did.

Parking is a pain! really! Lesson learned. Start early.

We saw the Niagara movie. We took the Discovery pass and Niagara Adventure Theater was our first stop. It was mostly TP. the funny part was the case of the widow who goes in the barrel with a black cat and comes back with a white one.
My husband says that it was a technical error, I personally feel that the cat got scared. :P

After this, we spent some time at the falls. the illuminated lights were soooo pretty. I like looking at the lights in the night and this was awesome. As we looked at the Niagara falls, we made our plans and hopes for the next day.

We also got to see some part of beautiful and pretty Canada.

 

We ate a very very big pizza. I love Pizza and this big pizza took care of the tiredness for the day.

We did our regular meditation for sunday and started our day. One of the benefits of traveling with like minded people. This was such a comfortable trip specially because of Ramky and Jaya. We couldn't have gone without them.

We decided to start our day with the Maid of the Mist. This is the famous Rainbow bridge that connects USA and Canada.

This is all of us. So happy and pleased to see the beautiful rainbow and ... just blessed to have the opportunity to be able to visit. I have a smile on my face as I am writing all this. It was a wonderful experience.

With my dear hubby and the rainbow. My hair is as independent as it always is.

and here we are with the rainbow bridge. Next stop - Maid of the mist.

All geared up and ready for the ride!

An interesting this about the maid of the mist is that the American side and the Canadian side work in harmony. It was fun to be on the American boat and wave at the Canadian boat and have them wave back at us. Such silly and innocent pleasures!

 

Here, all of us, enjoying the mist. You can see the Falls right behind us. What joy! We hadn't experienced the Cave of the winds yet so this was awesome!

I spent a lot of time holding my hubby's hand and absorbing the experience of it all.

After everyone got out, we finally got a chance to be at the side of the boat and get a decent pic. :)

I love the spunk their daughter Pranita has. She made the trip enjoyable for all of us.

We went to the observation deck and got a chance to click a pic of the American and the Canadian Horse shoe falls. Same place where we had gone the previous night.

We got tired :( and spent some time on the rocking chair. Lunch was delicious Indian food. It is amazing to know the diversity in the options of food this place has to offer.

Our next stop was the Aquarium of Niagara. My best friend from India moved to NYC few days after we moved to CT. I have met her at our meditation gatherings in NJ but meeting her and her whole family at the Falls was a delight. We didn't get much chance to talk but it was an awesome feeling to find the needle in the haystack.

The aquarium was another delight. Especially the Sea Lions! We had so much fun watching them. We spent a lot of time watching them with each other. They are so playful and fun.

Goofing around at the Aquarium.

We went to the Niagara Gorge Discovery Center. It was interesting to read about the different kinds of rocks and all. But honestly, we got bored.:( We then went to the cave of the winds. The last thing on the cards. Sadly, we had to wait for almost 2 hours in the line. We made the boys wait in the line and we girls sat chatting away while eating fries. What would life be without men ;)

Maybe it was the 2 hour wait or the fact that this was our last activity, this was the best part of the falls. If we would have known better, we would have gone here in the morning and then the maid of the mist.

The place that we are standing is where we could see the water coming right to us. There were few people there and as they moved, I went there. It was such a weird feeling. My brain was telling me that there is a railing and I will not fall off but seeing the water just gushing towards me was scary. It was such a weird feeling. We threw the water at each other and also tasted it. Pure joy! This place is the best part of the falls for me. I will never forget this experience in my life.

Our final wave to the Falls. We ended our day and our trip.

We got up luxuriously late the next day. Had some continental breakfast and left for home. Mid way, we stopped at the Corning Museum of Glass.

We were so tired and the museum has soooo much to offer. We couldn't do justice to everything. We attended all the workshops and saw many types of glass making. It was a good practical entertaining experience. Pranita enjoyed the most.

This was the trip. Exhausting but super fun! Worth going there once in life. I hope we can go to the Canadian side next time :D