After the Hiatus

The wannabe-traveller has actually been travelling! And how: I have been in eight different places in four weeks, and its been a long ride. Some business, some purely pleasure, and one rite of passage. I went to Europe for the first time! After all the years, friends and build-up, there I was, finally in Europe. And like all things that have been built up for so long, it was both superb and disappointing. But more about that later.

I leave you with a classic image of Stockholm, of Riddarholmen, the Knight's island, sorry not Gamlastan.

The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge. I was trying to go for a different angle, but keep it distinctive, anyways.

Another visit to my sister, one in which we did every touristy thing we could: went to the top of the Rockefeller Center, walked the Brooklyn Bridge and went to Times Square. Pictures will definitely follow.

The funny thing is, in all my gazillion visits to New York over the past few years, this was the first time I saw any of these things. And it struck me again just how famous New York is, how much a part of the popular imagination. I prefer San Francisco myself, but I have to admit, New York gave rise to everything that we now know as a cliche.

Synagogue in Kochi (Cochin)

The synagogue in Jewtown in Cochin, Kerala. I believe its the oldest one in India.
They are very strict about the attire of the people who enter, I was dressed okay (in a skirt), but my husband's shorts were deemed too short (!) and we couldn't go in. It's a beautiful exterior though.

Commercial Street, Bangalore

Commercial Street in Bangalore, on a wet rainy day in November.
It always amazes me that people drive there.

Waiting for the Cable Car

One of my favourite things to do in San Francisco is ride the cable cars. Up and down Powell street, to Mason or Hyde. Passengers squealing, wind rushing and the crazy streets of San Francisco everywhere. Here's the Bay Bridge, there's the Bay, you never know what you'll see when the road dips.



But, you have to wait to get on the cable car at Powell street (Or Hyde Street, which is worse, which is why I usually get on at Mason). These girls were dealing with the waiting exactly like my sister I would have-I reading, she watching me read (she may disagree with my reading of events).



Or you can just go ahead and have some fun.

A Lazy Sunday

A special weekend triple: these are some pictures I took while visiting my sister in New York last year. It was Sunday, and warm, and we were lazing by the river, as were these people. The odd thing about New York for me is that it has always been warm when I have visited. It's really strange, because I've been many times, and at many times of the year, including Christmas, but it's always been warm. My sister assures me that it can be cold enough to severely endanger exposed limbs, but to me this is New York-warm, people out and about, always doing something. The guy socializing with his bike, the old couple with their companionable separateness and the young couple with their shared book.

Taken with a Canon digital Rebel XT