A weekend getaway with friends to Bodega Bay

For over 20 years we have wanted to visit Bodega bay. An old friend and colleague Kevin kept raving about this place after spending a weekend there with his wife. The opportunity never came. In early April, our friends called us to join them for a weekend at Windor (same area). They had access to a timeshare. We drove the two plus hours on a rainy Friday evening to Windsor. It was a cute apartment. Even if we did not go anywhere outside and were just chatting it would have still been a great weekend.

The trips to Bodega bay, the local estuary walk, telling them about the bench photo tradition, lunch at a Nepalese place in Sebastapol, visiting Healdsburg, spending time at a bookstore there followed by some delicious ice cream, walking in the rain and drizzle through the streets and art galleries there… all of that was just extra. Every family has a crazy person and a sane person.. you would have come to that conclusion if all our conversations were overheard.

We had fun!

More pics.. The late lunch at Namaste Kitchen was delicious! The ice cream and hot cocoa on a rainy afternoon at Noble folks in Healdsburg was out of the world!

Walking in Sebastopol on Florence avenue to admire the junk art was a great exprience. We met Patrick Amiot and thanked him for his creations!

while walking around the place we saw a very real reminder of current events.

A video highlights reel..

We are all getting to a different phase of our lives with the kids becoming young adults. It is great to feel young again.. only friends can do that with effortless ease!

Here is to many more getaways! The kids are probably rolling their eyes as they read this.. but will take that!

Wrapping up a magical trip with a sunset over Lisbon

The previous post in this series is here..

Our tourguide decided to drive through the Bangladeshi/Indian area of Lisbon before dropping us off in the Baixa square. The place had a ridiculous population density. Our guide told us that folks in this area live through a horror story but no one seems to be able to do anything about it!

We walked back towards our hotel area to the nicest Indian restaurant in Baixa, Swaagat. San made good on her promise. The food was just Amazing as was the ambience! It was not too expensive compared to the other places we tried either. Just fantastic!

After dinner, we decided to walk up the hill to see the sunset. There was a church which was part of the places to see in Lisbon that we missed the previous day. So off we went, walked to the Church, took pictures and found a spot among the crowed to take in the sunset. There is a timelapse video that is embedded within the video at the end of this post..

It was an evening to remember. Walking back (San ran back and as usual was catching up to her) chatting about the place, enjoying the tiled facades of every house on the hillside.. we packed up our stuff and got all set for our return early the following morning.

I have really enjoyed reliving this trip from last July over the entire year in bits and pieces. We covered so many places across Europe, had a fun time together and I got to watch my bride smile and dance and be a kid again after so many years. The whole thing was planned by her. All I had to do was follow and take pictures and videos. Happy wife, happy life! Also I lucked out big time with this girl. Some divine intervention got us together and for that I am forever grateful!

25 years has almost become 26 over the course of writing this blog series. In two weeks it will be yet another wedding anniversary! The last year has been a blur, but after writing this series of posts, I am really looking forward to the next many anniversaries.

A video highlights reel of our last evening in Lisbon to wrap up a fantastic trip!

On another note, the blog can now cover other things outside this trip..

Cascais area of Lisbon

The previous post in this series is here..

Haven’t been able to finish blogging about a trip from July last year because life always throws some distractions. The last three weeks have seen me try to do yoga thrice. That is a new low. Severe allergies which kept me from office twice last week, then a sinus infection, fever, migraines, body pain thanks to some bug, then promptly followed by embarasing nose bleeds while in office.. it has been one thing after another.

Finally a long weekend which is going to be dedicated to recovery, lots of sleep and finish all those blog posts that were long overdue.. given the nose and throat, my sruthi is now enabling me to sing classics like “meow meow poonaikutty” and similar songs… so singing is also ruled out for now.

There were only two things we did after visiting Sintra on that Viator tour on our last day at Lisbon. The last stop on the tour was to Cascais area of Lisbon. We drove down the hill past beautiful beaches. I love beaches but we did not get to even wet our feet in one on this leg. We were in Cascais for lunch stop.

It was already late afternoon and my stomach acid had arrived in style. Badly needed some ginger tea to calm my head. There were visions of butter naans, malai paneers and jeera rice.. but google searches showed zero Indian restaurants in Cascais. San suggested that I just drink some water and wait till the acid subsides. She was going to eat at a Vegan place called House of wonders, which had rave reviews. The menu was all laid out and you got to choose with your eyes! She thoroughly enjoyed the food.. Even though I am allergic to lots of things and didn’t get anything, was very impressed with the visuals of the food and the service. After that we walked by a pizza place and I got to eat a nice full cheese pizza. We were the only customer in the second floor and the pizza was amazing!

Then we decided to walk around the souvenir shops and all three touristy blocks of Cascais and the waterfront. It was very windy and we mostly stayed in the side streets. That is when we found multiple really nice Indian restaurants! San saw the disappointment in my face and agreed to make up for the miss later. We were to meet outside a Mcdonalds before making our way back to the Baixa area on the return ride. So I got an ice cream to cheer myself up. McD’s does not disappoint.

A short video of our time in Cascais..

We were dropped back in Baixa where we were picked up early in the monring. It was our last evening in Lisbon… will finish that in the next post..