Paris, France!

Paris: Yes, its that good!

Arriving at Charles De Gaulle Airport we were delighted to find there was no visa fee required to enter France. This not only saved us some cash but covered our asses. In all the planning for our surprise trip home, we forgot to check the process/requirements for entering the country which could have lead to real problems. Nevertheless, western civilization had the last laugh at our expense when the cab ride from the airport to our hotel cost a staggering 70 euros (approximately $100 USD).
We had been up for roughly twenty hours by the time we pulled up in front of the hotel. Exhausted and hungry we threw our packs off in the room and headed to the corner cafe for dinner. The weather was warm and pleasant as we hobbled down the cobblestone streets. The feeling of being on a Hollywood movie set came to mind. Everything you think Paris would be like, it is and so much more. The cafe was charming and inviting with cozy intimate seating. We ordered a bottle of red wine, a pasta dish and a gourmet sandwich which was delicious and completely eaten within ten minutes. After finishing the bottle, we were off to bed, sleep was needed.
Refreshed we woke up early to take full advantage of the short three day visit to this magnificent city. First stop, just like the French, was to the local patisserie shop to indulge in buttery, chocolatey sweet delicacies. On a sugar high we walked to the Eiffel Tower from our hotel and down the Champ de Mars then continued along the Seine River. The city was amazingly detailed with sculptures and many other architectural beauties. The bridges were adorned with carved stone and the huge water fountains were fit for Zeus. Decadence is the best way to describe it. Decadent and beautiful!
Avenue Des Champs Elysees showcases the fabulous Paris shopping district. A three story Louis Vitton store anchors the corner lot not to be out done by the svelte Abercrombie & Fitch models who are paid to be stunningly good looking and open the door for customers. High fashion is everywhere with the seductive scent of perfume floating in the air. These people make living life in high fashion look damn good. Everyone strutted as if they were the next top fashion model.
At the end of the Avenue stands the Arc de Triomphe. The Arc de Triomphe honors those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I. It was easy to see why it was named one of the most visited monument in Paris.
If, or better yet, when, we return to Paris more time will be spent at the Louvre Museum. It is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. We walked our legs off for 5 hours in the Louvre and maybe saw a tenth of the displays. Five days is a more appropriate amount of time to truly appreciate every masterpiece individually, but with time lacking we focused on the key attractions first. These included the Winged Victory of Samothrace, the Venus de Milo and the Mona Lisa. That's right, I stood face to face and looked Mona Lisa herself in the eye. Pretty freaking awesome!
We also spent 3 hours visiting the Musee D'orsay, the famed art, painting, and sculpture museum where you can take in the works of Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir, Cezanne, Degas, Gauguin...if you make it to Paris, do not skip this place, it's less crowded and you can get closer and feel less intruded in viewing the paintings you've always heard about. Amazing!
Last but not least on the sightseeing walk is Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Paris located on the Seine river. It is a cathedral of the Catholic Archdiocese of Paris: that is, it is the church that contains the cathedral (official chair) of the Archbishop of Paris, currently André Vingt-Trois. We weren't able to go inside but the outside at sunset was breathtaking.
Outside of being incredibly expensive, Paris was amazing and is a must see city, we look forward to going back with friends and experiencing even more. It was incredibly easy to walk, beautiful, amazing food, and history at your fingertips daily. It was odd to check off all these "bucket list" places to see and visit in a short 2 days of walking Paris, but it is just filled with so much history and is well a planned and picturesque city.
That night we had our farewell dinner to Paris AND to the end of our eleven month journey abroad. The next day we'd be on a plane back to the States (Paris to Dublin, Dublin to Chicago, Chicago to Louisville) It was time, we were gassed out and ready to surprise family and see friends again. Not to mention a long long hot shower and fluffy pillows and crispy clean sheets :)

Jaipur, India

The "Not So Pink" Pink City of Jaipur

Train stations are intriguing places. One minute you're scrambling because you have not idea which way to go, can't read the signs and dare take the advise of the wrong local. Next, you're kicked back smoking beedies with the security guards who were carrying assault rifles, too fun! They were nice and chatted us up for more than our five-- fifteen minute delays at Agra Fort. Once aboard the train almost 2 hours late, we headed West down the tracks in pursuit of Jaipur or better know as the "pink city."

In 1876 the old city was painted pink, a color associated with hospitality to welcome the Prince of Wales. While that's a grand gesture and I'm sure stunning at the time, the fierce desert sun has taken its toll on this majestic city leaving everything muted under a layer of sand. Todd and I were both disappointed but I'm not sure what exactly we expected. A city washed in Pepto it was not, maybe dusty orange, but none-the-less we were pleasantly surprised with our lovely guesthouse.

During our time in Jaipur we explored Jantar Mantar, an observatory began by Jai Singh in 1728. He measured time by the place the sun's shadow fell on the huge sundials and charted the annual progress through the zodiac. Each sculpture had a specific purpose, such as calculating eclipses. Neat place that really makes you appreciated how far we've come. The Hawa Mahal was on my personal list of sights to see in India. I dreamed about seeing this remarkable, delicately honeycombed, pink sandstone structure ever since I started planning our trip. So, you can imagine the heartbreak when the auto-rick pulled up in front of it and it was utter chaos. This most distinctive landmark was on a most heavily trafficked street and smack dab in the middle of a bazaar. Todd held the rick while I moved through the homeless, the beggars and the thousands of locals shopping to take a few camera shots before being wrangled back for holding up traffic. Tranquil? I think Not! Does it look like the picture-books?...well, yes, if you get in the perfect spot and don't snap the pic while thousands are hustling by.

The rest of our time in Jaipur was spent scouting out last minute gifts and souvenirs. Jaipur is shopping heaven and known for its silver. We spent a few hours perusing a fine silver shop and customizing a couple of silver trinkets for ourselves. For me, I chose a unique set of bangles and for Todd a silver bracelet and chain. Todd and I both bought camel leather shoes for $2 each and a few pieces of Indian attire. We found bundles of bargains at the night bazaar and then enjoyed our last meal in India at a scrumptious local spot just down the road from our guesthouse.

Now, after ten months......back to Western Civilization!

Taj Mahal and Agra Photos

The Taj Mahal (Agra, India)

As the train pulls into Agra Fort we breathe a sigh of relief we didn’t get pick pocketed as this train ride from Varanasi is notorious for things disappearing we hear. We also can tell right away this city is less chaotic and populated. Of course the usual routine of getting the tuktuk, finding the guesthouse and the nearest eatery applied. This is all pretty standard travel day stuff, until.... a body prepared for cremation was carried past the entrance of our restaurant followed by two huge albino Hindu cows and moments later a camel. That my friends is where the standard routine ends and is replaced with “I can’t believe that just happened” part of your day. And just like that you’re seeing the world with brand new eyes.

While the Taj Mahal is not a stand alone attraction in Agra it seems to continuously captivate me like a moth to a wondrous flame. Long story short: Emperor Shah Jahan built it as a memorial to his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their 14th child in 1631. The Taj took 22 years to complete with the help of over 20,000 workers and specialists and a small fortune. Popular legend is that the Emperor wanted to create a mirror image in negative using all black marble as a personal tomb. This plan obviously fell threw when he was overthrown and incarcerated by his son for the daring to spend so much of his inheritance.

Touring hours were closing for the day at the Taj so we decided to take to the air on the roof and watch the sun set over the Eastern Gate, it was beautiful. Our guide book suggested sunrise as the most glorious time to view this marble masterpiece and not sweat our asses off being out in the heat of the day. Not much convincing to do there, so 5am the next day we arose bright eyed and bushy tailed determined to beat the crowd to the award winning camera shot of the Taj Mahal.

Nothing speculator at the side gate entrance, its as you step into the dark archway of the center gate the Taj begins to illuminate as the first morning’s sunlight unfolds onto the domes. It is MAGNIFICENT! Truly a wonder of the world. Or as the Indian poet Rabi Ndranath Tagore summed up its beauty – “a teardrop on the face of eternity.” We strolled for several hours admiring the exquisite details and craftsmanship, taking our own cheesy touristy photo shots, watching the other cheesy tourists and being enchanted by the Indian women’s saris in their vibrant colors as they float in front of the white Mable wonder. Despite the hype, its every bit as good as you’ve heard. That first picturesque moment when it comes into full view is really just jaw dropping. Postcard perfect, only the Taj and the bright blue sky, nothing is allowed to be built in the background so as to take away from the beauty. Wow!

Todd and I did par take in a few other activities while in Agra such as feeding chipmunks at Agra Fort. Agra has one of the finest Mughal forts in India. We also saw the Baby Taj or Itimad-ud-daulah, which lacks the magic of the Taj but holds several similar design elements. I’d like to add that it is here where Todd rescued a baby chipmunk. The streets were much more conducive for walking so we searched out a few hot spots with several great dishes of local fare that were delicious. Our tops were fresh noodles, marsala tea, spinach paneer and lots of fresh hot roti and naan. Agra was a peaceful and beautiful place with scrumptious food, friendly people and the Taj Mahal as icing on the cake. We did not forget to grab a few small gifts of marble, as Agra is famous for it's marble obviously.

Probably important as a reminder for travelers though, Agra is only famous for the Taj Mahal, so there's not exactly that much else to do there. Just a bit more. But great people. It's best for a 2 day stop, but after that be ready to move on.

Varanasi and the Ganges River

Falling down the rabbit hole into Varanasi, India

Now that was a fast flight, a mere 1 hr later and we’ve made the hop to India. Welcome to never-never land, we’ve ventured far down the rabbit hole it appears. Varanasi is one of the holiest cities in India as the great Ganges River (the locals call it Gahn-Ga, not Gan-Geez) runs through here. It is a town frequented for pilgrimages to bathe and pray, as well as a final resting place.
Let’s see how to describe??...... bright colors, clean your nostrils over-powering dirt, beautiful dresses, in your face poverty, cheerful smiles, Amazing food, quick flooding streets, trash-trash-trash, scams, haggling, mecca of all silk weaving, sweltering heat, sign-less streets, crowded traffic, noise, horns, dodging cow paddies, bodies cremating, ashes floating, bathing with dirty water, pollution, begging, dodging the cows that left the paddies, friendly people, sharing and the list goes on. Varanasi for our first city has a massive list of love it, hate it’s already. A mix of the best and the worst that you want to experience.
The holiness of the city floats through the air, yet each time you step out of the tuk, a small scam or hand-out awaits. It’s a place where walking on the street would prove highly difficult as the traffic of bikes, motos, tuks, cars, jeeps, and rick-shaws would likely run you over. It’s a place where the finest silk in the entire world is found. We saw the ancient artists weave the most impressive pieces for tourists like ourselves to haggle over. Paying only a fraction of what they’re likely worth for someone who just worked 2 months hand-looming a bedspread. Truly impressive, the looms are so complex and we found it to be more like fine art than anything else. The river really is the central focus of the entire city though, it’s all about the great Gang-Ga River. We partook in the quintessential boat tour up and down the river to view the colorful buildings and ghats. Ghats, we’ve learned at basically bathing areas along the river, mostly made up of simple concrete steps leading down into the swiftly running river. Overall, Varanasi lived up and far exceeded the chaotic reputation we knew the cities in India would carry. It was truly a different land!