A Royal Carribean Cruise!

I was sitting at my desk thinking wistfully that this time last week , I was in Nassau, tipping over a jet ski and that motivated  me to update my blog about our fun cruis to the Bahamas and Florida.

J and I had the best time and it was super special cuz we took this trip to celebrate our one year anniversary and also have super late honeymoon. We did loads of fun things like

We went on a jetski

I fell off a jetski and then a little while later, J was showing off so he flipped the Jetski and both of us were in the water

Saw some of the most gorgeous sunsets from our ship

Got into Atlantis for free and saw their sharks and stingrays

Lost $5.00 gambling

Laid out on the beach and just relaxed.

Ate delicous food

Ate Conch fritters

Saw chickens in Key West

Our stateroom, it was tiny but really cozy and we loved looking out of our porthole every morning.

The main centrum of the ship,I thought it was really pretty.

There’s a little plaque next to this gate that says “Central Bank of Bahamas”. This must be their old office because the only security it has was some barbed wire.

I love the color of the water in this photo. Also this pic is taken after we had snuck into Atlantis. Yay!

Those Conch fritters were damn tasty. To me it tasted like a mix between shrimp and oyster and then they were deep fried in dough and served with fry sauce! So delicious

One of the many cool sunsets, this one is looking over downtown Nassau

Other cities have pigeons that roam around freely in public spaces, in Key west its Chickens!

 Our Ship is so cool!

A Bahamas Extravaganza

So J and I have now completed one year of marriage. To celebrate, we are going on a 4 night cruise to the Bahamas and Key West. We will be travelling from Jan 19th through the 23rd and our tickets have already been bought. It was our anniversary present to ourself. We will be sailing on Royal Carribean’s Majesty of the Seas

Our itinerary is Miami-Nassau-Cococay Islands-Key West -Miami. I am so excited for this trip and to go snorkeling and doing other fun water activities.

Some photos of CocoCay , Nassau and Key west-

CocoCay Island- Can't wait to jump in that water

 

Buildings in Nassau. I am more interested in exploring the city this time, as I'll probably do most of my water/beach stuff at Cococay

 

Hemingway House- J loves Ernest Hemingway, so we'll probably check this out

Hatteras Island in October

Looking for clams and oysters in the sound

Layla loves the beach

Hatteras Lighthouse in the background

squishy spongy creature from the Pamlico sound

with the fam

me, J and the laylster

Fall Break

With J gone, its been a dull few days around here, but I’m finally all cheered up because I leave for Freeport Maine today. I am really excited for this little quick getaway and to see the beautiful Maine fall. I am also really excited about Maine’s coast and I’m planning on taking a little ferry ride to see some seals and birds. I’ll post photos when I’m back!

Fall in Maine

 

It turns out I won’t be going to UT in september with J after all but I didn’t want to spend two weekends all alone in Durham so my parents have taken pity on me and taking me to Maine with them for a weekend. We wont’ be travelling a lot since we’ll be visiting with my aunt and since she is not very well at the moment, we’ll probably keep things on the quieter end,but I’m really excited about fall in Maine. I’m sad J won’t be able to go though, because Fall in New England seems like one of those classic romantic moments but I’m sure we’ll go together some day. I’m just excited that I’ll be getting a little fall trip.

Photos- Spring 08

At J’s ABA concert in Boone

At a winery in NC on the way back from Boone

A view of the Winery

Busy Busy Busy

Its been quite busy around these parts lately, hence the lack of posts for weeks, but once the finals are over, I will catch up!

I do have a few updates though and most of these do have photos, but they will have to wait until I can upload and sort through them.

1) J and his band played an awesome show in Boone earlier this month. J and I made a little mini trip out of it and also explored a vineyard around Boone. Photos and a full update coming soon

2) J found out that he should be able to graduate sooner than expected, so we should have some big life changes ahead in less than a year!!!

3) Finals are kicking my butt and I’m miserable and stressed at the moment but hopefuly by the end of the week, all will be well

4) I’m going to SLC, UT for my KD’s graduation! I’m so excited for her and I can’t wait to be a part of her special day! (Also, I might buy a new dress for the occasion…hmmm). I’m also really excited to see good friends and catch up with everyone

5) I’ve gone from straddling the Clinton camp and Obama camp into officially being a Obama supporter. I do feel slightly guilty ,but I do think Obama is the better candidate.

6) I’m terrified and excited for life as an adult! It seems its going to be sooner rather than later!

More coming soon!

The Smoky Mountain Adventure

Last weekend was the tail end of my spring break and J and I took a trip to the Smoky Mountain National park with our friends JE and Er.  The weather was supposed to be rainy with a chance of flurries, but we decided to risk it anyway. We were going to leave early friday morning and get to the park by the afternoon but anyone who knows me and J knows that we are incapable of waking up before noon. But we did manage to get up by 10, pack up the car , drop off  the laylster at the kennel and hit the road by 1. We took a leisurly drive and then as we got close to the the NC side of the park, we made an error. I did not realize that our campsite – Cosby was in the Tennessee section of the park and was only accessible through only one park entrance. So J and I ended up driving through the highest points of the park, in the dark, while it snowed and with a thick fog ( they don’t call it smoky for nothing). We then had to drive through Gatlinburg and the surrounding areas and finally we made it into Cosby campground by 8.

Friday night, after its been set up

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By now it was pitch dark and JE and ER had already set up their camp and ER was trying to put up a shelter with some tarps and ropes so that we could make a campfire. We were also the only ones in a campsite that had about 40 sites. It really felt like we were in the middle of nowhere. The boys got busy and finished the shelter and then finally made a fire. We ate bratwursts and baked beans straight out of the can for dinner and I swear, it was the best meal ever. The heavy rainfall continued, while we decided to call it a night. It was a good thing we had extra sleeping bags and blankets because we had another surprise in store.

Our tents

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The campgrounds

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We look squatters or refugees

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The next morning, when I opened my eyes, I noticed white chunks on our tent and when I looked out, I saw snow everywhere. The boys once again were heroes and set to drying up the firewood and starting another fire and we had breakfast. The temperature had dropped severely and we decided to pack up and head out of the campground. We had a lunch at a cute little apple orchard, that had a store and a diner and ER and JE decided to head home. After much J and I decided to stay for the whole weekend. We spent the afternoon exploring some of the park and went on a hike to Laurel falls. For the night, we bargained ourselves a $40 motel room, that had not been updated since the 70s, it had green shag carpet, and wood panelling, very retro chic!

Cemetery close to the campground, lots worn out gravestones

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Laurel Falls

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A view of the park from a ridge

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That night we hit the town and all we found were tourist traps like Ripley’s believe it or not and stores that sold medieval knives and other weapons, crazy airgun shops ( i actually thought that some were real) and super christian tee shirts. There were no bars in the town, but tons of violent imagery and weapons. Go figure. We were forced to have an early night.

Cades Cove

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A primitive Baptist church

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Cemetery with some civil war gravestones

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The next morning, J and I explored Cade’s Cove, a wide valley which used to have a community of farmers. The valley was beautiful, dotted with meadows and old historic buildings and tons of deer. We checked out a few cemeteries with some civil war gravestones and then headed home after our grand adventure.

Spring Break! Here I come!

I have one more class, before its officially Spring Break 08. I can’t wait to spend a week not thinking about school. Next week, I’m going to take it easy for the first few days and at the end of the week, we are going camping to the Smoky Mountains. We are driving out there on friday and meeting up with our friends JE and EB and we’ll camp inside the national park. I am so excited, although I’ve been up to Blue Ridge Mountains before, this will be my first trip to the national park.

Here is some of the great Scenery I’m anticipating

 

This is going to be an awesome spring break

photos from google images

Bricks and Mortar

Slow and Steady, that me when in comes to photos. It took me forever to get my India photos uploaded and organized and now I keep finding photos that I absolutely must post. So if you are seeing of seeing photos, I guess don’t be reading this blog for a while. Hee

An abandoned old house in Ballygunge (my grandparent’s neighborhood). My dad told me a story about how a British Managing Director used to live there in this mansion’s hey day and how he had peacocks and exotic birds as pets in the yard. Sad to see it come to this.

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J , KD and I spent a fantastic day with my Uncle visiting some old British Raj architectural gems in Kolkata. This is a photo of a gazebo in the garden of St. John’s church, the oldest Church in Kolkata, from the late 1700’s. I took this photo because it reminded me so much of a setting in a Gothic novel, with brave, governess heroine, old decrepit buildings, exotic gardens.

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Inside St. John’s church. The fans are such a Indan touch. This church also had the most awesome shutters on its huge windows, and it had some cool stained glass as well.

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The famous Victoria Memorial. It definitely was as cool  as I expected.

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The Kolkata High Court. It used to be the Supreme court of India when the British used Kolkata as the Capital City.

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St.Pauls Cathedral. Another old church but from the 1800s.