Gypsy Feet

Destination -Cleaveland Ohio 07/17/08 (Day -3)

2008-07-23T07:16:00.000-07:00

Cleaveland -Ohio
I reached Cleaveland at midnight ( yikes) I was so damn tired and I think little bit disoriented, reached hotel, and plonked on the bed and out .....!!
Got up in the morning at my pace...took shower ....called for room service and started work. Sent a quick recap on previous meeting. Checked the presentation for the upcoming one . All ok - ready to meet the client.
Meeting went well -despite a bad presentation :)) - I am still reeling under that surprise....!! Once meeting got finished - they offered me lunch.....and we sat talking about many stuff - India/culture......and US politics....!! People always have lots of question about India....!!
This was very short day. By the end of this session - I was ready to leave for airport. My arms were hurting by carrying so much load.....! ( Never again - I will get talked into to carry stuff in my baggage...)
Next destination was Tampa (Florida) - and I was so happy to see my friend who had come to pick me up. We put the roof down so that I could taste the place.......it was glorious weather.....! Good fun times are ahead .......!!

Destination -USA ,Day 1 -Kentucky (07/15-07/16)

2008-07-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

I am in US of A , and that also for 17 long days. Not for pleasure though....its all work. However , I have been pleasantly surprised to find my trip from the start very easy and without stress. Maketh for a nice change :)
Before the trip started it was helter skeleter....I hate last minute rush....and this time it caught up with me. Some presentation was handed over to me at the last minute. Then a quick journey back to home - (I had left 1/2 packing done) throw everything in and shut the snaps. Oh boy my package weighed mere 32 kgs ........!
Well once I paid extra $$ bills at airport - journey was quite ok. I liked the crew -they were mature lot and full of humor. Sitting next to me was this little girl oh sorry correction - she told me she is *Princess**, anyways -she kept me entertained(or was she entertained -I am still wondering) till the immigration counter......and when she was not awake and slept she kicked me and punched me :)) - I am not making that up...it happened. ( Strong advise if you are not bravehearts -avoid sitting with kids....) Once you are adopted by them - no peace. And yeah you cant fake sleep.....!!
A long overlay at Chicago (around 5 1/2 hr which was killing) I landed at Lexington Kentucky. My first impression of this place was ( oh whow each house w/ swimming pool)
Lexington (Kentucky)
** Very charming place, we crossed downtown to our destination- I was invited by my clients to stay at their Guest House @ Stud Farm. Beautiful property spread over 1700 acres.......!! They gave me ** Blue Room w/ Four poster Bed** which was almost 3 ft high for me to climb. Good exercise Hop hop :)
** I quickly took my shower and then reached office to start work. In little over an hour I finished work and then was dropped back to guesthouse. I was told that I am invited by the owners for supper at 6.30 pm. It was very sweet of them to check on dietary restrictions if any !!
** So I packed my gift for the family, reached their place and was introduced to each member of the family. I was most impressed by 2 young ladies - one was just 2 year with hair like spun gold and so angelic. Very opionated -she just floored me with her answers. I think she liked me as I got a goodnight kiss from her.The other was young lady of 13 years....total gypsy and very creative. She made this carrot /orange juice ( surprisingly very good) for all of us.
I have to say that because I got to spend the time with family setting -I never felt as if I was away from India.....!!
Second day was also spent working out few things. Then it was time for me to pack my stuff and off for the airport.
***** I just have 1 pic of the place.....which I will post once I am back in India !! ThoughI cant believe that I never took out my camera. May be delayed jet leg....which actually affects your brain..... :))
Next Destination - Cleaveland -Ohio

Daffodils

2007-03-29T06:30:00.001-07:00

This pic is here for 3 reasons ...( well as if you need any reasons...lol...)

- Check out http://sreescanvas.blogspot..com amazing oil paintings , and they are doing this A2Z flower fest thingy.
- Just recently saw a movie Namesake and the rendition of a poem which was so much a part of our growing up in schools. I have pen down the same for sublime enjoyment for all.
- While writing a play somebody took my character and named as " Narcissus" ( I hate you TR ...lol....)

And now the poem....here we go -

Daffodils

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

By William Wordsworth

PEACEMAKING, the power of NONVIOLENCE

2007-03-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Wall art next to Barnes and Nobles - Waterfront , Oakland

Glimpses of Hong Kong

2007-03-15T06:41:00.000-07:00

Traditional ferry boats !!

Very Enthusiastic fan matching her hand print with celebrity :-)

Walk the "Hall of Fame"

Million HK $ question - what would you call Bruce Lee's cat -

If you don't hit me...answer is .......bi lee (meoh) ...lol...

Another shot from top of Lantau Link view point - HK

2007-03-15T06:30:00.000-07:00

Blooming florals

2007-03-13T05:34:00.000-07:00

- 1st 3 pics taken at Lantau Link view point and last at SFO near crokked street.

Thinking Tree

2007-03-12T07:32:00.000-07:00

Thinking tree....someone reading newspaper in the shade...!

LANTERNS

2007-03-09T07:41:00.000-08:00

Lanterns are very common sight in HongKong ( just like Red chillies) - almost all the shops would have one hanging outside !!

My love started in SFO ( panda express....can you beat it....)

Aha....such freedom...such vibrancy !!

Ended in Hong Kong !!

View from top of crooked street - SFO

2007-03-09T07:39:00.000-08:00

Away from Home....02/25/07

2007-02-28T23:36:00.000-08:00

This pic shows my feelings very well when I landed in SFO this past sunday. Overcast, grey, rainy, windy , wet.....and list just goes on...!

My personal plans went out of window....( missed attending friend's sis wedding, had to cancel my flights and instead booked for (US) , missed snowfall at Mukteshwar....!!
Got sick on arrival (sort of mix of hay fever/ sinus....arghhh...!)

Do you I see a faint glimmer of sunshine.....????

Today morning it was quite bright and weather really behaved very well for us.......!!
Hope it stays that way....!!

Few places where we use to have Dinner

2007-02-20T05:45:00.000-08:00

- This place was my fav for obvious reasons -
a) Food was delicious and you could try flavored Shi-sha.( I couldn't stop laughing when I saw a Multivitamin shisha...lol...??? - I don't think this is available in India.)
b) After having dinner , my expression was equally if not more like that Camel :-)

check the website -www.shishandis.de

- Monkey !

- This place was where we made cake of ourselves. We made this cute movie....we were the Star...lol....this place had the belt where food was moving . My boss ( Smart lady ...she turned towards right and went to the ordering area for take away...)

We idiots (and leading the pack was me)...who turned to left.....( I am weird in certain direction logic....) and just imagine we are moving along the belt movement...and looking for our boss....by the time we completed full circle ....and joined her...she was laughing ( read embarrassed!!)

- Sushi was awesome.....!!

More Work......how tiring...

2007-02-16T06:52:00.000-08:00

- This was part of our work...listening to some Mongolian Music and chanting...! I am missing some belly dancing pics to complete my work scenario...gosh what a tiring and harrowing time I had....attending all this.....lol....!

- And these 2 enchanting place ( Turkey and Mongolia) goes into my "To Visit list - Lonely Planet"

Watch me ...watch them....

2007-02-12T03:38:00.000-08:00

- Lovely ladies walk past by....with smile which doesn't reach their eyes...!

Ok this was one of the work.....like it ....me too....enjoyed the beats, enjoyed the catwalk.....and more to come.......!

Work Station aka Pink Floyd

2007-02-09T00:52:00.000-08:00

- This was our work station........bright pink colors....and blooming flowers....!
For Lunch either we had waffles w/ dusted sugar or Olives served on crush ice with cheese and to drink - Champagne.

Working in Europe is "Pure Decadence"

More to come on what was our work ........ :-)

DANKE SCHOEN - I

2007-02-02T05:46:00.000-08:00

Some pics from my trip in January 07 in Germany.

@ Boarding the train from Frankfurt station for other city - Hannover.I have to admit it was quite convenient and since the day we travelled it was real sunny. It was good to see the typical German countryside.

- Pic taken from the window.

- These 2 shots were taken from moving train and its not easy. You get - poles....warehouse...branches...and tunnel...lol....before I got this "Near Pefect shot".

I loved the clouds chasing each other, distant houses , open pastures......!

Pushpa' 1

2006-12-12T06:15:00.000-08:00

TigerLily

Color me Purple

Buttercup Yellow

Touched

Cornonet Blue

Purple Rain

Hydrangea

Assorted pics from walks or visit to city, parks, ranch...!

Shoot me...lol !!

2006-12-12T03:20:00.000-08:00

Lake @Gundlach Winery ( Napa Valley)

Amazing colors - I was also told that the colors even go lovely shades of Tandoori/Russet/ spice...!

Solitary shoot

Off Shoot

Dead Shoot

Maze of confusion

- I found these Top shoots with so much character and posed against the vast sky.

ALCATRAZ

2006-12-05T02:58:00.000-08:00

This is how island looks from one side.

View gets derelict on close inspection...ahem...

I suupose this would appear as - "View 2 freedom"

Only Bright spot in this Gloomy place !!

Lone Sailor !!

Ouch...I craned my neck too much :-(

View of Golden Gate amidst Fog.....!! Very slight

* People say that trip to SFO is not complete till you take a ferry to Alcatraz. I found the place cold ( brrrrr) and very depressing...no wonder...prisoners also didn't like it much...Dah! No wonder they finally closed the place and turned into a reserve park.

* What I really found very interesting was tourist ( yeah yeah.....I was also that....but...) they were either clicking or getting posed in all those cells...just imagine you walk near a prison and then you see only these hands fluttering from 2 small holes...and some screaming for the effect....ahe...creepy....! Thanks but " NO THANKS".....

* Menu was good - so that got your head turned right !! Yeah good meals....lol.... this made me retrace my steps to mainland to find food.

Grapes of wrath...lol

2006-11-30T23:12:00.000-08:00

Nah - this is not me....BUT - do wish I could have filched few bunches - ooohh they were really good !

* Assorted pics from Napa & Sonoma Valley (California) - place famous for their wines.

* Most of the establishments have been handed from generation to generation. So you could go through the long history of how all it started and nice sepia pics as old as 30's showing the family tree!!

* We started @ around 10 in the morning with our first wine testing round....and covered almost 5 wineries in the day( yippie)...needless to say we were sotted...lol....it was one long party which ended - 1 at night....nah wineries were closed late afternoon , so we came back to city had dinner and more wines....went for a dance party...again had more wines...!!

* Scoop of the trip -for our welcome our clients had hired Limo to take us out on wine testing trip. It was "Ghetto Fab Limo" -what they ordered on internet was not what they got....!! Oh mi god....they were not very happy....and beside cancelling the trip there was no other option available....so we took what we had !!

And this was just the good part - while midway....the airsuspension busted and we got landed ( literally with a whoosh) almost on road....lol...so we drowned our sorrow ( very happily in wines and champagne') - real merry bumpy ride back home -

* Song for the Road " Chalkaye Jaam......!!

Roses

2006-11-28T04:09:00.001-08:00

* This one was dancing too much in breeze.

@ Night while walking back to our room.

For Cuckoo

2006-11-23T02:38:00.000-08:00

* The log cabin where I stayed with my friends in Sierra, and knowing me had put my bed outside ( see the extreme right sofa cum bed). I was at once with nature - never used ipod for even a single night -I use to doze off listening to nearby river flow.

* In the morning - one day I was sitting outside and havig very late leisure breakfast n I saw this lil humming bird. So I missed taking pics....guess what it came back after a while n it was actually my friend who got my digi for me. So I shot those quick pics.

* Lastly - this post is for you Cuckoo ( http//cuculus.blogspot.com) for being my..... inspiration !! Thanks :-)

Gypsy Feet will wander.....

2006-11-22T06:08:00.000-08:00

I am starting this another blog just for my travels around the world....! At this point I also recall this song -

Gypsy feet will wander, gypsy feet will stray......!

So tomorrow gypsy feet will take their first step !