Baden-Baden

I came across an article on cnn.com today that described the Spa culture in Baden-Baden, Germany. I found it very interesting and inviting. I know, you will raise your eyebrows. Even I raised mine once. But after reading the writer's experience, I found it quite inviting. 

We have seen Baden-Baden in Hindi movies. I also remember one episode of "Everybody loves Raymond", when Ray's in-laws are traveling to Baden-Baden. This article seems to confer Baden-Baden the "Spa Capital" of the world. 

I have been seeing pictures of  "1000 places to see before you die" on a desk calendar. There's even a book on this subject. A friend has blogged about things to do before dying. So, I thought, why not start a Travel Wish list for myself. The list is a long one. This is just the start !!! 

Baseball and India

I know, there's little or no connection between Baseball and India. There's Softball been played for many years in schools though. Whatever the reasons behind the lack of awareness/interest in Baseball, the game has never took off beyond Softball and school level. This little news might just be the "sowing of the Baseball seeds" in India!!! Untill I read it, I wasn't even aware that there was a reality show like the "Million Dollar Arm". And all of a sudden, the Pittsburgh Pirates, sign two 20-year olds 

hailing from India as their Major League Baseball prospects! The season 2 of the contest begins in December 2008! Any guesses for when we can see Baseball games between Indian franchises?

Upavaas Thali at Shreyas

This last Sunday was Kartiki Ekadashi! The second of the two all-day upavaas ekadashis! Shreyas, on Apte Road, serves an Upvaas Thali on such days. Baba called them up and asked for a reservation for 4 people at 1 pm. They said they cannot reserve at that time as there were already numerous reservations. They offered a reservation after 2 pm, which we declined. So, Baba called up Krishna Dining on Law College road. They too serve the Upvaas Thali. They said, come over anytime, no reservation needed for 4 people. We started at 12:45 pm and I thought of trying Shreyas. Believe me, I have not been to Shreyas Dining Hall in my 33 years of life! Since Shreyas is known for good food, we thought of taking the chance.

When we reached Shreyas, it was crowded. Partly because of a fifth floor wedding crowd and partly the lunch goers. But thankfully, we got a parking spot right at the entrance. There was a wait of half hour. Meanwhile, Anaya was running around the parking space in front of the entrance. She would go near any boy or girl, mostly bigger than her, and start staring or playing with them. So, myself and Anuradha took turns looking after her.
Atlast, we were asked to seat ourselves inside the restaurant. There were big groups of people eating inside. We got a corner table for four. There was the regular Thali also on offer. But we ordered the Ekadashi Thali. Before long, the thalis came.
Sabudana Khichadi in the middle, a folded Thalipeeth at the bottom, six vaatis lining up along the upper half of the thali. Shrikhand, Kakdi koshimbeer, Varyache tandool, Daanyachi chutney (mixed with dahi), Batata bhaaji, and Daanyaachi aamti made up the vaatis. There were small batata papads on the side. Anaya was on my lap and she immediately got hold of the papads. Everything looked good. The tasting was done gradually and everything was very delicious. The Khichadi was done very well with a nice, savory and liberal taste of "Daanyache kuut". The Thalipeeth exceeded expectations and was the topper! The Daanyachi Aamti was also very well done and I ate the Varyache Tandool with the aamti. The sides were also good. I was wanted to eat some more Thalipeeth, but just one helping of everything made me full. There was some cold Taak in the end to wash everything down.

The price for the Thali was Rs.120. Baba told me Krishna's Thali was for Rs.80 with 8 items served in the thali. Shreyas' had 10 items. But the food quality was the best.

Need to taste the regular thali as well. Some other time.

Mahabaleshwar-Wai Trip

17th October dawned and we started to get ready for our first overnight vacation since coming back from the US. It was also the first since Anaya's birth. We had planned to be out of the house by 7 am. It was 9 when we left the house. Anuradha was hungry, so we stopped at Kamat's near Dahanukar cly. for breakfast. So, essentially, we started at 10 am. I had never seen the Katraj Bypass highway which bypasses Katraj ghat and joins the NH-4 just before Khed-Shivapur. I must say, it was the most pleasant and pleasurable stretch of highway I have seen around Pune. Even the Mumbai-Pune expressway comes second to that. Once you are past Sinhgad road intersection, the road is as smooth as it is scenic. The surrounding hills were amazingly green and I really felt like it was some place other than Pune. The road also has a Viaduct in between. Once we joined the NH-4, then too it was smooth driving. Around 80 km is the exit to Wai, via the Khambatki Ghat. The Ghat is one-way, so the drive is good. We passed Wai and then there are two ghats up to Mahabaleshwar. Thankfully, Anaya was fast asleep. Otherwise she would have got bored and made a fuss about it. The first one is the Pasarni Ghat.This one is a little steep and one needs to be careful of oncoming traffic. At Panchgani, the police stop every vehicle for an entry tax. We were not going to Panchgani, so we had to pay just the pollution tax of Rs.30. Wonder what they do with the tax money. The road was not very good within Panchgani. I hope they put that money to repair the road. The next Ghat is the Andenali ghat which leads to Mahabaleshwar. There are numerous road signs sponsored by MAPRO. I would like to see more such sponsorships. Something like the "Adopt the highway" needs to be proposed. Anyways, we reached Mahabaleshwar, paid the entry fee and went towards the Bus stand. Hotel Dreamland was just behind the stand. Got into the hotel reception and a guy escorted us to our room. We had reserved an AC room. all the AC rooms are situated around the pool. Just as soon as we entered the room, I was pleasantly surprised at how big and spacious it was. The Bed was there just as soon as we entered the room, then a big square area with L-shaped sofa and then a big French window. Anaya was pleased to see so much space and started to explore the room. The view outside was also very nice.
I could see three green mountain ridges. The room was clean, airy and well-maintained. We had reached Mahabaleshwar in exactly 2.5 hours. 

It was lunch time, so we immediately went to the dining hall. The lunch menu was written on a whiteboard and we just glanced it. There were big thalis placed on tables with three vaatis accompanying them. The menu was fulkas, kofta curry, harbhara usal, dal, dhokla, small karanji-shaped samosas named "ghugra" and gulab-jam. They also server cool Taak, which Anaya found a liking to and was gulping it by the spoonfuls. The servers had a unique gesturing system to signal whatever we wanted. So, if the dal-subji server was at our table and I wanted gulab-jam, then he clicked his fingers and did a gesture which meant that gulab-jam be brought to my table. This system was helpful in keeping the noise level down as the servers did not utter a single word from their mouth. I saw this system used in Sukanta also. 

After eating much more than regular, we went back to the room. Anaya was refreshed after her nice siesta in the car. But we were feeling sleepy after the heavy meal. The TV was of little help as Anaya kept shutting it off everytime I tried to watch some. At about 5 pm, there was a call from Room service asking about breakfast. The reservation included two meals and two breakfasts. So we asked for coffee and medu-wada which was prepared that day. Talk about hogging it all!!! Later, we planned to drive to the Venna lake, but Anaya dozed off till it was dark. So we just had a stroll through the market. The market was buzzing with people and it felt nice. 

Earlier, when we arrived, the streets were deserted and there was hardly anyone in the hotel. But, I liked the quiet and peace around. We shopped for some flavored Phutaane, gifts for Anuradha's relatives and just some window shopping. We came back to our room and went for dinner at 9 pm. We were so full from the lunch and evening breakfast, that we could not think of dinner. And looking at the menu made the feeling worse. There was a buffet of two chinese dishes, two punjabi items, a chaat, khichadi-kadhi, rotla, and chocolate icecream. Anuradha got a few items for her and I went behind Anaya. She was running all over the dining hall wherever she saw little dada-tais. So, after a while I had some to eat and we skipped the icecream. 

The next day, we got ready early, had breakfast (sada dosa for us and butter jam toast for Anaya) and got going. I had not seen the famous Panchgani Tableland before. So we went there. 

As soon as we got out of the car, a man approached us and told us about the "horse cart" ride. We looked at the rates and agreed to Rs.320 for an hour, featuring 15 points over the Tableland. As is, the tableland is 6 kms wide, so walking was out of question. Anaya woke up just as we got into the horse cart. She  liked the cart and as soon as the cart moved, she was happy. She first said "hamma" to the horse, just because she saw it from behind. Then, she wanted to not sit on the lap, but stand in the space between. The main tableland is the biggest of the five. The horse cart driver identified the other four to us. The cart was bumping too much, much to the delight of Anaya. There was a crowd of school children out for a picnic. They were loaded in one cart which was following us. On our way, we saw the "footprints" of the Pandavas.
Then there were other points to see around. Then we came to the most famous location seen in Hindi films. Or driver was giving us much valuable information about the different film shooting that have happened here. 

Apparently, there was one going on on the ridge below, which is the paragliding take-off point. Then we saw "Palan Khet" made famous in Raja Hindustani.

Anuradha had a bhutta there, Anaya wanted to walk around and pick up pebbles. I took pictures of the backwaters and the hills around. On our way back. there is a cave a few hundred feet below. There is a restaurant inside the cave. We skipped going there as the steps were iffy and would have been dangerous with Anaya in our hands. So, after about an hour, we came back to the starting point. There we met an astrologer, eager to tell my future. He even told me some. Like I will be going on a World Tour, my marriage was a very happy affair and that my wife's name was made up of three letters. At that point, our cart driver told him to go away since we were Marathi folks. He understood the implied meaning and went his way. The next stop was MAPRO Garden. I was anxious for the 

sandwiches more than the Garden. We had a two mocktails, full veggie sandwich, an a gold corn pizza. The pizza had to be taken back to the room as the sandwich made us too full. Again, the scarcity of people was very welcome. After the meal and a little shopping we came back to the room. Anaya was already asleep and we did the same. In the evening, we thought of going to the Sunset point. Went there a full half hour before the sun set. But there were so many people already sitting on vantage points, that put us off. Also, there were a lot of mosquitoes around. So we decided to head towards the Venna lake and do some boating.
 
Again there was a line at the boating stall. After 20 minutes, we got our chance. It was almost dark, but we enjoyed the boat 

ride. Anaya, as usual, wanted to not sit on our laps, but stand in the boat. Came back to the hotel, got some packing out of the way and then went for a stroll in the market. Had a strawberry juice at one stall and came back to the hotel for sinner. Today's dinner was similar in offerings. A couple chinese items, chole-bhature, rotla, kadhi-khichadi. There was a nice Pasta Arabiata 

and Custard apple icecream for dessert. 

The next day, we checked out and headed to Wai. Had a stop at Anuradha's kaka's place. Also visited our flat. The construction is done. Now the tiling is remaining and other things like the bathroom fixtures, kitchen OTA, and painting job. Later, we went to Natu's Farm. 
Anuradha's kaka runs a small canteen-type place there. They serve snacks, and lunch items. They even have chicken curry sometimes. Kaka had organized it for us and we had a nice time devouring the chicken masala. They also have some buffaloes and we went there 

for Anaya to see her "hammas". 

That was our trip to Mahabaleshwar. Coming back, I missed the exit to the bypass and instead took the devastated Katraj ghat road. I won't say much about it because it is as good as a war

-torn road in Afghanistan. 

Ku Kooch Ku

Last evening, I had to get some chicken tikka as a dinner side at home. I was thinking of getting it from Harvest Club. We have tried it before and it is close to home. But somehow during the day, Borawake's Ku Kooch Ku came to my mind. It has been years that I have eaten the tandoori chicken from Borawake's. So, I decided to get the tikka from Borawake's. 

The joint is still in the same place opposite the Deccan Gymkhana bus stand. It is small and the tandoor and the "kitchen" is besides the coupon counter. Earlier, it used to be behind the counter. The seating is also restricted to about 4-5 tables in front of the coupon counter. 

I went and checked the menu. They had Chicken Tikka (6 pieces) for Rs.120. A half Tandoori Chicken was for Rs.115. I paid for the tikka. Was thinking of also trying out the Paneer tikka, but the manager said it was over.

Handed the coupon to the "kitchen" manager and sat in one of the empty chairs. Asked the manager if there is a renovation going on for the place. He said "shejaari complex hotay!",  gesturing to the building construction going on besides. I asked him again if the joint will remain this way. Then he replied that they are going to shift into the new complex when its complete. 

The tikka was ready in 15 minutes, packed in an aluminium foil box. All the while I was sitting there, I could not resist looking at the marinated chicken, skewered and kept hanging in the "kitchen". There was rain all day and the climate was perfect for a Borawake's Tandoori Chicken!!! Some other time!!! Definitely!!! :-)

Back home, got cleaned up ASAP and then tasted the chicken tikka! It was tender, nicely marinated, nicely roasted, smoky and DELICIOUS!!! Moreover, there was no red color on it. With some lemon juice on it and onion on the side, it was a treat!!! Delightful!!! 

After having got used to certain preparations and standards of foods in the US, I had met with many disappointments here in Pune. Darshan was the biggest of all. But Borawake's has definitely lived up to its reputation. I wish I had clicked a picture of the tikka for you to see. Maybe, next time with the tandoori chicken. ;-p

~Sandeep 

Nisarga seafood restaurant

Visited Nisarga seafood restaurant off Karve road, Nal Stop on Wednesday. The occasion was a monthly gtg of Maayboli-kars in Pune. There were only 8 of us, but that's the usual number everytime. 

Nisarga restaurant has been running for probably 10+ years now. I had been there only once in its early days. That time I did not like fish (so what was I doing at a seafood restaurant?). Obviously, I did not enjoy that outing. This time though, I have developed a taste for Fish, especially, the resistance to the fishy smell. I still wonder about the taste of fish cooked in a curry full of spices and coconut, however.

Anyways, we started off with some drinks and starters. I got a Tequila Sunrise for myself. It was okay. I have had a couple cocktails in different restaurants, and both were sweet tasting. I keep looking if they serve a Martini, but have not found one yet. There's a Martini bar, La Dolce Vita Ristorante Italiano, in the City Point place on Dhole-Patil road, where Mainland China is also located. Will have to try it out once.

The starters that we ordered were as follows: Chicken Chatpata, Prawns fried, Veg Red Pepper, Pomphret fried, Chicken Tikka and Palak Chilly. I think the order was two of each, so we ended up eating a lot of it. The fried Prawns were big and ok to taste. The fried pomphret was deep fried and coated with rava. The texture was nice, but I got a small bone into my throat. That left an irritating feeling and I could not eat another piece of it. The chicken chatpata was like tikka pieces coated with green chutney. The Veg Red pepper was like a dry manchurian, with red chillies around it. The palak chilly was really hot and I got a chilly  bite in my mouth which kept me searching for something sweet. :-). There was the usual chakna which was refileed promptly. I also had a Chicken Manchow soup with three others. The soup was also okay. The chicken was bland and I could eat it only because of the fried noodles. 

So much for eating at a seafood restaurant. We had no space for any entree and ordered jeera fried rice and dal fry. 

A couple guys had beer, Arun had a couple Bloody Marys, another one had a couple Bacardi Breezers (I like the Jamaican Passion very much!) and the rest had sweet lime water. The total came to around Rs.400 per person (we were 8 guys), which was okay. It would have been more if we'd ordered any entrees or some exotic seafood like lobster or crab. The service was quick and the restaurant was full till 11 pm. 

Ganpati festival, NFL, US Open tennis

The Ganpati festival started on Wednesday in all its pomp and gaiety. In Pune, the major roads in the city area will be closed off for vehicular traffic after 6:30 pm. I have decided to work from 8 thru 5 pm to beat the evening crowds and traffic! 

The NFL season kicked off yesterday with the Super Bowl champs winning against the Washington Redskins. Can't believe the Football games have begun already! The Baseball is still in its regular season till the end of this month. Go Cubs!!! :-)

The  US Open Tennis has reached the semi-finals stage. The ladies draw is quite a new one barring on Serena Williams, who is the most familiar face in the semi-final line up. In the mens section, Federer is trying to win his first grand slam of this year. I hope he wins it.

Kudos to Leander Paes for winning the Mixed Doubles crown with Cara Black!!! 

Typing this from the Google Chrome browser. Nice browser!!! 

61st or 62nd?

India just had its 62nd Independence day and its 61st anniversary of Independence!!! Long live free India!!!
I was a little confused when I heard 61st, 62nd yesterday on the news channels and in newspapers. I started thinking that it should be India's 62nd Independence day and not 61st as some channels and newspapers were referring. This morning, I thought of checking the Indian government website. Came across this National Portal of India website. They have nicely formatted information and the look is very cool for a government website. I so hope that they make the Chicago consulate website a bit like this one.

As I am typing this, India have been decimated again by Sri Lanka's spinning duo! There have been 5 consecutive maidens between those two and 3 wickets fell. Now Bhajji and Khan are desperately trying to push the score beyond 100. They got some reprieve when Mendis was taken off after 6 overs by Mahela.

Olympics!!! Nadal celebrates his number 1 status by winning the Gold medal yesterday. He is officially the number one player today. What a year he's been having! French open, Wimbledon, Gold at the Olympics. The US Open begins in a week and he's the favorite there too.

Olympics Gold, Rainfall in Pune, Golf, Cricket loss

First of all, a biig round of applause to India's first ever individual Gold medalist in the history of Olympics!!! Abhinav Bindra takes the honors with his top showing in his shooting event!!! Congratulations Abhinav!!! Hip Hip Hurray!!!

Incessant rainfall in Pune and areas around has got the dams overflowing. The rain has stopped for brief periods today, but is still continuing on. That's a big relief and now the water cuts will stop. Hopefully, the power cuts will also come down soon. The Holkar bridge has been closed as of this evening because of the rising water level. That also means that the River banks roads are under water and I have to bear the commute traffic. But that's ok as long as there's no water shortage, for drinking as well as for the farms.

Could not watch Golf as it was showing on Ten Sports which was also showing Cricket. The cable wallahs were not showing the channel as it had raised its rates just before the start of the cricket match. Read the Padriag Harrington won and is now a 3-major winner. Great going!!! JMS faltered in two rounds , but still has a top-10 finish much to his credit!!! Great showing from him too!!

Lastly, the Indian cricket team cut a sorry figure after SL beat them by 8 wickets!!! Laxman was the not out batsman, inspite of carrying an ankle injury and playing with a runner. Valiant (if one can say that) effort from Dravid, in what might be his last international appearance for India. SRT is out of the one day series due to injury. Ishant also picked up an injury and could not bowl in the 4th inning. All in all, the batsmen let India down in this series, save for Veeru and Gambhir, which really won us the 2nd match. Can't say for the future of the Fab Four, as they are referred nowadays. :-) SRT might sneak in just to get that record. Really, he should have got it in this series itself. 200 runs in 6 innings should have been easier done than said for him. Laxman might also sneak in as he was the most consistent of them all and showed some intent to occupy the crease as well as score runs. He ran out of partners most times.

Favre and other NFL news

At last, the Brett Favre drama has come to a close!!! Favre is a Jet now! He will get to play against Tom Brady twice. The Jets fans will hope that he wins at least one game against the Pats :)

I think, the Trade by the Packers was the only logical thing to do given the circumstances. Favre was playing a spoilsport in their preparations and distracting them immensely. Hopefully, all will be well now.

The Bears have named Kyle Orton as their pre-season games' starter. I cannot predict who will start the regular season. I hope Rex Grossman can perform like he did when he got a chance again late last season. The Bears' receivers have changed and there's no Moos and Berrian to whom Rex can throw. So, we will have to see how he performs with the new guys.

I have been reading Peter King's weekly column MMQB. He's on the training camp trail nowadays and reports his observations of different NFL teams and their preparations.

Sporting Sunday

Sunday seems to be the Sports day almost every week. There was Cricket, F1 race, Golf and the count down to the Olympics on TV. I am most interested in the Cricket and F1 race.

As it turned out, I switched on the TV late in the afternoon and was quite pleasantly surprised at the score. SL were tottering on 132/8 and India were on the brink of a resounding victory. Indeed, it was a matter of two overs and the spin twins of SL were out. All credit goes to Veeru for his awesome batting. Youngsters must see his appetite for runs and try to emulate that. Kudos to Bhajji too for some great off spin bowling and a deserving 10-for in the match. Gambhir also batted brilliantly. The big wigs should take a leaf from the openers and hopefully come good in the last test.

The F1 race was at Hungaroring this weekend and again Hamilton was on Pole. But Massa got a very good jump on him at the first corner and never looked back. Although Hamilton was within 4 seconds, he was let down by a tyre puncture. He did fight back to take 5th place, but would have rued the puncture. He would have won the race if he were driving behind Massa when Massa's engine blew up 3 laps from the finish. Hekki scored his first F1 victory and the driver's championship is again ever so close.

Lastly, Nadal lost in the semi-final of the Cincinnati Tennis tournament to Djokovic. But since Federer lost in the second round, he lost his no.1 spot too. Nadal will be crowned no. 1 in a couple weeks. I sincerely hope that Federer regains some of his form and win the Olympics Gold and the US Open to round of his most disappointing year, since 5 years.

Have been following the MLB and the Chicago Cubs. More on that in my next post.

~Sandeep

E-Square

A few days ago, we visited the E-Square multiplex on University road. With Anaya, we were obviously not there for a movie. The food court was what we were going to check out.

The parking there took some time, but we got a good spot. Went straight to the Food Court level. There isn't much of a mall there. Just a few Hong Kong lane types stores and a Crossword. The food court is too good though. So much variety. All the restaurants there are owned by Mars. We had a Tandoori Paneer pizza and a Rava Dosa from the Dosa Diner outlet. There are also Roti, a Chinese spot, Just Around the Corner. Liked the variety very much!!! The pizza was so-so. The paneer did not seem like it was done in the tandoor and the price of Rs.140 for a six-inch pizza did not justify the overall taste. The Dosa, on the other hand, was very well prepared and very tasty. Anaya had a feast on the dosa :-) We then got some chat, which was also so-so. There were big, giant sandwiches being prepared, similar to the ones prepared at Mapro in Mahabaleshwar. Next time, I am gonna try the Mini masala idlis and the sandwich. Got a "Diet" Pepsi. Finding Diet soda is pretty hard. And it only comes in cans. We are so used to drinking diet, that regular tastes too sweet to me.

Niagara Falls - the first visit in September 2001

OK, here's the first of my write-ups. A visit to Niagara Falls in September of 2001.


Whew !!! Where should I start from? Lets start from Bloomington. We returned to Bloomington on monday morning at 5:00 am local time.Well, that's where we started from.

Thursday, Aug 30, Bloomington
We started from our home, went to Walmart and headed towards Buffalo. Buffalo is on the border of US. We had taken a day off on Friday so thatwe could stamp our Canadian visitor visas on Friday. The journey to Buffalo was 696 miles which would take us around 12 hrs. We had detailed and precise directions taken from Mapquest.com. We first headed towards Toledo, Ohio which was a stretch of 280 miles. There are many rest areas, gas stations and food outlets in between (atevery 30 miles). We stopped at one such food exit after 150 miles. Had some hot coffee which was YUCK. We had taken Chips and chivada along with us. Jitesh drove the first stretch of 2.5 hrs with Nadeem navigating. After that Sidharth took over and myself became the navigator. The highways are excellent here. The speed is also too much for comparison in India. 70 mph and you don't get below 60mph. Its a bit hard changing lanes at that speed, but our driver duo got used to it pretty quickly. The navigator also need to be on guard, lest one might miss a certain exit from the highway. If you did miss an exit, go ahead 10 miles, take the next exit and turn back. Exit is a road leading into a nearby city road. The highway does not run into the city. We went through Toledo, a big city, having a famous university where most Indians come for their MS (most from Pune MIT). At about 12midnight, we stopped at a food exit to have dinner. We had a Chicken Burger, which wasn't very nice, at a place named Hardees. We arrived in Buffalo at 6 am local time which is one hr ahead of Bloomington time. The pace in Buffalo was slow as there was construction going along. We checked into Days Inn and slept immediately.
Friday, Aug 31, Buffalo
Got up at 8:00 am. Did not bathe. Just got fresh and went straight to the Canadian Consulate. There was a heavy downpour outside. Somehow we managed to go there, with Jitesh bumping the car onto the sidewalk while turning. The consulate is situated in a 40 storeyed building called "One HSBC Center". There were about 70-80 people, mostly Indians and Asians, already there. We had already filled the necessay forms. So we got into the line immediately. We had to wait for an hour and a half to pay the fees after which we got our Canadian visa stamped. We had not checked out of the hotel and we did not have the directions to go back. Its not easy just reversing the directions as there are a lot on one ways. We circled the consulate twice and then decided to ask someone. A man had a road map with him. He gave us the directions and somehow we managed to get to Days Inn before the checkout time. After checking out, we went to an Indian restuarant called "Indian Clay Oven"for lunch. It was run by a Sardarji. There was a buffet consisting of Chole, Mutter Paneer, Chicken, Dal Palak, Rice, Roti, Bhatura, Salad and Rice kheer. We ate our full and asked for directions to the American Falls. As we neared the Falls, we could see the river and the mist rising in the sky. We parked in a paid parking lot for $ 5. The parking charges here are too much and I guess they must be touching the sky in big cities like New York and Chicago. There is a park called the Niagara Falls Park alongside the gorge and the actual falls. Its a tremendous site viewing the river gushing down from just a few feet away. There are two falls, Horseshoe and the American Falls. The international border line between USA and Canada runs between these two falls. The Horseshoe falls are mostly on the Canadian side. There are some sites to visit at the American Falls.One of them is the "Cave in the Winds". We went there. They gave us special boots and raincoats to wear. We went down the elevator 50 feet below nearer to the Niagara river. There is a wooden stairway which takes us very near to the American Falls where the water hits the rocks.There are 5 decks on this way. The most closest to the water is the Hurricane deck. Here the water almost lands on you from up above. We managed to take some snaps there and got completely soaked. This was a wonderful experience as we could see ourselves right beneath the falls, well...almost. We had a large cup of Hot Chocolate after that and boughts ome souveneirs from the souveneir shop. There was also a boat ride. But we decided to cross into Canada as there was a chance of rain and we wanted to go to the hotel before dark. Our hotel was in St. Catherines about 2 hrs from Buffalo. We had to cross a bridge to get into Canada. The Canadian customs authorities checked our passports and asked some trivial questions. The Canadian countryside is all farmlands and conifers around. We were travelling along the Queen Elizabeth Way which is alongside the Lake Ontario in the Ontario State. We got to Days Inn at about 7 pm. Took a bath and had dinner in SubWay. A Veg Submarine which is like a roll stuffed with vegetables and cheese. The roll is one foot long. A six inch roll is also available. The location was very peaceful and we dozed off instantly as we did not have much sleep in Buffalo.
Saturday, Sept 1, St. Catherines
Got up at 9 in the morning. Readied ourselves. Checked out of hotel. Had a heavy breakfast of 3-eggs omlette, 2 bread slices and apple juice.Then headed towards Niagara falls on the Canadian side. We were thinking what different would the falls be from this side. We again had to encounter a long line of cars for going into the parking lot which took us half hour. But once we had done that, there was this fabulous sight of the falls. The Horseshoe falls from a very close proximity. The falls are 170 feet tall and the river falls down like a curtain of water. Too good a sight for the eyes. The mist was rising from down below and going above to become clouds. We could also see the American falls from the front side. Also the Cave of the Winds...we had been there earlier. The weather in the morning was sunny and the air chilly. But it was a pleasant feeling. There was a long walk starting from the Horseshoe falls till the front of the American falls. As we were going away from the Horseshoe falls, the view was getting more and more spectacular. We took a lot of snaps from there. Then we went to the "Maid of the Mist" boat ride. This boat ride takes you very close to the base of the Horseshoe falls where the water hits the rocks and from where the mist rises. We were given blue raincoats to cover us from the mist. The view of both the falls is terrific when seen from the river stream. When we neared the Horseshoe falls, we could see its enormity and the deafening roar of the water falling down. There was a lot of wind and mist around. We had taken a waterproof camera and took umpteen snaps of the falls. The feeling of being there, so close to the falls, is wonderful. There is a lot of hustle and bustle around the Canadian side of the Falls with flocks of tourists roaming. Attractive shops, restaurants, casinos, entertainment centers. There are famous hotels like Sheraton, Marriott, Hilton overlooking the falls. After those exciting moments, we decided to go to Toronto. We had lunch again at SubWay on our way. A footlong Veg Submarine. Ummmm... There were a lot of wineries on the way. We decided to have a look into one. It had numerous types of wines. We bought a Cabernate Sauvignon for us. The drive to Toronto is 1.5 hrs along the Lake Ontario on the QEW. As we neared the city, we could see the world famous CN Tower. When we entered Toronto, we goofed up on the exit again, only to get back on track. The Days Inn was quite far away from downtown Toronto. We checked in at 6:30 in the evening. The rooms in all the Days Inn hotel that we had booked had two double beds (for 4 of us viz Sidharth, Jitesh, Nadeem and myself) with telephone, TV, AC, coffee-maker, iron, table for ironing, alarm clock. All in all, the room was very good. We decided to go to the CN Tower. Got the directions from the hotel staff. We had to go along a street called Danforth Avenue. In Canada, there is a large Asian population and we could see Indian restaurants and stores all along Danforth. Somewhat like M G Road in Pune Camp. Nadeem was quite happy to see them as he felt more at home than in the US. After 30 minutes, we reached the SkyDome parking. Skydome is a world famous Baseball stadium besides the CN Tower. CN Tower is a huge 560 m tall structure, the tallest free standing structure in the world. CN stands for Canada's National Tower. We bought tickets to the glass floor and the Skypod. There was a long queue for going up. Had to wait for an hour for our turn. The elevator is a high speed lift which takes you from the 1st floor to the 140th floor in 58 seconds flat. That is a speed of 12 feet per second. And we could see the whole city whilst going up. How about that? When we stepped on the 140thfloor, we went to the observation deck. The view outside was magnificent!!! Toronto in the night...all lit up with countless yellow and white lights. The lake Ontario...the full moon light reflecting from the water...Wonderful !!! We went down one floor where there was a portion of the floor built with glass. Imagine standing on a glass floor 140 storeys high and looking down at the ground below. Amazing !!! People were taking photos of themselves sleeping on the glass. We had tickets for the Skypod as well. Had to wait in the queue there for 45 minutes. The skypod is the highest observation deck on the tower. At 147th floor, the city looked even more beautiful. Wait till you see the photos. It was already 11:30 and we still had to eat our dinner. We found a pizza place and had a Chicken pizza. Went into the hotel and slept off immediately.
Sunday, Sept 2, Toronto
Woke up at 9 in the morning. We decided to go to the African Lion Safari in Cambridge. Had breakfast at the hotel. Creamroll, Coffee, croissant, bread, jam. The drive to the safari was 2 hrs. But the traffic on the highway was very slow. Jitesh, who was navigating decided to take an alternate route thinking it was the right one. Later, we joined the road leading to the safari. Leading up to 2 kms to the safari gate, was a long queue of cars. It was a Sunday and everybody had thought of going to the safari. It took us 2 hrs to reach to the gate and after buying the tickets, we headed straight to the restaurant inside. We had Chinese food there. The safari is extensive and we can take our own cars along the trail. There again was a queue of cars and the progress was very slow. First we encountered birds. The only ones that we could identify were Ostrich. Then there were the dangerous animals like Lions, Tigers that were roaming around and not in cages. So the slow pace of the cars helped in taking snaps of the animals from real close. Then there were monkeys and Bears. The monkeys were sitting on the top and the mirrors of big cars. The little children in those cars had a treat watching the monkeys. Afterwards, there were Giraffes, Rhinos, Deer, Moose, roaming along a wide terrain, even crossing the road. Jitesh and Sids finished a roll each taking snaps of these animals.We then saw the parrot show which was nice. At about 6:15 in the evening, we started on our way back. Going back the route was different. We headed towards London, Windsor and through Detroit into the USA. The landscape was like what we see in wallpapers. Greenery all around with tall conifers on both sides. In between we could see vast farmland. A good sight for the eyes. After 160 miles, we came to the US-Canada border. It is again a bridge called the Ambassador bridge. Went into Detroit taking the fast express way. We missed an exit again as it was closed due to construction. We could not take the detour just because it was on the rightmost lane and we were in the leftmost one. Sidharth, who was driving, got a bit tensed. We took the next exit and enquired at a gas station. A man who was going to the highway asked us to follow him. We followed him and got into the highway which would take us back to Bloomington. We grabbed something to eat and drink at McDonalds and then again at a gas station late in the night. We reached Bloomington at 5 am local time.

So...that was the trip description. The maps that we get here are very useful as they have the exact directions for going to a destination. Sometimes the road signs can be tricky too as we found out when we missed the exits. But, all in all, it was a very wonderful and exciting trip.
Thats it from me till my next trip.

Pyaar se, :-)
Sandeep

Revival

Reviving this blog after 2+ years. This was registered with a different e-mail id and I was not able to find it in my Blog Dashboard. But, got hold of it today. I will post some of my old travel write-ups starting from the 2002 Niagara Falls visit. Friends have been pressing me to put all those write-ups in a blog and continue blogging more often. I hope to do so.