Beyond Here

Had my first good access to internet today - in Venice right now. The Switzerland part of the trip just ended and it could not have been better. Till I get back to San Diego, here is something to feast your eyes on. Chapel Bridge in Luzern Lake Geneva at Montreux And here is a quick one of Venice too... Grand Canal at Venice

I am finally going on a vacation we have been planning for almost 5 months now. After a lot of roadblocks, buts and ifs, we have everything worked out. The plan is to spend 11 days in Switzerland - Luzern, Appenzell, Lausanne, Lauterbrunnen. My parents will be joining us there while we wander about in the "Yash Chopra country". And then Sunit and I head off for 10 days to Italy - Venice, Florence and Rome. I can't wait to see the Sistine Chapel and walk around the Coloseum. And sit on the Spanish Steps. We get back on 4th of July. We are not likely to have any internet access, if I do I will post some pictures. Else I will see you all after the trip. Happy blogging till then !!

Spring was wonderful last year around our apartment. There had been plenty of rain, and flowers were in plenty all around. The hill opposite our apartment driveway was covered with big purple flowers. There were bright pink flowers along the sidewalk too. But the flowers that most caught my fancy were a little way down the hill. Everyday as I would drive to work, I would pass this beautiful patch of orange california poppies and reddish-pink flowers. And I would think I have to walk down there someday. So one of the weekends, we decided to take a walk down the hill and look at them closely. Here are the pictures from that walk - as you can see we were wonderfully rewarded. The rains weren't all that good this year. I waited for the patch to bloom this year, but there were very few flowers :-(

Everytime I think about San Diego, I feel lucky that I have spent the last 6.5 years in such a beautiful place. And when I tend to be forgetting, this place reinforces the same time and again. Like the fact, that I can go for my morning walks to the Torrey Pines State Park and Beach, which is just 2-3 miles from our apartment. Every so often, when the realization dawns, I drag Sunit or some friend to the place. The state park and beach are next to each other. The beach is infact visible from the hill where we rent our apartment. Its a long stretch of brown sand and while the section right next to the road is crowded, if one walks towards the state park there are fewer people and quieter moments to enjoy. The park is more rugged, with extensive cliffs and canyon formations. And it is also the home to the Torrey Pine, a rare tree in US (and from where the park gets its name). There are a number of short and long trails in the park that take to different scenic overlooks. Last time we dra...