Keukenhof

I remember watching a show of Toot & Puddle on Nickelodeon sometime back where they go to Amsterdam and one of their friends back home asks them to bring back a picture of tulips. They search high and low but end up not finding a single tulip. In the end they take a picture in front of a picture of a tulip field. Since then I've been wanting to visit Netherlands for seeing fields of tulips. Unfortunately, just like Toot & Puddle, we too were too early for the season and missed the tulip fields but were lucky to see them in the Keukenhof Gardens!

 The Keukenhof gardens are located in the bulb region of Netherlands - about an hour from Amsterdam. This is a garden that is carefully planned, planted and groomed. Right outside the Keukenhof Gardens are the flower fields. If you are lucky to catch them in season (April - May), you're in for a visual treat!

This area of Holland is the flower capital of the world. They are the largest supplier of fresh flowers in the world. There are flower auctions every morning in nearby Aalsmeer and needless to say, the freshest ones are bid for huge amounts.

 

The garden is huge! There are tulips of every imaginable color, each one with their own name, a small petting farm, lake, fountains, cafes and different kinds of flower shows. It would take an entire day.

The Flume Gorge - New Hampshire

The Flume Gorge is located in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire and is a popular spot during the fall. This is part of the Franconia Notch State Park. The Flume is a natural deep gorge between two mountains. There are two walking trails. Of course, we did the easier one. It still had stairs and some steep paths and took us through the gorge and a beautiful water fall.

You can either ride the bus from the visitor center to the base of the trail or walk. If we walk, we get to see a New Hampshire covered bridge over the Pemigewasset river

Other interesting spots in the White mountains are the summit of Mt. Cannon and the Kancagamagus scenic highway. Of course, the best time to visit would be the fall season. The trick to getting the best fall colors is to visit not too early and not too late. Keep checking foliagenetwork.com and visit between high and peak colors, which is usually during the Columbus Day weekend.

San Francisco and Bay Area

Well, this landmark icon needs no introduction! The Golden Gate bridge that connects the city of San Francisco on the south to Marin headlands on the north. On the left, as you travel northwards, is the Pacific Ocean and on the right is the San Francisco Bay.

This part of the bay area is subject to great winds and fog. Our boat cruise as well as Hendrik Point (from where I took the above picture) were unbearably cold and windy in the middle of June!

The cruise from the SF Pier goes under the bridge the returns to the barking seals of Pier 39. There is also a statue of MK Gandhi on the bay side of the Ferry building a short bus ride away from Pier 39. Other interesting attractions/activities include fortune cookie factory, bargain souvenir shopping and some cultural exposure at one of the oldest, but the largest Chinatown in the world outside of China; the Japanese Tea Garden; riding up and down the famous cable cars; the world's "crookedest" street called Lombard Street; and Alcatraz - the rock island that was once a prison.

Driving on the bridge to the other side was great fun and scenic with fantastic views of the bay and the Pacific Ocean. We took the coastal drive up to Point Reyes which gave us great views of the Pacific. 

Point Reyes was the ground zero of the 1906 earthquake and lies along the San Andreas fault line. This particular area is actually moving a few centimeters to the north every year due to the constant moving of the earth's plates. Sure interesting, but nothing much to see or do otherwise there as it is cold and windy too!

One of the most popular and interesting places to visit in Marin headlands is the Muir Woods. Muir Woods is closer to San Francisco than Point Reyes and has super tall trees that are pretty old. They have a few trails around and it is peaceful and quiet compared to the hustle and bustle of the city. This comes second only to the giant sequoias of Mariposa Grove in Yosemite NP (coming soon!).

 

Further north are Redwood Forests (another forest of giant trees) and of course the Napa Valley, famous for it's vineyards and wine houses.

Ronda, Spain

Ronda is a town located near the Costa del Sol region of Spain. It is located in a mountainous region and offers incredible views. The highlights of any town in this region are the white houses, called pueblo blanco (meaning white village). The residents painted them white to keep the houses cooler during summer.

The Guadalevín river cuts the town of Ronda into half through a deep gorge called El Tajo. It divides the city into the old and new towns. The "new" side of Ronda developed only after a bridge was built across this gorge. This bridge called Puente Nuevo (New Bridge) was built in the late 18th century by Arabs.

Another highlight of our Ronda visit was the orange trees planted along the roads. It was our first time seeing orange trees and my kids loved the experience! We were even allowed to pick.. but the oranges were very sour!

One of our inspirations to visit Spain was the hindi movie, Zindagi na milegi dobara, which has a few scenes of Ronda, especially El Tajo.

Welcome to my travels!

Travel has given me great pleasure. Even more pleasurable are planning before the trip and uploading your pictures and sorting your souvenirs after the trip! Well, the unpleasant ones (I have to share this too!) are rushing to get to the airport on time and of course, doing the laundry on return!

Choosing the right place to stay, organizing the sights to visit, planning culinary adventures within the constraints of vegetarianism (in my case), picking the right time to visit and all these within the walls of our budget adds to the thrill that travel brings. Even then travel has greeted me with pleasant surprises. Be it a steamboat lunch in Bangkok or a surprise vegetarian paella in Spain, I've come to the conclusion that travel is no fun without an element of surprise!

Armed with a point and shoot camera that allows me some freedom and with two kids that still need a lot of attention, I have been moderately successful with my photography. I hope to share my experiences with some pictures.

Now, I only hope I can update this frequently and inspire the readers to travel as well!

Here is a song from Nickelodeon that we are great fans of. Hope you like it too!