A Night of Medieval Magic

FROM AMIT'S VIEWPOINT

It was simply breathtaking. The entire chateau was composed of two towers connected with the entryway between them. The rest of the chateau was behind the wall. There were a total of only 12 or so rooms in the chateau, serviced by a handful of staff. The outside of the chateau had a couple of bicycles just waiting to be used, a pond and a swing. Our room happened to be in one of the towers, so it was round on the inside with a bath and a stand up shower. It was lavishly furnished with tables, a TV and a queen sized bed. We took a quick nap and went down for dinner. 

We had a glass of champagne in the sitting room and ordered dinner and a bottle of wine. After sitting and chatting for a bit, the waitress ( a delightful lady from the UK) informed us that our dinner was ready and asked if we were ready to be seated at the table. We both ordered a 4 course meal. Each course was an event and came out beautifully arranged on the plate. It contained several flavors in each bite. absouluotely amazing!

FROM ANJALI'S VIEWPOINT

We arrived at the Chateau in the early afternoon, after a beautiful drive through the countryside.  Upon arrival, we were greeted at the front desk by Holger, the manager.  He welcomed us by taking us on a tour of the grounds...the pool, gardens, living room, then showed us to our room in the tower.  It was decadent.  We relaxed in the room for a bit before venturing out into the gardens for a walk.  The gardens were lovely - a swing, a pond, trees, flowers...it was beautiful and so romantic.  After strolling around for a bit, we ventured over to the nearby town for a couple of beers.

That evening, we went down to the living room for some cocktails before dinner.  Since there were only 8 other guests in the chateau, it was a very personal experience.  When we sat down in the very posh but cozy living room, we were offered cocktails and handed our dinner menus right there.  We enjoyed a couple of glasses of champagne and let them know what we would be having for dinner.  About 15 minutes before our dinner was ready, we were shown to the dining area where we started with a bottle of wine and our first course.  Dinner was an event...really...we were down there in the living room, then the dining room, then coffee in the courtyard garden, for 3 hours.  We felt so pampered!  

From the Beaches of St. Tropez to the Walled City of Avignon

St. Tropez was amazing. The beaches were absolutely breathtaking. We spent the day there mostly. After that, we started on our way to Avignon. Thanks to Peter (yes, we brought him with us), we took the long way and a couple of detours before arriving here around 6:30pm.

Avignon is so different..basically the whole town is inside a fort-like wall. There are a few entrances to the town around the perimeter...our hotel is directly across from one of them. You can cover the diameter of the town in a 15 minute walk. We got some great pictures and enjoyed an evening stroll along the the Rhone River. We followed that up with dinner and then drinks, including the best Capirinah's I've ever had. Tomorrow we're headed to the Chateau-de-Massilan out in the country. Not sure if I'll have an internet connection out there so....

Today's musings by Amit:

One of the key places that I wanted to see was Avignon. It has an important part of European

history as it was the home of the Popes for several decades. We have an opportunity to walk the same hallways that the Popes did. Several rooms in there are maintained in

 similar way to how it was centuries ago, but the architecture of the buildings....they're really a castle on the outside with massive walls in a defensible positions. Clearly, the popes were preparing for battle, should that become necessary. The rooms inside show the non-religious side of being being a Pope and running the Papacy. Secret rooms where money and documents could be stored. Rooms for the financial and the basic functions that were necessary to run this government. Makes you wonder what's in Vatican City!

The city of Avignon is a quaint little town that's started inside the walls of the Palais and expanded to outside them. Many of the streets are too small for two cars side-by-side.

That night we ate in an Orange Restaurant near the Palaid des Popes (it was both called Orange and was completely orange on the inside - I mean everything - the furniture, the walls, everything!) and had yet another bottle of wine. I think we've had at least 1 bottle every night we've been here! To top it off, I wanted

 Tiramisu....and it came out as raspberry flavor! French Tiramisu = Raspberry Mousse served with raspberry sorbet (see pic on the right). Regardless, it was good! On our way back, we came across a church that had the arches lit up. We'd noticed this church on our way in, but didn't think much of it I noticed the moon provided a great background and quickly snapped off a few pictures.

Hobnobbing with the stars at Cannes

We spent the day in old town Nice today and climbed up a gazillion steps to an old castle ruin on a cliff. It really was a gazillion steps...I have a 6 minute video on my camera of the climb down to prove it.

After the workout, we spent the afternoon at the Cannes Film Festival. Look for us in the next issue of US Weekly. Unfortuntely, despite spending 3 hrs there, the only celeb we saw was Debra Messsing.....twice. Zzzzz...

The weather has turned gorgeous now. It's clear, sunny, about 70 degrees with a light breeze. Tomorrow we're heading to St. Tropez for the day, then on to Avignon.

Making millions in Monaco!

We're in Nice today.  Last night instead of going to the Jazz place, we made a detour to see the Eiffel Tower at night.  The sun sets around 9-something at night here, so we headed out around 9 to go to dinner somewhere near the Tower.  There are several restaurants directly across from the plaza from the Eiffel Tower.  We picked a really nice one and got a table outside facing the Tower.  Seeing the Eiffel Tower during sunset while we drank our wine was amazing.  After dinner we walked across and took several pictures.  I can't believe how crowded it was at 11pm!  Almost more so than during the day...  By the time we got done taking pictures and wandering around enjoying the view, it was past midnight.  And even though we wanted to stay out longer and hit a couple of pubs, fear of missing our morning train to Nice convinced us to head back to the hotel instead.

The train ride to Nice was about 5 hours.  We've now rented a car for the next 5 days until we get back to Paris.  

Our hotel here is right on the water so we've got a great view.  About 30 minutes away is Monaco.  We spent the evening living it up with the rich and famous in Monaco!  We ate at the restaurant outside the Monte Carlo.  It was amazing - everyone around us reeked of fame and fortune.  Amit was the only guy not wearing a suit or tux... But no bother, we acted important anyway :-)

After dinner we ventured into the Casino.  The walls and ceilings were covered with gold and picturesque murals.  Men in tuxes strutted by with gorgeous women half their age.  It was like a bond movie come alive.

Next to the Casino was the Hotel de Paris where all the fancy people stay.  So we went in and had a drink at the jazz club there.  I will never again complain about paying $6 for a Bailey's at Dukes.  I had 1 Bailey's at this place...it was $22...!!  Needless to say, I savored every expensive sip.  Every once in a while a tourist would wander by...ugh....really...who let *them* in?  ;-)

Tomorrow we're doing to...guess where...the Cannes Film Festival!!  Make sure you watch E! tonight to see if you spot me and my soon-to-be-BFF Lindsay Lohan on the red carpet!

Made it through Day 2!

Jet lag has us in a tight grasp today.  We set the alarm for 8:30 this morning, and literally

 had to push each other out of bed.  Both of us were waking up every hour last night...after all, it was the middle of the afternoon as far as our body clocks were concerned.

We had breakfast in a cafe down the street.  The best part about the area we're in is that it's not very touristy.  Sure it's just 2 short blocks from the Arc, but somehow it's full of locals.  So we're getting to use our French a lot which is lots of fun, and lots of laughs too.  We spent 15 mins trying to remember / figure out how to ask for another spoon this afternoon!  Zut alors!

The plan for the day was to visit the Palace de Versailles.  When we reached the ticket counter in a train station that's about halfway there (apparently you buy the tix here before you get all the way to Versailles), we were greeted with a sign telling us that Versailles is closed today.  Zut alors again!  So we decided that we'd switch gears and take care of seeing Notre Dame and the Louvre today.

Notre Dame was awesome.  I could almost hear Quasimodo calling my name...  The cathedral was *so* crowded that it kind of took away from the majesty of the place a little bit.  But the architecture was wonderous inside and out.

From there we walked over to the Louvre.  It was a beautiful day today - a bit cloudy, but it added an extra dramatic effect to the pictures :-)  When the sun came out, it got really hot, so we were perfectly happy with the clouds.  

For all those who told me that the Louvre would take 2-days...no way.  We finished up what we wanted to see in a little over 2 hrs.  Maybe we were just focused and knew that we wanted to see some pieces in particular.  Some famous ones we saw:  Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo, The Dying Slave,  The Raft of the Medusa, Napoleon III's apartment (this was breathtaking, btw).

We ended the day in a cafe - for coffee (for me) and beer (for Amit).  Now we're back in the hotel enjoying a couple of beers.  Planning to leave in about a half hour to go to

 dinner in the St. Germain district.  There's a restaurant and Jazz club called L'Arbuci that we want to check out.  That whole area is known for it's restaurants, pubs and bars.

Tomorrow morning we'll catch a 9:45am train to Nice.  I'm getting closer and closer to my night in the Chateau!!

We've arrived in Paris!

We've safely arrived in Paris!  When the plane landed, the pilot announced how great the weather was...beautiful and sunny skies.  From the airport, we took a bus which dropped us off at the Arc D'Triomph.  From there we had to walk 2 blocks to our hotel.  Suitcases in hand, we started walking.  And it promptly started raining.  Somehow the rain doesn't seem to bother people here.  They walk around like they don't even notice it.

The hotel's nice...small but really cute. We have a balcony that overlooks the lane outside.  I'm feeling very French right now.

After we quickly showered up, we went to the Arc for a photo-opp, then walked down to the Eiffel Tower.  It's amazing how late it gets dark here.  We were there around 8:30 and wanted to see it lit up at night.  The Information lady told us it lights up at 10.  We cursed the odd timing and decided to go have dinner instead.  In the middle of dinner, around 9:30, we glanced outside and noticed that it still wasn't completely dark outside!  Ok, so we're no longer complaining about the Eiffel Tower lighting up at 10pm.  We're planning to check it out tomorrow after we're well-rested. 

Tomorrow we're heading to Versailles in the morning, then spending the afternoon shopping, drinking coffee, and generally milling about town.  Keep your fingers crossed for us that we don't run into too much more rain.

Back from Cambria, now off to France!

we went down to cambria for the weekend with the gang. we had rented the perfect house - it had a huge fridge that i think Leena wanted to climb into, a pool table, a gorgeous garden, and truly spectacular views of the ocean... we got there friday night and didn't do much - sat around, drank beers, and just caught up. i was suffering from just about the worst allergy attack i've ever had so i was happy to have a low-key evening.

saturday was spent wine tasting in paso robles. i lost count of how many wineries we visited - i just know that i came home with some delicious new wines! i thought i loved sonoma, but this place was great - each winery gave us 10+ tastings! no wonder i don't remember how many we visited! saturday night we ordered mexican takeout from Medusa's (but Dumma and Sri decided to go to some other Mexican restaurant, and were annoyed when the place claimed that we never called in an order...So Dumma and Sri had to "Re"-order. Medusa's must have been less than thrilled that no one showed up to claim the 12 tacos, 2 quesadillas, and 4 orders of rice and

beans! After all the confusion was abated, we chowed down on some tacos (from the other restaurant!) while playing pool and sipping beers. we were determined to stay awake till at least 1am. mission accomplished.....barely....

sunday morning the husbands took care of all the cooking and made a fabulous brunch. it was a fantastic spread. everything was delicious, and...we learned from chethan that dicing an onion is an artform. We stuffed ourselves with fruits, dumma's famous french toast, naveen's gourmet pancakes, amit's double-secret recipe omlettes, etc... around 1pm we loaded up the cars and headed back home. a wonderfully relaxing weekend...

on tuesday, amit and i are off to France for about 12 days!! i'll try to blog daily from there so stay tuned in for the updates!

Crossed the finish line!

the relay for life was this weekend. it was amazing. i enjoyed my van driving responsibilities and hopefully did a good job of taking care of the runners in my van :-)

haven't heard any complaints so far...

check out my Van 1 posse in the pic...

friday night we were supposed to have dinner with dean karnzes, but he didn't show up...something about a flight delay. we were disappointed, but definitely felt better when we got to see him the next morning at the relay start! go team dean! some of our runners actually got to run with him for some of their segments.

everyone on the team did amazing! there was so much energy, it didnt matter that we didn't get more than 1-2 hours of sleep the entire weekend. right from the start in calistoga to the finish on the beach in santa cruz was a rush of energy and excitement. kudos to the Slow As Molassas team!

you can see all the pictures here

http://picasaweb.google.com/amit.rele/RelayForLife2008

cole slaw is the new salsa

5 days left till the Relay! After all these months of anticipation, it's finally here! We leave Friday afternoon to drive up to Calistoga. There's a dinner with Dean Karnazes (author of the autobiography Ultra-Marathon Man) that night. I am almost finished reading his book - have just a couple more chapters to go. Then the Relay starts Saturday morning and will wrap up by Sunday evening.

I'm the "official" Captain of Van 1, so runners 1-6 from our team will be with me. It's my job to make sure our team's runners get to their start points on time, give them water along the way, clock their times, etc... Oh and I'm also the official photographer of Van 1! Exciting stuff!!

Check back next week to see some pictures and hear about the run.

nothing noteworthy here

Amit and I were in Denver over the weekend visiting some friends. I'm fully convinced that Global Warming is causing all kinds of strange weather patterns. On Saturday it was 60-something degrees outside. There we were - in Denver on March 1, and we weren't even wearing our coats. Then....Sunday morning we woke up to see that snow had piled up overnight. It kept snowing pretty much all day. Brrr.... It was a fun weekend - these last minute trips are always a pleasant surprise.

This weekend we're doing another multi-segment run. I say "we" but really it's Amit and the rest of the team. Yes, I'm still doing the the training runs, too...but I don't have any of the pressure that they have for the relay...so I don't really feel qualified to say "we". I am really glad to part of this - it's a good cause - and I'd never be pushing myself like this if it weren't for everyone else. Check out Amit's page: http://www.firstgiving.com/amitrele

So this weekend, we're doing 3-4 Easy miles Friday night, then 6 Medium intensity miles Saturday morning, followed by 3-4 more Easy miles Saturday evening. I'm excited! Hope I can finish it... I'm fully expecting that I won't be going more than 3 steps away from my bed on Sunday.

Check back next week to see if I can still walk....