Oh My, Mumbai!

Paul's parents flew into Mumbai last night. We picked them up at the airport. Paid a small bribe to leave the airport parking and made our way to the Grand Maratha Hotel for our evening's rest. We woke around 9 am to make our way down to Colaba to have a nice brunch at Indigo Deli. On the way, we decided to stop at the Dhoby Ghat (otherwise known as the Indian laundromat). Here you can see the Dhobywallas, laundry cleaners, cleaning the fabric.
A morning commuter train passes us by packed with people . . .

We finally make our way to Colaba, locate the Indigo Deli, have brunch, and walk over to the Gateway of India. Oops, we were not paying attention for this photo and were busy chatting away.

Here's a better posed photo . . .
A photo of the Taj Hotel after the recent terrorist attacks. Despite the terror attacks, Colaba was teeming with life on this sunny afternoon.

After the Taj Hotel and some brief shopping in Colaba, we make the 3 hour journey by car back to Pune. Hungry and tired, we walk over to Soho for some kebabs and pizza before heading back to the flat for dinner.

Snakes, Tigers, and Wine! Oh My!

A Saturday afternoon to the Pune Zoo and Snake Park followed by the 2nd Annual Pune Wine Tasting Festival. The Pune Zoo and Snake Park exceeded our expectations in terms of size and maintenance. The highlights of the snake exhibit were the king cobra and turtles. The overall highlight of the zoo was the massive white tiger. Later in the afternoon, we ventured over to the Pune Wine Tasting Event to sample local Nashik wines. We found a terrific label called Reveilio and proceeded to purchase quite a few bottles.

Here we are at the entrance of the zoo . . .

All visitors are warned the following . . . (Persecute, rag? How does one persecute or rag an animal at the zoo?)

A small child fills his water bottle . . .

Paul bravely enters Snake Park. Though this does not seem like a tremendous feat, Paul is terrified of snakes and so going to Snake Park is a big challenge for him . . .

Rat snake exhibit . . .

Here are some simple steps to avoid snakes and snakebites. Hmmm, does our apartment building follow these rules ? (Wink, Wink!)

We leave Snake Park and enter the Zoo. The finale was the gigantic and beautiful white tiger. Here is a photo of the tiger as he woke from his afternoon nap and dined on some greens.

Now, off to the 2nd Annual Pune Wine Tasting Festival at Rohi Villa Palace wedding hall, Lane 7, Koreagaon Park. We were truly impressed with the professional level of organization of the event. We sampled some lovely Nashik wines and had a nice end to our day in the beautiful courtyard.

We all enjoy some wine and conversation as well as rest our feet . . .

Adriana and Kevin diligently search for wine and report their findings back to us . . .

Sunday Soccer Match

Paul finally found a group of men to play soccer! Here are some photos of the guys playing on this sunny Sunday afternoon in Koreagaon Park.

Huddle before the match starts . . .

Kris has the ball . . .

Sophie the dog tries to escape, so Janneke grabs her before she dashes away.

Kris and Paul on defense . . .

The children watch in awe at these tall men playing football on their field . . .

Marcello takes the ball and Paul chases after him down the field!

Timeout! A goat crosses the field.

Girls Week in New Delhi

A girls week in New Delhi. Just what I needed after Thanksgiving. Ann-Sofie and I left bright and early on Tuesday morning to go and visit our friend Jayne and do a little Christmas shopping. New Delhi is a little different from Pune in terms of size, infrastructure, and shopping. Once we arrived in New Delhi, we drove to Jayne's lovely home in the New Friend's Colony and had a "bucket" of coffee. Then, we drove out to some of the new, chic malls. I actually felt like I was back home at Somerset. It was a very dizzying experience. However, on a important positive note, I was able to locate shoes for my gigantic, peasant size 10 US (41 Europe) feet. Though this is a very shallow observation, until you cannot purchase shoes that fit, you do not understand the importance of locating a shoe shop in the country you reside!

A photo of the modern mall as we approach . . .

Some lovely sandals at Nine West were discovered . . .

I tried on at least half a dozen ballet flats at Aldo until I found the perfect pair!

A colorful wall of fabrics at H.P. Singh leaves us overwhelmed with choices . . .
Lunch at the Imperial's 1911 Restaurant. (Photo: Ann-Sofie, Melissa, and Jayne)

Sushi, salad greens, tuna tartare, and gazpacho for lunch . . . Creme brulee, dark chocolate, pear charlotte, and chocolate cake for dessert . . .

Christmas shopping on the Janpath near Connaught Place . . .
Jayne and Ann-Sofie venture into a shop looking for treasures . . .

Driving around in Delhi traffic on a real expressway . . .

Now, back home to Pune . . .

O Christmas Tree!

It's December 1st and Paul and decided that it is time to decorate the house with the Christmas tree and Nativity. Yes, I insisted we bring the Christmas tree from Michigan to Maharashtra. The tree holds special significance as it is 30 years old this year. It was the first Christmas tree that my grandparents bought my parents after learning my mother was pregnant with me! It's a bit of a Charlie Brown tree now that it's as old as I am, but I still love and Paul has grown to tolerate it for me.

First, we arranged the Nativity on the sideboard. Below we are placing the angel.

And now for the Christmas tree. First, out of the box and up it goes.

Yea!! I found lights from the US in the box. This is a treat! We convert the plug and the tree looks beautiful for about 2 hours before the lights die. Apparently, we forgot to also transform the power! Silly Behrens'! So, we now leave the flat for the next 4 hours to search for Christmas lights in Pune. I did try asking for Diwali lights, but those are intended for outdoor use and get too hot to use on the tree. Finally, we locate a narrow lane off M.G. Road that sells Christian goods and there they have proper Christmas lights.

We get home and place the new Indian Christmas lights on the tree. Oh no, they are actually nets of lights not strands! Luckily, Paul used his engineering skills again and detached all the nets to make a string out of the lights.

Here is stringing the makeshift strands on the tree!

Let there be light!

With the light and the ribbon garland, the tree does not appear to look that bad.
Here, Paul is placing the finishing touches on the tree before we place the angel on the top.

Merry Christmas to all our family and friends at home!

Happy Thanksgiving from India

Happy Thanksgiving from India! Paul and I wanted to try and recreate a traditional Thanksgiving feast as much as possible here from Pune. It was not an insurmountable task, but it did require a bit of planning. Paul and I had a successful Thanksgiving feast for 10 people including chicken, fresh cranberry relish, mashed potatoes, gravy, turnips, carrots, Brussels sprouts, asparagus, green beans, green bean casserole, Waldorf salad, stuffing, and my Grandma's yeast rolls. To finish, we had a delicious carrot cake and pumpkin pie! There were some substitutions and a lot of creative thinking, but we made it work. . . somehow, despite the tiny oven with one rack and power outage from 9 am - 5pm. I did not take too many photos as I was busy in the kitchen most of the day . . .

Here I am T-7 days into planning trying to figure out where and what to buy for dinner!

Matthew and I venture over to Shivaji Market the day before Thanksgiving to purchase some fresh vegetables.

Here's a close up of the market . . .

Inside, you will see a colorful array of herbs, vegetables, and fruits. Here I spot the best looking asparagus since leaving the US. Not the best looking by US standards, but for India, extremely good!

Happy Thanksgiving! As an aperitif, Paul prepared a lovely cheese platter, nuts and chex mix. Matthew decided to celebrate his Irish heritage and prepared Irish coffee for us. He tried to whip the cream, but it turned immediately into butter! He ran out quickly to find some more suitable cream to make sweetened whipped cream!


Kevin, Adriana, and Joanna introduce themselves over Irish coffee and expat experiences. Lily is very happy Kevin and Adriana have moved to India this week as she met their Black Labrador named Maggie today at the party.

Lily takes a nap before dinner. She is very tired from cooking all day and playing with Maggie.

Dinner is served. Paul-the-Engineer brings in the outdoor table so that the 10 guests can sit together. Of course, half of the people scatter as soon as the camera appears!

Fin. If the kitchen is a complete and utter disaster, then the meal was a success. From the look of this kitchen, it appears Thanksgiving was indeed a success!