Sunday, May 3, 2009

Away and Beyond!

Hi Everybody,

Hope everybody's doing great!

Wow! can't believe that I vanished for good three months. Well I have been away for 3 weeks in March to Paris, Belgium and to India and trust me this is going to be more of a travel blog this time and to add to it ever since I came back from my vacation, have been on a major travel spree, constantly thinking of where to go next.

So our first stop was at Paris but we didn't get chance to see much of Paris except Eiffel Tower and Moulin Rouge which were steps away from our hotel. But what I thoroughly enjoyed was our trip to Belgium, rather Ieper, Belgium. Ieper is an ancient city located in the Flemish province of West Flandres in the westhoek region of Belgium. We took the TGV train to Lille Flandres, northern Frances's largest city by far, surprises many visitors with its impressive architecture, the winding streets of its tastefully restored old quarter. At the same time, the city spreads far into the countryside in every direction. The city is now becoming a fashionable place to spend a weekend.

What we saw in Ieper:

Cloth Hall (Lakenhalle):
which is situated in the heart of the city on the market place, the Grote Markt. The market square is surrounded by a range of building . Several shops sell the famed Belgian chocolates.
Menin Gate Memorial, Ypres, Belgium: contains the names of 54,896 officers and men from all the overseas British and Commonwealth forces who fell in the Ypres Salient before 16th August, 1917. Names are engraved in Portland stone panels fixed to the inner walls of the Hall. The memorial does not include name of the missing of New Zealand and Newfoundland forces, who are named on separate memorials.

Even though the weather wasn't supportive enough and with young kids, not much was possible, but we had a wonderful time.

Our next stop was our final destination which is India --- my native country. The weather was exactly what we were hoping for. Warm and lots of sunshine. Lots of delicious food and we did get to play the festival of colour meaning "HOLI" which occurs @ that time. In addition to it lots of quality family time, fun n frolic.

Memories that I will cherish forever.