Vacation wrap up.....

Yes, am back from a lovely vacation, short but sweet. For those who may not know, my son and son-in-law visited from DC, spent a week here in Hyderabad, then were joined by another friend of theirs, Muriam, from New York, and together the 5 of us headed to Chennai and Pondy and then back to Chennai. Here are a few pics....we stayed at the Taj at Fisherman's Cove in Chennai and The Dune at Pondicherry, both fabulous places, one outrageously expensive and the other much more affordable, but both my idea of heaven on earth!

Getting ready to leave, the boys saying bye to the doggies

 The Taj at F. Cove....opulent, gorgeous, decadent, ridiculously expensive bliss! I don't think I'll be going back.....

The Dune....2 days of amazing food, yoga, ayurvedic massages, hammock swinging, star gazing, playing with dogs, biking.....pure absolute down-to-earth bliss! I'd go back in a jiffy......

Back in Chennai I visited my tiny 88 year old grandma, and even though she cannot remember what happened 5 minutes ago, she can easily remember all the songs she learned and sang in her hey days

then we visited Sharavana Bhavan for their famous filter coffee....and realized why they were so famous for it.....I also think the ambience has something to do with it, after all they say you eat with your eyes too.....the tiny rickety steel tables, waiters yelling out orders for dosas and idlis, fragrance of coconut chutney permeating the room, piping hot coffee in small tumblers, it all adds up!

I also visited - after much phone calling and direction asking and finger pointing and my son's blackberry internet googling - the much touted Amethyst store in Chennai. They have moved locations recently and ever since Vineeta blogged about it, I have been wanting to go. After about a half hour of driving round and round in a 1/2 mile radius, we finally located it and I was determined to buy something to show for all that searching. But maybe it was that they hadn't moved all of their stock, maybe it was the ambience which I really didn't care for (too frou frou and NRI-ey) or maybe it was the hugely overpriced items that I simply could not justify buying....whatever it was, I could not bring myself to buy anything and left in a hurry! Oh well!

We also visited Mahabalipuram en route to Pondy, check my travel blog in a few days to see all the hundreds of pics I took in all the places.....

Now I am back, really ready to take on 2011!