Paris Again

For a change this time our planned trip didn't have any glitches and we were ready to roll. Knowing that our trip would be hectic we boarded our plane to reach our destination Holland with a stopover at Paris just for a day. Paris stopover was just for the kids so that they could enjoy the most visited theme park in Europe - Disneyland. As soon as we landed, we dumped our luggage in the hotel and rushed to Disney World. Thankfully we had checked the weather forecast beforehand and knew that it was going to be a wet holiday for us and were fully geared with raincoats for the kids.

Is it ever possible that kids go to Disneyland and don’t have a blast… Come hail, rain or storm the kids had a great time. It was our first trip to Disneyland so let alone the kids, we were also soooo excited. The only thing the rain spoilt for us was the fireworks that got cancelled. We took park hopping tickets for both the parks and honestly we all had a blast seeing all the Disney characters come to life. Disneyland was a first for all of us. I am sure the kids were excited but am also certain the look on my face was equally awe stricken.

We all returned back to our hotel completely tired and exhausted and the journey’s sleep deprivation, the whole day’s walk and jet lag all kicked in at the same time and we all slept like babies. Next day we were ready to take our flight to Amsterdam. 

Cape Town – The place to be

We had an early morning flight so we could utilize our entire day in Cape Town. The moment we landed in Cape Town, our travel guide was there to take us for sight-seeing.  All though the late night and early morning hectic schedule was slowly building up on us, we tried to keep our spirits high and headed to Boulders beach. Boulders Beach/ Bay is close to Simon Town on the False Bay coast near Cape Town.  It was amazing to see so many African penguins nesting with their eggs. I thought that penguins thrived only in cold places like Antarctica but man I was so wrong. We took our perfect shots and headed to the southernmost point of African Continent – The Cape of Good Hope.

After checking my dream destination Australia, the next dream in the list is Antarctica which will take a lot many years to reach. So after reaching Cape of Good Hope it felt good to know that I was standing at the land closest to Antarctica. Another interesting fact is that this is the point where Indian and Atlantic Ocean collide and one can see different shade of water on the opposite ends.

On our way to Cape of Good Hope, we saw a tortoise cross the road and lots of ostriches, baboons and antelopes in the wild. Aakaash and kids did some rock climbing while I admired the vast Atlantic Ocean and Indian Ocean merge. Cape Point is also a part of the Table Mountain National Park. Later we hiked up to the Light House from where we could see the picturesque view of the oceans – both the Indian and the Atlantic.. We also saw so many Rock Hyrax resting on the ledge of the rocks and kids were so excited to spot them.  When we climbed down we could see the beautiful mountain which looked so much like the jaws of a shark.

The next place we headed to was - the Seal Island which is completely nested by the seals. Seal Island has probably around 60,000 seals and it was our first to see an island completely covered by seals. Seals being very inquisitive by nature kept following our boat. We all enjoyed the experience.

The next morning we left to see the Robben Island where the prisoners were banished, isolated and imprisoned. Today it is a World Heritage Center and a museum preserving the pictures of the price the Africans had to pay for their freedom.  Nelson Mandala also spent part of his life in the prisons of Robben Island. There were buses that took us around the island and showed us how and where the prisoners were kept. We also met up with one of the tour guides who was a prisoner in the island and shared some sad stories about himself. At the island we saw a few penguins nesting. So the kids wanted to have a closer look and wandered a little too close to the penguins comfort, suddenly we saw one of the parent (penguin) chase after the kids. We had a hearty laugh and the kids learnt their lesson to keep a good distance while watching wild life.

After coming back from Robben Island we took a Pirate cruise. The kids enjoyed the show and the ship’s décor was as authentic as possible. It felt like we had just moved into the ship that was featured in the Pirates of the Caribbean; only a smaller version of it and we had Jack Sparrow captaining it. It was an amazing experience for all of us. The only thing in water I am dreadfully scared of is Jelly fish and on our cruise believe you me I have never ever in my life seen so many Jelly fishes in the sea as many as I saw on our hour trip. After the tour we went to the street with colourful houses known as Bo-Kaap. Many houses are still owned by the decendants of the slaves from Malaysia, Indonesia & Africa who were bought during the 17th & 18th century.

The following day we got ready and headed to the most famous Table Mountain which is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. To our luck, the day was clear with no fog or clouds that could have potentially ruined our view. So we took the cable car which rotated 360 degrees during ascend and descend giving us the amazing view of the whole of Cape Town.  There were so many ground hogs lazing around all over the place. We hiked around for a while and enjoyed the picturesque view. So more or less our sight-seeing tour was over and the next days were just to enjoy the place and have a relaxed holiday with no hectic schedules.

The next day we went to the Two Oceans Aquarium which has
Atlantic and Indian Ocean gallery. Kids had a great time seeing penguins, jelly fish, sea horses, sharks, stingrays, penguins, star fishes, Rock Hopper penguins which are the smallest penguins, turtles and different kind of fishes. They also organized puppet show for the kids while the parents could make decorative pens for their children, so we did that while the kids had a hearty laugh watching the puppet show. Later that evening Aan did his trampoline jumps for the first time ever. In the evening we rode on the Ferris wheel and enjoyed the evening at the laid back Cape Town.

The next day we just roamed aimlessly in Victoria & Alfred Waterfront. In the afternoon we went to the Green Market Square which is one of the oldest markets on the cobbled square of Cape Town. It is flooded with clothing, jewellery, sandals, artefacts and other knick knacks.  In all we definitely had an amazing time and a memorable holiday in South Africa.

Johannesburg - Rich History and Culture

 After an overdose of Europe we decided to explore Africa, hence we planned a 9 day trip to South Africa which is the 25th largest country in the world. Our first stop was Johannesburg, where we stayed for 3 days. All of the people we knew had discouraged us to stay in Johannesburg; however, I really came to like the city a lot. It has a rich culture, heritage albeit a painful history.

After the 6 hours flight we reached our hotel early in the morning.  We checked into the hotel, had a quick breakfast and went to visit the Constitutional Hill which holds the chilling and dark stories of the struggle that an African man had to face especially in prison. We heard many stories of the revolutionaries who boycotted the racial policies and unjust civil rights to attain equality for the coloured races. It was gruesome just to see the harsh conditions that the prisoners had to face on a daily basis. I can’t begin to fathom how the society didn't act against the barbarians who treated their fellow men with such cruelty. We also saw the jail where Nelson Mandela and Gandhiji were kept. It was an honour to see that the South African government in collaboration with the Indian Government has dedicated an entire room for Gandhiji’s clothing’s, speeches and his beliefs. It makes you believe that one man’s belief can help to change and inspire an entire society.

Constitutional Hill consists of a fort, women’s jail, awaiting trial block and the prison ward infamously known as Number 4 & 5. For decades, thousands of prisoners were brutally punished, beaten, abused and made to do the most humiliating Tauza dance. They were kept in dirty and overcrowded conditions stripping the prisoners of their dignity psychologically and physically. Gandhiji was imprisoned in 1906 and as we all know the history; that’s where the struggle for Satyagraha originally started. The photographs, objects, sounds and voice recording makes you travel back in time but it is almost impossible to try and picture yourself in the unimaginable situation that the prisoners had to go through every single day of their life. In the same vicinity is the Constitutional Court which I was very impressed to see. There is a huge handmade flag of SA from beads made by the local women which is remarkable. The way the SA government has beautifully architected the Court by preserving the partially demolished “awaiting trial block” and merging it into the new building – thereby making the whole place ironical yet prideful. It shows that they have come so far with their determination to change the society and embodied complete freedom in every aspect of life. Usually we would try to forget such horrifying past but to see them preserve the rich and complex history however gruesome it was and to make a progressive new beginning is commendable. The architect has beautifully designed the building in such a way that the building interweaves the past with the future.

After visiting the Constitutional Hill, we headed to the Lion Park. The Lion Park is a place where you can hear the roar of lions amongst the whisper of grasslands.  I was extremely excited to see the rare White Lions. There were individual huge enclosures for Cheetahs and Lions where you could take your car and drive down. In a separate small enclosure were 3 cute little white lion cubs that we could touch and click snaps with. Later we went and fed the giraffes followed by a safari around the property where we saw hyenas, zebras, deers etc in the wild and in their natural habitat.

We were just about to leave when my eyes read something that excited me instantaneously. It was a banner of “Walk with the Cheetahs”. I told Aakaash that I really wanted to do it. I know he wanted to do it too but we didn’t have enough time to do it separately and with 2 small kids we couldn’t have done it together. While we were discussing the possibilities of who goes and who stays behind, one of the organizers kindly volunteered to help us with the kids and offered to stay with them in the car while we were with the Cheetah. We had an experience of our life time with the Cheetah. While we were with the Cheetah, she decided to put her paw gently on my hand and when she lifted her paw, it left a small puncture in my skin and a tiny drop of blood oozed out which was enough to remind me of the power this magnificent animal holds. With the setting sun we bid goodbye to the beautiful Cheetah. Our day had been perfect and we were looking forward to the rest of our holiday.

The next morning we were to go and see the Lipizzaners Show. Not many people know about this Show. Lipizzan are the oldest human bred Stallion horses which are rare and unique. It was amazing to see the Stallions perform in perfect sync with each other and their spectacular leaps and unique maneuvers were worth the applaud they got. I didn’t know that a stallion’s coat is jet black when it’s young and as it matures into adulthood its coat becomes pure white. After the show ended we headed towards the barn where we all enjoyed feeding the horses carrots and later headed to see the Cradle of Humankind.

Another place which is famous in Johannesburg is Maropeng for having some of the oldest archaeological and human fossils in the world. There have been many sites and series of caves from where fossils have been excavated and are still are being discovered. This area has been named as Cradle of Humankind. This place is an hour’s drive from Johannesburg and is a World Heritage Site by Unesco. We first went to Sterkfontein Caves where one of the oldest fossils and stone tools dating back 2 million years old and skeletons dating 3 million years were found. Sterkfontein Caves is a set of limestone caves where excavation work is still going on. This is the only longest and continuous running fossil excavation ground in the world.  There are around a dozen dolomitic limestone caves in that area.  After an exciting trek we were taken to the museum where the fossils and other displays are kept.

The third day we had just kept for shopping and had an amazing time off course. So we took a cab and drove 45 mins to reach the premium outlets and stores. After we got dropped we realized that we were not at the right place so we requested the cab to drop us to the place which was 5 mins away. The driver was nice and kind enough to wait for us. We took 3 hours just in Toys R Us and with so many toys it was impossible for us to go to other stores, so we put all our stuff in the boot of the cab and shopped for another 2 hours. In retrospect I now think that we made such a fool hardy decision. What if the guy had decided to take off, there was nothing that we could have done, but I would just say that we were lucky. The next morning we were excited to board our flight to - Cape Town to continue our adventure.

Dubai

Writing a blog after a year….Although supposedly I am a stay at home mom, wonder why I just don’t happen to find the time at all…

Anyway this time we decided to have a stop over at Dubai for a week before we went to Delhi. Even though we had already been to Dubai; we were yet to experience Dubai in the true sense. So I chalked out my itinerary and we started our journey from Lagos to Dubai. Aakaash’s colleague and friend Maqsood, his wife Shagufta and their son Muaad were also travelling with us in the same flight, so the kids had a blast since they had a friend to play with for 7 hours in the flight. Once we landed, we checked into our hotel and later decided to meet up with them to see Bhurj Khalifa - the tallest building in the world.

When we reached the tallest free standing structure in the world, it was amazing to see the view from the observation deck called “At the Top” which is at 124^th floor. It has the tallest elevator in the world functioning at 10 meters per second taking us to the 124^th floor in a minute. It has the world’s highest observation deck at a height of 452m. It also has the world record of having the highest stories in the world with more than 160 floors and also has the highest occupied floors in the world. It was totally awesome to see the city view from there.

From there we walked down to the Dubai Mall which is the largest shopping mall in the world. However we didn’t get enough time since we were meeting up with other friends from Lagos - Rajesh and Phalguni who hosted us for dinner, after which we retired back to our hotel.

The next day we had kept free for shopping and later we were meeting up with another couple for dinner who used to stay in Lagos but now are residents of Dubai. After scanning the Mall Of Emirates to buy my camera we met up with Sandhya and Sanjay along with their kids Nakul and Nikhil. It was really nice to meet them after almost a year. The kids especially enjoyed meeting each other after such a long time. So after dinner; when I saw that my appetite for shopping was not yet full; and after saying our goodbyes, we took a cab back to MOE again. The day had been fruitful since I had managed to buy the camera and other lil nick knacks.  Hence we called it a night and went back to our hotel.

The next morning we were rejuvenated and charged up to use the new DSLR, moreover we were going for Desert Safari. Till now we were having our normal holiday, relaxing days nothing extra ordinary to make our pulse go haywire… but we usually do find something or the other to make our BP travel to extreme numbers. So after we got up, we had our breakfast, made the kids ready and decided to leave a little early to have the feel of the city before we reached for Dune bashing which was at 3pm. Just when we were leaving the room, we were checking on the stuff we had to carry. So Aakaash said “Diaper bag”, I said “Check”, “New camera bag”, I said “yippee check” and then I said “Old camera bag” and we went in panic mode…

We never realized that the previous night we never came back to the hotel with our old camera bag. The bag had our digital camera and handy cam… the worst of all… Aananya’s birth recording and all were in it…. It was all gone. We couldn’t recall where we left it or what happened to it. Immediately I called Sandhya with whom we had had dinner the previous night, coz we did remember that we had clicked snaps with them. What we didn’t know was where we left the camera; possibilities were in the cab, the restaurant, on our way to the mall, the mall or on our way back to the hotel. With Sandhya’s help we got the number of Cab Company only to realize that they have different cab colours and we didn’t remember which one we had taken and hence we had to call all the different companies to ask if they found a handy cam. Since we still had some time left before Desert Safari, we decided to go back to the mall and see if we had some luck there.

I went to the store in which we had gone and asked them if they found a handy cam but they didn’t say anything and called the person from lost and found department to come and talk to us. Suddenly when the uniformed attendant appeared in front of me, I couldn’t control my smile. I saw him carrying the camera bag and he asked me for identification to prove that it was mine. Luckily it was very simple since I had kept the passport copy of ours in it and that’s how we got our handy cam back. 

So we still manage to have these nerve wrecking moments even in a supposedly simple and relaxing holiday. Now with peace of mind we were all set to get our adrenal rushing for Dune bashing. Dune bashing is a very popular sport in Dubai where you are driven in a 4 wheel drive on the sand dunes at high speed. They deflate the tires and then you are driven on steep sand dunes. It is like being on a roller coaster ride on the sand dunes. It is indeed an exhilarating experience.

A Desert Safari usually includes Dune bashing, camel ride in the scenic desert, henna painting, sheesha for hooka lovers, Arabic dinner and belly dance performances. After dune bashing we reached the venue right on time to capture the picturesque sunset from the middle of the desert and to enjoy rest of the desert safari. We hired quad bikes and raced on sand dune tracks. After the thrill of driving the quad bike; the kids and Aakaash went on the camel ride under the blanket of stars with a perfect full moon following them all along.

Later we went back to the place where food was laid out for us and it was amazing to see a very small platform created right in the middle of the desert for the performances covered by Arabian carpets, low tables and loads of cushions to make us comfortable.  This area was surrounded by small souvenir shops. There was a stall where you could dress up like an Arabian woman or man and click snaps with a live eagle perched on your shoulder or hand; which Aakaash went ahead and experienced but to be under the abaya was too much for me to handle so I just enjoyed clicking pictures of him. Aananya and I got henna put on our hands. Aananya got it done for the first time in her life. At first she was excited but later she just wanted it all gone and kept saying her hands had become dirty and smelt funny.

Later with our dinner we were entertained by a human horse puppet, followed by the much awaited belly dancer but the best performance was the Tanoura dance which is a dance of prayer. The first time I ever saw this style of dance was on a cruise in Egypt but this was class apart due to the specially designed dress that had miniature light bulbs that came to life in the middle of the dance to depict new life and pure soul. This beautiful dance is usually performed by men who swirl in colorful long skirt like outfit and most of their performance is done spinning and swirling with various accessories. The swirling refers to the circle of life and the entire dance is performed in that manner and when they stop spinning, the sufi men show no sign of dizziness. The dance was definitely mesmerizing. Later we were driven back in the 4WD to the place where the tires were inflated again and we were driven back to our hotel.

The next day we went to Ibn Battuta Mall to meet up with Aakaash’s friend Neeta and her daughter Urvashi. Interestingly Ibn Battuta Mall is the world’s largest themed mall. It has 6 courts with themes of China, India, Persia, Egypt, Tunisia and Andalusia. However we didn’t have the time to see it all but it was nice to meet up with friends after 5 years. Spent some time with them and later went to our family friend’s house for dinner. We met Prashant, Indrani, Ananya and aunty after 6 years. It was really nice to catch up with friends after such a long time. This was the perfect way to end our journey and head to Delhi.

Mesmerizing Zakynthos

Early in the morning we were ready for our long journey to Zakynthos or Zante. We endured the 5 hour long bus journey with the kids. The view through the latter part of the drive was right out of an imaginary painting that probably couldn’t have been a part of this world. Driving down the curvy mountains along the sea was just breathtakingly beautiful.

After 5 hours we reached our destination on land; from there we were to be ferried to Zante. We got off the bus and our bus drove into this huge Ship which could accommodate so many more buses in its cargo space. Thereafter we moved onto this luxurious Cruise with multileveled decks. The best part was that thankfully I didn’t get sea sick because we couldn’t even know that the ship was moving although it was cruising at a high speed. It almost felt like what one would have felt while sitting in the Titanic.  On our 1 hour 30 mins sail, it was wonderful to see an inquisitive pod of seals swimming along and following our ship till we were in their “territory”.

 

Finally when we reached Zakynthos we took on foot to explore the town and finalized the cruise which would take us around the entire Zakynthos Island. Later we returned to our resort and the kids were so thrilled since the resort was totally kids friendly with separate tables and chairs for kids in the dinning room, children’s pool with water slides, beautiful playground and a room with toys and books. To top this in the evening - games, magic show, puppet show and tattoos for kids were being organized. This resort was a total kid’s paradise. So rest of the evening kids spent playing on the slides and play room while we relaxed and enjoyed watching them so thrilled and excited.  Since the resort was on the beach Aan and Aananya enjoyed walking on the beach and soaked up good in the sea.

 

The next morning we were ready for our full day cruise around the entire island of Zakynthos. The cruise was going to be for 8 to 9 hours and would take us around the island of Zakynthos stopping in between at amazing sites and secluded beaches which can be accessed only by sea.It seems like our kids had an easy access to the Captain’s room and were yet again offered to try their hand in steering the ship. I have to admit it was pretty cool though!

Our first stop on the cruise was the blue caves where you can see the magical turquoise water with hints of emerald green. After soaking in the beauty we headed for the Shipwreck Cove, also known as Navagio which is well known throughout the world. As soon as the boat anchored, we ran into the beach and Aanya enjoyed splashing around in the water and Aan had fun swimming. This is where Aakaash decided to play brave and dived from the 2^nd floor deck. I am sure that must have been really thrilling for him!

After much of fun and frolicking we headed towards Porto Vromi where we saw the face of Poseidon, the sea god. It is unbelievable to see clearly the face from naturally eroded cave rock. The next stop was Agalas Caves; since our ship was big so we couldn’t go through the natural caves on the sea but people who wanted to dive in and explore the caves were given enough time to do so and of course Aakaash was one of them. The water was so clear we could see schools of beautiful colored fishes from the deck. Later we headed towards Keri caves and in some locations, the only option to go in the water was to dive down and Aakaash and Aan definitely took all the opportunities to get soaked in the beauty of the turquoise blue unadulterated sea. Thankfully for Anya and me; we had an air conditioned lounge with a play area which kept both of us busy and allowed to take our scheduled nap. While we were cruising along the Zakynthos Island, the play area was a big saving grace for us; else the kids would have got totally bored and cranky.

Later when we reached the resort the kids jumped into the kid’s swimming pool with water slides and splashed around. Aananya has a blast since the water was below her waist and she could walk around and enjoyed to the fullest. While in the pool they enjoyed watching the cartoon characters that were moving around as a part of the activities for the kids organized by the resort. Both Aan and Aananya preferred to chill in the water than go join the other kids. After having early dinner at the resort we headed to see the night life of Zakynthos. It was amazing that the market was open till 12am at night, considering almost everything in Europe shuts down max by 7pm. We moved around on foot and shopped a little. This was the last night at Zakynthos the next day we were heading back to Athens. This was a perfect place and holiday for us as a family and especially the kids had a blast in the Galaxy resort. 

Historic Athens

When you say the word Greece – the picture that comes to mind is of beautiful turquoise blue water, white sandy beaches, beautifully architectured islands and Greek Gods! Well based on this picture I finalized the location for our holiday!

After seeing the unbelievable and beautiful pictures of Greece we set on our journey from Lagos to Athens. By the time we reached our hotel the day was gone so we decided to chill out and had the feel of Omonia Square which is the heart of Athens and that’s where we were staying too. For the first time we experienced staying in a boutique hotel where every room was designed on a different theme. Our junior suite was glamorous with literally shimmering walls and modern décor with intricacies and delightful ideas such as a tiny shopping bag with an “out for shopping” door knob tag and a beautiful shopping list note pad etc.

The next day we were fresh to visit the World Heritage Site– Parthenon, Acropolis. It is indeed a spectacular site and surprisingly I thought that the structure was called Acropolis but it’s the cultural monument that is called Parthenon and acropolis means a high city (like on a hill) and there are many acropolises in Greece but that’s what I thought! Later during the day we took the hop on hop off bus and saw the sites of many ancient temples, the Olympic stadium, Hadrian’s Arc, Temple of Olympian Zeus, Syntagma Square and Monestiraki Square.

The third day we were ready to cruise to the islands of Hydra, Porus and Aegina. This beautiful island hopping ship had live orchestra, open decks, lunch, Greek dancers and the spirit to make your cruise a perfect one. However this is the first time I discovered that I can get sea sick… So you can imagine the excitement soon turned into a little bit of disappointment for me. I kinda kept myself excited till we reached Hydra which is a small lush island with narrow maze of streets, beautiful architecture and has dramatic landscape with traditional stone houses. While we were on the deck Aan and Aananya seem to have captured loads of attention and were invited to the Captain’s room to see the wonderful view and steer the ship. Not only the kids but we too were thrilled with the experience.

By the time we headed towards Porus, I was certain that I was getting sea sick and decided to spend time trying to take a nap in the lounge rather than the open deck. Sometimes your body surprises you; I love the ocean and the sea and never thought in a million years that I could get sea sick. Well the moment we reached the beautiful harbour of Hydra I was all set to explore the picturesque town. We explored the stone paved streets on foot since the only traditional vehicle of the island is the saddled donkey, mule or a horse. No vehicles are used in the town.

When we reached back to our ship, the table had been set for a gastronomic 5 course creation of authentic Greek food. After the elaborate meal there was an entertainer who made us laugh with silly imitations of various people from different countries and culture followed by Greek dancers who dragged some of us on the floor to break a leg with them.

We didn’t even realize how 2 hours had passed and we had already reached the docks of our last island Aegina. Aegina is the main producer of pistachio nuts in Greece and is famous for pistachio ice cream which, by the way is not very palatable to me, so while others decided to dig into the pistachio ice cream, I indulged in the chocolate vanilla fudge and then we decided to take a horse carriage ride around the town. This was the perfect way to end our trip to the islands. I will try not to remember the rest of the way back to Athens; that I spent literally sleeping in the lounge to avoid barfing on the decks. When we reached our hotel, we were tired and packed our luggage for the next day’s journey to the beautiful island of Zakynthos. 

The last destination of Switzerland - Geneva

After travelling from Paris to Laussane, Zurich, Engleburg, Interlaken; finally we reached our last destination Geneva. This is for the first time we traveled to so many places in one trip. Since we reached in the evening we didn’t have much time to see the place however one landmark that I definitely didn’t want to miss was the one of the largest fountain in the world the Jet d Eau. This fountain jets out 500 liters of water per second at an altitude of 140 meters and at a speed of 200 km per hour. It truly is a spectacular sight.

This magnificent fountain was the perfect closing ceremony to our beautiful, adventurous and unforgettable trip. A memory and an unforgettable experience that will stay in our hearts forever and with that we headed back home to Nigeria.