where does the time go?

Wow, it’s hard to believe that our European summer adventures began two months ago.  Like any good summer, it has been going way too fast!

Aman and I decided to spend the summer in Europe because... well, we are a couple of nomads this year, and nomads have a habit of following the clement weather.  (It's that simple.)  Also, notwithstanding his extensive travels on several of the world's other continents, Aman was a relative newcomer to Europe before this trip.  (He had traveled here only once previously - Barcelona, 2008.)  We couldn't fathom the idea of him coming home from this great journey without touching down in Europe for a bit.

Let's start where it all started.

After our unplanned and random night of fun in Madrid, Aman and I were wheels up, soaring thousands of feet above the snow-capped Alps, on a short flight to Prague.  The capital of and largest city in the Czech Republic, Prague is home to 1.3 million people and well renowned for being one of the most beautiful cities in Eastern Europe.  Indeed, we arrived in the middle of a glorious summer evening, just as the sun was starting to get low in the sky.  The picturesque buildings on the east side of the River Vltava were all drenched in golden light as the sun slowly faded behind the Prague Castle to the west.  It was a pretty awesome greeting alright.

Not to get too proud of ourselves, but over the next five days, Aman and I were quite productive in terms of exploring.  We roamed around and got lost for kicks in the twisting cobble-stoned streets that seemed, in places, to intersect four or five at a time.  (It was usually at these junctures that - all of the sudden - we couldn't find a single street sign.) We strolled up and down the eastern bank of the River Vltava and took leisurely walks across the famous historic Charles Bridge, which is adorned with thirty giant, baroque-style statues of different saints and - during the day - packed full of pedestrians, artists, musicians, and street vendors. 

We wandered around Old Town Square at all times of the day and night to marvel at the unique architectural beauty of the buildings - the baroque style of the Church of St. Nicolas, the gothic twin steeples of Tyn Church - and the massive statue of the religious reformer Jan Hus who, in 1415, was burned at the stake for his heretic beliefs.

We climbed to the top the Astronomical Clock for amazing 360° views of the city.  We admired the houses clustered around Old Town Square with red-tiled roofs in various shades of peach, pink, yellow and pale blue.

We climbed down to the base of the Astronomical Clock just in time to see the clock come to life, as it does for the crowd on the hour, every hour. 

We indulged in an informative walking tour of the city’s New Town, Old Town and Jewish Quarter, which started in Wenceslas Square, a place of frequent demonstrations during the non-violent Velvet Revolution (1989) against the communist occupation.  We followed our guide’s advice to skip the National Museum, which sits directly behind the St. Wenceslas Statue, but noted how its façade is pockmarked with ammunition scars from the 1968 communist invasion of the Czech Republic.  Later in the day, we visited the thoroughly educational Communist Museum, which gave us an even deeper appreciation about life as it existed under communism in Prague, and the events of the Velvet Revolution that took place in Wenceslas Square.

We took a 1-hour cruise of the River Vltava (complete with a complimentary glass of Pilsner beer, a symbol of national pride in the Czech Republic).

We discovered some laidback bars (Lokál, Duende) where we drank the golden beverage (Pilsner beer) with an interesting mix of locals.  (Fun fact:  Did you know that the Czech Republic had the highest per-capita beer consumption rate in 2010, followed by Germany and Austria?  Much to our surprise, the U.S. ranked 12th.)  We found a really good restaurant (Karavanseraj) that specialized in Indian and Middle Eastern cuisine, and frequented the ubiquitous doner kebap joints.  We sampled the nightlife (Bombay Bar) and conveniently ignored the jet lag that kept us going for a couple of days into the wee morning hours.

We ventured out for a day to the neighboring city of Plzen, the fourth biggest city of the Czech Republic with a population of 170,000 inhabitants.  (This stat was a stark reminder that we were not in China anymore...)  We took a tour of the Pilsner Urquell Brewery (otherwise known as “Experiencing the Story of Beer”), where we tasted unfermented, unpasteurized beer straight from the barrel and then, much to Aman’s delight, randomly ran into Charlie Boorman who was there shooting a promotion for Pilsner Urquell.  

We toured the sprawling grounds of Prague Castle (the world’s biggest ancient castle), including stops at St. Vitus’s Cathedral, the Old Royal Palace, and the Golden Lane. Thanks to lucky timing, we also watched the elaborate ceremony for the changing of the guard that takes place every day at noon outside of the castle gates.  

And then we left Bohemia... feeling good about all that we got to see and learn during our short time in the Czech Republic – Prague, check; Plzen, check; Czech, check.

oops ... madrid!

There's not much to say about our brief one-night stay in Madrid, except .... oops! Completely unexpected.  Aman and I had no intention of starting our European adventures in Spain.  We had planned to kick things off in Prague.  But after a hopelessly delayed flight leaving New York-JFK and a missed connection that was impossible to avoid (trust us, we tried), Aman and I found ourselves in Madrid on a perfectly sunny afternoon with two choices:  (a) board a same-day flight with one connection through London-Heathrow, or (b) wait for a next-day non-stop flight from Madrid to Prague. Another connecting flight??  Not an incredibly attractive option for two people who already had been traveling for a good 24 hours (from Mexico City through New York to Madrid). So we confirmed that the airline would foot the bill for our night of inconvenience and opted for the next-day direct flight.  Naturally, the airline put us up at a random hotel on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere.  We got there at 3:05 p.m., local time, which was conveniently five minutes after the hotel restaurant stopped serving lunch.  So much for those meal vouchers...  We had a siesta instead.  When we awoke, three hours later, we decided that there was only one option:  it was time to get out and explore Madrid after dark.  Wouldn't you?  After all, it's not every day that an opportunity such as this drops into your lap on a Saturday night.  And Madrid nightlife is known as one of the city's best attractions.  Aman and I jumped in a cab and went straight to Plaza Mayor, the beautiful, 17th century public square.  It was bustling with people and full of activity when we arrived around sunset - people eating tapas and drinking wine at the cafes that line the inner rim of the square, people milling about and taking in the scene, a couple of amateur flamenco dancers and other street performers, a happy group of drunken Spaniards out for a friend's bachelor party... it was perfect.  Upon exiting the plaza, we stumbled upon the Mercado de San Miguel, which could not have been any more ideal. We looked at the market, we looked at each other... we were wide-eyed with excitement at thought of all the delicious food that was inside.  When we went in, you could barely walk, it was so crowded.  We surveyed counter after counter filled with trays of olives, cheese, cured meats, empanadas, pescado and mariscos, paella, gelato, dried fruit and nuts.  This must be what gastronomic heaven looks like, we thought.  In an epic display of self-restraint, we ordered nothing, but decided to continue scouting the narrow, twisting lanes of the neighborhood that surrounds Plaza Mayor, which was packed with restaurants, people and everything good that we had heard about Madrid's nightlife.  We found our way to the impressive Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena and Palacio Real, where we took a break to appreciate it all.... and then, we were somehow (shocker) back at the Mercado where we stayed late into the night, sampling plates of marinated octopus, olives stuffed with cheese, Iberian cured meats (absolutely amazing), and some of the most delightful white wine we have ever tried (Shaya Verdejo).  Glad we didn't fill up at lunch...

Plaza Mayor:

Catedral de Nuestra Senora de la Almudena:

Mercado de San Miguel:

que viva mexico!!

Despite being an immediate neighbor to the U.S., Mexico was yet another country that I had never been to before this journey.  Aman had attempted to go there once, years ago, but never made it because of visa issues that prevented him from traveling at the last minute.  Translation:  substantial, unnecessary, unrecoverable, and forever lost expenses for travel never taken. 

In response, and on principle, Aman boycotted Mexico as a potential travel destination until 2010 when he received his U.S. green card (i.e., he no longer needed a travel visa to visit Mexico).  Whew… that was a close one.  With all restored between Aman-Mexico relations, we were both very excited to add Mexico to the itinerary for our epic journey.  Of course, my brother and his wife get some credit for this fantastic addition – had they not decided to get married there at the end of May, we would not have had such a terrific reason for going!

Our trip to Mexico, in short, was AWESOME.  We stayed for six nights at the El Dorado Royale in Riviera Maya, which is where the marriage ceremony was held.  This all-inclusive, seaside, luxury resort – complete with 644 suites, 7 gourmet restaurants, 13 bars, 13 swimming pools, a 20,000 square foot spa, etc. – was huge!  Basically, if you wanted to go from one end of the resort to the other, you would get there like so.

On the night that we checked in (four days before the wedding), Aman and I made sure to ask the whereabouts of our family members who had arrived earlier that day and those that would be arriving the next morning.  We noted everyone’s location on our little map of the resort and then got to work in finding people by making a few phone calls from our luxurious casita.  Minutes later, I heard someone who sounded like my brother, Andreas, or as we call him, Dre.  He had a different method for locating us, yelling randomly at our casita as he walked by, “YO!!!  IS THAT YOU GUYS??”  He, his beautiful soon-to-be wife, Liz, were at our door minutes later, and it was awesome being reunited with them just days before the special occasion.  

We set off for dinner where we would meet my parents and my dear sister, Zoe (who neither Aman nor I had seen since she returned from the Peace Corps last December).  Along the way, we picked up Aman’s Mom (who had travelled from India to join in the celebration of Dre and Liz), his Buajee and cousin, Sonia (who both came from Chicago to celebrate).  Yep, it was a priceless night in the company of loved ones who had been dearly missed … a night, incidentally, which ended at a bar that had swings for stools.  Not sure who thought about combining the concepts of bar and playground, but well done.

The next day, dozens of more family members and friends descended on El Dorado Royale for the Papalaskaris-Griffin main event.  After lunch and adequate time spent poolside, Zoe and I jumped on bicycles and rode around looking for everyone.  It was a beautiful day with the sun popping in and out of the clouds as we sped along the winding paths of the resort and, sure enough, we soon found my cousins, Jen and Tom, who were at a nearby lounge, waiting to check into their casita.  We told them where to meet us after they got situated, and took off to find more people. 

Outside one of the resort’s more popular lunch hangouts, Zoe and I ran into Dre and Aman who were also roaming in search of people.  We met, conferred and agreed upon a strategy for locating the newcomers.  But, just as Zoe and I were about to take off on the hunt again, we spotted a large group of friends who had just arrived that afternoon.  Ah, more beautiful, familiar faces and hugs all round…  Before long, there was a much bigger group of us than the night before all back on the swings at the bar.  

The next two days were basically spent hanging out in and / or around one of the resort’s umpteen swimming pools, and having a grand ole time together.  By night, we celebrated the awesomeness of Dre and Liz.

Rehearsal Dinner:

The Wedding:

Surely, everyone knew they were in for a good night when a donkey, laden with saddlebags full of Tecate beer, arrived at the reception on the beach:

To say that the ensuing wedding party was a blast would be an understatement.  Highlights from the evening include my sister, Zoe, catching the bouquet after a most spectacular dive across the dance floor; and the moment when Aman and Dre’s friend, Chris, took over the bride and groom’s table just to see if anyone was paying attention...  It was oh so funny to them both until the crowd started clinking their water glasses with butter knives.

With mixed results, we all focused our efforts on recovery the following day… 

The festivities concluded the day thereafter with a full day cruise on a three-level party boat named the Dancer, which – like any good party boat – had a bar, a dance floor and a corkscrew slide attached to one of the upper decks that dropped straight into the water.  In the morning, we made a pit stop to see some nearby Mayan ruins, which were cool, and then went snorkeling.  In the afternoon, we stopped at nearby Isla Mujeres to relax on the beautiful beach for a couple of hours.  This was followed by a full on dance party aboard the boat as we made our way back to the main port in Cancun.  Great fun.

Aman and I spent our last day in Riviera Maya quietly relaxing on the beach, and talking about what an amazing weekend it had been, how great it was to see everyone, how beautiful the wedding was, how it all went so fast …  Most of our family and friends had gone home either earlier that morning or the day before.  We grabbed one last lunch with Jen and Tom before they too left for the airport.  We said good-bye to Dre and Liz. 

And, once again, we were off!

Days earlier, Aman and I had decided that we should really check out another side of Mexico before leaving the country.  After all, we had that side of Mexico involving swim-up pool bars and 24-hour room service adequately covered…  So, we made plans for a quick stop in Mexico City, the DF, for three nights.  Some advised us that we could never properly see such a vast city in such a short amount of time, which is fair enough – Mexico City is the largest city in North America.  But, as one of the country’s most culturally and historically significant cities, we could not resist the opportunity to check it out, even if only for a few days.

After a short flight from Cancun, we arrived in Mexico City very late in the evening.  It was well past dark, and we were exhausted after six nights of non-stop fiesta.  With a quick hola, we jumped in a taxi and instructed our driver to take us straight to our hotel in the centro historico, or historical center of Mexico City.  Given the hour, there was not much traffic on the roads.  We cruised down the highway, and rolled steadily through the local city streets – at times, with a pause and in complete disregard for red traffic lights (much the local custom).  As the taxi neared our hotel, we drove by the Zocalo (Plaza de la Constitucion), which – fun fact – is the world’s third largest square (after Moscow’s Red Square and Beijing’s Tiananmen Square), and such famous landmarks as the Catedral Metropolitana de la Asunción de María and the Palacio Nacional – beautiful Spanish-era architecture. 

Palacio Nacional at Night:

It was too late to go inside when we first arrived, but we took a peek in the Catedral Metropolitana the next morning:

We then jumped on the metro, with plans of hitting some museums.  As one of the world’s important cultural centers, Mexico City has a never-ending supply of highly impressive museums.  We had no hopes of covering them all in a day, so we focused on the Museo Nacional de Antropología and the Museo de Arte Moderno, both of which sit in Chapultepec Park.  The National Museum of Anthropology was exhausting, but awesome – its many halls filled with relics from the various ancient cultures of Mexico.  We spent a good couple of hours there learning about the civilizations of the Mayans, the Aztecs, the Olmecs, etc. 

Outside the museum, we stopped to refuel with a couple of tortas made fresh by one of the street food vendors in the park.  Deliciosa!  Feeling invigorated, we ambled down the shady, wooded streets of the park.  We were impressed by a statue of Gandhi, not to mention the number of old school Volkswagen Beetles we saw along the way (and everywhere else in Mexico really):

The Museum of Modern Art was cool as well, at least for two modern art enthusiasts such as us.  With only four galleries, it was very manageable to visit in an hour or so.   

We rounded out the day in Condesa, a very hip neighborhood within walking distance of Chapultepec Park that has lots of bars, cafes and restaurants.  After strolling around for hours, up and down the pretty tree lined streets, we found a lively little tapas bar, Pata Negra, which came highly recommended by a local dining guide.  Ham croquetas, empanadas, marinated pulpo (octopus) – everything was quite excellent and, even though we were still partied out from the wedding fiesta, Aman and I were too intrigued not to sample the nightlife while traveling through the one of the world’s great cities.

We devoted the next day to a full-day tour with stops at, among other places of lesser interest, the Basilica de Guadalupe (the holiest Catholic Church in the Americas) and the ancient ruins of Teotihuacán.  Full day excursions of this type are normally something that we hesitate getting involved in, given our general skepticism of organized tourist activities.  But, in this case, we were advised by our hotel concierge that the only other way to see Teotihuacán (the portion of the tour that we were really interested in) would involve a trip on the local public bus, which is generally not so safe for tourists.  Thus, we didn’t feel that we had a better option. 

Our tour guide for the day, Angel, was an incredibly nice man who greeted us at our hotel at the agreed upon hour.  We followed the normal course of picking up fellow tourists at nearby hotels and then stopped at the tour operator’s office where several other vans of tourists converged and a lengthy process of reshuffling everyone took place.  Ah, just one of the reasons we love organized tours so much…

We were lucky though to be eventually grouped into a van with Angel as our guide.  As we made our way out of the busy city, down Reforma Avenue and passed Angel de la Independencia (probably the most recognizable landmark in Mexico City), Angel offered up lots of historical and cultural facts about the city and its people, its history, its blended influence of Aztec, Spanish and Mexican cultures.  He also proved himself quite knowledgeable about the Basilica de Guadalupe and Teotihuacán, both of which were pretty cool to see (even though, in order to enjoy the Aztec ruins in their own right, Aman and I had to make a conscious effort not to compare Teotihuacán to Cambodia’s Angkor Wat...).  

Colorful celebration outside of the Basilica:

Inside the more modern section of the church, the poncho of Juan Diego containing the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe:

Immediately outside the greater metropolitan district of Mexico City, the hills covered in residential housing:

At Teotihuacán, the Pyramid of the Moon:

From the Pyramid of the Moon, the Avenue of the Dead and the Pyramid of the Sun:

Steep climb up the Pyramid of the Sun:

Aman and I were the last two passengers to be dropped off at our hotel that day.  We took advantage of this one-on-one time with our guide by asking him some of the questions that we were really on our mind.  If traffic is so bad in Mexico City (and it is), why don’t more people ride motorbikes?  Motorbikes are too dangerous, they are just not part of Mexican culture.  Why do you think there is so much violent crime in Mexico City (and he did)?  There’s too much unemployment.  If there’s too much violent crime, maybe it’s too easy to get a gun?  No, most of the guns are illegal.  It was quite an interesting conversation to end the day.

We left Mexico City early the next morning, on a plane to New York’s JFK airport.  No, we weren’t heading home.  We were connecting through JFK to begin our European summer adventure.  The funniest part of that plane ride was when the flight attendant started passing out customs and immigration forms for landing in JFK.  Aman was conked out next to me.  I took the familiar customs form that I have seen dozens of times upon reentering the states, but hesitated as to whether Aman would need anything else – i.e., I was not sure whether there was a meaningful distinction between U.S. citizen and U.S. permanent resident for immigration purposes.  The flight attendant looked at me, waiting for some indication of what forms Aman might need.  Uh, not sure – he’s a green card holder, I said / asked.  Oh, he's going to Calcutta? the confused flight attendant asked, as if he heard me perfectly clear.  What??, I thought, This plane is going to New York mi amigo...