Let the count down begin

Europe, unlike, India is a continent not a country. Therefore, as vast as the sites were from region to region in India, I can imagine that there will be even more to try to soak in from country to country in Europe.

Most people know that the countries that make up Europe range from the Greece to Russia, Amsterdam to Brussels, Norway to Ireland and much, much more. With all the countries encompassed within Europe one would expect it to be extremely large, but in actuality, Europe is the second smallest continent in area, larger only than Australia. It is, however, the third largest in population.

As a side note, some Geography purists count Asia and Europe as one continent because they are one land mass (remember Eurasia from Social Studies class). If you count it from this perspective, the addition of Asia makes Eurasia the most populated and the largest. Nevertheless, categorizing Europe as just Europe is how we will concentrate our research.

Similar to our reasearch in Count Down To India, our curiosity and imagination is going to out run our ability to keep up with the research, I am sure; but as always, I will try to hit on the highlights that we are most curious about and topics that may intrigue our readers. AND try to do it all in an exciting, non-Social Studies class kind of way.

One such subject is the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Like the Taj Mahal, I have always wanted to explore this almost quirky and fascinating piece of architecture. Spring of 2012 we will get our chance, but before we depart, I thought I would find out a little bit more about this bell tower that was built on sinking sand.

THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA

Photo courtesy of TLC.COM

This Tower sits behind the Cathedral in Pisa’s Cathedral Square. It is located in Pisa, in the district of Tuscany, Italy. The most interesting fact about the tower is that it was built in three phases over 177 years (and I thought it took a long time to build the Taj Mahal). Wars, civil unrest and change in power delayed the construction.

The design of the Tower was flawed from its inception. In 1178, five years after construction had begun, the Tower began to sink as construction on the second floor began. It was built on weak, unstable subsoil with a flimsy foundation. Luckily for the endurance of the Leaning Tower, battles were waging on and off and the stalling made time for the soil to settle. If weight had continued to be piled on without the time to settle, the structure would have most likely toppled over before ever being completed.

Clocks were added and several other floors over the years. There are seven bells in the structure, one for every note of the musical major scale. The final addition was that of the bell chamber added in 1372, well after the construction of the rest of the tower was completed. Ongoing preservation takes place to maintain this historical wonder as an awe inspiring tourist attraction.   

Believe it or not, there have been structures since the erection of the Leaning Tower of Pisa that were built to lean…purposely. One such contender is the Capital Gate Building in Abu Dhabi, UAE. It is in the Guinness Book of World Records (2010) as the “World’s Furthest Leaning Man-made Tower”. I personally don’t think it should count, since it was constructed intentionally to tilt, but that’s just me. Another leaning piece of architecture is the Leaning Tower of Wanaka in New Zealand. This structure was also built with an intentional lean.

Given the above facts, I am still more intrigued by the construction, modifications and durability of a structure that was built to be perfectly vertical, sank into the ground due to poor construction and now still remains standing as historical monument for over 800 hundred years.

I have no clue what we are going to explore next in our European study. My mind is overwhelmed already by all the possibilities. Check back soon to find out where this research journey will take us next…

Count down to Europe!

Oh! I just could not wait to start blogging about travel again. There is something exhilarating, calming and surreal about visiting another culture unlike your own. The excitement increases, building on its self with every passing moment. Then the day arrives. And it seems as long as you have been waiting for it to come it passes in a twinkling, in the blink of an eye.

This is precisely why counting down becomes so important. As you mark each day off the calendar, you learn something new and add intrigue to your journey. It also allows one to prepare more aptly for the voyage, for as one learns more about a place, they feel more comfortable with that place and the trip can be even that much more enjoyable.

So without much more ado about nothing, let’s count down to Europe! As we do, learn why we chose Europe as our next vacation destination and learn all sorts of fun facts about the individual places we are going to see.  As you know by now, I love a good history lesson and I love to eat, so there will definitely be some chats about that along the way. Most especially, I am anxious and very curious to find out whether this expedition will run as smoothly as our last. I think it will be extremely hard to top India with its elephants, sarees and the Taj Mahal. I am going to have a fascinating, exciting, not to mention entertaining time finding out.

Amendment: In Farewell to India I revealed where in the world we were going next. Europe was the answer. Italy, Turkey and Greece were the highlights on our original itinerary. But, we have since modified that list opting to go to Italy, Spain and France instead. The former itinerary did not leave us enough time to see some of the sites we wanted to explore and the duration was shorter (7 days) not allowing us much time for much needed rest and relaxation. This trip is a bit longer (10 days) and should give us all the time we need to explore, eat, sleep and do whatever else it is we would like to do while there.

The flight will still be long (11 hours) but not as long as the India flight. Now that we are expert long distance flyers, it should be a breeze. My only trepidation…I may not be able to pack quite as “light” as I normally do given the extended duration. I may have to actually check a bag, EEK!

The clocking is now ticking. Check off the days with us…5 months left to go. EUROPE HERE WE COME!

Count Down Is BACK!

The faithful readers of Count Down To India have certainly noticed a subtle, but definitive change to our endearing little page…the name. You will now find us at www.countdowntothenextplace.blogspot.com. The title of the page is also the same (minus the blogspot part).

At this moment, I know what you’re thinking. You are saying to yourself, wow, what a long title!? Am I right? Yep, it is quite a mouth full, but it says just what it should say. As Count Down To India eased to a triumphant end, I realized I wanted to not only chronicle my journey of a life time to India, but every other voyage (big or small) from here on out. This decision came from the fact that although Count Down was intended to be a small little blog for family and friends to come along on our journey with us, it actually became much more. Many readers actually gleaned something from the information shared right here on this page. With that being said, I am pleased to announce that Count Down is back and it’s here to stay!

Count Down To India will live on as the previous posts will not be deleted, but will remain for future reading enjoyment. However, we are moving forward to our next adventure and I hope you enjoy it as much as you did our adventure to India.

SIDE BAR: Before we leave India all together, I just have to share one interesting nugget, I just could not help but note. My husband ran across it as he browsed the entertainment news circuit. Mega star, Tom Cruise, was recently in Mumbai, India while premiering his new block buster hit Mission Impossible; Ghost Protocol:

While there, Cruise said: “When we were at the Taj Mahal in Agra, I told him, you have to pinch me. I can't believe I am here. The atmosphere, the people are very nice here. I'm happy with the love and appreciation from my fans. India is an amazing place. I will definitely love to come again." He went on to say with dreamy innocence, “I wanted to come to India all my life". Tom’s dream came true and so did ours.

Tom Cruise & Co-star Paula Patton

Photo courtesy of www.rediff.com

To know that I have experienced the magic and wonder of a land that even a world renowned talent like Tom Cruise has dreamed of all of his life, just reinforces just how special our experience really was. It is one that will not soon be forgotten.

Alas, we must move on. Maybe one day our travels will take us back to the mystical land of India. But for now, we will begin another count down…

There is always something interesting to find @ http://www.friendlyplanet.com

I also look for awesome things to do here at home too! For local deals check out my Examiner page http://www.examiner.com/budget-travel-in-nashville/

Farewell to INDIA

All good things must come to an end and such is the case with Count Down to India. Throughout the course of this blog we have covered a lot of ground (I do not need to recap you can go back and read each glorious entry). To conclude Count Down we are going to cover just a few more points, our India tours and how to “tie” a saree…then it will all be history…

I put the word “tie” in quotations because a more fitting term could be how to “construct” or "dress up in” in a saree or how to “adorn one’s self with” a saree or even how to “drape” a saree, but since I am not that good at putting one on yet, I will suffice it to say, I pretty much “tied” mine. (More on that later)

First, some highlights from our tours as well as some interesting events that took place while in India:

-While in Delhi, India a hospital was bombed. Luckily no one was killed, but several people were injured. We were amazed at the calmness of the people about what seemed like a very big deal to us. When we asked our tour guide in horror if we were in danger, he looked at us with a tranquil, subdued face and said, “It’s no big deal, that was several miles from here.” We pressed for more details of which he had none or did not want to share. He assured us again, “There is no need to worry, everything is just fine.” My husband and I looked at one another and shrugged our shoulders and decided to follow his nonchalant lead. If he wasn’t worried we were not going to either. That proved to be a wise choice as he was right, there was nothing to worry about.  We were safe and we had a remarkable time.

- As if bombings were not enough, there was an earthquake while we were in India as well. This catastrophic event did, unfortunately, claim many lives. The death toll was just above 80 when we left for the states. Again we remained unscathed since the quake happened way up North in the region of Sikkim, near Bangladesh and Nepal, an area we did not visit. Our prayers are still with the people who lost their belongings and loved ones.

-Every day was an amazing tour, whether it was driving the country side or shopping in Bazaars, the India experience is like no other. Of course there are points of interests that should receive an underscore in a land that is truly on big highlight. My favorite topic, if you haven’t guessed, is the Taj Mahal. I will not review all the interesting points about the Taj Mahal (as we have covered it in depth in past installments). I will, however, share some facts that I learned once we finally laid eyes on the awe inspiring monument.

Across the River Yamuna (directly across from the Taj Mahal) remains a foundation that was laid, by Shah Jahan after the completion of the Taj Mahal. It was to be a second shrine built to house his body after death (as the Taj Mahal holds the body of his beloved Mumtaz Mahal). It was to be built of black marble (the Taj Mahal is white Agra marble). Shah Jahan had also planned to have a bridge made of pure gold built connecting both mausoleums. Our tour guide said that if his plans had been allowed to come to fruition, this group of monuments would have rivaled the Great Wall of China in grandeur. Unfortunately, only the foundation was laid and nothing else. Nonetheless,The Taj Mahal still holds ranking as one of the 7 Wonders, but Shah Jahan’s dream would have made it a wonder unrivaled in all the world of “wonders”. Alas, his dreams were thwarted by a devious son who killed all of his own brothers and imprisoned his father to usurp the throne. As a result, Shah Jahan was buried beside his beloved Queen by his devoted daughter in the one and only Taj Mahal.

The view that took our breath away

Back view of the Taj

-The elephant ride was breathtaking. We rode the beautiful beast through the fort (palace) of the young Maharaja of Jaipur, India. The young emperor was spending a restful day at home as denoted by the flag, which flew at half mass if the King was away or full mass if he were at home. The day we rode the elephant the emporer's flag waved high on its pole as we trumped slowly up hill on the back of the elephant. Though sullied by age and weather, the fort was still magnificent to look upon. Sitting on the elephant we could look out and see many rolling hills and the Jaipur country side for miles.

Rolling hills

The Maharaja legacy is a rich one filled with twist and turns but the most recent one happened in April of 2011.  Just before his death, the previous Maharaja adopted his grandson Kumar Padmanabh Singh (the current Maharaja). He had no sons of his own and to keep the royal line intact he took the son of his daughter to be his successor.  

Where the Maharaja lives

The interior of the Maharaja's fort

The young Maharaja was home...see the flag?

Sawai Bhawani Singh, Kumar’s grandfather, was the last "true" Maharaja as he came to the throne before British rule ended when the royal family still held power. Although Kumar's Maharaja-ship is that of just a figure head he does carry on his grandfather’s royal name and lineage and it was a pleasure to experience an elephant ride through his royal kingdom.

Our beautiful elephant

So on to the saree:

As mentioned previously in Count Down, there are two spellings of the word saree (sari) but while in India I saw it consistently spelled saree (so that’s how we will spell it from now on).

Sarees for sale

More sarees for sale

I had so much fun “trying” to learn how to tie my saree the “right way”. Indian shop owners tried to demonstrate it to me and other Americans who purchased their own tried to show me how to wear the saree (they did a worse job than me in some instances). Some Americans who did not feel to be bothered with the task bought themselves “pre-tied” sarees. These user friendly digs had pre-folded fabric and Velcro to hold it in place and it came with a camisole underneath; an all in one neat package. I, however, felt up for the task and wanted to learn the true authenticity of the art of the saree. (You can be the judge of whether I mastered that art or not, but it was certainly a bunch of fun trying)

Note: I must always disclaim myself by assuring our Indian readers that nothing here on Count Down is to make mockery of the traditions or rituals of the people of India but it is in fascination, admiration and appreciation that we attempt to partake in and enjoy those traditions.

Also note that there are numerous ways to drape and fashion the saree based on the occasion and region.  Below I will be using a basic technique (Nivi style) shown to me by a shop owner that incorporates the 7 pleats at the waist.

Me tying my beautiful bright pink saree


Having fun with my saree

Want to see real Indian people wearing and demonstrating the proper way to show off the beautiful saree, check out these videos on you tube.

Instructions on how to tie a saree

1 saree, 3 looks

Nivi Style

Now we must say farewell to India for now as we embark on our next journey. Where in the world where will our travels take us next? Europe! This excursion was my husband’s choice. We are booked to leave for Rome late Spring 2012. We will spend most of our trip in Italy, tasting olive oil and smashing grapes (as you know food is our favorite part of every vacation). We will also see the world renowned Sistine Chapel and I hope to gaze at the art work of Michael Angelo. We plan to see the ruins and the Vatican and finally we will trek over to explore another part of the Mediterranean stopping in Athens, Greece to hopefully see with our own eyes the Parthenon. Until then, travel safely and travel smart!

India Style

Somewhere, right at very end of 80’s, just at the dawn of 1990, there arose an artist named MC Hammer (ie, Stanley Burrell). He introduced to the world “Hammer Pants”. I’m sure at the same time some Indian folk were looking on curiously saying, “Those look just like the pants we’ve been wearing for hundreds of years!” I too, like most kiddies of that era had three or four pair of Hammer’s so called Pants. I was actually a little shocked to hear his admittance on one Oprah show episode, that he, alas, was not the originator of the style, but that he had “borrowed” the idea. Mind you, I was only 10 years old, for crying out loud!  

Since the rise and fall of Mc Hammer and Vanilla Ice and all those celebrities who dawned the popular attire back then, the look has cycled through many times, with such artists as Janet Jackson wearing a pair to the premiere of Why did I get married?, to stores like the United Colors of Benetton Selling them for astronomical prices. I even ran across an athletic attire site that pegs them as the most comfortable pants to work out in. The actual name of this traditional style of clothing, however, is Harem, not Hammer.

Harem pants or Harem trousers originated in India. They can be worn alone or with a pleated skirt over top. Although many people wear the pants the most notable activity for Harem pants is belly dancing. Harem pants are also worn as a part of the Punjabi suit for women. These fancy pants are actually more of a woman’s fashion rather than a man’s look, so it is ironic that Mr. Hammer adopted it. Of course in the Middle East and Turkey these pants are known by various different names and it is more common for males to wear them there.

I took a special hankering for the baggy trousers in 1990 and my love for them was reignited in their very birth place. I bought three pair while in India. They come in an array of colors, prints and solids, as well as different fabrics and textures. They were sold on the street for nothing more than pennies. One “high class” shop sold me a pair for $15.00. The other two pair I bought at a street bazaar for around four or five American dollars. But don’t even ask me to convert to rupees, my husband was charged with that task. I was charged with the task of buying.

Following are several photographs of Harem pants for those who may not be familiar with the style.

YesStyle.com $20.00  

ShopBop.com $120.00

 BCBG $113.00

 Belly Dancing Harem Pants

Belly Dancing Harem Pants

The belly dancing Harem pants above were found at MissBellyDance.com for under $30.00

Unlike most souvenirs collected from vacation, the Harem pants are a memory I can actually use. I have worn them several times already and plan to wear them for years to come!

My Very own Harem pants from Jaipur, India

Count Down to India is almost over...check back for a fun and interesting installment and find out where in the world our travels will take us next! Travel safely and travel smart!

India Religions Completed

I am so impressed at how devout the Hindus are. They believe in reincarnation and multiple lives. They believe strongly that what you do in “this” life will determine what your next life will be like. For example, an “evil” person may come back as a snake, as depicted on the wall of the Hindu temples.  Unfortunate realities, like disabilities and poverty are also thought to be the result of living improperly. A person will cycle through these lives countless times until they finaly get it right or until they are “liberated”. Vaikuntha is what Christians would call Heaven. The liberated souls or “Jivas” will reside here for eternity in  paradise.

As a result of these noble thoughts, most Indians are very peaceful and have a generalized decent and non-confrontational way of dealing with other humans. Political arenas, however, do not seem to always uphold these righteous standards ( but that would be the case in America too).

Let’s squeeze in a few words about Islam, which is the only major Indian religion we haven’t dedicated a piece to yet.

Islam makes up 13.4% (approximately 138 million) of the Indian population, second only to Hinduism.  It came to India in the 12^th century with trade and conquerors. Many converted to Islam and it grew to be the influential faith that it is today. It even affects the laws in India as “Sharia” or Muslim law takes precedence for Muslims in some matters over Indian civil law.

Many people are familiar with the particulars of Islam due to the high profile it has been given in the media in recent years. Although Muslim people have gotten a bad rap, most Muslims want to live and let live. Their practices are guided by the Quran, and they believe strongly in Karma, which simply stated means, “what goes around, comes around”.

Since India’s Independence, 3 of the 12 presidents have been Muslim. Many prominent actors and film makers of Bollywood are Muslim and India’s 5^th richest man (worth $17.1 billion) is also Muslim. Some of the biggest visual influences left behind by historic Muslims would be the awesome architecture. Mosque, tombs and forts built with Muslim architecture litter the landscape. One such structure is the Taj Mahal, built by Muslim emperor Shah Jahan, as a monument to his wife.

The take away from the religions that we explored in India is that all of them have one thing in common. The moral treatment of humanity is paramount. How one treats another person could mean the difference between his life actualization and liberation or damnation. That translates to my Christian mind that, the “Golden Rule” that was demonstrated by Jesus Christ is apparent in some way in all Indian faiths.

A SURPRISINGLY UNEVENTFUL TRIP...THANK GOD

So here is a little update on how the actual logistics of the trip went:

Getting to the airport was uneventful. We got there on time and there were no delayed flights coming or going.

We checked no luggage (we will talk more about that later).

The inbound flight (to India) which was noted as being 14 hrs and 15min actually ended up being 12.5 hrs (a small blessing).

The big surprise…the flight was one of the best we had ever taken. Hubby and I sometimes opt to upgrade to first class with his frequent flyer miles, but decided against it based on the advice of an email buddy who assured us that the flight, even in coach, would be quite comfortable. AND indeed it was. International jets seem to have a little more leg room. They are not usually full to capacity and they have several clean bathrooms.

My husband had the aisle, I had the center and no one had the window. Sweet deal! Therefore I basically had a sofa to stretch out on to chill, snooze or watch tv/movies in the headrest monitors. None of that having to strain your neck to see the attendant demonstrate proper airplane safetly. It was played right there on the tv screen (didn’t utilize the screens to often though, as I had downloaded 6 movies to my iphone).

We slept about 7 of the 12 hours and we watched movies, read and talked the rest of the time. The time flew by (really, no lie, I was surprised myself).

Did I mention the awesome food? We were fed the best Indian food we had ever tasted. It was fresh and hot. They fed us 4 times. Each portion was plentiful. We were again pleasantly surprised.

So we landed. Customs was hilarious. The customs officer was so nice. When my husband signed the customs form he said, “Obama!” We said, “huh?” In his broken English he explained that he admired President Obama. He said that he had met two great presidents, Clinton and Obama. Then he looked at me and said, “Michelle!” I smiled and simply said, “thank you”.

Our tour guide had a little trouble getting to us in the mini flood, but he was only 45 minutes late. While we waited we explored the awesome airport.

Our tour guide was super fluent in English (he actual spoke 6 other languages too). He was very informative and immensely patient with our “foreign” ways.

I will talk more about the actual tours themselves at another time, but I must say we were astonished at how smoothly everything went from start to finish. There were no glitches and no hic ups. We were actually amazed.

Sidebar:

One of the things that made the trip easier was the fact that we did not check any bags. Therefore we did not have to worry about lost luggage and baggage fees. We ran into a couple of people who had lost luggage, some who didn’t have it retrieved until midway the trip. So what we did is what we do on every international flight.  We packed light (in the words of the great Erykah Badu). We each carried fairly big “personal” bags that technically don’t count and we carry a moderate sized “carry on”. Between the two bags, we had everything covered, including space enough for souvenirs. This little tib bit saved us from a big headache!

Back to the story:

The journey back home was thankfully just as uneventful. Our tour guide got us to the airport in plenty of time (his timing was always impeccable, we were astonished). We checked in. We waited to board in comfy yellow chairs. We boarded and poof, just like that, we were on our way back home.

The outbound flight was the 14 hours that was stated in the itinerary, but it was no problem. My husband slept at least 9-10 hours (no really). I slept a good 7 and I absorbed the other hours studying for CE credits, watching movies and thinking happy thoughts. Again the time flew by.

Do I have anything bad to say about our India trip? JET LAG! I have always avoided it in previous long flights (up to 11 hours) but I guess the 14 hours took me over the top. It lasted for about 4 days. But it was a minor nuisance well worth enduring for the trip of a life time!