Moving to Bandra

After 3 years in Kohinoor City - not the nicest part of Mumbai - we are going to move to Bandra, the Queen of the Suburbs.  We will be living in a greener place, a more cosmopolitan place, and near to the coast (walking distance).  It will be a bit of a further commute, but I think it will be worth it.  At the weekend Lex and I went to check out our new neighbourhood.

Guru Nanak Park, one street behind where I am going to be living, is a tranquil corner in my new neighbourhood.  I'm planning on walking on the track around this park in the evenings - just 4 rupees to enter. I love the green in this park and the shade it provides.

This guy's stall is on the corner of my road. I'm really looking forward to buying fresh fruit from him.

My new apartment - exterior view only here (I will take photos of the inside when I move in June). Huge terrace at the back.  I'm looking forward to decorating.

Tiger Safari

We went on 3 safaris to the Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve.  There were around 10 different tracks around the park that we could drive on, and about 60 tigers in total in the park.

You had to be very patient, but we got to see this magnificent tiger in the wild.

Ranthambore Fort

This building is the main part of our hotel - it has been built like a Rajasthani palace.  However the real palace is to be found in Ranthambore Fort, which is right inside the park.  We spent Saturday morning exploring the buildings.  

The fort is the second largest in Rajasthan and is reached by a climb up around 100 steps (full of monkeys!)  Once at the top there are lots of buildings, for the kings and queens, and there are religious buildings too such as shrines and mosques.

Rachel in Ranthambore

Rachel came over for her Easter holidays and we went to Ranthambore National Park on a tiger safari.  We travelled up on the train overnight from Mumbai Central - it wasn't great but I guess it was OK. 

We then checked into a great hotel and spent the time lounging around the pool and eating delicious food when we were not out and about watching tigers.

Another birthday

Not so much to say about this birthday, except that I'm now closer to 60 than to 50.  Eeeeek!!!

My Switzerland

At the start of March I went to Switzerland for a week to do the second part of Cognitive Coaching.  The workshop was held at the Inter-Community School in Zurich, but I went to Glenda's for the weekend.  It was such a joy to see old friends, breathe clean air, and look at beautiful views.

On my second day in Switzerland I went out for a morning walk with Leon.  We did a great walk around Morschach with beautiful views out over the Vierwäldstattersee.  It was such a beautiful time of year to be there!

On Sunday afternoon Glenda and I went into Zug and met friends at the Skybar.  Once again it was great to look out over my "old" views of the Zugersee.

For the days of the course itself I went and stayed with David and Ruth in Forch.  On my first day there I went into Zurich for the day with Erica.  We had a good walk through the streets and into several churches and then ended up at the Lindt factory.

While staying with David and Ruth, we met up with Vitor in Zurich.  As Vitor said "This is the beginning of the end."  We were such a great team - and now none of us work at ISZL anymore.

My dear friend Karen was due to have surgery and I planned to meet her after this at the hospital in Zurich.  David even went along to the hospital - only to find that her operation had been postponed because she'd picked up an infection.  So I went to visit her at her home instead (which was actually much nicer than going to see her in hospital).

After visiting Karen, I met Katja and we walked from Cham, along the lake, through Zug to Oberwil.  Again a fabulous spring day and so many lovely memories of when I lived there.

It was a great week and I hope it's not too long before I'm back in this great place with all my great friends again.

A visit from Paul and Jan at Holi

March was a busy month!  It started with a visit from Jan and Paul, who had been travelling round south India since January.  We spent a day downtown (intending to go to a wine festival which when we got there had been cancelled due to bad weather!)  So we hung out around the Gateway of India and the Hanging Gardens on Malabar Hill, with its view of Chowpatty and the Queen's Necklace (Marine Drive).

After this we went to Bandra for drinks as the sun went down, followed by a walk up Pali Hill and a meal at Pali Village Cafe.

That week it was also Holi.  As usual we celebrated this at school with lots of water and coloured powder.