Memories From Our Visit to France, November 2007

In November, we were able to visit Paris again (Photo 5) and for the first time, the south of France where Nanda ran the Beaujolais Nouveau Marathon (in 27 degree weather!). We stayed at a wonderful bed-and-breakfast nestled amongst the vineyards called Les Potins du Four (Photo 1) in the town of Quincie-en-Beaujolais which we discovered on the Internet. Our gracious hosts, Sylvie and Jean-Philippe, became instant friends and provided wonderful recommendations for us as we visited the surrounding towns and countryside (Photo 2). We are excitedly awaiting their trip to the U.S. next year! Nanda began helping to plan their itinerary to the U.S. as we enjoyed Sylvie's freshly baked bread, goat cheese made by one of their neighbors and wine from the Beaujolais Nouveau harvest (Photo 3). We were fortunate that one of the other guests, Alain, staying at Les Potins was also running the marathon (Photo 4). We had a memorable time experi- -encing the marathon and the spirit of Beaujolais Nouveau with him, his family, Sylvie and Jean-Philippe.

OC Marathon Photos

Here are some of the Orange County Marathon photos taken last weekend. The next marathon will be ING Miami Marathon on January 27th in which the race route runs right in front of our house. Nanda will be running the marathon, and our friend Meera will be running the half marathon. Photos to come...

Orange County Marathon

Congratulations to Nanda who finished the Orange County Marathon in 4 hours and 32 minutes yesterday in Orange County, California. He braved the cold weather, pouring rain and even hail(!) to add yet another marathon finish to his ever-closer goal of 100 marathons!

Unfortunately, I was not there so no photos to share, but will make up for it in the coming months when Nanda will be competing in almost every marathon held in the state of Florida.

Until next time...

Favorite Travel Moment of 2007

We had such a tremendous year traveling with each other. We wanted to share highlights of our favorite trip- our honeymoon to Italy. We couldn't have had a more perfect honeymoon- from Milan to Lake Como to Turin, we were able to enjoy the best of Northern Italy.

Photograph 1 shows a small town called Lezzano on Lake Como where we had a wonderful, intimate dinner of risotto with freshly-caught perch from the lake (photo 3) in a tiny, 14th century restaurant. It was so so good we went back the second night and had the same thing, but with dessert! Photograph 2 was taken on the ferry to Lezzano from Bellagio at sunset. This was the most breathtaking and captivating moment of the entire trip. Photograph 3 is in Turin where we found the best gelateria and pizzeria across from each other. We ate here several times, and Nanda was able to load up on carbs for his marathon the next day.

Fishing on Sanibel, December 2007

We went fishing with Grandma and PaPa on Sanibel. The catch of the day was whiting, a mild, white fish which we enjoyed for lunch and dinner (and by Nanda for breakfast the next day as well).