ok, so before i move on to talking about india, i just want to say how much i love love irish music!

you can definitely hear how the american bluegrass and other things derived from it.

we visited a couple pubs while we were in ireland. there pubs don't have the same connotation that they do in the US...it's more of a family friendly hang out there.

it made me feel like i was in lord of the rings at the prancing pony or something that some hobbits and a tall dark stranger should pop out at any time....or maybe i just have a big imagination. :)

our favorite one that we visited was in galway, on the west coast.


this place was called tig coili, which meant 'the music' or something like that in gaelic.
it was so cute.

but the music there was my fav. i took a video, though my phone recorder couldn't pic up much of the imagery inside since it was a little dark, but you can still here the music and kind of catch the vibe of the pub.



inside they collected currency from different countries and tacked them to the ceiling with messages. apparently a lot of their foreign visitors are american, so we decided to leave them some rupees to diversify their collection. :)

so a whole lot has happened since i was last here.
my mom got married, then we went to ireland, and now we're in india! is this some kind of eat pray love tour? hmmm. i just need a 3rd country i guess, and i'll be set.

actually india is the main trip...but it's such a long flight that most airlines make you stop somewhere in europe on the way...so we figured, why not take an extended layover for a couple days since we have to pass through anyhow? :)

that's something i've actually been wanting to do every time we've gone to india. it feels like you're getting more value out of the ticket that way. haha. but this time i think my husband realized especially that it might do me some good to have a few days buffer between the craziness of the wedding, and the craziness that is india.

but anyways, one country at a time...so today i shall share on our trip to ireland!

it's seriously a place i've always wanted to go. and like many americans, i have some irish lineage mixed in there, so it was a bit like a trip to the motherland...to rediscover my lost heritage!

shomik and i had such a great trip there...it was super quick, but we still loved it. first of all, it was such a steal. the price of our airline ticket was the same as it would have been without stopping, and shomik had all these hotel points from work travel, so we got to stay in the hotel for free. all this made it even more enjoyable i think. haha.

but it was totally unlike any other place in europe i've ever been to.

first of all, these people loved americans. or at least they acted like it.
country western music was playing everywhere! and they were over the top friendly. a lot of times when i'm traveling internationally, i get nervous about asking people questions, because it seems like i'm irritating them...
but there when we would ask some one a question, they seemed so excited and enthusiastic about it! it was almost like we were doing them some small honor. haha.
when we stopped to ask one little old man for directions, he ended the conversation by 'oh, i do wish i could have gone with you myself!' so. cute. just imagine it with a cute lucky charms kind of voice. :)


another thing i loved was that everything was freaking old there.
like even older than the rest of europe. this pic is of us at a place called newgrange, which is a huge structure built around 4000 BC...dude, that's like 6000 years old!! older than the pyramids or stonehenge!
i get nerded out by stuff like that.

we went in side it and was all like crazy indiana jones type stuff... it has a light window that illuminates the whole inside only once a year at the winter solstice and everything.


here we are at a place called trim castle...which happens to be one of the castles used in the filming of braveheart. but one thing you've gotta understand, ireland has mad castles all over the place! most of them are medieval. it's crazy to drive down the road and just see random castle ruins just like in someone's field. i mean, the bigger ones are more of tourist sites, but there's so many that some are just randomly sitting there deteriorating. you can totally tell that the middle ages must have really been ireland's hayday.


the cliffs of moher! this place was crazy beautiful, and also happened to be the location of the cliffs of insanity...in the princess bride. my fave. :)


i just love old cobble streets...and christmas lights! seriously, what could be better?

so ireland was totally worth it. we both felt some kind of special homey connection with the place. it may not be as polished as some other places in europe, but it had plenty of charm to make up for it.

if i get a chance i might try to post a video later of us checking out the cultural center of ireland...also known as the public house music scene! loved it! we heard some seriously awesome music.

but anyways...its now midnight in india, like 7pm in ireland, and around noon in the US. my body is officially confused, but i think it's telling me that wherever i'm at, it's high time for bed. :)

good night!

have you ever noticed how women tend to cope with emotional life changes by doing something drastic to their hair?


guilty.

so our tree went up this week. some bing crosby got busted out too.


yes, i agree. as much as i adore christmas, it's unseasonably early. i usually like to give thanksgiving its props.
however, this year the holiday season will be total craziness, so we're doing things a bit differently.

close to thanksgiving my mom is getting married, and then shortly after that we're skipping town for a few weeks. it's high time for a diversion...
and it's definitely high time to make another trip to india and see my husband's family.
it's hard to believe it almost been two years already since we last saw them.
i love having a cross cultural marriage. but i must tell you, the only thing that really sucks about it is having family literally on opposite sides of the planet...you're always missing someone.

but anyways, it will be close to christmas before we get back in the country, and i need more than just a few days to savor my love affair with christmas time...so i'm starting early. don't judge.