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Published: December 18th 2008
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Grand reception
After 6 weeks, let the honeymoon officially begin. One last week in India, and our honeymoon officially begins. After Pooja and Ashish dropped us off at the train station in Chandigarh, we headed to Delhi to meet up with Ritya. She hosted us at her pad in Gurgaon before the Sunday morning flight to Goa.
Paradise at last. It's a long way from the cold nights up in the Himalayas, and well worth the wait. Our home for the week was the Marriott resort in Miramar, next to the Goan capital of Panaji. Boy did we get the red carpet treatment, thanks to Jaspreet's mom and her Marriott connections: heart sculptures, rose petals, a chocolate mousse cake, and wine greeted us upon arrival.
The Marriott provided us plenty of relaxation starting with a magnificent breakfast buffet. The spread included an American/European side with eggs, bacon, sausage, beans, cheese, olives, muffins, etc. We turned the corner and saw a whole different spread of north and south Indian dishes: dosas, pooris, idli, uttapam, coconut chutney, sambar, chole, paranthas, any dish you can think of. Itay had a cup of sambar every morning.
Jaspreet's favorite included a spread of fresh squeezed juices and fresh fruit. We also had access
Beach crossing
This cow left his 10 other cow friends in search of food. to the executive lounge that served us free drinks in the evening along with a comprehensive spread of appetizers. We enjoyed a few sunsets on the lounge balcony with rum and cokes in hand.
One week had never flown by so quickly.
On Monday, we shopped for summer clothes to survive the 90+ degree weather. We visited the main church in Panaji on Dec. 8, in time to witness the locals celebrate the Immaculate Conception.
By Tuesday we were ready to spread our wings. With Itay eager to explore the area, we rented a scooter for 2 days but ended up keeping it for the week! After a jerky start, we were able to zip through Goan traffic to head to some of the nicest beaches in North Goa. We drank a ton of Kingfisher on the beach, took in the sun and feasted on delicious seafood - tiger prawns, kingfish, pompfret, shrimp, mussels....mmm....yummy!
We spent Wednesday at the biggest flea market in the region at
Anjuna. Hawkers from everywhere were eager to sell overpriced goods to the tourists. Too bad for them Jaspreet was not having any of it! Lots of jewelry, clothing, cushions, shawls and trinkets were up for grabs. Itay was interested in a necklace and by his last week he was polished in his bargaining skills. They guy offered to sell is for Rs. 700 (roughly $12) and Itay offered him 50 ($1). After following Itay around the market for half an hour, Itay was victorious and paid just a $1 in the end😉
The longest scooter road trip awaited us Thursday: a bumpy hour drive to Morjim in north Goa. The stunning sunset more than offset the sore butts. In between the rides, we treated ourselves to the spa at the Marriott. (Thanks for that couples' massage, Mr. Thride!)
We made fast friends with Anand, our Marriott contact. He joined us for night scooter rides, our last dinner at Baga beach, and to top it off, some late night card playing back in Panaji. If you're keeping tabs, Itay cleaned up in the Black Jack round.
All things must pass, and with heavy hearts and renewed tan lines
we started our journey home. One last day in Delhi came with a round of firsts: ride on the sleek metro, visit to the kabob factory in Noida with Shabad, bicycle rickshaw trip, last meal at Karim's (storied kebab joint in old Delhi), and even a trip with Ritya to a mall in Gurgaon. Bye bye Delhi, so long India.
A not-so-brief stop in Zurich allowed more sightseeing in downtown. It's good we left more room for chocolate and cheese in our carry-on luggage. Itay's mom greeted us at O'hare 10 hours later, and Jacob joined us all for Italian dinner downtown.
Just like that, we travelled from 90 to 9 degrees in the span of 2 days.
If you're still reading this, we want to thank you for following our Indian adventure. We hope it was as enjoyable to read it as it was to live it. The Honeymoon adventures continue next year in Israel. As Itay's people would say, "shana ba'aa be'Yerushalayim" --- see you next year in Jerusalem!
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