Then We Went Home

After the grand finale of Zurich, we finally came home to California. The first thing we did was eat Mexican food...and then we showered pretty quickly after that. It had been a significant number of hours since we'd had access to a shower!

We've been home for nearly three months now and most of it has been spent driving back and forth between my and Spencer's parents' houses. We've seen a lot of dear friends and spent lots of time with family. We got to go to four beautiful weddings and see almost everyone we love and missed for two years.

my brother's wedding

my sister in law's wedding

my cousin Brock's wedding

my friend Nichole's wedding

It was a hectic and super fun couple of months filled with so much love and laughter. Now, we're busy sorting through our things to decide what to pack, what to put in the storage unit, and what to get rid of. We've done this a couple times now and it does get easier with practice (thank goodness!).

On Sunday night we fly to Sydney, Australia to start our next adventure!! We're planning on staying down under for a year and will be both working and playing as much as we can. I'm beyond excited, I'm thrilled!


P.S. Here's where you can buy a print of that adorable bear hugging California. 

The Most Lovely Layover in Zurich, Switzerland

When booking our flights home, I realized the most amazing thing: long layovers aren't necessarily bad. A long layover in the right city could actually mean an added mini-trip!! We looked at dozens of flights, paying close attention to what time we would arrive and depart and how far the city was from the airport. We came across the flight we ended up taking and  decided it was perfect because it got in at 6:30am and gave us the whole morning to explore Zurich. Plus, the airport is practically inside the city and there is super efficient public transportation. Done and done.

Zurich is incredibly picturesque, so I'm sorry and you're welcome for all the photos in this post. There are so many beautiful details in Zurich. I loved all the old buildings and the graphic design on the posters in the streets.

We were extremely lucky to have our own native tour guide, Jeremias, who Katie met while traveling in Cambodia. He woke up early to take the first train of the morning to come get us at the airport. Then he took us to every cool part of the town in a span of about four hours. (Thank you, Jerry!!) Zurich is pretty small and we could walk everywhere easily. We walked through some small, charming shopping streets which were serenely empty due to our early arrival time.

We walked along the lake, where we saw some ducks and swans. Most of the boats were all covered with their winter coats and it was a bit windy but still pretty. Our warmest clothes for SE Asia were not doing us much good in the Swiss spring. We took a break at a coffee shop/bakery and enjoyed the hot coffee inside in the warm air.

After thoroughly warming up, we took a tram up to the university for a panoramic view of the city and a little glimpse of the lake. The tram was filled with students coming in for their morning classes. Everything was so clean and orderly. What a change from the day before in Mumbai!

We walked back into town and happened upon a little farmers market. It was so cute I wanted to just rent an apartment and never leave.

Next up: chocolate! Jeremias knew we wanted to buy some good Swiss chocolate but he also knew we were on a budget so he showed us the best of both worlds. First we went to a very famous, very expensive chocolate shop in the heart of the fancy shopping street. As we walked in he told us, "Don't buy anything. We're just going to look." It was beautiful and smelled divine. Everything was perfectly prepared and packaged.

 Then we went to a local market where we bought the chocolate that local people buy. There was an entire aisle of chocolate!! He showed us his favorite kinds (all about $2 a bar) and we bought a bunch. It was the best chocolate I've ever tasted. Epic score.

 It was the best layover I've ever had.

Last Stop: Mumbai

On our last stop in India, we were more than ready to be on our way home. After a year and a half teaching in South Korea and then another four and a half months traveling through Southeast Asia and India, I was ready to see my family and enjoy the comforts of home. But we still had a couple more nights in India and so off we went, into the streets of Mumbai.

The Gateway to India

bell tower at the university

Indian traffic sign

DON'T DRINK AND DIE

We walked. We ate. We walked. We went shopping. We walked. We drank coffee. We slept. We left.

Hampi Then and Now

There was one place in all of India that I knew I absolutely had to go to on this trip: Hampi. I had gone there with my dearest friend Amanda while on Semester At Sea in the spring of 2006 and it was one of my favorite places of the whole semester. The setting was beautiful, the ruins were ancient, and we saw only a few other tourists. It was exploring heaven.

Hampi back in 2006

My, how things have changed!! The place is crawling with tourists, both Indian and foreigners. The town has changed dramatically. Somewhere along the line from then to now, the secret of Hampi had been unleashed. Every traveler in southern India goes to Hampi now.

Somehow Hampi has managed to retain much of its charm. The town is a quiet respite from the noise of the rest of India. In Hampi you could spend an entire morning just gazing at the green rice fields, the palm trees swaying, and the rock strewn mountains in the not too far distance. There is peace in Hampi.  

We rented some very crappy motorbikes and visited some ruins. The first bikes we got broke down and we had to wait another day and rent from someone else. Make sure you check the tires and look at the bikes to make sure they at least look acceptable to be riding around on dirt roads.

We dealt with the broken bikes all afternoon (bummer) and then went to climb some rocks to watch the sunset. It was beautiful. The view from the top of the rocks was phenomenal. The sunset was gorgeous. It made the whole day better.

We finally got some half way decent motorbikes and saw the ruins the next day. We didn't pay the exuberant tourist price to get in to see some of the best ones but we were still happy with what we saw.

We also went to see the sunset at the Monkey Temple. It was a popular place to go and there were lots of people, tourists and locals alike. And of course, monkeys were everywhere.

 
On our last morning in Hampi, we ate our breakfast while watching the local elephant take its bath in the river. It was very cool.

And then we went to Mumbai.