Eventful weeks

Its been a while ..... the past weeks have been hectic
A recap of what I did in the past few weeks:

Beach trip to Wilmington: long drive, sand castles, cold water, cheese sandwiches, sunsoaked siesta and sunset....beautiful

Weekend trip to Ashville, Smokies and Gatlinburg: Friday evening we arrived at Ashville. It is a small quaint town with a very lively and arty downtown. The city was awake till the wee hours of the morning. We walked down the roads watching street artistes perform, stopping at small coffee shops where people were seated outside and having a good time listening to live bands performing, the noodle shop where you could custom order noodles, a big standing iron where I posed uncountable times to get the right shot, and old and young couples walking hand in hand.
Saturday we drove through the Smokies to Gatlinburg. The smokies (Great Smoky Mountains, one of the most visited National Park in US) were beautiful in spite of being barren. They are renowned for their fall colors.... it was foggy and chilly and rained a bit, but the wetness added to the beauty. The smokies were inhabited by the eastern band of Cherokees till Europeans came to occupy their lands and a lot of them were forced to vacate. Some of their clan still live there having adopted professions related to tourism. So very often you can see Indians (or whom we Indians call red Indians) dressed in regular denim and t-shirts selling mementos and handicraft in small shops in the valleys.
Gatlinburg at the foothills of the smokies is a small town in Tennessee, a major tourist attraction. A small town with a lots of stuff to do.... Guiness Museum of Records, Ripley's believe it or not, Ripley's haunted adventure, sky lift, a huge aquarium, horse riding etc. There was a candy store which displayed the entire candy making process which was intersting. The popular food around the place was pancakes and donuts. Had a long and adventurous day.
Sunday we visisted the Biltmore Estates in Ashville - America's largest private owned residence - the same place where the movie Richie Rich was shot. and yeah it was H U G E! With over 200 rooms and 46 restrooms, stables, gardens, swimming pool, lawns,a pond, stables and even their own winery. The most interesting part of the house was the kitchen, pantry, refrigerator and laundromat - the technology they used in that era was fascinating. At a time when not every house had electricity the house had an indoor heated swimming pool! The views from the rooms were beautiful,peaks at a distance and lush greenery. Not only was the architecture or technology appealing, the history of the place was fascinating..... walking through rooms, hallways and staircases where a 19th century family resided, their lifestyle, incidents were a great experience. There was a flower festival in the gardens, got to see some beautiful tulips. An old man playing soft tunes on his keyboards in the wooden covered path amidst the flower beds added to the serenity of the place. The winery was our last stop. They walked us through the entire process of wine making , including distillation and fermentation. There was a wine library - a cellar where old wine stacked in shelves had been preserved for years. Then there was the wine tasting experience.... the connoisseur that I am (:), the only knowledge of wine that I have is that they are made from grapes and could be either white or red :D) .... first time I learnt the difference between chardonnay, reisling, chenin blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, chiraz etc. After tasting some nine different types I decided that I like the sweeter white wines ( now I don't remember their names :( ).
After the Biltmore tour we headed back home .... from a long relaxing weekend to Monday morning blues, from quaint beautiful small towns in the midst of mountains to city life and traffic.

Other than the trips the other events of the weeks include a new hobby: cryptic crosswords, some progress in my thesis, a party at J's place where we played taboo against the guys and defeated them (;-) ) by coming up with new strategies ("Sounds like pottery starts with L" hahhaa!!!) , a first round interview with my dream company which went well, some new clothes and a shoe sale, a surprise gift with a message hidden in an anagram engraved, ice age- the meltdown at the theatre with the kids, PI - a crazy movie, the thomas crown affair - same ol thriller, being cyrus - another evidence of changing Bollywood, zinda - let down compared to the original movie OldBoy one of my all time favorite thrillers, first time attempt to make capsicum stuffed with paneer, cleaning the closet, germination of the plants which we had sown in the beginning of spring and B's first attempt at DJ'ing under the alias DJ SnowGirl (hilarious)

That was a good recap, I think!!