This Spring Break, we enjoyed some family time together and the opportunity to soak in history, art and architecture! This piece is a reflection of Day 1 of our trip, April 2019. We never really left So Cal.
It was unabashed, in-your-face, people watching! The pretty outdoor seating of the cafés had chairs facing the main thoroughfare. Couples, friends, families sat side-by-side enjoying a drink, relishing their meal, chatting and watching a sliver of the city stream by.
As we walked towards the famed monument, I felt a dozen eyes on us. It turned out to be only a fleeting sense of discomfort – and why not? We were in one of the most beautiful cities in the world, tourists like us were all around and spring was in the air!
“Can you take a picture for us? And then I’ll help you with your family picture!” I felt an instant kinship with the group as they arranged themselves for a memory snapshot. Before the trip we had been warned not to give our camera or smartphones to strangers, lest they sprinted away with it. I knew that would not be the case here – hey these were our folks! And indeed the casual banter revealed they were also from “LA” [read Pasadena] and on Spring Break. It was Hindi-Chini-from-So Cal-bhai-bhai camaraderie to the fullest 🙂
An hour after walking around and admiring the engineering marvel, we decided to grab an early dinner and head back to the hotel. But our younger one had the enthusiasm and energy to hang around until after dark to see the city light up, so we did. The tower was all the more majestic, magical at night. It was liken a golden jewel, a sight to behold!
The Métro on the Balard line was our ride to the hotel. Jet-lagged now and eternally deprived of sleep, our high-school senior promptly fell asleep on the train, much to the amusement of her brother and the cute couple sitting across.
“Oh we know exactly how it feels! We have been here for three days and I’m still jet-lagged!”
I told them we had only landed that morning.
“So, where are you traveling from?”
“Southern California. The kids have spring break”.
I couldn’t help but smile. All these years of recognizing Indians as our folks had now morphed into recognizing Californians as ours too.
“That’s where we are from! We are on our honeymoon” the young man responded, very much in love.
So fitting, I thought – Bonjour Paris!!
~AK Irvinekar
Beautiful writing AK. Wherever we go we always draw comparisons to our neck of the woods, home.
Indeed, home sweet home!
Very true. Afterall the two decades or more which we have spent here, have been the time when we built everything that can be called “Ours”.
Aamchi maati, aamchi maNsa 🙂 Thanks for the note, M!
Very well said. Golden State Californians is who we are now 🙂