My parent's trip - 2007

Under progress.


Welcome
New York/Washington DC/Philadelphia
Niagara
VEGAS!!!
DisneyLand
SanFrancisco
13 hr drive on the beautiful CA-1


Welcome

My parents arrived at IAD, Dulles from a hectic tour of France and a subsequent Europe tour. My brother Shantanu was in Paris at that time for his internship and everything worked out too perfectly for us. They toured Paris and some areas of France and then proceeded on to a conducted Europe trip in France-Italy-Germany-Austra ending in Switzerland. They covered scores of cities in their tour and really had a good break after a long long time. They had NEVER traveled far distance without me and my brother (Most of the Indian parents of their generation belong to this category. Having worried over 20 years about their kids and their future and nothing else). I was glad they made this trip. Although I was worried that they would be tired after their 15 day trip, I was happy to be proved wrong. They still had a lot of energy and enthusiasm to tour more.






I showed them the Capitol area and drove back 2 hrs to Richmond. My parents were still amazed by the inter-crossing bridges and wide roads, but it was not a shock because of their Europe trip. However, they were surprised at the number of cars in the US and were quick to blame the world oil crises to the huge SUVs and trucks that we saw on the way back. We had a quick meal at Panera and my parents loved the place instantly. My dad slept off soon that day, so the welcome cake was cut by my mom. Sangram got the cake, my favorite one from ColdStone. My mom loved the cake.


New York/Washington DC/Philadelphia

I had my CFA 3 days after my parents came. I planned to give the CFA at Philadelphia because my cousin Milind Dada lives there. He was gracious to show them around NY and Phili before I was out of the exam. Then we proceeded to the magnificent Niagara Falls. Some pics of my parents visit to NY and Phili.






Niagara

We started from Phili to Niagara after my exam was done. It was a 8 hr long drive, I think. Niagara is beautiful. I don't need to say it. Some of our pics.





VEGAS!!!

I was concerned at first to take my parents to Vegas. Didn't want to shock them too much! But my parents immediately took to liking Vegas! We didn't gamble much. But the dazzle of the artificial city filled too much youth into my parents. For the first time, I left them alone and went off to sleep early. My parents had a good time roaming around through various casinos: watching the MGM lion, taking the the NY-NY roller coaster and other things. My parents also loved the '5-star' suite of the Vegas Hilton, the food and everything else.

We watched a Circ-du-Soleil show called "Zumanity". People who have seen it should know that it was not a good choice. I had to stop my father from walking out of the show atleast 3-4 times. Anyways, but to make up for this I took them to the Broadway show "The Phantom" - a version of the 'Phantom of Opera'. Needless to say everyone loved it. It was grand, expensive and an epitome of perfection. They had not left a stone unturned to create a perfect show. Some of the scenes, especially those in water and those with the Phantom left us amazed and was an icing on the top of the Vegas cake..




DisneyLand

Americans have a superb knack of making beautiful things out of nothing. Disney is another such example. The happiest place on the earth is too perfect and too beautiful. I again least expected my parents to enjoy Disney, but we all did. Good music, creative shows, a parade full of life surely gave them a right to say 'its a beautiful small world'.


SanFrancisco and the 13 hr drive on the beautiful CA-1

More on this soon...