belgium

Just over a year ago, I went to Belgium for the first time. We stayed in Brussels the first night then headed to Bruges for a night. Bruges is a big tourist destination around Christmastime; it's all decorated with lights and there was a Christmas festival in the town's center, with an ice skating rink, lots of crafts vendors, wine and chocolate. The Church of Our Lady is one of the more famous landmarks in Bruges, and there are a lot more medieval towers and buildings in the town. It's very cute and romantic, and gorgeous around Christmas. Brussels was a lot of fun - we spent the evening wandering around the old buildings and churches, parks and streets, drinking beer and had the best moules frites.

Brussels

streets of Brussels

maui + oahu, hawaii

This year the boyfriend and I went off to Hawaii for Thankgiving. It's relaxing and lovely and the weather is just perfect. In Maui, we relaxed on the beach and drank mai tais by the pool at our resort hotel, and went to a traditional Hawaiian luau (all-you-can-eat-and-drink - dangerous!) It was a lot of fun. Then we jetted off (shortest flight of my life) to Honolulu and stayed with family who had recently moved there. We hit Pearl Harbor in the wee hours of the morning (fortunately it felt much later to us, still feeling 4 hours ahead), which was sobering and sad and pretty awesome at the same time. We stayed near Chinatown, where we ate delicious foods - the garlic shrimp was to die for - and walked around the markets. We took a day to tour the north side of the island, driving through the mountains, and making a pit stop at the Valley of the Temples to see the Byodo-In Temple, a replica of the world heritage temple in Uji, Japan. It was really beautiful, and probably the prettiest cemetary I've ever seen. We drove around to a shrimp shack on the side of the road for the most delicious, gigantic shrimp with rice & corn on the cob. (The corn in no way compares to Iowa sweet corn, btw). On our last night, we hung out by Waikiki, had drinks at a dive bar and then a hoppin' bar inside the mall - seemed to be the place to be! We had a lovely Thanksgiving meal before heading to the airport to catch our flight back home.

watching the windsurfers in the ocean on northwest shore of Oahu

northern india

I've been to India twice now - once for a winter trip to Delhi, Rishikesh, Haridwar, and Agra, and another for a wedding in Delhi. Once I got over the jet lag (not easy!) I was able to enjoy the beauty that I saw. 

Highlights of the trip...
Old Delhi & markets
Bring your negotiating skills. Bring back pashminas, scarves and jewelry (bangles are my fav),and maybe a sari or two for yourself. Taste the street food, but be careful not to drink any water.

lots of beautiful fabric to be found in the markets

try the tasty parathas in street markets