2023 rewind

So that's a wrap to 365 days of 2023 and what an awesome year it has been !! For one thing, it made me put my thoughts down here in this blog.

Jan-23

Tata Mumbai Marathon - 2nd full marathon, bettered my previous timing of 5:37 by 77 mins, finishing strongly with 4:20 hour finish.

Feb-23

Team ICICI participated in Bloomberg Square Mile Relay race where 10 ICICI runners ran 1 mile each, to complete 10 mile relay race.. We finished 3rd and got us our first podium experience. 

Mar-23

Coorg trip with family : we had a fun 4 day stay at Club Mahindra Madikeri resort. 

Apr-23 - No standout highlights

May-23

Family embarked on a 2 week Ireland trip. Captured the trip thru the 3 blogs 

10 days in Ireland

Dublin leg

Kerry Dingle Peninsula

June-23

Arnav had a running event experience, participating in his first 5km medal run. He finishes strong.

July-23

We moved into a new apartment. We had been thinking of moving to a bigger house given our growing kids, so decided to make this move from our 2BHK to 3.5BHK. The month included lots of visits from family & friends to the new abode. 

Aug-23

Multiple official trips to Bengaluru, Kochi and Chennai this month. 

Also a quick weekend visit to Kerala to a meet parents, family and attend a wedding. 

Sep-23

Me and gang of 7 embarked on a 10 day adventure trip to Ladakh. A successful marathon experience has been captured in my 2 blogs 

One day prior to Ladakh Marathon

Ladakh Marathon experience

Oct-23

Other than official trip to Gurugram, few bank events in Mumbai, the highlight for the month was a visit to the sprawling NDA Pune campus. As a part of the 75th anniversary, the Indian armed forces training academy opened doors to civilians to participate in marathon events. It was an awesome experience exploring the campus and as an icing on the cake, I managed to do my personal best (Half marathon in 1:50 hours).

The month also gave an opportunity to Anika to perform during Dussehra celebrations in the housing complex.

Nov-23

The festivities continued with Diwali celebrated at home as well as office. Achhan Amma came around 9th to stay with us for a month. We went on a day trip across Mumbai tourist spots and I got an opportunity to write about it (Read the blog here - Mumbai Darshan)

Arnav embarked on his first outing without us, as he went on a school trip to Bengaluru, Mysore & Bannarghata National Park.

India's loss at World Cup Final was an unfortunate moment, especially since the team were phenomenal throughout the tournament only to lose to the Aussies !!

Dec-23

The month started with 2 big-bang birthday celebrations..On 8th, Arnav entered his teens with a football themed birthday party Teenage birthday... 

Then on 9th, Achhan (Dad) had his 73rd birthday celebration-cum-family get-together at our home. 

Other highlight was a weekend trip to Matheran with the CMM gang (the name acronym is a long story, but this group of 6 have stuck around for 22+ years now starting from our CA student days. We have done numerous outstation trips over the years, but invariably one or the other always had to miss out.. this time, we created history by having the whole gang of 6 together.. the group conversations at Matheran are however classified 😜, so just sharing one group photo !!

Christmas school holidays meant another family outing and this time we chose to travel 350 km south to Koyna.. we spent 3 days at Forest Escapes Koyna resort, most of it staying inside the resort, playing badminton, TT & Foosball, exploring their farm, nearby riverside. 

So that's 2023 in a nutshell... Just for clarification, I did work too in this year, but who wants to listen about boring banking, so just stuck to the happening parts of the year. 

Let's hope 2024 brings about more interesting experiences and adventures.. 

Wishing all the readers a very Happy New Year !! 

Open letter from teenage dad

My younger self had written this piece One-Year-Dad Blog long back, so I thought of writing back to him now !!

Dear One-year Dad,

It's been a while (12 years to be precise) since you last wrote about your apprehensions on fatherhood responsibilities. A lot has passed on since then, we spent a good 4 years of Arnav's formative years in London and it did leave a very strong mark in him. While he does speak Hindi and Malayalam, his thinking language remains English ! The family of 3 moved back to Mumbai in 2016 and Arnav got a baby sister in 2018 to make it a family of 4.

To address your concerns, happy to let you know that myself and Roshni have been real lucky so far as he has been a fairly low-maintenance boy, going about his studies on his own pretty much and getting good scores too. He enjoys his Physics, Chemistry, Maths sessions though prefers avoiding the Language / Arts / Dance classes !! He has been experimenting with multiple sports be it football, lawn tennis, table tennis, basketball, athletics, badminton and chess, but the last 3 sports has had the maximum interest so far. He has developed a keen liking towards reading books & over the period, gone from Julia Donaldson (Gruffalo) to Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson) to now Suzanne Collins (Hunger Games). He has recently picked Japanese manga/ anime comics bookset !

I hope the above para gives you a sense of pride that the one-year old parents have managed their duties well so far. A confession here - I have been more of a supporting actor in this journey and Roshni has been the star Sivagami to budding 5'5" Bahubali !!  

This month, Arnav has turned into his next phase - Teenage and that brings a whole new level of parenting concerns !! 

Now we are concerned on whether he would start laxing in his studies and whether we can help in any way. These days, his questions or explanations on quantum physics or molecular chemistry seem like us watching Japanese movie without subtitles !! Damn, I feel I should have paid more attention in my school science class.

Our childhood days seem so simple, if you score excellent, get into science (become engineer / doctor), if its below, then go for Commerce (pursue CA, MBA etc) or Arts. Now it's become so cryptic - you can pick whichever topics you want to- just like preparing a salad from multiple choices available !! Each of these permutations combinations would then lead to some unique branch of expertise !! How would a teen understand what he/ she wants and how can a parent (born in simpler times) help them in guiding them to their future? What if I push him to do something which may have become obselete once he finish his studies?

Then comes the worry that very soon he would start planning his higher studies which may not necessarily be in same town as ours - he would go out into the world all alone (maybe even out of India)... Would he be ready for the challenge out there? 

Further there is the tricky topic of upcoming adulthood. Conversations around relationships, flings, breakups, sex would have to happen at some stage.. especially in today's world where unfiltered, fake 'knowledge' is easily accessible in social media !! There are worries abound these days - drug abuse, depression, bad company etc. Would Arnav be able to get thru this phase without major hiccups and successfully get out of his teens into an adult? 

Add to all the above is the (un)popular teenage attitude - as someone said, this is their "no one understands me" age where making him do things what we want him to do could be a big challenge - every instruction would need to be repeated multiple times to explain why it needs to be done ! The attention span today has also reduced 

So that's it - hope to pass thru the phase till 2030 when he enters into his 20th birth year !!! Wait a minute, I just realised that Anika would turn a teen in 2030 !! It's going to be a hell of a ride !! Looking forward to it..

With best wishes and lots of good hope !!

Yours truly,

Teenage Dad 

Mumbai Darshan

Yesterday (26-11-2023) my parents, wife, kids and I went on a day-trip across some popular tourist destinations across Mumbai... As a quick backstory, my parents had re-located to Kerala after dad's retirement from Mumbai life in 2015, so this time they wanted to visit some of those powerful Gods-Goddess that have been guiding and guarding the city for years. In addition, we added few other popular touristy destinations to the mix and booked a full-day vehicle to take us around. 

The trip brought back memories of 2 decades before!! Then a freshly qualified CA (read : me) had the company of 5 younger cousins, grandmom, uncle-aunts and parents as we took off on a similar day-long Mumbai Darshan.

Thought of putting down some similarities and differences observed from the 2 trips - one in mid-2000s & now :

1) Capturing memories :

Yesterday we may have clicked 100+ photos on multiple devices.. Samsung, OnePlus, Motorola and Xiaomi were not known back in 2000, when we set off with our one Kodak camera and 36 colour reels.. the resultant 36 photos are still preserved to the day in respective home albums, but most of the 100+ photos have already been deleted. The balance few have been already shared to the cousins, uncle-aunts WhatsApp groups and they don't have to wait for a visit to see the albums. Ultimately what may remain are the memories right before and after the photos were clicked. The longevity of these recent photographs need to be tested, but the memories of the 20-year old albums remain intact still!

2) Frugality & struggles :

One highlight of the 2000s trip was to stand inside the grand Mumbai CST railway station where I proudly showed my cousins how common men/women survived the hustle & bustle of the city. In hindsight it seems to be more of a sadistic pleasure of showing off how difficult life was here !

Yesterday I took my parents to Jio World Drive to show how their common-man son has retained his middle-class stature, inspite of the luxuries on offer !! We did lots of (window) shopping 😜 and left after some coffee.

3) No Entry ⛔🚫:

There were 2 spots which I ended up missing on both ocassions. One the Old Lady's shoe house at Kamala Nehru Park - I was too old on both ocassions to be permitted inside.. instead I took pictures of my cousins (then) and my kids (today) on the boot-house !

The other place was Taj Mahal Palace hotel. In 2000, I couldn't imagine getting anywhere near that place, while yesterday they actually didn't allow us because of stricter security detail (it was the 15th anniversary of the tragic 26/11 terror attack).

The biggest miss however was Gateway of India. I understand the security concern but the way the Gate is guarded with barricades, metal detectors, police staff, it puts you off !! After all this thaam-jhaam, we had to stand some metres away from the Gate too.. Its unfortunate that my kids won't be able to visualise the Gateway in its true glory. I wonder if there could have been a better way to retain its beauty/ grandeur, just like India Gate is maintained in New Delhi. 

4) Where's the sea(face)? 

After a visit to Aarey Milk colony in the past, we had spent good times at the Worli Sea Face.. also I fondly remember manuvering through the rocks into the sea after Mahalaxmi temple visit. This time around, neither of the three were an option! 😔

Worli sea face is non-existent now and Mahalaxmi sea front was blocked - both for the Coastal Road works. Instead of that, parents got a first-hand experience of a drive on the Bandra-Worli sealink & a session by me on how the city will look after all the flyovers, metros, coastal roads, underpass/overpass etc etc currently under works.. My dad quickly reminded me that he spent better part of his work-life with similar dreams !! The hopes for a 'better tomorrow' still goes on with the Mumbaikar thinking the next flyover/metro/sealink/road will improve our lives !! 

5) Holy smokes !!

The Queen's necklace was not visible this time around from Kamala Nehru park, because of the smoggy weather !! Since they had seen it earlier, so my parents could visualise the beauty. 

I thought the park has been much better maintained these days compared to earlier visit. 

6) Temples and old-world charm :

One constant in both the trips were the charm of the temples. Barring the metal detectors at the entry gates, I think the Gods/ Goddess have ensured that their sanctum is preserved and revered at the same levels. Luckily, we didn't get much crowds either and we may have taken about 30-40 minutes each in Matunga, Siddhivinayak, Mahalaxmi and Iskcon temples.

While most Mumbaikars may have moved/ moving up the vertical skyscrapers, we also did witness the other large population for whom the world seem unchanged for the past many decades ... The Banganga ghats, ChiraBazar/ Kalbadevi areas look pretty much the same, delapidated buildings still stand unfazed by the underground Metro-3 work, the narrow bylanes with the presses printing out wedding cards and old eating joints like the Shree Thakar Bhojanalay serving sumptuous Gujarati thalis... Also unchanged was the NCPA/Marine Drive promenade with the towering buildings on one side and the tetrapods seemingly protecting them from the waves hitting the shores.

At the end of the long day, our final plan of eating bhelpuri & chaats at Juhu beach was foiled by untimely rains, thunder and lightnings. It seems the Gods didn't want me to write anything more about the sea and the crowds - the two constant things about Mumbai !! 

That's me signing off on another blog.. also I am inviting my brother and cousins to add comments on their memories of the last Mumbai Darshan !! 

Cheers

Sunil

My experience — Ladakh Full Marathon

September 10th, 2023 was a milestone day for me as I successfully completed 42.2km Ladakh Marathon in 5:36 hours. Never had I run at such an altitude before.

Day before the run, I had my doubts of whether I would be able to complete well and that’s why the earlier blog Final Countdown blog

While I had spent 8 days in Ladakh at / above the altitude, I was not sure the impact of low oxygen on my health vitals. On top of it, I started having cold, blocked nose, slight headaches 2 days prior to the run resulting in less sleep. Further there have been negative news about fatalities in ace runners due to cardiac arrest and ultra-runners not being complete 122km Silk Route Ultra / 72km KhardungLa challenge.

These internal and external factors made me quite apprehensive going into the event morning.

I got up at 4 am on Sunday morning, had cup of hot tea, apple & banana before embarking on the 3km taxi ride to start point at 5 am. The flag-off was at 6 am with the weather at 9-10°. We were about 600 runners going for the full marathon.

The first 5-6 km were descent which helps in a good start and then the terrain starts changing with several ups & downs. The first 10 km took me 74 mins. I had made a mental plan of sticking to a heart rate at 145. So I started walking whenever the HR touched 150 and restart running at HR of 140. This helped me in not exerting as well as giving an opportunity to click some photos/ videos while I was walking. Also made it a point to keep updating my family who were anxious back home about the run. In a way, I took my whole family on the run for most of the route !!

The sun came up at around the 11th km, increasing the temperature by few degrees. From the 15th km, the sun was out there through till the end and the headgear helped in reducing the impact.

The route is very scenic with sandy mountains and blue skies in the background. We cross the Indus river twice through bridges filled with fluttering prayer flags around the 6/7th km and then at midway 21st km. There are a couple of monasteries and several chortens en route, which ensure that we have some beautiful / peaceful thoughts instead of stressing on the run.

Being a Mumbaikar and running SCMM/ TMM since 2009, I have been pampered with loads of crowd support during the entire runs. That was definitely a miss in this high-altitude run as there were several road stretches where all had for company was the beautiful landscape and sound of your feet & breath.

There were ofcourse the support crew every 3 kms and cheerleaders dressed up in local attire and singing/ playing local music.

With all the above, I crossed 37th km in 4:45 hours. Then came the last leg where we had to complete the loop on Leh-Manali highway i.e the same 5 km descent at the start now became the ascent at the end. I was made aware of this and was prepared mentally to walk this leg instead of trying to run/ jog. I chugged along at pace of ~9:30/km for the balance route.

With the finish line in sight, I took a deep breath and made a dash to loud cheers from my friends who were waiting after completing their half marathons.

That was my first marathon in the Himalayas and while it was almost 70 mins slower than my fastest Full marathon, I was ecstatic to having completed it and it has definitely inspired me to run longer and faster. It has opened

  Y up my mind towards attempting something more challenging, will definitely work towards that !!

I would like to end here with a quote attributed to Edmund Hillary - "You don’t have to be a hero to accomplish great things - to compete. You can be just an ordinary chap, sufficiently motivated to reach challenging goals. It is not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves ".

Until next time & next adventure !!

Cheers

Sunil

Final countdown - one day to Ladakh marathon

Tomorrow I am running the Ladakh Full Marathon. It is not the first time I would be running the 42.2km version and I have trained well too with ~500km mileage over 10 preceding weeks and multiple strengthening, mobility, flexibility sessions with coach Pravin Upadhyay.

But the last 8-day leg of this event preparation has been an altogether different experience, starting from 2nd Sept when I landed at Leh airport.

For starters, the marathon would be held at an altitude of 11100 feet (a completely new terrain for me) and the 42km run would have an elevation gain of 1800+ feet. The oxygen levels in the air would be lower and the lungs would need extra work to extract maximum oxygen needed for the efforts.

Till I reached Leh, there was a mental calculation on how to finish the run with pace-markers, but soon the whole plan got chucked out as breaths became harder! The SPO2 levels were below 80 causing headaches. I spent the entire Day 1 inside the resort, most of it lying on the bed. It was only after 3 days, the numbers started improving to 85-92 levels.

As a part of acclimatisation, we embarked on a 3-day holiday into the majestic Himalayan villages. We travelled through 2 of the largest motorable passes - Khardungla Pass (17892 ft) and ChangLa Pass (17600 ft). We spent one night in a tent next to beautiful Pangong Lake (14500 ft), a night which didn’t seem to end and the suffering with low oxygen, shivering chilly air made me wonder whether I should have registered for the event too !! The Nubra Valley sand dunes was a God-sent blessing to the battered mind with mighty mountains, desert, flowing water & green vegetation all in one picture frame. We also visited the last Indian villages (Turtuk/ Thang) on the Indo-Pak border. I plan to write on the holiday separately sometime.

The mesmerising Ladakhi landscape of massive Himalayan mountain ranges, rivers and white sand dunes helps in refreshing the mind & soul. (and also gives opportunities to click lots of photos 😜) Check out my Instagram handle for some photos and videos.

The roads carved out of massive mountain ranges show how little speck we are in this vast world !! A big salute to the Indian defence forces and Border Roads Organization (BRO) for their immense contribution in making the far-off villages connected to India.

Now for the training part - I had 3 walks of 5-6 km, and 3 runs of 6km, 8km and 15km in the 8 day leading up to today.. while the initial days were tough, slowly I could feel more confident for tomorrow. But each day is different and this 42 km tomorrow would be the farthest I would have attempted in this terrain, so I have no idea how tomorrow will end !!

Hope to capture my thoughts on the run later - either be the outcome - finish or do not !

Thanks a lot to wonderful wishes and prayers from loved ones, families, friends, colleagues for keeping up motivated. Equal or more thanks to my parents, my in-laws and well-wishers for ensuring (or trying to ensure) that I don’t push myself beyond what my body can endure for now. Special thanks to my coach Pravin whose sessions helped in preparing me for the event.

Thanks to the amazing gang for the amazing Ladakh holiday and best wishes to Ajit, Karun Nair and Pramod for your half marathons tomorrow!

Now the loudest shoutout is reserved for the one person who bore the maximum of my training plan - my better-half (in all aspects) who has been the pillar of support day-in day-out.. my nutritionist, motivational coach, para-medic, critic, listening board etc a complete package plus being an amazing mother to Arnav and Anika !! A big thanks and love you Roshni for being there !!

So that's it for now, will look forward for an awesome day tomorrow and would love to write about my experience later.

Cheers

Sunil

Ireland trip - Kerry & Dingle Peninsula

Its good to be back for the third blog on Ireland trip ! Three blogs in a fortnight !! Happy me 😊

After Dublin city sight seeing, we had planned to venture out to the countryside and after considering various options, we narrowed on Kerry county, southwest Ireland, some 330 km from Dublin. The base location was to be a small village called Anascaul.

Day 1 (10.5.23) - Long drive to Anascaul

We started our drive at 8 am and as I described in my earlier blog (Ireland trip overview), the 330 km drive was a pleasure with well maintained roads (no potholes !!), less traffic and the greenery on both sides. We took about 4 hours to reach Anascaul with one breakfast break at Barack Obama service station.

Anascaul was a beautiful village (one of the several we came across during our trip). Its last recorded population was <400, so it was amusing to see some 5-6 pubs, 2 pizza restaurants, 1 convenience store and (strangely) no pharmacies here! Our Airbnb was this beautiful 5 bedroom house overlooking the hills. It was fully furnished stocked with all necessary gadgets, kitchenware and also some board games. To top this, the host paid us a visit bringing yummy apple pie and rhubard pie tarts. What a beautiful welcome !

After settling in the kids and grandparents, four of us ventured out as the beautiful blue skies were too enticing. 

We drove about 15-20 minutes to reach this awesome, serene lake. There was no one else there (except for the million flies near the waters) and the sights were refreshing. We also spotted a huge rainbow in the horizon overlooking the lake. 

Later we planned to go for an early dinner at 8:15 pm and were surprised to see that they close kitchen at 8 pm (seriously !!). Luckily we found a pizza takeaway spot and had some family wine & dine in the house. 

Day 2 (11.5.23) - Ring of Kerry

Ring of Kerry is a popular 180 km long scenic drive with spectacular coastal landscape. 

We started the ring road drive with planned stopovers for sight seeing. The first such stop was Rossbeigh beach. We couldn't resist the waters and had to maneuver through the pebbles and sand gravel to play with the ice-cold waters. 

Next on the list was Kerry Cliffs. This is touted as the "most spectacular views in Ireland" by some websites and the place aptly fitted the description. The climb up the hill was worth it for the beautiful views, the photos may not do justice !!

We did a couple more stopovers on the Ring of Kerry before returning to Anascaul. Since the next day was planned to be a late start, we decided to play board games. After small kids and grandparents went off to sleep, four of us and Arnav enjoyed games like Cluedo, Uno, Dobble cards till late night.

I have to admit here that while at vacation, the days are spent seeing tourist attractions, however the lasting memories many a times would be of these fun moments spent with family, playing, arguing over 'alleged cheating', celebrating, mocking etc. Even during our other holidays, we ensure to keep Monopoly board or other games packed in our luggage for the post-dinner fun. 

Day 3 (12.5.23) - Killarney

We woke up quite late and then started for Killarney National Park - one of Ireland's extensive and important natural habitat. There are multiple trails inside the park which could take hours to explore, however I thought that inspite of the vastness, one never really gets lost in the wilderness as someone or other would be roaming around exploring the trails. Also we didn't find any animals except for the one deer, which was bit disappointment.

After the National Park, we explored Killarney town which looked very lively with pubs, restaurants and touristy shops. If you are travelling with friends and not with kids, then you should look at staying here instead of villages like Anascaul.

Day 4 (13.5.23) - Dingle and Blasket Islands

It was an early morning start as we had booked a ferry ride to the Great Blasket Islands, the last piece of land on the east coast of Atlantic Ocean. The ferry ride takes about 45 mins and we get to spend ~2 hours on the island. It's uninhabited since several years due to adverse weather conditions. We were lucky to have a good sunny day so we could take in these beautiful views

We met a group of hikers who had camped on the island the night before and they showed pictures & videos of the spectacular starry night, shooting stars amongst sound of the ocean and the seals. Another thing which you could add to your list, if you are travelling solo or in group of friends, without kids.

After Blasket Islands, we spent the afternoon exploring Dingle town. Another beautiful town (like Killarney) especially with the colourful buildings on the coastline. 

Next on the plan was the beautiful Inch beach, it's sandy expanse and the ocean waves were amazing !! We spent about an hour playing in the cold waters. 

By the time, we were back to the house, we were dead tired.

Day 5 (14.5.23) - Sleahead Drive

The last day of the trip before we head back to Dublin. First we had to get the packing done and cars loaded. Then we decided to explore the other most scenic ring route in the county - the 47 km Slea Head Drive. 

We took 2 halts - one at Dunmore Head viewpoint and other at DunChaoin Pier. I am running out of adjectives here so I would simply share few pictures of the views there !!

After lunch at Dingle town, we started our return journey to Dublin, reaching home by evening 8 pm. 

And that's the wrap of our holidays and my blog. It was a 14 day holiday, 2 days spent on aircrafts and 2 days unpacking & packing and 10 days of Irish sightseeing. 

Please share you views and comments below. 

Cheers

Ireland trip - Dublin leg

Dublin, the capital of Republic of Ireland would be the first port for most tourist entering the country. After having spent hours at other large city airports in London, Frankfurt, Paris, Madrid etc to get through immigration, I had budgeted 90-120 mins at the airport. But I was pleasantly surprised in Dublin to breeze through immigration and was out in 30 minutes! So much that we had to wait for 30-40 mins for the taxi driver to take us home, enough time for some selfies!! 😁

Brother's home was 25 km away in Maynooth, in adjoining county Kildare, close to a beautiful sprawling Maynooth University campus. Since it was already late evening by the time we reached home, we hit the beds early. 

Day 1 (Thursday) - roamed around Maynooth. 

The charming little town reminded me of Ealing (London UK) & Pitshanger Lane where we had stayed for 4 years.. the pubs, bakeries, cafes, convenience shops around the Main Street.. There was a beautiful water body flowing by, which i came to know was part of 130 km long Royal Grand Canal Greenway stretch. (https://www.independent.ie/news/a-game-changer-130km-royal-canal-greenway-launches-as-irelands-longest-greenway/40230958.html)

The roads were so tempting so I couldn't resist a 10 km run exploring the town, after dropping family back home.

Day 2 (Friday) - Dublin City tour:

We bought Hop-on Hop-off bus tickets to explore Dublin city. These buses have 24-26 scheduled stops/ places of interests. I had tried these earlier in London, Vienna, Barcelona where there were multiple lines and involved lot of planning to cover maximum places. In Dublin, it was a single bus route and infact 18 places out of the 26 stops were situated within walking radius. So if it was a small adult group, it may make sense to save the €28-30 per ticket and explore the city walking (though you would miss the commentary about the city history). 2 of the farthest points in the bus route were Phoenix Park and Dublin zoo which we anyways require a full day by itself.

A quick overview of our city tour in the link : #dublincitytour

Dublin City tour

Dublin night life

In the evening, both of us brothers & better-halves decided to explore the famous Dublin night life.. so we took off leaving the kids in safe hands of grandparents !!

Dublin by night was completely amazing experience. We went about pub hopping trying out different pubs across temple Bar and Camden street. The whole atmosphere was so lively with Irish music being played by bands at most pubs. 

After food and few more drinks at Porterhouse with some amazing live Irish music, we headed back late night hailing a cab as the buses were too crowded and infrequent. 

 

Day 3 (Saturday) : Dublin Zoo and Phoenix Park

After adults-night out, it was now kids turn. We spent most of the day at Dublin Zoo and Phoenix Park. We may have walked 10-12 km the day seeing animals, clicking photos, that by the end of it, we were dead tired !

All in all, a day well spent !

(Wellington Memorial at Phoenix Park)

Day 4 (Sunday) : St Catherine's Park

Put few green trees together and Mumbaikars would be happy 😄 !! So walk across the St Catherine's park was heavenly !! The huge park is spread across 2 towns of Lexlip and Lucan in Kildare county. 

Day 5  (Monday) : Dublin City tour continued

I found it amazing how much Irish people were fond of their history. Every corner of Dublin had a history associated with it, some famous world personality having their genetic ties there. The 2 good places to immerse in the history are Jeanie Johnston ship tour and EPIC museum. These 2 places (situated next to each other near Customs House) tell stories of the tragic Irish Potato Famine of 1845-1852 which resulted in deaths of 1 million Irish residents and 2+ million immigrating to other countries notably to the USA. These immigrants faced the hardships on  their journies through rough seas by boats like Jeanie Johnston and of societal acceptance as they established in the new countries. They are the same ancestors who gave us several distinguished leaders, businessmen, artists etc. The combo tour of Jeanie Johnston boat and EPIC would take about 3-4 hours depending on your interest. 

(Statues depicting the tragic famine on the walkway)

After these 2 places, we roamed around Grafton Street, had our hot chocolates at Butler's, spent some time at St Stephen's Green park. 

I did a quick Irish Whiskey Tour & had some more Irish coffee too !

On that 'high note', the Dublin leg ends and we start our 5 day trip to the south-west. 

It's been a long post, hope you are still here !! If yes, I love to hear your views and read your comments below. 

Cheers !!