One of the hardest parts of leaving India was saying goodbye to dear friends.  Of course, being India and being me, the good byes were a lot of fun!

[For those of you just interested in my artistic photos, scroll to the end!]

Bhargavi, Lynn and I (along with another friend of Bhargavi’s) went to the grand Taj Hotel for High Tea.  Yummy food, glorious ambience, exceptional service and lots of laughs.  A special way to say goodbye for sure. Aside from the buffet, we ordered scones with clotted cream and jam, in honor of the ethos of high tea.

Another group of friends, Jonathan, Shraddha, Oyndrilla and I, went to the Sula winery for the weekend.  In the tradition of Napa Valley, Sula has created a lovely park-like atmosphere with a top-notch hotel and excellent restaurants connected with this winery.  Needless to say, we had a blast!

The hotel was outfitted beautifully.  Our room was lovely with a stunning nature view and free half bottle of wine. When we arrived late at night, we had some snacks and a bottle of sparkling wine.  As the night wore on, focusing seemed to be more of a challenge when taking photos!

I LOVED that the rooms were named after wines, rather than only numbers.

The lobby had this elephant called Gopi by the artist Kalyan Joshi.  It was created in the tradition of phad painting (which normally told stories about kings and elephants).  This piece was a part of The Elephant Parade, one of the world’s largest art exhibits, and was bought at an action by the vineyard.  The proceeds of this auction supported the conservation and welfare of Asian Elephants.  While researching for this blog post, I learned these parades happen all over the world.  Be sure to keep an eye out for a parade near you!

Outside the restaurant, the decor reminded me of villages in Italy and Provence, France.

The next day saw us take a tour of the winery…which was disappointing.  First, there was the guide who used a microphone and truly, we could not understand a word she said.  I thought maybe it was her accent.  I thought maybe it was my 65 year old hearing…but no.  Even young Jonathan, and alert Shraddha and Oyndrilla couldn’t understand a word. 

That said, seeing the metal vats with their temperature-controlled aging was fascinating.  As was smelling the oaky wine smell in the barrel room. I was also in awe of how high the barrels were stored, making full use of limited space.

After the tour there was the wine tasting with no water to rinse your mouth.  The usual ‘worst wines first’ pattern ensued.  The higher end Sula wines are quite good, the others as expected.  All quite drinkable.

What I found most interesting was the sign on the wall. Since most Indians do not drink it is nice to know they drink here first. 

After the tour we had a lot of fun walking around the compound and taking photos at all the spots clearly created for selfies. We made to try every possible pose, every combination of people, and all viable locations.

Most of the weekend was spent lounging around, chatting, laughing and enjoying the scenery.  My camera captured a lot of those moments.

Of course, with all the flowers and nature around, I enjoyed taking photos. Here are my favorites.

Along with flora there was fauna. I had a lot of fun watching the large, black bird which I just learned is a Red Naped Ibis (thanks to Deepa’s husband).

And I don’t remember the name of this bird!