FILOLI - a day trip

After living in the bay area for ten years, we found a place this week that we have driven past over the years, but never checked out.

Somehow we did not even register the sign on Highway 280 that says "FILOLI - next exit. National Historic Landmark Site".

Thanks to Anu.P and K. we knew about the existance of this wonderful place called FILOLI.

It is a mansion named for FIght LOve LIve. You can read more at their website.

We had a blast. It was a really hot day, but some of the gardens in the place were extremely cool and refreshing. We also went on a self tour of the mansion. Wow!! It was just amazing. The whole family had a blast. The added bonus was that we were joined by the cousins and a host of friends!

The best part was that daddy got to dance with his daughters in a beautiful ballroom and there was a lady playing wonderful waltzes on a piano in the corner.




Here is the trip in pictures.

The Landmark marker!



Posing with the kids and the MIL at the garden entrance...


Have no idea what this flower was, but it was inviting the camera. Missed my Tamron for a few seconds there!


The wonderful Allium. We have this in our house as well. The ones in our front yard never got to this size!


A wall of flowers!


A beautiful shot of San with the kids in front of the garden!


Jr. in front of the pool and clock tower.


This was a beautiful arrangement at the end of the rose garden


The rose garden. Really well maintained. Jr. though had a big issue with the "buggies" aka bees and wasps!


Another fantastic garden with tall well pruned hedges. When you have 654 Acres of land at your disposal, you can have many such gardens each visually more enchanting than the previous one!


The rose garden


A sample of the roses (there are lots of rose portraits, liked this one the best)


Note the dark pink looking plant on the right of this photo...


It is full of a rose looking miniature!


One of the coolest places at FILOLI outside the gardens


One of the majestic rooms at the Estate mansion! Gives you some idea of what half a million dollars can get you in the mid 1800's!


The ladies of the estate used to have tea ceremonies where they would gather and discuss the matters of the day. So says the informational video! When you put two Madrasi granny's in the same location a 150 years later, they still have a discussion alright, tea or otherwise! The two grannies were busy discussing anything under the sun (or shade) while the younger generation was busy running after the youngest generation!


One of the murals on the walls of the ballroom. Apparently made in the artists studio in New York. How they got it to this place in the mid 1800's is beyond me! Ship? Road? Did they break it in sections?


Finally a picture of daddy with the little one. A little blurry but you can still make out the happiness in the little one's face when she is dancing. She has this divine smile!


It was a memorable trip. If you happen to live in the bay area or you are visiting in spring or early summer, this is guranteed to be a good day of fun!


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Bom Jesus Basilica - Goa

On our first day in Goa, we visited the Bom Jesus Basilica, a 500 year old church which also has the mummified remains of St. Xavier.

It was an amazing place. You walk through two giant trees which look to be 500 years old and the gas lights remind you of another age!



Calm and quiet with so many passing through the church and praying. The side of the building and some of the inside pillars are going through a renovation of sorts..





The inner sanctum..










After we visited this church we crossed the road to go to the St. Francis of Assisi Church, which also houses a museum.




But it was an extremely hot day (as is seen by the state of the street dogs at 11 AM!)



So we decided do take some pictures of Jr. and baby on the benches, and went on to buy them some hats and drink some "elaneer" (fresh coconut water)!






I could not help but wonder how this place managed to stay unchanged for so many years. Also thought of how in the US of A, historic places average anywhere between 100 to 250 years old, but the way they are publicized, facilitized and "touristized" for lack of a better word contrasts with the "yeah, it is 1000 years old! so ?" style in India.

On one hand, it is great that these places are not "commercialized" the same way as in western countries (They find out that some former president or Indian chief pissed on a stone and before you know it there is a nice highway with an exit right near the "monument", with a visitor center that sells everything from keychains to digital camera accessories, brochures, a few restaurants, not to mention a nice set of toilets with diaper changing stations!). One almost gets the same feel when you enter any of these touristy locations. I guess this is one way to create history as you grow older.

On the other hand it is also sad to see such a great resource (anything this nice and this old like the Basilica) that is under utilized (for starters, think of all the parking ticket money the local government could collect!). But it makes for a much more relaxing and natural vacation as opposed to a mechanical "visit" to a place where you almost have the trip standardized. There are pros and cons with both approaches and I am glad that I do get to go places in both countries.

We had a great time visiting the Churches. After this we went on to see a few temples which were once again very old, but that is a story for another day..