Friday 19 April 2013

Leopold, hard rock- and tourist stuff

Dear reader,
Are you ever a tourist in your own city? It strange isn't it - sometimes we do not see the things that are there - just under your nose- because you live there, you are not just a random tourist with a tight time schedule. I remember when I lived in Athens, Greece, and I met this lady - who had lived in Athens all her life- but she had never been up to Acropolis! I couldn't believe it!? And then I met this Norwegian lady, who had never been out of Norway- until the year she turned 60 - then she went abroad for the first time - to Athens - to visit the Acropolis! A dream came true for her! To watch the sunset at Acropolis!

I think I have kept myself quite busy in Mumbai, and seen a lot of the city, but there are some -  more tourist- like- stuff that I hadn't done - up until now. And no, no, I am not talking about the Gateway of India - I have been there - up to several times. And by the way- the last time was just a couple of weeks ago - on a Sunday - so the area was packed with people, and we went the whole family. And funny enough: for the Indian tourists - the Foreigners (us) was almost just as big an attraction as the Gateway- at least judged by the number of pictures they took of us! Some asked politely if they could take our picture, and some just snapped away! Hmmm - my teens are not quite enthusiastic about that... So be prepared - visitors from abroad: In India you might be The tourist attraction- they haven't seen a Foreigner like you before! When I discuss this with my expat friends- some find it hilarious and some get deeply annoyed...
Tourist spot number 1: The Gateway of India. 
Well, after the snapshot-rain, we strolled up to Leopold Cafe. Famous from the Shantaram book (remember?) and a from lot of travel guides about Mumbai. It was also one of the first places to be hit under the terrorist attacks in 2008, and the bullet holes are still there. Being a cafe with a history, it has atmosphere. You will meet tourists - for sure - here, - but it is also visited by locals - and you can get food and/or drinks pretty cheap! And for beer lovers: a quite unique draft beer serving...


And what is it about Hard Rock Cafe? Is there such a thing as a Hard Rock Cafe- tourism? Some people just has to visit the local Hard Rock Cafe when they are on holiday ....I will not say more since we are guilty of rushing off to find the Miami version when we went there and the Kuala Lumpur version the day after we arrived KL... Well, we can tick off another Mumbai spot on our list!  After months in Mumbai we finally acted on the tourist urge, and visited the Mumbai version.
Hard Rock Mumbai
So, we did some tourist stuff and we pleased some tourists ourselves. .. What else is up in Mumbai?
Well, there is a dance festival starting next week: Stark Raven Mad - NCPA Mudra Festival of Dance and Bhakti Poetry - I might check that out.

And - you may have noticed that we have had a lot of visitors this spring? Well, the guestroom has been empty for almost 2 weeks now, but tonight it will be filled again! Oh, yes! Stay tuned, and I might tell you about our upcoming visitors:-) It is also their first time in India - so this should be interesting...:-)
  

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