Chris Thorpe, the owner of Adastra Vineyards

everything tasted so good, so we joined their wine club…

their healthy mossy reservoir reminded me of Claude Monet

I found the perfect post wine tasting activity (besides napping): tutu shopping at Aubergine Vintage Emporium & Cafe – Sebastopol, CA!

lovely organic vegetable gardens at Lynmar Estate

blooming kale flowers

gorgeous glass walled wine cellar at Lynmar Estate

chair made entirely of used corks

…silly me, I packed my bathing suit, I should have packed my winter hat.  It was freezing!

perfect weather for some Spud Point crab chowda!

Oooh I just love a good used bookstore. I can spend hours getting lost in one. We found pretty much one of the best ones I have ever been to, in Santa Rosa, California. Treehorn Books had just the right combination of fine literature  and  many obscure books on wine and other delicious hedonistic California activities.

…and I met this lovely lady

pretty miniature paper dollhouses hung in the windows too

Jes and I had a nice relaxing final two days in India shopping up a storm and watching old Bollywood films in my “Lost in Translation” hotel room.

funny baby portraits

someone handed me a rose

After the wedding Jes and I decided to find a nice quiet place to relax and retreat. We stayed at a the Gopinath Bhavan temple in Vrindavan, India for about a week.

It certainly was a very spiritual space and it gave us time to disconnect from the digital world and connect with our inner world. My days were spent mostly alone relaxing, reading, doing yoga, eating the healthy vegetarian meals they provided for us, and working on my photography.

After 20 years of taking yoga classes, I finally started my own personal morning practice too!

Here is Jes’ more detailed blog post about our week at the women’s ashram.

the highlight of my stay was meeting Tungavidya Devi Dasi, the lovely director of the temple

my room

electricity went out at least once a day, so I would often read by candlelight

we ate our meals on this simple floor

there is a river right outside the temple, but I preferred the cool marble rooms of the temple

I met these lovely ladies at the market in Vrindavan, India.  They make garlands all day for the deities at the temples. As sweet as their flowers, they smiled for my camera while they worked. I guess it is a good business since there are 5,000 temples in Vrindavan!

view from our room

morning light

breakfast!

Monkeys!

my token India cow photos

Until today I have been very conservative about my purchases…. the Jes found a little store that perfectly matches my taste. There were so many affordable pretty printed silk and cotton dresses. It was fun to trying them all on.  If only I could check eight bags!

Don’t worry I didn’t buy these ridiculous pants!

Jes and her personal tailor!

I had so much fun window shopping at the little touristy bazaar in Arambol with Jes.

This year marks the twentieth anniversary of  my yoga practice.  It is a sacred gift I carry with me wherever I go.  My mother introduced me to the benefits of yoga when I was a senior in high school, and we would go together every week.  We loved the teachers at Jivamukti Yoga in the heart of the East Village, when it was still a small studio.

I was very excited to finally take a class in India, the true birthplace of yoga.  Sadly, Jes’ favorite teacher Vijay left town so it was not the class we were expecting.  Even an average yoga class is better than no practice at all, right? It is a total treat to do yoga outside on a rooftop with gorgeous views of coconut tress and crazy crows spiraling around the sky.  It made me forget about the hustle bustle of motorbikes and tourists and pushy shopkeepers downstairs.

I also rarely get to have a nice long class in New York, this one was over 2 hours!  Most of the deep stretching (my favorite part) happens in the last part of class, and this often left out because of time constraints.  It made me miss practicing with Dharma Mittra, whose 2 1/2 hour master classes helped me survive photo grad school.

After the long flight and the stress that comes before a long voyage it made my body and mind feel heavenly.   I never met a practicing yogi that complained about having trouble falling asleep at night. Somehow I managed to completely avoid getting jet lagged too!

The lovely view from the rooftop of the yoga studio.

The empty studio after class ended.