Right as we straightened out over the Atlantic to align with 10L/28R runway of Fort Lauderdale, I noticed this submarine down below in the water!

Apparently the cold weather has chased us all he way to Florida too! Fortunately, it will start warming up from tomorrow.

We used to bring the two girls here every year. (In fact, this is before even we had moved to Atlanta). The hotel has changed a lot over the years and so has the boardwalk. The shops, the live music and all the people on bikes and roller blades have remained the same.

It was a bit deserted because of the cold today.

I believe it was a proposal ceremony

Sharmila and I braved the strong winds on the rooftop to enjoy a drink and some appetizers. With the ocean on one side and the intercoastal on the other side, the views were breathtaking. But we had to bundle up properly to deal with the cold wind.

And then suddenly, a lady came up in her swimming bikinis – fresh out of the rooftop pool – and ordered a drink while standing next to me.

“Where are you visiting from? I am shivering just looking at you”

“Boston,” she said.

“Ah! That would have been my second guess. Canada was my first!”

“Close enough!!”

I am sure she thought I was a wimp with all my heavy jackets on!

You have to zoom in to see it…

Coincidentally, we had gone to this show last year too! There were motorcycles as far as the eyes could see.

Lambretta was the brand of scooter that my best friend – Avijit’s dad in Durgapur had. Which means he and I took quite a few spins on it. Took a pose with the scooter and sent it to my friend who now lives in Perth, Australia.

This is what her dad used to ride in Durgapur.

In a bit of culture whiplash, Akshay and we went straight from the vintage motorcycle show to a modern art gallery!

At first glance, I thought a school bus had unfortunately waded into the waters. Then I realized it is a boat (touring boat) in the Intercoastal !!

We had gotten married and I immediately flew to the US to join my job. She went back to her college and finished her last month and flew to Fort Lauderdale. This was the apartment – marked 525 – where we finally put our anchors down.

Visited the old apartment complex and the apartment while in Fort Lauderdale area today.

Rema and Sanjay! The first couple in the US that we were introduced to when we came here. Ever since, they have always been a big part of our lives. In fact, they were the first friends who had seen Natasha after she was born. They had flown to Dallas to see the first baby for either of us.

Sanjay, the busy bee, spent one whole afternoon assembling a barbecue that I had ordered, all by himself as the three of us were scratching our heads on what to do with the small baby.

We try to see them whenever we are in south Florida. I have not seen much of ageing in either of them.

The iguanas were fairly big and seem to be entirely satisfied basking in the sunlight, paying absolutely no attention to all the people gathered around them to take pictures!

One of the advantages of going to the same property every year is that you remember staff and then they remember you.

Felt great catching up with some of our old friends – Juan from Cuba, Lidia from Colombia and Melissa from Peru!

Have you ever seen anything like this? It is in the parking lot of our hotel!

Porsche car took me from the plane to the Skyclub