Ghent, Netherlands, and More Brugge

View over GhentI'm very sorry for the delay between posts. I've been a slacker, but it sure has been nice to spend the evenings relaxing in front of the TV and then going straight to bed! We realized today that this is the longest we've ever been on the road, and we are so ready to be settled in our new home. Sightseeing is wonderful[...]

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by Jour ~ Friday, November 30, 2007 0 comments

Brugge Day 1

Today was mostly cold and rainy and we were really tired, but we still had a nice time exploring Brugge. The architecture is very Dutch-looking and much of it is made of brick, which makes an interesting change from England. There are little alleyways and many canals running through the city, both of which are lined with chocolate[...]

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by Jour ~ Monday, November 26, 2007 0 comments

Oxford to Belgium

Oxford: Graduation DaySaturday was almost entirely occupied by my graduation ceremony, which was complicated and rather exhausting but also fun and memorable. I was proud to be a part of it and now I really feel like an Oxford graduate. That's the nice thing about ceremonies.The day started at 11:45 with the "signing of the graces"[...]

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by Jour ~ Sunday, November 25, 2007 0 comments

London Day 2 in Pictures

On Thursday we took another marathon walk through a remarkably sunny London. This time we started with Kings Road in Chelsea, which is one of my favorite areas of London (despite a lack of historic churches). We did some good window shopping at wonderful stores like Muji and Molton Brown.Muji store windowThen we looked for a place[...]

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by Jour ~ Saturday, November 24, 2007 0 comments

London Day 1 in Pictures

Happy Black Friday! I hope no one hurt themselves out shopping today!So, to begin the promised details of London. On our first full day in the city (Wednesday), it was cloudy starting out but beautifully blue the rest of the day. We followed a walking route we've taken before and like very much, and we had such a great time looking[...]

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by Jour ~ Friday, November 23, 2007 0 comments

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day! It is also David's birthday today and we had a really fun day of celebration, walking all over London for a second day in a row. We had beautiful sunny weather yesterday, and some good sunbreaks today. I'm too beat to do a full post tonight, but hope to catch up tomorrow night when we're living the quieter life[...]

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by Jour ~ Thursday, November 22, 2007 0 comments

36 hairpin bends ..

There is a debate whether the Queen of hills is still the Queen. But its often the journey rather than the destination which is special . I leave you with some pictures shot during our ascent across 36 hair pin bends from Masinagudi to Ooty[...]

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by Jour ~ Wednesday, November 21, 2007 0 comments

London: Greenwich and Kensington

I'm happy to report we made it successfully across London without any damage to the car or the nerves of the occupants. It took us about an hour to drive nine miles from the east side to the west side, but it was never gridlocked and just a lot of traffic lights. We are now comfortably settled in the Parkcity Hotel in Kensington,[...]

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by Jour ~ Tuesday, November 20, 2007 0 comments

Canterbury

Canterbury is a smallish town but it is the spiritual capital of England, for two reasons. First, it was the headquarters and burial place of St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury. He was sent from Rome by Pope Gregory to convert the English from paganism in 597 AD. A monastery and cathedral were established there, and[...]

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by Jour ~ Monday, November 19, 2007 0 comments

Battle to Canterbury

Friday we toured Battle Abbey, which was built on the site of the Battle of Hastings in October 1066 to atone for all the bloodshed. It was a Benedictine monastery, as most Norman abbeys were, and was expanded over the years until it was destroyed by King Henry VIII in the 1500s.The tour included the remaining monastic buildings[...]

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by Jour ~ Sunday, November 18, 2007 0 comments

Masinagudi - Where elephants roam

Warning : The call of the wild is a cry that should not be ignored . It can cause you sleepless nights . Soon you will be woken up in the night by howling wolves and you will start seeing sillhouttes of elephants next to you in the dark ! A snake will slither down your feet as an invisible[...]

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by Jour ~ Saturday, November 17, 2007 0 comments

Brighton to Battle

The last couple days have been busy and without a very good internet connection, but now I have some time and good wireless internet, so I'll try to get us up to date! This comes to you from Canterbury, but we've only just arrived this evening instead of two nights ago as planned. We made a spontaneous stop along the way. But I'm[...]

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by Jour ~ Saturday, November 17, 2007 0 comments

Brighton Day 2

We decided not to do our day trip today since it would make more sense to see the sights on the way to Canterbury tomorrow. So we had another nice day of exploring Brighton, and as a bonus it was beautifully sunny. We visited some of the same places again (including Subway for lunch!) and also discovered some new areas of the city.[...]

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by Jour ~ Wednesday, November 14, 2007 0 comments

Brighton Day 1

Greetings from Brighton! It is our second day here and we are really enjoying it. Yesterday morning was rather hectic - we just barely finished packing and cleaning the apartment as the check-out man arrived at 10AM, then we dropped off several boxes at DHL in Oxford to send home, then met a guy outside London to give him a monitor[...]

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by Jour ~ Tuesday, November 13, 2007 0 comments

Back where I belong- India !

A road side scene in Mysore..We were on our way to Masinagudi in Tamil Nadu when I saw the cart ..I was tempted to go on a ride, but just had to content myself with a picture ..More on the jungles in my next p[...]

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by Jour ~ Tuesday, November 13, 2007 0 comments

Where You Travel for Loy Krathong Festival 2007

Loy Krathong Festival is called "Festival of Lights". Loy Krathong. is popular festival in Thailand. Beginning on the first evening of the full moon, the festival has Buddhist origins and offers thanks to the Goddess of Water at the end of the rainy season.The Place for Loy Krathong 2007This[...]

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by Jour ~ Tuesday, November 13, 2007 0 comments

The Plans

Tomorrow morning we move out of our beloved Great Milton farmhouse and will be on the road for the next two weeks. We are sad to leave our English village lifestyle but also very excited for our next adventures. After we leave here, we will do some final touring of England before returning to Oxford for graduation on Saturday November[...]

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by Jour ~ Sunday, November 11, 2007 0 comments

Besselsleigh, Bath and Lots of Packing

Oy vey, have we ever been busy this week. I have so much to write about and so little time to do it! But here's a quick post to try to catch up.Monday: BesselsleighThe week started out with a brief Flickrmeet (at which members of the Oxfordshire Churches Group meet up to photograph churches) at Besselsleigh Church.We only stayed[...]

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by Jour ~ Saturday, November 10, 2007 0 comments

Jungfraujong - at the top of Europe

The Ice Pal[...]

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by Jour ~ Thursday, November 8, 2007 0 comments