Au Revoir, Little Cottage.

Wouldn't you know it, the night before we leave our vacation rental we finally get the beautiful sunshine we've been waiting for all week! It's hard to believe it was foggy, rainy and cool most of the day. It made a nice conclusion to our happy stay here. This evening I got to spend some time outside with the cows, reading my new[...]

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by Jour ~ Friday, May 30, 2008 0 comments

Castles, Churches & Frogs in North Burgundy

Chateau BourbillySorry it's been awhile since our last post. We've been out sightseeing a lot, and when we've been home I've been working on my website. It's been nice to have enough time to do that! Today is our last day in our little cottage and we've had a really good, relaxing time here. The cats are even more friendly now;[...]

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by Jour ~ Friday, May 30, 2008 0 comments

Singapore beckons ...

My throat is burning and my eyes are watering..the less said about my nose, the better. In short, Im not feeling too good..but the good thing is that Im travelling again. Im going to Chennai tomorrow and then fly away to Singapore for a week with my parents. This is my fourth visit to[...]

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by Jour ~ Wednesday, May 28, 2008 0 comments

And therein ends a trail..

So, my current trail comes to an end and I move on to my next destination and my next post.But before that, a last look at some of the images that still linger in my mind..Coffee and tea estates, flowers,forests, mountains, curvy roads, hairpin bends, boulders and an interesting snippet[...]

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by Jour ~ Sunday, May 25, 2008 0 comments

Semur-en-Auxois

This morning the sun came out for awhile so we drove to the nearest town, Semur-en-Auxois. It's a pretty medieval town overlooking a river, with ruins of a big castle and a nice 13th-century Gothic church.General view of Semur, taken another day in less-nice weather.View from the bridge.Fruit and vegetable market.East end of the[...]

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by Jour ~ Sunday, May 25, 2008 0 comments

Avallon

Yesterday we drove 30 minutes west to Avallon, primarily to check out the carved portal of its church. The drive was beautiful and there were hardly any other cars on the road, which was what we were hoping it would be like here! The countryside and villages we've seen so far look a lot like England. In fact, as we drove through[...]

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by Jour ~ Sunday, May 25, 2008 0 comments

Finally, France!

After a few brief stays in France in the last couple weeks, interspersed with visits to Switzerland and Germany, our big tour of France has finally begun. We are settled in a rental cottage in northern Burgundy, France, and are so happy here. We've been looking forward to the France leg of our journey for a long time - dreaming[...]

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by Jour ~ Sunday, May 25, 2008 0 comments

Kandya temple

If the river Tunga flows peacefully, can the river Bhadra be far behind ..A couple of hours from Sringeri is Chikmagalur and as one climbs the western ghats across the hairpin bends, dense forests and coffee plantations , you come across an ancient temple called the Kandya temple, where[...]

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by Jour ~ Saturday, May 24, 2008 0 comments

Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany

After a night across the French border in Colmar, we are now back in Germany. We're staying for three nights in the Novotel Freiburg am Konzerthaus and we're very happy here. After only ever seeing Germany in the winter, we thought we might finally see it in the sunshine, but it was not to be - it was cloudy and rainy the whole[...]

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by Jour ~ Thursday, May 22, 2008 0 comments

Sringeri-Vidyashankara Temple

The Vidyashankara Temple built in the 14th century (1338)is dedicated to Lord Shiva . The temple stands almost at the entrance to the River Tunga and is an architectural marvel. A fusion of Hoysala, Chalukya, Vijaynagar and Dravidian styles, this temple was built by the pontiff, Sri[...]

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by Jour ~ Wednesday, May 21, 2008 0 comments

Colmar, France

Eventually we got back on a main highway and headed northwest into France. Our destination was Colmar, which is only about 20 minutes from the German border in the region of Alsace. We had originally planned to spend a few nights in Strasbourg, but nearly all the hotels seemed to be booked up for some reason, so I picked Colmar[...]

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by Jour ~ Wednesday, May 21, 2008 0 comments

A Drive through the Black Forest

On Monday we drove almost directly north from Bern into Germany. The drive was spectacular and relaxed; such a wonderful change from Italy. The roads were smooth, the lanes were wider, the other drivers actually stayed in their lanes, and the scenery was beautiful. We crossed the border into Germany at Basel, a city that sits right[...]

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by Jour ~ Wednesday, May 21, 2008 0 comments

Sringeri - the spiritual world beckons ..

What is spiritual ? A beautiful serene moment, a togetherness with the divine, a blissful solitude , a positive vibration that cannot be felt anywhere else, a belief that goes deep within you that this is it, a complete abandon of all things material , including your ego, your anger,[...]

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by Jour ~ Tuesday, May 20, 2008 0 comments