India through my eyes - the colours of sanctity
Women segregating the red and yellow turmeric inside the temple at Patteeswaram near Kumbakonam town in Tamil Nadu[...]
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
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Good Times in Delft
Well, Amiens (France) and Tournai (Belgium) were mostly disappointing aside from their excellent cathedrals, but we are now very happy in Delft, a beautiful town near The Hague in South Holland. We're having such a fantastic time here and I don't think we could have chosen a better place to wind up our European tour. We are here[...]
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
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Some Randomness for Your Sunday
Where to buy excuses in France. A funny little video and tribute to a former job I didn't like so much as my current one - alpaca grooming! Not our video, unfortunately.In actual news, we are now in the Netherlands and it is wonderful. More so[...]
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Sunday, July 27, 2008
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A dark day for Bangalore
The eight blasts in Bangalore have thrown the city out of gear and it is very unfortunate that terrorists have started resorting to such cowardly acts to psyche people. The discussion is not about whether it is a low intensity or a high internsity act and how many casualities were there..Its[...]
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Friday, July 25, 2008
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A Day in Paris
So on Monday we caught the 9:13 AM train from Chartres to Paris, which was incredibly easy since the train station is just down the hill from our hotel. The fare was not cheap at €23 return, but still better than in the UK. The train was clean and mostly empty and the one-hour ride was smooth and fast. Paris has many train stations;[...]
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
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India through my eyes - A sneak preview
A window opens out to give me a glimpse of life in Arekere,a small village which is hardly 5 kms from Javagal . This is the main street that ends in the Hoysala temple there. The doors to this house were closed though . I will be posting a picture or two every week which will be titled[...]
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Thursday, July 24, 2008
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Chartres
Greetings from Chartres, home of a Gothic cathedral considered to be one of the best in the world. We are staying here for four nights (leaving tomorrow) in a nice central hotel with a cathedral view! And yesterday we took the train into Paris, where we had a very long but very fun day among crowds of fellow Americans. That deserves[...]
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Tuesday, July 22, 2008
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Chateaux and Cathedrals of the Loire
We have had a very busy last two days, with long day trips from our base in the outskirts of Tours. So busy, in fact, that we never got a chance to see Tours! Oh, well. We quite enjoyed our short tour of the famed Loire Valley. Here's what we did.Yesterday: West of Tours to AngersSaumur Chateau on the Loire River. The river is[...]
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Friday, July 18, 2008
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Where are the mountains ?
These are not just another pretty travel pictures..There is a murky tale behind these waters..The mountains are shredded by greedy corporations and governments looking for gold , iron ore and other minerals and as they are battered and broken down, the result is this. I am not against[...]
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Friday, July 18, 2008
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Saint-Savin and Chauvigny
This morning we went on a short road trip to the east of Poitiers. The first stop was Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe, whose abbey church is a World Heritage Site. It is very nice on the outside, but the reason it is a World Heritage Site is all inside - the ceiling is covered in early medieval murals.So imagine my disappointment when[...]
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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Poitiers
Poitiers is a medium-sized city with no less than six historic churches. We managed five of them yesterday, which are all scattered around the city, so it was quite a long and exhausting day. But I was thrilled with the abundance of medieval art and we had lots of fun, as always. Here are some highlights.The Baptistery of St. John,[...]
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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Good Times in a French Chateau
The last few days we have been staying in a chateau hotel just outside Poitiers. It's not quite as fancy-pants as it sounds - it's a small chateau and not super expensive - but it still is a nice little treat before leaving France. It's called Le Clos de la Reibaudiere and dates from the late 1700s. The chateau itself isn't as pretty[...]
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Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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The coffee children
Kids at a drying yard of a coffee plantation near Bekodu, a village near Belur and Hassan in Karnata[...]
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Sunday, July 13, 2008
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There's No Place Like Home
Tonight we booked some plane tickets! We are flying home to the States on Wednesday, August 6. Pretty exciting! I will miss Europe very much, but I will certainly be back. We also have lots of travel plans for the States and the Far East, so hopefully this blog will continue to be interesti[...]
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Saturday, July 12, 2008
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Assorted Fun in Western France
Thursday 7/10: MoissacOn Thursday we made a short day trip from Toulouse to Moissac, home of a Romanesque abbey church known for its excellent carvings. An exceptionally long-legged and graceful Prophet Jeremiah on the south portal. This guy shows up in every one of my books on Romanesque architecture.Funny little character elsewhere[...]
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Saturday, July 12, 2008
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Blog Carnival- Carnival of Cities
More on the sunny city .I had just participated in the Carnival of cities and posted one of my earlier posts on Chennai. You could read it in A travel blog of an Indian Backpacker: This is not a travelogue ... posted in Escape from New York : Carnival of Cities July 9th Edition.I recommend[...]
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Saturday, July 12, 2008
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A local market or Sandai
In villages, the word Sandai stands for a local market which opens probably once a week and the entire village gathers . The local fares are all sold here , from cattle to vegetables and all the local produce . Its full of life, colourful and vibrant.It is an important day for the entire[...]
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Thursday, July 10, 2008
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Toulouse
Tonight is the last of three nights we've spent in Toulouse, one of the largest cities in France and capital of Europe's aerospace industry. It's actually pretty nice for a big city and we've enjoyed our stay here. It's been consistently sunny and in the upper 80s; a little hot but not nearly as bad as the South was.Yesterday I[...]
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Thursday, July 10, 2008
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The sun city - Madras aka Chennai
I went home for an extended weekend and boy, was it hot ! So, amidst Kollywood and Kancheepuram sarees, the topic of discussion moved from the weather to the recent spate of real estate prices . While catching up with some friends, I gathered the latest buzz word was Chennai day or Madras[...]
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Wednesday, July 9, 2008
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Conques
Yesterday we drove 1 hour and 45 minutes north of Albi to a little village in the mountains called Conques (pronounced "conk"). It was absolutely worth the trip, which was relaxed and scenic, too. The church in Conques is one of the best Romanesque churches I've ever visited. And it's in the middle of a wonderful little village,[...]
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Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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Coorg Diaries - Day 3 and some last(ing) images
Some final images of Coorg as we leave this beautiful town. I cannot believe that we spent just three days and we gathered a wealth of information and made quite a few friends. Kishore to begin with, who had been our guide and told us about hidden temples and folklore behind them. A Kodava[...]
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Monday, July 7, 2008
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Albi
Our favorable first impressions of Albi turned out to be correct - it has been a very pleasant city to spend a weekend. Our hotel has been great, too; it's cooler and darker than most, so we've slept late every morning. Saturday was warm and sunny but after that it cooled way down, hardly reaching 70 degrees and even raining a little.[...]
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Monday, July 7, 2008
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Churches in the Eastern Pyrenees
The first of our day trips from Narbonne (last Wednesday) was to a couple abbey churches in the Pyrenees mountains near the Spanish border. The first church is called St Michel de Cuxa and stands in a very pretty valley setting in the middle of nowhere.Sadly we arrived in that witching hour between noon and 2pm in which everything[...]
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Saturday, July 5, 2008
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Revised Plans
Happy Fourth of July! What an appropriate day to say we're just about ready to come home to the US of A. Europe is fantastic and we can never see enough, but moving from one hotel to another is getting tiring. And it's just been an awfully long time since we've been in our home country with family and friends and a place to call[...]
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Friday, July 4, 2008
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Madikeri-the capital of Haleri Dynasty
Our journey into Coorg’s past continued as we went into estates and homestays, villages and towns. It is said that the history of Coorg was mainly deciphered through inscriptions . Several dynasties from the Gangas, Cholas, Hoysalas, Nayaks have left their stamp here. However it is[...]
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Wednesday, July 2, 2008
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