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 .
~
Thursday, July 31, 2008
0
comments
Women segregating the red and yellow turmeric inside the temple at Patteeswaram near Kumbakonam town in Tamil Nadu .
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 for a full week (Sunday to Sunday) and then we'll spend our last
~
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
0
comments
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 soon.
~
Sunday, July 27, 2008
0
comments
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 sad that it happenned and we only hope the authorities ensure that it doesnt happen again. My thanks to those who inquired on my wellness and I do hope that fellow Bangaloreans are safe and healthy ..I was on the way to the railway station to catch my train to Madras and I am now posting this from the sunny city. I am travelling again tomorrow and will be back to the blogging world within a week to ten days..Until then , take care and have a safe weekend
~
Friday, July 25, 2008
0
comments
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; our train arrived at the Gare Montparnesse in the southern part
~
Thursday, July 24, 2008
0
comments
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 the same as above..It is mainly a perspective of rural India and the people Ive met in many of my travels..most pictures like these do not carry any text..I do hope you will appreciate the beauty of real India, the way I see it.
Ravi Kashyap , a gentleman from the US commented a couple of days ago (after almost a year) that the house belongs to his ancestors and was built in 1680.This is what he said in his comment which Ive published below.
"This is our ancestor home, was built around 1680's by my great great great grand father (Shanboug Rammanna, also know as saraf Ramanna), my relatives lived in this house till 1970's .
Most of our relatives have migrated to UK & USA and thus the state of the house, recently last month (aug 2009) we visited this place and have plans to renovate the house to maintain & keep the heritage."
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 its own post, which will hopefully happen tomorrow or the next
~
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
0
comments
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 pretty and wide, but shallower than we expected, with lots of
~
Friday, July 18, 2008
0
comments
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 mining or development per se, but definitely not at the cost of our environment
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 I discovered that the entire church is closed for renovations! I knew
~
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
0
comments
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, the oldest church in France. It was built in the 4th century and
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 as others we've seen, but the grounds are gorgeous and the
The coffee children
Kids at a drying yard of a coffee plantation near Bekodu, a village near Belur and Hassan in Karnataka.
~
Sunday, July 13, 2008
0
comments
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 interesting.
~
Saturday, July 12, 2008
0
comments
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 on the portalSome of the 24 Elders of the Apocalypse above the
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 all the posts on Wendy's blog in the carnival..great weekend read