Lush Green

Cycling around the Isle of Wight

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 13:21:00 +0000

After many wonderful trips to various places around England, Ashwin and me felt that it was time we did something different. Something that we could remember even if we suffered from Amnesia later on in life.
I sat one whole night pouring over my guide book and finally after hours of research suggested something radical- A cycling trip around the cliffs of Isle of Wight.
Ashwin liked it but there were serious doubts over the idea- We did not know the road rules of England - they drive on the left hand side of the road, that is where the similarity ends when compared with India. I had not touched a bicycle since 1994 and the last time I had ridden one I fell and fractured my ankle. We did not know the level of our stamina too and since the weather prediction for the rest of the week was rain, we were wary of the wet slippery road too.
But something took over us and in spite of all these doubts we got up one fine morning and took a train to Lymington pier, on the south Hampshire coast.
The train to Lymington pier was had a vintage touch to it and was a far cry from the modern trains that we were used to.

From Lymington pier we boarded a ferry and stood on its open deck braving the cold winds.
Though there is a nice cosy warm lounge inside, we had to temper our bodies to what we were about to do. Below is Ashwin keeping a Lookout from the ferry!

and here he is Mooing, a special tribute to a special one.

The ferry unloaded us at Yarmouth and a 10 minute walk from the pier led us to a bicycle shop from where we hired two bicycle's . We were asked to wait for 20 minutes during which the bicycles were undergoing pre-hiring tests. We used this time to plan our route on the map and briefly get acquainted with the rules of the Road.
As we were waiting by the lake side for our bicycle, we had our first encounter with a Local, who gave us a big smile and it reminded me of Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Movie Commando!

Well we finally had our bikes and with kid steps slowly started to pedal. We decided to start our trip on an unpaved road, since there would not be any vehicles and it would give us some practice.
A little experiment with the gears and in 20 minutes we were pretty confident of our balance. Now we had to prove our self's on the road.
The ride was very picturesque and I can only imagine how it will be in spring, when the trees are in full bloom.
Every time we met locals ( mostly taking their dogs for a walk) here they had the perfect etiquette of giving a nice smile, followed by wishing and enquiring about the weather.
This actually continued during our entire day at the Isle, so much so, that we cannot remember one single person who had not wished us.

There were times when even car's slowed down and the drivers gave us a nice smile. There was so much of warmth and respect and it all made us so comfortable and good.

After an uneventful enjoyable ride, the first place we reached was the Freshwater Bay.It took about one hour of cycling to reach here, the route was pretty straight and even and its only when we decided to have a view from the cliff that we had to climb the steep ascent.

and steep is an understatement...

Once on the cliffs, it was all windy plain grasslands and was a lovely sight, so beautiful that no photograph could do justice to its beauty.

Just Awestruck

We ventured close to the cliff edge to get a feel of the strong wind blow against our face; the wind was so strong that even if we had to jump off the cliff, we would have been blown right back into the hill.

Photographed from the very edge of the cliff.

Photograph of the warning board that says, "Cliff edges can be dangerous". Since there is not fencing around....

........ activities like sitting on the cliff edge like this should not be done !!!

The serpentine roads of the isle wind through picturesque country planes and you never realise time fly by as you pedal your bike through the planes.

The only creatures with attitude here where the sheep, this one certainly did not like us photographing him and gave us dirty looks.

Through long winding roads we pedaled from Freshwater bay to Alum bay. The scenic ride past sheep farms and farmhouses was simply exhilarating.

It was mostly downhill now, and we were enjoying riding full speed and breaking the sound barrier on the bicycle. It was sheer delight as the wind hit out face and froze our veins. It would be hours before we could see any cars.

At alum bay we had our lunch, which included a nice thick juicy sausage and the most tasty burger that Ashwin or me have ever tasted.
Next to the restaurant was the Alum glass factory, we spent some time here, watching glass blowing and reading interesting trivia about glass in the small display that is kept for visitors.

Our reason for visiting Alum bay was to visit the Needles and from the glass factory we had to pedal on a continuous ascent for about one hour to reach the needles.
The ascent was slow because we were halted many a time by the sheer beauty of the place.
The multi coloured sand of the Alum Bay can put even the rainbow to shame. The red colour is due to Oxidation of Iron in the sand and various levels of oxidation gives different colours.
Coming closer to the needles we saw a path that took us very close to the cliff edge and provided a breathtaking view of the entire bay. The cliffs looks like massive chunks of chalk and felt like chalk too.

It was sheer rush of adrenalin as the wind kept us pushing away from the cliffs and we went on cycling leaning on the invisible wind.

when it came to the climbs though even wind did not help..

We Finally reached to the peak of our ascent and on the top is a Old Victorian Battery which once housed Guns to defend the English Channel from enemy naval attacks. Above is the remains of an old rocket testing site. In the 1950's ICBM's were test fired from this place. We stood on this place and looked towards the sea.

And from this point we finally got to see the scene which we so hallowed, 'The needles'. This entire trip was centered around this view and we had finally made it. We jumped hugged and clicked photographs, but standing there was difficult because of the strong winds. We even had difficulties parking our bicycles in the strong wind .

Above is a closeup of the Needles light house, it held special importance to me since I had used this point to fix my ships position numerous times, when we transited the English Channel. All I had seen of it before was its Radar Echo and it brought back all those memories.
( The place is called the Needle, because there was a Needle shaped chalk formation in between these rocks which collapsed in 1764, but the name still stuck)

The wind had now become so strong that walking was nearly impossible, there was a shower but the water was quickly dried off by the strong wind. Clicking photographs was pretty difficult but we somehow managed to get a few shots. Above is the Photograph of Alum bay from Needles and below is Needles from Alum Bay.

Wind had picked up to Force 6 ( 40-50 kms/hr) and staying around the cliffs was becoming nearly impossible. We then decided to go back and at this time we experienced our best cycling joy.

We had a steep downward slope, wind was on our back and pushing us at 45 km/hr. We simply let our bicycle brakes loose, I have no idea of the speed we were travelling at but everything around seemed blurred. The wind was pushing us down the slope so fast that probably my entire reservoir of Adrenalin was in my blood. We had rocketed down from a rocket testing site within minutes .Once at the base of the hill we looked at each other and gave a hi-five.
It was nearly dusk and we had to reach Yarmouth and return back the bicycles before dark. Since our bicycles did not have any illumination it would be very unsafe to ride at night. We pedaled back as fast as we could with all our energy, only stopping and resting at pristine secluded beaches for a bottle of water.

The beach above entirely consisted of Pebbles and these pebbles made beautiful sound when the waves brushed against them.
Just at the end of twilight we reached Yarmouth, we had pedaled for about 21 kilometers. When we started the day we never thought we would do something like this, but the day could not have ended anyway better.
We let nature take control of us, instead of fighting the elements we gave in to it and Nature did not let us down. We only managed to explore 1/6th of the Isle, today we can only wonder what the rest of the island has in store for us. We sure will visit it again and complete the Journey.

Bristol

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 15:04:00 +0000

After a relaxing nights sleep at the Bath spa University hostel Ashwin and me had a nice sumptuous English breakfast that was our fuel for the rest of the day.

We were to take a train from Bath to Bristol, but works on the rail line made us take the Bus, which dropped us to the Bristol Meads train station, photographed below.
We had grand plans for Bristol and the morning did not unfold in the way we expected. Next to the train station is the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum and it was our plan to start the visit of Bristol by visiting this museum. Its only after waiting until 10 that we realised that the museum would not open since they are shifting to London.. Grrr...
We then caught a bus and headed to the Harbour front where we spent a little time walking around the river side and looking enviously at all the lovely yachts.

We had come to the harbour front to visit the Wildwalk - an indoor botanical garden which recreates a tropical forest in the heart of Bristol. But unfortunately for us this too was closed because they were sprucing it up for the summer tourist season. We sat beside the fountain wondering what to do next.
From where we were sitting we could see houses atop a high hill, we wondered how Bristol would look like from there and decided to trek to that place. Looking into the map, we realised the Bristol zoo was located somewhere in that direction and headed there.
It was a long steep climb. Sometimes I felt that we should have taken a bus, but clicking photographs of the steep road we climbed was never so fun.

We treated our self's with photographs and a mouthful of water after every steep climb. It was a 30 minute of steep walk and we sometimes wondered if the walk would be worth it. We were heading towards Clifton.....
As we were approaching the zoo, we came across a beautiful view, this one of the Clifton High school, the scene was so beautiful that we stood there for quite sometime. It was hard to believe that this was a school.
Closer view of the school...

We entered the Bristol Zoo and I must admit that although it has a wonderful collection of animals and is very educative, the zoo did not appeal to us. May be because of the artificial kind of feel ( it was too clean to be associated with animals ) but it sure is a very nice way to teach children about animals and they have almost every thing from Lion to a housefly, from a Okapi to mole rats and from Seals to dart frogs.
The one that I liked a lot was feeding of the seals, I had never seen seals before and feeding I had seen only on the tele. We did get a bit hungry looking at the big chunks of fish these seals were being fed with.
Well after eating a chocolate bar from the vending machine we came out of the zoo and we had to still see the houses on the cliffs which was the reason we were here. We kept following our instincts and walked across the beautiful country side. The walk was very rejuvenating and we kept walking through these tunnel of trees as the sun kept setting on us.
We walked about 10 minutes in this alleyway of trees and I wonder how the place will look in Summer when the trees are filled with green Foliage.
The streets where we walked were lined by beautiful Victorian styled mansions and it sure seemed like a place for the cream of Bristol's affluent people. Below is the photograph of the Christ Church at Clifton.
As we reached the end of our steep climb, we were greeted by this wonderful view of the Clifton Suspension Bridge. The view was so grandeur that all our tiredness vanished and it seemed the visit to Bristol was truly worth every penny.
( The flare in the above photograph is caused because of the internal refraction of sunlight in the camera lens, since the rays enter the lens at an angle. It was just by chance it happened and I like it so much that I decided to post this one over the other ones without the flare)

On the steep slope of the hill we spotted many people ( even children) playing slide. They were sitting on top of the smooth rock and were sliding down the hill. It was quite amazing to see it. We walked on the bridge and loved the wonderful view the bridge provided.
The building on the cliff is the Clifton Observatory and houses a camera Obscura, it also has a passage that leads to a cave in the middle of the cliff from where one can get a magnificent view of the bridge.
Photograph from the other end of the bridge.
We finally had the view of Bristol that we came searching for, it was simply breathtaking
A view of the bridge from another side.
The massive wires that hold the bridge.

The Sun was setting as we finished looking at the bridge and began our descent down to bristol. One last glance at the bridge and it looked even more prettier with the sun playing tricks with shadows.

As we reached the City centre we passed across the SS Great Britain. The ship was designed in 1843 and served for 43 years as an ocean liner. After being damaged in 1886 she was converted to a cargo ship and has been in Bristol from 1970 and is today a Museum. It was too late for us to visit her that day.

After a long fun filled walk we rested at the waterfront watching people play in the night light.

After a nice unwinding hour we had a big pizza and headed back to bath- from where we went back to Reading.
Historically speaking Bath has always outshined Bristol and we felt it continues to do so, the Modernity of Bristol has failed to outshine the beauty and elegance of Bath.
We had two lovely days of outing- living like two free birds, going where we wanted to heading to where our instincts dictated and mostly eating and drinking what we just felt like. These were some of the best days of our life's.

Bath - How the Romans bathed and other Adventures

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 11:45:00 +0000

Ashwin and I play a game called 'Imagine' where we pose hypothetical scenarios to each other and try to imagine and share our imagination that can run wild and amok. We were on train to Bath from Reading and 45 minutes into the journey Ashwin asks me, "Imagine what would happen if everything around you turned back to 18th century, and just this coach is from the modern age."

Just when I let my imagination run wild, we entered a tunnel and one minute later we came out of it and looking out through our train window we saw every thing around had turned back into the middle ages ! No this is not science fiction and neither did we enter some worm hole nor were we dreaming. We had reached Bath- One of England's most iconic cities.
We got down at Bath station and started walking towards the city centre at about 9 AM, most of the tourist attractions were not opened and hence we decided to walk around the city centre for a hour. Bath is a city of beauty both in terms of natural and man made. The entire city of bath features in the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites and is also designated as "Area of Outstanding Natural beauty" (there are 34 AONB's in England).
The Most common name for a river could be the name Avon and England only has four rivers by that name. It so happened that, when the Romans came to Britannia and asked the locals what the name of a particular river was the Locals always replied 'afon' .The Romans assumed that the afon was a long river and started calling it Avon. What the Romans did not realise was that afon was the Welsh word for river and the locals did not name their rivers but just called them afon. Hence we have so many River Avon's in England today and also we have a Photograph of Ashwin standing on the North Parade road Bridge and looking at River Avon Passing below him.

As we walked across the city we came across another bridge, this one was the famous Pulteny Bridge. Built in 1773, this is only one of the four bridges in the world which has shops across the full span on both sides.We saw a Antique shop, a flower shop and a restaurant among many other shops.
We walked across the bridge and stood admiring its beauty and wondering what kind of fish swam under it.( yeh fishing is the first thing that comes to our mind when we see any water body) The weir on the photograph below in front of the bridge was rebuilt in 1974 to control flooding of bath. The weir had to be built in such a way that it would not harm the architectural beauty of bath and they sure have achieved that objective.

Below is the Photograph of the Bridge and weir clicked later on that night.

Also close to the bridge on the bank of Avon is the Parade garden. The garden is very beautiful and is perfect place for a cup of tea or ice-cream.

We walked down the Pulteny bridge, and its nice to get a Fish eye view of the city above you, One of the buildings that you can see is situated next to the Bath market, the top of the building is designed with three different architectural styles- Does it look good? You be the judge for many it is a eye sore.

We crossed the Pulteny bridge and reached a Fountain called the Laura Place. The straight road gives an first impression of what you can expect in Bath. At the end of the road is the Holburne Museum and Sydney gardens.

It was nearly 10 after all that walking and we decided to first visit the Bath Abbey. The Abbey was built between 1499 and 1611. If you look closely at the Facade of the abbey, you can see Angels climbing up and down stone ladders commemorating a dream of the founder, Bishop Oliver King.

Once inside the Abbey we were totally smitten by the beautiful fan vaulting of the nave. (You can see it in the Photograph below )
As you approach the altar you can see this beautiful stained glass window containing 56 scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. The abbey is filled with memorials and has plenty of beautiful stained windows.

Below is the View of the abbey from the choir stand.The ceiling contains painted heraldic shields.

Below is the Pipe Organ of the abbey. Many of the medieval English churches I visited have these massive pipe organs. When Mechanically compressed air is vented through these compressed pipes a sound of a fixed pitch is produced. A combination of these different sets of pipes can give rise to notes of different Pitch, timbre and loudness.
The abbey has a Heritage Vault and looks like a underground cave , which has been transformed to a museum. The Museum traces the history of Bath from the 8th century to the present times, in the view of the abbey. In simple words- if the abbey could speak, it would have told its story just like this museums display. ( Interesting concept...hmmmm...)

We came out of the abbey and our next destination was the Roman bath which is besides the abbey. Outside the Bath, 2 street performers gave a wonderful display of some good English Humor ( which mostly includes poking fun at the French.) Ashwin and me had a good hearty laugh at the expense of some French and Germans.

One of the performer, slipped a rubber glove over his head and blew it up with air. His partner then let out a blast of fire on the ballooned glove which blew up like a bomb. If you notice the performer on the right hand bottom, you can see the pink glove bursting .
Yeh some more English humor I guess ?

And a little distance away some more performers entertaining the crowd.
Finally we entered the Roman bath- One of the Finest spa of the ancient world. Bath has Britain's only natural hot water spring. Rainwater which fell thousands of years ago in this area percolated down baths limestone hills and when deep inside the earth it was heated to steam and was pushed back to the surface as mineral water spring. Today nearly 1 million liter of water comes out of the spring every day. The Romans who could not explain how hot water came from underneath the earth, used the explanation provided by the local Celtic people- It was their Goddess Sulis who heated the water and sent it to them. Since the Romans had their own goddess similar in attributes to Sulis- Minerva. They believed the springs were made by SulisMinerva and built a temple around the sacred spring. Below is the photograph of the spring. The red colour is because of the iron content of the water and the Sulphur from the spring gives the air around the spring a weird smell.
A part of the spring water was used for the Roman spa and the rest of excess water drained into river Avon( all this happened during the 1st century.) When Rome was under attack the Roman legions in Britain left for Rome to defend her, and the spa fell into disuse. It was then slowly covered with successive years of civilizations and was Discovered by the Victorians in the recent centuries.
In the photograph above, the statues are in level with the present day Bath, the water body you see is the spa at the level Bath was in the 1st century. Successive years of reconstruction and demolitions have slowly raised the level of Bath.

These statues of the Romans were added by the Victorians.

This is the remains of the sauna room foundation. A floor used to sit on top of these bricks and hot heated air was passed underneath it. The room heated up and formed a Steam Sauna.

And for all those Romans in a hurry or those feeling Macho, after their hot steaming sauna, they would directly jump into this cold water spa. Just imagine- from 90 degrees to 10 degrees in seconds. Wow

Below is the Worm eye view of the bath, the whitish smoke on top of the green water is the fog created because the water is at 46 degrees and the air on top at 7 degrees.

From the Roman bath, we headed to the pump room, which is basically a room with a pump to pump the water from the spring. The water is potable and we had a go at it. It tasted like drinking chilled molten rust.
From the Spa we headed to the Fashion Museum, Bath has been a cultural trendsetter and fashionable haunt for the cream of the British society for the last 300 years and a fashion museum is a natural outcome of it. We walked for about 20 minutes ....
And then reached inside- Honestly since for us the only fashion is a Jeans and a T-shirt we were not too keen to try out the Corsets and the skirts in the museum ( a few ladies were seen trying though). Below are the photographs of of some 17th century gloves.

What can I say ?

Well looks like Ashwin found something interesting ...

From here our next destination was The Circus and it was just a 5 minute walk from the Fashion Museum.
The Circus is a magnificent circle of 30 houses and Plaques on the houses commemorate famous residents, one that particularly interested us was that of Robert Clive ( our high school history still follows us) there is also a plaque for David Livingstone.
The circus is divided into three segments of equal length, and is surrounded by large townhouses. Each of the curved segments faces one of the three entrances, thereby ensuring that whichever way a visitor enters there is a beautiful facade right ahead. Each of the three floors are built using 3 classical architectures (Greek Doric, Roman/Composite and Corinthian).

A short walk from the circus is another architectural marvel- The Royal Crescent. It is actually a semicircular terrace of majestic houses overlooking a private lawn and the greenery of the Royal Victoria Park. ( Queen Victoria inaugurated the park when she was a little child, she never came to Bath after that because a local newspaper reporter called her clothes "dowdy". She vowed never to see the city again, and even when her railway carriage was passing through town decades later in her reign she ordered the shades to be pulled shut!)

From the crescent we visited the house of William Herschel - the astronomer who discovered Uranus. He discovered the planet from the very garden photographed below.

The house is preserved the way it was when Herschel lived including his workshop where he made his telescopes and below is his dining room ( just the food is missing)

After the Herschel's house it was nearly 6 PM and most of the attractions were closed and we were tired. We decided to take a round in the open top tourist bus. It was a nice change of view- we finally had a birds eye view ( low flying bird ).
After that we headed to the University of Bath spa. We had booked a room in the hostel here. It was a amazing place and was a nice chance to relive our memories of hostel life. ( though these hostels were more like 3 star hotels made of glass !) This is one moment of the trip we will never forget.
We had a nice 2 hour bath in Bath and went to sleep- We had to leave for bristol the next day.
Bath is .....hmmmm.... ( cannot find any appropriate adjectives....)

Time Travel in London

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 19:00:00 +0000

It was a cloudy Sunday morning and after a nice sumptuous breakfast at Reading, me and Ashwin were wondering where to go for the day. One of the most coveted destination in London is the Natural History Museum. We set out to London, reached paddington station, crossed the Hyde park and reached One of England's most treasured and distinctive buildings, the Royal Albert hall ( photographed below)

Inaugurated in 1871, if you look closely at the photograph at the top of the building running around it is a mosaic frieze . It is titled " Triumph of Arts and Sciences"
After a little walk we reached the Natural History Museum. The entry is this beautiful atrium having stars on the wall and five historic figures. We used the Escalator to ride into a giant metallic globe.

The Museum is Divided into four Zones; The red for the forces that shaped our planet, Green Zone is about Ecology, in the Blue Zone we met a lot of fossils and the orange zone has all the Botany and zoology that you can think of. With about 70 million items on display, one needs one full day to do justice to this museum. We quickly glanced pass all exhibits, since the one that we most wanted to see was the Blue Zone. Nothing gives us more pleasure than meeting the Fossils, communicating with our ancestors who shaped us. Although they are mostly bones and rocks, they speak more than the flesh. One thing that fascinated me the most was this massive fossil of Ichthyosaurus. This was just one of the many massive fossils we got bowled over, not to mention the T-Rex, dodo and archeopteryx.
It was amazing to be in a room filled with fossils and looking at them with awe , just like Ashwin below who is stunned by a Diprotodon ( A distant relative of the modern Kangaroo, fossilised Australian herbivore)

Just if appreciating the fossils were not enough, as we reached the end of our museum trip we entered this magnificent main hall. The hall has a cathedral-like structure, frescoes and sculptures, and houses a Diplodocus skeleton and a 1,300-year-old giant sequoia.
For 15,200 pounds you can hire this hall for a night and host any programme or event, even a wedding.

A stones throw away from the Natural history Museum is the science Museum and enroute we witnessed this contortionist performing a few cool tricks, including passing through a tennis racket, which I had seen only on television.
The science museum is Seven floors of interactive exhibits and contains everything that science has to offer from the Industrial Revolution to the space age and even the future. There is a lot for every age, from vintage cars, old trains antique aircraft , labour saving devices at home, wind tunnel, flight simulator and even this F1 car belonging to Mika Hakkinen which crashed during the 1999 German grand prix as the car spun out of control while travelling at 207 MPH. Because of the cars safety features, Mikka just walked out of the car.
Because of paucity of time we had to rush through the science exhibits but it was truly a fantastic experience. There was a massive maritime museum too but it was too big for the time we had at hand.

We were the last people to exit the museum, we walked back passing through Hyde park at dusk and the atmosphere was simply electrifying.

Photo below is the pathway across Hyde Park 25 sec exposure, f/4, ISO 100.
Photo below 2sec exposure, f/4.5

The photograph below was captured with a 30 sec exposure, ISO 100, f/3.5
Sony A-350 18-55 mm
At the end of the day, we felt we had walked into a time capsule. From the birth of earth in Museum of natural history to the very future in the science museum.

Hampton Court Palace - Meeting King Henry VIII

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 11:38:00 +0000

Hampton Court Palace is located next to the River Thames to the south west of London and was built by Cardinal Thomas Wolsey in 1514 but was forced to give it up by King Henry VIII. It is the largest Tudor structure in England and it took our Entire day to have a look at it and still had to rush through with the gardens and a few parts of the palace we not accessible because of reconstruction.

I visited the palace with Ashwin ( photograph below) and three of his Colleagues ( photographs later). We arrived at the palace at 10:30 and above is the first view of it. After purchasing tickets we got an Audio guide and started our exploration.

We entered the main gate house and it had 3 entrances to choose from. One was to the Garden, other to the kitchen and the third to the state Apartments of Henry VIII. The Kitchen seemed tempting but since the State Apartments are the highlight of the palace decided to go to the State Apartments first.
The magnificent interior facade of the Main Gatehouse contains a fine early example of a post- Copernican astronomical clock. The clock shows the time of day, the phases of the moon, the month, which quarter of the year we're in, the date, the sun and even the star sign. Photographs Below.
A closer look at the clock.

The Entrance to the State Apartments were decorated by these beautiful paintings.

These stairs are said to be haunted by Ghosts of Jane Seymour, Queen Catherine Howard and Anne Boleyn. ( The figure appearing like a Ghost in the photograph is Ashwin- The living one)

The audio guide of the palace was filled with lots of information and trivia. The Iron Works on the stairs were by Jean Tijou and the Grand Paintings are by Antonio Verrio.
As I entered the Grand staircase, the first room was where the Guards room. It is decorated by weapons including draggers and guns which could be used if the need arises.
Photography was not allowed inside the apartments and hence sorry could not post the best photographs. But the State apartment has a wonderful collection of paintings, China and carvings. It feels good to be in the bedroom, dining and the office of a king. Seeing his work place and his reading room made me feel very royal.
Once out of the state apartments We reached the fountain court.
Around these corridors was a Chapel and a Wine cellar, we wasted no time in having a feel of the royal Wine cellar.The palace had three cellars. The wine cellar, with attached drinking house
for wine tasting, held 300 casks of wine for courtiers (wine and ale for the sovereign was kept in the privy cellar). About 600,00 gallons of Ale was stored in the great cellar and have been drunk every year at court.
After a look at the chapel ( photography not allowed again) we reached part of the palace that were dying to; Kitchen of the Palace. The first room is where fresh provisions were received and accounted for. Meat was cut here which included a annual supply of 1,240 oxen, 8,200 sheep, 2,330 deer, 760 calves, 1,870 pigs and 53 wild boar.
These kitchens were made to feed 600 people a day and feed King Henry's courtesans with endless stream of dinner. The kings food was not made here though. The kitchens were accessed through a gatehouse, which was occupied by the Cofferer (kitchen accountant) and his assistants, the Clerks of the Greencloth, who monitored the arrival of all supplies and staff to the kitchens.
In the pastry house both sweet and savoury pies and pasties were prepared in four ovens. It looked like a Shepard's Pie to me.

The spicery was filled with exotic spices imported from the Orient and Europe, as well as English mustard and herbs grown in the palace’s herb garden. The Office of Spicery was responsible for the huge quantities of fruit produced in the palace gardens, including apples and pears from two
orchards. Ashwins selects a few Royal vegetables for our dinner here.

All these facts were explained in the audio tour guide and there were these costumed Historians and guides who did a fantastic job of taking us into King Henry's time.
After the Kitchen it was the turn of the 60 Acre riverside garden. Before that we had our lunch in the palace restaurant and devoured food made within the palace.
We were flabbergasted by the sheer size of the gardens it was also fun to be in and had a great time here.

One of the most famous attraction of Hampton Court is its maze, built in 1695 its path is half a mile long and takes an average of 20 minutes to complete. Walking, running and a few dead ends later we reached the center in about 8-10 minutes

We had never seen trees like this, hence thought of carrying one back home !

Beautifully trimmed Yew trees, they line up the entire Fountain garden.
Fact's and too much facts for the day...The palace is full of history and the garden full of fun

A view of the palace from the Privy garden. Some of the gardens are closed during winter and all are at their flowering best in summer. Probably will come back on a summer.
Now a view of the Privy garden from the palace .
In summer this will be completely lush green with vines.
The Pond gardens : These sunken gardens were used for holding freshwater fish prior to cooking in Henry VIII’s kitchens. The ponds were filled, landscaped and terraced in William III’s era and used to display Queen Mary II’s collection of exotics.

The palace also has a vineyard which has a 230 year old Great vine planted whose roots are outside a glass house and the branches grow inside the glasshouse. Its sweet grapes are used as royal dessert and are also sold to visitors in late summer. The vine has a place in the Guinness Book for being the longest vine in the world.

As the sunset we returned back home after a great time.
The sunset added to the fun of the drive back. It was a wonderful day and worth every minute.

A Date With The Queen

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 11:46:00 +0000

I was sitting wondering where to go out next after Windsor and I realised the problem was not of paucity of choices but there were too many choices and it was all so confusing. Reading my Lonely planet guide, I realised that London will need no less than four days. Hence today 18th I decided to take a stroll around London's most visited places.
I took a train from Reading and landed up at Paddington station 30 minutes later. The off-peak price for London starts at 09:30 and costs 14.50 Pounds, compared to the 18 pounds peak hour price, it is quite a good saving. From Paddington station I followed the map and walked for about 15 minutes and reached the entrance to Hyde Park. Its probably the most written about parks and also the most well known. Entered the historic park through its Lancaster gate.
As I enterd the royal park, the first scene that greeted me was this beautiful Italian garden.Since it was Winter the flowers had not blossomed, I can only imagine how it will look in winter.

Hyde park is divided into two sections by a water body called the serpentine (Although it is common to refer to the entire body of water as the Serpentine, strictly the name refers only to the eastern half of the lake. Serpentine Bridge, which marks the boundary between Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens) . This is one end of the Serpentine which is crowned by this beautiful fountain.

I did not have much time and had to cross the massive park and hence briskly started walking along this road which passes along the banks of the Serpentine. I saw a lot of people feeding ducks and is a beautiful sight to watch.

The Serpentine is lined by scores of ducks and cormorants and makes a lovely walk, without one realising the distance covered.

Along the way, I spotted a Memorial, which was dedicated to Diana, the princes of Wales. In the memorial water Flows from the highest point in two directions. It Cascades Swirls and bubbles before meeting in a calm pool at the bottom. The water is constantly being refreshed and is drawn form a chalk aquifer 100 meters below. The massive memorial has 3 bridges, on which one can walk to go to the heart of the memorial.
As I continued my long walk I spotted this bridge, called the Serpentine bridge, built in 1890's it divides the water body into two sections. The building in the backdrop is the London Park tower Casino.
Kensington garden and Hyde park are dotted with a lot of memorials and fountains and half a day is required to see all of them. I continued my walk towards the Hyde park corner after passing through the famed Speakers corner.
Near the Hydepark corner gate as I exited the park, I spotted this massive statue of Achillies and is dedicated to " The Duke of Wellington and his brave comrades in arms"
As I exited the Hydepark, I was immediately confronted by this Wellington Arch. One can actually climb the monument and see the statue ( for a small fee) and see the view of all the memorials around.
The statue on top depicts the angel of peace descend on the chariot of war. The Beauty of this bronze sculpture can further be appretiated if you click on the image for a enlarged look.
Passing underneath the Wellington arch, I reached the Constitution Road, which has monuments dedicated to the Commonwealth soldiers of the World wars.

I walked down the constitution road and reached the Bukingham palace and found hordes of tourist here and a lot of security. I stood there wondering the reason for the spectacle, when suddenly I saw a royal convey come out of the palace and in it was the queen and her husband Prince Philip.
I wasn't in a postion to get a good shot and this is the best I could manage.
Bang opposite to the Bukingham palace is this 'Victoria Memorial' It was built in 1911 to honour Queen Victoria. As well as the 13 feet high statue of Victoria there are angelic figures representing Charity, Courage, Truth and Justice. The gold figure at the top of the monument represents Victory.
Crossed the road across the statue and I got a panoramic view of the Buckingham Palace
From there I continued walking on the Bird Cage road which lines one side of St James Park. The park was mostly marsh with lots of birds like Moorhen and Pelicans. Continuing down the street for about twenty minutes I found a very familiar landmark- The Big Ben. The tower is like a symbol for London.

As I approached the tower the imposing Westminster abbey came into sight. The view is arresting and stunning. Every Monarch other than Edward V and Edward VIII have been crowned here since William the Conqueror. I kept walking around the abbey totally awed by its beauty.
Below is the Imposing statue of Richard I .

One of the Towers, if you click on the image for a closer look you can see statues of ten Christian Martyrs . The tower forms part of a grand royal entrance to the Abbey.

Next to the abbey is the Victoria Tower garden and in it is this memorial by Rodin. It Commemorates six citizens of Calais who offered themselves as Hostages had vainly besieged their town and 1317.

Walked the Victoria Tower gardens and then crossed the Lambeth Bridge and this is how the Abbey looks across the Thames.
Walking on the opposite bank of the Thames river towards the Westminster bridge, I was attracted by these beautifully decorated lamp posts.
As I kept approaching the Westminster bridge, I was confronted by another side of London, the law enforcement. Two suspects were chased and apprehended by these Taser wielding policemen and after a quick frisk of their body were handcuffed and taken away. London is certainly a safe city, thanks to the police.
Another glance at the Westminster and the Westminster bridge and i started walking on the bridge.
On the left of the bridge is the London Eye . A huge slow moving Ferry's Wheel, was initially started as a temporary structure but it was so loved that it is now permanent. The wheel takes 30 minutes for one full circle.
From the Bridge I hit the parliament street towards Trafalgar Square. The road is lined with beautiful Victorian Buildings on either side and every building seems to be better than the other.
I reached Trafalgar square, the public heart of London. Londoners gather here for any celebrations from football victory celebrations to festivals.The square is flanked by the exquisitely built buildings of National Portrait gallery , National Gallery and the Church of St. Martin- in-the-fields. In the Center of the square is a 43.5 meter high column, from which Nelson surveys his fleet. The monument was built to commemorate the 1805 victory over Napoleon off Cape Trafalgar in square.
The base of the tall monument has beautiful relief engravings

On the four sides of the column are these four massive lions. These are probably the most photographed structures of London. These bronze lions are said to have been built using the metal from Spanish canons.

From Trafalgar square I walked towards Piccadilly Circus and on the Haymarket road I saw "Her Majesty's Theater". This famous theater has hosted premieres by major playwrights such as George Bernard Shaw, J. M. Synge, Noel Coward and J. B. Priestley. Today Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera, has been playing here continuously since 1986.

From here I reached London's most famous road junction; Piccadilly Circus. Named after the stiff collars (Picadils) that were the sartorial staple of a 17th century tailor who lived nearby. The Circus here actually comes from the latin 'Circus' meaning Circle. There is a Statue of Eros here and can be seen in the photograph. The advertising neon boards are on the Virgin Megastore.

From Piccadilly I headed back to Padington via the Oxford street, which is the Mecca of European Shopping. Probably every expensive and famous brand is represented by a store here. For many British chain stores, their Oxford Street branch is regarded as their 'flagship' store and used for celebrity launches and promotions.

After two and a half kilometers of window shopping I reached back Paddington station and headed back to Reading. I started my walk at 10:10 and was done around 18:30.
I just did not realise the time flyby as in walked into streets and streets of history.

A trip to Windsor Palace and Eton

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 15:45:00 +0000

Well I started my " Discovery of England" today and decided to explore the places close to Reading first ( I am staying here) . Looking into the map it seemed like Windsor and Eton would be the destination of the day.
My Guide book told me the Palace opens at 09:45 and since it is an even date (18th ) I would get a chance to witness the Change of guard Ceremony. I Started at 8 AM from Reading Train Station and got down at Slough after a 20 minute train ride. From Slough they have these special trains which go only to Windsor and I hopped into one of those and after a 6 minute ride across beautiful country side arrived at the picturesque 'Windsor and Eton' Central station. The Windsor palace is just a stones throw away from the station.
I arrived at the gates of the palace at 9 AM and the view that greeted me is photographed below.

There was no crowd at the ticketing counter which was said to open at 9:45 and hence I decided to take a stroll around the outskirts of the palace. I was back to the ticketing place at 9:30 and within minutes of that I saw hordes of people coming in to join the ticket window and by 9:45 there were about 200 people behind me. Ticketing was a breeze and the 14.5 Pound ticket includes an audio guide which is a great help in knowing the history of the place. Also a lot of help is available inside for further information, in the form of friendly staff inside the Complex.
I was the first visitor to enter the palace ground that day and it gave me a chance to photograph many people free images, which otherwise is pretty hard, considering the sheer number of visitors to the place even on a week day. Once inside the Gate the view looks like this....
The palace actually started as a motte and bailey on the highest point along the banks of Thames and was built by William the Conqueror in 1070. Once he realised that the place was a good hunting ground it became a residence for subsequent Monarchs. The castle is still a principal residence for the queen of England and she spends many weekends here. The people here proudly call it the oldest continuously working castle in the world. The Centre point of the entire complex is the below featured tower called the " Round Tower"( it didn't look round to me thought, was more like oval) It is the keep of the castle ( the keep is the most fortified place of a castle and the monarch will probably fall back to it and defend his position from here in case the castle falls into enemy hands)
The Round tower has a moat around it, which has been, transformed into a garden today.

From here I walked into the state Apartments , which I felt was the centre point of the tour. First to greet me was Queen Mary's Doll house ( Photography was not allowed inside, so sorry no pics) It was designed in 1912 for Queen Mary by Sir Edward Lutyens, and is a 1:12 scale model of the household during that time. The model is so very intricate that it even has replicas of the Crown, jewellery, paintings and other decorative pieces found in the palace. The model has electricity working water supply and even vintage wine in the cellars. in the adjacent rooms are displayed dolls and clothes used by the royal Children. After the Doll house were a set of galleries which housed works of some of the best European Artists including Leonardo and also personal items belonging to various monarchs down the ages all the way till the present generation. There was also a exquisite collection of China and the beauty of it cannot be described in words.
Once Out of China Museum I entered a grand Staircase , which had been beautifully decorated with medieval weapons collected from all parts of the British empire. One thing of particular interest to me were the robe and weapons of Tippu Sultan ( The de facto ruler of Mysore in the late 1700's , whome the British defeated and killed) The collection included draggers, swords and Muskets all very well maintained and looking as good as new ( I saw similar weapons a few weeks earlier at Srirangapatna in Tippus palace and sadly they looked nothing more than a chunk of rusted metals pieces. It also shows how much we respect our past)
As I exited the Grand Staircase ( I felt I could spend a entire day here) I entered a series of rooms. The first one was the superbly decorated Waterloo Chamber. Its Scores of portraits is simply mind blowing. There is a ultra super shiny wooden table in the front ( which I told is polished by someone walking over it with dusters on their feet!)
Then were a series of Kings private rooms ornately decorated and with scores of paintings many of them by Rubens and Van Dyck and beautiful wood work by Grinling Gibbons. The Kings dressing room and Kings bedchamber has a lot of important renaissance work and it sure made me feel like a king even if it meant for a few hours. After a 3 hour trip of the state Apartment ( I had to rush through and it still took me 3 hours!) I exited through the Norman Gate featured below.

Next stop was the elegant St Georges Chapel, commissioned by Edward IV for the Order of The Garter. The chapel is built in a so called Perpendicular Gothic architecture and it sure looks as good as it sounds. The inside of the chapel has a lot of royal mausoleum's and tombs from Edward IV (1483) to the most recent Queen Elizabeth (2002) can be found here. A gigantic Battle sword Belonging to Edward III, who found the Order of Garter (Orders of Knights) is found here. Masses are still celebrated here every day and have been since the last 600 years .
Below is the Side view of the chapel .Photography is not allowed inside but the beauty of it cannot be described with any adjectives.

One of the most interesting ceremonies in the Windsor palace is The Changing of the Guard. It takes place at 11 AM Monday to Saturday from April to June and on every even day rest of the year. I times my visit on an even good weather so that I would not miss this ceremony.
At about 10:55 the old guard arrives With the march of their thumping boots and muster like photographed below.

At 11:00 the new guard marches in with a grand band and stands facing the old guard

The band played 4 pieces of music and sounds so very pleasant. Since the Queen was not in Windsor when I visited, the ceremony took place outside the Guard room and the 'Queens Guard' were in their regimental dress.

The Old and the new Guard Face-off

I left the palace at about 4 Pm and Below is the photograph of the entire complex from the exit gate

One final view of the Soldier
From Windsor I walked across the Thames river to Eton college, by the pedestrian only Windsor bridge. The college is where many of the royals have studied and even today 70 highly qualified boys are awarded scholarship or one has to pay a 23,000 pound per annum fee to attend it.
The college was closed to visitors when I went there ( open only during march-April and July - September) But the walk in the town, which still has its medieval looks was worth it.
After that I walked for about one hour on the banks of river Thames and it was quite a scenic walk, with people feeding the swans ( I heard they are under the queens protection) and the light drizzling rain falling on the face. I went back to reading after Sunset. I truly felt like a Royal for a Day.

All pics Shot with Sony A350 18-70mm lens

In England

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 17:33:00 +0000

Its been nearly six months since I have updated this blog. I have been to quite a few places since then but just didn't find enough time to pen my travels. I am presently at Reading in England, arrived here on the 16th of February and staying with Ashwin at Baker Street. Although he says that there are many Baker streets in England I feel this one has quite a Sherlock Holmes feel to it. Ill be hear until Mid March and I believe it will be enough time to explore quite a bit of the English Country side.
I arrived on 16th and today the 17th is the time to relax sleep and let out the jet lag from my bones. its pretty cold out here about 8-9 degrees and not the tourist season. But I like it that way. quiet and sleepy.

A Trip To Narahari Hill.

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 09:51:00 +0000

If you are ever stuck in Mangalore with a traveller's block and wondering where to go or if you have about 3-4 hours to spend then a visit to Narahari Hill will be worth all your efforts. I visited the place on 17th of July and this is my experience.
Location: The place is located on NH48 , the highway that connects Mangalore to Bangalore. From Pumpwell circle Narahari is exactly 26 Kms (about 30 minutes drive early in the morning). Hit the highway and once you reach BC road then its 2 kms from BC road junction. Continue on the highway and on your right you will spot a temple entrance, with words written in Kannada saying "entrance to Narahari Temple". Take that road and you will encounter a steep slope. The road is well asphalted should be a pleasure to drive. Keep following the road and once the road ends , get down the vehicle and climb the stairs. I did not count how many, but i guess there must be about 150 steps to climb.
What To see: For any of who who haven't driven on the NH48, then you sure have missed a pleasurable drive. If you forget the occasional potholes, the drive is a pleasure. With Lush greenery on both sides. The photograph Below is Just an glimpse of what you can expect.
There are stretches in the highway, where speed seekers can crank in some gas. You can easily hit above 90Km/hr without blinking an eyelid. But just be a bit cautious of unruly drivers ( "As long as you stick to the rules fast driving is not rash driving"- Supreme court of India) who drive on the right. At Panemangloor there is a bridge spanning the Nethravathi River, its worth stopping there and having a look of the river. You may even spot some Kingfisher's or heron's fishing. At BC road Junction, the road in pathetic. Be a bit careful during rains. Once you come close to Narahari temple and enter the temple entrance (the one I mentioned above), you will be greeted with a scene photographed below. Your final destination is the tip of this peak.

Once the road ends you can park in your vehicle and start a climb of about 150 steps. The climb itself is fantastic. Take your time and slowly climb up, if you find the climb too laborious then you can perch on the many rocks that dot the stairway and you will be greeted by many chirping birds. Within 15 minutes of my climb, I spotted Woodpeckers, Babblers, Orioles, Drongo's, Chloropsis and Munia's and even many more birds later. Also the place is a butterfly haven. Many colourful butterflies dot the entire climb. If you love to watch birds then this place is worth investing your time in. For the adventurous, you can even explore the nearby forest, the photograph below is a view from one such off track point.
Once you continue your climb you will finally reach the peak, which has a Narahari temple on it. Legend goes that Nara and Hari, incarnations of Lord Vishnu were supposed to have performed their penance here. This hill top temple is also known for its small ponds, which are in the shape of Shanka (Conch), Chakra (Wheel), Gadha (Heavy Weapon) and Padma (Lotus), the weapons of Vishnu. Once on top you can relax on the many park benches that are provided here. Pleasant cold breeze will cool you mind and soul here. This is a perfect place to relax and look at the panoramic view. The photographs below were taken when I was cooling my heels on these benches.

The panoramic view on top is breathtaking. Lush green landscape, dotted by fields and the backdrop of the purple looking western ghats on one side and a foggy looking Arabian sea on the other simply left me enraptured.
After exploring the peak for about 40 minutes I made my way down, determined to make it again with family and friends.
Best Time: The best period to visit this place I think is during the monsoon from July to December. The entire area around the mountain will be lush green and you may be even lucky enough to see low level clouds around the peak. Morning's between 7 to 10 is the best time to visit the place. Birds are most active around this time and the temperature is at its coolest.
Precautions: If going there in monsoons carry an umbrella. If it rains when you are climbing the stairs then trees are your only cover. Carry your own water and food if any. Once you cross BC road you don't have any shops nearby. The only shop at the hills was closed when I visited.
Conclusion: This is a place worth a visit at least once. A sure shot remedy from a stressed urban life. The photograph below is panoramic view from the peak, made by stitching 3 images.

I will be uploading the photographs of the birds on my blog " Friendly Animals" (http://www.delsonclicks3.blogspot.com)

Coconut Leaves

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Fri, 23 May 2008 16:15:00 +0000

Leaves of the coconut tree contrast with the clear blue sky.

Vagator Beach

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 15:58:00 +0000

Its been Quite a while since I have posted anything on this genre of photography. Thought it was time to change the trend.Both are birds eyeview of the Vagator Beach In Goa.

Spikey

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 15:04:00 +0000

Tip of a garden cactus, photographed in macro mode.
Photograph details; f/3.2 , 1/320 sec.

Overflowing

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:58:00 +0000

Excess water from the paddy feilds flows down watering other crops around the field. The Photograph was captured with slower shutter speed to give the water a silky appearance.

Reflections

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:49:00 +0000

A overflowing well, with its lightly rippled water was reflecting the greenery surrounding it, the moment I saw this, I wanted the scene on my desktop. I had to increase the contrast in the camera setting to get maximum details of the reflection.

Paddy Field Lawn

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 13:39:00 +0000

Its Monsoons in Mangalore and the Paddy has almost grown now. Its the best time to go to the fields and enjoy the lush green look. Tried to photograph the top layer of the field, which appears like a lawn, keeping a few leaves of the crop in focus.

Stream

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:23:00 +0000

How to achieve this effect? The Idea is to keep the Shutter open for as long as possible (2 sec in this case). Well that means the photograph may get overexposed. To over come overexposure, use the lowest ISO available (here it is 80) use the smallest aperture or largest f number.Next is wait for the light to fade out or look for streams under shade. Also look for spots were the water breaks over rocks. I could not do that here.

Moss On Wall

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:11:00 +0000

This is a Macro photograph of Moss on the wall, you can see the edges of the picture are blurred out. I noticed it happens when u zoom the camera with the macro mode on. Here it adds the beauty by blurring the background.

Guava

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 14:07:00 +0000

Tasty Guava on a wet Rainy Day. The light was fading and I had to decrease the shutter speed, but being high up on the tree, the zoom was at its max. So getting a steady shot was tough. Balanced the camera on a Flat stone and used some twigs to get the elevation. (I sorely missed my Tripod)

Moss

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Sat, 07 Jul 2007 14:24:00 +0000

This Pic was taken on Macro mode and manual exposure. White balance cloudy.

Cycas

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Wed, 20 Dec 2006 02:49:00 +0000

I was very surprised at the result of this Photograph. The Sunrays provided an effect, which was similar to the one that you can get, by using Lense Flare in Photoshop. These halos occur only when the camera lense is places at an angle to the light rays.

Clear Crystal Water

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Tue, 19 Dec 2006 09:45:00 +0000

This was a small water fall, but the sunlight directly fell on it, giving this photograph its awsome glow.

Edge of Paradise

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 17:19:00 +0000

Clicked this Picture, in bright sunlight. Getting the green hue was really a challenge in a setting like that

Lake view

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 16:48:00 +0000

Clicked this photograph with the landscape mode

Serene

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 16:44:00 +0000

The most eye soothing Photograph for me

Lush Blue Sky

noreply@blogger.com (delson roche) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 10:26:00 +0000

The Blue hue here was natures gift and I managed to Photograph it without the use of any filters. Using Tubelight gave a more brighter blue. But this was appealing to the eye.