Scotland Visit

It all started at the water cooler in office, on the way back to my desk stopped at my friend's desk and asked him what is the next coolest place in UK to visit and he replied "Scotland". I asked him to book a return ticket for me over the weekend and "walla" my start and end of the trip is fixed, now all I had to do is fill up the gaps. Booked a hostel in Edibrugh and a one day tour. Thanks to my good luck(that means google maps) the Hostle was bang on the side of the most happening street of Edinburgh, 'The Royal mile'. The Hostle experneice was a first for me, 8 people(boys and girls) from around the world confined in a small room. The city is small enough, within 5 hours of walking we can see it all. The famous Edinburgh castle  marvelous. To date every 1'o clock a cannon is fired to let the ships and city keep a tab on time. The Scottish parliament(commissioned in 1998) was more of an expression of art rather than a place for Politics. On the day tour we did head out to the Lockness lake. The water is as dark as Guiness,temprature always minus 2 and its 27 mile length is haunting. I join the list of failures to spot the Monster. The snow capped mountains were so beautiful that it made me regret why did i ever not head to Kashmir.The city has so much history that the guide calls aything post 1800's as modern!

http://picasaweb.google.com/badri.nair/ScotlandTrip

Adventure starts when you stop thinking

I got up one fine Sunday, had my breakfast and decided what I must "NOT" do. That is sit at room and watch movies. So unlocked my bike and decied to cycle to Bray, 17kms south of Dublin.

After getting there, thought I can push myself a little further.So I took a wonderful cliff walk from Bray to Greystones. 7 kms of beautiful/Scenic/breath taking walk along side the Irish sea. Reaching Greystones gave me an immense sense of acheivement. Thoght of heading back,got back to Bray to see my poor little,faithful bike with a flat. No shops to fix it and had to plead the inspectors at the Dart to allow me to take her back. It was one joyus trip of mine, and its been my first and belive it, its not going to be my last; its only going to get bigger.

London Visit

"Iconic city" of the world as we all know off it and its true.THere is another side of London that i felt when i went there.It was the heterogeneous mix of people of all races and nations.It's mind boggoling that co-existnace of such enormous range of pople has been sustained since ages.From russians to aussies, from japs to americans, absolutely everyone is here!!.I even had mysore masala dosae and mini idli at a hotel called 'Chennai Dosae'.I find it hard to beleive that the brits are so accomodative, for crying out loud the United Kingdom is knows as "The land where the sun never sets".I am sure for all what they have plundered around the world, they have given so much of space for every one else in the heart of their motherland. The city is so full of history that I think I dont' even have the caliber to write about. I stayed with some very good friends off mine. Did visit the heart of the city in day time and night time. Took a ride in London(L) eye, went to the L aquarium,L tower,L Bridge,Madame Tusaads', Covent Garden, Trafalger square,Greenich and the Neesdan swamy Narayan mandir.I was a little unfortunate of being in L at the worst weather conditions, but L bein L; it simply facinated me. L is absolutely cholestrol free, its viens (transport channels) are so fine that getting from anywhere to anywhere is never an issue. 

The overground,underground,DLR,National rails and busses all so well syncronised that travelling in L is pleasent. 

I did get a chance to see the might of the royalty. The Kohinoor encrested crown of Elizabeth was hypnotically beautiful. I would definitely like to go and visit the most famous city again.

Circque du Soleil

It means 'Circus in the sun'  and true to its name, its spectacular. It breaks the much sterotyped Circus where we have some caged animals perform tricks and a magician pulling a hare out of his Hat. Here its just about skill which will leave one in awe. Tiny japaneese girls play with the Diablo as though it defies gravity. A lady uses the rope suspended as though its an extention of her body.The is no Red rubber nosed Clown here eiter.It's a class comic 10 minute act by a comedian which involves the crowd. The grand finalae was a team of men dressed in rags doing all the tricks with such syncronisation that it can beat a 'Rolex' . Glad to have seen the best cirus act ever!!

St Patricks day

It was 17th march and it was bank holiday, so Hurray!! I was aware of a massive parade bein held at city center. So headed to that  place, hooked up with my good fiends.There was dancers and mucicians, Bikers and car enthusiasts, Atrists with out of the world costumes and some military men with worldy costumes. Enjoyed the show and later on went to see the finals of the GAA gaelic foot ball and the Hurling match. Undermined the crowd and could not see the Hurling match, but did get to see the Foot ball match. Did not have a clue about the rules of the game, but did enjoy it very much. The stadium was half to its brim, with 32 thousand people. It was fantastic memorable day for me and thanks to my good friend Mihir (righmost in pic) who dragged us out of our clamps shells. 

Malahide Caste

Nowa days i am venturing into the unknown!! The Unknown fact of my own limits. How far can i go? How much can i take? So on Wednesday I started running with my friend and i ran for 9kms till i dropped on the track, The pic is at 4.5kms in front of Ireland's largest gas powered power station.Today i cycled for 34kms with a break of 40 minutes after 17kms. It was a trip to a castle, called the Malahide castle. For 800 years the same family had occupied the castle.There was a grand state table which seats 40ppl, which is still used for any state dinner thats to be held in Ireland

Rathfarnam Castle

This can be called a flop trip because after cycling there for 8kms, I saw a board that read 'opened for tourists only from May to Oct' what was that!!!.But the entire cycling excersice to that location was great. Saw a completely different side of Dublin. At the castle through a broken window saw that the castle is very old. The grand tea room was alive and functioning with lot of neighbourhood folks meeting there for tea. A huge garden with play area nearby was attracting the kids like bees to flowers!!