Being on the ocean beach lets me let my heart wander around to enjoy the various sights: of people gleefully playing and cheerfully singing; of friends and family; of kids building sand castles; of dogs swimming and happily barking while they run around to fetch their play things; lovers lost in embraces of each other; people like me lost to solitude of their own. All mortal senses and feelings drown away in the majestic splashing, crashing and ever thrashing ocean waves, and instantly I am at Peace.
Plus walking barefoot in beach-sand gives one hell of an amazing pedicure. So I wentto thebeachagain.
Paris is an incredibly enchanting city whose air forever smells of romance. Its filled with gorgeous buildings and facades which invoke a sense of nostalgia. Its always crowded with gorgeous women and fashionable people of all ages. There are delights hidden in every nook and corner, in places one would least expect, like the back lanes of Eiffel Tower to alleys near the Seine; Crowded areas around Pont des Arts to empty streets behind Musse d’Orsay.
I have no words to describe the sights. I only have some pictures
Its an old railway station built in 1900’s in Paris, which now has been converted into a art and sculpture museum, boasting the largest collection of impressionist masterpieces.
On my first trip to Paris, I missed visiting this museum. So I made it a point to do so on my second trip last weekend. I thoroughly enjoyed some of the impressive life-sized realist paintings. But I was far more intrigued by the building, its history and architecture and also the crowd and surrounding ambience. Here are some photos
The museum was buzzing with people patiently waiting in long queues
I could not comprehend the fact that the interiors were so beautifully designed and built, all for a railway station that saw less than 40 years of service.
The view of River Seine was dream like
The way the the museum disappears and the residential buildings begin is just beautiful
Travelling on trains in India, makes for a wondrous journey filled with amazing sights of towns, villages and other dwelling places and a mesmerising view of hundreds of thousands of acres of farmlands, draped in a blanket of early morning fog, or fresh crops bathing in sunshine and morning due, or forests filled with freshest of waters, or just simple people trying to get by their lives.
The country is so big, that it sometimes takes upto 3 days to go from one corner of the country to another. Consequently the country also has one of the largest railway networks in the world employing over 1.5 million people to serve over 25 million passengers travelling on 15,000 trains – every single day.
Visiting India and taking a 5 day trip to the mountains while using only trains as means of transport, after staying abroad and being used to high speed trains and urban-ness for a long stretch of an year made me realise how amazing India is, and how even more amazing the Indian Railways is. Serving 7 billion passengers annually, despite the bad reservation system and incompetent management, running a network of that scale in a developing nation is no small feat by any means.
I decided, every time I visit India, I will explore the country, travelling to the remotest parts (that are safe) while using trains as my primary means of transport.
Here is a glimpse of my experience..
Train stations tickle all your senses with the amazing variety of smells from foods stalls and sweet stands, mixed with the bad ones from the ill-maintained tracks and places – while you are simultaneously doused in the clamouring sounds of hawkers and vendors; beggars and coolies; and bustling sounds of people just trying to reach their destinations in their own busy lives.
Here is a short video I shot while hanging off the doors, along with dozen others, of a moving train that is about to come to a halt at a station …
Marken is a tiny gorgeous island town, about 30 km from Amsterdam. The last time I visited that place, I along with few friends took public transportation, but didn’t reach the light house as it required walking for few kilometers and not everyone was up for it.
Having recently purchased a road bike, this time I decided to bike to it and back – a total of 60kms – alone.
Before I could reach the Lighthouse in Marken, which is well connected by dedicated cycling paths, I had to bike through lots of small towns, marshes, fields and lots of bridges over canals and the famous dykes of dutch-land.
