Sri Venkateshwara Temle, Birmingham

Balaji Temple in Birmingham is a famous hindu temple which houses all deities - Venkateshwara as main idol alongside Lakshmi, Ganesh, Murugan, Shirdi Sai Baba, Easwar (Lingam), Navagraha, and Hanuman.

The temple is set in a 21 acre site, they do daily poojas and read slokas everyday.  

Located in Tividale, Oldbury, this is just few miles away from M5 (Motorway) in Birmingham.  The temple campus also has a small south indian cafe catering to the needs of visitors.  They serve hot dosa, idly and vada!  
Another reason to visit Birmingham!!!

Tezz - My fast thoughts!

Saw Priyadarshan's TEZZ movie yesterday and I thought that might make a nice post to write about this! So here it is....

Snowdonia Mountain Railway

Snowdonia is the largest mountain range/National Park in Wales. Snowdonia Mountain railway is the best example of victorian engineering, has been appreciated by world wide travellers for about 115 years. 

As the train snails through the mountain top

Tourists, as they ascend through the top summit view the spectacular Snowdonia mountains on all possible angles.  The journey starts from Llanberis railway station and takes about an hour to climb up.  It passes through viaduct, spectacular water falls amidst the oak forest, and then to the spectacular mountain ranges dotted with sheep herds.  This is not a steep mountain as such, so trekking is also an option. 

There are various lakes situated within the Snowdonia National park, and this is one such lake which had a weird long name that I couldn't remember. We took the train  up, and came down walking - which was almost 2 hours, but it was fun. 

Thursday Challenge - EARTH

For this week's Thursday challenge I couldn't get a better photo than this which represents EARTH in the form of Sun (shining), Water and Mountain (at the farthest end). 

I personally liked today's TC topic a lot - the abundance of nature, land, animals, birds, trees, water, mountains. They are indeed the most beautiful creations of GOD.     

But  I cannot bypass the thought of what mankind is doing to this Mother EARTH.  I cannot stop myself from saying, God created beautiful earth on one side, and created mankind on the other side - to destroy the beauty of earth.  Pardon me if I'm wrong.  But take any nature/ or natural resource, and there's always something mankind is doing to destroy them instead of protecting them, preserving them for the future generations.   By mankind, I mean every single human being on earth.  I have not done anything to protect the Earth.  

We build skyscrappers for dwelling and to just glorify about our architectural capability to the neighboring country that I have the tallest skyscrapper on earth!

We kill animals for living, medicinal values, and use their skin, nails, even their flesh! And finally we mourn that they will soon be extinct if we don't protect them!  

We shoot birds for fun and hobby!

We cut trees to build luxurious resorts/ villas, to make paper and other products which again we shamelessly waste. 

We pollute water, pee on them, do everything to spoil the purity of water, and complain that we live in such a world that we have to even buy water!

If we continue to preserve the EARTH this way, soon the next generations will not even know what was earth like when god created.  Or they could only read them in books or see in videos.  

Angst of a wannabe writer

That's a total of 13 days I skipped off till date in my Project 366 and I did not even make an effort to login blogger for the last 3 days.  What a progress am I making!  

Thursday Challenge - SPRING

I've already written so much about this spring, so I don't want to bore you more.  

This week's Thursday Challenge is SPRING (Rain, puddles, boots, Umbrellas, Sunny days, Leaves in trees).   

Wordless Wednesday - 14

Driving in Lake district

Lake District is one of the most exotic locations I've seen in England.  Saying them beautiful is such an understatement.  I could't think of any better word to describe them.  

Imagine a picturesque landscape with green mountain ranges and lakes in the middle of these.  That's Lakes /Lakeland / or Lake District for you.  

Probably because of its beautiful landscape this has been home for various poets including the most famous William Wordsworth.

  

Driving around these mountains or along the lakes make this a scenic drive.  Main town centres have very good roads, but as and when you go up the mountain to reach other side of the district, often the roads are too narrow and steep, that you had to wait for oncoming vehicle to pass you. 
  

Lake District lies in North eastern part of England in the county of Cumbria.  It can be reached by road or train if you are in UK.  There are about 16 lakes and various small water inlets around the Lake District. Each town shares its name with their lakes - Windermere is one of the touristy town (Accessible by Rail) which has a lake with the same name.

Lakedistrict has some of the most amazing valleys (as you can see from the pictures too), that makes the drive really interesting.  If we had to go from west to north of Lake district you have to surpass these valleys.  So you go up the valleys and then go down to reach any place which is so much fun!

There are not very many service stops in lake district since the roads are classified as country roads.  So you have to stop in the passing villages and towns to buy food or to take a break.   So is it with petrol/diesel stations.  So plan accordingly, buy plenty of food and drinks while travelling.  

But all that said, this is by far the best drive I ever had and the most memorable one too.  More in the next post. 

Statue of Boadicea

The ultimate warrior queen, Boadicea along with her daughters in this statue (not framed in this picture).   
In this picture, Boadicea is standing in her chariot with the sharp scythes on its wheels to cut down her Roman enemies.
This is a captivating statue one can never miss when they are strolling along the Westminster bridge (diagonally opposite to Big Ben). 

Keukenhof Gardens, Netherlands

That's one of the best places to experience Spring.  Ever since I heard about Tulips (sometime in 12th standard I guess), I wanted to see them, and had it in my bucket list that I want to spend a long day with them.  And that came true few years back when we spent our spring vacation in Holland.  

Keukenhof is an amazing tourist destination, and a must visit if you visit Holland particularly between mid March to mid May.  The colors and fragrance are always in abundance, and it gives such a great satisfaction to your eyes at the end of the day. And goes without saying, it's a great photographic opportunity! 

Keukenhof is said to be the world's largest flower garden with about 7 million tulip bulbs of about 100 varities cultivated every year.  Located in South Holland in a small town called Lisse, Keukenhof is spread around 32 acres of land.  

While the origin of Tulips is unknown, it's said that they were first cultivated during the Ottoman Empire.  When we were touring Turkey, people said that the king during the Ottoman rule gifted tulip bulbs to the then king in Holland. But there's no certain facts as such.  

Tulips are the national flower for Afghanistan, Turkey, Hungary and Netherlands.  

There's tulips of all colors and sizes in Keukenhof, and honestly, 2 eyes are not sufficient.  They are scattered around everywhere you turn.   Words fail to express the delight I had then.  

Apart from Tulips they also have Daffodils, Hyacinths, Orchids in full bloom.   These pictures were taken using my Sony Cybershot, and I am so tempted to visit the fields again to click them with my Nikon :D  But for now, look through these beauties and fall in love with spring, tulips and keukenhof! 

PS: I have badly neglected my blog for the last 1 week.  Had been into hibernation mode myself with various things that occupied my time.  Will catch up quickly with your posts and comments.  

Thursday Challenge - SILLY

For this week's TC it's SILLY (Smile, laugh, face, things etc)....

Wordless Wednesday - 13

London Eye

London Eye is the tallest Ferris wheel in Europe, and has constantly been a popular tourist spot since it's erection in 1999.  

View of Tower Bridge

The famous Tower Bridge in London as seen from along the banks of Thames River.  

A classic black and white view

And a night shot...

PS: It is long weekend here, hence I'm just going to post some pictures to keep the Project 366 ongoing.  

Thursday Challenge - HAND

This week on Thursday Challenge is HAND (Sign language, fingernail, hand decoration, rings, gloves, holding etc).   

Wordless Wednesday - 12

Bit of everything

Now that I've missed writing for 2 consecutive days, I couldn't give myself any more excuses.  I wanted to write, have so many things to post but there's just so little time for me these days.  I don't know, something is just keeping me really busy. Yesterday I was occupied with work till 1.00pm, and I just could not bother to post anything.