In Beautiful Bruges

We saw the movie, 'In Bruges'. It wasn't strictly our inspiration to go there. But whatever it is, I am glad we went there at any rate. Bruges is one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe. For a factual account of the place, read it's wiki page. We stayed a little outside the city centre in a pretty little hotel called Bruegelhof. And I must mention here that the owner was really sweet and immensely helpful - he actually promptly mailed me a bag of stuff that we'd forgotten at the hotel.

But since Bruges is very small (30 minutes tops to walk the longer part of it), it really didn't matter. We were armed with a local tourist map that the hotel owner gave us and we started walking towards the city centre. And surprise surprise, it took us less than 10 minutes to get there. I was pretty struck by the number of people milling the streets. Bruges is an extremely popular tourist destination. Along the way, we saw shoot out into the flat little skyline, a bunch of clock towers and cathedral towers. These are not accessible to the public but do make for a pretty sight.

The city square or boulevard if you will, is a fairly open place dotted with all these amazing cafés and bars along the periphery with the centre occupied predominantly of a war memorial with a floral enclosure and many horse-drawn carriages and bicycles, giving it a quaint 80's look.


On our walk there, we passed by many many popular European stores for clothing and otherwise. A peek inside verified what we'd already suspected. The prices were far lower than in Paris. And so we spent quite a while shopping out there. Bruges is also famous for it's own brand of beer, called Brugeszot. Belgium in general is one of the best known producers of beer and Leffe is particularly popular. I had a Sangira there and I can vouch for it's taste as well. We settled down in one of the bars for a long afternoon of intermittent drinking/sampling and eating while experiencing Bruggian life.



The canals of Bruges are particularly beautiful and the public has access to the canals by taking the fabulous canal cruises offered by the Bruges Tourism. It is a long ride (~1 hour) spanning the interiors of the city and taking one through the backwaters of houses (some of which I suspect are not inhabited). The canal cruise comes with a guide who speaks in multiple languages. Indeed most people in Bruges speak English, Dutch and French. But the guy's English needs a little listening-into to understand fluently. What the cruise accomplishes is that one gets to witness the sights, sounds, birds and buildings of Bruges while cruising the calm river.


We even got to witness a newly-wed couple all set to take the romantic cruise in seclusion -


The buildings of Bruges all have distinctive rooftops with a triangular patterned-yet serrated regdes. See what I mean?


We didn't see most of the conventional museums that are found aplenty in Bruges. Instead, we experienced the cozy city life fir a few short hours. Indeed on one of our lost drives outside the city periphery, we found ourselves in the part of Bruges that is actually filled with people. The part that we'd visited was strictly preserved to be medieval, lacking modern amenities like TV cable/antennas, etc.

While Bruges itself takes under 2 days to see, its proximity to Brussels/Oostende also make it an attractive destination. Be it the Grand Palais at Brussels


or the beautiful beaches at Oostende

Why Bruges?

1. It's quaint and pretty and it's a UNESCO World Heritage site.
2. Its very close to the capital city of Brussels and to the beaches of Oostende.
3. It's inexpensive to stay in and shop in ;)
4. It gives an Amsterdam feeling minus the excessive rush and the commercialization -it's very well-preserved and yet undiscovered. Perfect!
5. The beer is fabulous!

Bruges, is definitely a destination worth a visit. Maybe even more. And I leave you with one last shot of Bruges...

Mahabaleshwar

Firstly, I thank Jaya for sharing this space with me. I will take you on a trip to the places I visit, with my words and photos. To start with, I take you to Mahabaleshwar & Panchgani in Maharashtra, India. This place is my personal favorite and is located at a distance of about 250 kms. from Mumbai. It is the busiest hill-station in Maharashtra, especially in summer and is very famous for strawberries. The fruit gets exported from here to England for Wimbledon season and other parts of the world.
We went from the Panchgani side since our hotel was in Panchgani. This place is famous for boarding schools. And right after the ghat section, is the site for paragliding.


It had attracted a pretty decent crowd even in the hot afternoon. And as soon as we had started our lunch, skies suddenly grew darker and burst into heavy rain even before we realised. And it rained hail initially. This immediately turned the place into heaven, with fog all around and the blissful smell of wet earth. Temperature suddenly dropped by 10 deg. and gave a feel of monsoon.
The climate was cold throughout the evening, but that didn't stop us from having the delicious dessert "Strawberry with cream" - the official dessert at Wimbledon. I tasted it for the first time and had to fall in love with it.


The next day began lazily and we headed for brunch to the Mapro garden. To our pleasant surprise, it was hosting the "Strawberry Festival" that weekend and we were sure that we were in for a pink treat.


And so was it. They were serving a basket of strawberries at each table, complimentary.

And the pizzas and sandwiches were too good and too filling. Then we continued on spot seeing tour of the place and took some pictures of the valley surrounding the region.



The weather was again in the mood for romance and the drizzle started and chilled the air. We had a nice cup of hot tea and then headed for the shops near the Venna lake. We played gunshot, throw-the-ring and the casino and won a nice amount there. The drizzle continued in the night and gave an awesome atmosphere for some tandoori chicken. The three day vacation was an amazing change of place.

Reasons to visit Mahabaleshwar -
1) Cool climate as compared to Mumbai and Pune.
2) Strawberries and related desserts
3) Paragliding

Paris - Notre Dame

Notre Dame literally, Our Lady referring to the Virgin Mary is one of the most famous landmarks of Paris and one of the most famous examples of Gothic architecture employed in Churches over the world. Here's the wiki page on the Notre Dame. And here's a first look at the cathedral itself -

Like every landmark in the world, the Notre Dame is breathtaking at day and at night when it's all lit up. Here's a sneak peek.

The attention to detail of every figure up on the Church is definitely worth a mention... Its a lot like the painted sculptures of the Gods n Goddesses on the temple gopurams. And here's a look -

And the deity within -

The good part about visiting the Notre Dame is that the entrance is free because its a cathedral. And even if you are not a religious catholic, there is enough to see... the stained glass paintings inside the cathedral are some of the most famous in the world. Check out one of the most famous ones here -

And there is a perfect replica that helps one gauge the enormity of the structure inside the Church. Its also one of the first churches (including the Westminister Abbey in London) to employ the Flying Buttress architectural technique to help keep the large windows and other openings on the walls of the Church. Here is the image of the model which outlines the flying buttresses. And you can read more about the technique here.

And a look of all the candles that people light in order to make wishes-

And the famous rose windows of course - outside -

And inside - as stained glass-

The other reason which makes the Notre Dame so famous is that it sits on the Île de la Cité, which is the only naturally formed island in Paris and the smallest in France. A point on this island right outside the Westen Entrance to the cathedral indeed marks the Point Zero or the centre point of Paris from where all the intial distances were measured.

The view from the south of the Church, when one goes on the cruise of the Seine is the most beautiful o fthe Church. Of course it completely misses the interesting Western front entrance, but its the ony view that does justice to the enormity of the structure itself. And as always there are 2 views - the day view -

and the night view-

Why should you visit the Notre Dame?

1. Île de la Cité is a beautiful island and St. Michel a beautiful place. Its lined with cafes and shopsand makes the whole experience worth your while.

2. Its famous! And you've got to have a picture at Point Zero - the centre of Paris.

3. Its free and you get to see all the stained glass paintings and classic gothic architecture.

Paris - Musée du Louvre

Ah.. One of my favorite or should I say, my favorite spot in Paris? Long before the Da Vinci Code brought the Louvre into focus, I have dreamed of visiting it… They don’t say dream hard for nothing… what do you know.. I am living in the city of the Louvre! By large the most famous museum in the world, it houses some of the most famous works of art, most notably the Mona Lisa or the La Jaconde as she is called here in Paris, by Leonardo Da Vinci.

It is located right in the most famous district in Paris and flanks one end of Avenue de Champs Élysées while the Arc de Triomphe forms the other end. It is easily reached by Metro 1 which indeed forms the backbone to seeing the most famous sights in Paris. Here’s the wiki page on The Louvre. And this is a picture of the trademark Metropolitain sign as one exits the station Palais Royale Musée du Louvre.

The origin of the name itself is supposed to mean “Masterpiece” in one adaption and it has certainly been named appropriately. The façade of the Louvre is as imposing as it is on the inside. The famous glass pyramids are found inside the compound. But before we go in, here’s a view of one of the marvelous wings of the Louvre on the outside.

And one of the imposing grounds from inside the museum

Leading from the Champs Élysées through the Jardin Tulieres, the Louvre spans more than 1.5 km in length, which is very imposing by itself and has a horse-shoe shaped formation of 3 buildings forming the entire museum. This is a panorama of the outer façade of the museum and this one’s off the internet (I haven’t gotten into shooting panoramas yet)

Breathtaking, isn’t it? The entrance to the museum is through the main glass pyramid and leads down a spiral flight of stairs underground where one buys the 11€ tickets – completely worth every penny considering the mammoth collections that one gets to see. Here’s a picture of what lies beneath –

The Louvre is split into 3 wings – the Denon Wing (most famous for housing the Mona Lisa), the Sully wing (most famous for the Venus d’ Milo) and the Richelieu Wing.. The third most famous piece of art in the museum is the Winged Glory of Samothrace and indeed these 3 works form the famous Louvre Lite which are the only main 3 works that hurried or disinterested patrons visit. A synopsis of the Louvre Lite –

But they are missing a whole lot by not doing the span of the museum. The first time I was there, I spent close to 7 hours in the museum alone and maybe bored S into reconsideration of our association… But it is phenomenal and houses some of the most famed Michelangelo frescos, Rembrandt paintings amongst many others. And what’s more… At any given time, there is some exhibition or the other going on. For example, they had this Impressionist Movement theme a few days back and an Egyptian Culture exhibition before that and each of this is fascinating to the Art Lover. Here’s a few shots from one of the rich walls at the Louvre –

And some ceiling art –

The pyramid and the entire exterior of the Louvre inside the horseshoe is far prettier by twilight or night rather than by day when the daylight does nothing to reflect off the triangular panes on the pyramid. Indeed by night, the light bouncing off the water and the pyramids alone warrants a special trip to the Louvre after hours… sheerly for sightseeing –

Inside the Denon Wing, the Grand Gallery holds most fame. The single largest corridor within the museum and home to the dead-end room, the Salle de Etats which houses the Mona Lisa makes it a thing of epics. But its nowhere as exciting or huge as is described in Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code. Yes, the parquet floors are attractive and the gallery tasteful… but so’s the rest of the museum. Here, see for yourself-

Another feature that is famous is the inverted pyramid. Admittedly, no one seems to see reason behind these bizarre structures. But they do make for good photo ops.

What makes the Louvre fun for the common man is that at any given time, you can see apprentices or artists just settled out there with their paints and easels painting away and reproducing masterpieces. We caught a few of them at work on our last visit there…

And I bet that to the untrained eye, the reproductions look every bit as darned good as the Masters themselves… See what I mean? The one on the left is a work in progress while the one on the right is the original hanging off one of the walls of the Louvre.

Why should you go to the Louvre?
To see what the fuss is about. And I bet you’ll see it. If you’re not that impressed with the Mona Lisa, that’s pretty normal. She is small.. And they’ve cordoned her off so you really can’t see her close enough. Of course these days you are allowed to take as many pictures as you like of her or any other piece of art which sort of takes the fantasy away (check my blog on that here) but what the hell… If not the Mona Lisa something’s got to impress you… whether it’s one of the sacrophages or one of the other Da Vincis or just the sheer mammoth collection. It’s definitely something you are missing if you’re in Paris and you ain’t done it.

And last and definitely the least, I leave you with an image of something that has nothing to do with the Louvre - The Smart Car for those Dan Brown fans -