So, I took a completely disorganised trip eastward, to the Norfolk Broads, yesterday, again a Saturday. Generally I take great pleasure in planning trips out of Cambridge carefully and well in advance, irrespective of how well the plans work out! But the trip described last, to Bury St Edmunds and the one described here, to the Norfolk Broads were totally arbitrary. The present one the most random trip I have taken since I practically had no idea where I was to go!
So, what are the Norfolk Broads? I would rather not explain in detail but point you to the appropritate Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Broads.
It would resemble in many ways the scenes that you would get to see on the boat rides back home in South of India, but here, there is one difference: while the rivers, obviously, were formed by natural forces, the depressions that are now the lakes were dug out by hand in medieval times!!!
My first port of call was this place called Hoveton and Wroxham. It was a 15 minute train ride from Norwich. But thanks to some engineering works on the rails between Ely and Brandon, the trip involved several changes involving buses and trains. But somehow, I did get to Hoveton and Wroxham. This place is called the capital of the Broads because it is supposed to be pretty much the gateway to the Broads. Well, true, but only if you had a car to drive around or had the time to rent a boat all for yourself and take it around. Public transport was pretty much non-existent and even the brochure supplied by the Broads authority had no practically useful information on getting around by public transport. And given all these limitations, I did take a guided river tour on the river Bure lasting an hour and a half covering the Wroxham and Salhouse Broads. The commentary during the tour was very very good and mentioned how the waters here were pretty much polluted in the 70s and it required a concerted effort in the form of legislation and implementation to clean it all up. During this tour, one gets an opportunity to see a variety of water birds! And one can also easily observe the presence of quite a few thatched houses!
Following this tour, I walked around this little reserve park in Hoveton, where one might get to see birds amidst the reeds, but I did not see any. In all probability, the large dogs that were being walked by quite a few of the toursists (or locals) might have scared the birds away!
And then I took the train back to Norwich and realised it was still too early. Then I decided to go to the Broads in Suffolk and decided to choose between the train that went to the east-most coast of England - Lowestoft and that which went to Great Yarmouth. I plumped for the former and went on the train and only to get down at one random station called Oulton Broads North, a short while from Lowestoft. I walked around this Oulton, which was totally deficient in any kind of sign-posts, but somehow reached the banks of river Waveney. I decided I did not have the time to take another guided river tour, but walked for a while along the banks, seeing several swans and boats and dogs. And then it was time to take the train back to Norwich and then to Cambridge. This particular train route between Lowestoft and Norwich is quite pretty and one does get to see several marshes.
So that is about it for today.
Sunday, 23 September 2007
Saturday, 8 September 2007
The Saturday
Today was a Saturday with a difference. Because the internet connection at home was not functioning, there was little I could do at home. I decided to roam around Cambridge. Cambridge was not without incident - I saw this fellow, dressed in black standing on a chair with a display board next to him, berating scientists and evolution and arguing that everything was designed intelligently by God. He even had a reason - Boeing 747 and 777 are similar, but they were both independently designed by a man; therefore just because scientists observe similarity between species at the molecular level it should not be taken as proof for evolution; in fact, as the Boeing example illustrates, every form of life is an independent creation! There was some crowd around him, and to them, this was good entertainment. There was laughter - they were laughing on Mr. Black's face! But Mr. Black was determined to put his point across. There was an elegant looking Englishman who walked up to him, tap-tapping his cane on the pavement and asked him, "are you being serious?", and walked away, with a mischievous smile on his face. There was this totally shaggy fellow, with a beard that resembled the hair of an electrocuted cartoon character, who chose to argue openly with Mr. Black. Mr. Black was showing a 3D drawing of a eukaryotic cell and saying, "scientists describe that this is how a cell looks like", offending me, a bacteria man, and continued, "but they dont know how it came about because it was put there by God!". Our Mr. Shaggy was not to be deterreed - he said, "this evolved from cellular forms that were much simpler". Mr. Black asked, "how do you know that?". I was tempted to retort, but the man standing next to me said, "common sense mate" and walked away and I followed his example, moving on!
And then, once again, I had to decide what I wanted to do. I had a brain wave. I walked along to the railway station, looked at the time table and decided to go down to Bury St. Edmunds or St. Edmundsbury in Suffolk, a forty minute train ride away. This place is known as 'Shrine of a King, Cradle of the law'. Shrine of a King because this was where King Edmund, the last king of East Anglia was buried; Cradle of the law because this was where, in early 13th century, a resolution was taken to get ratified the Magna Charta, the fore-bearer of today's English legal and democratic systems. This little town has a ruined Abbey, where the above event took place, located in a supposedly beautiful garden and I decided to see this place for myself. And that is what I did. I must confess that this town is very pleasant. The market is exceptional; for the first time in England, I saw shopkeepers shouting their voices hoarse to advertise their wares, akin to our Indian markets. And I even managed to buy a massive bowl full of green, seedless grapes - should have been around a kilo - for a pound! Cannot imagine getting such value in the Cambridge market! The abbey itself, as said earlier, is in ruins. All that remains is a series of bits of stone walls sticking out of the ground; and in some instances, these bits were large enough to form recognisable shapes. There is a little wall on which was posted a board saying, "Lecture room". I wonder!!! The garden in which this abbey is located is beautiful and is a colour riot, with a large variety of flowering plants aesthetically arranged. This meant that I had a good time with the camera before returning home to find that the internet had started working - a pleasant surprise!
The Abbey ruins (1)
The Abbey ruins (2)
A board describing the historic event
Just a pic I liked
The Abbey garden (1)
The Abbey garden (2)
The Abbey garden (3)
And then, once again, I had to decide what I wanted to do. I had a brain wave. I walked along to the railway station, looked at the time table and decided to go down to Bury St. Edmunds or St. Edmundsbury in Suffolk, a forty minute train ride away. This place is known as 'Shrine of a King, Cradle of the law'. Shrine of a King because this was where King Edmund, the last king of East Anglia was buried; Cradle of the law because this was where, in early 13th century, a resolution was taken to get ratified the Magna Charta, the fore-bearer of today's English legal and democratic systems. This little town has a ruined Abbey, where the above event took place, located in a supposedly beautiful garden and I decided to see this place for myself. And that is what I did. I must confess that this town is very pleasant. The market is exceptional; for the first time in England, I saw shopkeepers shouting their voices hoarse to advertise their wares, akin to our Indian markets. And I even managed to buy a massive bowl full of green, seedless grapes - should have been around a kilo - for a pound! Cannot imagine getting such value in the Cambridge market! The abbey itself, as said earlier, is in ruins. All that remains is a series of bits of stone walls sticking out of the ground; and in some instances, these bits were large enough to form recognisable shapes. There is a little wall on which was posted a board saying, "Lecture room". I wonder!!! The garden in which this abbey is located is beautiful and is a colour riot, with a large variety of flowering plants aesthetically arranged. This meant that I had a good time with the camera before returning home to find that the internet had started working - a pleasant surprise!
The Abbey ruins (1)
The Abbey ruins (2)
A board describing the historic event
Just a pic I liked
The Abbey garden (1)
The Abbey garden (2)
The Abbey garden (3)
Wednesday, 5 September 2007
City of Bath (3)
In this final post with respect to my day trip to Bath, I shall make a few comments on what I call the 'arc architecture zone' of Bath and conclude this series with a few more inane comments.
What is this Arc Architecture zone? Within a space of a few hundred meters, one can find two impressive examples of architecture, one of which is circular in shape, reminiscent of Circus Maximus, (which I have seen only in comics describing the Adventures of Asterix), and hence termed "Circus". Several English luminaries, including Lord Clive of India resided in this all important circus (pardon the pun). While the centre of Circus Maximus would have seen Obelix bashing up the lions and in the event of a less well-covered person being the centre of attraction, the lions gobbling up this person, this circus is more serene and sedate, with a little green space and a tree marking the centre of the circle defining the construction.
The second building was constructed following the successful completion of the Circus and built in the 1760s - does not matter, at least to me, when exactly. This building is called the Royal Crescent and is the most privileged address in all Bath; and as one might imagine, only the really wealthy can afford to own this address. Royal Crescent 1 is a museum maintained by a private body called the Bath Preservation Trust and is dedicated to exhibiting the various features of an aristocratic home in Georgian England. Royal Crescent 1 was some sort of an inn where the wealthy would stay with their sons and daughters of marriageable age; the bringing together of so many wealthy eligibles would have resulted in a number of honorable unions one would expect; but to me, living in this Georgian house would not have been a pleasurable experience. Why? Simply because there was no plumbing available to that building in those days and some specially constructed cupboards served the purpose of toilets! Ladies had to bring water in pails from the river Avon, a mile away and I cannot imagine the feelings of the slaves whose duty it was to keep these cupboards clean!
Coming back from Georgian toilets, what experiences of mine can I share with you here? The first thing that struck me was the politeness of the person at the ticket counter who informed me that photography was not permitted inside the museum. The contrast it represented, with the manner in which this obnoxious chap at Mahabalipuram 'informed' me that tripods were not to be used there, prompting me to not resist the temptation to present a rude retort, was striking. In this museum, every room was populated by an individual who, with the exception of one old lady who did not seem to know much, made it a point to describe to every visitor, salient aspects of what one saw before him / her. One of the ladies was particularly well informed and made a lot of comments on what might have been the life of those who took residence there. Yet another old lady, manning yet another room, and with such wrinkles on her face as would have contributed more than ideal features to a black and white portrait photograph, must have felt lonely for she chose to talk to us a lot on Georgian life; it was she who made it a point to stress on the lack of plumbing in the house in those days, and thanked modernity for having provided the house with good water supply today. She might have been partially hard of hearing, as she kept misinterpreting any question that my friend asked of her; nevertheless, she was as interesting and as genial and as informative as they come - possibly she is from the Georgian age!
With that I would just list a few places that we did not give the attention it deserved or did not visit at all. One is Walcott street, with a range of strange shops, including an antique and a glass-blowers that are worth visiting - both these places were closed for the day by the time we managed to get there. Other places include a series of museums; a couple that attracted my attention were a museum in honour of this chap who first discovered Uranus and said something of having seen farther into space than anyone else and a postal museum situated near where the first ever stamped snail mail was sent!!
With that, I rest my case in favour of Bath!
The Circus
Royal Crescent
No. 1 Royal Crescent
A scene on Wallcott street
A scene off Wallcott street
What is this Arc Architecture zone? Within a space of a few hundred meters, one can find two impressive examples of architecture, one of which is circular in shape, reminiscent of Circus Maximus, (which I have seen only in comics describing the Adventures of Asterix), and hence termed "Circus". Several English luminaries, including Lord Clive of India resided in this all important circus (pardon the pun). While the centre of Circus Maximus would have seen Obelix bashing up the lions and in the event of a less well-covered person being the centre of attraction, the lions gobbling up this person, this circus is more serene and sedate, with a little green space and a tree marking the centre of the circle defining the construction.
The second building was constructed following the successful completion of the Circus and built in the 1760s - does not matter, at least to me, when exactly. This building is called the Royal Crescent and is the most privileged address in all Bath; and as one might imagine, only the really wealthy can afford to own this address. Royal Crescent 1 is a museum maintained by a private body called the Bath Preservation Trust and is dedicated to exhibiting the various features of an aristocratic home in Georgian England. Royal Crescent 1 was some sort of an inn where the wealthy would stay with their sons and daughters of marriageable age; the bringing together of so many wealthy eligibles would have resulted in a number of honorable unions one would expect; but to me, living in this Georgian house would not have been a pleasurable experience. Why? Simply because there was no plumbing available to that building in those days and some specially constructed cupboards served the purpose of toilets! Ladies had to bring water in pails from the river Avon, a mile away and I cannot imagine the feelings of the slaves whose duty it was to keep these cupboards clean!
Coming back from Georgian toilets, what experiences of mine can I share with you here? The first thing that struck me was the politeness of the person at the ticket counter who informed me that photography was not permitted inside the museum. The contrast it represented, with the manner in which this obnoxious chap at Mahabalipuram 'informed' me that tripods were not to be used there, prompting me to not resist the temptation to present a rude retort, was striking. In this museum, every room was populated by an individual who, with the exception of one old lady who did not seem to know much, made it a point to describe to every visitor, salient aspects of what one saw before him / her. One of the ladies was particularly well informed and made a lot of comments on what might have been the life of those who took residence there. Yet another old lady, manning yet another room, and with such wrinkles on her face as would have contributed more than ideal features to a black and white portrait photograph, must have felt lonely for she chose to talk to us a lot on Georgian life; it was she who made it a point to stress on the lack of plumbing in the house in those days, and thanked modernity for having provided the house with good water supply today. She might have been partially hard of hearing, as she kept misinterpreting any question that my friend asked of her; nevertheless, she was as interesting and as genial and as informative as they come - possibly she is from the Georgian age!
With that I would just list a few places that we did not give the attention it deserved or did not visit at all. One is Walcott street, with a range of strange shops, including an antique and a glass-blowers that are worth visiting - both these places were closed for the day by the time we managed to get there. Other places include a series of museums; a couple that attracted my attention were a museum in honour of this chap who first discovered Uranus and said something of having seen farther into space than anyone else and a postal museum situated near where the first ever stamped snail mail was sent!!
With that, I rest my case in favour of Bath!
The Circus
Royal Crescent
No. 1 Royal Crescent
A scene on Wallcott street
A scene off Wallcott street
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