Pass by German Aachen Cathedral continue… September 16, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Europe, France, Germany, Greece, Hotels, Ireland, Istanbul, Italy, Jerusalem, London, Museum, Paris, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour , 3commentsAmong the classical texts translated at Aachen was the highly influential treatise by the first- century Bc Roman architect Vitruvius Pollio, in which the principles and traditions of earlier architecture, secular and sacred, were incorporated. The palace chapel can be seen to be essentially Vitruvian in nature. It followed Vitruvius’ octagonal scheme (which involved geomantic consideration of the ‘eight winds’). (more…)
Luxury Jet Air Flight, the true beginning of Jet-powered Flight September 5, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Hotels, London, San Francisco, Tour, Travelling Bag, Trip , 3commentsJet engines derive their thrust from the reaction to the discharge of hot gases. The jet engine uses a very simple three-stage process to develop its power (or thrust as it is known). It “sucks, burns and blows”!
During the first (”suck”) stage, the jet engine uses very powerful compressor fans to suck great volumes of air into the jet engine casing and compress it to a high pressure. Jet fuel is then mixed with this high- pressure air in a combustion chamber and it is ignited to burn at a very high temperature (the “burn” stage). This very hot gas expands rapidly and is forced out of the rear of the engine producing the force that pushes the aircraft forwards. (more…)
A Visit to Dominica continue… September 1, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Dominican Republic, London, Restaurant, Tour , 3commentsSome way below the garden a man stood quietly washing himself in the hot water from the spring; it was channelled down there in a homemade aqueduct of halved bamboo stalks resting on forked twigs. ‘For every improvement to the guest-house, I make something for the local people,’ Anne said. ‘It’s their island.’
I wanted to see the rainforest I’d read about, a place where vast trunks rise up like the pillars of a gloomy cathedral, where lianas hang down, where bright parrots chatter in the sunlight of the tree canopy. (more…)
Airline/ Flight Travel Jokes August 29, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Africa, Air Tickets, Airlines, Cuba, Embassy, Flight Schedule, France, Las Vegas, London, Scotland, Tour, Trip , 3commentsI took my wife to France by airline travel last year. You know how it is — you always take something with you that you don’t need.
Florida has two main industries, tourists and alligators, and they skin both of them.
Travel broadens one — so does sitting at home in an armchair.
This is a wonderful town. When I arrived here I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t speak, I had very little hair and people used to lift me from my bed — I was born here. (more…)
London Sightseeing Pass: Westminster Palace and Abbey & St Margaret’s Church continue… August 25, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Ireland, Library, London, Museum, Rail Pass, Scotland, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trip, Wellington , 5commentsA cult developed around Edward. There were accounts of him healing the sick while he was alive, and rumours of cures at his tomb continued. In 1102 it was opened and his body found incorrupt. After a campaign lasting for decades, Edward the Confessor was canonized in 1161. His body was raised from the tomb before the high altar and replaced in a richly ornamented shrine, the key, sacred focal point of the Abbey. (more…)
London Sightseeing Pass: Westminster Palace and Abbey & St Margaret’s Church August 25, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Destination, Hotels, London, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trip , 5commentsIt is at the first sight difficult to imagine any ancient, geomantic mysteries to be present in the teeming modern metropolis that is London. There is no doubt that what may be there is well submerged both actually, beneath accretions of buildings and earth, and metaphorically, beneath layers of time. We have to look to legend, history, archaeological glimpses and the barely discernible lineaments that have survived in the present layout of streets, sites and place-names. (more…)
European Costume Flip-flops, Women and Socks August 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, Hotels, Japan, London, Rail Pass, Restaurant, Tickets, Tokyo, Tour, Trip , 4commentsOnce Europeans had become accustomed to flip-flops, it wasn’t all that difficult to get used to mitten- shaped socks, each holding the big toe in its own little pocket and letting the other four doss down together. But the very first visitors to Japan assumed, from the local socks, that the Japanese had only two toes. And the Japanese, on the basis of the visitors’ socks, thought that Europeans had none. (more…)
Geomantic feature of the ancient Tower of London, Secret face of Britain’s Capital City continue… August 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Airlines, England, Europe, Hotels, London, Rail Pass, Round The World, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Travel Gear, Travelling Bag, Trip , 3commentsAfter a short distance, the course of the line connects with the axis of Cannon Street, passing through the former position of the London Stone. The remnants of this undoubtedly ancient feature are to be found today behind an iron grill set into the wall of the Bank of China on the north side of Cannon Street, opposite Cannon Street Tube (subway) station, more or less in the position it formerly occupied against the wall of St Swithin’s church, until that was demolished in the 1960s. Up until 1742, however, it was located on what was then the south side of Cannon Street in a position that would now be in the middle of the modern roadway, as it was subsequently widened. No one really knows the origins of the stone. (more…)
Geomantic feature of the ancient Tower of London, Secret face of Britain’s Capital City August 22, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Destination, France, Hotels, Ireland, London, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails , 3commentsMost people today think of the Tower as the sinister place built by William the Conqueror where prisoners were kept and tortured, and where illustrious heads rolled, including those of Sir Thomas More, Sir Walter Raleigh, Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey. Over the centuries, in addition to being such a notorious place of confinement, the Tower has served as a garrison, a palace, a zoo, a mint and an observatory. The Tower continues to house the Crown Jewels and other royal regalia, but this important spot in London’s geography goes back much further, and is referred to in the medieval Welsh texts known collectively as The Mabinogion, which record themes much older. To the Celtic Britons, the site on which the Tower stands was Bryn Gwyn, the White Mount, ‘White‘ meaning holy. The White Tower, the central keep of the site and the original part of the structure to be built, recalls this appellation. (more…)
Avebury Village & Related Megalithic Sites: Remarkable Monument, Ceremonial Landscape part 2 August 12, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Destination, Europe, London, Memorial, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Travelling Bag, United Kingdom , 2commentsThe whole was covered with soil, each step of the chalk cone being filled and smoothed into the overall profile of the hill except the top one, which was left as a terrace or ledge running about 17 feet (5m) below the flat summit. Today this terrace is clearly visible on the eastern side of the mound, although the western part of the circuit is less distinct. Whether this was deliberate, or due to erosion by the prevailing southwest winds, is unclear. But the segment of the hill between terrace and summit is significant, as we shall see. (more…)
France World Heritage Chartres Cathedral part 2 August 11, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, Jerusalem, London, Middle East, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsCharpentier felt that was a link between the Ark and Chartres forged by the mysterious Order of the Knights Templar. He questioned the immediacy with which Gothic architecture appeared, particularly Chartres, and how it was concurrent with the Romanesque style, not deriving from it. How could it spring up so readily? There must have been a school from which the master builders emerged, Charpentier reasoned. (more…)
Not Memsahib July 14, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Airlines, Beach Resorts, Cars, Destination, Europe, Flight Schedule, Hotels, India, Lodges, London, Motel, Museum, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Rail Pass, Restaurant, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Trip , 3commentsEvery time I heard the word memsahib I wanted to take an ice-pick to the user. I’d gone on the Hindu trail clutching my libertarianism to my bosom, a cosy cocoon from which I could rationalise and contain the INDIAshrieks from the inferno — not that Dante, I’m sure, ever went to Calcutta. Very right-on. Very arm’s-length. But keep your liberal sensibilities Gandhi-pure? Emerge unscathed? Forget it.
Sympathy, empathy, had long since given way to simmering hysteria, cringing shame and a seething, at times uncontrollable rage which was generalised in its target but oh so localised in its pain. It wasn’t even a consolingly righteous anger at the pulverising poverty, the callousness of caste or the stalinisation of women — more a deep-seated disgust and hatred welling up from deep down and spewing out over all humanity, most of all myself . . . Well, OK, you try and make sense of the matchstick people of Madhya Pradesh, the execrable excrement of Bombay and Dehli, the obscene opulence of Jaipur jewellers, the blinding, vivid hues of Rajasthani women’s skirts — and all of it sinking in one great ubiquitous quicksand of suffocating, strangulating bureaucracy. (more…)
Getting High in the Yemen Question: how can you see London, Paris and New York simultaneously while sitting in a Remote Corner of the Arabian Peninsula? July 9, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Africa, Air Tickets, Beach Resorts, Cars, Europe, Hostels, Hotels, Lodges, London, Museum, Oceanarium, Round The World, Tour, USA , 3commentsAnswer: adopt the national pastime of North Yemen and devote the entire afternoon to chewing the narcotic qat leaf. Our host, his eyes dreamy and his cheeks bulging with the drug, rocks with laughter at his own joke.
We had landed that morning to find ourselves catapulted into a medieval Manhatten, a confusing world of centuries-old mud skyscrapers and lavish exteriors that make a mockery of the Middle Eastern practice of living behind blank facades. Resting in a secluded courtyard we watch a veiled face peer out from behind a half-opened shutter high up on a crumbling wall. A basket lowers itself to the ground from a distant rooftop. A train of three camels, loaded down with bundles of qat, squeezes through a tiny alleyway and lurches past the massive studded door of a mosque. (more…)
Hindu Trail Clutching my Libertarianism to my Bosom, Not Memsahib July 9, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, India, London, Rail Pass, Sightseeing, Tickets, Tour, Trails, Travelling Bag, Trip , 3commentsEvery time I heard the word memsahib I wanted to take an ice-pick to the user. I’d gone on the Hindu trail clutching my libertarianism to my bosom, a cosy cocoon from which I could rationalise and contain the shrieks from the inferno — not that Dante, I’m sure, ever went to Calcutta. Very right-on. Very arm’s-length. But keep your liberal sensibilities Gandhi-pure? Emerge unscathed? Forget it.
Sympathy, empathy, had long since given way to simmering hysteria, cringing shame and a seething, at times uncontrollable rage which was generalised in its target but oh so localised in its pain. It wasn’t even a consolingly righteous anger at the pulverising poverty, the callousness of caste or the stalinisation of women — more a deep-seated disgust and hatred welling up from deep down and spewing out over all humanity, most of all myself . . . Well, OK, you try and make sense of the matchstick people of Madhya Pradesh, the execrable excrement of Bombay and Dehli, the obscene opulence of Jaipur jewellers, the blinding, vivid hues of Rajasthani women’s skirts — and all of it sinking in one great ubiquitous quicksand of suffocating, strangulating bureaucracy. (more…)
Climbing, Riding, Sightseeing Midnight on Mont Blanc continue… July 2, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, Cars, Europe, Germany, Greece, Hostels, London, Memorial, Mexico, Motel, New York, Travel Insurance, Travelling Bag, USA , 3commentsBernie pulled on the rope and cursed me for stopping; I plodded on. My feet hurt.
Four days later, the train heaved its way out of the valley towards the end of the Bionnassay Glacier. Through the glass I stared at the pine trees and the brilliant meadow flowers. The carriage filled with the perfume of tourists, up for the day, and the sweat of climbers, rucksacks balanced on their knees, all heading for the Blanc. When the track wound alongside a cliff the small girl sitting opposite looked out in disbelief as the trees gave way to nothing. She pulled her eyes away in fear and looked around the train — the view there was worse, rucksacks, hairy knees, ice-axes, unshaven climbers lost in contemplation of the weather.
We arrived at the top station and the train disgorged. Tourists wandered slowly across to the cafe or to the viewing platform from which they could look up at the great bleak sweep of the mountain opposite. Down the valley the world became more sane, as the stone desert below the glacier gave way to meadows and woodland. (more…)
Holiday Break, Adventure Boating Hidden Rivers part 2 June 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Europe, Flight Schedule, London, Scotland , 5commentsBut this weekend is for costume cutting and we are all girls; pinning, measuring and sewing, lashed on by our two teachers. There is so little time and so much to learn. There are twelve of us from all parts of the country — I came down by bus from Scotland. Only the thirst for knowledge will ever force me to travel that way again, but it’s the cheapest when you’re unemployed. There’s another girl there as skint as I am, Izzie from Oxford. She’s wearing a leather mini-skirt which unzips entirely into shreds and is quite obviously pilfered from some bygone production.
Izzie’s made a special corset for one of our teachers and laces her into it at the end of the day. The peristalsis of sprung steel and canvas half swallows her down and displays a heroine of the belle époque; tiny waist and huge trembling bosom. Shrieks! — Is there a man looking in from across the road? (more…)
Holiday Break, Adventure Boating Hidden Rivers part 1 June 30, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Beach Resorts, London, Motel, Museum, Oceanarium , 4commentsAs I climbed up out of the station the street stretched away uphill, shining under the lights like an old trouser seat. There were houses everywhere and scraggy trees, but I couldn’t see a pub anywhere. Thin drizzle peppered the thirsty pavements and I realised this was a hopeful start; I’d found a real, if repellent, suburb in an elusive city. I was standing in Salusbury Road, in Queen’s Park, in London.
Some of the shadowy nature of London is that one feels it ought to be well known. Anyone who can read can know London; from Dick Whittington to witty Dickens and beyond, every view is veiled with reference. (more…)
Travel, Hiking, Sightseeing; one day holiday away along the Golden Road June 29, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Asia, Hotels, Kazakhstan, London, Memorial, Scotland , add a commentIt was only on the way to Samarkand, the real pearl of ancient Central Asia (now the pearl of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Uzbekistan). But the memories of that day in little Bukhara are more vivid, more persistent, and looking back I think I understand why, through the centuries, merchants and pilgrims and assorted adventurers, guided by nothing but the stars, were prepared to brave the Red Sand Desert, the Celestial Mountains, the look-outs on the Tower of Death and very likely the Black Pit of vipers and vermin for a look at the fabulous, forbidden town.
They say that only two Christians defiled Bukhara with their infidel gaze in the 400 years before 1840. That was the year Captain Connolly of the Bengal Light Cavalry crawled out of the pit with his flesh in tatters, to have his head cut off in the ceremonial courtyard for his pains. (more…)
My Perugia Travel Diary June 19, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Accommodation, Air Tickets, China, Egypt, Flight Schedule, Hotels, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, London, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Round The World, Singapore, South Korea, The Nile, Victoria Falls , add a commentThe Brufani Hotel brings back memories of dinners with the Buitoni (pasta) and the Perugina (chocolate) tycoons, not here but in their homes. To judge by the absence of any renovation in the Brufani in the intervening third of a century, we assume that hotels in the smaller Umbrian towns are also not likely to have been upgraded since Smollett and Hazlitt griped about them.
The huge basilica of Santa Maria degli Angeli in the Tiber valley below Assisi was built to enclose the tiny church of the Porziuncola, whose walls are traditionally reputed to contain a stone from the tomb of the Virgin. Saint Francis died here in 1226, after, but not as a result of, throwing himself naked into the rose garden outside his small cell. His blood is supposed to have left a perpetual scarlet stain, but the roses bloom every spring, and the thorns have disappeared (miraculously). (more…)
Pleasant hollow QUELUZ continue… June 15, 2008
Posted by dodo in : Aquarium, Art Gallery, Coliseum, Dolphinarium, Gymnasium, Library, Lisbon, London, Museum, Oceanarium, Planetarium, Portugal, Restaurant, USA , add a commentThe interior of the palace (which was partially destroyed by fire in 1934 but felicitously restored) is entered from the cour d’honneur. The cheerful lightness of first room, a corridor known as the Sala das Mangas, derives from its wall-to-ceiling revetment in blue and yellow azulejos, the characteristic Portuguese decorative tiles. A key position in the palace is occupied by the ceremonial reception room, the Hall of the Ambassadors. This room is also called the Hall of Mirrors, for most of the wall space not occupied by the window embrasures is filled with mirrors in gilt Rococo frames. The coved ceiling is decorated with a large painting, in which members of the royal family are depicted behind a balustrade as if watching one of the evening concerts for which Queluz was famous. (more…)
