OFF TO INDIA FOR A TRAIN RIDE

 

 

 

 In about 2 weeks we will be off to India for a photo expedition. We will be traveling with National Geographic on their India By Rail Photography Expedition. 



 

 

On this trip we will visit several UNESCO sites for photo shoots. We will also visit several marble palaces and several markets. 

One thing I am looking forward to is searching for tigers in Ranthambhore National Park, as well as some rare birds and other wildlife at Keoladeo National Park.

As this is a photo journey, I will be traveling with two camera bodies and at this time carrying just two lenses ( a 100-500mm and a 24-240mm). I might change these choices and add a wide angle lens, will take a monopod just in case and it can double as a hiking pole.  Yes, we will also have our iPhones with us as a camera. 

My goals for the shots I want are the classic temple images and monument views, detailed tile work shots, daily life/ street shots. I want to capture the hustle and bustle of the markets. 

We will be arriving three days early to adjust to the time change. This also gives us some time to explore a bit on our own. 

I also hope to get in a hot air balloon flight, will have to see if we can make that happen. 

 

Our accommodations will be rather upscale for us. We will be traveling by rail on the Palace on Wheels. The Palace on Wheels train provides a unique luxury travel experience in India. It began operating in 1982, a joint effort by Indian Railways and Rajasthan Tourism. This special train was designed to bring back the feeling of royal train journeys. In the past, only Indian kings and British officials travelled like this. Passengers can now enjoy a similar luxurious journey through India’s history. The train often travels through the beautiful state of Rajasthan.

In 2024, the Palace on Wheels received a big award. Condé Nast Traveler readers voted it the World’s Best Luxury Train.

This will be an interesting experience for us. 

As we look forward to this journey we also look forward to sharing it with you. 





A SNOOPY TRAIL DAY:

 A SNOOPY TRAIL DAY:

We started the day by taking the District Line to our favorite cafe. Yes, we returned to the River Cafe, where the food is very good and the hospitality is great. Lynn had her eggs on toast and fresh squeezed orange juice, I had a black coffee and a bacon roll.

 

 

 

After breakfast we took the District Line to the Central Line to the St Paul Station. 

 

                                            IYKYK 

 



Todays plan is to find the 12 Snoopy in the City sculptures. 

A specially curated trail of beautifully-designed Snoopy sculptures has been hidden around the Fleet Street Quarter for the festive season. 

The sculptures celebrate the  75 years of Charles M Schulz’s Peanuts comic strip, twelve sculptures, featuring Snoopy perched on his iconic red doghouse, have been transformed by artists into beautiful and playful works of art.

Maps are available on line as well as many local businesses on Fleet Street have maps available. Most of the statues are pretty easy to find and some are hidden off the beaten track. Along the route you will meet a good number of folks following the trail. Just follow the people with maps in hand.

 

The length of the trail is 4.8 miles long, but not to worry there are several pubs along the way should one need a break. 

Our original plan was to start with number one following the numerical sequence. 

After we found #1 and #2 we felt it would be better to reverse our plan. 

After we had located 11 of the statues we took a break at Ye Old Cheshire Cheese.

 

 

 

This is the first every public drinking fountain 

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Probably the most famous pub in the world, Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is one of London’s few remaining 17th Century chophouses. The sawdust on the floor is changed twice daily, It is a pub and eating house offering unpretentious fare in wooden bays provided by high-backed church pews.  The site formed part of the 13th century Carmelite monastery and since 1538 a pub has stood here.

 

 

 
Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese is an historic gem of a pub on Fleet Street, on the edge of the City of London.  The pub was rebuilt in 1667 after the original one was burnt down by the Great Fire of London.  Over the past 355 years Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese  has been frequented by numerous prominent literary figures: Dr Samuel Johnson, Mark Twain, W.B. Yeats and Charles Dickens, who even featured it in his novel A Tale of Two Cities. Other prominent figures who were customers: Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Voltaire and Winston Churchill.

After our break we found our 12th sculpture and returned to our hotel. 

Tonight we pack up for our trip home tomorrow. This was a a fun trip for us as we learned many new things and revisited a few previously visited locations. 

WESTMINSTER ABBY ON A RAINY WINDY DAY:

WESTMINSTER ABBY ON A RAINY WINDY DAY:

 

 

Best laid plans thwarted by sleep. We went to bed with thoughts of going to the River Cafe In mind. Alas we woke late and headed straight to Westminster Abbey for our London Walks. 

Years back we discovered London Walks and have gone on many of their walks. These are lead by Blue Badge Guides who do a wonderful job of interpretation of the various themed walks. If in London and you want a informative tour I can highly recommend London Walks. Here is a link to their web page - https://www.walks.com/. You brain will be filled with so much information. 

 

 

We met our guide Mary at the appointed time and location. Then we were off learn so much about Westminster Abbey. 

As well as being a place of worship, Westminster Abbey has become a treasure house of artifacts. This is also where some of the most significant people in Britain's history are buried or commemorated.

Forty monarchs have been crowned in the Abbey since 1066. 

 

 

At the west end of the Nave of Westminster Abbey is the grave of the Unknown Warrior, whose body was brought from France to be buried here on 11th November 1920.

 

 
The grave, which contains soil from France, is covered by a slab of black Belgian marble from a quarry near Namur.
At the eastern end of the Lady Chapel is the Royal Air Force chapel dedicated to the men who died in the Battle of Britain in 1940. This is the only grave in Westminster Abby one can not walk upon. 

A memorial to the Polar explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton is in the south cloister of the Abbey.

 

 

For me, the great writings of many come to life at Poets Corner. Here  is a place of pilgrimage for literature lovers. More than 100 poets and writers are buried or have memorials here.

 

"When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford"

 

Then there the  scientists, mathematician and astronomer Sir Isaac Newton was buried in Westminster Abbey on 28th March 1727. His monument, by J.M. Rysbrack and W. Kent, is in the nave.

 

 

Close by is the location where Professor Stephen Hawking ashes are interred in the Abbey. 

The list can and could go on. It had been few years since have visited Westminster Abbey and I am glad we returned. 

 

 

The weather was still cold and windy and a tad wet, so we returned to Tower Hill.

 

 

Daily we have passed a vendor selling roasted peanuts and almonds. Enough I said and we got a mix of peanuts and almonds. We had our trusty ziplock bags and dumped a cup full of each into the bag. The vendor then added a couple extra scoops to our bag. 

 

 

Then off to St Katherine’s Dock to the Dickens Inn for a late lunch. We split their fish and chips which was plenty for us.  

The Dickens Inn began life as a warehouse upon the Thames, standing proud near Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, and what is now The Shard.

 
Believed to date back to the early 1700s, it was once thought to be a tea factory or even for brewing local ales.

 
Back to the hotel to chill and get this blog entry published.