Koln, Germany

Koln is one of the main cities of Germany, Europe. It is fourth largest city in Germany.

I made a one day trip to Koln from Kamlint Fort, Gemrany.

Few attractions in Koln are

• Koln Cathedral or Dome


• Koln Museum - I skipped the visit of Musueum as i was not intrested in it.


• Koln Chocolate Museum


• Koln Rhine River Ferry Ride - Its good idea in Summer to visit the Koln River Ride along with your near and dear ones. Since I was all alone, I skipped the River Ride.


• Koln Wine Fest

Other then these, I roamed on streets of Koln. Viewed some old historic buildings. And had lunch break sitting on the bank of river Rhine.

Chittorgarh Fort

Chittorgarh Fort is main attraction in the city of Chittor, Rajasthan, India. The major attractions are:

1. Vijay Stambh
2. Kirti Stambh
3. Gaumukh Reservior
4. Rani Padmini Mahal
5. Rana Kumbh Palace
6. Fateh Prakash Palace Museum
7. Several Gates or Pols
8. Temples(Kalikamata temple, Jain Temple, Meera Temple, etc)

The fort is pride of Rajasthan and attracts maximum number of tourists after the City Palace Fort in Udaipur. The Fort hosts loads of Rajput history and is classic example of Rajasthani architechture.

How to reach Chittorghar Fort:

Chittor city is about 2 hrs drive from Udaipur City. We were based in Udaipur and planned day trip to Chittorghar Fort. We booked Cab from Udaipur city which would take us around Chittorghar fort. The Chittorgarh fort lies at the top of Hill. If one reaches Chittor City by local mode of transport like bus or train, then they have to take local vehicle(cab, rickshaw, motor cycle ride) to the top of the hill.

It will take you about day to visit the fort and the major attractions in the fort.

Chittorghar Fort Video

Canal at Ibrahimpur Goa

I had chance to visit the Ibrahimpur, Goa Temple during December 2004 along with my cousin Pallavi. The temple hosts a yearly festival to celebrate Dutta Jayanti (Lord Duttas Birthday celebrations. The festival lasts for 3-4 days. The local villagers have lunch offering at the temple. By chance, we happened to visit the temple on same day. After we finished visiting the temple, one of the locals asked us to visit the canal at the back yard of the temple. What we discovered was simply mesmerizing. Lush green paddy fields henced by coconut trees. These were accompanied by some banana trees plantations along the coast of the paddy fields. It was nature at its best. We had nice time exploring the wild for sometime which was followed by hearty lunch at the temple.

Ravalnath Temple - Ibrahimpur Goa

Visit to Goa or Sawantwadi is incomplete without visiting my family deity Lord Ravalnath temple in Goa. Its located in a small village Ibrahimpur, near Goa and Maharashtra Border. This village is around 1 kilometer away from Dodabetta in Goa. The Lord Ravalnaths temple is accompanied by Goddess Sateri Devis temple. There is a huge banyan tree and primary school next to the temple.

Few years back there was only one bus service from Goa Mapusa to reach the temple.
The Bus used to halt for hour and then start its trip to Mapusa again. Over past few years there has been significant changes in the area surrounded by temple. Some shops have sprouted up which offer you colddrinks and some snacks. There is a bus service every hour from Mapusa to Ibrahimpur now.

Click here to watch video of Ravalnath Temple in Ibrahimpur, Goa.

Pushkar Ghats

Pushkar is famous for Bramha Temple and the Ghats. The Ghats are small lakes near created near the temple in ancient times. These Ghats facilated water for drinking, bathing and other needs of the travellers and devotees who visited the temple. Beware that the water of the Ghats is definitely not potable nowadays. The Ghats also provide place of worship and other Hindu rituals for the Lord Bramha devotees. One could site a lot of people performing some pujas and offering prasad to the good at banks of the Ghats. Before the Puja or ritual is performed the devotee baths in the holy water of Ghat.

Pushkar Temple

During my first visit to Rajasthan, I had opportunity to visit the Pushkar Temple. It is the only Bramha Temple in India. We left for Pushkar early morning from Jaipur. It was around one to one and half hour journey by car. Driving Car and parking it, is not allowed near the vicinity of the temple so one has to park it at distance and walk to the temple.
We prefered keeping the shoes inside the car and walked to the temple bare feet. We baught some prasad(offerings), flowers, etc for God from vendor at footstep of the Temple. After climbing few marble steps on reaches the entrance of the temple. Photography is not allowed inside the temple so unfortunately we had to keep our camera inside the car.

Aurora Temple

I visited the Swaminarayan Temple in Aurora, Chicago with our friends Shital and Ketki on fine Sunday afternoon. We left their home in morning and first visited the Jain Temple in near by area where they had to offer some prayers. Later we went to Aurora Temple. The Aurora Temple is huge cream coloured struture. We frist made Murthy Darshan - thats visit to the God Idols. Afternoon, lunch was done at the basement of the temple. The temple offers Indian vegeterian food in the basement canteen. It was good to eat delicious readymade freshly prepared Indian food for the first time outside home in US.

Leicester Rath Yatra

After deciding to leave UK for good, we invited our friends in Nottingham for Lunch in Indian Restaurant in Leicester. Leicester Rath Yatra happend to be on the same day of our visit and was a pleasant surprise for us. It was good to see one of the Indian festivals being celebrated in UK at such a large scale. This procession was organized by the Hare Rama Hare Krishna, Temple in Leicester. There were 3 or 4 Raths included in the yatra.

Rath Yatra = Lords Carriages Procession.

The carriages holds the idol of the God and there is procession of these God Idols along a the city. The devotees participating in the processoin chant prayers. As tribute to Lord Krishna, some of the devotees were dancing on the Bhajans(prayers) in front of the Raths.

Neasden Temple

I had always heard of the Neasden Temple in London back in India and intented to visit the same one day. I had the seen the temple on TV show, The World This Week by Pranay Roy for the first time in 1990's. The show covered visit of Princes Diana to the temple. After being in UK for almost two years, I never had time to visit London and the temple on weekend. After moving to Kenton, London, I had planned visit to temple several times but it was always post-poned due to bad weather or health. Ultimately, I visited the temple on Sunday, 14th December 2008, in the morning. The weather forecast was predicted to be foggy all day long and was not good day to take nice pictures. Well, I never intented to visit the temple for pictures though. I do strongly belive in God but do not belive in praying and chanting for long hours. So was my visit to the temples a short and sweet one.

Temple is huge structure made of Marble and other precious stones. According to the Posters mounted on the walls inside the temple, it holds Guiness Record for one of the biggest temples outside India. Many other Guiness World Records set by the Swami Narayan Mandir are displayed inside the temple.