Animal Encounter - 7

Squirrels belong to a large family of small or medium sized rodents. I visited the Arboretum garden in Nottingham, UK, just before leaving UK for good. And I hastly managed to get a video of squirrel in the garden where nature and wildlife is preserved. Since I had a wierd thought in mind that I will not be able to spot squirrels in Mumbais dense concrete forest. However, my notion about squirrels was wrong. During pregnancy I was on bedrest and was able to study squirrels behaviour from Goregaons flat in Mumbai. There was a squirrel residing on the Coconut tree in the courtyard of Ganesh Nagar, Goregaon, Mumbai. This squirrel collected coconut flower tentacles to build its nest. Due to my delicate condition, I was not able to film this animal encounter.

Chatsworth House Cafeteria

On the left handside of the Chatsworth house is a cafeteria which used to be stable for the animals of the house. There still exists some horses in this part of the the House.

In mordern days this place is used by some shops to sell some goodies, food items and cafeteria.

In olden times, it was used as stable to park the horses and carts of house.

There still exists a fountain in midst of this stable which was source of drinking water for the horses parked in the stable.

Chatswoth House

Chatsworth House is a huge countryside house at Chatsworth, Derbyshire. It is must see tourist attraction for all the Jane Austin Fans while visiting Peak District in UK. This is the place where Mr Darcy and Elizabeth send their summer vacation together in the Film 'Pride and Prejudice'. Same house was used in the movie 'The Dutchess'.

The house is surrounded by huge garden famously known as Chatsworth Garden and the famous Cascade fountain. One should plan a full day trip to visit the Chattsworth house and the garden. The garden closes one hour for the visitors and later does the Chatsworth House. So ideally one should first visit the Garden and then enter the House. Like all other famous houses, there are few rooms of the Chatsworth House which are available for visitors.

Near the Exit of the Chatsworth House, there is an exibition which hosts some charaters of the movie Pride and Prejudice.

Animal Encouter - 6

Patiance pays and thats truely said while filming wildlife. After few trials, I was able to capture the flight of sea eagle at the Cardiff Bay, Wales, UK.
While walking along the Cardiff Bay's Barrage, we were able to see a lot of sea birds. Sea Eagle being one of them. I tried to capture the flight of the Sea Eagle, thinking its an easy task. Everytime the bird used to fly when my camera memory stick was exhauseted. After a few trials, I was able to predict when the Sea Eagle is going to take its next flight.
Video of Sea Eagle's Flight

Victoria Square, Birmingham

The Victoria Square Birmingham is one of the most lively place in the Birmingham City center along with the Bull Ring Shopping center. It hosts the fountain with the bronze ladys statue in it, Town hall and the Birmingham library. The Victoria square also host a lot of other local events in summer. If the place is not occupied by the council events then it is rented by some private companies to host their promotional offers. Overall the Victoria square is one of the happening places to be in the Birmingham city center.

Matlock Boat Race

On our way back to Nottingham from Peak District, we visited Matlock to view the annual Boat race event hosted there in Christmas Vacation. The event comprised a surprise element and not just Boat Race in the local river stream. All boats were decorated with some theme and the rowers were wearing a costume to match the boats theme. To add up to the excitement the spectators throw small plastic bags filled up with flour on the boat and the rowers. The rowers have to dodge these plastic bags and try to finish the race. Some participants try to catch these plastic bags and throw them back on the spectators. The whole idea is to create some source of entertainment for the local village people in winter time.
Video of Matlock Boat Race

On the Way - 3

Any new visitor or tourist to Europe is facinated by the high speed train and luxurious interior the train has to offer them. I joined Axon, UK in Nov 2006 and started commuting on weekends, for while by EastMidlands train from Nottingham to London. Eventually the luxury became necessity and I lost charm for that high speed train travel.

When we entered the train from Nottingham to York both of us were all excited. We took some snaps in train comparment like various Indian Tourist do. That is quiet natural for someone to do. And had nice time viewing the country side from the train.

Barrage Gates, Cardiff Bay

During my visit to Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, UK, I had an opportunity to view the operation of the barrage gates. For those who are unaware of the meaning of barrage, - the Barrage is usually a dam placed in a water course to increase the depth of the water. It was evening time and the fishermen were returning back to home after their days work. The boats were returning back to shallow side of the Cardiff Bays Barrage. Barrage Gates and hence the flow of the water on either side of the Cardiff Bay are controlled by the three huge metal levers as show in the picture.
Click here to watch the Video of Cardiff Barrage Gates


Walls Built in front of the Barrage Gates to control the flow of Water.

London Waterloo

The London Waterloo Terminal is hub for all trains travelling towards South of UK. One can get arial view of the London Waterloo station from the London Eye Ride. Most of the SouthWest trains start and end their service at this terminal. It was also getway for the Euro Star train from UK to Main land Europe. However now the Euro Star services start and terminate from the London St Pancaras Station. There are few London Underground servies such as Waterloo City Line, Bakerloo and Northern Line etc connecting the Waterloo Station to other parts of central London.

Boarding Southwest Train At London Waterloo Station.

Windsor Castle

Windsor Castle in Surrey, UK is located in south west of London. It is a thousand year old fortress which is converted into Royal Palace. Some parts of the castle are accessible for the tourist visitors. The remaining part is Residence of the British Monarch. The Queen spends many of her summer weekends at this Palace.
How to reach Windsor Castle : One can drive to Windsor or take Southwest train to Windsor and Eaton RiverSide from Waterloo. For those who are located near Heathrow, can come to Feltham and catch the same train to the destination. On reaching the final destination of the train, one has to walk outside the station following the signs to the castle.
Entrance Fee : The Castle visitors are bound to pay an entry fee at the entrance. There is concession for senior citizens and kids. All visitors are provided with audio guide which provides them with historic details of each landmark in the castle.
Galleries and State Appartments : Some of the galleries and state appartments are made open for tourist visitors. These display expensive valuables of the British Monarch and hence photography is not allowed inside them.
However the tourist can take snaps in the outskirts of the Castle.
At 11 o clock, the soldiers march in the courtyard of the castle. So if one has missed the Change of Gaurds at the Buckingham palace then this is one good opportunity.

Birmingham Bull Ring

Birmingham Bull Ring Arena's name is derived Bulls statue hosted in midst of the Shopping malls. To visitors surprise, the shops in the Bull Ring Mall are open till 7:30 pm in the evening. As compared to the other Malls in UK.

The Bull statue immitates the Bull at NewYork Stock exchange. The Bulls statue is major tourist attraction. Apart from the statue, the shopping center hosts loads of shops where shopping freaks can send lot of time. The Bull Ring Mall also hosts food court at the Basement where one can enjoy variety of savouries from different countries. Overall its nice place to hang out.

Nemesis Ride

The Nemesis Ride at Alton Tower is one of the best thrill ride I have enjoyed by now. Visit to Alton Tower in UK is incomplete without experiencing this ride. One will always find huge queues around this ride. So would recomend you to make use of the fast pass if any. We dared tp sit on the first seat of the ride to double the fun of ride.

London sightseeing itinerary

One can manage London sight seeing in a day with following list of attractions. Most of these attractions lie in London Tube's Transport zone one. So advise buying London TFLs Zone one Day Pass.

1. Trafalgar Square
2. London Eye
3. City of West Minster and Big Benn
4. Change of Gaurds at Buckingham Palace
5. Tower of London
6. Tower of London Bridge
7. Madam Tussands
8. Harrods Departmental Store
9. Mohamed Alfayed Statue at Harrods
10. Dodi and Princes Diana Memorial
11. London St Pancras

Miscellaneous:

1. Neasden Temple
2. Thames River Cruise
3. Walk along the River Thames
4. Trafalgar Square National Gallery
   

Alton Tower

We planned a visit to Alton Towers Theme Park on Long Weekend in Summer. Alton Towers is perfect Theme Park locations for someone located in Midlands, UK. After visiting Universal Studio and Disney Land in LA, we had not seen been to Amusement Park for long time. It was day trip and we had lot of fun in the rides.
The best and unique feature of the park is that it is located in the wild nature of the Derbyshire. The park authorities and planner have made and effort to maintain the natural beauty surrounding it. If you do not have car then there are special transport facilities available from various places in Midlands to reach the park.





However, I came across some deals and concessions on internet. One could save 75% on the entrance fees by ordering the tickets online on Tesco club card points. Tesco Club card offers Alton tower tickets at 1/4th the price. However you need to plan the trip atleast one month in advance as the Tesco clubcard sends the tickets along with your next vouchers.





If you carefully search on internet fourums, you might get some 2 for 1 vouchers for Alton Towers. So did I got one. :D

Norwich

We got an opportunity to explore the Norwich, East coast of UK on one fine summer long weekend. The Itenary of our Norwich Trip is as follows

1. Last minute Car deal to reach Burnham Deepdale
2. Deepdale Farm and shops near it.
3. Lunch after long drive from Nottingham to Deepdale Farm
4. Brancaster Staithe Sea side walk
5. Brancaster Staithe Sea Shore Wildlife
6. Evening Barbeque
7. Lunch at Fairhavens Gardens
8. Broads at Norwich
9. Drive through Country side
10. Cromer

Animal Encounter - 2

On my trip to Cardiff, we had chance to walk along the Cardiff Bay. There were many birds flocking around the Bay inlcuding Swans, Sea gulls, Kingfishers and some other birds.
I tried to capture some moments of sea birds swiming, fishing and flying around the Bay using my camera. One of the intresting videos is of a sea bird eating fish at the sea shore of the Cardiff Bay.

Car Fax Tower

The Car Fax tower lies in the City Center of the Oxford City. The tower is a odd man out between the college and museum studded tourist attraction city. It is right at the corner of the junction of 2 main streets. One can never miss this attraction.

Entry to the tower is allowed at mere entrance fee of 2 GBP. The tower has a clock above the entrance and is quiet facinating. The difficult part was that it also had 99 steps to climb. Since we had visited a lot of such monuments in York, UK, we decided to skip visit to the tower.

Animal Encounter - 1

Long Horn Cattle Fight, Sherwood Forest Park near Nottingham, UK was one of the first animal encounter videos, I ever captured. We had visited Sherwood Forest National Park on one fine summer weekend while staying at Nottingham, UK. It is a half an hour drive from Nottingham City center. The National park has reserved area where British Long Horn cattle graze and breeded. They are one of the endangered speices.

UK to India Packers and Movers

We moved our stuff from UK to India using Simpsons Removal and Storage Ltd.Check out the to do list for moving from one place to another

1. 4 to 6 weeks before Leaving
2. 2 weeks before Leaving
3. One weeks before Leaving
4. One day before Leaving

 The overall quality of the service was very good and I would definitely recommend one to use the same vendor if required. The Simpsons gave us a quote for the stuff we wanted to move on volume basis. My husband Abhi was suppose to leave UK before the packers acutally came to move the stuff. They provided us very good service by sending us all the documentation well in advance. He just had to sign of few papers, provide the inventory list for insurance and give them our contact details.
On day of packing the packers came sharp at 9:30 am in Nottingham, UK. They wrapped all the stuff in boxes. I was all alone in UK, managing the entire move and had no issues with them. We had to forward few of our furniture and Desktop to Kudal (my husbands native place in India). The person packed them in separate boxes and marked them for forwarding. All I was suppose to do is to count the number of boxes and sign on the paper confirming they had collected them. Both the packers finished their task at around 2 pm in afternoon.
Since it was international move Simpsons had offered us one month free storage in UK. We were uncertain about facilities in India so we opted for the storage.
In Mumbai, the later part was handled by Simpsons parnters 'Packways in India'.

On the day you move

• Arrange to be at home when the movers arrive
• Disconnect goods such as:
• freezer
• refrigerator
• washing machine
• tumble dryer
• dishwasher
• Make a final tour of your home after the movers vehicle is loaded but before it leaves to ensure nothing has been overlooked
• IF YOU LIVE IN A RENTED PROPERTY PLEASE REMEMBER TO RETURN YOUR KEYS TO THE RELOCATION AGENT