Kapellbrücke (Chapel) Bridge, Lucerne

After the memorable time we spent on Mount Titlis in the morning of 19th April, we had the rest of the day for leisurely stroll through the city of Lucerne and then a drive around the city. One of the spots worth photographing and visiting was the Kapellbrücke (Chapel) Bridge over river Reuss. It is the oldest wooden bridge of Europe (1333) which makes Switzerland so rightfully proud of it.



As you approach it you can’t miss the octagonal tower just by the side of the bridge, standing tall and mighty. It was used as prison tower and torture chamber once and used to probably echo with shrieks and screams of the prisoners then. That day, when we were there, it was so peacefully silent.



The bridge is unique, it is wooden and as I walked over it I felt I heard creaking noises under my feet. My visual senses were engrossed in observing the paintings in the triangular panels above. To appreciate them one has to have good knowledge of the history of Switzerland, but a mention of date here and some notes there gave a rough idea of what was being depicted. What amazed me most was the clarity of these 17th century paintings. I had a stiff neck by the time I covered the entire 200m stretch, looking up at those 120 marvelous paintings.



A fire in 1993 had damaged the bridge, and many paintings were lost. The bridge was reconstructed and a note there mentioned that the lost paintings were replaced in 2003. I haven’t seen a more interesting bridge before. Have you?

Cassowary

Imagine yourself face to face with a strange unique bird like this, a Cassowary as you are taking your nature walk in a jungle. I would have fled the place. My palpitations increased as I saw a Cassowary even though it was at safe distance, within a strong enclosure in Jurong Bird Park, Singapore. The sharp curious look it had for me is clearly etched in mind. It looked at me this way, then that way. I could sense a feeling of inquisitiveness it had for my long black nose, my zoom lens. At one point of time, it turned away its face from me.



Its horny helmet, called a casque, on its head was most fascinating. I wanted to capture its form and shape. Stalking it was impossible and all I could do then was wait patiently to get that in frame. This helmet helps the cassowary crash its way through the thick growths of the jungle and get away from its enemies. Its two long red wattles hanging down from its neck looked interesting and made it look attractive.



According to the Guinness Book of Records, the Cassowaries are the world’s most dangerous birds, capable of dealing fatal blows. I am sure the bird keepers of Jurong Bird Park must be having tough time looking after these birds.

Snow Topped Mount Titlis

Some more shots taken atop Mount Titlis. The scene of the town below not very clear but it looked beautiful.



There was slight snowing, people were disappearing fast, and feet were sinking in to thick layers of soft snow, first timers there tasted the snowflakes (you can include in that list.).



Sun, it seemed like was playing hide and seek with clouds and it suited us fine.



See more at: Thursday Challenge: SOFT

Mount Titlis, Switzerland

Why did we halt at Lucerne?
WE WERE GOING TO TITLIS – Mount Titlis in the Swiss Alps. And how excited we were then!

The journey from the base of the mountain to the top was an adventure by itself. We first traveled by a small cable car, the first 1800m. All of us, the other tourists and us were excited. Some had come to ski and were armed with all their equipments. The first timers there had huge expectations and childlike wonder written all over their face. Next part of the travel was in another cable car, a slightly bigger one than the previous one.



Finally the last leg of the upward travel, it was in the first revolving cable car in the world. There, inside the car we saw a welcome message in our National Language – Hindi. It read ‘Welcome to the world’s first revolving aerial cable car'. To see something like that in a distant foreign country was pleasant surprise and touching. The uniqueness of the cable car was that the floor of the car revolves. Thus standing in one spot one gets the full 360degree view of the area below as one goes up.



I had never experienced snow before, never seen it or touched it. So the sight there on top was exhilarating. The temperature, the whiteness all over and the soft powdery yet crystal like feeling in my fingers completely won me over. Add to that, the cut outs of Bollywood actors. It was My World that day and I was completely enjoying it.

Facts:The Titlis (3,238 m) is a mountain in the Urner Alps of Switzerland. It is located on the border between the cantons of Obwalden and Berne in Switzerland.
The first ascent of the Titlis was probably made in the year 1739. It was done by Ignaz Herz, J. E. Waser and two other men from Engelberg.

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World's Best Father in Animal World - Seahorse

Tomorrow is Father’s day and this post is dedicated to the best father of the animal world. Of the many nominations like Red Fox, Primates, Barking Frogs, Phalarope a kind of sandpiper bird, Giant Water Bugs, the winner is Seahorse.


Seahorse is the best mimicking mom in animal world. It is reputed to get pregnant by the female seahorse which lays 1000 eggs in to the male’s sac. The male seahorse then fertilizes them, incubates them till they hatch and spring off and latch on to nearby grasses. The male seahorse is known to eat few of its offspring too sometimes; negative characters exist in every species.


When I saw a couple of them in the Underwater world in Singapore, I was excited. Photographing them was not an easy job, they were always in a move and in dim light the captures were not very sharp. It was interesting watching them curl their tails around the leaves, their movement in an up and down zigzag manner. I got to see its exotic cousin, the Leafy Seahorse.


In the recent years it has found itself to be in the endangered animals list, as it is used widely in Chinese herbology and as a cure by many ethnic tribes. They look so beautiful and graceful; I fail to understand how anyone can have the heart to kill them.

Sights on Road

Driving through the roads of Italy we came across some interesting sights. I mean not the ones on either side of the roads but the ones on the road. All kinds of vehicle were driving by at great speed. We rarely took the leftmost lane; we were never in a hurry. So that gave me enough opportunity to spot the interesting sights, trail them and take a couple or more shots. This post is one on cars.


Cars we have seen, even the single ones being carried on a truck, very common in India too. When I started spotting trucks with more number of cars I started to think about them as interesting blogpost pictures. Four cars all stacked in a line neatly, the last one sloping downwards a bit.


Arunabha knew what was working in mind and took a bit closer each time I pointed such a truck and I used to get into my clicking spree. Here is one more with eight cars. Not always the cars were new. Some of the trucks carried badly damaged and smashed cars. Traffic here in Bangalore is chaotic, and it is not often that we travel on highways here. So sights like these were definitely something for me to shoot and freeze.


This is my entry for Thursday Challenge Photo Theme which is "METALLIC" (Metal, Shiny, Mirror, Clothes, Cars, Jewelry,...). To view what others have for today, click here.

Castlegrande, Bellinzona

Another fairy tale castle, this one was in Bellinzona, Switzerland; 324kms from Verona, 246kms from Lake Garda. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the city is believed to have been inhabited since the neolithic times; today it is famous for three grand castles.



We were at the Castelgrande, the other two that we missed are Montebello and Sasso Corbaro. There are two ways one can approach the Castelgrande, one hiking through the narrow streets from the city center through the city wall onto the castle grounds, the other taking an elevator from the foot of the rock to the castle grounds. Of course we took the easier route.



The castle has been built and rebuilt several times over from first century BC. The present structure is on the foundations of a Roman fort, though no part of the foundation is visible. It dates back to 13th and 14th centuries and some parts of the old walls from that age are still visible. Today the interior of the castle houses an archeological museum.



We spent much of the time viewing the scenic sights around. Parts of the other two castles were visible from here. We walked along the castle wall, the lush green pathway was a very pleasing sight, and underneath this pathway is a dark tunnel. We did take a peek inside the dark tunnel, not very tempting enough to take the long walk through it.

After this very satisfying and refreshing halt, we continued our journey.

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Fauna at Sirmione Peninsula

It was nesting time for the birds in Italy when we were there in April 2010. Sometime back I blogged on a nesting seagull. In this post I share with you pictures of a nesting White Billed American Coot. This beautiful Coot had built her nest on a floating wooden plank in the moat of the Rocca Scalgera Castel, at Sirmione Peninsula. She was sitting still, warming her eggs totally unmindful of the tourists showering attention on it. She knew she was safe at that distance, and her nest full of eggs safe from all mammalian predators.



There were other ducks too swimming and feeding on the carp there.


And one was really bad mannered.

Sirmione Peninsula, Lake Garda

18th of April, 2010, leaving beautiful Verona behind we drove westwards, the next destination Lucerne, Switzerland. We halted at Lake Garda en route, the largest Lake of Italy. And what a charming sight we got to see there! We headed towards the Sirimone Peninsula, the Rocca Scalgera Castel at the base of the peninsula was a sight to behold. Standing tall, strong and mighty, the castle of 13th century looked so inviting. We were soon inside exploring the interiors, the towers, walking along the high walls devouring the scenic beauty of the lake from the Castle towers.



The northern tip of the peninsula in the pic below, the Roman poet Catullus(84BC) lived here. The ruins of the Grotte di Catullo, his villa, lie among the olive trees here. How I wished then to have enough time to take a walk along the lakeside, along the shores of the peninsula!



The castle had a very complex defense system. The moat around looked strong, today it is home to carp. The main tower was used for attacking the enemies trapped below. The inner harbor was a safe anchoring space during storms. The drawbridge linking the castle to the mainland was the escape route for the inhabitants.


The Scaligeri rulers fought amongst themselves for riches and power, but they did provide peace and prosperity to the region and fended off attacks by the Visconti family who ruled the neighboring Lombardy. My knowledge of Italian history was getting better.

Verona, Italy

I did not have enough of Verona, but then Verona was chosen for night halt. The plan was to leave for Lucerne the next morning, so I couldn't ask for more.

Driving from Venice to Verona took us slightly more than four hours. It shouldn't have taken that long, but getting accustomed to the left hand driving, sign boards, GPS instructions and distracting scenic sights(for which we stopped often), delayed us considerably. It was past two when we finally reached Verona. We saw Castlevecchio and the Arena, we lingered at these places longer than we had actually planned. It was impossible to move out fast, both had magnetic mesmerizing atmosphere.

Castel San Pietro

River Adige through the city. View of multiple roof tops and church steeples.

The final moment of the day was approaching fast. We were then advised by the receptionist of our hotel to head to Castle San Pietro. "It will be closed, but the panoramic view of the town of Verona will compensate for not visiting the individual sites." And he was so right, the view we got of the town from there was extremely good. The sky was cloudy, it could rain any moment, but it didn't that day, the weather so pleasant, what more could we ask for!

The many bridges that connect the old and the new Verona.

The city has been awarded world heritage site status by UNESCO because of its urban structure and architecture. This is the city of the most famous lovers in history: Romeo and Juliet.

UNESCO World Heritage Site

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