Drive from Milan to Turin

The pleasant part of touring Italy was driving; driving among valleys, up and down the mountains, sometimes in the plains and sometimes veering around the lakes. One good road trip we had was from Milan to Turin. We set off on 21st April 2010, south-westwards from Milan. A total distance of 128kms, we covered it in a little more than two hours.



The drive was thankfully incident free and accident free. The weather was good, a boon for any tourist, late April an ideal time to tour Italy. The skies were cloud free, the view of Alps clear, the roads traffic-jam free and our car problem free… what else could we ask for?



Sharing some shots of the drive, hope you will enjoy.

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Interiors of Milan Duomo

As I walked into the Duomo, I felt like I was walking into a different era – a different world in a different era. It was dark inside, artificial lights provided here and there and natural light filtering in through the glass panes. Slowly my eyes got adjusted to the dim lighting and I started to discover the wonders inside.



Huge pillars on either side, it was difficult to decide which of the dimensions were more impressive, the diameter or the height of the pillars. There were 52 of them. The ceiling was so high, ambulatory windows on either side had stained glass. Each glass pane seemed to tell a story. These are something so unique and work in them so rare. If you are ever there check out the fifth in the right hand aisle which is the oldest and dates to 1470-75 and the newest one the seventh one which dates to 1988. The contrast is so beautiful.


And finally, The Holy Nail Of The Cross! In the vault above the choir, a red light marked the location of the niche where a nail from Christ’s cross has been kept. It is believed to be there since 1461. It is shown to the public every 14th September. The Bishop of Milan is raised to the level of the niche to bring down the nail in a kind of decorated balcony, drawn by invisible pulleys. Many people visit in September to take part in the holy ceremony. I was there on April 20th; Sept 14 was a long time away.

410 Bridges in Venice

Lonely Planet mentions: Venice is built on 117 small islands and has some 150 canals and 410 bridges. These bridges are small, yet they are the lifelines of the city. Every wrong turn we took during our walks there, we ended up crossing more cute little bridges, they are called as Ponte. Always we paused, either to see the gondolas going underneath, or take a shot of another bridge from one bridge, or see the Grand Canal at a distance. It never tired us.



Whenever I see these two shots of the boat emerging from underneath one of the bridges I was standing, the same surprise comes flooding back into my mind. The boat barely managed to fit in the narrow canal and yet how smoothly it was cruising. What if another boat appeared from the opposite side at the same time? The ‘what if’ remained as ‘what if’. I never came across such a scene of traffic jam in the narrow canals, at least not the times on those three days I crossed those bridges. Could they be ‘one way’ canals?

410 little bridges, as I read that before departing for Venice, I was finding it hard to visualize one single city with so many bridges. Can it be true? It was true!

See more bridges at Sunday Bridges.

Skywatch from Milan's Rooftop

One of the most memorable things I did while in Milan is spend an hour on the rooftop of Milan Duomo. Surrounded by angels, 3200 in all, the immediate effect it had on me was ‘silencing’. Luckily the weather was good, and I took photographs to my heart’s content. Then I spent some time just sitting there, simply gazing at the angels. Seeing the spires and statues up close was amazing.



Eight Euros per person if you take the lift to the roof top, for children below ten it is free. There are two levels on the roof top. It was rewarding taking the walk through both the levels observing the constructional details and sculpted images.



Below is the shot of the gilded copper statue of Little Madonna, the city’s traditional protector which crowns this Gothic splendor.

Watch skies over different parts of the world here.

Milan's Duomo

At last we were in Milan. From hotel we headed straight for the world’s third largest church, the Milan’s Duomo. On entering the Cathedral Square, the first sight of the façade of the Duomo left me stunned. It was evening when we reached there; the façade was reflecting the setting sun’s rays. The pink tinged Candoglia marble façade was looking pinkier.



To me it looked like a gigantic cardboard cut vertical structure. Strong and mighty, the monument was undamaged during the WW1, in spite of bombings nearby. The entire structure of the Duomo is behind the façade. The sculpted stories, the frame work of the doors, the details in them… all were so fascinating; I could stand hours there if only I had the time.



It is hard to imagine the church has a capacity for a congregation of 40,000. The work for this church was commissioned in 1386 by Gian Galeazzo Visconti, it was finally completed in 1812. Centuries of work by thousands of workers, and what a marvel they created!

See more of the World at: That's My World

Accademia Bridge, Venice

Accademia Bridge, another unique bridge of Venice is at the lower crossing of Grand Canal. Our destination was Santa Maria della Salute, we didn’t actually have to cross it, but being in Venice and not having crossed the bridge would be a shame. So we walked over the bridge, soaked in the lovely views from there. It is an open foot bridge.



This structure was first made with wood, later reinforced with steel. The steel reinforcements are prominently visible. The original Accademia Bridge, a steel bridge was built in 1854, it was designed by English architect A.E. Neville. Later it was replaced by a temporary wooden bridge in 1932. In 1985, the crumbling Mussolini-era bridge was replaced by a new wooden replica of the 1932 structure. The steel reinforcements were added to strengthen the structure.


This is the view of the Dorsoduro side of the bridge, you can see the Accademia vaporetto, the first stop after San Marco's.


View of Santa Maria della Salute, the canal feeds into St. Mark's Basin here. Getting to this bridge is easy, you will find plenty of signs with arrows indicating Accademia, it is ten minutes from Rialto Bridge.

See more bridges at Sunday Bridges.

Rorrel, My Squirrel

The other day I witnessed a verbal duel, mostly one sided, between my Rorrel and a pigeon which had come to have a dip in my lily pool. (I named my squirrel character, Rorrel, a derivative of rodent and squirrel). My Rorrel was giving out continuous series of chirps, high pitched ones that left the pigeon with a puzzled look in its face. After a while it could not bear Rorrel’s incessant chirps anymore and flew off.



Squirrels are known to communicate through a series of chirps. The frequency, and the duration of the notes communicate everything from laughter to alarm. Their frequency range is normally between .01 KHz. and 10 KHz. (kilohertz). These sounds when used in conjunction with tail gestures form the basis for squirrel communication.

Rorrel now advanced and looked directly into my eyes, assessing me top to bottom. I was a bit nervous, because I had read they can leap five to six feet into the air from ground level, what if it decides to jump on me. I stood motionless, trying to focus on Rorrel’s movement. Surprisingly I found it immune to the sound of the clicks of my camera. The little guy was getting braver.



Rorrel came closer and Grr… showed me his teeth. Those incisors grow six inches per year, but thankfully stay short due to the constant wear they receive. Few more clicks and then it got bored and left the scene.

Who Has Seen The Wind

Monsoon has hit Karnataka, slightly late, but with intense thundershowers. Bangalore city recorded almost the entire June month's quota of rain within the first five days of June. These shots were taken in June, when we were forced indoors by the sudden change in climate and temperatures. The speed with which wind was blowing threatened to uproot the two coconut trees right in front of my balcony. Wind, the powerful and mighty wind, did make its presence felt with sights of the bent trees and its roaring sound.

Who has seen the wind?

Neither I nor you:

But when the leaves hang trembling

The wind is passing thro'

Who has seen the wind?

Neither you nor I:

But when the trees bow down their heads

The wind is passing by.

BY: CHRISTINA ROSSETTI

See more weather related shots here and
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Visconti Castle, Locarno, Switzerland

The next destination after Lucerne was Milan in Italy. However, Castello Visconteo at Lucarno called for a halt. It is one of the jewels of this quiet town. The castle is named after the Visconti, a famous Italian family who ruled over Milan from the 13 -15th century. In 1342 he attacked the castle from both the land and the lake side and took it. Over the years the structure has crumbled, what is visible today is only a fifth of the original structure.

The medieval facades that withstood the deterioration are impressive. I had to be content seeing them, because that particular day the Municipal and Archeological Museum housed inside was closed. This Museum is devoted to preserving the Roman artifacts of the region. It can also be rented in its entirety for private events. Imagine attending a gala party inside the castle which has preserved the magical medieval atmosphere.

Italian historian Marino Viganò was the first academic to voice his conviction (in 2004) that what had long been local legend: "Leonardo da Vinci was almost certainly involved in building part of Locarno's Visconti Castle", might turn out to be historical fact. His research convinced another world expert, Carlo Pedretti, director of the Armand Hammer Center for Leonardo Studies in Los Angeles, that Leonardo da Vinci had indeed been to Locarno and was the architect behind the castle's bastion.

A board there indicated that the architect of the bastion, a defensive outwork, is the great Leonardo da Vinci. The fortifications stand a good chance to be declared as World Heritage Site. It is this possibility in future, which made me take the decision of halting there and see the great monument. To my bad luck the museum was closed.

See more of the World at: That's My World

Rialto Bridge, Venice

Rialto Bridge – The iconic landmark of Venice; I crossed it several times when I was in Venice, actually six times. Memorable! It is one of the four famous bridges over the Grand Canal of Venice. I blogged on two other bridges of Venice here and here. This was the only major link between the two sides of Grand Canal until 1854, when Accademia Bridge was built.

The bridge has a covered ramp with rows of shops on either side. The shops serve the practical purpose of providing structural strength to the bridge. The rows of covered arches that run up the centre of the bridge and over the top provide strength to the entire structure. This eliminates the use of piers below and allows good clearance for the movement of the boats below.

The variety of souvenirs one can find in these shops is countless. Each time I crossed the bridge I spent some time scanning the various knick knacks there. The tax from these shop owners is used for the maintenance of the bridge. The view of the busy traffic from the bridge is something that has to be frozen. 1000s of photographs are clicked here every day. I managed to get one without any traffic.

This Is Not Paul

Octopi are rated to be highly intelligent than most other invertebrates, but can that be a reason as to how Paul makes correct choices between the countries?

Octopi are deaf; therefore definitely Paul is not following anybody’s orders. Almost on its self will, it chooses to settle down with the country of its choice.
Octopi have three hearts; probably that is why Paul’s heart beats for other countries too, other than Germany.
Nothing is known about its color blindness or its color sensitiveness, Paul can therefore be not accused of being attracted to a certain color or pattern in flags.


Whatever, Paul has given us so much to talk about in the final days of FIFA, the laughter that it brought us, not taking all these seriously I would like to wish, may the best team win. These are octopus shots I took in Singapore Underwater World.


In the UK, cephalopods such as octopuses are regarded as honorary vertebrates under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 and other cruelty to animals legislation, extending to them protections not normally afforded to invertebrates. So if anybody has plans to slice it up and fry and gobble it up, they will have to rethink. ;)

See more at Camera Critters

Skywatch Over Lucerne

The last evening in Lucerne… spent some quite moments watching the various elements in sky and the changing moods and colors of the sky. Experiencing several things for the first time in life, from snow to flowers… the day was very exciting. What an adventure!

There somebody else has embarked on a new journey… probably to see new things in life…


… the day ended showing the various hues of color in sky as if telling life still has various surprises ahead.

Watch skies over different parts of the world here.

Skiing in Switzerland

Skiing in the mountain slopes of Alps would have been ‘a dream’ come true. But that was not to be!

Firstly we were not prepared. When we left from India, Switzerland was not in our itinerary. To our surprise the people at AVIS from whom we hired our car told us: you can travel anywhere in Europe with the car. We made quick changes in our plan, we cut short our Milan trip and added Switzerland. Fortunately hotel bookings were available in a day’s notice. So we were totally unprepared clothing wise. Skiing was out of question, since bookings for that too had to be made. I don’t know why all tourists were touring Lucerne the same day.



Anyways I managed to take some ski related shots, not exactly content with the shots, wish I could take some close action shots then. Watching them from the revolving aerial car was less than satisfying. Switzerland has whole range of adventure sports. If you are wild at heart, a little bit of planning can help you have loads of fun there. And this ski patterns on the snow made an interesting subject matter for my lens.

See more sports related posts here.

River Reuss

Have you seen a needle dam before? I saw one for the first time over River Reuss. The science of this type of dam is very different from the usual ones. It is not a completely water tight type of a dam, instead it has strips of wood which can be inserted or taken off from horizontal bars across the river. This regulates the flow of water.



When we were at Lucerne, we saw a section of the needles taken off from one side of the dam. Water was gushing out in good speed; it made such a pleasant gurgling sound. The swiftness with which the river was flowing gave a feeling that it can easily sweep off the wooden structure, yet it held on strongly. You can see the covered Kapellbruecke Bridge and beyond that the beautiful Alps (above pics).


This is the view from Spreuerbruecke Bridge. The building with two towers visible in the shot is the Jesuit Church. The onion shaped domes reminded me of the Moghul architecture here in India.

See more at:Watery Wednesday

See more at: Outdoor Wednesday