Rugen island

hi ,


i am fine here.. hope the same from u.. my work is going on fine.. yesterday was a holiday here..its a national holiday . the day is called as "Deutschen Einheit". in english it s German reunification day.. the german name i got from my friend , kaladhar..

since its a holiday , i went to nearby island called Rugen island. it s the biggest island of germany..on northeastern tip.. its in baltic sea.. on the way i visited rostock and stralsund..

the trip was not great.. the two towns wre ordinary.. rugen island was not as i expected. i was expecting beaches everywhere with cliffs, sand dunes etc.. but its not what i saw..its a huge island with many towns with in..if u want to see sand beaches go to a town called Binz, for bays go to bergen auf rugen..for national park and chalkcliffs to sassnitz. i went to binz and sassnitz..

the only worthy thing in this trip was "Konigsstuhl".." The kings chair".. does that remind u of kings chair in kodaikanal?


let me tell something about chalk cliffs.. this i got from the net..
Chalk is a soft, white, porous sedimentary rock a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite. It forms under relatively deep marine conditions from the gradual accumulation of minute calcite plates (coccoliths shed from micro-organisms called coccolithophores. It is common to find flint and chert nodules embedded in chalk.
Chalk is relatively resistant to erosion and slumping compared to the clays with which it is usually associated, thus forming tall steep cliffs where chalk ridges meet the sea. Chalk hills, known as chalk downland, usually form where bands of chalk reach the surface at an angle, so forming a scarp slope. Because chalk is porous it can hold a large volume of ground water, providing a natural reservoir that releases water slowly through dry seasons. .


coming to sassmund chalk cliffs. they became famous with this painting by casper david friedrich, titled Kreidefelsen auf Rügen

the most popular photos of konigsstuhl are taken from victoria sicht.. a smaller cliff with a viewing platform..this view can only be obtained in a walking tour.. but u miss most of the other chalk cliffs by walking..so the best way to see the chalk cliffs is to take a boat ride from sassnitz harbour..i missed that as i dint know about it..


any way i am happy to have captured the konigssthul from a popular view..


                                                                      BALTIC SEA

                                                                 RUGEN ISLAND

KONIGSSTUHL- View from victoria sicht.

KONIG wt the konigsstuhl--kidding I AM ON the victoria sicht.

VICTORIA CLIFF


jasmund national park

RUGEN BRIDGE-connects stralsund and rugen island an architectural marvel.. about to get completed in couple of years.

 ROSTOCK

MARIEN KIRCHE

                                                                         


                                                                         STEINTOR

TRIBSEE LAKE-ROSTOCK

STRALSUND

St. MARIAN KIRCHE

it was ok... as i said u should spend whole day for chalk cliffs and the binz sand beach ..be prepared to change lots of trains and buses ..also for long waits..


bye..

illl be back with my brussels, belgium experience on monday

murali

BRUSSEL TRIP

Hi,

How is life? i hope ur enjoying it.. i am doing fine here..
by now u must be pretty tired of my mails..if so, u can give this a skip..

On saturday i had been to Brussel, the capital of Belgium.u must be wondering why brussel?. Its not a hot tourist destination..but its a capital city and somewhat near to us..

Brussel is one of the unfortunate capital cities which has not become a very demanding tourist spot..Places like Ghent,Antwerp,Bruges,Leuven take over brussels as most visited tourist cities.. This is because:as Brussel became the capital city of a new country in the 19th century, the old town was destroyed to make way for brand new ministries, palaces, schools, army barracks and office blocks all built between 1880 and 1980, approximately. That is why such a disappointingly small historic centre (one square and four adjacent streets) was preserved, and why most tourists only visit Brussels as an afterthought .

But nonetheless, Brussel was one of the most beautiful city , ive seen .. it s calmness is the most important feature.. the tour was very relaxing and its definitely not inferior to any other cities..

Regarding Brussel, there are few important points which are really surprising ...Headquarters of many european institutes are located here and Brussel is sometimes called as "The Headquarters of European Union" .
Brussel acts as a political capital of NATO.
Brussel operates as a bilingual city where both French and Dutch are official languages. Thus all the streets have two names, which can sound totally different. For example, the Main Square is called both la Grand Place and de Grote Markt. Although French is the lingua franca, the proportion of French and Dutch-speakers is different in different neigbourhoods and boroughs. Even Brussel has two names: Brussel in Dutch and Bruxelles in French.. and remember, It shoud be spelt as Brussel and not Brussels..city has almost equal no. of Dutch and French speaking population. many of them know english..
Official language of belgium is not a single one.in some areas , its french and in others its Dutch..


so i left to Brussel on friday night in Eurolines bus.. i reached there by 6 am in the morning.. we had to drive via Anrwerp to reach Brussel.. i started my tour from Grote markt-Grand place.

The many faces of Brussels are expressed in the four quarters of the city, which are a must for every visitor.
First of all, there is the Lower Town, which extends from Manneken Pis (statue of little boy urinating) via the Grand Place with its guild houses and the town hall to the Botanique. The Royal District in the Upper Town occupies the area between the Warande and the impressive Palace of Justice. In the North of the City lies the Heizel with the Atomium and Bruparck. Just outside the city centre you will find the Cinquantenaire park and the European District. Cinquantenaire Park with its triumphal arch and military art and history museums provides a calm respite from the bustle of the city.

GRAND PLACE-GROTE MARKT

i started from Grand place-Grote markt..The most famous and finest square in the Lower Town area. After a bombardment in 1695, the city hall was the only building that remained standing. The guild houses have their own specific frontage but they are all in complete harmony with each other.

TOWN HALL- GROTE MARKT.French: Hôtel de Ville, Dutch: Stadhuis. 13th-century . famously slightly asymmetrical
The 96-meter-high tower in Brabantine Gothic style emerged from the plans of Jan Van Ruysbrook, the court architect of Philip the good. By 1455 this tower had replaced the older belfry. Above the roof of the Town Hall, the square tower body narrows to a lavishly pinnacled octagonal openwork. Atop the spire stands a 5-meter-high gilt metal statue of the arcahngel Micheal, patron saint of Brussels, slaying a dragon or devil. The tower, its front archway and the main building facade are conspicuously off-center relative to one another. According to legend, the architect upon discovering this "error" leapt to his death from the tower. More likely, the asymmetry of the Town Hall was an accepted consequence of the scattered construction history and space constraints.



BROOD HUIS-BREAD HOUSE-MANNEKEN PIS MUSEUM . houses the extensive wardrobe of the Manneken pis child.





Le Cygne (The Butchers’ Guild)-one of the guilded houses.

EVERARD'T SERCLAES STATUE

MANNEKEN PIS

brabantian for little man wee/pee), is a Brusel landmark. It is a small bronze fountain sculpture depicting a naked little boy urinating into the fountain's basin. Similar statues can be found in the other Belgian cities.

There are several legends behind this statue, but the most famous is the one about Duke Godfrey II of Leuven. In 1142 , the troops of this two-year-old lord were battling against the troops of the Berthouts, The troops put the infant lord in a basket and hung it in a tree, to encourage them. From there, he urinated on the troops of the Berthouts, who eventually lost the battle.

Another legend goes like this: In the 14th century, Brussels was under siege by a foreign power. The city had held their ground for quite some time. The attackers had thought of a plan to place explosive charges at the city walls. A little boy named Juliaanske from Brussels happened to be spying on them as they were preparing. He urinated on the burning fuse and thus saved the city.

There was already a similar statue made of stone in the middle of the 15th century, perhaps as early as 1388. The statue was stolen several times. In 1619 it was replaced by a bronze statue, created by Franco-Flemish Baroque sculptor Jerome Duquesnoy, father of the more famous Francois.
On many occasions the statue is dressed in a costume. His wardrobe now consists of several hundred different costumes.Kept in Manneken pis museum. The statue was at one time used to dispense liquor...Hmmmmm.

when a boy can piss in public , why not a girl.. now this is a female dominated society.. thus in 1985 ,this little started peeing and since then , there is no stop to her..




JEANNEKE PIS

It forms a counterpoint in gender terms to the city's trademark Manneken pis, as it does aurally and geographically, being about the same distance away on the other side of the grand place.It was made by Denis Adrien Debourey in 1985 and erected in 1987 and endowed with its own instant legend, the better to amuse strollers. This half-metre-high statue of blue-grey limestone depicts a little girl with her hair in bunches, squatting and urinating, apparently very contentedly. It is located on the east side of the Impasse de la Fidélité / Getrouwheidsgang (Faith Alley), a narrow dead-end street some 100 metres long leading northwards off the restaurant-packed Rue des Bouchers / Beenhouwersstraat (Butchers' Street). It is less well known than its male counterpart, perhaps because of its relative modernity or because of its location near the closed end of the street.


LA BOURSE

LA BOURSE-stock exchange of Belgium



Galeries Saint Hubert-Sint Hubertusgalerijen

this old looking building was worlds first shopping complex..now too its a well known shopping centre of belgium

now it has light and airy triple-gallery enclosing boutiques, bookshops, cafés, restaurants, and a theater and cinema.




CATHEDRAL

A STAGE WITH MUSLIM ARCHITECTURE IN ROYAL GARDEN

SABLON SQUARE

CONGRESS COLUMN

ARC DE TRIOUMPHE-Parc du Cinquantenaire-Jubelpark :

Note the similarity to brandenberg tor of berlin.


ARMY MUSEUM-JUBEL PARK

AURO WORLD-The oldest and one of the biggest automobile museums.

all these above areas can be easily visited by a walking tour. Brussel has such a systematic guiding directions , that u may not even need a city map..

Atomium and Bruparck with MiniEurope are quite far off and need to be reached by a metro..the day ticket is only 4 euros. the cheapest of all the places i visited.





Atomium is the major tourist attraction site.. this is away from the city center..
Take Metro line 1A direction Roi Baudouin-Koning Boudewijn and alight at Heysel-Heizel. while u travel in metros dont forget to see the artful stations..


THE ARTISTIC METRO STATIONS

almost if not all stations are decorated very beautifully with many forms of art..u see line diagrams in some.metal sculpures in some etc...


ATOMIUM




Built for the 1958 Brussel world Fair (Expo 58) the 103-Metre (335-foot) tall Atomium monument represents a Unit cell of an Iron crystal (body-centred cubic), magnified 165 billion times, with vertical body diagonal, with tubes along the 12 edges of the cube and from all 8 vertices to the centre.
Nine steel spheres 18 metres in diameter connect via tubes with escalators as long as 35 m, among the longest in europe. Windows in the top sphere provide a panoramic view of Brussel. Other spheres have 1950s exhibitions. Three upper spheres lacking vertical support are not open to the public for safety reasons.


Planned originally to last only six months, architect Andre Waterkeyn's design has survived to become a popular tourist attraction that some feel is a Belgian national icon rivalling Manneken pis.. Its considered by many as "The Eiffel Tower of Belgium" in terms of architecture and its tourist attraction..


Beginning in March 2004, much-needed renovation work has included replacing faded aluminium sheets on the balls with stainless steel. To help pay for renovations, the old aluminium has been sold to the public as souvenirs. A triangular piece about 2 m long sold for €1,000. The Atomium, which had been closed to the public since October 2004, re-opened on 18th February 2006. The renovation includes revamped exhibition spaces, a restaurant, and an overnight dormitory called Kids Sphere Hotel for visiting schoolchildren. The dormitory features suspended plastic sphere towers.

ON THE TOP OF BRUSSEL-Panoramic view of Brussel from the top most sphere of atomium.

BEHIND AN ATOMIUM MODEL in one of the spheres.

u can identify the atomium in the background..try to identify the Arc de triumph and eiffel tower behind me.. did u locate them? now u must be wondering what these structures from paris are doing here...right?

This is the magic of Mini Europe... it s the best miniature park in the europe and probably in the world.


MINI EUROPE

In 1987, several art historians selected over 100 European buildings of cultural importance; it was from this list that many of the models at Mini-Europe come. On-site work to take detailed photographs of the buildings cost over €200,000, and sometimes it took multiple trips to garner enough details to make and appropriate 1:25 scale model.
To build the models, 55 workshops from 9 member states collaborated to construct pre-models out of a variety of materials. These pre-models were then used to create moulds, which led to the final model, cast from epoxy or polyester. Finally, the models were painted.


"LEANING TOWER OF PISA"-TRYING TO STRAIGHTEN

from there i went back to grote markt to see the devilla in lights..its amazing..



De VILLA in lights

and finally i had Belgian waffles and Frites which are famous in belgium and should not missed..they are delicious..

A little about Frites.. these are nothing but French fries.. the attachment of french fries and Belgium is interesting to listen... French fries , the word is a misnomer..French did not invent them..Its the Belgium , that invented Frites.. can u believe ?? many French too agree with this ..



French-fried potatoes were likely invented during the 18th century in the area that later became Belgium. The name "French" was applied to them in (American) British at the beginning of the 19th century.


The Belgians claim that "French" fries are in fact Belgian, but definitive evidence for the origin has not been presented. Belgian historian Jo Gerard recounts that potatoes were already fried in 1680 in the Spanish Netherlands, in the area of "the Meuse valley between Dinant and Liège, Belgium. The poor inhabitants of this region allegedly had the custom of accompanying their meals with small fried fish, but when the river was frozen and they were unable to fish, they cut potatoes lengthwise and fried them in oil to accompany their meals.

A Belgian legend claims that the term "French" was introduced when British or American soldiers arrived in Belgium during World War I, and consequently tasted Belgian fries. They supposedly called them "French", as it was the official language of the Belgian Army at that time.





And there is one more thing which Belgium is famous for.. THE BELGIUM LACE.

let me tell u few things about belgium lace.. Bruges , a place in Belgium is supposedly the beginner of lace works.. and The belgium lace works are famous world over.. The history behind Bruges lace is quite interesting..It s called "the legend of Serena".


legend of Serena
Once upon a time there was a fair maiden in the enchanting town of Bruges. Serena was her name and she loved the young sculptor Arnout. Alas she could not marry him, for she had to spin day and night to work for her widowed mother and four little sisters and a brother. One sunny autumn day she went walking and dreaming of her forbidden love, she fell asleep. All off a sudden silvery threads fell from the trees into a beautiful pattern of flowers on her apron. She awoke, gazed and then rushed home. With threads cut from her spinning wheel, she made the wondrous design over again. When it was finished a wealthy merchant bought it. Soon many people wanted the same marvellous lace-work. Serena became rich and finally married the prince of her charms. They lived happily ever after. So came into being the art of lace, which for over five hundred years made Bruges famous as the world capital of this fairy-like art.



The Belgian lace works

I bought a small lace work as a souvenir.



so finally it was a wonderful trip and i thoroughly enjoyed it..



bye for now.. my next trip is to italy...