Unknown Abbey

An unknown abbey on the roadside near Brough, UK. An abbey (from the Latin abbatia, which is derived from the Syriac abba, "father"), is a Christian monastery or convent, under the government of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serve as the spiritual father or mother of the community. A priory only differed from an abbey in that the superior bore the title of prior instead of abbot. Priories were originally offshoots from the larger abbeys, to the abbots of which they continued subordinate; however, the actual distinction between abbeys and priories was lost by the Renaissance. Do not confuse the term convent with the term monastery. Both nuns and monks live in monasteries. Sisters, members of active orders, live in convents. Nuns who are cloistered live in monasteries.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Hiamnshu Tyagi.

Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower, by the eyes of my camera. The tower is 300 meters (986 feet) tall, not including the 24-meter television antenna on top. The metal structure weighs 7,300 metric tons, the total weight is 10,100 metric tons. According to the official website for the tower, the summit is reached by 1,665 steps and not, as popularly believed, by 1,792 steps (the same as the year of the First French Republic). Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the Eiffel Tower may shift away from the sun by up to eight centimetres, due to expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun. Maintenance on the tower includes applying 50 metric tons of three graded tones of paint every 7 years to protect it from rust. On occasion, the color of the paint is changed (the tower is currently painted a shade of brown). On the first floor, there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for the color to use for a future session of painting. Originally, Eiffel had a permit to leave the tower standing for 20 years, more than recouping his expenses, but, as it proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to stay after the end of the permit.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Hiamnshu Tyagi.

Mona Lisa

Mona Lisa, as I shot it in Luvre. Leonardo gave no known title to the painting. The title Mona Lisa stems from the Giorgio Vasari biography of Leonardo, published 31 years after Leonardo's death. In it he identified the sitter as Lisa, the wife of wealthy Florentine businessman Francesco del Giocondo. "Mona" is a common Italian contraction of "madonna", meaning "my lady", so the title means "Lady Lisa". The alternative title La Gioconda is the feminine form of Giocondo. In Italian giocondo means 'light-hearted' ('jocund' in English), so "gioconda" means "light hearted woman". Because of her smile, this version of the title plays on this double-meaning, as in the French "La Joconde". Both Mona Lisa and La Gioconda became established as titles for the painting in the 19th century. Before these names became established, the painting had been referred to by various descriptive phrases, such as "a certain Florentine lady" and "a courtesan in a gauze veil."
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Hiamnshu Tyagi.

Peak District

My never ending fascination with Roads. Peak District, UK. The Peak District is an upland area in central and northern England, in the United Kingdom. Most of the area became the first national park in the nation. It is conventionally split into the northern Dark Peak, where most of the moorland is found, and the southern White Peak, where most of the population lives. It has some of the most spectacular scenery that can be found in the UK.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Hiamnshu Tyagi.

Stop

A refreshing stop on my way to Glasgow, Scotland. The city's name comes from the older Gaelic glas cu (compare modern Gaelic Glaschu), meaning green hollow. The "dear green place" (Glaschu) has been misquoted as a Gaelic translation for the city, but this was actually Daniel Defoe's description of the city when he visited in the early 18th century; he also claimed that Glasgow was "the paradise of Scotland and one of the cleanliest and best built cities in Britain." Another writer of the time said of the River Clyde: "I have never seen before any river which for natural beauty can stand competition with the Clyde. Never did a stream glide more gracefully to the ocean or through a fairer region." At that time, the city's population numbered approximately 12,000, and its structures largely consisted of attractive, compact wooden buildings, none of which remain today.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Hiamnshu Tyagi.

Loch Lomond

Loch Lomond (pronounced LOW-mond) (Scottish Gaelic Loch Laomainn) is a Scottish loch (lake) located in both the western lowlands of Central Scotland and the southern Highlands. It is located in the administrative districts of Stirling, Argyll and Bute, and West Dunbartonshire, and its southern shores lie approximately 14 miles (23 km) north of Glasgow, the country's largest city. It is approximately 37 kilometres long, and up to 8 kilometres wide, with an average depth of about 37 metres, and a maximum depth of about 190 metres. It has a surface area of approximately 71 square kilometres, and a volume of about 2.6 km3. Its surface area is the largest of the lochs, and is second biggest after Loch Ness in terms of water volume in Great Britain, although it is not the largest in the British Isles - this distinction belongs to Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Flocking

I don't know what intrigued me in this photo. Sheep flocking behaviour is so prevalent in some English breeds that special names apply to the different roles sheep play in a flock. One calls a sheep that roams furthest away from the others an outlier, a term originally used to refer to someone who lives far from where they work. This sheep ventures further away from the safety of the flock to graze, due to a larger flight zone or a weakness that prevents it from obtaining enough forage when with the herd. Another sheep, the bellwether, leads the others. Traditionally this was a castrated Ram (or wether) with a bell hung off a string around its neck. The tendency to act as an outlier, bellwether or to fight for the middle of the flock stays with sheep throughout their adulthood; that is unless they have a scary experience which causes them to increase their flight zone.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Hard Shoulder

Driving in England can be fun in summer. This photo is a proof of that. This truck is parked in a lay by of the motorway. A hard shoulder or simply shoulder is a reserved area alongside the verge of a road or motorway. Generally the hard shoulder is kept clear of all traffic. In the event of an emergency or breakdown, a motorist can pull into the hard shoulder to get out of the flow of traffic and obtain an element of safety. A hard shoulder also allows some extra flexibility should a motorist need to take evasive action, it is a buffer area between the main thoroughfare and the edge of the road. Emergency vehicles such as ambulances and police cars may also use the shoulder to bypass traffic congestion. These uses lead to the alternate names breakdown lane and emergency lane. The shoulder is usually slightly smaller than the width of a full traffic lane. In some cases, particularly on old rural roadways, shoulders do not exist or are made of gravel rather than hard asphalt or concrete. These are known as soft shoulders in comparison. Because the road surface changes at that point, they are less safe if they need to be used for emergency maneuvers, so modern practice is to build a hard shoulder whenever possible. To save money, the hard shoulder is sometimes not paved to the same thickness as the through lanes, so if vehicles were to attempt to use it as a through lane regularly, it would rapidly deteriorate. The shoulder also often collects various bits of debris that can make driving there unsafe.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Curtain of Woods

The curtain of woods around derwent water lake, Keswick, England, April 2004. Derwentwater, at 3 miles long, 1 mile wide and 72 feet deep, is fed by the River Derwent catchment area in the high fells at the head of Borrowdale, and has a long historical and literary background. There are four islands, all owned by the National Trust, as is much of the shoreline. The Lake is very much a landscape of moods, varying from the dramatic waves splashing against Friar's Crag when driven by southerly gales, to the absolute mirror calm of early mornings.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Bench

I''d definitely love to retire on this bench. This photograph was taken in Lake district, UK.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Rainbow

Awesome. Nature! One of the poems of William Wordsworth goes...

My heart leaps up when I behold

A rainbow in the sky:

So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,

Or let me die!...

However, the Newtonian deconstruction of the rainbow is said to have provoked John Keats to lament....

Do not all charms fly
At the mere touch of cold philosophy?
There was an awful rainbow once in heaven:
We know her woof, her texture; she is given
In the dull catalogue of common things.
Philosophy will clip an Angel’s wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine -
Unweave a rainbow

In contrast to this is Richard Dawkins; talking about his book Unweaving the Rainbow: Science, Delusion and the Appetite for Wonder .....

"My title is from Keats, who believed that Newton had destroyed all the poetry of the rainbow by reducing it to the prismatic colours. Keats could hardly have been more wrong, and my aim is to guide all who are tempted by a similar view, towards the opposite conclusion. Science is, or ought to be, the inspiration for great poetry."

Science merely explains the phenomena though; it doesn't create it.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Time Immemorial

A tribute to those cars which crashed while their drivers were trying to reach on time. Time time of the crash is shown individually on the respective tyres (LOL). The history of the time telling device can be traced to antiquity. Vitruvius reports that the ancient Egyptians used clepsydras, a time mechanism run by flowing water. Historians disagree over the Antikythera mechanism but this is largely thought to be an early mechanical clock. By the 9th century AD a mechanical timekeeper had been developed that lacked only an escapement mechanism. There is a record that in 1176 Sens Cathedral installed a ‘horologe’—the word still used in French for large clocks. It is derived from the Greek hora meaning ‘hour’ and legein meaning 'to tell'. This word has led scholars to believe that these tower clocks did not employ hands or dials, but “told” the time with audible signals.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Graffiti

I loved this truck!! I still don't know why my friend tried to manually restrain me when I was trying to click it. The word "graffiti" expresses the plural of "graffito", although the singular form has become relatively obscure and is largely used in art history to refer to works of art made by scratching the design on a surface. Both of these English words come from the Italian language, most likely descending from "graffiato", the past participle of "graffiare" (to scratch); ancient graffitists scratched their work into walls before the advent of spray-paint. These words derive in their turn from the Greek γραφειν (graphein), meaning "to write". Historians continue to speculate over the vexed question as to where the term "graffiti" first referred to this form of marking.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Moulin Rouge

Famous Moulin Rouge, Paris, 27 December 2004. Moulin Rouge (French for "red mill") is a traditional cabaret, built in 1889 by Joseph Oller who already owned the Paris Olympia. Situated in the red-light district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, near Montmartre, Paris, France, it is famous for the large red imitation windmill on its roof. The Moulin Rouge is a symbol of French Culture as well as the Bohemian influence on Western Europe. The building has a rich history that is still being added to today. Over the past hundred years, the Moulin Rouge has remained a popular tourist destination for many visitors each year. Today the Moulin Rouge offers musical dance entertainment for adult visitors from around the world. Much of the romance from turn-of-the-century France is still present in the interior environment.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Galleries Lafayette

Galleries Lafayette, Paris named for the French hero of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette (sometimes referred to as the Marquis de la Fayette). La Fayette is considered a national hero in both France and the United States and is one of only six people in history to become an Honorary U.S. Citizen. Few men have owed more of their success and usefulness to their family rank than La Fayette, and still fewer have abused it less. He never achieved distinction in the field, and his political career proved him to be incapable of ruling a great national movement, but he had strong convictions which always impelled him to study the interests of humanity, and a pertinacity in maintaining them, which, in all the strange vicissitudes of his eventful life, secured him a very unusual measure of public respect. No citizen of a foreign country has ever had so many and such warm admirers in America, nor does any statesman in France appear to have ever possessed uninterruptedly for so many years so large a measure of popular influence and respect. He had what Jefferson called a "canine appetite" for popularity and fame, but in him the appetite only seemed to make him more anxious to merit the fame which he enjoyed. He was brave to rashness, and he never shrank from danger or responsibility if he saw the way open to spare life or suffering, to protect the defenseless, to sustain the law and preserve order.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Palais Garnier

Splendid sculptures on L'Opera in Paris. This opera is famous for the phantom that lived there (Phantom of the Opera; Andrew Lloyd Weber). It was built on the orders of Napoleon III as part of the great Parisian reconstruction project carried out by Baron Haussmann. The project was put out to competition and was won by Charles Garnier (1825-1898), a then unknown 35-year-old architect. He would go on to also build the Opera Garnier de Monte-Carlo in Monaco. Building work, which began in 1857 and finished in 1874, was interrupted by numerous incidents, including the Franco-Prussian War, the fall of the Empire and the Paris Commune. Another problem was the discovery of an underground lake beneath the site. This required the construction of an underground reservoir below the building. This lake later inspired The Phantom of the Opera's lair. The Palais Garnier was formally inaugurated on January 15, 1875.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.

Paris

The city of Paris from the top of Eiffel Tower. I took this picture on Christmas day, 2004. Known worldwide as the City of Light (la Ville Lumière), Paris has been a major tourist destination for centuries. The city is known for the planning of its architecture, its urban perspectives and avenues, as well as the wealth of its museums. Built on an arc of the River Seine, it is divided into two parts: the Right Bank to the north and the smaller Left Bank to the south.
© 2004 onwards by Dr Himanshu Tyagi. All the photographs in this blog are copyright protected and can not be reproduced or stored in any medium without the written permission from Dr Himanshu Tyagi.