Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Showing posts with label Travel. Show all posts

Cathedral of the Pines, Ringe NH

Driving to New Hampshire on from Boston via Route 2 and Route 119 is a beautiful experience. The landscape shifts almost immediately from city buildings to greenery and farmhouses, some with green pastures. Nothing, however can prepare one for the serene experience of arriving at the Cathedral of the Pines, a beautiful retreat in Ringe, New Hampshire, after traveling through Corcord, Acton, Littleton, Grouton, Townsend, Ashby, and Ashburnham.

Situated in the backdrop of Mt. Murdock, the Cathedral of Pines is an open air mediative spot, retreat, memorial for World War 2 heroes, cemetery, all in one. It is picturesque, tranquil and surreal in its beauty and grandeur.

Built by the Sloane family in memory of their son, a victim of the second world war, the locale is green and well maintained. Waling on its beautiful walkway, one sees a the Altar of the Nations, a stone altar dedicated to the men and women who lost their lives serving the nation.

The altar is located in front of a seating area and has a pulpit near it and is an ideal place for religious or social meetings, out in the open. As envisioned by its creators, the Cathedral was meant to be secular and the altar has served as the site of services for many religious and spiritual programs.

The walkway also passes through a Zen garden, conceived and built by a school teacher, to remind us of the present moment. Also at the venue is a museum and a gift store and a hall. The hall is provided, just in case inclement weather prevents having a ceremony out in the open.

All the funds for the upkeep of the cathedral come from charitable contributions from patrons as the cathedral does not receive any monetary contributions from the state. The Museum at the cathedral has a lot of war memorabilia and numerous trinkets received as gifts from contributors. Our helpful and amiable guide told us that the contents of the museum were on a five year rotation and would be replaced by more contents kept in the church.

The Cathedral of Pines is one of the hidden treasures of New Hampshire and is recommended highly by yours truly whether you are looking for spiritual enlightenment or just escape from the mundane Boston routine. Be warned, that for directions, the Cathedral's website strongly recommends that your best bet is to get directions from the website. Do not use Mapquest or your GPS as they may not have the right location.
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Kittery, Maine

Ten miles south of Ogongquit, on Route 1, is the town of Kittery, the 'gateway' to Maine. It is known for its outlet stores. These it has, several. Spread across route 1 are the numerous stores, flashing signs of famous maker clothing and other merchandise. One may say that the town itself is a giant outdoor mall.

There are the usual Nikes, Reaboks, Polos, Dress Barns, Sunglass huts, Nautica, Tommys. Then for the elite among us, there are the Brooks Brothers and the Movados. A map of a certain shopping complex shows a Micasa store there, but as I looked in its direction, I saw the Nike store. There was one store called 'Wild Dogs' which was on its way south.

Kittery is an utopia for many shoppers(or window shoppers).The stores offer a lot of variety, and one may find good bargains there. Having said that, we must also bear in mind that unlike Massachusetts and New Hampshire, Maine charges a sales tax on clothes. Besides, as in my case, you may sometimes get better deals a T.J. Max or a Marshalls.

If you are in Maine, Kittery is worth the visit, at least for the experience and its restaurants.
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Ogunquit Maine

If you are in the Boston area and are looking for a day trip away from the hustle and bustle of the city, the state of Maine can offer you a few choices. About two hour away from Boston is the quaint little town of Ogunquit in Maine, offers one of the best beaches in New England and numerous Seafood restaurants.

The beach is easily one of the cleanest beaches in the area and the water is crystal clear. (The water can sometimes get cold even on the hottest of days.) While we were caught in the heavy traffic getting to the venue on Route 1, we managed to get a parking spot relatively easily on the beach. Ogunquit is easily among the most scenic locales I've been to. Certainly worth the trip on a hot summer day, is my verdict.

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Dinner in Seattle -Part 3

Seattle's airport SEA-TAC (Seattle - Tacoma) is a city by itself. Once you go past security, you are in the Pacific Marketplace an area of bustling restaurants where travelers with hours to spare, like yours truly, sit and savor the atmosphere or the eateries.

It has a spectacular sound proof gallery where one may sit and watch the flights take off.

I tried a Mahi Mahi fish Taco which costed $4.99. It comes with salsa and tortilla chips and is delicious. The size was a bit small but I'm probably asking for too much at that priice.

Dinner in Seattle -Part 2

Taking the advice of the concierge, I payed a visit to Seattle's only Indian restaurant, also close to the corner or Pine and 2nd.

The decor was the chiched look of an Indian restaurant in the US., the dim lighting, elephants in the tapestry and Mugal paintings on the walls.

I tried the Pabla Lamb curry. It was delicious and tender. Well worth the visit.

Dinner in Seattle Part I

Mae Phim is a tiny Thai restaurant near the corner of Pine and 2nd, next door to the farmer's market. It has won several accolades like one of Seattle's top 10 restaurants and has a Zagat rating(Apparently size does not matter). It is easily one of Seattle's Hidden Jewels. The decor is ordinary ,the waitresses amicable.

Both times I had dinner there the bill was a under $10 for an entree, ice cream.
The first night I had the Gang Penang Chicken. Despite the word 'Penang' in the dish, the dish had a rich Thai flavor. The second time I had the Curry Chiken soup which tasted like a delicious curry one would serve with rice. The soup did have noodles in it and had a rich spicy flavor. Both times I was impressed. I'll definitely visit it.

Seattle 2

It was a memorable trip, though I did not see as much of the city as I'd like. The Fairmont
hotel was my temporary home with a beautiful lobby and room. I caught a glimpse of the farmers market, a tourist favorite, as it was only a few blocks away from where I worked. I also caught a glimpse of the city from Wamu's 16th floor.

We had dinner twice at the Wild Ginger, an Asian cuisine close to where we worked. I tried the 7 flavored beef and the Penang beef curry, both pretty good.

Well, that was my trip in a nutshell.

More photos

Mount Rainier, Seattle

This week, I was on a business trip to Seattle. Seen here is a picture of Mt. Rainier, the highest peak in the Cascade Range. It stands majestically as a backdrop to Seattle's skyline It was the venue of the first UFO sighting. Apparently, the person who saw the UFO in 1948 refered to what he saw as a 'Flying Saucer' and hence the name. UFO sightings still happen here, though not as many as in Shasta.

Bill Gates' famous abode is a wooden house along the shoreline seen here.

Spy Pond, Arlington MA

Spy Pond in Arlington is a nice scenic locale and a decent picnic spot. I've made many visits to it when I lived in Arlington a decade ago, particularly after the birth of my first daughter.

A recent visit to this venue brought back another fond memory from not very long ago. It reminded me of Professor Utterback's performance(I call it a performance because it was more than a lecture.) about Boston's thriving Ice industry of the 1800s.

Before the advent of the modern day refrigerator, ice making was an expensive proposition. Boston was the world's 'ice headquarters'. It was shipped to Europe and even Calcutta India. (A thank-you memento for ice delivery from the mayor of Calcutta to a Boston ice distributer still resides in the Peabody Museum.)

It was America that taught the rest of the world how to keep wine cold and even have ice-cream(a novelty reserved for only the elite in Europe.) .As time went on,the Europeans responded by producing their own ice.

In the early days there were special metal 'cupboards' used to store ice. Photos Utterback exhibited revealed that they bore a striking resemblance to modern fridges. The ice blocks were placed in the top shelf.

The early refrigerators were modeled to look like these cupboards, to enable an easier transition to the newer technology. This was the reason why freezers are located in the top shelf of modern fridges.

Spy Pond was one of the places where ice was harvested and shipped all over the world. Utterback even showed us old black and white footage showing how ice was 'manufactured, cut into blocks and moved from Spy Pond. In his office resides one of the old axe-like implements used by workers to cut the ice.

A weekend in Toronto-8

The Niagra: Magestically she stands guard across two nations. Her fury is fierce but spellbinding.

A weekend in Toronto-7

This is a casino that overlooks the Niagra. The view from here was spellbinding.

A weekend in Toronto-6

More pictures of the winery.

A weekend in Toronto-5

This is a winery, right next to the Niagra. The tour and tourguide were excellent, weell worth the $5(Canadian). The wines were great. The tour was infromative too.
I learnt that it is not always the color of the grape that determines the color of the wine. It is a question of seperating the pulp in the grape from the skin. For white wine making, care must be taken that the pulp is separated from both the skin and the seeds. If seeds get crushed and mixed in the wine, the wine could be bitter. However, it is OK for crushed seeds to be included while making read wines as they do incorporate a slight bitter taste.

We also learnt a lot of wine tasting tips. One was to use the first sip of wine as a mouthwash to mask the taste of anything eaten before the tasting. It is the second sip that counts.

We were told to look at out glass with a pure white background to ensure that our wines were not cloudy. If the wine is cloudy, use a coffee filter to filter the wine.

Another tip was to hold on to our nose and then to swallow the wine. Doing so raises our tasting ability to test subtle flavors in the wine. We also tried some iced wine. They are wines made from grapes that are frozen and are sweeter than typical wines.

All in all, this was an awesome experience.

A weekend in Toronto-4

Also taken from the CN tower, but this time while standing on a glass and dizziy looking at the tiny objects below. I live to tell the tale.

The guide said that the glass could handle the weight of 40 Hippos. This is just a theory and has never been tested.

A weekend in Toronto-3

High atop the CN towers we dined. These are views of Toronto below, taken as the restaurant revolved around us. If you happen to be there, try the lamb dish. It was awesome.

A weekend in Toronto-2

The skyline at dusk. This one was taken on the way back from the island to downtown Toronto. The tall pointy tower is the CN tower, one of the tallest buildings on earth.

A weekend in Toronto-1

These are photos from a ferry enroute to a small island off Toronto.

Clinton MA, Nice New English town

Downtown Disney: The Lego Store

This was my favorite store on Downtown Disney.

Largest McDonalds

Or is it the largest Tourist trap???

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