Ambleside and Great Gable, English Lake District (24-25 August, 2006)

From Scotland, I finally reached the idyllic Lake District to present a talk at the Rank Prize Symposium on Metamaterials in Nature and Technology. I stayed at Storrs Hall right on the shores of L. Windermere. Legend has it that W. Wordsworth once had a public recital of Daffodils here. After being pampered at the conference, I reluctantly left for Ambleside, where I did some local hikes. The next day, Claire met me and we drove up to do some hiking near the lovely hamlet of Wasdale Head, home of England's greatest liar, Will Ritson. I did get a taste of the local brews that this side of England is famous for, at the Wasdale Head Inn pub.


My room at Storrs Hall, overlooking the lake (unfortunately the window is overexposed on my disposable Kodak camera).


Lake Windermere, Ambleside




High-res photos courtesy: Claire M.








Claire and me atop the Great Gable (899 m/ 2949 ft).


It started out as a bright sunny morning, unusual for England. But it got quite cold once we reached the summit. Thanks to Claire's excellent sandwich, we had reserve energy to burn to keep us warm.








I have to say I had my first (veg.) vindaloo at Leeds and I probably met my match - it was too hot even for me...

A Rough Guide to London (August 2006)

In London, I spent a lot of time in the British Museum as you could tell from the pictures below, however disgusted I became at the extent of the British Empire's plunders. I did cover the traditional touristy spots as well - Trafalgar Sq., the Tower of London, Tate Modern, National Art Gallery, and St. Paul's Cathderal. It was fun to catch up with Trent and Deise. And thankfully I made backups of all my photos at Trent's, for my camera got stolen in Edinburgh. In the UK, I was paying through my nose all along and it is some claim to fame that I visited London and Cambridge, the two most expensive cities. It was however, cool to find decent Naan at a store like Tesco's. Wish the American chains would learn.


Southwark Cathderal.


Tower Bridge at night


Tower of L.


St. Paul's


Colossal marble lion from the funerary monument at Halikarnassos in the foreground


Ram-in-the-thicket


The Standard of Ur


An intricately carved Ostrich egg


Augustus Caesar


A bust of Julius Caesar. Note, the other half is missing.


The famous 10th cent Lewis Chessmen


Roman copy of the Discobolus with the head restored the wrong way


A piece of the beard from the Great Sphinx at Giza


The hall of Egyptian sculptures


Seal of the East India Company. Sword and ring of Tipu Sultan.


The Rosetta stone


An Assyrian using an animal's bladder for flotation


Royal Assyrian Lion Hunt. Ashurbanipal strangling a lion with his bare hands. No wonder there are no more lions left in the region!




The Assyrian black obelisk that helped to decipher the Assyrian cuneiform inscriptions


Parthenon pediment


Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and ?



East Frieze, Parthenon Marbles. Hermes, Dionysos, Demeter and Ares


South Metope XXVIII, Parthenon Marbles. A centaur prances in triumph over a fallen Lapith.


South Frieze (slabs X and XI). Parthenon Marbles. Riders in procession


North Frieze, Parthenon


Need I say more!


Nereid Monument, Xanthos (Modern Turkey)


The inside of a mummy


Waga sculpture, Konso, Ethiopia


The facade of the British Museum


Shabti figure and Canopic jars - Hall of Mummies, British Museum


I stayed off of Baker St. Tube and there was a cheesy Sherlock Holmes Museum, no less. The actual door number isn't 221 but they tried their best with a 221B added on.



The sky, the Sahara and the sea!