Photography – Page 10 – Bluegreen Butterfly

Castle-restaurant in Amsterdam

Amsterdam castle

It was our night out in the heart of Amsterdam. This is De Waag, an old castle long since converted to a restaurant. De Waag, or old weighing station, was originally a gate in a castle built in 1488, but became a weighing house in 1614. It’s now a restaurant where you can get a fine pastry or coffee in the morning or a dinner at night. Dinner late at night is especially seductive because the place is lit by hundreds of candles in chandeliers.

“De WAAG” (formerly called “Sint Anthoniespoort”). Dutch WAAG = English “Weight”.
It was build in 1488, and it is located on “De Nieuwemarkt”. The building is remarkedly well preserved. Here in ancient times the products from the VOC-ships (nutmeg,cotton,pepper and the like), were supplied, weighted out by poorly verificated measures and sold by auction to merchants and the public. The building looks somewhat like a mediaeval castle and (see the Weeping Tower above) it was part of the Old City Wall. It was the Oldest Place of Communication in Amsterdam and to day it is still a marketplace.The Waag functioned as a city-gate. Rembrand van Rijn frequently visited this building and it is in this building that he painted “The anatomical lesson of Dr. Tulp” (1632). To day inside “De Waag” a good restaurant flourishes. Behind “De Waag”, on a distance of about 200 meters, and alongside the water, the Weeping tower was build.

Singapore overnight

Of the fourteen hour layover, got online for a while, but I had not dozed off good, so I was exhausted, and again, can’t sleep in the plane, but I could and did bear it. Did not mind them all as long as I arrive home from what seemed to be a very very long flight from Singapore to Cebu. What an experience. Singaporean airport guards inspected our passports and boarding passes around three in the morning, and for the second time during the layover, someone said “Pinoy”, guessing we are Filipinos. Sikat talaga ang mga Pinoy, hehe. I met there two Indonesian women, one being so talkative, the other so peacefully sleeping on the chair, and some Filipinos. These are the photos we took around the airport. Just sharing our snapshots.

Continue reading “Singapore overnight”

Trip to the Taj Mahal

le 21 décembre 2007

The advantage of having a tour guide was that, there are many advantages, Ha; he knows the goings and way through the place, so we head off to the Taj Mahal so early in the very cold morning before seven, for him, so that we will avoid the crowd, which he also always said for us to be aware of pickpockets.

There are entrances leading to the main gate to the Taj. The Southern Gate faces the old Mumtazabad (Modern Taj Ganj). It is meant for pedestrians or the pedlars only. On the right side of the gate is a tomb of red stone which is surrounded by court Yards and crowned with a dome, said to have a grave of one lady companion of Mymtaj Mahal, and due to this reason, the building is called the tomb of a Maid of Honour.

Eastern gate faces towards Fatehabad. There is a domed tomb erected on the elevated platform near this gate, built in the memory of another wife of Shah Jahan called Sirhindi Begum, and so the gate is known as “Sirhi Darwaza”. The main building is eight sided, having twenty four arches, a big hall and a veranda.

The western gate is the main entrance of the Taj Mahal, facing towards Agra cantonment and Agra city. There is a red sand stone edifice erected on a beautiful terrace outside this gate which is known as Fatehpuri Begum, another wife of Shah Jahan. There we entered through the west gate. There were guards on the entrance, and no matter how they seemed to be very old and outdated, the guns would still prevent troublemakers. Upon buying the tickets, which is 750 rupees each, (now they only accept rupees, dollars are not accepted since it is devaluating) there is a complementary bottled water, great. There are lines for men and women to enter where each one is inspected and all bags opened. Food are not allowed, and if you have one in your bag, it will be confiscated and thrown for the monkeys to catch. There were just so few people there that we made it through easily and fast through the gate and the be in the Fore Court leading to the main gate of the Taj Mahal, where photographers were selling their services. Though we have our cameras, I asked hubby to hire one of those photographers for you know, they are professionals, and just great, along with the album it also comes with the film.

The elephant’s eye

No matter how hard the way, no matter how heavy the burden,
and no matter how many the troubles around are,
may we go forward and advance in life in this new year,
heads up high but know when to bow down,
eyes full of compassion, seeing every burden,
just like the elephant’s eye, clad with humility,
submitting to the supreme.

Apartment painters

Can you spot them? The apartment is undergoing a repainting job for a week now. This is the apartment where are living in, a photo I took as I was sun bathing by the pool.

Elephant ride

From May to July last year hubby asked if I had seen any elephant around Mumbai streets. I had not when it is an everyday street scene. He said that he’s going to arrange a ride for me. A year and five months later here we head towards the elephant yard the tour guide brought us into (the hotel said the day before that they do not have elephant rides anymore for one time the animal got wild and crushed some tourist, that was heavy scary huh, but the tour guide found us one that still offers for 500 Rupees). I did not dream this ride, but for the sake of experience, I did and gladly I really enjoyed the smooth ride on the eary beast (hanoy xa, lol).

Way to baby Taj

Our next stop over was to the Itmud-ud-daula known as Baby Taj. The main gate is made of red sandstone, with a double storied structure which has got inlay work of white marble. Towards it and towards Yamuna, a beautiful Baradary is there, in which below there are some rooms which were provided with curtains of Khas-khas and were used as a cool retreat from the summer heat. The upper chambers were used as bathrooms by the Royal Ladies. The ceiling was decorated with gold and silver, were scrapped away by the Jats during their short occupation of Agra, but were repaired later on by lord Curzon. But many original things in there had been long stolen by the people.

Itmud-ud-daula was built by Empress Noor Jahan in the memory of her father Mirza Ghiyas Beg. It is basically a tomb, which is of very peculiar interest as it was the fore-runner of of the Taj and of the many designs of it were made in the Taj. It is the first Mughal Architecture before the existence of Taj, which was made of white marble. It was the first Mughal building, totally constructed of marble and is the first building in which extensive use of “Pietra Dura” has been made, which is characteristic of the Taj. The marble walls are decorated with inscriptions from the holy Quran, cypress tress, wine flasks and jugs carved on marble, are very beautiful. In the center of the hall are the cenotaphs of Itmud-ud-Daula and his wife Asmat-Ul-Nisa. The rectangular shaped tomb of white marble is enclosed by a beautiful garden fenced by high walls on three sides and the fourth side opens towards river Yamuna, which gives a beautiful view of the city.