Bangalore

Over the last weeks we have enjoyed the snow and cold of Europe. I propose that we change the climate today and look for a place that is warm and sunny irrespective of the season. I have the pleasure to take you to yet another trip to Asia - welcome to Incredible India!

Let's jump on a plane - the flight will take us a few hours.

Finally, we arrive. Have you noticed that the Indian alphabet is nothing close to the Latin one?

Let's go to the city center. We could use one of those cute moto-taxis.

But be careful, the traffic is really bad in Bangalore.

You do not believe me? Well, turn up the volume.

I propose we take a short stop in one of the shops with local handcraft. You can buy here figurines of Hindi gods ...

... or a shawl, both beautiful and practical.

Are we done with shopping? Then I propose that we go directly to the hotel now. We will be welcomed with necklaces of flowers.

In the main lobby, Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, is welcoming the guests. 

On the floor we can admire a beautiful and delicate mandala made out of flowers.

We will stay in the Taj West End hotel, the oldest of Bangalore.

It remembers the times when English ladies and gentlemen walked in the gardens.

It was built in so-called colonial style.

In the garden you can see trees that are hundreds years old. 

The buildings themselves are covered with tropical plants.

And in th courtyards, turkeys enjoy the sunlight.

There have even have here a little pond. I have seen next to it people doing yoga. Hard to imagine a better and more serene place.

I hope that you have enjoyed this wonderful place. Before we return to the gloomy Europe, why don't we enjoy one more aspect of the vibrant and colourful India. The spices.

But be careful, the Indians add spices even to ice cream!

I let you enjoy the dessert and I run to send a few postcards to my Postcrossing friends.

Rotterdam

When we arrived to Rotterdam my human secretary was really reluctant to go into downtown, telling me that visiting docks when it is getting dark is not a good idea. I had to use all my negotiation skills to persuade her to go. I hope you will enjoy those glimpses of Rotterdam at twilight.

The history of Rotterdam dates back to 1270 when a dam was constructed in the river Rotte and people settled around it. But the city center is quite modern, with office building housing the headquarters of the biggest Dutch multinationals.

When I talked to Dutch people from other cities, they often highlighted that unlike in many other places, in Rotterdam there are many skyscrapers.

Just a few hundred meters from the main train station you will find the City Hall. It was built a hundred years ago and is one of very few building which have survived the bombing of Rotterdam during World War II.

Just next to it stands a monument devoted to those who did not return home after the war.

Let's cross one of the many canals and move closer to the river.

Finally we arrive to the market square. Or more precisely to the Market Hall.

Not impressed? Then look inside.

This huge indoor market is the size of a football pitch. The inner walls are decorated with bright paintings depicting food and flowers.

Inside you will find a myriad of small shops, selling of course all types of food ...

... and flowers.

Next to the Market Hall your eye can be drawn first by this spinning wheel.

But I was more interested to see the Cube Houses. And yes, they are cubic. And yes, they lie on one of the corners. And yes, people really live in them.

But Dutch people are used to using the limited space they have in unusual ways. For example they build two-level bike parking lots.

Since its creations, Rotterdam was an important port. If you would like to get a feeling what it meant some centuries ago, you can visit the Konigspoort Maritime Museum which is very close.

But still today, Rotterdam is the biggest and most important port in Europe. On the New Meuse river, you can see many large barges.

They cross many bridges, the best known of which is the Erasmus bridge. Erasmus was the most famous Dutch humanist and philosopher of the fifteenth century who was borne in Rotterdam It is a bascule bridge, which means that it can be opened and lifted if a tall ship needs to pass it.

It is getting really dark, let's return to the city center. We pass next to the Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences.

Next to it, you can see the St. Lawrence church.

The building in the back is again the Market Hall. You can see clearly that it is in fact a residential building. Or maybe two residential buildings with a shopping space in between.

I hope that you have enjoyed this evening walk through Rotterdam. Remember it was not easy to be done. But even my human secretary seemed to truly enjoy it in the end. Well, life is a spinning wheel in the end, it goes around and around ...

Red square

Over the last years, we have been in over twenty countries. Some of them were very small, like Liechtenstein or Tonga, other really large like USA or Canada. But today I will take you to the largest country on the planet. And if you want to start your first visit in Russia, there is no better place than the Red Square in Moscow, a UNECCO World Heritage Site. Let's enter by the Resurrection Gate.

On your right hand side you will immediately see the State Historical Museum, which is a museum of Russian history.

On your left hand side, you will see a church in bright orange colour. It is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. It was built to commemorate a very important event in the history of Russia (to which I will revert later) but Stalin made it demolished completely. It was rebuilt entirely in 1993.

Next to the cathedral you will find a huge shopping mall. Or to be more precise the Main Department Store.

Let's have a look inside.

I am not sure if this place recalls you of anything? Well, for me it looks a lot like the Victor Emmanuel II Gallery in Milan, which we have visited last spring.

We have seen on the Red Square a church, a temple of wealth, now time comes for yet another type of temple. A modern type of pyramid where a human god lies, allowing believers to pay him tribute.

Yes, you are right, the red square structure in the middle of the Red Square is the Lenin's Mausoleum. As of what I have heard, Lenin actually wanted to be cremated and buried in St. Petersburg. But the communists knew better. It is not allowed to take pictures inside but if you have a special interest in mummies, you can take a look at another website.

The Mausoleum is located next to a high wall. This is the wall surrounding Kremlin, the most important place of power in Russia. Nowadays the gates are mainly decorative items but in the past they were really meant for protection.

A total of twenty towers survived, four of which are gate towers. Each is topped with a red star.

On the far end of the square, you will find one of the landmarks of Moscow and the only church which survived Stalin's orders. This is the church of Saint Basil.

In front of it stands a monument dedicated to Minin and Pozharsky. They were leading Russian forces which expelled from Moscow the forces of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1612. This victory was believed to be a miracle brought by the Virgin of Kazan, hence the church devoted to her on the Red Square.

Looking from the Saint Basil's church, the Red Square shows its size, even if only a part of it is visible.

Everything here is meant to make the visitor understand what an amazing country Russia is. The wall of Kremlin and it gates incite the proper respect ...

... the multi-colour domes of the Saint Basil's church bring hope in the divine protection.

But to be honest, I had a feeling that the further I walked from the Red Square the stronger the sun started to shine. Revealing the grandeur and uniqueness of this place.