Monet Talk or Not!

Monet Picture at Ashmolean Museum, Oxford

I am very poor at appreciating art. I know of only a few big names like Monet, Van Gogh and umm, OK, Michaelangelo.

So why am I talking (or not) about Monet now? Well, it all started with this post that I linked at Blogbharti-

Kusum visits the Poppy fields in Antelope Vally in the US and her pictures are a feast for the eyes.

No no, wait, I am coming to Monet. Then came Sunil who left this comment.

Thanks, great snaps.

I suppose the only excuse for not associating with Monet would have to be death.

Now I am curious and ask him (at Blogbharti), "So is Monet associated with death?" I am curious because his comment jogs my memory that I actually have seen a Monet painting at Oxford (the one posted above) and I thought maybe that at home turf (i.e. Blogbharti) I can take the risk of asking dumb questions. Hmm the answer I got convinced me that I should leave art well alone.

Er no. My fault, the way in which i said it. I just wanted to say it reminds me of Monet’s well known poppies. And almost instantaneously one would associate the snaps with the paintings. The only reason not to is if you have died. especially for me coz one monet hangs in my bed room. ;)
Cheers

OK, now that I read it again it makes some sense because Kusum uploaded pictures of poppies and Monet painted poppies ... But then I will not go anywhere near art for quite sometime now. Scares me stiff.

Lazy Sunday Photo- Oxford City Again

Oxford City, UK

There is a high chance that I will visit the city of Oxford for a week again in June. If it happens, it would be the first time I manage to visit a foreign place twice. Of course the trip would be related to work. But I hope the summer would be a better time to take pictures!

Lazy Sunday Photo- Oxford City Center

Oxford City Center, UK

For the week that I stayed in Oxford, dinner was mostly taken around the city center on all occassions. Never visited the Burger King or any such chain while there, but it is interesting to see these fast food joints jostling for space with really really old structures, like the structure on the left to the Burger King and the tower further left to the old building.

Lazy Sunday Photo- The Chang Story

Chang- The Local Home Brewed Beer from Spiti

Once again, I decided to write about food or rather drinks, this time. I generally do not like alcoholic drinks and stay away from them. Given a choice I like soup over alcohol any day. And both tend to cost a ton in restaurants! I know it is strange comparison but that is how it is.

This changed a little when I discovered chang in Spiti. The locally brewed beer tastes nothing like a Foster brewed in Aurangabad or some such place. I mean I can't stand Foster or Kingfisher. They have such a nasty stink (or so I feel and I know I am alone in this) that after one sip I do not try another. Chang has no nasty sting about it and I liked both the barley and the rice versions.

Then on the trip to Oxford last year we had a dinner hosted by the university (no and this is not the Oxford I am referring to) at a Thai restaurant called Chiang Mai. There were four of us, my colleague from India and two of my colleagues from UK. So when we started ordering soon the question came, "What would you like to drink?" I gave the default option, "Nothing." Then I browsed the beer list anyway and discovered Chang on the list. Not thinking too much, I changed my mind and decided to order Chang. It of course turned out to be a popular beer from Thailand but minus the stink. It was not the Chang I wanted but it was quite OK. The end result was that I ended up trying a lot of beers in UK and now I have to say, once in a blue moon I may pick them up over soup.

Lazy Sunday Photo- Two of the Most Beautiful College Buildings in Oxford

Christ Church College- Oxford

All Souls College, Oxford

The Noodle Bar- Oxford, Gloucester Green

The Noodle Bar, Oxford, Gloucester Green

Noodle Bar turned out to be my favorite eating joint in Oxford. One, the place was not too heavy on the pocket and two, if given a choice, I invariably end up eating Chinese. A few of the dinners and lunches were hosted by the university, so it felt quite strange when one day my colleague asked me what should we have for dinner? I have said this before, I am quite indifferent to food. So, I tried hard to make him decide but he would not budge. We were walking around the city and as I am vegetarian my options are just a little bit limited. I think I looked at every restaurant in the two hour walk as a potential eating place. We had ruled out the Indian fare, as we thought we anyway get a lot of it back home. And some places where ruled out because a single dish would cost more than 20 pounds (don't you think it is a neat idea to display the price list outside the restaurants? I wonder why we often don't do it in India).

After walking round and round I remembered the Noodle Bar near the Gloucester Green bus station. So, we decided to head there. I think almost the entire crowd (the waiting staff and the customers) consisted of students, only we and a few others were the odd people out (read older :).

The Dish with Thick Noodles, Noodle Bar, Oxford

I scanned the menu for vegetarian fare and found a dish with mushrooms (my absolute favorites) and decided to order it. But then the young guy who came to take the order had a bouncer. What kind of noodles would we like Ho Fun, Mai Fun, or Udon? Well, the names definitely sounded Chinese to me. Had to ask him to explain what did they mean! He told us one was really thin noodles, the other really thick noodles and the last something in between. But don't ask me which was which. So we decided to try two types. The portions were huge and I really struggled to finish my stuff. My colleague this day also ordered a veg dish.

Then the next day, we had the same question. Where to go for dinner? And you guessed it, we went to the noodle bar again. And this time we realized that out of the three vegetarian dishes we had already ordered two the previous day! Still, it was fun to have dinner at the Noodle Bar in a typical student environment but where none of the students knew me :)

Oxford City Center- If I Had to Pick One Picture!

Oxford City Center, Oxford, UK

Uber Mensch asked me to do a Meme (don't ask me what they are, I only know tags). From the blog-

Here is the new meme. It is simple, easy and gives no room for whining one usually associates with a meme. All you have to do is select and upload one photo that you have clicked this year that is special to you. Could be anything...aesthetic, technical or personal. Also, put in a short note why it is special.

I picked up the above picture for many reasons. One, I went abroad after 4 long years and it felt nice (all my trips abroad have been for work, we do not holiday abroad). It felt nice to be in a 'foreign' country again. It was a nice feeling that I again have the opportunity to work on the things I like.

I visited Leeds, Oxford and London and I think I enjoyed my stay in Oxford the most. The reason is very simple. Oxford is a very walking friendly city and I love to walk. That is the reason why I picked up the picture above. Reminds me of all the long walks that I took.

Update- I wrote a mail to Uber Mensch saying I did the post and he said the meme is not compete as I have not passed it on. Well, here are five people I pass it on to.

Paul Shoul- Ace photographer from Gonomad, I simply love his pictures. If he does this meme, then it would be really interesting to see which one he picks up.

Arun- Another ace photographer, who doesn't blogs as much as I would like to read him. Let us see what he would come up with.

Dev- The 'pizza man' has worked in/with advertising, let us see if he has time to do this and what picture is dear to him this year.

Anil- Can I miss on one of my favorite travel blogger? He too blogs far less than what I would like to read.

Arun Nair- He was asking about SLRs, so let us see what he likes to capture.

Some Pictures from the Recent UK Trip

The Radcliffe Square, Oxford, UK

Finally, I managed to put a little bit of tiredness of the trip behind and upload the pictures from my recent UK trip.

I did had a wonderful time at all the three places that I visited, Leeds, Oxford and London. As this was for work, could not do much justice travel wise to any of them. Still, travel is always good and all my visits abroad has been for work till date. Among all the trips abroad, this one ranks really at the top.