Lion king - The Musical

Ever since I watched " The Lion king" musical some six years back, it has stayed with me as one of the most beautiful experiences for its exquisite display of human imagination. The entire concept, the stage, the costumes , the performances......everything is so spellbinding! It is not a surprise then, that it has made history as the longest running live performance, having opened in 1999 and running successfuly till date ....its 2013 ! 

I have been simply waiting for Vedaant to grow up enough to be able to enjoy the theatrical experience. So when we went again, I was as anxious to watch it once more, as I was to see reactions of my hubby and especially Ved. And as expected his reactions did not dissappoint. He went " Oh man!" "Awww.......look" "Woooww" "See that?" throughout the show :) . Its been about a week since  and not a day has passed without Vedaant mentioning something about it. He's been humming "The lion sleeps tonight" while doing Lego, during bath and all the time.

I've been wondering about the thought process behind the creation of such a beautiful spectacle, and luckily enough here it is . Hats off ! 

Ice Sculpting festival - Canary Wharf

Each year, in January, London is host to ice scuptors from different parts of the world, who, in front of delighted spectators turn gleaming blocks of ice into stunningly beautiful pieces of art. 

In contrast to the endless piecs of art immortalized in London's endless list of museums, it is amazing to see the passion with which these artists go about their stuff, knowing that their creations will not last for more than a day !!

We gathered enough spunk to go take a look in the chilly weather. The sculptors, however, did their share spreading warmth not only with their art but at the same time engaging watchers in joyful jokes (esp the US team). 

Vedaant's reaction at seeing the artists in action had me amused and highly surprised ,though. He stayed totally glued  for hours, long after I had retreated with aching toes into the underground station and inspite of his dads attempts at breaking him away when it got too cold. Eventually when a frozen daddy ended up tearing him away, we had one upset little 5 year old to deal with. :)

 The theme for 2013 was Infinity and Wonders of the world. Here's what got my lil one so spellbound.

The statues were lit up in the later half of the day , which can be seen here

This was at the last years festival, trying our hand at chiselling a Polar Bear ..didn't do bad for a first timer !

Lake District - Windermere

While we famously know the place as Lake District with 14 odd lakes strewn around in the monuntains, the locals rarely refer to those as 'lakes'. They are instead most commonly called "Meres" (Like Winder-mere) or "tarns" or just "waters" - all words that have stuck back from the Anglo-Saxon era. 

History abounds in Lake District, just like most parts on England. But here it is not in the form of castles and royalty. Stories about history of the landscape, its evolution over years, its inabitants and even supernatural experiences were woven in our journey by our fantastic driver and guide of 'Mountain Goat' tours, throughout our trip, with his beautiful skills of narration. 

The prominent thought, however, that occupies our minds after returning from the wonderful visit, apart from its divine sights, is that - we must go back again. Partly because there are places we missed out on - like the Grizdale forest with it huge collection of forest sculptures - but also because Lake district is not complete without cycling up mountains, climbing hillsides and rambling alongsided lakes, or maybe even camp beside one. 

And yet, the tour expereince, our first guided trip, was also beautiful, serene and humbling to say the least. We meandered up and down the hilly roads, stopping every now and then to discover different definitions of 'breathtaking'. The numerous streamlets bounding down slopes to fill up lakes and the mountains dotted with herdwick sheep - they are sights that are imprinted permanently in our memory. The lakes all seem to have their own character and each comes with a story that gives the lake its name. No two lakes seem to be the same. 

The mountains carpeted in green with pockets of 'imported' coniferous trees, tell their own story. The landscape was once a dense forest land. The Celts, Romans, Angel and Vikings, however brought with them 'mountain farming' and 'sheep-farming' thereby giving birth to a whole new landscape that we admire today. Part of the land was cleared for agriculture and part of it stopped growing as the sheep nibbled away constantly at new plant shoots. Strangely this is now likely to undergo a reversal though, as the new generation finds mountain farming too hard and less profitable thereby moving to 'greener pastures' ! The government is possibly hoping to sustain it though with subsidies and other initiatives. 
Time will tell which route nature takes.

For now the herdwick sheep are the most important inhabitants of the mountains. Apparantly they are the only ones who can actually survive the landscape and weather. Neither cows nor horses are bred with much success in the area.  While they apper to be either white, grey, brown or black, they are actually all the same and change colour from black to brown and then white and grey as they grow. Mostly bred for meat, their  coarse fur is used for insulation, carpets etc, not clothes. 

We also missed out on visiting the Pencil Museum and factory due to some reasons, but it is definitely on the cards when we go next. Legend has it that in the early 1500's a violent storm in the area led to uprooting of trees and discovery of a strange black material underneath - which farmers used to make markings on the sheep. We managed to pick some of the famous pencils though :)

One astonishing thing, hard to miss about the lake district is its relation with 'stone'. The town are a direct result of railways that were set up to support the mining industry that once flourished and the signs are seen till date, though most of it is now limited to preserve the area. Slate mining still exists on a limited scale. and most roofs of homes are made of slate owing to its natural quality of flattening itself. 

Equally fascinating , I felt, was the endless rows of piled up stone walls that are built as fences for homes, farms and roads. The stones are piled up in a specific manner so that they stay together without any cement of any sort. Building such walls is an art, and luckily not a dying art like many other traditional ones. Volunteers around lake district, especially youngsters, have learnt this art and gladly provide their services free to farmers and people who wish to reconstruct or repair their walls. 

All this education came from our wonderful tour guide during our trip, apart from beautifully woven stories Viking period, stories of climbers, writers , farmers, animals and even spirits. We even got to stop at a little gingerbread shop that had a story of its own.  The Sarah Nelson Gingerbread shop - which has a recipe so unique that it is safely stored in a bank vault, and not replicated anywhere else. It all reminded me of the famous quote " The universe is made of stories, not atoms" .

I would say Lake district is like a window to some part of what heaven would look like - serene, beautiful, abundant, calm, rich and purifying. Is it my imagination or did it have a little effect of my baby too? As i picked up William Wordsworth's 'Daffodils'  fridge magnet souvenir , my 4 year old came to me with two souvenirs - a keychain with a car and a fridge magnet with a floating dolphin. I told him that he could have one and he had to choose. Must have been the connection with nature ...he chose to take the dolphin ! 

Lake district was a soulful experience - one that we will cherish and go back to for more. I do hope that as we quench our travel thirst over time, my child will absorb what Karim Rashid beautifully says - 

'We consume experiences, not things'.  

Chatsworth House - Chesterfield

As someone has put it rightly - It is difficult to travel for over fifteen munites in UK and not stumble across some building that has been declared as a national heritage site :). So when hubby's itinerary included "Chatsworth house", I thought "not another royal home...must be like Buckingham Palace". But the reviews on tripadvisor and husband both convinced me otherwise and I conceded, without having much interest in looking it up on the net. However, not trying to find out more about the place was, in retrospect, a good thing, since it would indeed have spoiled the pleasant surprise that awaited us there.

Sheffield to Chatsworth House, or Matlock, was a good hour and half long journey by bus. Once again passing through the greenery of national park (as we did on our trip to peak cavern), the fields, scattered localities and occasional market areas kept us beautifully occupied and fresh on arrival. However, going on a long weekend also meant traffic jams and counting cars for as long as we could see. Umm, if you ask me cars should be banned in places like these ..with more public transport being made available. Not only is it unfair on the driver to not be able to truly enjoy the serenity, but the place can do without the fumes too.

Nevertheless.... the initial sight of Chatsworth house, a lone beautiful yellow tinged structure standing majestically all alone in the massive stretch of green is simply grand and ignites enough curiosity about what would it would be like on the inside.

We chose to do the garden first, which was Vedaant's decision. The entrance and the view gives absolutely no inkling of the amazing garden that lies behind the palatial home, which is now the only living royal home in the UK.

We thouroughly enjoyed walking through the not overly maintained garden. The wild plants and wooded places, the beautiful flora and fauna, the water areas, the rocks we climbed on , the maze and the art pieces took most part of our visit. 

The floral extravaganza in Chatsworth house gardens...awwwee inspiringg.....

The insides of the house were interesting and beautiful showcasing royalty in splendour. Much more impressive than Buckingham Palace, this place is a must visit if one goes to Peak District. Since we decideed to deposit the bigger n better camera and stroll around more casually, here are a few clicks with the mobile phone.

"Devil's Arse"

        

Interestingly, Peak Cavern, a major attraction in Peak District, was earliar known as "Devil's Arse"  - after the faltulent noises that used to come from the cave (lol lol). The name was changed to Peak Cavern during Queen Victoria's visit , but eventually the vulgar name made it more popular :)

Travelling to the caves from Sheffield on a rainy day, especially on top berth of a bus was beautiful. The road leads through Peak District's National Park ..a land greener than any other in UK. In fact, as I know it, since 34th if Sheffield lies in the national park, it boasts of the largest man to trees ratio anywhere in Europe! The road is wonderful, winding through the not very high, but hilly area through avenues, fields and scattered campsites, beautiful homes with ravising gardens from which old men and ladies waved to us as we passed.

Peak Cavern itself , mostly natural, is a series of 4 caves, out of which we were able to cover one.

  

The entrance to the cave at the end of a stream, is hidden beautifully during the walk to it and comes into view suddenly around a turn, which is quite a surprise. Me thinks, the grand entrance is much more fascinating than the caves itself. As for Vedaant, this place was straight out of "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" !!! So all the while we were inside, he was Jake, I was Izzy and daddy was Cubby :)

The caves are barren rock formations, without any carvings or sculputures, and thankfully no graffiti.Full marks to our guide, who made this place fantastically mysterious with her stories about the mine workers, ghosts, queen's visit, movie shoots. And for making us see all sorts of shapes like father Christmas, eagle etc. in the rock formations apart from freaking us out with spooky stories of her own experiences and those of others.

If you look closely in the last pic you will see a kind of rail track on the side. Mine workers had to lie on their backs, on a wheeled carraige which took them further inside the caves. This is where the caves are blocked for public. 

Once outside the "Arse" it was time to get some fresh air ... ...and a lil reward for being good :)