A game of chance

Trip Overseas Part 5: Headless Beauties

The bust of Louis XVII

Bust of Alexander The Great

Showing a man writing hieroglyphs 

The Louvre museum is home to many beautiful pieces of art like sculptures and paintings among others. What caught my immediate attention were these very beautiful headless statues. Although headless, these sculptures have great detail on their clothing which makes them seem very real. Each and every fold in the cloth is specifically shown; the textures are very well represented and have a very rough yet smooth feeling to them. Though these statues don’t have an apex they still manage to capture your view and make you want to look at them even more.

There were not only headless statues but bodiless busts like that of Alexander the Great.

Some of the sculptors whose work is present in the Louvre are – Michelangelo, Puget, and Houdon etc. Other statues: There were also other sculptures that caught the eye like that of a rider on a horse, of kings, of angels, of babies, of Gods and Goddesses… The famous Venus de Milo was the center of attraction; though the statue is armless is still holds great beauty and elegance. Aside from Roman and Greek sculptures there were a few Egyptian sculptures too - statues of cats, the priest of Bastet, the very famous Seated Scribe and the Sphinx.  

A Trip Overseas Part 4: A Peek into the Beginning of the Universe

CERN, European Organization for Nuclear Research, is an international organization in Geneva with the world's largest Particle Physics laboratory. It was established in 1954 and has 20 European member states. What really interested me at first about Cern was the experiment that is being carried out here, to discover more about the Big Bang theory and how our universe began. Its main project right now is the LHC or Large Hadron Collider, which is being used by scientists to help find out more about the Big Bang. Though you are not really able to see the inside of the lab, there are many exhibits that are open for public viewing.

Back to Geneva, the Jardin Botanique or Botanical Garden has a vast variety of plants from different parts of the globe, like flowers from the Andes and from the deserts of the world. There were different flora and fauna in the garden and the products that could be acquired from the plants were also mentioned. It had a very small but magnificent greenhouse which is home to many species of cacti.

In the next part, visit France and the Louvre with me.

A Trip Overseas Part 3: Power and Majesty

I have mentioned the United Nations building in my earlier post (Part 1), and I would like to describe it a bit more before I talk about the Alps. The UN building has great infrastructure and has a very large campus. There is a very beautiful fountain at the entrance and a chair with a broken leg sits near the fountain – it reminds one that a person cannot stay in power forever and that power corrupts.

It also has a very great shop which has almost everything – from wine to chocolates to stationery J.

Moving on to the Alps: The Alps mountain range runs through several countries in Europe, from Austria on the east to France in the west. The Chamonix-Mont Blanc Mountains are very close to the city of Geneva. Mount Blanc is 15,782 feet tall and it is the highest mountain in the Alps. To reach to the top of the mountains you have to take a ski lift and there are many towers that you can choose to climb to get a better view from the top. There is a magnificent bridge, on crossing which you reach Italy. Below the mountains is the city of Chamonix, which surprisingly hardly receives snow.  

This ‘Ship’ Never Sinks

By :Marion Foster

Everyone is different

No one is the same

But friends are ones who understand you

And think the same way

They might be very different

But are always there to stay

True friends don’t look at where you are from

Or what you did

They accept you as you are, come what may

Written for :

http://childrensverse.blogspot.com/2011/06/mondays-child-49.html

A Trip Overseas Pt 2

A very beautiful museum in the City of Geneva, the Patek Philip Museum, is tightly tucked away between two small buildings and differently colored buildings, some green, some brown.
A truly magnificent museum, though not very grand, it is a must see. It presents watches of all generations, from pocket watches to wall clocks to the very recent wrist watches. Beautifully hand crafted watches with great detail were present in the museum.

Each watch showed the passion with which it was made, and each had its own story to tell.
There were watches made in everything from knifes to mirrors to fans and many more things. There was not a thing that didn't and couldn't have a watch in it!
A very interesting watch was one made in a Pistol which at a certain time would make a noise making a bird spring out which would start to sing. The museum was truly an experience of a life time.

These delicate yet exquisite watches give a very royal and rich feeling!

A trip overseas pt 1

Day 1:

As the plane landed in Geneva a pleasant wind greeted me at the airport. It was late at night and I reached my hotel in around fifteen minutes.

Sleep hit me since I had been travelling for a long time that day.

Day 2:

St Pierre's Cathedral

As the morning arrived I grabbed a quick breakfast, decided to make a visit to the cathedrals and a few of the museums. I went for a visit to the famous cathedral of St Pierre.An amazing church with carved wooden chairs and intricate glass work. I also managed a visit to the Roman Orthodox Church, a wonder of its own with gold plated domes having beautiful artifacts and great pictures. Later after a leisurely lunch at the United  Nations cafeteria, offering a great variety of foods, me being a vegetarian, still managed to find a surprising number of vegetarian dishes. The Nation’s grounds were quite pleasant to explore, with big gardens and a great shop, it’s a must visit. I later visited the museum of Art and history. Containing many fine art sculptures and great paintings. There was a special exhibition going on about Rome, which was very informative. One of my favorite paintings was one by Jan Brueghel called "Bouquet of Flowers in a vase”. I returned back by the tram which is a preferred mode of transport for most of the population. This ended my second day.

The Coat of arms Geneva 

Sorrow

Photomanuplation by me :)

Petals that gently touch the ground
Tears that gathered all around
All the roses wasted and thrown
Plucked twisted and torn
The thorn that pricked
Left blood across the floor
The pain caused by a loved one
had hurt the most...

The piano

By: the-auteur.deviantart.com

There it sat in solitude,

Something of question that would delude,

The black and white keys in harmony,

The piano on which you played the sweet symphony.

The song I can’t forget,

Something I’ll always come to regret,

For hours and hours you sat and played,

What was an hour seemed like a day.

That symphony of yours,

Is long gone and lost,

The dust on the piano collects every day,

No one around tries to play.

The piano stares at me reminding me of you,

Oh how I wish I could defy the truth.

Tea Time

Illustration by: Jessie Wilcox Smith - 1914

 Molly and Mr Bobo were sipping on their tea
“How was your day Mr Bobo ?” Asked little Molly
“T’was fine, truly divine” 
“Is there something the matter today ?”
“Much as I would like, I cannot keep my worries at bay.
Buildings are coming ,
trees are being cut to make way,
leaving us monkeys, no place to stay !”

Written for http://childrensverse.blogspot.com/2011/02/mondays-child-34.html

Smoke

He walked all alone blowing smoke from his cigar
Everything once so near and dear was now so far
He had lost all his glory, he no longer found respect
Shattered and lonely he walked step by step to his death
Taking the smoke in his lungs was no longer rough
He had reached the end, he had borne more than enough