Wednesday Wanderings: Apes warning in Gibraltar!

Apes Den is home to some 300 Barbary Macaques (the only place on European continent where these particular apes are found) and is an interesting pit stop during a walk around Upper Rock Nature Reserve on Gibraltar. Do note that there is no real ‘den’ or ‘cave’ that you need to be afraid of. As you walk through the nature reserve, you’ll just come across some really lazy apes sunbathing in the Mediterranean sun. But don’t be fooled – these apes are very mischievous and would love to grab any food item you might been waiting to relish.

So, I should not have been surprised to read this hilarious note on the refrigerator in a shop near Apes Den:

You have been warned! Protect your icecream! 😀

Have you seen any such funny warnings and notes while travelling? 🙂

Wednesday Wanderings: Galleria Umberto I in Naples

Galleria Umberto I is a public shopping gallery in Naples – located right opposite San Carlo theatre, which was constructed more than a hundred years back and named after, surprise surprise, Umberto I – the king of Italy at the time of its construction (more details can be obtained from wiki). The gallery has four wings, and is surmounted by a beautiful glass dome. In my opinion, the gallery is a might-as-well-visit-since-I-am-there location in Naples 🙂

Galleria Umberto I in Naples

And when you are there, don’t forget to look down either. It has some really beautiful tile designs as well!

Tiles design at Galleria Umberto I, Naples

Wednesday Wanderings: Keswick, Lake District

Here’s a question for you: Say, you are walking through a forlorn antiques Arabian market, and you chanced upon a magic lamp. You rub it, since it’s too dusty (and not because you were expecting a genie), and a genie appears and grants you one wish. What would you wish for?

Now, let’s change the scene a little bit. What if you were walking through a beautiful little town in Lake District in UK. The weather’s slightly rainy but pleasant. And all around you can see green hills, or serene lakes, or cloudy skies looking forward to a sunset. And instead of a genie, you meet a wishing well. What would your first thought be?

A wishing well at Keswick, Lake District

What did I do? I just took a photograph and walked on. My wish was to just keep walking and roaming through the beautiful countryside. Didn’t need a wishing well to make it true. 🙂

Wednesday Wanderings: Stockholm

I visited the beautiful city of Stockholm this weekend. Although it was a bit cold and dark (just a few hours of daylight during winters), it was also serene and charming. I rode through the metro with its colourful metro stations, saw the changing of the guard, roamed around the old town Gamla Stan and found some interesting walks and spaces in the city.. more details to come soon!

Here, for a taster, is a photo of Gamla Stan, as seen from the premises of the Stockholm City Hall (Stadshuset), where the dinner for Nobel laureates takes place..

Stockholm on a beautiful winter morning

Wednesday Wanderings: Amusing Amsterdam

I visited Amsterdam in March this year (and I am going to be there in December again) and if I were asked to describe the city in one word, it would be ‘Amusing‘. Amsterdam feels like a place with it’s own whims and variations – which never fail to surprise and entertain you.

Right next to the Amsterdam Centraal railway station, goes the road Prins Hendrikkade where you can catch buses to pretty much anywhere in the city. Here, as I was waiting for my tour bus, I remember seeing this and wondering.. would this have been done by a guy (or a girl maybe!) who had one too many a joint and a shot, as he stumbled across Damrak after exiting The Grasshopper and made a wise decision – a bus may be a better mode of transportation than a single skate..

Just another photo in Amsterdam. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Have you found any particular city which made you go off into Scrubs-like daydreams and wanderings? 🙂

 p.s. Where on earth might the other skate be?