The 5 AM 'Pasta'

A strange feeling forced to spoil a beautiful dream that I was feeling like seeing since ages... and it was a real hangover as I took quite sometime to switch on the light, it was too difficult to manage the orientation of my room. Almost injured with few collisons with my beige colored wall, edge of the bed and even the only chair, with this, my cozy 8x15 room became the worst nightmare for a while. To be true I was wondering where 'm I exactly.... in my room back in Orissa, the rented accomodation in Delhi, in flight or in Hospital... huh, every odd thing came to mind.

Anyways, finally I manages to gain my sense. And then starts the adventure. It again was a hectic task to find the reason why did I wake-up at 4.40 in the morning, and the hunger found to be guilty. Tried to put some pressure on mind just to remember what I ate during the 40 hour long day... but could not, so time for hunting.

A complete 15 minute gaze and through scanning of the fridge and absolutely nothing 'ready to eat' except a Chicken Pizza from Tesco which was lying in one deserted corner of the freezer since ages..... The so turned vegetarian in me was so arrogant in this war like situation that it forced me to open the cup board to find something interesting... And here Pasta came in rescue. Chopped onions and a thick white sauce coated Pasta was a real delight to have at 5.30 in the morning before going back to bed only to complete the 2 days pending quota. But while having food it I was thinking, what should this be termed as, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner!!! Nah, the '5 am Pasta' can only be the stuff to 'Survive'....

P.S. Kitchen panic like me!!! Do mail to get FREE survival tips :D

What happened last Night!

Something went wrong last night and today morning the memory cells just refused for the system RECOVERY... Should I call it 'Binge Drinking'!!!

Blossom

Spring is almost here. With the temperature level at 15, 12 hours of daylight, regular peeps of the Sun in-between and with leafless trees loaded with these Cherry Blossoms are just ringing the bell of it's presence.

Happy Holi...

Hope this festival of COLORS will add more vibrancy to your life making it even more bright...
Happy Holi everyone...




Friends, Food and colors...... This is how my day was spent but still it always hurts to be away from home. 

How do you ENTER your house!

Doors and Windows are like face and it's different elements of a residential house. Like human breed it also varies from region to region showcasing the variety and vibrancy of different cultural practice. So, Architecture is just an integrated part of culture and society of any place...

And here is my attempt to frame few of these expressions of a particular region in United Kingdom.

Lincoln, United Kingdom

This is just a TEASER pic... had an awesome time in Lincoln last Saturday. Planned to visit few places there but the Lincoln Cathedral just took over everything and I spent the whole day there and only returned after attending the service in the evening. Have stories to share about the city and this 1000 year old marvel of Architecture... Hopefully very soon ;)

Hi-res on Flickr.

High Force Waterfall, United Kingdom

High Force Waterfall in Durham County is one of the famous water falls in England. Falling from a height of 70 feet on River Tees it is the highest uninterrupted waterfall (not highest) in United Kingdom. The whole river comes down from the steep rocky edge in two steps which even freezes during the winter days.

Other than the Fall, the walk along with the track following to the place really gives a variety of views at every node.





Travel Information:
Location - Teesdale, Durham
Phone - +44 1833 622209
Post Code - DL12 0XH (Sat Nav)
Opening Times - 10am to 5.00pm
Entry Fee - Adult: 1.50 GBP
                       Student: 1.0 GBP
Parking - 2.00 GBP
Staying Options - B&B facility available
Time Consumption - Minimum 1-2 hour
What NOT to miss: A calm sit on the rocks facing the waterfall and the jungle trail. The small souvenirs from the Gift Shop (Gift shop itself is the ticket counter). And yes, hot soups are available in the Gift shop which was pure bliss for me on that real cold evening.
Precautions: BE careful on stones, those are really sleepery. Take care of Children all the time. And it is advisable to give them a call about opening hours of the day during winter as it remains closed on adverse weather conditions.

Pray for Japan!

How nature can be so cruel!!! The Tohoku earthquake and tsunami is just another pathetic indecent added to the world history with 5000+ deaths, 2000+ injuries and 8000+ missing cases... and its much much massive than all these numbers. Lets pray for the peace of the souls of the dead, quick recovery of the injured and also for the people who are standing in the support to keep the life of the region on track. God SAVE Japan.

NewCastle upon Tyne: Another 'Road Trip'

The travel BUG never dies and neither forgets to BITE even if all the cells in your brain are dead...huh. So the CURE to the recent attack, NewCastle upon Tyne. This time towards North-East of United Kingdom...

And here we go.....

England's 20th most popular place and home to NewCastle United Football Club, is a part of historical city of Northumberland and lies on the North bank of river Tyne.
Commercially the city has reputations for wool trade, coal mining and ship building. The city also houses the famous beer 'Newcastle Brown Ale' and of course Soccer.

I managed to spend an extended evening in the city only to experience few architectural marvels around and not to mention, it own my heart and an urge for a proper visit.

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge...

The famous Gateshead Millennium Bridge is worlds first tilting bridge which spans the river Tyne with a pedestrian passage and a cycle track. Designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects and engineered by Gifford & Partners, this 126 meter bridge is a perfect marriage of Architecture and Engineering. The basic concept behind the technology is the opening of an eye.
You must be wondering what the 'tilting bridge' is! Actually the bridge allows the passage of ships underneath with a tilt when it is required. The support bases act as pivots and 8 electric motors producing 500+ horsepowers tilts the 850 tonne bridge. Each tilt takes around 4 and 1/2 minutes and is very very energy efficient. The gateshead quays claims that each tilt costs only 3.60 GBP.

The Gateshead Millennium Bridge and The Saga...


'The Saga Gateshead' by Sir Norman Foster...


St. James' Park...







One religion... 'Soccer'


'Angel of North'... a sculpture by Antony Gormley

Friday Night

Again, I'm sitting surrounded by millions of books... It is the literature floor in our library, you must be wondering, what the hell 'm doing in the Zombie land... lolz.
Actually it is another aimless night to go just to experience the Sunrise and the cold morning breeze along the meadows before Spring comes and Winter becomes history ;)



Actually Spring was about to approach and people started to come out with their summer clothes which forced Winter to send few proper waves of cold... let me tell you, it is really cold and the temperature as low as 2 degrees...

Something to call SEXY...

I never knew that 'm living beside a SUZUKI... don't know, how I missed this!!! Though thats a bit unusual route... All of a sudden I got to see the display board and immediately dashed inside. And thanks to the guy who owns the dealership, had a long extended discussion session over biking around the world... after all the frequency matches for bikers....
He is really keen to ride in the Himalayas someday and we also discussed issues on hiring a motor cycle. Actually renting a bike (read Super Bike) for a day here in UK costs almost 5-7 times than renting a car. According to him, the higher insurance amount is one of the issue and also many people ended in crashing all these big and expensive bikes which makes the bike rental thing a very unsuccessful business deal.
I personally contacted to one of the agency few days back to hire a bike but they do only give BMW 1200GS after seeing your riding profile and it may cost you some 100+ GBP per day and there also are some critical terms for the insurance. Another thing is that they don't provide riding gears on hire unlike few other operators around the world. And it makes impossible for people like me to grab a bike once in a while as riding gears need a proper investment which makes no sense if you are riding here in the foreign land occasionally...

My all time favorite... 2011 GXR. Super SEXY.


And the exhaust of B-KING...

A Long Way...

Ah... just realized, the post count in this blog crossed the mark of double century and then discovered that it also turned 5+ this January...

archi-star.blogspot.com (now archi-star.net) started only out of fun during my college days in the year 2006 and I never thought that it will continue such a long period. To be true I started noting down my travel stories just only because of my forgetfulness but later it became an addiction and a showcase of my photography. And always feels good to see words from you all around the globe...



So Guyz, thanks you very much all for your support, suggestion and inspiration throughout to keep me going... Still a long way to go in an attempt to experience the horizon, before getting buried...

London Architecture: High Rise

The city of London is one among few heritage cities around the globe which respects it's arcitecture. The skyline of the city clearly describes that Londoners are not a big fan of high rise structures. The tall buildings in the city can be counted with finger tips and not to mention most them are commercial towers. Less than 1% of British population do live in high rise apartments and that to either they are singles or newly married. Britishers do have a weakness on independent houses and country sides, that is actually the way they prefer to live. Typical country houses are like essence of British housing culture. And not to mention, the approval process for the high rise is quite a process as the council always tried to maintain few heritage visual axises through-out the city, so one should not be surprised to hear that the tall building approval process in London may take a decade over numerous changes...

So few high-rises from the Capital City...

Heron Tower... One of the recent sustainable development in the city with PV claddings on facade.


The Shard by Renzo Piano... Once completed, it will be the tallest in the city as well as in Western Europe with a height of 310 meters (1,016 feet).


Lloyds by Richard Rogers... A master piece itself.


St Mary Axe (Gherkin) by Foster & Partners... The most impressive landmark and another sustainable high-rise.


Broadgate Towers... A structural marvel.



P.S. The true essence of London is yet to be captured, the heritage... Hopefully someday ;)

Calendar 2011, March

Download Hi-resolution HERE.

Finally I stopped counting the days... but UK is no doubt Beautiful ;)
This photograph was captured during my first visit to London on a field trip, while sun was playing hide & seek with Tower Bridge, which needs no introduction...