Ikey Trying To Deliver An Eloquent Speech

When we discussed the idea to capture Ikey's timeline on web (http://anoopsavio.com/ikey/), I thought it might be an overhead to my hobby time. I rejected Ani's idea in the beginning which then she successfully negotiated to reinstate her view on this matter. Well, it turned out to be a 'terrific idea', as my uncle responded to it :) 

This made a great difference in my life. Those events, the little big milestones in Ikey's life, which I would have missed (because of my general priorities), came to me like a homework. It is more or less like an instruction from Ani - "Anu today this event happened in Ikey's life. Please update the timeline", which then I will go in, upload the videos / pictures / texts, tags them to a date and click save to bring it on to the website. Along with it, my heart goes through those events with joy and thankfulness to God for blessing us with a wonder kid. If the timeline wasn't there, those events would have probably taken a stroll through my ears and gone somewhere. 

Ani called me in the evening and told that Ikey was trying to speak the other day. I didn't believe it. Until few days back, he was using his mouth for two main purposes - laughing and eating food. So I couldn't believe the event as of such. But when I received the below video, I laughed my heart out. He was try to convey something. Both sweet and fun to watch. :)

Glasgow Cathedral & Necropolis

Finished some pending official work in the morning. Prepared the lunch and while planning for a walk out I noticed that the cathedral is close by. So decided to take a walk to the place.

While I was getting out of the hotel, the receptionist warned me about the rain and handed over an umbrella. That was so kind of him. Appreciated.

14 minutes walk to the cathedral. It just stopped raining then. The offline maps worked great. It was navigating me with ultimate accuracy.

The sky was bit dark. I expected another rain before reaching the cathedral. But it just drizzled all the way long. Didn't have to use the umbrella. Like a soft touch from the nature, the walk was more enjoyable with the drizzle. What a feel.

This is not the cathedral. Looks like an another church on the way.

Not sure who this is. The cathedral premises had a lot of statues like this one all around.

Cathedral view from the front gate. The place was so neat and clean. No wonder why this place has a Gold environment status.

Lots of tourist were enjoying the architectural beauty of this place. Tall and artful roofs and that old touch of architecture so amazing.

Looked like the music vent connected to a huge organ.

Is this the organ to which those numerous pipes connected to? Might be.

Side view of the cathedral

On the way to cathedral hill. Green meadows.

The way up to the Necropolis (The Glasgow Necropolis is a Victorian cemetery). 

Either take left or right, and climb up the mountain.

Lots of monumental structures all around this place. I was walking in between them and clicking pics for some time.

That is the view of the cathedral and the surrounding areas up from the hill. I was anyway tired of climbing the hill. So sat down and enjoyed the view and the cool breeze for almost half an hour before heading down back to the ground. Priceless moments and memories.

The cathedral hotel just outside the premises. That was a cute little structure which carries that old charm attached with a beer garden.

A tour video of the cathedral below

The Chocolate Factory

I saw one pound store in the morning while walking towards the Central Station. The shop had a very good deal but I didn't want to get into a shopping mode in the morning. Kept the visit for the evening.

So in the evening, I decided to pay a visit to the pound store. Suddenly this shop caught my attention. I was wondering how did I miss it in the morning. It is a chocolate shop. Home made and lots of other varieties. It was even good to walk around the shop. I wanted to click the picture, but didn't want to do it without the owners permissions.

Saw this old lady (Is that Mrs. Mitchell? I think so) in the counter and so I requested her the permissions to click the photos. She gracefully agreed. I started clicking all around like I got the permission to fire the machine gun :) Sharing some of the pics here.

This is the front view of the shop. It catches the attention of the people, especially the kids.

Different varieties of chocolates arranged to tempt the people :)

This is the marshmallow section.  That big smiley face is made of soft marshmallow.

I didn't get what this is. Doesn't matter, it is chocolate.

No idea what this is. But it was written sweet on the label. Didn't get the rest of it.

Aha. This was favorite one in the bunch. The Wonka bar from the Charlie and the Chocolate bakery.

Am I getting the golden ticket?

The chocolate sticks

The Reese's + other heros

The marshmallow collections

Scottish tablets?

Puff candies all around

More marshmallows

Yummy butter cookies

Mint balls section

This shop has a crazy collections of chocolates for sure. Keeping an eye on this place :)

Dare Enough For A Change

Finally I decided to take a deviation. Downloaded the Google Offline map of this area and felt too much of confidence. Walked for almost 4 miles and clicked photos all around. 

Majority of the establishments are bar attached restaurants. Pints and Spirits are adorned more than the water. Might be that the extreme cold climate. Its a part of the culture.

I hear a church bell kind of sound from a far distance from the hotel room. Came to know that it is from this tower. It rings for every hour. Soothing voice.

I like the road intersections. There are some interesting buildings on the dividers.

Walking to the interior part of the city. The old days touch kept on coming in

Clicked this picture as this building looks symmetrically awesome. A rectangular chunk of art.

The brownish row structures. Old shops on the ground floor. There were some Indian restaurants too.

The end of this road takes me to the hotel. Combination of maps + landmarks saved some battery life.

Music Everywhere

This place is full of music all the time. 

I walked into the hotel lobby there was the music. Checked into the room, music was there too. Walked out to the street, there is the music again. 

Ani also love to listen to music. I don't know how many CD's I have gifted to her during our college days. She too started loving my favorites since then.

There was at least 4 live musicians along the way to the central station which is a mile from the hotel. Stopped at couple of places to listen to them. So blessed with the wonderful voice. Still I wonder why they don't get the right chance to come into the limelight.

He was there for a long time. Country songs? I think yes.

But this person was singing one of my favorites (Cold Play - A Sky Full Of Stars). So recorded the video for sometime. Good singing.

They Says Its Summer

Whomever I met at the hotel or office told me that they are enjoying the summer. I politely agreed to their comments shivering on the street (It was 8 degree celcious when I checked the weather). Indeed it is a summer for them, but I needed an extra sweater then :)

For the past three days whenever I got out, I took the exact same alley to walk, shop or eat. I was so confused about the street layout and took the same path all the day to avoid getting lost.

In and out of the buildings and shops, it was a wonderful walk in the morning.

This looked like a mall. But all the shops in it were dedicated either to jewelry or watches. 

That's a cute little coffee shop near to the central station. It looked like a church though from a distance

Glass paved roofs let in lot of sunlight. So energetic.

Captivating collections

I believe this is a connection terminal to the central station

The corner building next to the central station.

Glasgow Central Station

The path I walked took me to the Central Station. Walked in and around sometime enjoying one of the magnificent infrastructure of Scotland. 

This is a major mainline terminus and the larger of the two present main-line railway terminals in Glasgow.With over 27 million passenger entries and exits between March 2013 and April 2014, Glasgow Central is the tenth-busiest railway station in Britain.

It is the terminus for all inter-city services between Glasgow and destinations in England. Something of my interest for sure.

According to Network Rail, over 38 million people use it annually, 80% of whom are passengers. The station is protected as a category A listed building (Category A: "buildings of national or international importance, either architectural or historic, or fine little-altered examples of some particular period, style or building type.").

Could find some pretty interesting facts about the station in the below footage.

Spent some around, a small shopping at the Tesco Express and headed back home for lunch.

The First Scottish Weekend

Got up by 8 in the morning listening to the unusual noise from the street. There were too many people out enjoying their stroll and laughing around. On the top of it, some seagulls which went really crazy flying around making weird noise.

Took a Skype call with my dears and Ikey was smiling and laughing at my Twinkle song. Missing them. Spent few minutes reading the bible and the topic I got to read - The Year of Favor!

Whats for the breakfast? There was a packet of pasta which I bought the other day during the shopping walk. Not because I like it. But it was one thing that I could eat and kind of inexpensive :) 

Boiling and getting ready.

It wasn't tough to cook. Only 10 minutes and it was ready to eat

Sauce was kind of meat based. And it tasted well with the pasta.

Ate it in coupe of minutes and got ready to hit the street.

The Architectural Elegance

Clicking the photos around while on a walk is my favorite. That happens when I am on a vacation and gives Ani a tough time making her posing almost everywhere on the way. But she is sweet enough to do whatever I say. Glad that I got a prefect partner who cares to the extreme :)

These are the structures that I walk by for couple of days now. Initially this was a sheer amazement for me. Each and every building around is a masterpiece.  There will be something special for every building. Unlike a plain kind of design, all got a royal art touch. 90% of the buildings carry this taste and it makes the city so beautiful.

Uphill climb. Kind of San-Francisco touch

See the brick styles. So massive

So authentic in look and feel

It was 5:30 in the evening. Might be that it is Friday. Not much people were around. 

As I mentioned earlier, this is the second art form that I witnessed on the way to office. Looking nice.

By the way, I haven't seen even the 1% if the city yet.