Paris Trip

" For all this time, I have been underneath Paris!!!!!!!!" - by Remy in Ratatouille. Well I bet, it hasn't seen the Paris metro! The film Ratatouille gave me an impression that Paris is something great, full of luxury etc. Well, for our trip the money we used to book a Paris hotel can get us a 4 star hotel in USA or a 3 star in UK. Here the room was more like a lodge room

I understood, Paris do offer luxury to people who have loads in their pocket. :)
Anyway, the attractions we visited were good, can say great about Louvre museum. Notre Dame Cathedral is historically important. This was the place were Napoleon Bonaparte's coronation was conducted.

Yesterday, 14th April 2010, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary!! Had appam and beef for breakfast. We went to St. Anne's church at Prince Regent(had some trouble in finding the church) because our parish church was closed that time. Opened the closed church door by waking the priest. :) Got a blessing from him, when we told about our anniversary.  Lighted candles in the church and stayed there for a while.  Went to Greenwich park in the evening.  When Joel got a distant view of park, he was very happy and said..."Eesho baby park-il blah blah blah....ummah" !!! I understood, he was thanking Jesus. Jerry and me couldn't control laughing on hearing that... That was really sweet of him!

When you feel a bit overwhelmed by what life has to offer sometimes, it is good to go after healthy escape-mechanisms like writing, outings, book reading, networking etc. Someone once said......being less dependent on others and never loosing self respect can help handling life in a better way.

For instance, try visiting a place(alone)......you haven't been before. A place that has things to enjoy, like a park, museum, art gallery etc. Ask questions to the guide who might know a lot of information, but has no one to share the knowledge. Thus you both will enjoy the time. Be sure to go with a map and a fully charged mobile! :)

Kent trip

Last Saturday morning we went for a one day trip to Kent. The place is in South East England. We reached the victoria coach station at around 7.45 am. Waited for the Evan Evans tour bus. Once we were seated, I looked to the driver's seat to see the man who was driving... To my surprise, I saw a lady there and that too, one in her 50's. The coach had the size of a double decker bus....and I was really impressed about her courage. Our guide was also a middle aged women... There were a few Japanese people in our bus, and our guide(a British lady) knew their language and spoke fluently with them.

At first we went to Leeds Castle. It was raining till we reached there.The guide told us a little history about the castle. It was built in 1119. Kings and Queens lived in the castle once. Later it came to the hands of a rich lady named Olive, Lady Baillie in 20th century. She held lot of parties for film-stars and royal people there. She reorganized the castle using famous architects. I enjoyed the castle very much. Walking through the interiors make us think about the olden days.....Lots of huge and beautiful portraits adorned the castle walls. Accessories they used in the past were fascinating.  I saw a hidden door in one of the castle rooms. There is one chapel and a big library inside the castle. Some part of it was used as prisons too. During world war II, it served as a hospital. Lady Baillie's daughters worked as nurses there, at that time . In a room I saw a large drawing of the lady and her beautiful daughters, Susan and Pauline. Just looking at it made me wish to time-travel.  :) Those three were giving a lovely pose to the artist.  

In the afternoon, we visited Canterbury Cathedral. The diocese was created in 597AD. In 1170 Archbishop Thomas Becket was murdered in the Cathedral. After that it became a famous shrine. The cathedral has brilliant sculptures. I felt some real positive vibes and happiness while I went to the underground and saw the Chapel of Our Lady Undercroft in the Crypt.  The place was lighted with candles. The sculpture of Mother Mary and baby Jesus was in the middle. We sat there for sometime and marveled the peace it offered!!


We came back at home in the evening....We weren't quite tired....So there was enough time to relax before going to bed. 

Voice

It isn't quite necessary to look at someone's face to know whether the person is happy or not....Just the voice can carry the message!

Twenties Girl - Sophie Kinsella

Twenties Girl - Sophie Kinsella


I completed reading this book yesterday night... I will give a 4 star to this book.... The starting portion is not that capturing... But if you have patience you will get rewarded.... :) You can laugh out loudly for a few minutes continuously as I mentioned earlier in my post ..... As we approach the climax.....the story turns exciting and lively! A great surprise is in store for us at the end....

Outing

Joel and me went to Stratford library yesterday as I heard it is a great library for kids in newham county. So after finishing the morning chores, we both took the train. It wasn't crowded, so we got seats...DLR travels through the city area..so we get to watch big buildings on our way..... And the second one is a tube that travels underground.....Joel is my swiper guy..He loves to swipe the card in and out of each station... (Our payment method - the card is pre-paid)

Thus we reached the library...There was a play-area inside the library and Joel enjoyed playing there. We attended toddler story-time...... In the evening Joel and me went to the top floor of our tower and enjoyed the view of city from there... We could see 2 stations from there and thames river boats..... Didn't stay there for a long time coz it was chilly that time......

Now I am reading a novel by Sophie Kinsella - Twenties Girl. Starting was a bit boring...I was just about to quit reading the book, suddenly I was taken into a scene that made me laugh continuously for 5 minutes!!! :D So now I will read the rest of it.....

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day in UK..... I got flowers from Joel, Jerry and from some new friends in our church!

An explanation for human sufferings - in Bible

R O M A N S: 8:17

"Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

A promising verse....follows....

Verse 18:

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.


I was just going through a small book called "Anchors In The Storm" by Joe Stowell, distributed after our church mass last sunday... A verse I read just now (Corinthians 10:13) reminded me of a quote by Mother Teresa.

" I know God will not give me anything I can't handle. I just wish that He didn't trust me so much. "

I can't help sharing the following verses...I wonder why I didn't see it till now?

"But when you are tempted, He will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it" ( 1 Corinthians 10: 13)

"The Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials" (2 Peter 2:9)

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Love

I like to have another baby because of my love for my first baby..... I don't want him to be alone. I want someone to give him company....and be there for him....during the life ahead...

I believe...

It is easier to smile when you have physical pain, than when you have mental pain.

Life takes us to places....

We came back to London after 3 and 1/2 years of gap....... We landed here on Feb 7th 2010 at 2 pm......

I believe...

"No matter how much you tired...
To get out of a particular situation,
And still you find you are in it.....
Believe that God wants you to be in this situation....
'Coz this is best for you for right now...
Realize this and try to relax!!
And truly believe in a day....
When your God is going to fulfill your dreams...
On a really perfect day!!

Something to think about....

" Let us not wait for the Lord to put stones on us....
let us look at Him, while He is throwing coins on us"

I believe...

I believe that,

- people who are short tempered and
- people who argue a lot and even win every argument with their word power or their loud noise,

are sure to loose 2 things.....

1) peace of mind
2) happiness


- Peace of mind is more valuable than happiness

- Our life is a great teacher