The Lord's

My visit to Lord's was on a chilly slightly rainy Sunday mid February of last year. There are guided tours of the stadium at a fee of £7 and I had signed up for one of those. Not surprisingly, more than half of the touring party that day was of people of Indian origin (about 10 odd in 15-18 total).



We have the Harris Trophy cricket tournament (U-19 i think), this is a memorial for that Mr. Harris after whom the trophy gets its name. He was the governor of Mumbai and apparently a big supporter of Indians playing cricket. He wanted a Team India even before independence.



As we enter the pavilion. The photo you see is actually of Mr. Lord's after whom the ground gets its name (there is also a photo inside but that area is barred to photography). The irony is that this Mr. Lord's never played the game. He was the manager of a team that played on this ground (he developed and maintained the ground) and as a mark of respect, the ground gets his name.



First snap of the ground and it felt strange. It felt really strange. I just couldn't believe that I was actually standing in the Lord's - the home of cricket. The emotional high was amazing.








Above 3 pictures are taken from the visitor's pavilion balcony. Yeah its the same place from where Dada (aka Saurav Ganguly) took of his shirt post winning the Natwest trophy a few years back and also the same balcony from where Kapil Dev lifted the Prudential World Cup in 1983.





These are the visitor's records at Lord's. Every century and every 5 wicket haul gets mentioned here. The strange thing is amongst the bowlers there is no mention of Mr. Warne and amongst the batsmen there is no mention of Mr. Lara or Mr. Tendulkar. These 3 gentlemen do not seem to enjoy playing at Lord's apparently.



The visitor's dressing room and the massage table at the center.



This is the path the teams take to reach the ground. On the left we have the home team's dressing room and on the right we have the visiting team's. This is a no photograph area, but me just like the other Indians kept clicking dodging our guide!



Now we move onto the museum. This ball killed this sparrow while it was being delivered (i.e. after it left the bowler's hand and before it reached the batsman). The ball was bowled by one Mr. Jehangir Khan - father of Imran Khan.



This is the newspaper obituary (which was a sarcastic way of mocking England's pathetic performance against the aussies) which created the legend of the 'Ashes'



And this is the original Ashes urn.



Few of the trophies, one on the left is the Prudential Cup.





Few more cricketing artifacts









Now we head track side! It was such a amazing feeling to be walking so close to a cricket ground and that too Lord's of all places. The only other cricket ground i have been this close is the Dadoji Kondeo Stadium at Thane. Most of you have not heard of it (and that in itself tells something) and those of you who have, would relate to the contrast effect. My heart is beating real fast.

The second last picture above is the new media center built just in time for the 1999 World cup. We are heading there now.



But before, this is a small ground just adjacent. This is where MCC members play cricket.





The above two snaps are taken from the media center. The view down from the media center is simply amazing. You see the entire ground and more. You are straight behind the stumps. Only problem is that the media center is very cramped.







View of stuff within the media center.



The story of how the Ashes were born. Read it, it is fascinating...



One final shot from the outside. You can see the media center in the right. This was a very very satisfying trip. Just like every Hindu has to visit Kashi once in his life time, ever cricket fan has to visit the 'home of cricket' once in his life time. I have completed my duty and it is thrilling. Even as I write this I can feel the rush of blood as I recollect that day. It was worth it...

Amsterdam

My first destination in 'Continental Europe'. Actually contrary to what most people would believe, there was no specific reason to choose Amsterdam as my first destination (yeah I am serious). I had got my visa from the Dutch embassy (i actually wanted to get it from Germany but due to the football worldcup, the processing time there was long and dutch embassy was the quickest in processing time).

I took the cheap route of reaching Amsterdam, a 1hr train journey to Harwich International, a 4hr ferry from there too Hook of Holland and a 1.5hr train journey from there to Amsterdam. I was especially excited as this was going to be my first ferry ride of any significance (and what a ride it was!).

The weather forecast was for fine weather and the ship was big (with a casino, eating place, bar, puppet show, movie theater, shopping etc - see photos towards the end) and I wanted to explore it.

However as the journey started, it all started going haywire. The wind picked up and tide came up to 3mtrs high. Dishes started falling down, people unable to walk. Gradually I could see the crew carrying polythene bags up and down the aisle (yeah, people were throwing up), there was a girl who was sitting in the next row to me and she started crying. A stewardess came to console her and I could hear her say, the tide is just 3mtrs, we can be safe even if went to 4.5mtrs (yeah that was some relief!). I had a window seat and with the waves, I was actually able to anticipate the ferry swerving this way and that - it was at the sametime a very thrilling and very fearful experience. I was scared, very scared. Just an example of how bad things were, I had gone to the loo to relieve myself, and given the was the ferry was swerving, I could not do the job and had to comeback and hold tight!

Anyways, I landed on shore and reached Amsterdam and was staying at the Inner Amsterdam Hostel (my first brush with 'hostelling').





The hostel was near the Amsterdam Concert center.




...as well as near the Van Gogh Museum




A nice building, i think it is the University - again near my hostel.







Now, this is the real Amsterdam - canals. There are these canals all over the place. Actually a large part of the country is below the sea level - creepies!




The Dutch version of Madam Tussuad's (The Tussuad's Group which owns these museums was recently sold for GBP1bn!). I did not go in the UK version nor this version - just too expensive and not worth the money to see wax statues....




This is the Palace...



This is the famous Diamond Center. Amsterdam is a major diamond cutting and polishing center.



A 'buggy', the horse is really cute




Cheese and lots of it... my god, I have never seen so many varieties of cheese in my life. All I have been used to do until now was to go to a shop and ask for cheese and I got it. Here the shopkeeper would have shot back, which cheese?!



Tulips... again lots of variety. One of the reasons (a very small reason) for coming to Amsterdam (Holland) was to see tulips in real life. The first known economic bubble to mankind happened over Tulips during early 17th century in Holland. Must say, the flowers are especially beautiful. I actually wanted to carry a few back to london (my boss of those days really loved flowers) but I was told, you cannot carry them through customs... :(



An old lighthouse setup in 1600s



This is where all the canals converge - this is in the middle of the national capital



Another tulip!



Main Amsterdam railway station - Amsterdam Centraal



And trams station just outside...



This was really fascinating. What you see above is a three storey Bicycle stand (yeah) and it was all full...



Just outside the station, lots of old buildings and another canal...



Inside the railway station - notice the 'sleepers' on the track they are wooden!






Above couple of snaps are of Rotterdam taken from within the train. Rotterdam is Europe's largest port.



Back to Hook of Holland, time to take the return ferry.



This is the train which brought us here - yeah double decker!



This is the Hook of Holland railway station. A very rustic town indeed from the looks of it...



This is our ferry - Stena Line. This time around the forecast was for rough weather with tide of around 3mtr (around the same what we had while coming, so all the shows were cancelled, the shops were closed etc). And as things turned out the weather was anything but rough, so they restarted the shows, opened the shop. People were walking freely up and down the deck. I even managed to venture out in the open at the back of the ship. So much for weather forecasting in advanced countries!













Above few snaps are from within the ferry. It was very plush indeed.



Finally I am back at Harwich International (in UK). Its Sunday evening and back to work tomorrow morning...