Cornwall and the English country

For a long time, I wanted to see British country-side.. Bala chose Cornwall as the right place for this purpose. Cornwall refers to a region consisting of small coastal towns. The place is 280 miles from London,. We left for Cornwall in Bala!s new Van on 30th May. We enjoyed visintg various places for five days. Here is my Tour Diary.

1st Day-30th May:
We left Bala!s place around 8 in the morning. We reached Cornwall around four in the evening with a few stops on the way. We passed through Bristol (Gloucestershire), Barnstable,

Taunton(Sussex), Cardiff (Glamorgan) and Somerset. When we passed though Taunton, I was reminded of the double century partnership between Ganguly and Dravid in a world cup cricket match against Sri Lanka some years ago.Both the Senior and Junior Nawabs of Pataudi played for Sussex. When we passed through Somerst, I was reminded the exploitsof Vician Richrds and Ian Botham who played Cricket for Somerset for a number of years. Seeing how small Somerst was, I was surprised how Ian Botham could make such a statement "Who will Tour India. It is a place where I will send my mother-in-law". After a few years when Ian Botham came as a commentator for a match in Mohali, Sunil Gavaskar, in a typical Mahastrian manner, asked Botham " "Hey,Beeefy,Have you brought your mother-in-law with you"?. Needless to say,Botham!s face became too very small.

After reaching Falmouth, a town in Cornwall, we checked into a Hotel.We decided that keeping Falmourth as Head Quarters, we would travel around every-dy to various places.There are enough places to see atleast for a week. Due to constraints on time, we decided we would spend five days here.
After taking rest, we went to two delightful beaches and spent some time. We wnet to a Thai Restaurant for dinner and celebrated Bala!s 40th birth-day..

2nd Day-1st May

After break-fast in the hotel, we went to a place called Eden park. Cornrwall is said to be the Garden Capital of the World. Eden Park is about forty miles from Cornwall. The largest rain forest in captivity, it is a remarkably well kept place.Spread over 35 acres of land, the whole Project consists of two very big domes. Inside, almost all plants and, flowers of the world are grown in natural settings -in an artificially created climate suitable for their sustinance and growth. We experienced different tempartures inside the domes at two different places. This is a Millineum Project along with the London Eye.. This place has been ranked as a Global must-see by New York Times. A beautiful and challenging horticultural landscape dramatically changes with each season here at Eaden Park.There are bus and train facilities within the Place to take tourists inside.. We returned around 6 in the evening and prepared food at the Hotel using their facilities.
Compared to what we saw here, Lal Bagh in Bangalore appears to be nothing.As I could not take long walks, I took rest in between, sitting on benches ,and observed people passing through. I found out as under:
1)Most of the fat ladies had thin husbands and vice-versa.
2)Most of tall men had very short wives.
3)Couples above 50 were rarely exchanging words, though some of them were holding their hands together.
4)The number of young people having tattoos on their fore-arm is increasing in alarming proportions.


Third Day-2nd May:
After break-fast, we did some shopping in the market place in Falmouth. This is a port-twon where British Coast Guards have their head-quarters.
We left for St Ives, another port town around 12. This place is about 45 miles from Falmouth. This place has a beautiful beach. It is a small town with a population of 7000 people. Many eminent artists and sculptors of Europe settled in this place for the sake of proper environment for their creative arts. We spent some time on the beach and also visited Kate Gallery, where paintings and sculptures belonging to 19th and 20th century are exhibited. As my interest in and knowledge of paintings is severely limited, I could not enjoy my time at the Gallery.

Fourth Day-3rd May;
After break-fast when we started, there was jerk in the car and a sign flashed on the dash-board "service-check gear". This resulted in a delay of more than an hour.
We first went to a palce called "Michael on the Mount". This is about forty miles from where we were staying. This is a Church constructed on a mountain some five hundred years ago by Duke of Normandy. It is just like any Murugan koil in South India. we could see pilgrims from Europe coming to this place to fulfill their vows.( like in Velankanni). When there is high tide, this place becomes an island. When there is low tide, one could access the place through walk. We had to reach foothills of the mountain through a boat.St Michael is regarded as the guardian saint of this place.
From here, we went to a place called Bridgeport to see Minimack Theatre. This is a theatre created out of a mountain on the sea. It is an open air theatre where musicians and violinists from the world perform. It is very picturesque and unbelievably beautiful. When we went there, a group of Russian artists performed theatre.The few minutes spent by me in this place will remain etched in my memory for a long time.

Towards the evening, we to "Lands End". This is a place where Land ends and see starts. It is the southernmost tip of United Kingdom. The northermost tip w be somewhere in Scotland. It reminded me of Kanyakumari. While in Kanyakumari, Thiruvalluvar stature is erected, here it is big pillar. From this end, New york is only 3247 miles.
We were extremely impressed with all the places we saw to-day.

Fifth Day-4th May:
We left for Traverno Gardens in the morning. It is about twenty miles from Falmouth. Set in natural surrrroundings, the garden and the park have been declared as Heritage Sites. This is the first time I have seen a garden of this size and magnitude.It is very beautiful. Seeing some of the locales, I felt somehow that I have seen them in some Bollywood films like Khabi Khabi and Lamhe.
After lunch we went to see the National Maritime Museum. Apart from highliting, through rexhibits and films about British Maritime Supremacy, there is also a show " Titani- Honour and Glory". Many times, in my younger years, I had wondered how England (now U.K),being such a small country, controlled almost all of Asia, excepting China and Japan, through sheer strength of their Naval Power. After visiting the Museum, the answer became clear.
I was very impressed with the "Titanic Show". James Cameroon, director of the film Titanic, had undertaken so far six journeys below 2500 metres below the sea leve to find out and explore about the Titanic, through wreckages left behind.. This film shows his adventures.
When the ship sank in April 1912, the fare for third class passenger was only 3 to 16 pounds- this, at time when a pund was equivalent to five dollors. The cost of the first class ticket was forty pounds. Out of 2200 passengers, more than 1500 had perished. There is still one survivor who is alive and stays in Michigan. One day before April 10 1912, there was a review about Titanic in "ship-builder" which claimed that the ship was meant "comfort and luxury" and not for speed. It is no surprise that the ship sank because the owner of the ship , who was also travellling, pushed the Captain to increase the speed so that the ship could land earlier than scheduled.No wonder, when the speed increased, the ship crashed against an ice-berg and met its fate.It is ironic that the next ship built by the same company,Starline,( by name "Oceanoic") also sank in 1914, two years after "Titanic"

After a very memorable tour, we left for London on 5th May and reached home in the evening.Fortunately, we did not have any health problems.Health held fort, apart from some discomfort here and a niggle there..