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A nice change from the rainy time we had in Yorkshire in 1994 was the day we spent at Fountains Abbey. This is a World Heritage Site that is owned by the National Trust. It is a huge site that includes the largest abbey ruins in the country as well as the Studley Royal Water Garden. It was pleasant weather. We had a leisurely stroll and a picnic on the grass.
My mother and I had a holiday in England in 1984. Driving north of Chichester on a minor road in the countryside , we saw a sign post for a Roman villa. Intrigued, we stopped to see it and were amazed at the quality of the beautiful mosaic floors. As this was the first time I saw ruins from the ancient world, the day remains fresh in my memory some 25 years later. The floors are part of a Roman villa that dates from the 3rd Century AD.
In 2002, my husband, Paul and I went on a two-week tour of the cities of Morocco with a British tour company called Explore International. We had a wonderful time. The tour group met in Casablanca, and the Hassan II mosque was the first sight we were taken to see. Built between 1985 and 1993 to accommodate 25,000 worshipers, this is one of the largest mosques in the world. The minaret is 689 feet tall.
In 1994, I spent a little time in downtown Birmingham, walking around familiar areas like the one in the photo. Every weekday for almost two years in the 1970's, I would transfer from one bus to another in the city centre on my way to university and home again in the evening. Although Birmingham is not a particularly attractive city, I have great affection for it, because of the wonderful people I met while I studied there.
Worcester was a destination for weekend outings while I lived in Birmingham in the 1970's. The city has charm and a lovely location on the Severn River, but parts of it had an air of poverty and deprivation. I spent an hour or so in the cathedral in 1994 when this photo was taken. An elderly volunteer was kind enough to take me on a tour. He explained that, because it was not one of England's most well-known cathedrals, there were limited funds for maintenance, and consequently a great danger that the cathedral would deteriorate. He was a nice man, very knowledgeable about the cathedral which he loved, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. I have often wondered whether sufficient funds to provide for upkeep have been made available.
Here in Orchha we see people relaxing at the Betwa river, one of India's cleanest. Water is an object of worship for Hindus. As the building block of life, it is represented by a circle and symbolizes fullness. Given the importance of water in the daily life of India, it is terrible to think that the northern glaciers that feed India's rivers are being threatened by global warming.
These 2007 photos were taken in front of and inside a Jain temple in Aurangabad in Maharashtra. Jainism is an ancient religion which regards every living thing as potentially divine and therefore to be protected. Jains seek to attain spiritual enlightenment through the practice of non-violence and through cultivating wisdom and self-control. Jainism is thought to have influenced Bhuddism and Hinduism in ancient times. The religion, which has between 10 and 12 million followers, is held in high esteem in India. Jain temples contain beautifully intricate stone carvings, and most towns have a Jain animal shelter. In the second photo above a man is making an offering in the temple.
