The Hagia Sophia was the most beautiful building that we visited in Istanbul. A church for more than 1000 years, a mosque for nearly 500 years and now a museum since 1935, a trip to this city would be incomplete without paying your respects to this magnificent structure. And it's huge, so big in fact that it was the world's largest cathedral for over 1000 years until the Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. Unlike previous photostitched posts, this one is dominated by vertical panoramas.


The Hagia Sophia is located on the European side of Istanbul, on the peninsula that is also home to the oldest parts of the city. The current structure dates from 537 AD but the original cathedral was dedicated in 360 AD.


As usual, click on any of the images to enlarge them.

( 5 more to give you a complete picture! )

A panoramic view of the Laurieston district in the Gorbals area of Glasgow as seen from the north side of the River Clyde. The two delightful bridges of contrasting styles date from the Victorian era. [Taken 29 Jul 2011]

I've just returned from attending a wedding in Scotland but no it wasn't the Royal one. I spent the weekend in the Scottish Highlands celebrating the nuptials of a close friend who I have LJ to thank for meeting in the first place. She posted as 3neonangels but stopped a few years ago. Thanks to her and her new hubby, I got to visit Glasgow and the Isle of Skye for the first time but in a bid to keep expenses to a minimum, found myself travelling by bus for about thirty-five hours in the space of three-and-a-half days. Of course it was worth it. And needless to say thanks to my old camera working again (albeit flash-free) the memorable experience will linger long in the memory. Unfortunately I can't be arsed and am too tired to make a proper pictorial post but I will leave you with a few panoramas to whet your appetite. In the meanwhile, have yerself a wee bonnie night!


Glasgow Central railway station is the busiest in Scotland and second-busiest UK station outside of London after Birmingham New Street. As you can tell, it has an endearingly Victorian dated look to it. [Taken 29 Jul 2011]


A panoramic view of the Scottish west coast taken from Armadale on the Isle of Skye, within the grounds of a castle and gardens that once belonged to Clan Donald, one of the largest Scottish clans. [Taken 30 Jul 2011]


Portree, the largest town in the Isle of Skye. Population: 2500. The scene of a beautiful wedding earlier in the day when the sun was shining, the men were wearing kilts and we were led by a bagpiper. [Taken 30 Jul 2011]

As the first test between England and India at Lord's gets underway tomorrow morning, here are four photostitches taken at the home of cricket on 15 April 2008 during my first-ever visit there, along with pappubahry.


Click image to enlarge. This is my favourite of the four panoramas. It's taken from the Compton Stand, where incidentally I sat during my first-ever Lord's cricket match in June 2009.


Click image to enlarge. This was taken in front of the award-winning media centre which you can see in the first panorama.


Click image to enlarge. This was taken from the Grand Stand and it hasn't turned out as well as I would've hoped. But I did manage to cram in pappubahry on the far right!


Click image to enlarge. Similar to the third panorama but not as wide. You can get a good view of the (Old) Pavilion on the right built in 1890 and the Media Centre on the left built in 1999.

You can click on the image for a bigger view. [Taken Sat 28 May 2011]

As taken from Brown University's website:

"The Baccalaureate Service, with roots in medieval academic tradition, honors the achievements of the candidates for the bachelor’s (“bacca”) degree by presenting them with the laurels (“lauri”) of oration. Brown’s baccalaureate tradition derives from the immense range of religious, ethnic, geographic, linguistic, and musical traditions present within the campus community. The ceremony includes rituals, readings, and prayers from Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Christianity, Buddhism and animist traditions, as well as choral and instrumental music, the Chinese lion dance, poetry, dance, and Taiko and Senegalese drumming.

The service is conducted in the Meeting House of the First Baptist Church in America, completed in 1775 “for the Publick Worship of Almighty God, and also for holding Commencement in.” Significant portions of the University’s Commencement ceremonies have been held in the church ever since."

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As family we witnessed the ceremony from College Green on the main campus. It took place at the same time as the European Cup Final between Barcelona & Man United, but I chose to stay until the end of the Baccalaureate address that was delivered by Kenneth Roth, a 1977 Brown graduate and human-rights crusader. He has been the executive director of Human Rights Watch since 1993 and he spoke about "Finding Your Way When There Are No Rules" by "explaining what human rights' work and the Arab Spring say about making one's way in the world." Even though all the goals had been scored by the time I left, the talk was worth it.