Back in London!

So we started with all the usual tourist spots

Here's a few photos:
the tower bridge (invariably in the minds of tourists who arrive here this is famous London bridge that fell down!)
the london eye
the river Thames as seen from the eye
the British Museum
my favorite section in here is the Persian empire - it's amazing the amount of stuff they bought here from all around the world!
My favourite museum in London is the Natural History Museum.. It's an awesome building with a great collection!
View from Parliament Hill in Hampstead Heath
The forecourt of architect Denys Lasdun's masterpiece - the National Theatre - at the Southbank
And Richard Seifert's exquisite - Centre Point on Oxford Street

The rest of this posting will focus on a few of projects that I've long wanted to see but never managed to get to while I lived here.

First is a small and extremely bizarre building in Woking (techinically this is beyond the limits of London but it's close) - the Woking Mosque, officially called the Shah Jahan Mosque. This was the first purpose built mosque in UK, besides the obvious surprise of finding a piece of exotic architecture in a typical English suburban setting
there is a fascinating story to it's conception - it was built by orientalist Dr. Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner, a Christian who served in the British army in India. On his return he decided to built a Mosque and a Hindu temple in memory of his days in India and constructed this building in 1889 with money he had collected from some Muslim donors. Sadly he never managed to get enough funds for the temple.

Next is a housing estate that I've long wanted to see - designed by Berthold Lubetkin. And actually it was by pure luck that I happened to pass by this project
the Sivill House is a 76-flat council housing block on Columbia Road in Bethnal Green - on my way to see Columbia Road Flower Market with some friends.
The next set of buildings are all inside the fabulous Kew Gardens - the Royal Botanical Gardens as it is officially known is undoubtedly the world best botanical garden not only for its extensive collection of plants but also because its great collection of architecture. And since 2003 UNESCO has declared it a World Heritage Site.

The most impressive building in the entire garden is the Palm House.
Built in 1844-48 by Richard Turner to Decimus Burton's designs,
it is Kew's most recognisable building,
having gained iconic status as the world's most important surviving Victorian glass and iron structure.

Next to the Palm House is the Princess of Wales Conservatory
(opened by Diana in 1987)
it houses 10 climate zones.

And right behind that is latest plant house in the garden - the Davies Alpine House designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects.
The arched shape of this greenhouse is both a new landmark and a welcoming gesture towards visitors to Kew.
In the tradition of the innovative, high-tech glasshouses of Kew, this design provides a balanced, energy-efficient growing climate for Kew's collection of Alpine plants.

A good half an hour walk from the Alpine House is the award-winning Sackler Crossing, by British architect John Pawson.
This has to one of the most beautiful bridges ever built!
Made of granite and bronze it opened in May 2006.
The Sackler Crossing beautifully combines with the tranquil rhythm of the gently rounded contours of the land, the smooth water surface and the powerful verticals of the trees - it's really great!

And lastly is the latest addition to Kew's architecture collection - the Xstrata Treetop Walkway.
It's 18 metres high and allows visitors to stroll through the canopy of the Capability Brown’s woodland in Kew’s deciduous arboretum.
It was designed by Marks Barfield Architects, the architects of the London Eye.
At 200 metres long the Walkway provides an opportunity to experience trees and wildlife at height, as well as offering a bird’s eye view of Kew’s 300 acre site and the London skyline beyond.

Skansen, Stockholm

While on a very short trip to Stockholm with my family we went to see Skansen - the oldest open-air museum in the world. Skansen is also a zoological park. It is located on the island of Djurgarden very close to the city centre. Above is an overall map of the Museum courtesy their website - http://www.skansen.se/
The Skansen has a very interesting mix of a recreated village and a highly specialized zoo. The zoo focuses on only animals/birds found in Scandinavia species that I might never get to see in the wild.

Above a snap from the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) enclosure.

The other great thing about Skansen is the beautiful views it offers of the city and it's surrounding harbour.



View Larger Map
The above Google map shows the outline of Skansen. You can zoom in to see the park better.

Aquaria @ Stockholm

Also managed to seek in Aquaria while in Stockholm. Though this Aquarium is very small and occupies a very cramped location next to the harbour while on your way back to the city centre from Skansen I have to say that it's the best small Aquarium I have seen yet.
I have seen quite a few Aquariums of similar size (especially in India) and none have such an interesting design layout or ambition.

Check out the above design layout courtesy their website - http://www.aquaria.se/

As one walks thru this tiny Aquarium you see many different habitats.

Starting it a small Rainforest section (with down pours every 15 minutes) all with an nice pond full of tropical fish, tree frogs and also a couple of species of waterbirds.

Next up, a section on the importance of Mangroves, followed by a Marine tank with an artificial coral reef (not pictured). The last indoor section is called the Nordic Waters and is dedicated to local fish life.

And just when you think you're done with it all and you step outside on a nice deck facing the bay you see (what according to me is the best part of the Aquaria) the Fish Ladder.

Over the past years the Aquarium has incubated, raised and successfully released large nos. of Sea Trout. A fish that is know to fight all odds and climb back upstream along small channels of water to go back to it's birth place to lay eggs.And amazingly some of the fish raised here have returned years later to do exactly that.

I think that is a great achievement - to release these fish into the open bay and seas beyond and to see them come back. Here a view of the bay and the city across it (the fish ladder is to the left of the snap connecting the Nordic waters section to the open bay thru a series of small but steep steps of waterfall)

Moscow Zoo

While in Moscow I magaed to make a trip to the Zoo, here's some snaps from the Moscow Zoo - the largest and oldest zoo in Russia.It was founded in 1864.
I have to say that I am quiet fond of how old zoo's like this one house animals from different parts of the world in enclosures which generally tend to use different vernacular styles of architecture to emphasize the animals exoticism.

This is the main duck pond in the centre of the zoo.

This is a small enclosure for a species of monkey.

The Orangutan enclosure with one the city famous Seven Sister buildings in the background.
This photo was taken from the bridge that connects the two parts of the zoo.

One more snap of the Seven Sister building as seen from inside the zoo. The view reminded me of walking inside New York's Central Park and looking at the city's sky-scrapers towering above the park's beautiful trees.

View Larger Map

The above Google map shows the Moscow Zoo. You can zoom in to see the park better.