Pictures Taken By you...

[Lynne50]

[B]Maddie, loved your photos. Quite unusual architecture, esp. so close to the water.[B]

And Niamh, Loved your pix too. One of the modern buildings reminded me of the Louvre.

[qimissung]

Lynne, Niamh, Madhuri, your pictures are gorgeous! Thank you so much for sharing.

Lynne, you live in most beautiful place.

Niamh, Manchester looks lovely, and I can tell you and Nightshade had a wonderful time. I agree with you and Virgil; I much prefer older, more traditional architecture.

Madhuri, thank you so much for the pictures of your gorgeous country. It is absolutely fascinating to see the different places where people live.

[The Walker]

On the left you can see the city, there are several ghats along the river bank. These ghats were built by several rulers and other rich people in earlier times; it was a sort of a place reserved for these people and their families; whenever they wanted to visit Varanasi, they would stay at the houses they built along the river bank.



another view:





A closer view:



One of the ghats



View of the other side of the river bank:

Madhuri, I simply looooved it! I couldnt choose just one as my favorite. It looks like such a great place. I liked very much the one with the man on the 'canoe'... Beautiful!

[Madhuri]

Thanks guys

Posting some more pictures:





The pictures below are of the ghats where cremation is done.



Here you can see a dead body covered in yellow cloth. The people sitting around are relatives waiting for the pyre to be set.



Another ghat that is used more for cremations. There is a story behind every ghat and why certain things are done there and not on other ghats.

In earlier days, certain section of the cremation places were for general public and certain area was for kings and queens only.



This ghat has a significance in our family. My great-grandfather wanted to die here and he also wanted to be cremated at this place. His last wish was fulfilled.



This picture is the house of the person designated as Dome. He belongs to Scheduled Cast (if you are aware of the cast system...) and he gives the agni (fire) or permission for cremations to be done on any of the ghats.

[Stargazer86]

Madhuri- very cool and interesting pix. you can really get a feel for the culture and life there

Thanks for sharing

[Virgil]

Yes thank you very much Maddie. I find your pictures fascinating.

[Niamh]

wow! that is fasinating!

[The Comedian]

Lovely images Madhuri

[bluevictim]

Wonderful pictures, everyone!

Here are some pictures from Mt. Conness in California:

Looking toward the East ridge. The summit is the round hump in the middle of the picture with a small patch of snow on its top left corner.


Looking down toward Alpine Lake (frozen) from a point near the top of the East ridge:


Looking up the East ridge:


Looking toward the summit from the summit plateau:


Enjoy!

[Virgil]

I'm always impressed with your mountain climbing pictures Blue. Thanks.

[bluevictim]

I'm always impressed with your mountain climbing pictures Blue. Thanks.

Thanks, Virgil. I'm glad you enjoyed them.

[Niamh]

I'm always impressed with your mountain climbing pictures Blue. Thanks.

I second this!!!

[Aluminum]

Hello! I took these a few months ago before spring, but I thought I'd share them anyway.

[Virgil]

Thanks Aluminum. I really like the color of the sky set against the silohetted trees. Did you use a filter? Or was that just the natural tones?

[Aluminum]

Thanks! Those were the natural tones, then I brightened the color a bit after importing the pictures. I took them at the end of my driveway. All the trees looked like silhouettes that evening and it was just too pretty to go without taking a picture. ;D