Latest in: Culture

This week for  Monday Mural let me show you some mission murals from San Luis Obispo. San Luis Obispo is a city on California’s Central Coast and is home to one of the early Spanish missions of California – Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa. Mission Mall on Higuera Street...

For a while we had been thinking of making a trip to Las Vegas. But something inside me kept saying it is not quite right to go see Vegas before we saw mini-Vegas — Reno, another casino city that lies way north of it. Something kept telling me that...

Mirjan Fort in Kumta had been calling out to me since the time I was planning that week-long road trip along the Karnataka Coast. I was longing to see and walk through an ancient Fort in India (it had been a while since I had done that) and wanted...

Christmas isn’t until another six months but there’s a place in Solvang in California where it is Christmas all year round. Be it February or August, there’ll be Christmas trees and ornaments and Santas and elves and all types of decor at Jule Hus. Jule  Hus Jule Hus is...

I seem to have an affinity for Japanese Gardens. Landscaped with rich greenery and dotted with stone and bronze sculptures not to mention the ponds in them, these gardens seem to have a soothing effect on me. When I walked in through the gates of Portland Japanese Garden, it...

A little over a 100 kilometers away from Bengaluru (earlier Bangalore) is a small temple town called Lepakshi. Geographically in Andhra Pradesh’s Ananthapura District, Lepakshi has now become famous for its Veerabhadra Temple. And this temple is quite an exhibition of sculptured pillars and ancient Indian murals. Veerabhadra Temple’s...

Just as popular as the Danish architecture and windmills, are the Danish pastries you find in Solvang. My visit to this small town in Central California turned out to also be a window into Danish food, too. The Danish pastries are one of the attractions of this destination. While we were...

Solvang is one of those places that made me feel like I was in the middle of a fairy tale. To say, ‘in the middle of a Hans Christian Andersen story’ would be just the perfect way to put it. Picture this setting: Me (and the kids and the...

Chennakesava Temple in Belur is known for its friezes, its pillars and stone lattices. Even the star-shaped platform on which it stands, a feature of its style of architecture. People who have visited there will tell you that between those sculpted pillars and decorative eaves are some beautiful stone ladies...