Zurich to Lucerne by road

Switzerland is fairy tale land! Travelling in Switzerland is like going through the pages of a fairy tale book.

The mountains, lakes and rivers grace the landscape and the cute chocolate cake type houses adorn the scenery.

No words can match this heavenly paradise hence in this post join me on a road trip from Zurich to Lucerne.

We travelled by a coach and the journey was magical. The punctuality of the Swiss people is amazing. They make it very clear that the coach will leave as per schedule and if you are not there at the specified time, well it is your bad luck!

Switzerland Tourism is indeed doing a fine job of ensuring you get what you see in their brochures!

If these pictures have motivated you to take that trip to Switzerland, maybe you can win a Free Swiss 

Trip!

Enjoy!

A walk through Covent Garden in London

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site.

It was our first visit to a ‘market’ in London.

Laid out in 1630, it was the first modern square in London, and was originally a flat, open space or piazza with low railings. A casual market started on the south side, and by 1830 the present market hall was built.

The space is popular with street performers, who audition with the site's owners for an allocated slot

By the end of the 1960s, traffic congestion was causing problems for the market, which required increasingly large trucks for deliveries and distribution. The following year the market relocated to its new site, New Covent Garden Market, about 5 km south-west at Nine Elms. The central building re-opened as a shopping centre in 1980, with cafes, pubs, small shops and a craft market called the Apple Market.

Another market, the Jubilee Market, is held in the Jubilee Hall on the south side of the square.

Contrary to its name The Apple Market does not sell apples. It has stalls selling all sorts of handcrafted 

goods. A place where one is bound to pick up something!

The London Transport Museum is in a Victorian iron and glass building on the east side of the market square. It was designed as a dedicated flower market by William Rogers of William Cubitt and Company in 1871, and was first occupied by the museum in 1980.

The current Theatre Royal on Drury Lane is the most recent of four incarnations, the first of which opened in 1663, making it the oldest continuously used theatre in London. Since November 2008 the theatre has been owned by composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and generally stages popular musical theatre.

Overall it is a fun place to spend a day at. If you get tired walking around you can rest in any one of the

food courts there, have a drink and gorge on paella or pie to reenergize!

A must visit market in London!

All history gleaned from Wikipedia.

Salvation of a Saint - Book review

‘Salvation of a Saint’ by Keigo Higashino is the first book that I have read by a Japanese author. Strangely it did not seem different from any Western murder mystery, in the sense that it did not have any Japanese flavour to it except for the fact that the name of the author was distinctively Japanese.

The book was originally written in Japanese and translated into English by Alexander O. Smith.

Keigo Higashino born February 4, 1958 is a Japanese author chiefly known for his mystery novels. He is the President of Mystery Writers of Japan.

In this novel, physics professor Manabu Yukawa, known as Detective Galileo, returns in a new case of a seemingly perfect murder, where instincts clash with facts and theory with reality.

Yoshitaka, who believes that marriage is for procreation, has just informed his wife Ayane who has not conceived even after a year of marriage, of his decision to divorce her. Apparently distraught, Ayane leaves him alone and goes to visit her parents, citing her father’s ill health.

Yoshitkaka is found dead the next day, poisoned by arsenic-laced coffee.  His wife, Ayane, who is the logical suspect is hundreds of miles away when he is murdered.

The lead detective, Tokyo Police Detective Kusanagi,who is put on the case seems smitten with her innocence and refuses to believe that she could have had anything to do with the crime.  His assistant, Kaoru Utsumi, however, is convinced Ayane is guilty.  While Utsumi’s instincts tell her one thing, the facts of the case are another matter.  So she does what her boss has done for years when stymied—she calls upon Professor Manabu Yukawa aka Detective Galileo.

Detective Galileo is a real character! He is the typical arrogant scientist who believes in investigating the minutest details to arrive at any conclusion. He will not tolerate any emotive speculation and insist only on hard scientific facts.

There is another very intriguing character, Hiromi Wakayama, who is introduced right in the beginning and stays on right till the end. She is Ayane’s assistant and looks after Ayane’s quilt patchwork classes. And right from the beginning she is shown how close she is to the family and the trust that she has earned. As a matter of fact when Ayane decides to go to visit her parents, it is Hiromi that she hands over her house keys to and requests her to look after not only the classes but also her house. Divulging anything more at this stage will spoil the suspense for you.

What follows is a beautiful tapestry woven by Keigo Higashino that keeps you fascinated and enrapt in the discussions, emotive clashes of opinions and a captivating story that refuses to let you keep the book down till you reach the last page and heave a sigh of relief at finding out whodunit!

The Times has called Keigo Higashino The Japanese Stieg Larsson.

Salvation of a Saint is Keigo Higashino at his mind-bending best, pitting emotion against fact in a beautifully plotted crime novel filled with twists and reverses that will astonish and surprise even the most attentive and jaded of readers.

Book details:

Publisher	Little, Brown Book Group
Imprint	ABACUS
Publication Year	2013
ISBN-13	9780349139340
ISBN-10	0349139342
Language	English
Binding	Paperback
Number of Pages	384 Pages

You can order it from Flipkart for Rs.214/- against the original price of Rs.350/- at a discount of 39%.

Go for it guys! This is one book which is a must read for all crime fiction addicts!

This review is a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!