Author Archives: Ursula Rishikesh is a magical city of fairy tale ashrams and colourful gods. The city sits at an auspicious place, where the Ganges – one of the most sacred rivers to Hindus – flows out of the Himalaya and towards the plains. For me, the city’s name alone is evocative of sitar music, pastel-coloured Hindu temples, meditation, […]  I do love road trips! And when I’m on one, other ones I’ve taken come to mind: whether it’s because of comparisons or contrasts. I’ve just spent some time winding up and down through the magnificent mountains of Western Canada – which counter-intuitively made me think of the straight and lonely stretches of highway through […]  Toulouse, France’s fourth-largest city and the capital of the southern Occitanie region, was an unexpected treat. My husband and I were stopped there for two nights in transit, and had enjoyed our time wandering through the public gardens (see: Public Art and Gardens) and admiring the narrow cobbled streets and ancient buildings. What I didn’t […]  Bali is a wonderful holiday destination: the people are warm and welcoming, the landscape is varied and amazing, the culture is rich and fascinating, and the food is fresh and fabulous. I thoroughly enjoyed previous visits to this lovely Indonesian island (see: Bali, Indonesia), but this trip was for a family function, rather than purely […]  To me there was something surreal and troubling about watching Hugh Grant singing on the stairs of Kilmainham Gaol in pink-striped bell-bottoms. It is a disturbing place: dark, cold, and in its day, severely overcrowded. Men, women and children were crammed in together, up to five in a small cell with only a single candle […] |
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