Sri Maha Vallabha Ganapathi Devasthanam is in the Queens borough of New York, and is more than 40 years old, started in 1970. So it one of the older temples in US.
We were blessed to visit the place on 2010 Vinayakachathurthi day, on 11Sep.... After doing pooja at home we drove in our Corolla towards NY, starting our drive on NJ turnpike, then crossing the Goethals bridge, following the Verrazona bridge, and then on the Queens Brooklyn expressway, and crossing the busy roads on Queens in Flushing we went towards Kissena boulevard and parked our car after the 1.5 hours drive on the side streets along the independent houses after we reached 45-57 Bowne Street, Flushing NY 11355.
Ganesha was looking very nice with the Pushpa Alankaram specially done for the day, Shanmukha with Valli and Deviynai on his beautiful peacock with Vibuthi alankaram, Siva and Parvathi, and all the gods around all made the place so serene and beautiful.
We felt nice doing the pooja there and then went to see the praharam, Dhwaja stambam, and the different ganeshas in the praharam. Took photos there, and had the nice food served on the auspicious day.
There are Raghavendra temple right opposite to the ganesha temple, and LakshmiNarayan temple on the nearby road, and Saibaba Mandir on the adjacent street, all are very near by and walkable, and can visit all to have nice darshan.
We left from there and headed back home and reached back around 5 in the evening, the whole day was a nice day, little tiring with walking around, but felt good.
Showing posts with label NewYork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NewYork. Show all posts
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Corning Glass Museum and Niagara Falls
We chose to visit the Niagara falls on the US Independence day long weekend, which falls on the July 4th. In 2010 this was on a Sunday so the observed holiday on Monday, gave the long weekend a good 3day for itself.
We made the preparations in advance by making hotel reservations in Quality Inn, which was about 6 miles from the falls, which is about 10 mins apart.
Corning Glass Museum
Corning Glass Museum which is on the way to the falls, was over first destination en-route. We started our travel at about 8am, though we had targetted for 6:). We reached the museum in the noon, about 5 hour journey with a stopover(4.35 actual). We learnt that the factory is now closed down and cannot visit that, and that a shuttle would take us to the museum from the parking spot. So we first had our lunch :) and headed to wards the museum entrance. Glass works invited us, and we were all excited to explore more. The ticket issuer told us that there is a show just about to start.... wondering what it is we headed in that direction. We saw a live demonstration of a glass bowl being made, that was truly interesting , where from the basic raw material glass is blown like a bulb, the spreads itself and when he shakes it takes form. Also he was saying they break and put back into the 1000 degree heat again to repeat the demo the next day :)
We saw few other demos of glass breaking and Optical Fiber , where light flows through the thin cable allowing for instruments like cell phones to operate.
The main part was still there.... the glass museum collection.... wow so many many glass wonders.... from about 1000B.C to today's latest prism beauties.... we saw all the tiffany works and also were lured to buy some Glass beauties home. We wanted to see more, but the thought that we should reach Niagara falls before dark made us move on.
Niagara Falls
Time to Niagara Falls is about 2.40 hours, but it took us about 3.30 hours with some stop overs to fill gas, get battery for ipod accessory etc. We checked in to the hotel, quickly freshened up, and drove to the falls. Nature is always beautiful, and Niagara is a real beauty of nature. We were surprised to see the fireworks this day already, since we expected to see it only the next day which was the Independence day, we could not find spots to park, so we just stopped our car in a junction and watched the whole show, the whole city was busy watching any way. Wow, it was too good, it was almost for an hour, though we missed the part from 9 to 9.20, we did see the best part.... My parents and Akilan! also saw the whole show in awe, while we were busy capturing the show in camera and handy cam and also enjoying watching it all.
We then went and parked in a good spot, right next to the red coach inn.... near the falls entrance. It was easy to walk down to have a night view of the falls. It was about 11 and we headed to our vehicle to get back to get some rest, but the heavy traffic, delayed an hour and we reached late. The pizza buy took longer again and we had a real late dinner, and then caught up with our sleep.
Early the morning, we got up a little late, and got ready and reached the falls at about 11 !, got the tickets for the Discovery Pass which covers all the interesting places there, Maide of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, Aquariym, IMax Show and Discovery Center, and we went for the Maid of the Mist first. The wait was long again in the queue, but the beauty of Niagara int he American falls, Bridal Veil Falls and the Horseshoe falls made us forget the time we took to see, and by the time we finished the tour we were half wet, so were our camera and handy cam, We then went to the prospect point, while Chidam and my parents took turns with Akilan since it was not advisable to take him in the slippery steps.... Wow what was a superb experience to go up to the Prospect Point to have the falls shower on us.
We then had our Pizza snack :) resting on the grass and seeing the beautiful birds, and went to the Cave of the winds in the Trolley. The wait there was 2 hours!, but again wow, what a experience to literally stand below the Bridal Veil falls and also see the falls right above us. The way back to come out took about an hour, which was something we did not get excited about. The trolley drive on the way back, made us realize that there was more of the beauty of the falls to be visited from the Terrapin point, the three sisters falls, etc, which are more nature interesting, and our time can be really spent well if we plan for those as well.
This already took the major part of the day, so we thought we can get our parents to the IMax show, but again the shows are every hour, 3,4,5,6, and we were late again for the 7 o clock show, so we went to get our things to get ready for the fireworks view and had our parents settle down to view the falls, We were waiting for the fireworks to start but it all started at about 10, and was for a very short time. We were a little disappointed, since we could have actually visited the show or the Aquarium in the meanwhile.
We were very tired by then and we headed back to hotel. The next day we knew is going to be all travel, so we got ready relaxed, and Chidam wanted to get as much sleep so that he can be comfortable with his driving. He took us back safely home squeezing some stop overs to get himself fresh. Cayuga lake route, with the Seneca Falls etc, were ones which we missed, but had a stopover at the Butter Milk falls, the water was very scarce there so not much for us to see, also there were people crowded to get their swimming plans. We reached home at 9.15 :) just about when darkness was spreading that summer night.
We made the preparations in advance by making hotel reservations in Quality Inn, which was about 6 miles from the falls, which is about 10 mins apart.
Corning Glass Museum
Corning Glass Museum which is on the way to the falls, was over first destination en-route. We started our travel at about 8am, though we had targetted for 6:). We reached the museum in the noon, about 5 hour journey with a stopover(4.35 actual). We learnt that the factory is now closed down and cannot visit that, and that a shuttle would take us to the museum from the parking spot. So we first had our lunch :) and headed to wards the museum entrance. Glass works invited us, and we were all excited to explore more. The ticket issuer told us that there is a show just about to start.... wondering what it is we headed in that direction. We saw a live demonstration of a glass bowl being made, that was truly interesting , where from the basic raw material glass is blown like a bulb, the spreads itself and when he shakes it takes form. Also he was saying they break and put back into the 1000 degree heat again to repeat the demo the next day :)
We saw few other demos of glass breaking and Optical Fiber , where light flows through the thin cable allowing for instruments like cell phones to operate.
The main part was still there.... the glass museum collection.... wow so many many glass wonders.... from about 1000B.C to today's latest prism beauties.... we saw all the tiffany works and also were lured to buy some Glass beauties home. We wanted to see more, but the thought that we should reach Niagara falls before dark made us move on.
Niagara Falls
Time to Niagara Falls is about 2.40 hours, but it took us about 3.30 hours with some stop overs to fill gas, get battery for ipod accessory etc. We checked in to the hotel, quickly freshened up, and drove to the falls. Nature is always beautiful, and Niagara is a real beauty of nature. We were surprised to see the fireworks this day already, since we expected to see it only the next day which was the Independence day, we could not find spots to park, so we just stopped our car in a junction and watched the whole show, the whole city was busy watching any way. Wow, it was too good, it was almost for an hour, though we missed the part from 9 to 9.20, we did see the best part.... My parents and Akilan! also saw the whole show in awe, while we were busy capturing the show in camera and handy cam and also enjoying watching it all.
We then went and parked in a good spot, right next to the red coach inn.... near the falls entrance. It was easy to walk down to have a night view of the falls. It was about 11 and we headed to our vehicle to get back to get some rest, but the heavy traffic, delayed an hour and we reached late. The pizza buy took longer again and we had a real late dinner, and then caught up with our sleep.
Early the morning, we got up a little late, and got ready and reached the falls at about 11 !, got the tickets for the Discovery Pass which covers all the interesting places there, Maide of the Mist, Cave of the Winds, Aquariym, IMax Show and Discovery Center, and we went for the Maid of the Mist first. The wait was long again in the queue, but the beauty of Niagara int he American falls, Bridal Veil Falls and the Horseshoe falls made us forget the time we took to see, and by the time we finished the tour we were half wet, so were our camera and handy cam, We then went to the prospect point, while Chidam and my parents took turns with Akilan since it was not advisable to take him in the slippery steps.... Wow what was a superb experience to go up to the Prospect Point to have the falls shower on us.
We then had our Pizza snack :) resting on the grass and seeing the beautiful birds, and went to the Cave of the winds in the Trolley. The wait there was 2 hours!, but again wow, what a experience to literally stand below the Bridal Veil falls and also see the falls right above us. The way back to come out took about an hour, which was something we did not get excited about. The trolley drive on the way back, made us realize that there was more of the beauty of the falls to be visited from the Terrapin point, the three sisters falls, etc, which are more nature interesting, and our time can be really spent well if we plan for those as well.
This already took the major part of the day, so we thought we can get our parents to the IMax show, but again the shows are every hour, 3,4,5,6, and we were late again for the 7 o clock show, so we went to get our things to get ready for the fireworks view and had our parents settle down to view the falls, We were waiting for the fireworks to start but it all started at about 10, and was for a very short time. We were a little disappointed, since we could have actually visited the show or the Aquarium in the meanwhile.
We were very tired by then and we headed back to hotel. The next day we knew is going to be all travel, so we got ready relaxed, and Chidam wanted to get as much sleep so that he can be comfortable with his driving. He took us back safely home squeezing some stop overs to get himself fresh. Cayuga lake route, with the Seneca Falls etc, were ones which we missed, but had a stopover at the Butter Milk falls, the water was very scarce there so not much for us to see, also there were people crowded to get their swimming plans. We reached home at 9.15 :) just about when darkness was spreading that summer night.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Pomona Temple
Pomona Temple
This temple is in Upstate Newyork , It has all forms of Vishnu with Sri Ranganatha as the main shrine. Rama, Krishna, Narasimha, Padmavati Thaayar, Randal, Tirupati Venkateshwara, Lord Anjaneya are all big deities here...
Brahmotsavam is celebrated in a big way here in the month of June-July.
This temple is in Upstate Newyork , It has all forms of Vishnu with Sri Ranganatha as the main shrine. Rama, Krishna, Narasimha, Padmavati Thaayar, Randal, Tirupati Venkateshwara, Lord Anjaneya are all big deities here...
Brahmotsavam is celebrated in a big way here in the month of June-July.
Friday, June 18, 2010
New York 2010
Though have seen so much of New York, it was still very exciting to go back and see again on 12th June 2010. It was all the more interesting to visit the place with my parents and my baby, they were seeing it for the first time.... We had suddenly decided to go over just the previous night. My husband did the study to check the bus timings and place from where we can start, so we decided to leave as early in the morning and to Transportation center in East Brunswick.
We had a good breakfast, Semiya Upma, wishing that it would give us some energy to start the long day, and drove down to Transportation Center, with all the necessary packaging :) for baby and for our day snacks, I got nice scolding for carrying so much, since others had to carry those too :) We realized that there are no buses on weekends from Transportation Center to quickly headed towards Tower Center Bus Stations, since the bus was at 8.25 AM, and it was past 8. My hubby quickly dropped me to get tickets while he helped my parents to get down with my son Akilan, and I got the ticket and waited praying that bus should not come till he parks and comes, and he just made it in the nick of time, and we made it sharp at 8.25 AM, we started with out Handy-cam and Photo shoots, and it all started with a nice bright morning.
It took about 45 mins to reach Port Authority Bus Terminal at New York City, and we got down wondering where the elevator(lift) is, so that we can get down easily with the Stroller and other baggage.... Of course all were scorning me for the luggage.... My parents were avoiding the escalator and still had to take it in a couple of places, and made it to the exit. We came out to the busy world of New York City, in Time Square, and decided to explore more of it later the day, so went towards the Subway Station to take the Metro Train to the Statue of Liberty. We were giving few information for our parents on the way and they were zapped at the busy and tall buildings all over already. After he purchased the tickets in the vending machine ($8.25!) per day per person, fun pass, we went looking in the map for the train number and went right there after inquiring an officer and boarded the train.
We got down in Wall Street, and suddenly we were in front of New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Building, wow we had not seen this before!, after seeing costliest corner of the world, showed the Trinity Church to our parents, and went looking out for the bull. We landed at the WTC remains and the new construction, and the went towards the Bull, took some snaps and then towards the Statue. Oh my, what a long queue....saying this, I went to get tickets, and the others stood in the queue, Realized the waiting is more than an hour and also we crossed the timing to go to the Crown and even the Pedestal, and waited in the queue, as we neared the entrance, we realized there was an airport like security, so we put all metallic stuff - belt, watch, mobile.... in a bag and then put all inside, and we and that got scanned.
Finally we were in the Cruise, "Miss New York", and headed towards the Liberty Statue, Lady Liberty always is charming, My parents were all excited, my father was wondering the technical details, which we later collected back at home in Google to realize it was all Copper and the golden tinge has changed to green because of the chemical reactions of the sea breeze, and the huge tons of steel and concrete also which forms part of the construction and all that....., My mother was liking the cool breeze the cruise drive, Akilan was looking around and the busy world, which was new to him, My husband was reminded of the earlier visits we both had and of course me too.... We landed there and had our photo sessions, and went around the lady, tried giving Akilan some snacks, and went around.... Then we sat down to have our lunch which we packed from home, hoping now the weight of our single baggage would be divided among us :) We got back after some shopping in the Cruise to the Battery Park, this time, my parents and me went up the cruise, while my Akilan and his dad were relaxing down. Oh the breeze was so nice. We reached the shore and went towards the subway station, disappointed going up and down looking for elevator, the stroller carrying exercise was not easy, Chidam was taking the trouble all the time....
Finally we got in at South Ferry Station and reached Bryant Park Station, and got out..... Wow, the bright and busy world again, we started explaining the concept of Avenues and Streets, and of course the tall sky scrapers were self explanatory to my parents, all astonishing them. Then of course Grand Central Metro Rail Station in New York, oh what a great train station, with its tall Ceiling, bright Chandeliers, the central Four faced, Opal Clock, and more than all the busy movement all over.... We came out again and showed were i earlier worked in ABN, and then went to United Nations to show where my husband worked for United Nations. Then we walked back....(my parents (legs) were so tired), still made it back to Times Square, of course all along the photo sessions, video sessions, and showing places like Fifth Avenue, Empire State, Chrysler Tower were all happening, Mc Donald's Hot chocolate, coffee and Fries gave a little refreshment before we continued to Times Square, and we liked the interesting change there, where we can literally sit in the middle of the road, yes this change was nice , there were chairs and tables where people can relax looking at the busy world, We realize we were already about half a day long there and now it was time to head to the bus station.
We were on time to catch the 8.30 PM bus back home....We were all tired, but nice memories, and a beautiful day withe a beautiful weather supporting us, was all in our minds, as we relaxed back at home the remaining part of the weekend.
We had a good breakfast, Semiya Upma, wishing that it would give us some energy to start the long day, and drove down to Transportation Center, with all the necessary packaging :) for baby and for our day snacks, I got nice scolding for carrying so much, since others had to carry those too :) We realized that there are no buses on weekends from Transportation Center to quickly headed towards Tower Center Bus Stations, since the bus was at 8.25 AM, and it was past 8. My hubby quickly dropped me to get tickets while he helped my parents to get down with my son Akilan, and I got the ticket and waited praying that bus should not come till he parks and comes, and he just made it in the nick of time, and we made it sharp at 8.25 AM, we started with out Handy-cam and Photo shoots, and it all started with a nice bright morning.
It took about 45 mins to reach Port Authority Bus Terminal at New York City, and we got down wondering where the elevator(lift) is, so that we can get down easily with the Stroller and other baggage.... Of course all were scorning me for the luggage.... My parents were avoiding the escalator and still had to take it in a couple of places, and made it to the exit. We came out to the busy world of New York City, in Time Square, and decided to explore more of it later the day, so went towards the Subway Station to take the Metro Train to the Statue of Liberty. We were giving few information for our parents on the way and they were zapped at the busy and tall buildings all over already. After he purchased the tickets in the vending machine ($8.25!) per day per person, fun pass, we went looking in the map for the train number and went right there after inquiring an officer and boarded the train.
We got down in Wall Street, and suddenly we were in front of New York Stock Exchange and the Federal Building, wow we had not seen this before!, after seeing costliest corner of the world, showed the Trinity Church to our parents, and went looking out for the bull. We landed at the WTC remains and the new construction, and the went towards the Bull, took some snaps and then towards the Statue. Oh my, what a long queue....saying this, I went to get tickets, and the others stood in the queue, Realized the waiting is more than an hour and also we crossed the timing to go to the Crown and even the Pedestal, and waited in the queue, as we neared the entrance, we realized there was an airport like security, so we put all metallic stuff - belt, watch, mobile.... in a bag and then put all inside, and we and that got scanned.
Finally we were in the Cruise, "Miss New York", and headed towards the Liberty Statue, Lady Liberty always is charming, My parents were all excited, my father was wondering the technical details, which we later collected back at home in Google to realize it was all Copper and the golden tinge has changed to green because of the chemical reactions of the sea breeze, and the huge tons of steel and concrete also which forms part of the construction and all that....., My mother was liking the cool breeze the cruise drive, Akilan was looking around and the busy world, which was new to him, My husband was reminded of the earlier visits we both had and of course me too.... We landed there and had our photo sessions, and went around the lady, tried giving Akilan some snacks, and went around.... Then we sat down to have our lunch which we packed from home, hoping now the weight of our single baggage would be divided among us :) We got back after some shopping in the Cruise to the Battery Park, this time, my parents and me went up the cruise, while my Akilan and his dad were relaxing down. Oh the breeze was so nice. We reached the shore and went towards the subway station, disappointed going up and down looking for elevator, the stroller carrying exercise was not easy, Chidam was taking the trouble all the time....
Finally we got in at South Ferry Station and reached Bryant Park Station, and got out..... Wow, the bright and busy world again, we started explaining the concept of Avenues and Streets, and of course the tall sky scrapers were self explanatory to my parents, all astonishing them. Then of course Grand Central Metro Rail Station in New York, oh what a great train station, with its tall Ceiling, bright Chandeliers, the central Four faced, Opal Clock, and more than all the busy movement all over.... We came out again and showed were i earlier worked in ABN, and then went to United Nations to show where my husband worked for United Nations. Then we walked back....(my parents (legs) were so tired), still made it back to Times Square, of course all along the photo sessions, video sessions, and showing places like Fifth Avenue, Empire State, Chrysler Tower were all happening, Mc Donald's Hot chocolate, coffee and Fries gave a little refreshment before we continued to Times Square, and we liked the interesting change there, where we can literally sit in the middle of the road, yes this change was nice , there were chairs and tables where people can relax looking at the busy world, We realize we were already about half a day long there and now it was time to head to the bus station.
We were on time to catch the 8.30 PM bus back home....We were all tired, but nice memories, and a beautiful day withe a beautiful weather supporting us, was all in our minds, as we relaxed back at home the remaining part of the weekend.
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