About Me
- Mariette VandenMunckhof-Vedder
- Here I would love to share with you our travels and adventures as international mushroom consultants. MEMOIRS about husband Pieter Vedder, who was a SCIENTIFIC PIONEER in Mushroom Cultivation Education. His practical handbook is in 9 languages and is called the MUSHROOM BIBLE: https://mariettesbacktobasics.blogspot.com/2020/08/modern-mushroom-growing-2020-harvesting.html
Thursday, June 17, 2021
Consulting in Mexico Brought us Again to Mountainous Areas
Tuesday, April 6, 2021
Borobudur Largest Buddhist Temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site
Borobudur Temple and UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1991
Sunday, April 4, 2021
Prambanan Hindu Temple in Yogyakarta, Indonesia a UNESCO World Heritage Site
Prambanan Hindu Temple built in the 9th Century
Monday, March 29, 2021
Baroque Abbey of St. Gall and Library, UNESCO World Heritage Site
Monday, January 4, 2021
New Delhi Sight Seeing and Bahai Lotus Temple
Bonus of sight seeing, courtesy of Pond's India Ltd...
Related link to previous post by me:
My 5th Consulting Trip to India & Visit of Taj Mahal | More info about this trip
Lalitha Mahal and Maharaja Palace Mysore 2 minute video
Sister Diny's Rabbit LOVED my Saddlebag from The Bridge Italy
Saturday, January 2, 2021
Taj Mahal short Video
Bonus after working as a consultant for Pond's India Ltd...
Related link to previous post by me:
My 5th Consulting Trip to India & Visit of Taj Mahal
Lalitha Mahal and Maharaja Palace Mysore 2 minute video
Sister Diny's Rabbit LOVED my Saddlebag from The Bridge Italy
Tuesday, December 29, 2020
Red Fort of Agra short Video
Upon completing our consulting period for Pond's India Ltd...
Related link to previous post by me:
My 5th Consulting Trip to India & Visit of Taj Mahal
Lalitha Mahal and Maharaja Palace Mysore 2 minute video
Sister Diny's Rabbit LOVED my Saddlebag from The Bridge Italy
Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Lecture by Pieter and Stay at UNESCO site Regensburg during German Mushroom Conference
On Thursday, October 23, 1986 we both drove in our rental car from The Netherlands to Regensburg in Germany.
Around 650 km at that time or 404 miles.
Parking was a bit tricky on this medieval Plaza around the Cathedral!
After a walk together through the city center we went to sleep under the down duvet.
On Friday, October 24, Pieter did present his lecture and this is one of the very rare occasions that he got paid for doing so! He received D.M. 1,000.00.
In the afternoon I joined the ladies on a bus tour to Kehlheim...
We visited the beautiful Asamkirche des Klosters Weltenburg, or Asam Church of Weltenburg Abbey. Just click through on link above and select English...
The painting on the ceiling in 1745 by Franz Asam (son of Cosmas Damian Asam, late Baroque painter and architect) represents the Last Judgment.
Next we went by boat through the Danube Gorge Nature Reserve and it was spectacular with all its fall colors! Enjoy a spectacular English spoken video: Benediktinerabtei Weltenburt (Germany) Vacation Travel Video Guide by clicking through.
Danube Gorge Nature Reserve click through to read more.
Kelheim - Weltenburg with the Abbey bottom left and the Danube Gorge above in center left... Center top and right is Regensburg with St. Peter Cathedral and Stone Bridge.
Wish my Pieter could have been with me...
We enjoyed a good German dinner at Bischofshof Braustuben (click through), together with Ferdinand Dohme and his family from Oldendorf, Germany and Hans Tschierpe from Wetzikon, Switzerland.
On Saturday, October 25, while Pieter still had some business and an afternoon excursion to the Graf (Count) Ballestrem, Pilzkulturen GmbH & Co KG (Mushroom plant) in Trisching about 45 minutes to the north of Regensburg, I had another City Walk with the Ladies at 9:00.
Had to get a picture of this fun Daxl Schuh (Dachshund Shoe) store front.
My cute black & tan Mauzie girl was no longer with us, since August 29 of 1985... MISSED her so much and still miss her.
We visited the medieval City Hall from the 2nd half of the 16th Century - Click here: Places to see in (Regensburg - Germany) Altes Rathaus and enjoy.
My entire life I will never forget this GRUESOME ROOM:
The original preserved Fragstatt (Questioning Place) from the Middle Ages inside the Old Town Hall.
'Die im original erhaltene Fragstatt aus dem Mittelalter im Alten Rathaus...'
We got to see lots of Patrician Homes, from the wealthy upperclass back then.
Also the home where German writer and statesman Johann Wolfgang von Goethe ones lived.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe - Regensburg - Bavaria/Germany - GOETHE lived here on September 4, 1786, in the former Gasthaus zum weissen Lamm just click through.
The plaque that is seen in above photo...
We ended that Saturday with a Party Night for all the Conference Participants.
Those were two wonderful days, spent in such a fabulous historic city.
Gruß aus Regensburg/Donau
Greetings from Regensburg on the Danube
Top left clockwise:
Steinerne Brücke u. Dom = Stone Bridge and Cathedral
Dom St. Peter = St. Peter Cathedral
Bruckmandl = the legendary builder of the stone bridge looking at the Regensburg Cathedral
Im Donaustrudel = the Danube rapid with strong vortex formation below caused by the pillars of stone bridge!
Partie an der Donau = Game on the Danube
Alter Kornmarkt = Old Corn Market
Top left: Dom St. Peter = St. Peter Cathedral
Radl (Rettich) Markt = Radish (daikon) Market
Neupfarrplatz und Gold Turm = A Square and former Jewish Quarter with Gold Towers for the affluent, the more important, the higher the tower.
Ostentor = Inspiring Gothic Gate
bottom are repeat places from the above explained...
Regensburg die alte Donaustadt
Regensburg the old Danube City
Hope you enjoyed this special city on the Danube as much as I did for those two short days!
Stay tuned for where our cute Fiat Uno rental car brought us next...
{Architecture is Frozen Music ~Goethe} | previous post
{Color Psychology and Blogger I Admire} | previous post about Goethe's writing
Thursday, January 10, 2019
My 5th Consulting Trip to India & Visit of Taj Mahal
We landed in Amsterdam on Thursday, July 28, at 8:00 and went to hotel Ibis.
Our Royal Wing card did yield us again a business seat on our way to Bombay (Mumbai).
We continued working every day and on Thursday, August 4, a special courier from Madras did bring back my meticulously stitched leather jacket! What a joy.
Friday, August 5, was our final day at work and we got again honored with a farewell ceremony in which we, as usual received each a gift. A twin gift since we both worked for them. This time it were solid silver Diyas in which the Hindus pour fragrant oil and use 5 cotton wicks to light it.
On Saturday, August 6, we did drive by car early morning with a staff member to Mysore and visited the Palace, where we have been before. Then we traveled to Bangalore and stayed at the Sheraton hotel in Bangalore.
On Sunday, August 7, we flew to Delhi, and stayed at hotel Kanishka (Ashok), sounds almost Russian...
Strange enough, there were lots of Russians staying!
We had a relaxing day.
Monday, August 8, at 4:15 I shampooed my hair, nearly cold water... By 5:30 we left with 2 beautiful sisters as our guides. They were the daughters of some of Pond's employees and we were going to Agra, some 225 km south of Delhi.
There still was no 6-lane Yamuna Expressway at the time and on the road we saw elephants with HUGE balloons of fabric, that got filled with fresh harvested cotton. Large black camels pulling a cart and with the shaves pointed up.
Black camels are larger than the Arab camels and in the dessert state of Rajasthan, there are a lot of them.
In an article of the Daily Mail: From Delhi to Jaipur and back in a VW Polo? You'll need a blindfold for that! I did find some similar chaos to show you how that looked like.
The writer also mentions: Everyone points their vehicle/camel/elephant in the direction they wish to go, keeps a hand on the horn, and advances as fast as they can, avoiding the pedestrians, chickens, monkeys, goats and cows, who persistently cross the road kamikaze-style, despite the roaring traffic.
~
Yes, we saw goats, stray dogs that were either pregnant or nursing pups. The ever present holy cows and buffalos, adding horses and donkeys used by people as load animal.
You just did weave with your car all the way through. Those cows know that wonderfully well, they usually dream or lie in the median, a raised area between the lanes. The average speed was not high with all the roaming cattle! Occasionally on an open stretch you reached one hundred km/hr. It was pleasant to keep the windows closed and the air conditioning on in the car, thus keeping the odor of manure from all those beasts at bay. Oh yes, there were also roaming pigs, kind of wild boars, at least they looked a lot like that. Plenty of manure and to top it off, the necessary mud from the wet monsoon! Unseen, you can not imagine what a mess and chaos there was!!!
Taj Mahal a UNESCO World Heritage site click on pink hyperlink to read more.
BUT we made it to Agra and we enjoyed the marvel of the Taj Mahal.
It is entirely built in white Indian marble, which is a lot harder than the Italian marble.
As a matter of fact it is the mausoleum of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan who had it built for his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal.
She was a Persian Princess who died when giving birth to their 14th child.
Beautifully situated on the banks of the Yamuna River lies the Taj Mahal←click it. Watch→: Taj Mahal (UNESCO/NHK) video with lots of info. At the time we were there, it was prohibited to make any photos! You even had to pay for having your camera placed inside a locker...
We did purchase the book from Taj Mahal & The Glory of Mughal Agra by J.S. Lall,
also some video we have from it, as seen from the Agra Red Fort, across the river.
On Amazon there is the same book available with different cover photo: Taj Mahal and the Glory of Mughal Agra
From the White Indian marble we purchased the above picture frame at the Taj Mahal.
Agra Red Fort see more photos via link.
This is an enormous complex of palaces.
We enjoyed our private English guide and learned a lot! Great architecture from the early 17th Century.
The road back in our Ambassador car was again an adventure. One should not be surprised to see suddenly we were moving as a ghost rider, on the wrong side of the road, because it seemed temporarily less congested there. It was a newly opened 4 lane highway divided by a concrete median. At certain spots the concrete quality seemed rather poor, so openings appeared and drivers were too eager for switching over to drive against the traffic...
Our Guardian Angels had again a very busy day!!!
Lunch we ate at the Sheraton Hotel in Agra.
We were home before it got quite dark as we did not trust the mini lights of the Ambassador car and others and many without any lights!
On Tuesday August 9, we had a quiet morning till 11:00 when the wife of our usual Delhi guide who for 5 years always picked us up, came to take us shopping. At 14:00 we had a meeting with the General Manager from Madras, who just happened to be in Delhi. We had a good conversation with him and it helped that both of us worked for the same company.
Again we went with the same wife as guide into New Delhi, to the Lotus Temple which we this time could video tape. Also the estate from the president; Rashtrapati Bhawan (built in 1931) and the government buildings and India Gate.
We just could run to the car before a downpour!
We let her drop us off at the airport by 20:30 so nobody needed to look after us anymore...
We were early and after checkin with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines we observed something we'd never ever seen.
Russians with huge burlap bales, on which they walked and laid down...
When we asked our KLM agent, she said this was a daily drama with Ukraine Air to Kiev.
They can not even take it all home... they buy huge amounts of fabric rolls, let the Indians sew for a dollar a piece children- and teenage clothing and they stash that all in these burlap bags. In Russia they have a shortage and due to the lower wages in India they purchase it there.
How we would have loved to capture that but at Delhi airport photography or filming was prohibited.
We found in one of the stores, beautiful boxes, cut out in a kind of lacework, made from camel bone!
Never seen them before. They came from the dessert state of Rajasthan. What are those people artists!
Wednesday, August 10, we started boarding at 0:15... but when we were on the runway at 0:50 the captain stopped! The temperature indicator of one of four engines did not work.
They had to replace that and it would take 1.5 hour. We parked on an apron and the captain announced that the food had to be served meanwhile.
We had an upgrade on our Royal Wing card and got seated in the upper deck in business class.
By 8:00 the captain said we had to return to the gate... they couldn't find the problem.
We disembarked and went to the waiting room.
First they called all business class passengers + all passengers traveling to the UK.
So we were lucky since we had our upgrades!
We had to turn in our boarding passes for new ones on Air Canada for flying with them to London.
Then we had to walk to where the plane parked, for identifying our luggage on the pavement, so they could load it into the Air Canada plane.
We flew to London in 8 hours and 45 minutes, departure at 8:30 instead of 0:50...
We had left a note in Delhi for contacting our friends who would pick us up, as we parked our car with them. They got informed!
In London we got awaited by KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and after we retrieved our luggage they brought us by bus to the other terminal of Heathrow Airport.
Then we had to run for passport check and straight into the KLM plane that was waiting for us.
To Amsterdam with 106 stranded passengers from Delhi.
By 17:15 we were in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
KLM did bring us to the Golden Tulip, Barbizon hotel (now Barbizon Palace) in Amsterdam.
Also a voucher for dinner and breakfast included.
Thursday, August 11, we went by shuttle back to the airport in Amsterdam and we flew with Delta to Atlanta, USA.
Plane was full and lots of smokers, so bad that the captain had to request to refrain from smoking for at least 15 minutes to refresh the air. How blessed we are now with non-smoking flights!
End of another India adventure...
Thanks for your visit and comment!
Related links:
Pieter Hands Check to Rotary Club Ketti Valley, India | previous post by me
My 4th Consulting Trip to India after HUGE Landslide | previous post by me
My 3rd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Consulting for Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 2nd trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Brindavan Gardens Mysore with Luxury Heritage Hotel | previous post by me
Chamundeshwari Temple and Chamundi Hills in Mysuru India | previous post by me
Trip from Ooty to Mysuru through Mudumalai Wildlife Sanctuary | previous post by me
Wearing a Saree for ONE Day and Lending my Jeans | previous post by me
Pond's (India) Limited Mushroom Project | previous post by me
My 1st Trip to India - Consulting Together with Husband Pieter | previous post by me
Husband Pieter's ADVENTUROUS 2nd Trip to India | previous post by me showing the Qutb Minar