The traffic in Colombo on Fridays is fierce. Gabriel asked if we could have a short tour today and another tour tomorrow. We decided that wasn't a bad plan. 1st because fighting traffic is painful, even for the passengers. It would mean that we couldn't park near any of the sights we wanted to visit or get good photos. 2nd After almost a month of traveling we are really tiring out. Hanging around today was really appreciated.
We had breakfast and Gabriel picked us up around 9:15. We passed by an interesting, lotus shaped building as a convention center. We then stopped in front of the Independence Memorial Hall. A copy in granite of the wooden one in Kandy, it is quite lovely.
We had breakfast and Gabriel picked us up around 9:15. We passed by an interesting, lotus shaped building as a convention center. We then stopped in front of the Independence Memorial Hall. A copy in granite of the wooden one in Kandy, it is quite lovely.
Lions are all over the memorial. I particularly like the teeth on this guy.
The lotus shaped building from a distance. There really wasn't a place to park any nearer.
Charlie and Gabriel in the memorial
One other shot.
One old colonial building had a race course in the center of town. The Sri Lankan government got rid of the race track and turned the area into a rugby stadium and kept the stands. The rest of the building is a shopping mall.
The inside of St. Mary's Church.
The pews
We then drove to St Mary's. An old Catholic church in Colombo. A place to park, and some relatively peaceful.
After our visit to the church we went to a Buddhist temple in the area called asokaramaya. It is about 80 years old. Ornately decorated it was quite pretty.
Buddha in the main entrance
Buddha in repose. Note long right foot implies he's reached nirvana
Decorations above the Buddha statue
Bo tree in temple courtyard.
We stopped at a large department store called Odel. It has a subsidiary called Embark. We had seen Embark while we were wandering around the fort in Galle. It turns out the owner of Odel found a street puppy and called him Nicco. At the time she was selling clothing from the back of a car. She expanded her empire to the huge department store (and obvious subsidiaries) and decided Nicco brought her good luck. She works with stray dogs now as a charity and takes Nicco everywhere with her.
A mosque across the street from Odel
Roof line of the Victoria monument in Colombo.
When we got back to the hotel, we wandered out again to the government shop for a last minute few gift items. We stopped on the way back at Mews Parkway for a sandwich lunch. When we got back to the hotel we did a lot of nothing.
Today is our last full day. My next blog will be from home with the final half day. We fly from Colombo to Mumbai. Then from Mumbai to Frankfurt. Then Frankfurt to LA. 3 hours, nine hours, then 13. The downside to visiting the opposite side of the earth. With all the nonsense in Paris and Mali I suspect we'll really be checked carefully.
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