A Day of Sightseeing

Fountain near the train station
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Where to begin?!  I think we crammed most of the sightseeing available in Mumbai into one day.  In the morning Pri's dad helped us get together a list of what to see, then after lunch we were off.  Our first stop was the old train station - which is just beautiful from the outside.  As the city bustled around us, we got out and took some pics.  Pri's friend, Roxy, joined up with us at this point - she was also interested in going around the city.  They were laughing since they hadn't really done any of the tourist stuff since they were in school.  The driver whisked us next to the museum area.  We explored an art gallery and the modern art museum, plus took some pics outside the Prince of Whales museum.  While in the modern art museum I received an impromptu history lesson from Pri and Roxy, bout India's independence, freedom fighters, Kashmir, etc - which was very interesting to hear.

Sarah infront of a statue near the train station
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The Gateway of India was the next stop on our tourist destinations.  It is a huge monument in the harbor - again it dates back from the British colonial times.  This is where you can board ferries to go to some of the nearby islands.  You can also buy some bird seed and feed the nearby pigeons - which we did.  I must say I stand out a bit because of my skin color - especially since Bombay really isn't that much of a tourist destination.  So when we go to these sites all the people selling photographs, postcards, etc keep coming up ask if we want to buy anything - to the fury of Pri and Roxy :)

The Taj Hotel
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Next, it was time for a break - some cool refreshments at the Taj motel.  This building has such a cool history.  It is a stunning old building, but it was built backwards!  The architect was in England during construction, but returned for the grand opening.  He was crushed to learn that the front was really the back, and the back was the front.  As story goes, he was extremely depressed by the whole thing and jumped off the building - which he now haunts.  Even if it was built wrong, it is still a beautiful building.  We went to the sea lounge, which overlooks the harbor and the gateway and ordered some nice fruity drinks.

Gateway of India
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After our break, we finished up the day with a trip to a Jane temple.  We removed our shoes and walked around the temple.  My friend took the incense and did the traditional three circles in front of each icon.  Our final destination after the temples was the hanging gardens.  We arrived around dusk to a gorgeous view of the city below.  Unfortunately, the camera had some difficulties taking pictures in the light - but I made sure to keep a mental image of the beautiful scene.