Flowers

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Yesterday I spent an interesting morning travelling about in an auto rickshaw with the same driver who had taken me out to the Gandhi Museum. My agenda had been to go to the Napier palace and the church that you can see from the rooftop restaurant of the hotel. I negotiated that at a price I considered reasonable.

The Palace was Magnificent ! It as built in the 1500's and the largest secular building in Madurai. There are only 2 parts left but they are works of art.HUGE ...carvings of mythical creatures up pillars ,over arches, across ceilings and down again .The "dance"hall took my breath away it was so well done.The builders and artisans of that time certainly knew what they were doing.
Next stop was St Mary's church .It is a pretty building painted different colours than you usually see in a church. It had a rose window of stained glass that reminded me of Holy Rosary . Attached , or within the same compound ,is the Higher Secondary school and in the courtyard there were several groups of students reading together . There was also a poster listing all the extra curricular clubs students could be involved in .I took a photo of that because they looked so ... normal!

My driver then suggested a bit more site seeing and we headed way out of town center stopping for a few photo ops on the way to the flower market.

WOW! Flowers are big business. We are speaking here of buds and petals of jasmine ,lotus ,marigolds ,roses ,peonies ...and others that I don't know the names of (yet).They are in large bags and there are both men and women involved as buyers and sellers .The flowers are weighed in balance scales and I think the weights = rupees to be paid not a actual weight . It was really crowded and I was glad that my driver was there to direct me.A good experience .

From there I headed back into the train station to cancel my train from Pondi to Chennai. I have decided to use a bus for that journey and stop at Mamalapurma(?) for a day or two rather than spending time in the city.

In the evening I wandered about and bought a sari that I plan to turn into living room curtains .It is quite lovely. Then I stopped at another hotel for a great meal of Butter chicken . My bowels are happier with meat in them...I know too much information...

Now I am off to Pondicherry by train...2nd class Chair AC... a 5 hour daylight journey that I am looking forward to . I'll keep you posted and look for your responses to this experience I am living .

Hope all is well.

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Comments

[Tim LaBelle]

Butter chicken...
Hey Pam, Krista, Liam and I are excited to hear of your adventures. I think a trip to India House is in order... Bye for now, TIM

[Carole]

got it
we did get an announcement from travelblog as well as from you.

[Shirl]

Enjoy the climate
Sounds fabulous, Pam. Flowers seem like a distant memory in Saskatoon in February. We have another blizzard today and people who live out of town are leaving work early so they don't get storm-stayed. Big winds and snow. Luckily it is "only" minus eight degrees C or so. Our snowbanks in the yard are the biggest we can remember in 18 years we've been in our house. So enjoy the climate! See you soon.

[Nettie]

Mexico greetings
Hi ,Enjoying your updates about the travel .Picking up Brenda for a week with us.Will be great.Saw some petroglphs in the hills.It was a great walk into the hills. Take care.keep in touch