The Big Mango

If New York is called The Big Apple, then Mumbai is The Big Mango!

The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and the Gateway of India from our ferry.

The Gateway of India was finished just before the British were kicked out, so it became nicknamed the Getaway from India, ha!

Opposite the Gateway is this statue of Shivaji Maharaj- the founder of the Maharashtra Empire, and local hero.  They have renamed all of the Victorian age buildings with his name.  They will also be building a huge statue of him in the harbor, similar to the Statue of Liberty in New York.

I don't know who this is a statue of, but I love his turban!

I want to stay at the this hotel before we move from Mumbai!

We walked around Fort Bombay and enjoyed the beautiful buildings with the gorgeous bluest skies we've seen since the monsoons ended.

The dome on the Shivaji Museum was just glistening, while we let Buddha slumber.

Kala Ghoda is the art district, originally named after a black stone statue of the Prince of Wales (later to become King Edward VII) mounted on a horse.  The statue was removed after independence, but the square retained its nickname.  The square now has a brand new black horse statue, this time sans human or history.

The central tower of the Bombay High Court.

Can you see the little tree growing out of the window?

They must have sand-blasted this building recently, it is so clean!

Mumbai City Hall.

The angel in front holding a boat, symbol of the source of the city's wealth.

This statue was covered with construction walls, but we did see part of it and I wanted to share this photo we took of it back in December.  There are 2 of these guys facing each other on the gate of the Parsi Fire Temple, Agayri.

Our last stop (besides lunch) was the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (formerly the Victoria Terminus), the main train station of old Bombay. We've driven past it many times, but never walked by it or inside it.  The inside was just as amazing as the outside.

View of the left wing.  I love how the 2 lion guardians look different from one another.

The striking dome, with the clock about to strike 4:00.

I love this peacock and the flowers.  The craftsmanship of the Victorian era was just amazing!

Some of the arches inside.  It looks more like a cathedral in Europe than a train station!

And stained-glass windows, are you kidding me?  Love it!

Only a small portion of the massive number of platforms.  Seriously, this place is H U G E ! !

After we arrived home, we took the kiddos for a dip in the pool to cool off.  I think our next adventure should be to ride a train, but I don't know if I'm brave enough ;).