Fisherman's wharf

The signs, the sights, the streetcars...the people...
it's all very colorful at San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.

San Francisco sights

You might glimpse some of these sights if you're in San Francisco...

Coit tower in the distance...

The pointy AmeriTrade tower...
















What?  Is that Alcatraz at the end of the street?
Yes.  It is.

Montezuma Castle cliff dwelling

 Here's an eight hundred year old dwelling built into the side of a cliff.
The Montezuma Castle.

Can you imagine the people who built it knowing that their home has become a tourist attraction?
Wild.

Rothenberg ob der Tauber: towers

Stand and look down any street in Rothenberg ob der Tauber and you'll see a tower peaking out in the distance.
Well preserved towers.  Some as many as eight hundred years old. 

Desert Botanical Garden

There is a botanical garden in the desert of Phoenix.  If you are brave enough to face the heat, you can take a tour, or take a class.

You will for sure see lots of cacti.

But, no.  Those ones are not real.

Seattle Space Needle

I went up in the Seattle Space Needle to see what I could see.

And the view was very pretty.

Washington showed me some nice weather--blue skies and no rain--so I'm sure I have a skewed impression of what it's like to live there.

From the tower, I could see far enough to spot Mount Rainier. 

I feel like I've seen everything, even a space ship...
but that's probably not accurate either.

Rail museum

The sign in the photo says not to climb on the train engines

...but that's exactly why we come here.

What little boy--and all the others with him--don't love climbing on old trains, trying out the gears in the engines and pretending to blow the whistle?
Or making train sounds of our own as we trail down the tracks?

Good fun.

It's terribly designed as far as museum quality and presentation of facts go.  Terrible.
The four year old with us knew the most because he watches Thomas the Tank Engine.

Trains are such an important part of India--past and present.
And because of that...

I suggest you follow that arrow and visit the Rail Museum.

Diwan-i-khas and the Peacock Throne

Visitors can still go see the Diwan-i-Khas at the Red Fort, the private audience hall of the Mughal emperors.  And though it's run down and the restoration work slow, it's still a beautiful building.  White marble, intricately carved pillars inlaid with semi-precious stones.
Emperor Shah Jahan was so pleased with the pavilion that he had these words engraved on it:  "If there is paradise on the face of this earth, it is this, it is this."

The last time court was held here was during 1857, when the last Mughal emperor was making the fateful decision of whether or not to join the forces who were in revolt against the British rulers.  Though he tried to resist, he was swept up in a conflict that ended in tragedy for the empire and his family.

Along with the royal family, something else is missing from the Diwan-i-Khas.  The Peacock throne.
The throne used to sit on a pedestal as the centerpiece of all the Mughal splendor.

Shah Jahan had it made when he ruled the empire from Delhi.  The national treasury was displayed for all to see.  A statement in gold, diamonds, sapphires and pearls to say, "We are not just kings here, we are emperors."

The Mughals were defeated by a Persian army in 1739 and the Peacock throne was plundered.  A short time after, the Persian ruler himself was assassinated and the throne was dismantled, its jewels and gold dispersed to different factions.

The sun may have set on the Mughal empire and their treasures may be stolen and lost to history.  But a few hints of what once was still remain.

Lal Qila

The imposing walls of the Red Fort in Delhi stretch over two kilometers.  They were built by Shah Jahan, who, like his grandfather Humayan, preferred Delhi to Agra.

The fort was a huge undertaking.  The builders and architects were told to create a paradise on earth for the emperor and his court next to the Yamuna river.

At the edge of the private royal residence was the Diwan-i-Aam, where the public came to the ruler to tell him their problems. There was a courtyard and garden in front where the people used to gather to see the emperor sit on his magnificent throne. The area was heavily ornamented and hung with thick curtains--meant to impress and awe all those who saw it.

In the private quarters, a continuous channel of water connects a row of pavilions.  The Nahr-i-Behisht, or "Stream of Paradise", collected in pools (like this one in the Rang Mahal) and fountains throughout the royal gardens and provided a kind of air-conditioning for the summer months.

One of the last things to be constructed by the Mughal rulers within the fort is the pavilion in the Hayat baksh garden.  Here Bahadur Shah II built his own small palace within a lake. 
The descendents of Shah Jahan found it difficult to maintain the splendor of the fort.  And not just building at the same level of grandeur, but  living.
When the British took over the fort in 1857, the royal descendents were found living in run down streets and alleyways that looked the same as those outside the fort.  The whole area was cleared away for army barracks.

Now, the red sandstone columns of the Diwan-i-Am glow in the afternoon sun, but in their original state, painted gold, they must have awed the public audience that gathered here to see the emperor.

The golden door is the entrance to Chhatta chowk, which was modeled after the Persian covered markets.  Shah Jahan thought the covered market was a good idea as a relief from the hot sun.
It's still a market place for the usual touristy items of India.

Mughal and British rule have both come to an end in India.  The towering red walls of the Red Fort symbolize the independence of India and the merging of history with the present.

Afsarwala

Afsarwala's tomb and masjid are inside the Humayan complex. 
They aren't really that exciting.
Breaking down and unvisited, there isn't much of a story to tell about them either.

Except this:
The name Afsarwala. It means just what it sounds like:  Officer wala.
It's the officer's tomb and masjid.  Which officer, no one knows.  Most nobles were officers of some sort in the military way back when.

When this area to the west of Humayan's tomb was still a bustling market, the masjid would have been in the center of it.  But even then, it seems, no one remembered long enough which officer was the patron of the masjid.

Another irony of history, choosing what it will to remember or forget.