Photo Post Four: Chennai

The building where Anni and Raja grew up. The part you see is an enclosed porch.
The homes inside were very nice.

I can't help but really like this sentiment.  It should be everyone's new motto.

In Anni's hotel, they have real waterlilies floating in their fountain in the lobby. Pretty!

Part of the Kapaleeswarar temple. Te whole place is covered with carvings like this...so beautiful.

Me with all the kumkum on my forehead after visiting the temple. You can see the top part of my outfit. Mirror work like this is very common in Indian clothing.  I wore the dupatta around my shoulders, because the sleeves are very short, and it wasn't quite modest enough for temple.

This is one of my very favorite outfits. It's green and purple. I love green and purple.

The Tamil plaque at Valluvar Kollam. I just love the script.
There's an English one, too.

Pigeons below my window. These two seemed particularly in love.

Valluvar Kollam. The gardens are so lovely. This is looking up at the meeting hall area. Unfortunately, the inside of the meeting hall is very shabby. The outside looks cool, though.

A closer look of the entrance.

Who doesn't love elephants? I do! These stand at the entrance to the main monument.
The huge chariot contains a statue of poet/saint Tiruvalluvar.

Here is a closeup of one of the wheels, and one corner of the monument.
The verses of the Thirukkural are shown in pictures carved into the monument.

We saw a lot of these creepy-crawlies at the Gandhi Mandapam

"White Man, go home!"

The dome of the main ampitheatre

Anni showed us how she and Raja used to pull apart these flowers and suck the nectar out
when they were kids. I used to do a similar thing as a child, myself.

Anni and the boys entering the main building.
These are the elephants on which Anni used to ride while Aunty fed her.

The auditorium. Sometimes there are performances here.

The walkway from the auditorium is filled with beautiful carvings.

The room of Tamil Freedom Fighters. At the center is a photo of the greatest fighter for Indian freedom:
the "soldier of peace," Gandhiji. Gandhi was not Tamil. He was from what is now the state of Gujarat.
Still, he had a great influence all over India...and the entire world!

A door into one of the many smaller monuments. Look at the beautiful carving!

A lot of sweethearts come here. Look at this love-tree. It was carved from top to bottom.
I wonder how many of these couples are still together?

I just thought this tree was so cool/beautiful. I have no idea what kind of tree it is.

Can you see what I was trying to photograph here? Look closely!

Amethyst Cafe. Once an old colonial bungalow. It is so gorgeous and lavish.
No doubt some British officer and his family once lived here, with tons of Indian servants.

Uh-oh! This guy was an uninvited guest at Anni's 5-Star hotel. He was later asked to leave by hotel staff.

Newly beautified toes. I also really like this outfit. :)

One of the Southern Indian restaurants where we ate amazing food.

Look at the inside of this restaurant! I feel like I'm eating in a palace.

The pristine banana leaves

The used banana leaves. Once again, I cannot begin to describe the deliciousness of the food.
Despite the presence of a fork, a lot of the food is eaten straight with the fingers. It really adds to the experience. :)

More photos will come soon, but I haven't been taking too many, as I've been sticking close to the house.   I'm sure there will be plenty more once we head to Bangalore!

Until then, be good!