akshardham & lotus temple

my first weekend adventure was to akshardham - a temple built a few years ago to honor the guru Bhagwan Swaminarayan. well...i think guru would be an appropriate term. i'm still trying to get my head around some of religious ideas over here. unfortunately, i have no photos of the place as cameras are not allowed. the buildings were all beautiful - amazing marble carvings, statues and gardens. the india way of showing the history of this guru was...interesting (and a bit entertaining). between giant screen movies, animatronics and boat rides, i think i know everything about this man's life. it was kinda like a religious disneyworld (especially the animatronics). :)

after touring the temple, we went into delhi to see the lotus temple. the lotus temple is a temple of the baha'i faith, and it's modeled after a lotus flower. it actually looks a bit like the sydney opera house, but i'm not sure which was first.





while admiring the temple was great, i think the most entertaining part of this visit was the spectacle i became. there was an entire school of children who kept turning to look and smile. then there was this little girl whose older brother/friend/uncle? approached me to say she wanted to meet me. she didn't speak any english, but reached out to shake my hand. kinda funny... who knew i'd be such a celebrity! cell phone pictures came next...ha ha