Amritsar--The Golden Temple

I had heard about the beauty of the Golden Temple and seen photos of others who had been. We had the chance to spend a weekend in Amritsar. The Golden Temple, the Harmandir Sahib, is the most well-known place of worship of the followers of Sikhism. While no religion can be easily summarized, I read that Sikh teaching emphasizes the principle of equality of all humans and rejects discrimination on the basis of caste, creed, and gender. Even in the rain (yes, it rained all weekend), we felt the welcoming warmth emanating from shining temple in its golden glory.

I read that the free kitchen serves up to 80,000 meals a day:

One of the kitchens, biggest pots ever:

Enjoying the chapati:

art for art...

For the third year in a row, I visited the India Art Fair (Art Fair). Usually, I brave the crowds but this year I was lucky to secure two VIP passes for specific viewing hours. I invited my friend, Sofie, and when we arrived, we had the pleasure of leisurely walking through the three exhibition spaces...no kids in tow and no crowds to navigate. Such a fun art-filled morning. And, the Art Fair did not disappoint. With over 1,000 artists from 24 different countries, we saw a variety of provocative, interesting, beautiful or just plain cool works of art in all sorts of media.

Here are some pics I snapped with my phone:

Cool mobile:

 Painted boxes:

Cityscape made of different containers:

For my boys:

This is made entirely of...

this:

 Ambassador car covered in leather from soldiers' shoes: