Golden Temple

Yup, its as cool and as pretty as promised. It reminded me of St. Peter's in Rome, in the sense of being a holy and impressive place; what it lacks in size it makes up for in glitter. This picture doesn't do it much justice, but I hope it helps a litte.

There were loads of pilgrims and worshipers. Twice while I was there a random old Sikh man came up to me and said words to the effect of: "Welcome! You are my brother, and all doors here are open to you. Please enjoy and stay as long as you like."

I also hadn't realized until I saw the Sikh mueseum at the Golden Temple just how violent the Sikh's history was. They were constantly being killed by everyone--the Moguls, the Hindus, the Bristish, the French, the Afghans, the Persians. To be fair, they gave as well as they took--for example their bitter loss to the British at 1846 the battle of Ferozeshah caused a British officer to comment "One more victory such as this and we are undone." More info here.