My mental image of Kolkata (Calcutta) was far from reality. There's a lot of green, the high-rises stop around the 12th floor, and it's relatively clean. I guess I'm learning that Mumbai is the outlier.
Kolkata seems to run on bicycle transportation. There are many more bicycle carts than in other places we've been, and this is the first place we've seen bicycle rickshaws rather than tuk-tuks (which are officially, "auto-rickshaws"). Our hotel is in the heart of downtown Kolkata, where the streets and sidewalk are wide and shaded, and the British colonial influence is palpable.
The Victoria Memorial
in the style of the Taj Mahal, built as a memorial to Queen Victoria
Unfortunately, you are not allowed to take photos inside the building, so I'll have to settle for exterior shots.
 |
| One of a flock of parrots in the gardens |
 |
| These horse carts were available for hire -- much like the Hansom Cabs in New York's Central Park. |
Across the river in Howrah
This is also typical Kolkata:
 |
| A narrow, but busy street in Howrah. Not the cycle-rickshaw coming towards us. |
 |
| This is a lane for a toll booth crossing the river back into Kolkata. I felt like I was back in a lock in the Panama Canal. The bottom photo was taken through the windshield. That's a bus in front of us -- you can see how narrow the lane is and how high the walls are. |
No comments:
Post a Comment