Palace and Wats and Temples...and Buddhas

We set off to explore the 3 holy sites for Buddhists in Thailand:  The Grand Palace, Wat Pho, and Wat Arun.  These sites have been active for 100s of years and display the long term linkage of religion and the monarchy.

We took a river boat ride to the Grand Palace; figured out the wily stranger telling us the Palace was closed for a Buddhist holiday; and were just about floored by the architectural experimentation, wall decorations, gold leafed murals, and the Buddhas.  The Grand Palace includes more than 100 buildings (!); the most famous is probably the Temple of the Emerald Buddha.

Wat Pho has the city's largest reclining Buddha and the largest collection of Buddha images in Thailand.

Within the most holy temples, one could not take photos.

Anyway...we walked and saw amazing sites.  Here are just a few photos from The Grand Palace....more to follow.