picture of the day!

[anivid]

- me too.
Hope it hasn't been used for its original purpose before :-)

[Mangara]

Maybe he got that green colour with toilet cleaner!

[Vertigo]

Or maybe it was just the thought of what he was about to clean himself with!

[StormFeather]

I love these - it's so amazing what people can do with the simplest of materials;

[hopewrites]

The attention to detail is so fine! That was my favorite part about living near the coast, the sand exhibits and competitions.

[StormFeather]

I've been here - it's an amazing place . . .



I got to see the Fresco's, and the swimming pools, both down at the foot of the mountain, and up top. Mind you, when I went there, in the early 90's, the concept of 'Health and Safety' was a dim and distant shadow . . .

[alchemist]

Very cool. Where is it, SF? Milton Keynes? South America?

[hopewrites]

it was probably a shadow because people were expected to have enough common sense to look out for their own, or at least take responsibility for themselves if they didn't.

It IS beautiful!

[StormFeather]

It's in Sri Lanka - here's the blurb that went with it:

"Sigiriya The Palace & Fortress in The Sky"

Sigiriya, the spectacular 'Lion rock' fortress, stands majestically overlooking the luscious green jungle surroundings, and is one of Sri Lanka's major attractions.

This was built by King Kasyapa, a son of King Dhatusena, by a palace consort. As legend goes, King Dhatusena was overthrown and walled in, alive by Kasyapa in 473 AD. Mogallana, Dhatusena's son by the true queen fled to India, vowing revenge.

Kasyapa fearing an invasion built this impregnable fortress at Sigiriya.

When the invasion finally came in 491, Kasyapa rode out to battle in his war elephant. In an attempt to out-flank his half-brother, Kasyapa took a wrong turn, where his elephant got stuck in the mud. His soldiers, thinking Kasyapa was retreating fled abandoning him, and he took his own life.

Sigiriya later became a monastic refuge, but eventually fell into disrepair.

photo was taken on July 18, 2008.

Getting to the top is a bit precarious though, and my heart was in my throat when trying to see the frescos - up the small spiral staircase:



Worth it though to see these -



And the walk to the top is pretty precarious too:



But worth it for the views:

[Mouse]

Looks fantastic, SF! Very jealous.

It reminds me of when I went to Meteora in Greece to see the monasteries. You have to go over lots of scary bridges and climb ladders and what have you there too.

[David Evil Overlord]

Stormfeather, that fortress, and the story of the war elephant stuck in the mud, featured in Arthur C. Clarke's The Fountains of Paradise.

[Ursa major]

Mouse, is it true that the monks warn visitors about sitting on the bare rocks...









...in case they get meteoroids...?

[Mouse]

Ha ha! Yes, you're right. I heeded the warning.

[StormFeather]

Simply stunning:

Monsoon Season

Thunderstorm over Lake Powell.

Photo was taken on July 16, 2008 using a Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III.

Copy Credit : Mike Jones

And:

Earth and Sun

The Setting of the Sun Over the Pacific Ocean and a Towering Thundercloud, July 21, 2003 As Seen From the International Space Station (Expedition 7); Image Science and Analysis Laboratory, NASA-Johnson Space Center. "Astronaut Photography of Earth - Display Record."

[alchemist]

Lake Powell is always good for photos.

Continuing the theme of "where I went on holidays," the Moeraki boulders in New Zealand (not my photo)