Would you like a fortress with your BigMac?

Continuation of our one and only sight-seeing episode in Pakistan.

After praying in the Badshahi mosque, we ended up visiting its neighbour, The Lahore Fortress for the rest of the afternoon.

Once the tour guide heard me speak English to my cousin, he latched onto us like a bee on honey for the rest of our time there. A large crowd gathered around us because, I suspect, they were wondering why we were getting a private tour. That's right. The old man who knew the whole history behind each part of the fort, was only focused on us. Note to self: I warned the girls not to speak English in public, and as a result, I had to eat my own words and prepare to give our toothless guide a nice sized tip.

Below is a picture of him in front of the many entrances where he narrated that Prince Akbar would enter the fort, riding an elephant. I felt like I was in the middle of the book, Passage to India.



The fortress was built by the Mughal emperor, Akbar, to secure the city. I cracked a joke to my husband highlighting the fact that it seemed that all the Princes and Maharajahs in India/Pakistan built beautiful monuments for their wives. "What are you living under right now, a hut?!" he exclaimed. Note to readers: Even mere attempts at romance were relinquished the moment we landed in what used to be a land ruled by the Mughals.

Below is a picture of Prince Akbar and his wife. His face was etched out by vandals



We were truly stunned at the lack of maintenance throughout our tour. It was such a shame that there was no program put in place by the government to preserve these historical monuments. And clearly, the people who lived here did not care as we witnessed desecrated parts of the fort.

As I pondered these thoughts, I could hear the girls complaining. I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, It's hot, My feet hurt, That man is staring at me, Why are we looking at old things, There is no way an elephant could fit through there...it reminded me of the time when we went to England and we were touring London on a double-decker bus and as I took in the sights, the architecture and learned about the city's history, my video camera captured London in all its glory while the girls, on the top level and at the back of the bus, fought over who's BigMac had more sauce.