Grand Palace including Wat Phra Kaew

I took this picture last weekend. This is the Grand Palace grounds which includes many interesting wats and buildings. The whole area was shut down that day though because they were using it for the activities associated with the Princess' funeral. The King's sister passed away earlier this year and they have been having the official mourning and funeral now. We all wore black last week and there was no alcohol sold for 3 days, etc, etc, etc. So we couldn't tour the Grand Palace that day but I have toured it before with Nolan and Maddie back in 2004.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Palace,_Bangkok

The rest of the pictures of the Grand Palace I took back in 2004. A very funny story (not to the Thai's) we have to tell is when we visited Wat Phra Kaew which houses the VERY SACRED Emerald Buddha. So the kids and I take off our shoes, making sure we follow all the rules, being very quiet and respectful, kneeling down on the floor and taking in the sight of the emerald buddha. Well, Nolan's legs, being so long, got tired and so he flips them out in front of him, pointing the bottoms of his feet STRAIGHT at the MOST SACRED Buddha in the land! Instantly, there were armed soldiers at our side telling Nolan to leave! Well, we still didn't know what was going on so I just thought, oh, they must think we've spent enough time there and we need to move along. So we get up and walk out quietly, noticing a sign on the wall stating "DO NOT POINT YOUR FEET AT THE BUDDHA...Oops...

Another one of the gold buildings...taken in 2004...