A Day Out - Jan 30

Yesterday we went down to Manila Bay and spent time in Intramuros, the original fort built in the late 1500s. It was a beautiful, hot and sunny day (sorry to hear about your -20 degrees plight). The history of this city was little known to us (as with most of North America I believe) so we certainly learned a lot. I felt a bit like I was in a WW II movie, and expected General MacArthur to come out of some of these bushes

This fort was originally built by the Spanish and was attacked over the years by Chinese pirates and the Dutch, and was conquered by the British, Americans and Japanese over the years. The most recent was the Japanese in the last few years of WW II. Have a look at this picture of a building that has not been touched since that time.

There was also a lot of information about the "atrocities" (their wording on the signs) by the Japanese during this time period which again I think is never quite taught to North America as much as the Europe part of WW II.

Also in this area (Fort Santiago specifically) is the cell that Dr. Jose Rizal was held in before he was executed in 1896 by Spanish firing squad. He is considered a martyr in their fight for independance. They have brass foot prints that lead from his cell out of the fort that represent his last steps.

And what do you think of this? This is his cell....we came around the corner and were actually quite started to see this life size statue of him in his cell - what do you think?

There is much more, but we don't want to bore you.....when you come visit we will take you to it and the National Museum of the Filipino People that we also visted.

One last thing, here are pictures across the Pasig River to give you a feel for parts of the city.

The best part of the day for me was that taxi rides through the little back streets that showed how the majority of the millions in Manila live.

That was our day out. An exploration of a whole other part of the city that is becoming home...