on our way down to breakfast our lift travelled down a see through shaft and we had a great view of the snow capped mountains that overlook the city. our first stop was the Golestan palace. this is the original palace built when Tehran was chosen as the place for a new capital. it has an amazing tiled facade with extraordinarily has animals and pastoral scenes. this is not at all normal for an Islamic country. the reason is that the ruler had visited France and been impressed with Versailles. the inside rooms reminded one of that palace with portraits,tapestries
chandeliers and furniture from France . the main reception hall was completely covered in crystal and glass decoration which gave a beautiful shine. here was where the original Peacock Throne had been but a replica was now in place. on a more macabre note a chair still had traces of blood from the assignation of a former shah in the 1890's. after a brief stroll through some gardens we arrived at the main market in Tehran. it's similar to most souks we have visited but we were not pestered at all to buy anything buy the stall holders but outside we were approached a couple of times if we wanted to buy a carpet or change money. there were of course a couple of child beggars. lunch was again in a traditional restaurant and this time we had a lentil/veg stew with rice,another local dish. our guide then tried to find the best place for us to exchange our dollars for the local currency. the first couple of places didn't want to but eventually one did grudgingly through our guide's account. right next door was the central bank which now houses the national jewels museum. a vast collection of bejewelled artefacts,tiaras and jewellery,some of it we thought was a bit vulgar and certainly over the top. jewelled umbrellas any one? the most remarkable object was a globe completely made out precious stones,the worlds largest diamond was nothing much to look at compared to that. we made our way through the rush hour traffic to the main railway station for our evening train to Yadz,a desert city and centre for Zoroastrianism. halfway there the train stopped for 15 minutes foe evening prayers.we were able to stretch our legs even though there was a bit of drizzle. apparently all trains stop in the evening like this.