Last Saturday Mom and I along with Jeff Clayton flew to Antananarivo the capital of Madagascar. This is a picture taken from our Carlton Hotel room on the 10th floor. Lake Anosy was built for the specific purpose of providing hydraulic power to the city's factories. In the center is a large statue of an angel. The local Malagasies refer to it as the "black angel". I guess before it was cleaned, city pollution had blackened the gold angel.

At top of hill is "Queen's Palace"  Its real name is Andafiavaratic Palace and in the late 1800's it was the residence of the Prime Minister of Madagascar.

Picture of the doorman at the Carlton Hotel. This is formal Malagasy attire. It seemed polynesian to me.

As in all African cities there are lots of street vendors. Unemployment is very high in Madagascar.

The French invaded and colonized Madagascar in 1897. Much of the architecture had a French feel.

Getting water up the hill to your home is still a problem.

A Malagasy couple waiting for a pizza lunch. Malagasies are a mixture of African, Asian, Malaysian and Indian descent. 

LDS Chapel in downtown Antananarivo, Madagascar. With reference to most buildings built in the downtown area, it looked out of place.

Street vendors.

The city of Antananarivo has over 2.5 million people. It feels crowded.

All around Antananarivo are rice fields. It is the number one food source for most people.

While traveling outside of Antananarivo we came upon this group of school children who were visiting a Lemur refuge. How cute are they?