Hello, Local Guides Family,
Last month was quite thrilling for all of us, when we celebrated Connect’s 6th Birthday together, and now it’s celebration month again as Independence Month for Pakistan, India, Indonesia and some other Countries, So Happy Independence day to all who are celebrating it in August with us.
Today I’m going to share the story of an amazing day in Islamabad.
This recap is the story of the trip to Islamabad, which was a marathon meet-up trip for me. Due to some reason, I’m posting this recap late.
After a fantastic two days in Lahore, we (I and @Swalay ) started our journey again by intercity bus towards Islamabad, where I already announced ameet-up for Photo Walk.
Islamabad is the Capital city of Pakistan, and one of the most beautiful capitals in the world. It’s the ninth-largest city in Pakistan. Built as a planned city in the 1960s. The total area of Islamabad is 906.5 km², and as per the 2017 census, the population of Islamabad is 1.015 million.
On meet-up day, 30 minutes before we reached Fatima Jinnah park, where we were supposed to meet other Local Guides from Islamabad and also from its twin city Rawalpindi. We waited approx one hour after the start time of the meet-up, but unfortunately, no one contacted us, nor did anyone meet us there. We were a little bit disappointed because in Lahore we had a great experience of a lovely gestureby our dear friends and amazing local guides @Muhammad_Usman , @Sarbland , and @thehmsofficial (Hafiz Saqib).
But as it was part of our routine, we moved forward and decided to begin our photo walk.
Pakistan Monument Is one of the elegant landmarks of Pakistan, The Pakistan Monument is a national monument located in the western part of Islamabad at Shakarparian Hills.
The monument was constructed in May 2004, completed & Inaugurated on 23rd March 2017. Pakistan Monument symbolizes unity, and dedication to the people, who sacrificed their “today” for a better “tomorrow”.
After reaching there, we bought tickets for both of us, which was around half USD$,
And we both noticed that there is a separate track to the monument for the people with different abilities, and they make this place completely 
Accessibility-friendly place for everyone, which was so nice.
We were feeling goosebumps there, because we often see this place on TV and news, especially on National Days of Pakistan.
We took many photos there, and the best part of this place was that from the height, we could see the whole city in 360 degrees along with a memorable selfie with the Pakistan Monument.
The Museum at Pakistan Monument was the best part of this photo walk. In 2014, when I was not a local guide, I visited this place, and when I wasn’t aware so much regarding Google Maps Contributions, So this visit was going to be a source of great contribution for this fantastic place, so here is my Google Maps Review for Pakistan Monument Museum.
Again, we bought tickets from the ticket counter, which was around one USD$ per person. And entered there.
After entering there, we reached another world. Basically, it’s a Wax Museum, In which the entire history of South Asia is described by Wax Statues and their backgrounds.
The best photo I captured there was a group of “Sub-Continent 's top leaders before 1947” wax statues, which was showing a deep discussion between
Mr. Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Mr. Jawahir Lal Nehru, Mr. Liaquat Ali Khan,
Mr. Baldev Singh, Mr. Sardar AburRab Nishter & Lord Mount Baten.
On the first floor of the Museum, there were dedicated partitions for the Cars which were used by the leaders & another part contained sculptures of famous personalities.
At the end of the museum, there was a space for ancient coins and antique items.
Lok Virsa Museum (Cultural Heritage Muesum) :
When we were going down from Shakarparian hills to Islamabad, on the left side we saw a big Billboard of Lok Virsa Heritage Museum, and as I heard and read a lot about it already, but never explored it, so we decided to visit it, and it was a great decision, Otherwise, we missed out on seeing such a great place and of course for my Google Maps Review for Lok Virsa Museum. 
National Heritage Museum also known as Lok Virsa Museum is managed by Lok Virsa - National Institute of Folk & Traditional Heritage. It is a museum of history and culture, showcasing the living & heritage cultures of Pakistan. The museum opened in 1974 and became an independent institute in 2002.
The museum covers an area of 60,000 sq. ft. Featuring many exhibit halls as well as an outdoor museum that can accommodate up to 3000 visitors.
making it the largest museum in Pakistan.
It was a different kind of feeling when we were about to enter this great museum because we were about to see the heritages, cultures, religions, and traditions from almost the whole world in one place.
It is a huge museum, and if you want to explore the whole museum, you have to spare a minimum of 4 hours to visit it fully.
But if you are just walking and seeing it, you will cover it in 2 hours.
We captured the photos from the entrance, where we saw Wheelchair Accessible Ramp for people with different abilities.
And then firstly I reached the folk stories part of the museum, which I read in books during my School time. I just want to see these characters’ statues, to Match them with my imagination, which was saved in my mind over the years.
Folk stories such as Heer-Ranjha, Sohni-Mahiwal, Sassi Punho, Dhola-Maru and many more, which have been passed down from generations through poets and storytellers are also portrayed three-dimensionally in one of the galleries called 'Ballads and Romances’ with the origins and details of the stories written on the display boards. We not only took photos of these characters but enjoyed reading the stories which were written on the information plate.
One gallery is dedicated to music and displays hundreds of different musical instruments played in the country along with the history and classification of each, we were much interested to see and read about musical instruments which belong to thousand
I met my Childhood Puppet character Uncle Sargam. This character was played by Farooq Qaiser, and I still love those days when I woke up early in the morning just to see Uncle Sargam and his team on TV.
Here we also explored the place where we saw the thousands of years old Indus civilization, the history and the Symbols of history where the stories of our ancestors may have started. It featured all the cultural colors from BC to today in one place.
Particularly noteworthy were the art pieces and Cultural stuff collected from different parts of Pakistan.And often the cultural colors are completely new to us, And that’s why we felt more interested in it.
Museum visits are not new for me, but coming here saw a different world. Because here you get to see every color of the world, from religion to politics, from ancient businesses to music, from war to peace and from Archaic to Modern, this museum has everything that interests you.
It was one of the most learning days for both of us, when we came to know many many new interesting facts about the history of the world, but the day had not ended yet. We ended it with a fantastic treat at the most visited restaurant of Islamabad, which is called Monal Restaurant. But the question is, Why is Monal the most visited restaurant of Islamabad for locals and tourists? And the answer is, at Monal, you can enjoy seeing the whole city from the height of approx 4000 feet with Quite refreshing and fresh air, Green fields with a little water running in between. And of course delicious food and awesome live music. You can read my feelings in my Google Maps Review for Monal
Have you visited any museum in the recent past? What were the features of this museum? And what kind of museum do you prefer to go into? Please let us know your valuable opinion in the comments.
You can enjoy More captures by clicking on this Google Photo Album.
This post is also a part of #GemsOfTheWorld - A Connect Travel Post Challenge 
