Concrete Monster

On our first day in the Laotian capital of Vientiane, Sturz and I walked around the city and did the standard sightseeing, which included a stop at the country's most identifiable landmark (not saying much), the Patuxay. As the tablet below states, this monument was built to resemble Paris' Arc de Triomphe, which was immediately apparent upon seeing the ceiling of the inside of the arc (right).
The tablet, by the way, is worth reading (click on it to enlarge)... hilarious. This thing is on the side of the monument and literally reads "From a closer distance, it appears even less impressive, like a monster of concrete." Harsh words. I didn't think it was that ugly.