the two buildings were huge , of course , you know nebuchadnezzar built the palace to the mil glory of the past , or so he thought , and greatly expanded the private gardens ; and the temple was the great building known as esagila , and behind the building itself stood the big ziggurat , etemenanki , with its stairway to heaven , and then its ramps going up to the very topmost temple of my great and favorite smiling god .