Delhi

We arrived in Delhi late as our airplane was delayed from Bangalore. We ventured out the next morning to Old Delhi to see Jama Masjid and wander around the streets a bit, and encountered this tangle of wires. . .
Matt and Alina enjoying the spectacular display of images as we walk to Jama Masjid down this street . . .

We enter Jama Masjid and are told to wear these long multicolored robes. Matt and Alina decided to climb up the minaret to get a view of Old Delhi . . .

On our way back to our ride, we spot this goat in his nightcap settling down for a sleep . . .
We leave Old Delhi and head over to New Delhi. We decide to go look at Parliament, and then head over to India Gate.

Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles . . .

After finishing at India Gate, we decide we have had enough culture for the day and go to Khan Market for some shopping, lunch at Amici's, then off to the Janpath for more shopping. We then head back to the hotel to freshen up a bit and grab dinner at Baci's in Sunder Nagar Market. It was an awesome day! Tomorrow morning we leave at 6 am to Agra to see the Taj Mahal.

Girls Week in New Delhi

A girls week in New Delhi. Just what I needed after Thanksgiving. Ann-Sofie and I left bright and early on Tuesday morning to go and visit our friend Jayne and do a little Christmas shopping. New Delhi is a little different from Pune in terms of size, infrastructure, and shopping. Once we arrived in New Delhi, we drove to Jayne's lovely home in the New Friend's Colony and had a "bucket" of coffee. Then, we drove out to some of the new, chic malls. I actually felt like I was back home at Somerset. It was a very dizzying experience. However, on a important positive note, I was able to locate shoes for my gigantic, peasant size 10 US (41 Europe) feet. Though this is a very shallow observation, until you cannot purchase shoes that fit, you do not understand the importance of locating a shoe shop in the country you reside!

A photo of the modern mall as we approach . . .

Some lovely sandals at Nine West were discovered . . .

I tried on at least half a dozen ballet flats at Aldo until I found the perfect pair!

A colorful wall of fabrics at H.P. Singh leaves us overwhelmed with choices . . .
Lunch at the Imperial's 1911 Restaurant. (Photo: Ann-Sofie, Melissa, and Jayne)

Sushi, salad greens, tuna tartare, and gazpacho for lunch . . . Creme brulee, dark chocolate, pear charlotte, and chocolate cake for dessert . . .

Christmas shopping on the Janpath near Connaught Place . . .
Jayne and Ann-Sofie venture into a shop looking for treasures . . .

Driving around in Delhi traffic on a real expressway . . .

Now, back home to Pune . . .

Another Afternoon in Delhi

We arrived back in Delhi from Amritsar around 3 pm. We decided not to waste any time, and we immediately ventured out to go shopping in Chandri Chowk. We walked down quite a few streets and found a spice market. Here you can see nutmeg and cardamon to name a few that were available.


Molly and I inquire about the price for saffron and vanilla beans . . .


The proprietor of the shop insists that we take a photo in front of shop, while he poses behind us . . .
We continued on shopping and found some awesome stationary on Nai Sarak.

Then, we decided to hop in a rickshaw at sunset and go over to the Raj Ghat. The Raj Ghat is where Ghandi was cremated and one of the places in India where his ashes are interned.

After we finished at Raj Ghat, we went back to the Taj to get ready for dinner. Here we are waiting for our cab outside the hotel.

We went to Bukhara for dinner to share some kebabs. We also had one of Bill Clinton's favorite kebabs that he likes to eat when he comes to Delhi and dines at Bukhara.

As it was our last night in Delhi, Paul and Molly had to get their new favorite dessert--kulfi falooda--one last time before we travelled to the Himalayas the next morning. Of course, we had to go back to the ice cream stand on Pandara Road where they tried this tasty dessert our first night in New Delhi.

Delhi Baby Delhi

Molly has arrived in India! She arrived early on the morning of the 18th. We had fun in Pune for about a day, and then we hopped on a plane to New Delhi. Today, is part one of our adventures through Northern India.

Delhi is an absolutely beautiful city. Needless to say, it is much different than Pune. Paul and I fell in love with its charm, but not its weather. The average temperature was at least 10 degrees Celsius higher than the temperature in Pune. (On average 98 degrees Fahrenheit with 98% humidity, in addition to a blazing hot Indian sun.)

We started the day off at the Red Fort. This structure was built by Shah Jahan (who also built the Taj Mahal). The sheer size of the building is magnificent, not to mention the architectural design and special attention to details on columns and other portions of the building.

Here Molly and I are standing outside the Red Fort on the way to the entrance . . .

Here is the actual entrance to the Red Fort . . .

Paul and Molly stop to smile after passing through the first gate . . . (There will be more photos of the actual fort soon, we have to try to recover the data from my camera disk as it crashed at the end of today.)

While we are wandering around the grounds, we saw quite a few chipmunks playing. They were so sweet, we thought we would take a photo of this little guy scampering about . . .

After leaving the Red Fort, we walked down the street to the Meena Bazaar to find the small lane that led us to the Jama Masjid (Friday Mosque). This is the largest mosque in India. Yes, we removed our shoes and covered our shoulders to enter this sacred place.

We climbed 120 steps up this minaret to see the Old Delhi landscape . . .

Of course, between the heat, humidity, and exercise we were glowing from our trek . . .

Here is a view of Old Delhi from the minaret . . .

We climbed down the minaret, and exited Jama Masjid. This is the another view of Old Delhi from the steps of the mosque.

On our way out, we saw some boys playing cricket on the grounds of the mosque.

Many different bazaars surround the mosque, here is a photo of the meat bazaar. These men are selling chickens to people passing by their stand . . .

We hailed a rickshaw and headed over to Connaught Place to go shopping. All around India, you will see women covering their faces and mouths with scarves. Molly and I are doing this to keep the smell and pollution out while riding around town on the rickshaw.

After shopping and a coffee at United Coffee House, I made Molly go into McDonald's. I am literally obsessed with checking out McDonald's menus all over the world. We decided to split a Maharaja Mac, their version of the Big Mac sans the beef.

After Connaught Place, we hopped in a rickshaw to head over to the Rashtrapati, home to India's president. We walked the 2 mile road called the Rajpath that is similar to "The Mall" in Washington D.C. The Rajpath leads from the Rashtrapati to the India Gate. Here Molly and I are standing at the "top" of the street and if you look close you may see the India Gate in the background.

Paul and I stand at the Rashtrapati Bhavan (the entrance to the President's House) . . .

Here is the India Gate commemorating Indian soldiers that fought and died in World War I. The flame that is beneath the arch honors those who fought in the Indo-Pakistan War of 1971.
We then headed over to Humayun's Tomb from the India Gate. After this last landmark, we went back to our hotel to freshen up for dinner at Chor Bizarre for Kashmiri food. It consisted of many kebabs, which we found to be quite yummy. Then, we went back to the hotel completely exhausted, but excited for our adventure to Agra the following day.