6 September 2011
We woke up early and headed to the Pune airport to catch our flight to Delhi, which was a bit delayed - we flew Kingfisher Airlines to Delhi - it was a pretty decent airline - no complaints here. We were picked up by Pawan, who is a driver Chris knows from his friend Alex who used to live in Delhi.
Pawan, unfortunately doesn't drive taxis anymore, but he brought
his friend Sucha as a replacement, who turned out to be a great driver. We piled into the car and headed to our hotel - The Imperial.
It was an extremely amazing hotel and had a bit of a vintage vibe. I love that about India, there is such a historical vibe to everything. After dropping our bags off, and gladly being upgraded, we ate some lunch and Sucha took us to see Humayan's Tomb.
We walked around for awhile, took some pictures and then went to India Gate and did a bit of walking around.
We were so exhausted so we went back to the hotel to shower and order room service. By this time, I was so over eating Indian food that I ordered spaghetti and it was absolutely delicious! We had a very relaxing evening and went to bed early because we had to wake up super early to head to Agra the next day to see the Taj Mahal.
7 September 2011
We woke up very early to head to the Agra, since it is about a 5 hour drive. After an uneventful drive and Sucha providing us a very helpful guide once we got there, we headed to see the Taj. After buying our tickets we headed over. It's not the first thing you see; first you have to go through a small gate.
And then.... You see it.
It's absolutely stunning, breathtaking - and that doesn't even really begin to describe it. We took plenty of pictures and our guide told us all about the history.
After walking along the grounds for awhile, we went back to the car and stopped at a shop where we inevitably bought stuff. It was items made by the descendants of the people who built the Taj Mahal - a specific kind of art. After that, we went to see Agra Fort. It was full of history and once again our guide was very helpful.
We stopped for lunch at the ITC hotel after all of our walking and while we were
there, we got a text message from a friend asking if we were ok because
there had been a blast in Delhi. We were fine, obviously, but we asked
the hotel what had happened. They seemed to think it was fine and not a big deal - it turned
out it wasn't too near our hotel. We headed back to Delhi, another 4.5 hour
drive. We ate in our hotel at the Spice Route and fell into bed. Not
more than 15 minutes later, the entire hotel started shaking. I grabbed
Chris and held on tight, honestly we thought, and it felt like, there had been a bomb. After the longest 5 seconds of our lives we
called downstairs and after many passes of the phone, they finally said it was an earthquake!!! We immediately
turned on the news and watched the comical turn of events from an
earthquake starting at 6.6 for 15 seconds with an epicenter in Sumatra
to 4.2 for 5 seconds and epicenter near Haryana (near where we were
earlier today) once we knew it was fine we went back to sleep. But it was by no
means a peaceful one.
8 September 2011
We woke up to a normal morning and did some sight seeing. We started at the President's house, then to Qutub Minar which is an old mosque which is mostly ruins except for a huge minaret.
After that, we went to the Baha'i temple or Lotus temple and sat there for awhile, it incredibly peaceful and the Baha'i have some interesting beliefs.
Then Sucha took us to a handicraft store for some shopping. We ate at a place called Haldiramns for lunch, and then to the Gandhi Smirti museum where Gandhi took his last steps, then off to Khan market for more shopping.
After all the shopping and sightseeing we went back to the
hotel for a rest before our dinner reservations at Bukhara - delicious
indian food.
9 September 2011
We slept in, had a leisurely lunch at the hotel, packed and watched the rain since we had had great weather the first 2 days in Delhi. We stopped at the Tijori jewelry store at the Oberoi, possibly saw a Bollywood actress and then headed to the airport way too early. While we were waiting, I ran into Deep and Cheena, they were headed up north, and then we got on our flight safe and sound.
Overall, India was an experience I will never forget. I'm very glad we went and one day, I hope to go back, not anytime soon, but one day. :) In fact, I ate so much Indian food, it wasn't until about 3 months later that I felt like I was ready again! In any case, there is so much culture there that it can be overwhelming, but also unexplainable.
We woke up early and headed to the Pune airport to catch our flight to Delhi, which was a bit delayed - we flew Kingfisher Airlines to Delhi - it was a pretty decent airline - no complaints here. We were picked up by Pawan, who is a driver Chris knows from his friend Alex who used to live in Delhi.
 |
| {Chris and Pawan} |
It was an extremely amazing hotel and had a bit of a vintage vibe. I love that about India, there is such a historical vibe to everything. After dropping our bags off, and gladly being upgraded, we ate some lunch and Sucha took us to see Humayan's Tomb.
We walked around for awhile, took some pictures and then went to India Gate and did a bit of walking around.
We were so exhausted so we went back to the hotel to shower and order room service. By this time, I was so over eating Indian food that I ordered spaghetti and it was absolutely delicious! We had a very relaxing evening and went to bed early because we had to wake up super early to head to Agra the next day to see the Taj Mahal.
7 September 2011
We woke up very early to head to the Agra, since it is about a 5 hour drive. After an uneventful drive and Sucha providing us a very helpful guide once we got there, we headed to see the Taj. After buying our tickets we headed over. It's not the first thing you see; first you have to go through a small gate.
And then.... You see it.
It's absolutely stunning, breathtaking - and that doesn't even really begin to describe it. We took plenty of pictures and our guide told us all about the history.
After walking along the grounds for awhile, we went back to the car and stopped at a shop where we inevitably bought stuff. It was items made by the descendants of the people who built the Taj Mahal - a specific kind of art. After that, we went to see Agra Fort. It was full of history and once again our guide was very helpful.
 |
| {View of the Taj Mahal from Agra Fort} |
8 September 2011
We woke up to a normal morning and did some sight seeing. We started at the President's house, then to Qutub Minar which is an old mosque which is mostly ruins except for a huge minaret.
After that, we went to the Baha'i temple or Lotus temple and sat there for awhile, it incredibly peaceful and the Baha'i have some interesting beliefs.
Then Sucha took us to a handicraft store for some shopping. We ate at a place called Haldiramns for lunch, and then to the Gandhi Smirti museum where Gandhi took his last steps, then off to Khan market for more shopping.
 |
| {Ghandi's belongings} |
 |
| {Ghandi's last steps} |
9 September 2011
We slept in, had a leisurely lunch at the hotel, packed and watched the rain since we had had great weather the first 2 days in Delhi. We stopped at the Tijori jewelry store at the Oberoi, possibly saw a Bollywood actress and then headed to the airport way too early. While we were waiting, I ran into Deep and Cheena, they were headed up north, and then we got on our flight safe and sound.
Overall, India was an experience I will never forget. I'm very glad we went and one day, I hope to go back, not anytime soon, but one day. :) In fact, I ate so much Indian food, it wasn't until about 3 months later that I felt like I was ready again! In any case, there is so much culture there that it can be overwhelming, but also unexplainable.
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