Monday, November 23, 2009

Final Post while in India

On Sunday, we went to the Red Fort and a mosque in Old Delhi. The Red Fort was beautiful and had a ton of history that was still evident. The inlaid marble at so many of the monuments is just gorgeous.

As we left the fort, we were offered a bicycle rickshaw ride so we took the man up on his offer. Michelle, Keira & I rode in one and Rod & Colin rode in another one. They took us through the main street of Old Delhi and then several side streets. It really is amazing to people watch in a place like Delhi. There's such a wide variety of life going on, its quite interesting. One thing that was just crazy to me (crazy as in "I don't understand how that can work" type of way) was that the electrical wires are just a hodge podge running between buildings and down the streets. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to it.

We then headed to a mosque in Old Delhi which is supposed to be the largest in all of Asia. I wasn't very impressed. But, that could be because I had to leave my shoes outside (there were bird droppings everywhere) and had to wear an ugly yellow mumu because I had worn short sleeves. So, I felt a little ridiculous and grossed out walking barefoot, but otherwise I'm sure its a very nice mosque. I just didn't seem to notice at the time. Needless to say, when we got back, the first thing I did was wash my feet!

When we left, our bike drivers took us where we could catch a taxi. We decided to take an auto rickshaw instead. It was a bit of a tight fit for 5 people, but it was fun. Colin was quite popular along the route. He would wave at the neighboring vehicles whenever we'd stop. At one stop, there was a little boy in the car next to us on his mom's lap. His dad opened a bag of candy and told his son to give a piece to Colin. (it was wrapped, but it was chocolate - which Colin doesn't really like). He's always so excited to meet new people and make new friends.

Today was out last day in India and we started out slow and quiet. Knowing that we have a 15 hour flight ahead of us has kind of dictated what we wanted to do. So, we lounged this morning, checked emails and Rod & Colin went swimming. Then had an early lunch, I had another massage and then we headed out to the Zoo. Wasn't too exciting as it is a bit dated, but we did get to see a white tiger (2 actually) and a leopard. We also found the reptile house, so Colin got to see a cobra while in India. (Rod asked at the hotel where we could find a snake charmer, but he was told that its now illegal for charmers in Delhi.)

We headed back to the hotel and all went swimming. It was Keira's first swim and she did VERY well. She clung to Michelle at first, but was then fine. It was a bit cold out of the water, so I held her wrapped in a towel for a bit. She just sucked her thumb and watched her daddy & brother play in the water.

We're now just packing everything up and then heading toward the airport in a few minutes. We'll be back in Chicago tomorrow morning, then heading to Mom & Dad's for Thanksgiving.

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