10 Jaipur - Feb 15

Flew back to Jaipur, whereupon we caught the sunset as we passed through the Pink City. We stayed at the Trident, changed and headed out to the Great Kabab Factory at the Radisson Hotel. The next day was a VERY busy day. – we toured Jaipur including first boarding Jeeps to ride up to Amber Fort. – built in the 16th century From there we hiked up and explored the fort. Every edge and corner represented wonderful architecture and carvings. Next we went to the Hawa Mahal - Palace of the Winds in the downtown Old City – a beautiful and intricate 5 story structure. From here we walked to the Observatory – Jantar Mantar – taking in the local street flavor, along with a number of goats. The observatory consists of nineteen instruments for measuring time, predicting eclipses, tracking location of major stars as the earth orbits around the sun, ascertaining the declinations of planets, and determining the celestial altitudes and related ephemerides. After leaving the Observatory we took the bus to the Rambagh Palace Hotel to have ‘high tea’. This building was originally built for the Queen’s favorite handmaiden – and subsequently became the home of the Maharajah of Jaipur. In 1957 the residence was converted to a hotel and is now run by the Taj Hotels. High tea is served on the lawns with peacocks. The first building built on the site was built in 1835. After we left the lawns, we explored some other parts of the hotel while others went to the shop. As some of us were both admiring an old intake car, the driver, a hotel employee, offered to take John and Bob both for a ride. The car was an old 1938 Ford. There was also a horse and carriage to convey guests around the grounds as well as two or three old cars in a garage near the entrance. We settled into the back of the car and did a circuit of the hotel, stopping in front of the building so the driver could get out and take our photograph in the car with the building in the background. Afterwards, back to the hotel and then to an Italian restaurant in the hotel to celebrate Darshana’s birthday.