Jaipur

Sophie is gone back to Bolinas. :(

Our crew left Mumbai and headed to Jaipur with the Panagos clan, plus nephew Nial. We were late leaving the Grand Hyatt which resulted in a relatively hectic trip to the Mumbai Airport. All eight in our group made it with the help of a security guard who switched us to the Premier Flyers line. We were among the last to board. The flight was fine. There were seats taken out to accommodate a stretcher. First time any of us had seen this. We Ubered to the Bnb, Bhola Bhawan. Nice place. Very congenial hosts and accommodations. We even have use of a kitchen.

John and family went out to the City Palace for the light show. They ended up dining in the same room the newly installed 20 year old Maharaja of Jaipur and his school chums from England. Nancy, Augie, and I walked the streets. Along the way we met up Prakash who is a social worker at a Catholic run orphanage that houses and schools 10,000 street kids in Jaipur. Guy was drinking out of an Andean maté cup. He invited us to teach sometime over the next few days. We made it to a natural foods grocery where we purchased a jar of Ragu™ Pasta sauce and a whole pound of spaghetti. Hit the spot.

Next morning we spent some time planning our day. Jules had a whole list of possibilities and options. The hotel owners helped us choose a couple of guide/drivers for the day. We left the hotel around noon. The first spot was the Junter Munter Astronomical Park. It is one of four such facilities built by Rajput king Sawai Jai Singh II some three centuries ago. Next we headed to the memorial tomb sites of the royals where J had a faceoff with a langur. Then it was on to the Amer Palace in the mountains north of Jaipur. Beautiful palace. We stopped at the water palace on the way up and the wind palace on the way back.

Last night was J and Varsha's last in India, so we treated the crew to a nice meal at the Peacock Rooftop. Beautiful scene with a traditional Indian trio playing and good food to boot.Read more