Wednesday, May 18, 2016

It's Wednesday, May 18th, and I did another tour day.  Found out I could hire a driver and car, including the gas and parking, but not the admission fees or lunch, which have been included on my previous day tours on this trip for only two thousand rupees, so without gulping at all I said yes last nite when I found out this was possible.  Well, don't think I'm a spendthrift or anything, that two thousand is... Are you sitting down??? A whopping $30.00 US.  So I went to NEHRU's house & museum, tried to go into Inderia Gandi, his daughter's house and museum, but there were a dozen tour busses on the road, and hundreds of women getting across the street and entering the gate to her museum, so with that crowd, I chickened out.  But I did see the Lotus Temple, a Baha'i religious Temple; Qutb Minar--beautiful 1100's tall tower, mosque and tomb a Muslim Mogul Prince built using carved columns from the ruins of Hindu temples; India Gate the original British War Memorial on the India government's National Mall (very much like the Washington DC Mall), but after independence the British soldier statues were removed, but the gate similar to France's Arch de Triumpe is at the far end of the mall from the government buildings; National History Museum of India--where I wish I had a couple of days to peruse, but didnt; Lohdi Garden, a huge garden with many specialized gardens memorials, tombs, art works... Alas I saw but a fraction of it; etc. One item I was fascinated by was a four hundred year old astronomy group of concrete instruments, which tell time to within seconds accuracy, point to the north star, tell the seasons: spring and fall solistaces...  Very accurate, and made out of concrete.   It was a day packed with history, awe, and oppresive heat and humidity, that had my clothes soggy by eleven am. but I didn't get back to the hotel until 6:30 in the evening.  Good ending to my last full day in Dehli.

No comments:

Post a Comment