Bridge the Travel Gap

‘The more you like yourself, the less you are like anyone else, which makes you unique.’ – Walt Disney

Wow, that’s all I can say about this week – Wow! I’ve managed to do 52 weeks of letters with this being the 52nd – I did it! It took a while at first to figure out how to do this while travelling, but this letter makes it official – I’ve completed my goal! (Brief moment of patting myself on the back and…) There will be a few ‘extra’ letters, as we don’t, actually, fly home until the 18th (July), so there will be some bonus posts.

John and I infront of the Taj Mahal on the ‘Diana’ bench

Plus, I have seen the place that inspired this trip – the Taj Mahal. It was a great day, as we got up early for the sunrise, did our tour and went back, in the evening, for the sunset. It used to have diamonds on the central roof to reflect the light of the sun and moon – now that would have been amazing! It was a beautiful sight.

Then we went off to see an old fort near Agra which was the most intact of the forts, so far, we’ve seen that use the red soil to build them.

Fatehpur Sikri Fort

(I’m inserting some extra, which wasn’t in the original letter, as I missed this when I was writing it on the train).  Our day was quite full when we went to the Taj Mahal, we also, went to the Red Fort

This is the balcony which the husband who built the Taj for his wife, sat on in his prison, as his son didn’t like his spending habits!

and the Baby Taj – Itmad-ud-daulah in Agra.

Itmad-ud-daulah – Baby Taj

Both of these places were great to see, but I, particularly, liked the later, as it had some features which led up to the building of the Taj Mahal, hence, why it is called the Baby Taj. (Back to the letter…)

Umaid Bhawan Heritage Hotel

After this, we took my first Indian train journey to Jaipur – the pink city. We stayed in a very characterful place which looked like an old palace itself. In Jaipur, we saw the pink buildings,

Hawa Mahal – Palace of Wind – one of the many ‘pink’ buildings

an astrological park from the 18th Century,

Jantar Mantar – 18th Century Astrological Park

the Amber Fort (huge beautiful fort from the 12th Century,)

Amber Fort

the tombs of the Raj’s,

Royal Gaitor Tumbas – Raj’s tombs

a more recent fort from a Raj with 9 wives,

Nahargarh Fort – palace for 9 wives

the Albert Museum

Albert Hall Museum

and I went to and did a workshop on making a block print scarf – a traditional way of printing a scarf made with natural dyes and fabric.

The scarf I help make – my design choice at Jai Textart

We are still well and healthy, as the food we are eating is mainly vegetarian Indian and delicious. I’ve found a food, which I can only get in India, it is paneer. Its cottage cheese, but they process it here differently, which you can’t get outside the country.

(Once again, I forgot to put something into the original letter, it’s been a busy week!) I made it to my first ever Bollywood movie at a very famous cinema in India – Raj Mandir Cinema where I saw ‘Tanu Weds Manu Returns‘ – a story line which would suit any opera! (Back to the original letter…)

What an incredible week! Looking back on it, I can’t believe we’ve done so much in such a short time. Fantastic! Now, we are off to Jodhpur to, hopefully, ride my first camel! (There were just too many photos for me to add, so when I get my next videoblog up for June, I will add the link and you can see them there, but just for a taster, I’ve added some which have not been put up from the places we’ve seen!)

So, I’m curious, what is your dream that you are doing or want to do or have done?

Love Debx

Extra Photos from this amazing week: