Not surprisingly, we slept ‘til 10 (the boys until noon). Thank goodness. Our first mission was to decide on a room for the rest of our stay – and we did! At the original hotel, Residency for Rs2400 nightly. Next stop: breakfast. Room service boiled us some eggs, toasted some bread and Deb went shopping at the local market for fruit. It worked. Before long we were back being tourists and went to the “Fashion Market”. In Cairo, we’d call it a souk. Then onward to a local travel agent that had us dreaming of Taj Mahal and other places – how soon could we leave! Later we went for dinner at Leopold’s, famous and infamous for the 11/26 shooting of tourists as it is a popular gathering spot for locals. One of the mirrors revealed evidence of the attack. They have yet to repair the bullet hole. Several pillars were also damaged – grim reminders of the horror of the attack. We also went into the 5-star Taj hotel. Their memorial commemorating the thirty-five people was incredibly moving.
We walked around the Gateway to India at the harbour which was built to commemorate the visit of George V and Queen Mary in 1911. The arch was the point from which the British regiment serving in India signalled the end of the empire when it left om February 28, 1948. We strolled amidst thousands of Indians enjoying Sunday evening at the harbour. Unbelievable, although we were there for well over a half an hour, we didn’t see any other non-Indians – it was sea of saris, smiling children, and astounding colour. Our family was the focus of much attention and several people stopped us to ask where we were from and what we were doing in Mumbai. It was wonderful to interact with the locals and much good-will was enthusiastically exchanged.
We then went on a double-decker bus ride of the harbour and the core’s history: THE major shippping port after the Suez canal’s opening, its stock market, spice markets and banking. Very interesting. We concluded the day at a local restaurant whose only qualifications was that it served Kingfisher. It proved to be a much better stop than that – and we will return perhaps for dinner tomorrow. We also stopped to have the boys' haircut. With the 35 degree weather every day, every bit of strategy to improve cooling is useful!
We were so satisfied with our day that we may have decided to stay here after all. Our alternative of going flying to Agra/Dehli seems like a substantial amount of logistics. We’re going to sleep on it and decide tomorrow. With our 8 am wake call!
We walked around the Gateway to India at the harbour which was built to commemorate the visit of George V and Queen Mary in 1911. The arch was the point from which the British regiment serving in India signalled the end of the empire when it left om February 28, 1948. We strolled amidst thousands of Indians enjoying Sunday evening at the harbour. Unbelievable, although we were there for well over a half an hour, we didn’t see any other non-Indians – it was sea of saris, smiling children, and astounding colour. Our family was the focus of much attention and several people stopped us to ask where we were from and what we were doing in Mumbai. It was wonderful to interact with the locals and much good-will was enthusiastically exchanged.
We then went on a double-decker bus ride of the harbour and the core’s history: THE major shippping port after the Suez canal’s opening, its stock market, spice markets and banking. Very interesting. We concluded the day at a local restaurant whose only qualifications was that it served Kingfisher. It proved to be a much better stop than that – and we will return perhaps for dinner tomorrow. We also stopped to have the boys' haircut. With the 35 degree weather every day, every bit of strategy to improve cooling is useful!
We were so satisfied with our day that we may have decided to stay here after all. Our alternative of going flying to Agra/Dehli seems like a substantial amount of logistics. We’re going to sleep on it and decide tomorrow. With our 8 am wake call!
No comments:
Post a Comment