Day -4

The Presidential Palace (former residence of the British Viceroy)

A proper welcome to the Imperial Hotel

.....and so it begins.

Brant and I spent almost 24 hours flying from LAX to Frankfurt, Germany and then on to New Delhi, India. The flights were uneventful (just the way I like them), but we arrived at our hotel, The Imperial, at 3am and went right to bed.

Up the next morning, we spent part of the day exploring New Delhi. We did the tourist thing visiting the President’s residence (Palace would be a more apt description; what else to call 138-Room residence). The very large complex was built by the British for the British Viceroy in the 1930’s, at the height of the Empire. More about the British rule in India later. Then on to India Arch which commemorates the 90,000 Indian troops that died in World War I; see picture below, it looks very much like the Arc de Triumph in Pari

Tomb of the Mughal Emperor Humayun.  Built by his wife after his death. Our
guide says that the use of the Star of David was because many of the craftsmen
 who designed and built this tomb were Jewish...... I don't believe it.

From there we went to visit the Tomb of Humayun, the second Mughal Ruler of India in the mid-1500’s. One look and you can see that the Taj Mahal, which we’ll visit at the end of the Rally, was modeled after the Humayun Tomb. Both buildings reflect Persian architecture with square Persian gardens surrounding the Tomb. Because of its enormous size you think that this must be a castle, but no one has ever lived here; it is merely an elaborate burial site. The Persian architecture is no surprise as the Mughal who invaded India around 1400 originated in Persia (present day Iran). They brought with them Islam and were successful in converting a large portion of the population.

Finally, one more tourist stop.....an Indian rug dealer. Indian rug manufacturing is famous the world over. The rugs are made of silk and cashmere. Brant and I each bought a beautiful rug for wall hanging.

Finally, we concluded the day with our first Indian meal. Since this was Brant’s first experience with Indian food, we went very mild with the spices.