Our time in Nepal was over and we had to leave.  On to India.  Because of all the increased security, combined with our early flight, we had to leave for the airport at 3:00 in the morning to fly down to Delhi, not a very long flight maybe 2 hours.  We were then put on a bus with square wheels and bused down to Agra.  There was a  complaint or two about the bus ride.......  We got a new bus the next day.  You had to be there to know what I'm talking about.

The next day was our visit to the Taj Mahal.  This is our complete group, the 8 of us, our "father" who took care of us the whole trip, and our local tour guide.  From left to right:  Jerry Nash,  'Chag' Chagnon,  Lucy Bosowski,  Joe Tidwell,  Sue Tidwell,  and Mary Loblein.  Next to me is the Vantage Tour Director,  Rick Williams, who really did a fine job of looking after us.  And finally, our local India tour guide Rick-Rick, he was with us for 5 days and we got to know him pretty well.

As you can see by the photos, there was a lack of tourists. The guides were there to direct you to walk up one sidewalk and down the other but it just wasn't necessary at all.  Here's an Agra street corner with a cow standing on the corner.  There were many animals standing around . . . pigs, goats, cows, camels, and people.  Agra was not a very nice place.

Another street scene. It was hard to take photos from the bus because of the lack of stopping.  They didn't have traffic signals.  As a result, the traffic through the towns, although crowded, just kept moving, never stopping.  Here's another of those Maharaja's palaces, magnificent.

We're still in Agra.  Here is one of the many shops we were taken to in hopes we would buy something.  That's Mary looking over some of the wood carved pieces and Shirley in the brass section.

From Agra it was another long bus ride to Jaipur where we visited the Jantar Mantar Observatory. That's one of the instruments, a gigantic sun dial, there's a little model of it in the foreground.  That's me weaving a rug, we of course were taken to the local rug dealer. We visited a few more palaces and forts before going back to Delhi where we spent another day or two exploring.  However, in Delhi we were held prisoner in our hotel by the very persistent taxi drivers and street vendors. The second day we were able to get out a little by yelling at the vendors to leave us alone.

Another very early morning wake up call for our flight to London.  Another long flight.  This is our Hotel in London, The Charing Cross Hotel, just a block or two from the Savoy Theater and Trafalgar Square,  very nice.  Two nights in London then off to JFK, spent one night in New York and the next day home. Another final thought, Don't Go To India.

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