Is It Monday Already?

Why is it that the weekends go by so quickly? Yesterday, I reported that we were going to church, shopping and sightseeing. What we thought would be primarily shopping turned into being primarily sightseeing, which is just fine. We knocked out some of the key places here in Delhi - India Gate, The Lotus Temple and Akshardham. However, this all began with church. I was a little leery as we arrived close to 900am and clearly there was mass still going on. Being that it was in a language I didn't understand in a ceremony I didn't understand, I thought this was going to be a looong hour. The mass before this one started at 730 am. Everyone finally shuffled out about 10 minutes after and we shuffled right in. I talked my pals into sitting close to the back to ensure a simple getaway when it was over. As mass started, I was happy with the fact that this one was in English however I was a bit surprised. At one point I didn't know if we had transported somewhere in the Bahamas waiting for an umbrella drink or if I was still in Delhi at a Catholic mass as the accompanying music sounded like canned Calypso music. I desperately held my giggling all throughout mass specifically when the canned Calypso music started up again. At one point I look up and realized that I was being photographed. Fantastic - I hoped they weren't going to try and sell me that picture on the way out! For the record, they did not.

Before leaving the hotel, our pal the concierge told us that we needed to change our plans for the day as the place he told us about the evening before was closed. He quickly told us of another area we could shop that wasn't as big. A little disappointed, we decided to do more sightseeing rather than shopping. We started our sightseeing at India Gate <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Gate> and then did a drive by the Parliament. We didn't even get any pictures of that. On the way to the Lotus Temple <http://www.bahaindia.org/temple/>, our driver stopped by a place to do some shopping. We walked in, saw it was a tourist trap and walked out. We prefer the local markets - so that's where we went. The market we went to was called I.N.I. I have no idea what it stands for, but that's where all the locals were - they had plenty of stalls filled with material for whatever you needed. We happened across a place that had only about a million kinds of Pashminas of which he unfurled only about half of. We tried negotiating but just couldn't get the job done. I'm quite alright with this process as it gets us closer to the most fair price - perhaps the next guy will want to let his merchandise go. We did get some spices! Curry, masala, saffron, etc. In the end our cab was smelling quite delicious..... and no, I'm not being sarcastic!

I'm glad we went to the Lotus Temple (see link above). It really makes me appreciate our very own Baha'i Temple in Wilmette <http://www.bahai.us/bahai-temple> that I drive by daily. What amazed me was the amount of people. In one of my pictures I'm attaching, you can see the crowds - what's interesting is that's only half - there's another crowd at least that big behind me. We had to take our shoes off and drop them in the "bootery". They gave you a burlap bag and a claim ticket - how noone gets their shoes taken is beyond me. Of course we couldn't take any pictures inside the temple, but the outside was nice.

Lastly, we went to Akshardham <http://www.akshardham.com/>. It was absolutely amazing! Again, off with the shoes and the same bootery process, however there were about five times (if not more) as many people here than at Lotus. Just a crazy amount of people. Same "no photo" policy. In fact, we went through more security here than we do going through the airport! We couldn't even carry our purses in. We were able to get a picture of Akshardham from the parking lot - it just doesn't give it justice. I resorted to buying a set of postcards to capture the tribute.

At this point, we were absolutely exhausted. Our cab driver drove us back to the Taj by way of Embassies. I could only understand about half of what he was saying. I'd try to recognize the flag waiving in front and mutter the country, but then quickly resorted to responding by saying "oh! uh- huh!"

We returned home and my friend had an Easter Egg delivered to my room (she got one complimentary, then called and requested one to be sent to me). I tried to get a picture, but it just didn't turn out. It's a chocolate egg with a little chick made of fondant on top. He's darling!

This morning we did some shopping. There were a bunch of fun stores! A place with handmade papers, a ton of tailors ready to whip up whatever you wanted, etc. The shopping area was quite confusing because you can literally walk through the store to the other side and there are more stores in the alley! We'll have to go back to that place and prowl around some more. Tomorrow, we'll do a different place.

Here are a few pictures of the sightseeing we did http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=217729520/a=109545564_109545564/t_=109545564

Unfortunately, I haven't taken a nap today. I think 3 am won't come fast enough.... wish me luck!