Delhi

Napping at the Red Fort

Delhi
November 2003

From New York we flew to Amsterdam on Northwest Airlines. From there continued on a
connecting KLM flight to Delhi, where we arrived about midnight after spending about
24 hours. In Delhi we quickly went through immigration and customs and were then met
by a representative of our tour company. When our entire group of about 35 tourists
were assembled we were led to a chartered bus which took the group to our luxury hotel
in New Delhi.

At the hotel our group was herded into the cocktail lounge and was held there for an hour
or two while our tour leader engaged in private discussions with the hotel's manager on
duty. We then were told that the hotel had been seriously overbooked and that to "solve"
the problem the hotel had placed six or seven folding cots each in several of their meeting
rooms and had opened up two or three suites. Virginia and I were assigned one of the
suites. By the time everyone got into bed it was about 3:00 am. Not a good way to start
a vacation.

After breakfast next morning we were taken on a city tour to view the exteriors of Delhi's
leading sights including the Red Fort, the Jamma Masjid Mosque, several government
buildings and memorials, as well as a few Hindu temples. Virginia and I did not mind the
whirlwind nature of the city tour as on previous trips we had explored those tourist sites
more thoroughly

During the city tour Virginia took photos of Delhi scenes, many featuring the traffic
situation: