Trp to India & Nepal- Jaipur-Dinner at the Hotel

On our last evening we opted to have dinner in the lovely open air restaurant on the roof of the hotel.

We were entertained by a musical group and two dancing girls.

Dancing with pots on your head seems to be popular in Rajasthan.

TThe more the better apparently.

There were beautiful bowls full of flowers everywhere.

Including the main living room.

The next day it was time to take the daytime train to Delhi.

Trip to India & Nepal- Jaipur Continued

Then it was on to the City Palace in downtown Jaipur. This is the Mubarak Mahal...the site of a former reception center and now houses a wonderful textile collection.

Guards outside.

Beautiful arches and carving everywhere.

A beautiful carved elephant in front of one of the buildings.

The Hall of the Private Audience.

The white tower in the back is part of the current Maharajah's residence

The famous silver urns...the largest silver objects in the world. Ordered up by a Maharajah in 1901 to take two of them on the boat with him full of Ganges water to King Edward's coronation because he wasn't sure of the local water there.

Upstairs in one of the buildings was a fabulous Armory.

And beautiful doors everywhere of course.

A wedding had apparently taken place in this courtyard the day before and the structures were being torn down

A wonderful peacock door.

Another view of the Maharaja's quarters.

And , of course, a view of the Palace of the Winds on the main street. Not actually a palace...just windows where the women of the harem could view passing parades and other events.

Beggars are everywhere but usually only stop people other than Indians who don't pay any attention to them.

Trip to India & Nepal-Jaipur-Amber Fort Part 2

Beautiful carvings on the ceilings

The second courtyard, up the main stairway of the first level courtyard, houses the Diwan-i-Am or the Public Audience Hall. Built with double row of columns, the Diwan-i-Am is a raised platform with 27 colonnades, each of which is mounted with elephant shaped capital with galleries above it. As the name suggests, the Raja held audience here to hear and receive petitions from the public.

Michael collects locks so they were always of interest.

Beautiful doors everywhere.

The mosaics in this area were quite stunning.

You couldn't help but notice the similarities to the TaJ.
And similar marble carvings.

This must have been quite spectacular when lit by lanterns at night.

The Fort receives over 1.5 million visitors a year.

One of the biggest pots I have ever seen. And of course, some vendors in the yard.

A bangle maker demostrates in the courtyard.

And more beautiful doors.

A goat on the steps on the way down.

Local housing on the way down.

The steep path leading to the Fort.

A huge flock of birds flying overhead.

Women carrying fuel home from the hills.

A herd of camels on the way back to the hotel.

And the beautiful old abandoned palace in the lake. We saw elephants bathing here on our visit in 1994.