Paris for the Monet

Mum and had a week after India before we travelled to Paris to see the Monet exhibition. We went with Riveria Travel. I can definitely recommend them as good value for money for a few days in Paris. We stayed at the Ibis at Porte d' Orlean, basic but clean, comfortable with decent food in the restaurant. We weren't going to take the included coach tours but the weather wasn't good so we did and they were very good. Our tour manager, Cass was very informative. On Wednesday, Paris had their worst snowfall since 1987 and most transport came to a halt. We were lucky to have a coach nearly to our hotel but even we had to walk the last bit over snowy and icy pavements. The Monet was lovely and I now want to travel to all the Monet locations to take the photos of his images. Another time. Here are a few images of a wet day, snowy day and sunny day in Paris plus some images from the night tour of the lights.





We had entertainment in the queue for the Monet. Snow started falling at 11.30 am when we got off the coach and stopped around 5.30 pm.














A tip - don't buy coffee in the Artist's square in Montmartre. It cost more than it does in the Alps - 9 Euros for 2 coffees. If you wanted milk in your coffee then 11 Euros!!!!

India's Golden Triangle - Jaipur

So to the last stage of our trip. If you have just started looking at the photos here, you need to click on the first one in Delhi, then Shimla, Agra, and Fatehpur Sikri.

We stayed at Sheraton Rajputana Palace, marginally better than the Sheraton in Agra. We started the day with a short tour in the pink city and visited the Hawa Mahal (Palace of Winds).


The second toilet featured from the tour.

At the Palace of Winds we were fortunate to witness this festival, though I forget now what it was for!










Then on to the 'Jantar Mantar' Astronomical Observatory. There are 5 'Jantar Mantars' in India but apparently the one in Jaipur is the only one working. The helmet belonged to one of the door staff.





I should have taken all the signs but made do with Cancer the Crab.

Mum and Isabelle, chilling out.


I was looking forward to the textile stop, although not to another talk on carpets. The 'factory' was housed in a beautifully decorated building. We watched a demonstration of the printing which I have condensed into one image.







The chillies and lemon above are put together fresh each day to ward off the evil eye. I took a similar one later which was on our coach.

We visited the City Palace, which is home to the Maharaja of Jaipur. We didn't get to see him walking around his palace though.









The next day was another early start for the elephant queue. Mum and I went to the Amber Fort in the jeep so I had more time to take photos of the elephant. The elephants are only allowed to go up with a load and only do four trips a day. Their welfare is closely monitored. Spot the third toilet.








All the spare tyres on the jeeps were this bald.

A view of Jaigargh fort, the original Amber fort.



A few of us had to get down on the ground to take this image of the Murano glass window.






Our last visit of the tour was to Jaigargh fort. There was nothing much here apart from a large cannon. However, the Langurs made the visit. There were also a couple of Macaque monkeys which is very unusual to see in company of Langurs.












A brief photo stop at the palace on the lake. This is being renovated and will be a restaurant.


Some of us were dropped off at a market but there wasn't much there. We took a couple of tuk tuks and went to Anokhi. This was a clothes store recommended by Isabelle and Tom. We had a soup and garlic bread at an Italian restaurant on the 3rd floor. I bought cotton harem pants at Anokhi - lovely textiles and no hassle to buy. On the 1st floor is Crossword, a lovely bookstore. Hardbacks here are cheaper than paperbacks in UK.

It doesn't usually rain in November after the monsoon but we had 3 days of rain and it poured on our way back to Delhi. Our 8 hr+ journey was broken up by lunch at a small restaurant where we had a delicious spicy soup. I took the poster of the girl on the green wall here. In Delhi we drove around the South side of the President's palace - you can also see the round parliament building. The last image is of India Gate. We passed this before but it was too dark to photograph. This time is was obscured by rain and as most images in the street, is taken from the coach.