Delhi Day 2-- exploring

We woke up this morning and jumped right into a workout (yesterday's didn't happen due to the liberal pours at the hotel social hour...) It's not much when you're working out in your hotel room, but we were able to get in some ab work, push ups, wall sits, etc... TRYING to get into rugby shape, but it's tough during 100 degree + days!

After workout, we walked to the metro and grabbed a spicy cheese sandwich from a street vendor for breakfast. It cost 10 rupees, which is 21 cents...not bad, huh? Then we were off to explore the Red Fort and Jama Masjid (the biggest Mosque in Delhi). We managed to navigate a bustling street to the Red Fort. It was much bigger than we expected, but we both just kept thinking about how grand it must have been back when it was actually used! There were all sorts of...not troughs really cuz that just doesn't sound beautiful...but a lot of the structures had sections that were probably filled with water with fountains during their day, but now they're just dry. WE imagined the garden beds full of flowers and the buildings beautifully painted. It must have been gorgeous.

We were so so so hot after exploring the Red Fort. In the morning, I decided that I would stop saying "I'm so hot" because it was OBVIOUS and seemed like unnecessary complaining. Neither of us could stop though!!! It was almost like we needed to VENT about it. As guilty as I feel about admitting it, we went to McDonalds for lunch. In our defense, McDonalds had AC AND they have an awesome veggie burger, the McAloo Tikki sandwich for 25 rupees and 10 rupee vanilla ice cream cones!! The 2 Diet Cokes we drank can't really be justified as they were the most expensive part of our meal!

After lunch, we meandered through crowded streets to the Jama Masjid. It is an adventure to wander the streets of Delhi because EVERY intersection you must cross becomes a huge challenge...we're getting better at reading what the different types of "honks" mean. It is somewhat shocking to see some of the motorcycles driving around Delhi with women on the back sitting side-saddle...that doesn't seem stable at ALL!! We decided not to go in the mosque but took some pictures of the outside and wandered the streets a little more. Ended up in a market area with many card shops...most for the wedding industry in India. As we traveled a little farther down the street, we saw copper shops and plumbing shops. It was a really nice walk and because it wasn't touristy, it was nice to just be able to wander and look without touts beckoning for us to come see something! We passed some AMAZING looking street food, and were sad that we were still full from lunch!

Then we took the metro back to Connaught place to go purchase our tour to Agra and were sad to find that the office closed at 2pm. We're not sure how we're going to get there now, but we're going to. WE have 2 options at this point: 1) go to the train station tomorrow and HOPE there are seats on a train to Agra on Monday or 2) pay $150 to have our hotel arrange a tour in a car for us. We'd rather take the train, so we'll see.

We had a couple of hours before hotel social hour, so we popped into a restaurant at Connaught place that was recommended in the lonely planet guide we're using. They described it as Moulin Rouge-esque and it certainly was! Lots of velvet, crystals and mirrors! Mari took a sponge bath in the bathroom because she felt so gross from the day! It was a bit pricey, so we just got a couple of juices and a delicious cheese, onion, cilantro bread thing...so yummy. I ordered a Mast Guava, which was guava juice, cilantro, tabasco, limca(lime soda) and rock salt. I was intrigued and it turned out to be SO delicious! We decided that we'll try making them at home with vodka or tequila...maybe we'll have a party to experiment and come up with the perfect combination. Who's in?

Time for world cup and relaxing in the hotel. Keep your fingers crossed that our Agra trip works out!