We were quite surprised this morning as when we left the hotel it was raining which is most unusual for this time of year (last rain in December). Our plans were a bit awry as today is Republic day and many monuments are closed.There is a huge national parade and this year was to be attended by Barack Obama so security is extraordinary,roads are blocked with heavily armed personnel from the border security force.
So our first point of call was Qutab Minar, a 73 high metre victory tower from the 12th century built by the first mogul sultan of Delhi and is one of the tallest brick structures in the world .The surrounding buildings were destroyed and reused to build the complex but with all the Hindu imagery defaced. Another tower was started by yet another sultan but this never got past the first floor. We then went to a government sponsored handicrafts centre and succumbed in buying a ring and a carpet(they are going to ship it back to uk to arrive for Kate's birthday).
When we had finished shopping we watched the highlights of the parade on the computer screen of the receptionist with the sales staff who explained some of what was going on.
It was then time for lunch and just past the MP's housing complex we suddenly turned left down a side street complete with potholes,dogs and general debris to find a small parade of shops and restaurants. In the far corner was a "posh" restaurant that sold really tasty butter chicken and mutton curry together with a delicious mango lassi (£8 a head). it was clear from the clientele that this was a place well to do Indians brought foreign guests for a curry as there were some Americans on business and another group of British travellers with their guide .
After lunch we drove back towards Old Delhi now the roads had reopened.The traffic was increasing but a normal 1 hour journey only took us 10 minutes. We passed the iconic Bahai temple,shaped like a lotus,India gate and the red fort only to come to a halt as some of the parade floats crossed our path.We alighted our taxi to take a picture of the red fort(free of tourists due to closure) and then got on a rickshaw and were peddled through Chandri Chowk famous for having major temples side by side and a giant baptist chapel.Proceeding down silver street past all the stalls and avoiding oncoming traffic and pot holes to find ourselves by gate 3 of the Giant open air Friday mosque.No cameras and shoes of course and Kate had to done a large and unflattering surgical gown. A short drive back through Connaught Place a vast circular
"royal crescent" of Bath that was the centre of the British Raj found us once more back in our hotel for a well earned cup of tea. An early night tonight as we catch an early train to Kalka to connect with the 12.10 to Simla,a 5 hour narrow gauge train ride up into the Himalayas where we should find snow!