A slower start to the day with a 0900 hr kick off...Breakfast was the usual fare..Banana on toast. They do have a cook making omelets everyday but I have only had one once..
Today is our last day as a team of 24, tomorrow 16 of us are heading to Mumbai and the other 8 are flying back to Delhi ..
First stop of the day was the city Palace. This place is massive and made up of eleven different Palaces..It was built in 1725 by Maharaja Singh and it overlooks Lake Pichola. At one end it has been turned into a huge hotel, apparently the film Octopussy was filmed in the pool area at that hotel..it was very posh.
The tour started out very boring and dragged out, Vishel tends to gab on a bit when he has the floor..The Yummy mummies from Sydney took of from the group and went and had morning tea instead, a couple of the old girls stayed behind...Anyway We persevered and it ended up being quite good. There was some amazing Fresco and mosaic work in some of the rooms and the vista from the top over the lake was awesome. In the end I was glad I stuck with him.
After the Palace tour we walked though part of the hotel to see the pool area and the Bar that overlooks the lake. It was great.
From there we wandered down to the waterfront and got on a boat.. a few opted to stay behind as the water was quite choppy but I had a travelsick tablet and managed fine as the boat didn't go very fast . The lake is beautiful and a lot of the buildings are built right in it. Apparently it's man made and built in 1678 there are 3 Islands on the lake and one of them is a hotel and just beautiful. The lake is about 10 metres deep..
we motored around the lake and got off at the Hotel Island and had a poke around before getting back on the boat to return to the palace.
Lunch was next on the agenda and we all got excited when we saw the offerings on the menu out the front of the restaurant...but alas we got the Indian food...! Shit !
After lunch we were allowed to wander down the street outside and poke through the shops but I actually am a tad over bartering so didn't bother with any shopping.
We visited some gardens and then an art gallery before getting back to the hotel about 1600hrs... When I got to the room I discovered the room unlocked and then I opened the door and the room had been made up and our gear was gone ! My stomach did a little flop thinking I may have to wear the same outfit for the next week ! I went down to reception and they didn't have a clue either, after about 20 minutes they told us our bathroom was blocked ? and they had moved us up two doors... On entering our new room we found our gear...the view is the same but the room is a tad shabbier and the water was only lukewarm.. Not to worry we won't be in it too long as tomorrow we have to be on the bus at 0500hrs..then we have a 5 hour wait at Mumbai airport before flying to Aurangabad for two nights.
The bad news is we can still only take 15 kgs so it looks as though we will be up for some excess baggage..