The National Museum.

After visiting Ghandi Smriti we continued our sightseeing at the National Museum. The museum boasts over 200,000 pieces from India and abroad, covering 5,000 years of cultural history. That’s a lot.

It was also the site of our first Indian meal. After lunch in the museum’s cafe to recharge our energy, we began exploring the many displays.

My favorites included the beautiful textiles and traditional dress.

Check out these costumes from tribal peoples. They remind me so much of the dress from native North and South Americans.

xo, jill

Except babies.

After a good four hour sleep, we headed down to the front desk to inquire about breakfast. Breakfast was served on the roof under forced shade and weak ceiling fans. We ate while listening to some Australians [which I’ve decided have my least favorite accent of English speakers] and I couldn’t stop giggling. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of viewing this show, you’d know why. [Watch a quick clip!]

During breakfast we met, Triin, a teacher traveling from Estonia. The three of us planned a car trip out to Agra the next day, and thankfully she decided to join us for the current day’s excursions as well. It was a blessing to have her help us get oriented. Off we went in an auto rickshaw…

Our first stop was at Gandhi Smriti, the location of Gandhi’s final 144 days as well as his assassination. Inside the museum you can see Gandhi’s bedroom and his worldly possessions. Kind of makes you feel like a materialistic jerk, no matter how minimally you try to live.

The first floor of the museum reminded me of an old Subway restaurant. Remember how the walls were decorated with old newspapers? The museum featured about a zillion black and white photos of Gandhi and important quotes from both Gandhi and his admirers. Just as I was thinking the place might need a little help with its curating, I stepped upstairs.

Not counting OMSI, this is the most interactive museum visit I’ve experienced. Every display involved the visitor. Whether you were placing wooden figures on a screen to make them talk or scattering “salt”to learn about the Salt Boycott, there was something for the museum guest to do.

Outside you can see the exact spot Gandhi was shot, as well as follow the footprints of his final steps.

The experience left me wishing I knew much much more about the famous vegetarian. Perhaps that’s a biography I should add to my list.

Molly has the best ideas.

Feeling the need for one last quick getaway before summer, Molly proposed we take a little trip…to India! Knowing that both of us want to one day spend a significant period of time in the country, we decided that this would just be a little sampler of a trip.

After some quick visa processing at the Indian embassy, we finalized our itinerary, which was anything but sane. We left Abu Dhabi late on Thursday night and arrived in New Delhi around 4am Friday morning. Friday and Saturday were for exploration until we were scheduled to fly back to Abu Dhabi, arriving just minutes before we were due at work Sunday morning. Plenty of time.

Well the first bit of excitement happened just as we landed in New Dehli. I suddenly realized that I gave our hostel the incorrect flight number. I was really nervous that no one would be there to pick us up. Guess what? No one was there to pick us up! Trying to remain calm (Molly was better at that than me*), I called the hostel. Oops! Not only did I give them the wrong flight number, I also gave them the wrong date! The taxi driver had arrived the previous day and waited for us for 4 hours… Ahem. The hostel sent him out again to get us and after only a 30 minute wait we were on our way!

It was tough to get a good first view of the city in the dark with our sleepy eyes. Turns out our hostel was on an “underdeveloped” road too rough for our taxi to drive down. We had an escort take us from the road down a narrow alley to our hostel. Sometimes you just have to trust [but don’t worry Mom and Dad, I never ignore the funny “danger” feeling in my tummy!].

Happy to have arrived we plopped ourselves down on our bed and fell fast asleep. We needed plenty of rest if we were going to tackle the country in just two days!

xo, jill

*Normally a situation like this would have me freaked out. I’m pretty proud that I was able to remain fairly calm and take care of business. However, all the credit should go to my wonderful travel companion who was so understanding of my mistake and not worried a bit. I’m going to have to channel her during my solo travel time this summer.