More Jaipur

So we took the elephants up to this palace over Jaipur.  I don't really remember the specifics of the palace.  Lots of stone carving, kings, wives, etc.  It was all starting to run together in my mind and I was really thirsty.

Beautiful Lady in fresco alcove as we enter the palace.

Gigantic Lady in alcove.

The frescos have held up  well over the years.

This is the room where people would trade goods--silks, spices, etc.  The whole place was covered in mirrors and glass so it was very reflective. 

There was some restoration work going on at this palace.  They were regluing the mirrors and tiles.  We were impressed by this steel scaffolding as most scaffolding we had seen up to this point was made entirely out of bamboo.

Since this palace was up on a hill, there was the pesky problem of getting water to where it was needed.  A system was devised to collect rain water and also to pump it up from the man made lake at the bottom of the hill.

Looking up from the palce to the 2 forts beyond.

I think this is the only picture I have of our entire group together.

We spent some time hanging out the windows like dorks.

Looking down from a terrace, these were the pots to make curry for all the servants--500 servings at a time.  it was bigger than a hot tub.

One last look at the fort with the giant cannon that we didn't get to see.

Instead, we saw this lovely palace that was built and then a dam was built to create a lake around it.  Yes, this was on purpose.  First for security and second for the cooling lake winds in the summer when the mountain palace got too hot.

Then we went to an astronomy/astrology plcae that was used to determine the earth's placement in the solar system. It was also good to use for time of day and seasons of the year based on the stars in the sky.  Completely functional to this day.  It was pretty interesting. We had heard the entire trip that Jaipur was the place to shop so I had the itch to go spread my rupees around.  I did get some stuff for the kids and a pair of uncomfortable shoes.  Then, back to our palace hotel and to bed.  We were heading back to Kolkata for 2 more days before departing to the US.