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When we were in France, I fell in love with the castle Chenonceau.  In India, I fell in love with The Lake Palace.  The Lake Palace was the summer residence of the Maharana of Udaipur. Maharana means warrior king and is a title distinct from Maharaja.  The current ruling dynasty in Udaipur has stood for […]

The cuisine of India is rich in history, dazzling in color, and overwhelming in variety.  Countless legumes, vegetables, and spices are combined to create everything from street snacks to five-star entrees. I did a lot of eating and a bit of cooking while here and my first introduction to both came under the expert guidance […]

We swerve to the left around a herd of cows, not too far because there is a grey horse lumbering just beside us, straining to pull a metal-wheeled cart stacked eight feet high with cow dung patties.  No matter that there is just one lane going our direction – the cows, the horse and our […]

The Indians are fantastic martial inventors. They invented many hundreds of things, but I have chosen the top invention of each main category that we saw. GATE DEFENSES A fort’s gate is its weak link, the easiest place to smash in and take control. In India there are bristly, natural, and gray battering rams know […]

All over India we have seen many different kinds of animals. From parakeets to water buffalos, India is full of life. The first animals we noticed were the monkeys. They run around eating bananas, banging on things, scratching themselves, grunting, and other equally un-useful things. They are however, very cute. They have tangerine fur and […]

To break up a long drive from Agra to Jaipur, we stopped first outside of Agra at Fatehpur Sikri, which was briefly the Mughal capital (long story) and contains an impressive palace complex. Further along, we visited Chand Baori – a step well.  Step wells are massive excavated stone cisterns that could store rain water, […]

Here is a true story:  when the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan was a prince, he visited a market at the palace grounds.  There he spied a beautiful girl, Mumtaz Mahal, who was working at a bangle booth.  She was the daughter of one of the court accountants.  He was so entranced that he proposed on […]

This one is easy but we had to post Piggy here! Can you guess where she is? Bonus question: What was this place built for? Email your answer to me at katherine@365saturdays.org

Glossary Roti——-Nan-like bread. Flat and circular. To end our first day in India our guide, Majeet, brought us to a Sikh Temple. Before entering the complex, we had to take off our shoes and socks and cover our hair. My mom and sister already had scarves, and Majeet had a turban, but my dad and […]

The classic touring trip to India is called the Golden Triangle, which is exactly what we signed up to do for our first exposure to the country.   It all takes place in Northwest India, right around the capital city and then to the immediate south in a desert area called Rajasthan.  You fly into New […]