Don’t Show it to me if I can’t buy it!
We woke up and had breakfast outside at our hotel. After checking out Ferris joined us for the remainder of the trip. She had flown in from New Jersey, arriving last night. We didn’t know how jet lagged she would be but, she was up and ready to go.
We headed off to the National Art Museum of India. It is arranged chronologically from the most ancient Indian civilizations to the modern period. It is encyclopedic in nature. They have an excellent audio guide that not only explained the art object that you were looking at, but gave historical background. To me the highlights were two. The Buddhist Statuary that reminds us that at one time India was Buddhist and it is where he lived much of his life. Buddhism was eventually driven out of India, with the re-emergence of Hinduism (some say it was absorbed into Hinduism). The other highlight was the extensive collection of Mughal miniature paintings. There were hundreds of them at the museum. There is no way you can take them all in, rather you simply pick a few read the captions and marvel at the details.
We then drove to the Crafts Museum. It is an entire complex, with collections of many different types of Indian crafts and folk arts. Cathy and I had been there before and Ferris and Courtney wanted to see it. It has absolutely the most comprehensive collection of Indian textiles any of has ever seen. They occupy an entire floor. There are hundreds of saris, rugs, dresses, etc. It is amazing to see all of the different designs and weaving techniques. Outside of the museum there are stalls set up by Indian State selling the type of crafts created in each state. At the museum store Courtney spotted a beautiful representation of the God Jagannath. She asked the salesperson to show it to her. When she asked how much it costs, he said it isn’t for sale, it was his personal idol as he was a devote of the God Jagannath.
We then drove to the airport to fly to Jaipur. Upon arrival we were packed into a van and driven thru the dark for an hour and half. We drove up a very narrow dirt mountain road. We passed thru several huge stone gates and then arrived at our destination: Samode Palace. We left our van in front of the darkened palace and walked into a courtyard. The guide told us to close our eyes. When we opened them the palace was lit up like a giant toy doll house. It was beautiful. The palace is huge. The service people are amazing. Our suite is huge. I have to leave lights on so that Cathy can find her way to the bathroom!
We had a late dinner outside in a courtyard and started to walk back to our room. One of the attendants stopped us and asked us if we wanted to see something special. He took us into a wing of the palace that is called the hall of mirrors. It is comprised of several rooms in pristine condition that are ornately decorated in Mughal style. The Maharajah still lives visits here. Tomorrow we stay in our hill top palace and visit the very small adjacent village of Samode. We really haven’t heard the story of this palace and the Maharajah who owns it, but tomorrow I am sure that we will. For a couple of days we will be in a different world from the chaos and poverty of India.
No comments:
Post a Comment