Delhi, India and Return to UK

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THE NATIONAL MUSEUM, DELHI & RETURN TO UK. Tuesday 10 April, 2012.

This morning we met the Quo Vardis agent, Ashicur, for breakfast. He very kindly let us have a car and driver for the day and negotiated an extension on the hotel room until 3.00 pm. We spent the morning packing and at 2.30 we were collected by the driver. After stowing our luggage in the boot he took us to the National Museum in Delhi.

This is one of the top 35 things to do in India. We paid our entrance fee and collected our headsets for the self guided tour which takes about 2 hours. This worked out perfectly as the museum closes at 5 pm. We followed the tour around. Some of the exhibits were closed but we saw the Indus Valley Civilization exhibition with artefacts from Harappa and Mohenjo Daro, various exhibits from temples including some fine bronzes and medieval sculptures. There was also a room devoted to miniature paintings of the Mogul period which we had also seen in Rajastan. Finally we saw the Cenral Asian Antiquities but ths room was rather thin on exhibits.

We came out of the museum at 5.00 pm to find that the weather had changed in a very surprising way. It was almost dark (nearly 2 hours early) and there was a very strong wind and dust storm blowing. Our driver called several of his mates in order to confirm that this weather was affecting the whole of the Greater Delhi area. We were to learn later that this storm not only delayed the cricket match that was due to take place today but also grounded several flights. After about 15 minutes the heavens opened with spectacular thunder and lightening. Some of the traffic lights lost their power and most cars were driving in the pitch dark with no lights!

Our driver next took us to a very expensive arts and crafts shop. We were minded to buy a carpet for the villa in Spain but changed our mind when we heard the price. We had a quick look at the rest of the shop before aborting. We found our driver, having a coffee break, and asked him to take us to a cheaper shop. M wanted to get some little gifts for her niece and nephew. With the gifts secured we were driven out towards the airport to a restaurant where we had dinner. We really took our time over this meal, having a couple of Kingfishers before we even ordered the starter. They didn't seem to mind - kept on bringing popadoms and baby onions for us to eat. The reason that we wanted to stretch it out was that our flight to Moscow didn't leave until 4.10 am and we didn't want to hang around at the airport for hours and hours. Our driver eventually got fed up with waiting for us and came to see what we were doing. We felt we couldn't leave him hanging on any longer so allowed him to take us to the airport at around 11.00 pm. We were so early that we couldn't even check in. The check-in desk opened at around midnight so we went and joined the queue. D's case was overweight so we had to repack some stuff in his hand luggage. That's what happens when you fly out with one airline and back with another - different luggage allowances.

After hanging around at Delhi airport for hours we eventually boarded our flight. We touched down in Moscow on time and were surprised to see that the airport was covered in snow. The runways were clear though. We went through yet more security and waited the 2 hours for our connection to Heathrow. Moscow airport was immaculate and well laid out. We boarded the flight to London without incident. Our arrival at Heathrow went very smoothly and the luggage arrived from Delhi - although M's posh leather label had gone missing. We considered ourselves lucky though - some of the suitcases were arriving completely empty! M's parents were waiting at Heathrow T4 arrivals hall and drove us to Southend.

This is the last blog for this trip. We are leaving UK on 21st April and should be back in Spain on the 22nd. We have had a fantastic time and hope all our blog followers have enjoyed reading about our adventures.

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Photos

M at Delhi Airport
Should have held her tummy in!

Comments

[Tony]

welcome home
You obviously had a great time :)

[Rachel]

What a trip!
Hi Guys Sounds like you had a fantastic time have been following your adventures down under! Next stop Sydney?! Come visit this Christmas to make up for last...Take care both see you soon Rach - sharer of David and Mandy's Illeagal Lidol purchased grog on Baltic Cruise Ship. Love a friend with free booze... xx