Busy Days

While having breakfast yesterday morning, a light flashed in my eye, and it was the sun hitting the snow on the Pyrenees.  A beautiful morning!  

We had friends Andy and Lesley for lunch and enjoyed hearing about their travels over the winter.  Just as they were leaving our doorbell rang, and we had a delivery of rugs from our trip to India.  A bit later, our doorbell rang and it was our heating installer, Karim, dropping in to help us with our thermostat.  We had salad for supper and went for a walk around the village, stopping by our friend Deirdre’s house to welcome her home after a short trip.  I went up to our balcony when we returned from the walk, and the sun setting over the village was beautiful!

Over the past days, we went to Lectoure’s Friday morning market then to Bar XIII for lunch of fresh gambas.  I picked cherries with friends Susan and Anling.  On Saturday we stopped at Fleurance’s Saturday market and bought a bouquet of flowers from our friend Kate.  On Sunday we went to a vide grenier in Marsolan and I picked artichokes and cherries from Agnes and Raymond’s garden.  On Monday morning, I had coffee with Johani and her two youngest girls.  It was the first time I had met her baby and her almost 3 year old’s vocabulary grew over the past six months.  They are adorable!  Yesterday morning, I stopped by a new neighbor’s house to introduce myself, and invited them for a glass of wine on Thursday evening.  Such is our full and interesting life in Lectoure!  

At Home in Lectoure

We are settling back into home, seeing friends and neighbors, working in the garden, pressure washing the terrace, Papa going to the gym, my daily walks, early morning fog over the countryside…. We are happy here!

Morning in Lectoure

We woke up to this view from our home in Lectoure, with the snow covered Pyrenees visible.  We are always happy in Lectoure and look forward to our six months in the Gers.

Flight to Delhi and on to Lectoure - Our Amazing Two Month Trip!

We had a leisurely breakfast at our Udaipur hotel, Taj Fateh Prakash Palace, this morning.  Santosh picked us up at 11:15 and dropped us at the Udaipur airport.  We flew to Delhi, with an overnight stay.  We will fly to London tomorrow, then on to Lectoure.  

We have had an amazing 13 days in India, and an interesting and wonderful six weeks of travel in Southeast Asia and Australia since March 14.  Favorite memories include:

1. Angkor Wat in Siem Reap Cambodia

2. Jim Thompson House Museum, Grand Palace and Wat Pho in Bangkok

3. Vietnamese House restaurant in Ho Chi Minh City, Amok in Siem Reap, Sticky Rice with Mango at K. Panich, Mango Smoothie at Hey Mango in Phuket, White Coffee in Panang

4. Food Tour in Penang

5. Enjoying two days in Singapore, discovering Gardens on the Bay, Chinatown, India Town, and new cuisines with Genevieve and Marcel

6. Six days in Sydney - seafood lunch with Fran and Dave and a Lebanese dinner with Henry and Suha, Botanic Garden, walk from Bondi Beach to Coogee Beach

7. Flying over the Great Barrier Reef

8. Visit to Singapore Botanic Garden with Florence and Tony

9. Imperial Hotel in Delhi, Samode Haveli in Jaipur, RAAS Hotel in Jodhpur, and Taj Fateh Pratash Palace in Udaipur

10. Visiting the Taj Mahal

11. Dinner with Meeta and Ashok in their home in Jaipur

12. Visiting Forts of Rajasthan

13. Plus many more special moments along the way

We savored the last few hours in our hotel in Udaipur, enjoying the view of Lake Pichola and Taj Lake Palace, with the morning reflections, from our room.

Udaipur

We are enjoying our stay at Taj Fateh Prakash Palace in Udaipur.  Our hotel suite is spacious and has a wall of windows overlooking Lake Pichola.  My favorite spot is a window seat to watch the boats on the water, coming and going from Taj Lake Palace.  

After breakfast this morning, we walked with our guide through the City Palace complex to Jagdish Temple.  Completed in 1651, it is the largest temple in Udaipur, beautifully carved in marble with a steeple 79 feet high.  

Udaipur was founded in 1559 and set around a series of 7 lakes.  It is known for its lavish royal residences.  Its current population is about 750,000.  City Palace, overlooking Lake Pichola, is a complex of 11 palaces, courtyards and gardens.  Construction of the series of palaces in the City Palace complex began in 1559 and continued onwards by 22 generations of the same family.  The City Palace facade is 244 meters (801’) and 30 meters high (100’), built on a ridge.  The conglomeration of structures includes 11 separate palaces with similar architectural design, entirely built of granite and marble, with interiors exhibiting delicate mirror work, carved marble, murals, wall paintings, silver work, inlay work… Our hotel Fateh Prakash Palace is part of the City Palace Complex, as is the current Royal Palace.  We took a tour of the City Palace Museum.

We drove to the Maidens Garden, built from 1710 to 1734, by the Maharana of that time for his queen and her 48 maids.  It was a gift to offer them a relaxing spot away from the palace. The Garden features lush lawns, rain fountains, lotus pools and marble pavilions.  It is a beautiful, calm place.  

We visited the Royal Vintage Car Museum, with vehicles owned by the Royal Family.  All vehicles are kept in working condition and several continue to be used throughout the year.

We said goodbye to our tour guide, Singh, in early afternoon.  We had a photo taken in front of the gate to our hotel, with him and our driver, Santosh.  They were amazing from beginning to end, showing us incredible places, and driving on crazy roads with traffic in all directions.  Later in the evening, Papa and I took a walk from our hotel, through part of the city and across the bridge to see the view of City Palace from across the lake.  The sun was setting behind the hills across the lake, just as we got back to our hotel.  We had a wonderful day!  We had a wonderful visit to Rajasthan India!  We’ve had an amazing two month trip!