Keeping it Short

Even though I'm recounting events that happened over the last week, I'm being thrust into school-mode faster than I'd like to make that transition. Already, I'm working on papers and memorizations and trying to stay afloat on the readings. Luckily, the following portion of my spring break is best summarized in pictures.

The pictures you see here summarize the three days my parents and I spent exploring Udaipur, a small city in Rajasthan often heralded as "the most romantic city in India." Udaipur is also known as the city of the lakes, and surrounds three main lakes the biggest of which is lake Pichola.

One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Udaipur is the city palace, which belonged to the Mewars, who claim to be the oldest royal lineage in the world. They can trace their ancestry back to the seventh century and believe themselves to be direct descendants of the sun. Their palace puts all the ones I've seen in Europe to shame; it took us two and half hours of walking through mirrored galleries and rooms covered from floor to ceiling in miniature painting to cover just half of this palace. Additionally, we visited Jag Mandir, one of the island palaces on lake Pichola. Jag Mandir, just like Lake Palace -the other island palace on lake Pichola-have been converted into exclusive hotels. Lake Palace is so restrictive that non-guests can't even visit unless they pay $80 for a buffet. Needless to say, my parents and I will soon be renting Octopussy, the 80's James Bond movie filmed on Lake Palace to find out what its interiors are like.

The last sight we were able to take in during our short visit was Jagdish Mandir, a breathtaking Hindu temple just meters form the city palace. My mom and I headed there early on the morning of our departure, before w left Udaipor and headed to the rural village of Narlai. On our four hour drive, we visited the Jain ruins of Nagda and the Hindu temples at Eklingji, and I introduced my parents to their first India Dhaba. On my advice, they stayed away from the spicy sauces as they enjoyed one of the best meals of our trip.