Nielsen has a wonderful tradition of giving it's associates a half day the Friday before a holiday weekend, in this case Memorial Day weekend. Therefore, Mike and I got the opportunity to see some of the sites around Baroda and do a little shopping (you know me, I will never turn down a shopping spree.)
We began our tour at the Laxmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara. Built in 1890 by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. It was known to be the largest private dwelling in the nineteenth century - four times the size of Buckingham Palace. It houses a great armory tracing the history of great wars and battles fought by the very courageous Indian soldiers. There are mosaic floors, stained glass windows, intricate wood carvings, marble reliefs and bronze statues everywhere. It is a beautiful example of Indian extravagance!
There is also a championship quality golf course on the property of this Palace. There were some golfers on the course. I'm sure Mike would have preferred to have grabbed some clubs rather than going shopping. However, it was nearly 100 degrees F with near 100% humidity - maybe the air conditioned mall was more appealing in the end.
I forgot to mention that one of our favorite associates, Komal Shah, came along with us. She is a wonderful woman, very intelligent and so very sweet. We were glad she escorted us as she could help us translate when necessary.
We decided to grab a bite to eat at a local favorite restaurant called Havmor. There Komal introduced us to some new traditional Gujarat starters and meals. One was a cool gravy (i.e. thick soup) made of lentils and spices. Unfortunately, Mike wasn't able to partake as he is allergic to lentils. I can't say I've ever heard of that allergy. Leave it to Mike to have a strange one. ;) One of the new flavors I tried was Lassi - it is a sweet drink made of yogurt. It was delicious! Komal described one of the starters as made from "wooden floor" - or that was what Mike thought she said. She actually said "wheat flour". Come on Mike!
After lunch it was time to shop - YAY! There are two fairly large, very Western shopping malls across from each other. Perfect!! We looked into many shops with traditional Indian clothing. We finally stopped into a shop called Biba where I made a purchase of a few traditional Indian outfits in the most beautiful colors. I look forward to wearing them back home - of course I'll have to Westernize them a bit and wear with Jeans or leggings. Even Mike made a purchase but that is a surprise since it's for his lovely wife. ;)
At the next mall, I bought some shoes (shocking right?) and some gifts for my beautiful friends back home. As we were waiting for our driver we saw a few interesting things that I wanted to share. The first was the ice delivery truck. It was an open air electric rickshaw. The ice was handed from the rickshaw to the outdoor shaved ice stand - and I mean that literally.
The second was an ambassador car - the oldest of the cars in Baroda.
Mike and I returned to the hotel to prepare for our journey to Delhi. We watched The Hangover on HBO while packing and resting. It was bizarre watching an American movie while in India. So many contradictions while we have been here.
Day 5 Part 2 will describe our journey to Delhi....
We began our tour at the Laxmi Vilas Palace in Vadodara. Built in 1890 by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III. It was known to be the largest private dwelling in the nineteenth century - four times the size of Buckingham Palace. It houses a great armory tracing the history of great wars and battles fought by the very courageous Indian soldiers. There are mosaic floors, stained glass windows, intricate wood carvings, marble reliefs and bronze statues everywhere. It is a beautiful example of Indian extravagance!
There is also a championship quality golf course on the property of this Palace. There were some golfers on the course. I'm sure Mike would have preferred to have grabbed some clubs rather than going shopping. However, it was nearly 100 degrees F with near 100% humidity - maybe the air conditioned mall was more appealing in the end.
I forgot to mention that one of our favorite associates, Komal Shah, came along with us. She is a wonderful woman, very intelligent and so very sweet. We were glad she escorted us as she could help us translate when necessary.
We decided to grab a bite to eat at a local favorite restaurant called Havmor. There Komal introduced us to some new traditional Gujarat starters and meals. One was a cool gravy (i.e. thick soup) made of lentils and spices. Unfortunately, Mike wasn't able to partake as he is allergic to lentils. I can't say I've ever heard of that allergy. Leave it to Mike to have a strange one. ;) One of the new flavors I tried was Lassi - it is a sweet drink made of yogurt. It was delicious! Komal described one of the starters as made from "wooden floor" - or that was what Mike thought she said. She actually said "wheat flour". Come on Mike!
After lunch it was time to shop - YAY! There are two fairly large, very Western shopping malls across from each other. Perfect!! We looked into many shops with traditional Indian clothing. We finally stopped into a shop called Biba where I made a purchase of a few traditional Indian outfits in the most beautiful colors. I look forward to wearing them back home - of course I'll have to Westernize them a bit and wear with Jeans or leggings. Even Mike made a purchase but that is a surprise since it's for his lovely wife. ;)
At the next mall, I bought some shoes (shocking right?) and some gifts for my beautiful friends back home. As we were waiting for our driver we saw a few interesting things that I wanted to share. The first was the ice delivery truck. It was an open air electric rickshaw. The ice was handed from the rickshaw to the outdoor shaved ice stand - and I mean that literally.
The second was an ambassador car - the oldest of the cars in Baroda.
Mike and I returned to the hotel to prepare for our journey to Delhi. We watched The Hangover on HBO while packing and resting. It was bizarre watching an American movie while in India. So many contradictions while we have been here.
Day 5 Part 2 will describe our journey to Delhi....
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