399 High Street
Brentford
Middlesex
TW8 0DU
ENGLAND
Telephone:- +44 (0)20 8560 8108

Fax:- +44 (0) 20 8847 9383

http://www.musicalmuseum.co.uk/

Our plans for the day went a little wrong because of the weather.  We wanted to spend the day around the river Thames with a possible visit to Kew Gardens, but it was a cold, windy, and rainy day.

We wound up at The Musical Museum not quite knowing what to expect, but it turned out to be a fascinating day.

Gallery at the Musical Museum

This photograph was provided by The Musical Museum.  The Musical Museum reserves all rights to these photographs including the copyright.  They may not be copied or reproduced without express permission in writing from the museum.

First there was a live exhibit with people demonstrating war-time jitterbug dancing.  Excellent!  They called on the audience to join in, but I politely declined as I rarely dance for humanitarian reasons.  (The museum’s website is advertising free ballroom dancing lessons in July!)

The next part of the visit was a tour of the museum’s fascinating collection of automatic instruments.  Our guide was knowledgeable and infectiously enthusiastic as he showed us around collection, which is one of the world’s foremost collections of music machines.

This lecture and demonstration opened up a world that I knew nothing about.  I was particularly interested to see that some of the pianos reproduce precise recordings of music as played by famous pianists and composers, including Gershwin and Rachmaninoff.

An altogether fascinating afternoon and well worth the admission fee (8 GBP with concessions for senior citizens).

There is a cafeteria where you can get sandwiches, beer, and wine.  The museum is also well adapted for people with disabilities — a member of our party is a wheelchair rider.

With Kew Green, Strand-on-the-Green, and Kew Gardens nearby, I find this to be a delightful area of London.  The Musical Museum is one more reason to visit!

Strand-on-the-Green

For visitors from abroad, an excursion to this areas reveals a beautiful part of London that is a little different from where tourists usually venture.  This is an especially nice excursion for anyone who is waiting around for a plane at Heathrow Airport, you can easily get here by taking the Heathrow Connect train from Heathrow to Ealing Broadway.  At Ealing Broadway, take the 65 bus, which stops at the door of the museum.  After your visit to the museum, take a walk down Strand-on-the-Green, a five minute walk from the museum, stopping at one of the pubs for a drink and a snack.  (Ask carefully, but you’d probably need a layover of six to eight hours to get here, enjoy the museum, visit Strand-on-the-Green, and get back in time for your next flight.)

Click here for directions to The Musical Museum from other parts of London.

Picture of Lytton Springs Vineyard

This was an evening when we had a small dinner party — just one couple — of people who really pay attention to wine, and I wanted to pull out some of my best.  The first two wines, a Pomerol (Chateau de Sales, 2003) and Demoiselle de Sociando Mallet (2000) seemed to create a slight sense of disappointment in the two women in the group.  Knowing that my wife prefers a good Californian Zin over anything Bordeaux has to offer, I decided to pull from the cellar a bottle of the Ridge Lytton Springs (80% Zinfandel and 20% Petite Syrah).

What a good idea this was!  Everybody at the table absolutely loved this wine.  This (2000) was a year in which yields were especially low, but these low yields did not prevent the grapes from being fully ripened by the middle of September.  A lot of care was put into making sure that the wine was not over-oaked.

We worried that we were about to drink a wine towards the end of its life span, but it was simply perfect.  The deep berry tastes (raspberry, blueberry, and possibly some plums) showed through with just a little hint of sweetness.  The tannins were soft and pleasant with no harshness whatsoever.  While this wine is very distinctly Californian, the wine make seems to deftly avoid the kinds of faults that are sometimes associated with California particularly as it was neither over-oaked nor over-alcoholic.

I just love this wine, and it was even better than the first time I had this wine.  Click here to see my earlier comments on the Ridge Lytton Springs 2000.

I signed up for Google Voice quite some time ago, but I have been playing with it only for the last week or so.  During these few days, I have begun to appreciate how cool and useful it is.  It used to be by invitation only, but Google has recently opened the service up to anyone in the US.  (Sorry, the rest of the world has to wait.)

Click here to go to the Google voice website.

First, what is Google Voice?

Google Voice is a comprehensive virtual phone system.  It enhances your existing telephone system in a variety of ways, including providing you with a phone number that can be forwarded to any of your phones.  Many readers are probably like me — you might have several phones and the best phone to reach you depends on the time of day and what you are doing.  Your friends and colleagues might try your office first.  If they get no answer, they’ll try your mobile phone.  Google Voice takes this all away.  When someone calls your Google Voice number, the call goes to any or all of your phones, and the first one to answer takes the call.  So, a single number to handles all your calls directing them to wherever you want them to land.  That in itself is pretty slick, but there are loads of other features too.

Think of it this way.  In the telephone world, each device or telephone has a number.  That is why you have a number for every phone you own.  Google Voice changes that idea.  The number is attached to a person rather than to the device.  In this respect, it’s like e-mail.  If you needed a new e-mail address for every computer you used, that would obviously be stupid.  With Google Voice, you have your personal number and you decide which phone you are going to use with that number — just as you do with e-mail!

Here are a few tips and tricks and descriptions of some of the features:

• Your choice of area code When you sign up, you get to choose the area code where you want your number.  So, if you live in the Napa Valley, but would prefer people to think you live in Piscataway, NJ, you can get a number with a Piscataway (I just love that name!) area code.  This might sound frivolous, but it could be useful if you have friends and relatives in a particular place and you want them to be able to get hold of you with a local call.  Think about the number you want carefully when you sign up.  You can change your number later, but it will cost $10 to do so.
• Vanity Numbers If you’d like a number that contains your name or your business, you can type in the word and Google Voice will offer you a variety of choices.  I managed to snag a very distinctive number with a Washington, DC area code.   DC isn’t just a cool place, but both of my adorable children live there and can reach me as a local call.
• Low International Rates Calls to the United States and Canada are free.  Calls to other countries are at very competitive rates.  For example, it costs 2 cents a minutes to call many countries, including England, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong.  Be careful when calling mobile phones, though.  These calls usually cost considerably more especially in Europe.
• Web Interface for calling I usually have the Google Voice web interface up all the time.  When I want to make a call, I  select the name of the person I want to call and the phone I want to call from.  First Google voice rings my selected phone and as soon as I pick up, it connects me to the person I want to talk to.  No long distance charges take place except for the modest charge if you make an international call.  This is a terrific feature that lets you make a long distance call without triggering a charge to the owner of the phone line, such as your employer.  In fact, I am beginning to use this for any call made from my office whether the call is personal or work related.
• Enhancement for your existing cell phone service With Google Voice, you can effectively turn your mobile phone plan into an unlimited calling plan.  Most cell phone companies allow you to call a select group of people (family and friends) without burning through your minutes.  With Google Voice, you can put your Google voice number on that list.  Then you can make calls by dialing your Google Voice number.  As soon as Google Voice answers, enter your PIN and then 2.  Then you are prompted to enter the number you want to reach and Google Voice connects you to that number.  As far as your mobile carrier is concerned, you have simply dialed your Google Voice number, which is on your list of favorites.
• Forwarding Schedules  You can establish schedules so that the right phone rings.  For example, my mobile phone rings on any call; my office phone rings on weekdays between 8:00 in the morning and 6:30 in the evening; and my home number rings on evenings and weekends.
• Voice mail transcription Many of my friends know how much I hate voice mail.  I won’t do that diatribe here, but I love the fact that your voice mail comes in as a text message or email,  So when some moron calls you, as so often happens, to tell you the time (I have a watch), their name (I have a contact list), and their phone number (I have caller ID), at least you can quickly glance at the text rather than waste time accessing your messages and listening to him/her droning on.  You can even use this feature as a dictation machine — call your number and leave a message while you are driving to work, and you get the message typed up for you when you arrive at the office.
• Smart Phone Applications There are applications for most smart phones that allow you to make your calls via Google Voice.  On my Blackberry, it adds this option to the menu associated with contact list.  It makes sense to use these applications when you call internationally or if you have defined the Google number as one of your favorite numbers and you’re trying to expand your minutes.
• Text Messages If you don’t have a plan that allows you to send unlimited text messages on your mobile phone, you can send them from the comfort of your computer at no charge.  Unfortunately, you cannot send international text messages any more.
• Support for people without phones Let’s say you don’t own a phone at all.  With Google Voice, you can still send and receive texts from your computer; you can pick up voicemail as a transcription or you can listen to it as it comes as an attachment to your email.  And if you stay with someone who has a phone, you can forward your calls to that number.  Also, you have somthing to write when a phone number is a mandatory field on an online form.
• Do not disturb Google Voice has a mode that will leave you in peace if you don’t want to take any calls.
• Call Screening Google Voice allows you to screen a call before opting to take it.  I don’t use that feature as almost every call I receive is identifiable because it is in my contact list.
• Elimination of long Distance Charges It seems that few people pay them now, but some people like to have a land line in the house.  With Google Voice, you can ask your phone company for the most basic plan with no long special long distance deal.  Then you can use Google Voice every time you make a call.  And if you use your computer to initiate the call, it counts as an incoming call so you could even consider eliminating a plan that offers a deal for local calls.

There seem to be very few drawbacks.  The only annoying limitation I have found so far is that Google Voice doesn’t allow you to send international texts any more.

So far, I love it!  Another way in which Google has changed my life!

Finding hotels in London has always been a bit of a problem for me.  I think this is partly because people rarely know the hotels in the places they live!  I can tell you a lot more about hotels in San Francisco than  in London or Baltimore!  But I don’t live in London any more, my fairly frequent visits to London mean that I need to know places that are comfortable, pleasant, and economical.

Holiday Inn - Brentford

As I  spend most of my time on the west side of London, the Holiday Inn in Brentford is an ideal place to stay, and I’d recommend it to anyone looking for alternative to staying at Heathrow.  Heathrow hotels tend to make you feel a bit like a prisoner because you usually can’t wander out for a walk or to find a restaurant or a pub.  This happens at a lot of airport hotels, but Heathrow makes matters worse because you often have to pay to take a shuttle from the airport’s terminals to your hotel.

Click here for an authoritative guide to hotel shuttles at Heathrow and free alternatives.

Getting to the Bentford Lock Holiday Inn from Heathrow  is easy.  From the airport, take the Piccadilly Line to Boston Manor.  At Boston Manor, you take the E8 bus, which stops right outside the hotel (Commerce Road, Brentford).  This takes no more than about forty minutes door to door.

If you book through the Holiday Inn website, this hotel can be a little expensive, but I have often found wonderful bargains here by booking through Hotwire.  Go to the Hotwire site and select London airport (LHR) as your destination.  Then narrow your search to “Ealing, Hammersmith, and Brentford.”  Then select the 3.5 star hotel for that area.  I have done this four times, and this hotel has always been selected.  The price for a room for the night usually ranges from $49 to $59, and Hotwire usually adds a bit to that, but it remains a wonderful bargain!  (Don’t select a three star hotel as this will put you in the Holiday Inn Express in North Acton, an adequate and charmless hotel in a much less agreeable area.)

So, what’s so nice about it?

Tow path near Brentford Holiday Inn

• You are in a pleasant area of London off the beaten tourist track, and a nice canal with a tow path that is great for a walk.

Room - Brenford Holiday Inn

• The rooms are clean, well appointed, and bright with good space if you need to work.
• The staff are friendly.

Desserts at Bentford Holiday Inn

• The hotel’s restaurant offers nice food. (Try the Indian dinners and the buffet roast on Sundays.)
• There is free wi-fi in the lobby.  (You have to pay from the rooms.)
• There’s an excellent award-winning Irish pub next door called O’Brien’s.  Click here for O’Brien’s pub.

Bathroom - Brentford Holiday Inn

• The bathrooms are good with wonderful showers.  (I always feel a bit grubby after a long haul flight!)

I stayed at the Brentford Holiday Inn in February 2010 and again in June 2010, and I thought I should add a few comments on the restaurant as it was not quite as good in June as in February.

The Sunday roast remained a good deal at GBP 12.95, but the beef was dry and over-cooked.  The chef was unapologetic about this, but the manager took great pains to find another piece of beef and to make sure we were satisfied. The deal for the Sunday roast includes starters from a buffet, the main course, and an excellent selection of desserts.  (See the picture above.)

The Indian dinner is good value at GBP 12.95 with a good buffet of Indian dishes.  Starters are brought to your table.  Many of the people who work at this hotel are from India, and the Indian food is authentic and good.

I have not tried the breakfast (GBP 9.95) as I prefer to go to the nearby Morrisons supermarket that has excellent croissants (GBP 1.25 for a bag of six), which I eat in my room with coffee.  (Coffee facilities are provided, but it is much better if you can bring your own Bodum.)

Usually, United flight 925 is one of my favorites.  Scheduled to leave London at 4:20 in the afternoon and arrive in Washington at 7:34 in the evening, this flight lets you spend a little more time in England and you don’t have to rush to the airport early in the morning.

This turned out to be a pretty awful flight, though.  It was absolutely full, and I volunteered to give up my seat, but unfortunately the no-shows allowed the plane to leave without a single empty seat and nobody was able to take a bump.  Since it was such a full flight and I am now in the ignominious position of holding a just a blue card on United, I was given one of the punishment seats — 41J on the Boeing 777.  All my attempts to engineer a seat change failed!

I have been in punishment seats before, but I think this is the worst.  First, it is in the back of the plane at the point, and it at the point where the fuselage becomes narrower.  So they put the seats in a 2-4-2 configuration rather than 2-5-2 as in the rest of the economy section of the plane.  (For the uninitiated, this simply means SEAT-SEAT-AISLE-SEAT-SEAT-SEAT-SEAT-AISLE-SEAT-SEAT).

41J is the third seat across in the middle section so you need to ask your neighbor to move if you need to get up for any reason.  With four seats in your row and five seats in the row in front of you,  your seat isn’t aligned to a screen in front of you making it almost impossible to enjoy a movie.  The seats are a little narrower than in the rest of the economy section because they can’t put a tray in the seat in front of you so they have to put the tables in the arm rests.

I continue to refuse to pay extra for “Economy Plus” on United, but I strongly recommend that readers avoid traveling in this row.  Consult SeatGuru.com for advice on seating!

Food was predictable — fairly juicy breast of chicken; a nasty salad; and a dessert that most people left.  Flights out of London do offer butter rather than the strange spread that you get on flights originating out of Washington.  Drinks were offered at $6.00 each, and the wine was the rather poor Redwood Creek.

A strange snack appears about two hours before landing — a sandwich (not nice), a bag of crisps (chips), and a Twix.

The flight left on time and arrived a little early.  I’ll continue to use this flight to get my Star Alliance points, but this was one of the most unpleasant transatlantic flights I have had in a long time.

I resent United behaving like a low cost carrier particularly as this flight cost $1250 for the round trip.

Morrell’s Wine Bar

1 Rockefeller Plaza

New York, NY 10020-2003

www.morrellwinebar.com

212 262 7700

Drinking Seis 2007 at Morrell's wine bar

As many readers already know, I made a resolution to visit New York once a month.  I really want to get to know this fascinating city well.

Although I try to make sure I see places that I have not seen before, Morrell’s wine bar just off the Rockefeller Center draws me back time after time.  It has a list that is almost the size of a phone directory with more than 2,000 interesting and reasonably priced wines, a friendly bar where I almost always seem to wind up sharing experiences (and wine) with a new friend, and a good list of appetizers to have with your wine.  You can drink by the bottle and have access to the full selection, and you can choose to drink by the glass from a list of about 100 wines.  (I am amazed that the servers always find your choice of wine instantly, and it always tastes fresh.  Quite an achievement when the choice is so broad!)  The wines by the glass start at about $8.00.

The wine in the picture is a 2007 Seis from Luberri from Rioja.  This is 100% Tempranillo from vines that are 15 to 25 years old.  It is bursting with dark fruit (raspberry and blackberry) with smoky overtones and reveals soft tannins as you swallow.  A very concentrated and well made wine that retails at around $12.00 a bottle. Highly recommended.

The people who serve the wine seem to know their stuff.  I also like the way they place the wine in front of you at the bar even if you are only drinking a glass so that you can caress the bottle and inspect it.  All the wine is served in nice glass, and they serve interesting, well-chosen, low priced wine as well as seriously delicious and expensive stuff.

They offer things to eat as well.  I sometimes have their steak tartare, which comes with a quail’s egg in the middle ($16/$25), or the plate of charcuterie plate (Jamon Serrano Ham, Saucisson De l’ail, Sopressata, Rillette de Gascogne, $16).  You can have a complete lunch or dinner although I have only had appetizers at the bar.

Although it is more expensive to eat Morrell’s, I wouldn’t be tempted by the Dean and Deluca shop next door.  I have eaten there on several occasions with the family, and it is nothing more than an over-priced and overcrowded fast food joint.  It never fails to disappoint.

I often spend some time at Morrell’s retail shop next door, but unfortunately they often seem to be unable to produce a bottle of the stuff that you have just enjoyed at the wine bar.

Post Box No. 49,

Jethwai Road,

Jaisalmer – 345001,

Rajasthan,

India

The Dhola Maru, a smart hotel about 3km out of Jaisalmer, though not cheap by Indian standards, was, in my opinion, money well spent for a short, one night stay away from the ceaseless heat, dust and hustle and bustle of an Indian town. 675

A night in a room for 3 people was Rs. 1500 (just over £20). The room was spacious and clean, with wonderful air-conditioning- you know it’s doing a good job when you actually feel cold in the hottest part of India at the hottest time of year.

Complete with swimming pool, restaurant, bar, internet, laundry service, room service, doctor on call and massage parlour, the hotel offers all western comforts, but is still visually and architecturally pretty Indian.

However, there are no unique or particularly exciting characteristics to the hotel, and if you’re looking for an interesting or unique hotel, this isn’t for you. If, however, you’re looking for one night of comfort and luxury, perhaps as a break from cheaper hotels, this is a better choice for you.

The complimentary breakfast consisted of a self-service spread of toast, cereal, mango, papaya, boiled eggs and tea, as well as a choice between omelette or fried egg served at the table.

I left the hotel feeling a great deal cleaner and cooler than I had in a long time, but at the same time, longing to get back to the business, excitement and fun of real India. My one night experience of western comfort was quite sufficient- enough to refresh me and make me appreciate normal Indian life even more, however exasperating the dirt and heat can get.

The Cozy Guest House

Navechokiya Road,

Brahm Puri,

Chuna Ki Choki,

Jodhpur

0091 291 2612066

www.cozyguesthouse.com

Hidden away behind Mehrangarh Fort, in a steep little street in the old part of the city of Jaipur, the Cozy Guest House is a delightful little travellers’ retreat, full of charm and originality. Its prices are very reasonable, ranging from Rs. 200 to Rs. 850 per room.

The double room I comfortably shared with 2 friends was Rs. 550 (less than £10), and came with a private bathroom and air-conditioning. I was very torn when deciding between rooms, as they vary quite a lot, and are all quaint in their own way. I would say it’s definitely worth looking at all available rooms before deciding which to take.

The hotel offers internet access at a reasonable Rs. 30 per hour, though it doesn’t allow you to upload anything to the internet so there are no USB sockets- something I found highly irritating.

This hotel is definitely not for anyone physically challenged in any way as there are a good few steep roads to get to the hotel, and, even once you are there, there are lots of steep little staircases inside. Tuc tucs can’t get directly to the door of the hotel, so they leave you on a flatter road just down the hill. It’s not far up, but the road is quite steep, which is a bit of a pain if you have a lot of baggage.

A highlight of the hotel is its rooftop terrace, which offers wonderful views over the old city and to the stunning Mehrangarh fort.

There is also a good restaurant on the rooftop terrace-

the menu was vegetarian (typical for Rajasthan), and served snacky western food such as omelettes, pizzas, eggs on toast etc., as well as more traditional Rajasthani food. I chose a dish of aloo palak, a delightful spicy mix of potato and spinach. This combined with a plain roti, and a bottle of mineral water cost me Rs.75, a good price for a simple but enjoyable meal. I rather splashed out on breakfast, with a bowl of muesli and mixed fruit with milk for Rs. 50, which was expensive as most non-typically Indian choices in restaurants are.

A nice feature of the hotel is the interesting wall paintings dotted round everywhere from the rooms to the corridors, to the restaurant to the entrance.

Staff were friendly and welcoming as well as highly patient when we took a while deciding how many of our group would be stayng at the hotel. There is a nice family atmosphere. I would highly recommend this charming, good value little hotel.

The Hawa Mahal

Built in 1799, under the Maharaja Sarai Pratap, the Hawa Mahal, or the palace of the winds, is one of the must see tourist sites in Jaipur. It is a five-storied building, with two main courtyards. It is called the palace of the winds due to the winds always being stronger than elsewhere, as they are brought in through the hundreds of windows which the palace is so famous for.

The entrance fee is 50 rupees per person, and you will receive numerous offers from guides (costing about 25 rupees per person) who hover about outside the main entrance. I opted to explore without a guide, and was pleasantly surprised to see 2 information boards inside the palace.

I was slightly underwhelmed by the palace, both in terms of size and detail, probably due to me having read too much hype about it beforehand. However, I still feel it was still definitely worth the time and entrance fee.

One thing that really struck me whilst I was at there was just how impressively cool the palace was. Coming from the blazing afternoon sun outside, the cool dark corridors of the palace provided a blissful break from the heat. There were wonderful views over both the old and new parts of the city, as the Hawa Mahal is just on the outskirts of the old city and actually now overlooks a busy road.

The most impressive side of the palace (the wall made entirely of ornate windows) is in fact best seen from the new city, from the opposite side of the main road, which you need pay no entry fee to access. The whole wall is a lovely pinky-red shade with white detail, though is slightly marred by the many shops and stalls blocking the bottom part of the wall (or you could say this makes for an interesting contrast). Unfortunately, it is now almost impossible to catch a good photo of this side of the wall because of the busy traffic on the road.

Amber Fort is about 11 km from the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan, in Amber, which takes its name from the common local stone of the area. It was my first major tourist site in India and I was not disappointed

The impressive visit began with having to queue for an elephant ride, which was taken full advantageof by the many salesmen wishing to sell you paintings, postcards, marionnettes, or else some form of rudimentary sitar. Prices, even for the same things from the same seller vary wildly, depending on how much they think they can get out of you, and it is not uncommon for a seller, having got a no from you for buying something for 20 rupees, to then jump up to 50, somehow belieing you’ll be more likely to buy it for that price than 20!

The elephant ride was an exciting and delightful, though slightly saddening and mildly disgruntling experience. The seats that are placed on top of the elephants for tourists at Amber Fort are simple constructions that manage to fit 2 people per elephant in a mildly uncomfortable sideways position. The ascent up to Amber Fort gives the passenger an ever inceasingly spectacular view of the surroundings and the 18km wall that goes around the fort, which is the third longest complete defensive wall in the world. As the slope steepens, you find yourself having to constantly readjust yourself as you slip towards the back of the elephant.

Looking more carefully at the other elephants as you continue up- particularly whilst looking into their eyes- you will begin to feel uncomfortable as you see how sad and tired they look. The healthy dark grey colour that you usually see of elephants’ trunks had faded into a peachy, pigmented sort of look on most of the elephants there- perhaps a mark of ill treatment? Surely they are not meant to be this colour?

As you follow the pathway up, there are at least 3 photographers along the way, seemingly desperate to get your photo and calling out or you to smile and look in their direction. The confusion we all felt at this soon cleared as we were leaving the fort and men suddenly jumped out clutching photos of us on our elephant, and, thrusting them into our hands, tried to sell them to us for as much as 2 for 250 rupees (about £4). In the end, bought 3 from one photographer for 50 rupees (just under £1), which I thought was quite reasonable.

Even if you have already paid for the elephant ride itself, you will certainly be asked for a tip as you are getting off. We gave the driver 10 rupees, which doesn’t seem like that much, but considering the average weekly wage in India is Rs. 500 or Rs. 600, I didn’t it seemes like too little. The driver protested that this wasn’t enough, however, so we gave him another 10 and asked to get off. He then proceeded to refuse to let us off until we paid him further more, a move which made me feel uncomfortable, a bit angry, and highly resisitant to the idea of giving him more money. We refused and though he kept us up there quite a while more, I realised that it was not in his interest to keep us there too long, as he evidently would make more money by moving on to transporting new customers as quickly as possible. That soon proved to be true, as he gave up and we were let off in the impressive first courtyard of Amber Fort.

Having been stuck in the unpleasant disagreement for the last part of our ride on the elephant, we had not yet had a chance to appreciate being inside the fort itself. We were taken around by a guide which I would say is definitely worth spending the extra on, particularly if you are a larger group, as there are not many signposts around the fort and you get so much more out of the experience, if you know more about it.

We were first shown around the hamman, or Turkish baths, which were only allowed to be used by the king (or raj) and whichever of hisqueens (rania) he happened to favour more at the time. The baths were complete with running hot and cold water and a steam room, which seemed so much more spectacular to me after just the few days I had been in India so far. Even staying with a host family who were very well-off (the husband was a doctor), we had still been limited to one bucket of cold water each per day due to ever increasing water shortages in the area. Running water was only available one hour per day, and our hosts told us that the Indian goverment have announced that water will soon only be available once every 3 days all across India. Whilst wandering through the maze of the bath complex at Amber Fort, it was bizarre to think that the raj was bathing here in whole pools filled with hot water back in the early 19th century.

Sheek Mahal (mirror palace) second largest mirror palace in the world after Versailles.

The secret corridor around the appartments of the 12 rania, so that the king could see one of them without the others knowing. Appartments around a pavilion where the 32 children of the 12 ranis played.

The natural cooling system on the side of the palace facing the mountains- waterfall of scented water behind a screen, and as it runs the room on the other side of the screen is cooled because of the cool winds coming through the waterfall into the room.

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