Grandma Sally's Visit

I will start with an apology for taking so long between updates. Since we’ve been in the U.S. for almost three weeks, it’s about time I wrote about Grandma Sally’s visit to India. As I said in my last update, she and Chris met up in Frankfurt and travelled together to Mumbai. They arrived in Pune on July 28th and the fun began. While Anna was at school and Max was upstairs playing with Kai, Mom and I spent our days doing a lot of local shopping. We bought groceries at Dorabjee’s and at Shivaji market, souvenirs at Clover Center, and clothes on Laxmi Road. By the time it was time to pick up Anna each day, we were beat! Evenings were spent at home playing with the kids. Mom and I left the kids with Chris on Friday, August 1st and headed to Delhi. We arrived late afternoon and took a nice sight-seeing trip with a very helpful driver. Among our favorite stops were the parliament buildings, the president’s home, the India Gate, Humayun’s and Isa Khan’s Tomb, and the Lotus Temple. After an obligatory stop at a handicraft store, we had a quiet dinner at our hotel and left early Saturday morning for Agra. I can only describe the four hour drive as a white knuckle experience. The starting and stopping, the quick lane changes, and the wait at the border were almost too much. By the time we arrived at our hotel, we were glad that there were only two stops on the day’s agenda. We set out with a tour guide for the Taj Mahal. Words cannot describe the overwhelming beauty of this structure. Built by Shah Jahan as a mausoleum for his late wife, the Taj Mahal took 20,000 workers seventeen years to complete at an estimated cost of one million dollars. Although this might not sound like much, remember it was built in the 1600s. Our next stop was at the Agra Fort which operates mainly as a military institution. The twenty-five percent that is open to tourists consists of the historic home of the Taj Mahal creator and several generations of his family. Surrounded by a moat to keep attackers at bay, the fort offers a stunning view of the Taj Mahal and the surrounding area. Our final stops of the day consisted of souvenir shopping and a quiet dinner at our hotel. The return trip to Delhi the next day was even more nerve racking than the previous day, cutting an hour off the total drive time. We arrived back in Pune late Sunday afternoon and visited with Chris and the kids. Monday was spent touring Sangam, one of the four world centers for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. This was lots of fun as my family has always been active in scouting. Tuesday was spent running around getting things ready for Mom’s trip home. She and I left Tuesday afternoon and spent the night in Mumbai before she left around 10:00am on Wednesday. Overall, she had a great time. She was amazed by the traffic, which she adequately described as four lanes of traffic heading down a two lane road. She also really enjoyed seeing how Indian people live and work. We were sad to see her go, but we were grateful for the opportunity to share this chapter of our lives. We hope that my Mom’s visit will encourage you to come for a visit if the opportunity presents itself. We have plenty of room and our doors are always open. Until next time, take care!