We finally have a chance to put up some pics of our getaway at Niagara on the Lake. The pictures aren’t terribly exciting, as our main goal was to relax after the wedding. It was really quiet, partly because of the time of year and partly because we were up during the week. We spent a lot of time walking up and down the main strip. However, certain sites, such as the apothecary, remain closed during the off season. We also had a chance to dine at several different restaurants, including a cute little pub that specialized in fondue.

The best part was certainly the quiet time at the B&B. It was a very cozy little place with a private entrance. The room included a kitchenette, which was stocked daily, so we could work on our own times as opposed to joining our hosts for breakfast. The food could have been better, but that’s a common complaint Eric and I often share. The weather was quite nice. Although, it was slightly chilly, we didn’t mind, as our room was equipped with a fireplace and jacuzzi. Check out the pictures.

We flew from Bombay to Delhi to start our mini-vacation in northern India. We took the overnight train to Amritsar after we arrived (which was an experience in itself), spent 3 days in Amritsar and again took the overnight train back to Delhi and stayed one night. From there, we went to Agra, then Jaipur and back to Delhi, again staying overnight before flying home. We only spent two nights in Delhi, but we were able to see several sites during our brief stay. The monuments and temples were impressive, as they are in any other city we visited. We saw the Qutab Minar, the India Gate, Bangla Sahib gurdwara and the Lotus temple. Delhi is what you’d expect for a capital city — very busy, crowded, expensive and a lot of things to see, it definitely had a big city feel to it. See the pictures here.

We were in Bombay at the beginning and end of our trip. We stayed at Bahar’s grandpa’s place in Worli Naka, an area north of downtown Bombay. It’s a 4th floor apartment which had a great view of the traffic and people below. It’s not much of a tourist area, so we got to see how the people live in their everyday lives which was very different from the tourist areas such as the Taj Mahal. While in Bombay, we attended a Hindu wedding, went to Elephanta Island an hour from Bombay Harbour to see the awesome caves, did some shopping at the busy bazaars and spent time with family. See the pictures here.

Amritsar is a medium sized city about 30 km from the Indian-Pakistan border. The city had a very peaceful, relaxed feel to it compared to other cities we visited — most likely because Amritsar is home to the Golden Temple, the holiest of temples of the Sikh religion. The Golden Temple is an incredible display of marble and gold, and feels very serene. We stayed at the Hari Darshan hotel, which was clean, served great food and was very reasonably priced, considering we had a (somewhat obstructed) view of the Golden Temple complex from our balcony, and we could hear the hymns and readings from the temple from within our room. See the pictures here.
Click here for more …

Agra was not the first city we visited, and we only stayed there one night. It’s about 4 hours by car, south-east of Delhi. Considering Agra is one of the busiest cities for tourists, we didn’t have any difficulty finding a clean, reasonably priced hotel near the Taj Mahal, the reason we went to Agra. We seemed to be on the “tourist strip”, there were a number of hotels in a short area with a restaurants and a Pizza Hut within walking distance (yes a Pizza Hut, and although they had “masala pizza” on the menu, it was like walking into a Canadian restaurant). Tourism may have been a low this time of year, as the hotel we stayed at dropped their price by almost half without us even haggling. See the pictures here.
Click here for more …

Bahar and I went to India for a month! We arrived in Bombay for a wedding, then visited Delhi, Amritsar, Agra and Jaipur. We saw many temples, forts, palaces and spent time with Bahar’s family in Bombay. I enjoyed our trip, it was great to see the culture and lifestyle of a country vastly different from Canada. There are beautiful temples on every corner, so many historic sites to see, traffic was crazy and grinds cities to a halt, and a Canadian dollar goes a very long way in India. We’re writing about our travels and will publish about each city we visited over the next couple weeks. See the pictures here.