Touring in Delhi

Our first stop in Delhi was Humayun's Tomb. He was the second Mughal emperor and was the inspiration for the Taj Mahal. See the link on the left hand side of the blog captioned "India Pictures" of the places we visited. Then off to India Gate which is a memorial to the war dead and is located at one end of the Rajpath, which is a 2 mile long avenue ending at the Parliament building. The memorial is made of sandstone and is reminiscent of the Arche de Triomphe and the Marble Arch. Along each side of the avenue are government buildings, including the Office of the Prime Minister. Then off to visit the Lotus Temple, which was built by the Bahai. The central theme of the Bahai is that humanity is one single race and that the day has come for unification in one global society....what a concept! On our second day we visited the Red Fort built by Emperor Shah Jahan in 1639. He also built the Taj Mahal. It is built of red sandstone, thus the name and the walls extend up to 2 kilometers in length. It houses the Hall of Public audiences, where the Emperor would receive his people, Peacock Throne room and several outer buildings mainly made of marble with intricate carvings and inset stones and pierced screen panels. A very impressive historical site. Finally went to visit Mahatma Ghandi's memorial set in a beautiful park. The memorial consists of black polished granite with an eternal flame. He was the Father of the Freedom movement, culminating with India's independence from England. He was a modest man and we wonder what he would think of this memorial.