India Day Seven: A Flight To Jaipur, A Great Wall, A Palace, An Observatory And A New Carpert.

I awoke early again my last day in beautiful Udaipur.   We were traveling to another city, Jaipur, also located in the state  of Rajasthan in northwestern India.  I was up before  our  5;15 wake up call, after another mostly sleepless night.  We were leaving our hotel at 6 a.m for our short one hour flight to Jaipur, famous  for another Palace of the local Maharajah and it’s long wall and fort that protected it. 

We drove through the morning twilight and were able to avoid  the rush hour traffic for our early flight.

We arrived at  the  small modern airport and quickly passed through security . We were early and I had a cup of coffee while waiting to board our plane.

We boarded on time and I I had a window seat for the flight.

I watched the rolling  hills and farmlands pass below, As I often do, I reflect on the folks living in the homes as we fly over them in distant lands. I wonder what they eat, where do they work, shop , go to school? Are they young or old, happy or sad? Are they living with families or are they alone? Are they looking up at the plane and thinking the same things about it’s passengers, like I did as a young boy. I have always wanted to travel by air, boat, plane or car. And I still do!

It was a pleasant flight, and I enjoyed the passing scenery below.

We landed at another modern airport, and were soon boarding our bus for a tour of Jaipur.Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web-page with more photos from my travel to Jaipur. India Day Seven. Travel to Jaipur October 16 2025. 

We drove through the busy and colorful streets of Jaipur. Our guide, Aparna told us it was known as the “Pink City”. She told us it was named this when the Maharana painted the homes and buildings of the old city pink to honor Prince Albert when he visited the city in the 19th century. We also learned that Jaipur is the capital of Rajasthan.

At first, we drove past modern buildings seeing,

temples,

and universities along the highway.

Colorful murals were painted on the sidewalks along the way.

As we entered the neighborhood near the fort and Palace  the streets got narrower and  we saw many small vendors,along the streets,

selling all kind of goods, produce and foods.

We came to a small lake and saw the Palace and fort  above,

as well as the massive stone wall that protected them along the ridge above the lake.

We left our bus and boarded jeeps which took us up the narrow and winding Road through busy streets up to the fort and Palace,

Seeing a lot of people, motor vehicles 

and some goats along the way.

We left our Jeeps and walked up a busy street to the Palace. We entered the massive gates and came to a courtyard  with views of the fortress wall that wound along the mountain ridge and  surround it and protected the Palace.

It was a massive wall, which I have never heard of before, and which reminded me of the Great Wall of China.

The courtyard was filled with local students also visit visiting the historic Fort and Palace.

In the courtyard Aparna again gave us a history of the City Palace and how it was the first planned city in India. Maharaja Sai Jai Singh established the city in 1727. 

We walked unto the top floor,

where Aparna then explained about  the  beautiful and intricate carvings on the walls on the top floor of the City Palace.

While she spoke about the artwork,

I walked over to the small gardens and look for butterflies and birds.

I didn’t see any, but I did see this small mouse nibbling on some plants in the gardens. His a link to a gallery on my blog web page with more photos from the first part of our tour of the City Palace in Jaipur. India Day Seven. Jaipur   City Palace October 16 2025. 

We left the castle and walked down the street and  sidewalk passing vendors selling various products.

We bordered our bus and drove to the old town passing a lake with another Palace, ,

driving past camel’s decorated for the for the Hindu festival of Diwali.

 We stopped at the Royal Kitchen restaurant where I had another delicious Indian meal and were entertained by with a traditional dance.

Our next stop was a Indian carpet factory where we watched and learned about the production of the beautiful Indian carpets.

We were shown how they were made from the spinning of the wool or camel hair,  We watched as they laid out the intricate designs and

learned how they imprinted and finsihed the carpets. It was an intensive labor process, but the work they produced was  beautiful.  The coupled will last hundrreds of years. They were  so beautiful I purchased one.

I walked around the beautiful museum of Indian artifacts before leaving the carpet factory.

We left the carpet factory and once again drove through the busy streets of Jaipur.

It was late in the afternoon when we arrived at the famous Janta Monta observatory built in the 18 century to study the movement of stars and constellations.

First, Aparna provided us with more information on Maharaja Sai Jai Singh and his descendants and the intrigue of the royal family.

We also had a wonderful demonstration of how the turbines worn by the men in Rajasthan are tied every morning.

We walked to the observatory,

And learned about the very intricate astronomical instruments which depict so many aspects of astronomy..

I love astronomy so I was very interested in this part of the tour.

It was now getting close to sunset as we left the observatory and headed through the busy rush-hour traffic to our hotel.

We drove past the pink buildings that made the city famous.

Many of the buildings were decorated for the Daeili celebration. It was already early evening when we arrive at the hotel.

It was a very long day for me. And I had very little sleep the night before.I did not go down to eat dinner but ate in my room , a can of cashews and a beer. Fortunately, I finally had a good nights sleep and I woke refreshed in the morning, ready for another long drive . But more about that in my next blog

His a link to a gallery on my blog web page with more photos from the first part of our tour of the City Palace in Jaipur. India Day Seven. Jaipur   Carpert factory and Observatory  October 16 2025. 

“We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made!” ”   Albert Einstein