Greg and I, along with another couple, Rachel and Reid, and our "guide," Tom, hopped on the train and headed downtown on Sunday. Despite this being Tom's third year in Mumbai, he had not yet ridden the train, so I was the veteran of the group, having embarked on the experience two days earlier. It was great walking around with Tom because he can speak street Hindi. I want to be like him! He told us his wife is even better, but I was impressed. We got off at the Chani station, which was a short walk to the ocean, along Marine Drive. Marine Dr is a long stretch of road that runs along the western shore of South Mumbai. Sunday was amazingly clear and there was blue sky. Loved it! The picture I included of Rachel and Reid on the promenade along Marine Dr shows them being asked for their picture by some Indian tourists. This is the second time this has happened to them. I started calling them "the celebrities."
Sunday also happened to be India's independence day - 63 years. It seemed to be a time for people to be with their families, since there were not many people out and most businesses were closed. We walked over to a market area, but we were told not many people were there. We ended up at Crawford Market, the large, colonial style building with trucks in front of it in the pictures. An Indian man decided to be our tour guide, at least lead us through the market maze to his shop or his friend's shop. Not sure which. He wanted us to buy saffron "because it is very much cheaper than in US!" This is true, but none of us was in the market for saffron at that point. Crawford market is filled with food items and is huge. We also ran into shops selling birds, mainly parakeets and two parrots. I felt sorry for the poor birds stuck in the cages. I'm sure they were caught in the wild and brought in to be sold.
After walking around for a while, were we hot and soaked with sweat, so we hopped in a cad and Tom took us to Leopold's Cafe for some water and lime soda (very refreshing drink). This cafe is featured in an epic Indian tale from the book Shantram, which Greg is reading now. For lumch, we went to Indigo Cafe, Tom's favorite restaurant. It boast breakfast all day and had a nice assortment of sandwiches and pastas. A western place, but very good. While we were waiting for a table to open up, Tom had us walk down to the Gateway of India, a famous colonial landmark. This is also where one can catch the boat to Elephanta Island (on our list of things to do) for Rs 130 round trip and the majestic, and famous, Taj Hotel regally sits, over looking the square and water. This is the hotel that had been attacked by terrorists a couple of years ago. They finished all the renovations as of two days ago. The Taj was built by a Parsi developer, who was not allowed in one of Mumbai's "western" hotels. So, he vowed to make the most beautiful hotel in Mumbai to compete against the other high end hotels.
After our scrumptious meal, we walked towards the nearest train station, viewing beautiful colonial architecture. Buildings to note were the former Prince of Wales museum (I can't remember it's new name), high court, University of Bombay, and apartment buildings along the Oval Maiden. I put in a picture of the Oval Maiden and its "lawn mowers," the three men picking away at the grass. (How would you like to do that for a living)?
The train ride back, Rachel and I decided to get on the ladies only car. How wonderful!! We could relax, even when there was a crowd, since we didn't have to worry about groping. The car even announced the next stops. Loved it!!
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