November 27, 2014. Sightseeing in Jaipur

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Jaipur is called the Pink City as the old buildings were made with a pinkish terra cotta.

This is a famous building with the pink facade 

Then we went to the most important building here called Amer Fort.  Meredith was elated that she could ride an elephant, like the royalty used to do, up the hill to the main part of the palace.  There was about a one-hour queue.  Our guide had us stand in line while he somehow got Meredith to the front of the line for the elephants.  Then, he ran back to us and had us run to the van, where we whizzed through back streets up the hill.  Miraculously, we arrived just as Meredith did.  She was looking really happy.

Here are the elephants going back down, like they did with the moguls in the 1700s.

 It was interesting to learn how the kings, queen, and other wives lived.  In the summer it hits 49 degrees Centigrade, about 135 Fahrenheit, so they had elaborate cooling systems.  Lots of gems embedded in the walls for decoration.

 

See next post for more pics