A visit to the Amber fort, formerly the royal residence of the Jaipur kings. All of it is all the more fascinating for Jenia, who is currently reading A Princess Remembers by Gayatri Devi, who was married to the last Maharaja of Jaipur.
Happy Valentines day from India’s most romantic city — Udaipur. It is also one of the most famous, thanks to the fact that James Bond Octopussy was filmed here, and the Lake Palace run by the Taj Hotel Group is a world class luxury destination (maybe next time?)
Jenia and our friend Nastya learn how to drive a scooter under Sergey’s patient guidance. Don’t worry we wear helmets on the road! it was just particularly hot that day and slow driving makes helmets oh so uncomfortable and itchy.
Founded: 1723 Pop: 1.4 million Other names: Sverdlovsk Yekaterinburg Train Station We had just 6 hours in Yekaterinburg, which wasn’t a great deal — but enough to see memorials to the town’s somber history. Russia’s last tsar and his family were shot and then bayoneted to death in Yekaterinburg in July of 1918. The building…
Adventures around Tbilisi ramparts — we climbed the Narikala Fortress, high above the capital, for spectacular city views. Fun fact: Originally it was established in the 4th century as Shuris-tsikhe, or enviable stronghold. But when the Mongols invaded Georgia in 13th century, they renamed the fortress Narikala, or little fortress.
Exploring Doi Suthep, or what to do after you get a yellow fever vaccine. (J/K…sort of. we thought that we had to go to the hospital to get the vaccine, so we got a bike, but then it turned out that we could have walked to the TB Center to get the vaccine. So to…