We are sitting in the shade beside the hotel pool, it is just after 1 pm and it is beautiful sunny yet cool day with a delicious breeze in the streets and here nestled behind the hotel. Both of us have had a freshly poured glass of chilled glass of Sula Sauvignon Blanc, which is a very good domestic wine.

Last night we walked into Connaught place and went to Zaffran, the restaurant in the Palace Heights Hotel. We had a Murgh sagwala ( chicken and spinach ) and a Aloo dormeer ( steamed cauliflower) as well as roti and butter nan. It was a fabulous meal. The steamed cauliflower, steamed in a clay pot was the highlight.the chicken was the most tender we have had in India; as they generally tend to be a little tough if flavoursome.
This morning after breakfast we hired a taxi to go to Qutb Minar. This mosque, minaret and tomb complex was built over the twelfth century by early muslim kings of Delhi. The minaret is reminiscent of a Saturn five rocket, its covered in Arabic text, and would provide a wonderful view of Delhi.
However, there is no longer any access into and up the minaret, as a few years ago there was a terrible disaster when a power failure caused a loss of lighting and then a panic amongst school children – 45 died.

The complex contains ruins of the oldest mosque still extant in India, the famous iron pillar which is thousands of years old but had never rusted in all that time, there are ancient tombs. There are well maintained gardens and trees, with brahmany kites and green parrots circling or perching on branches or the sandstone masonry of the ruins. A beautiful last outing.

We had planned another to the Mughal Gardens, but there was some function on and it was too crowded and complicated to bother going in. So we walked the two kilometres from there to the hotel, crossing the busy streets. Pedestrian crossings do not mean any car or vehicle actually stops, they are more suggestions to walkers about the best opportunity to cross the road. It still takes time and a judicious burst of speed to get across. Yet i think it is only a matter if time before one of us will get hit by something.

So we are sitting by the pool, relaxing.