At the Nation's Capital

As announced on the blog a few months back, our much awaited summer vacation has come and gone.. We had a whale of a time.. divided between Delhi and the beautiful state of Uttarakhand. First some reminiscing about part I at our nation's capital..

This year, we decided it was about time we ventured to the north of our country. In previous years, we have confined holidays to the south and nearby "drivable" places as the kids were too young. But with S turning 5 in March, seemed like a good time to be a bit more adventurous. I did have a fleeting thought whether to make a long drive of it, but considering we didn't know anyone along the route that we could stay with (except Hyderabad maybe) it didn't seem like a viable option. Since adventure was the theme, I also took the plunge and booked train tickets by the Rajdhani to give the kids the experience of a long train journey that is not something we ever seem to get around to. And we were off!

The food was decent, and I also had some home made chapathis from mom to supplement it so we survived ok. Did get a bit monotonous though, I could have done with a change to the standard paranthas they gave with every meal, and the similar looking chicken curry.

Our usual place of stay is a Club Mahindra resort(have to use up those weeks!), and the later part of the trip was planned around those. But in Delhi, I went out on a limb and booked a place completely based on online reviews on tripadvisor. Point 1 in their favour was that they were amazingly responsive online too, I just had to send them messages on Facebook to clarify any doubts before making my booking. And the feeling didn't change, everything was as expected and as mentioned on the site including photos of the room. Their value triple room is a great VFM option for a family of 4, and the bunk bed is fun for the kids too! Check out the bloomrooms page on tripadvisor and their webpage here.

One of the highlights of the time spent at Delhi was the great coincidence that a good friend stayed very close to the hotel, so our families were able to spend a lot of time together. We had a lovely time catching up, and the kids hit it off as well. It's really comforting to have a home environment when you're traveling with kids, and we took full advantage :).

Hmm.. as usual this is getting longer and longer and I haven't even mentioned sightseeing ;). We didn't do too much, spent an afternoon shopping at Lajpat Nagar where I went a bit crazy. Also explored going around a bit on the Metro which is a new experience for the kids. The main bit of sightseeing we put in was at the Jama Masjid and Red Fort, along with a quick lunch at the famous Paranthewali Gali at Chandni Chowk. Some photos on my photo blog already so just repeating one of them :).

And we were ready for the next leg. To continue in Part II :)