Oasis

We've recently found a way to beat the heat of summer here - a pool! The pool is located at the Raj Mahal Hotel ("Raj Mahal" means Kings Palace) and is within an eight to ten minute walk of our flat.

The Raj Mahal was built in 1729 by Maharaja Sawai Jai Sing II for his favorite wife, Maharani (Queen) Chandra Kumar Ranawatiji, daughter of the Maharaja of Udaipur. It has served as the home for many of the Maharajas (Kings) until the 1970's. It has hosted kings, queens and dignitaries; Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, Prince Charles and Lady Diana to name a few. Although it is still owned by the royal family, it has been used as a hotel since 1979.

Since finding this place, we go every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning to swim for a few hours. Since this is the hottest part of the summer, there are rarely any tourists staying in the hotel and we usually have the whole thing to ourselves.

Last week the Maharaja of our city and his four year old grandson (the prince) came by to walk through the garden. This past Saturday the palace was being used to film part of a Bollywood movie - we even recognized the leading lady!

Needless to say, we look forward to Wednesday and Saturday so we can get away to our own little oasis.

Doesn't that water look great?

That's the palace/hotel behind the pool...very fancy!

There are showers and changing rooms in this building. This is one of the original guard stations; it is in the corner of one wall which surrounds the palace compound.

Aaron enjoying the cool water and a book.

So, so hot!

While you're enjoying the "warm" weather back home in the good old USA, be sure to remember us. It's been so miserably hot here and from what we've been told it's only going to get worse this month!! This coming week is supposed to bring temperatures of 115 or more! I guess that's what you get when you move to the outskirts of the desert. We've been coping with the heat pretty well, using our AC quite a bit and drinking a ton of water. I've never looked so forward to "winter" in my whole life. Yesterday evening we had a 20 minute rain storm and it felt so good. It was so fun to see all the Indians on their roofs and out in the street with big smiles on their faces as they enjoyed the cool water; even the animals were enjoying it. If only it would rain every evening...