Tuesday 19th October - By rail to Shimla

We left our hotel at 6.20 this morning - clutching our packed breakfasts - to catch the 7.20 Shatabdi express service (2011) from Delhi to Kalka.

On arrival at Kalka at around 11.50, we transferred to the narrow-gauge, World Heritage listed Kalka - Shimla railway (the "toy" train) for the 90 km, five and a half hour journey into the foothills of the Shivalik Himalaya at Shimla (not forgetting to pick up our (vegetarian!) packed lunch). Our train was the 12.10 Himalayan Queen Service.

We arrived in Shimla just before 6pm and transferred by taxi to our hotel - The Oberoi Cecil - for a 3 night stay. Very nice hotel ! Dinner with Ian and Bev.

Monday 18th October - Sightseeing in Delhi

Full day of sightseeing - starting with Jama Masjid - the largest mosque in Delhi.

This was followed by an exhilarating (!) rickshaw ride through the back streets of Old Delhi........

Photo by coutesy of John and Vicky

Photo by Dave and Celeste

and a visit to the Rajghat - the site of Gandhi's cremation.

At some point on our coach journey we drove past Delhi Gate

We then visited Humayun's tomb and finished off (almost) at the Qutb complex - site of the Minar - the tallest minaret in India.
You'll have to wait for the history lesson - all will be revealed later (possibly much later!)

Our final stop of the day was to see a demonstration of carpet making by workers from Kashmir. Unfortunately this turned into a high pressure selling exercise - which angered many of the group (us included!), and we were glad to get back to the hotel.

Sunday October 17th - Delhi

Arrived in Delhi after an 8.5 hour overnight flight. Determined to make the most of our limited time here, we took a taxi to the National Railway Museum, and spent a pleasant couple of hours amongst the slumbering steam relics of the Indian Railways. Lots of examples of broad, standard and narrow gauge engines, and a busy museum of smaller exhibits.

We saw this type of narrow-gauge, petrol-engined railbus at NRM, but this one is pictured in Shimla -it still runs a daily scheduled service to Kalka!

This copy of a letter - with an English translation - was in the small exhibits museum. Shortly after it was published, toilets were introduced into the trains!

Translation as follows: