With Agra and Jaipur behind me, Monday the 22nd was to be my last day in India. I spent the day in Delhi – both New and Old – taking snaps of the various sites. We began the day heading to Old Delhi. Wow… this was like something out of a movie. I started at the Jama Masjid – the largest mosque in all of India.

My driver had originally wanted me to take a rickshaw (a bicycle-powered one) around Old Delhi. By the time I returned from my trek through the mosque, he decided he’d drive me. He was really uptight – I could tell that the “seedy side” of Delhi made him nervous and he wanted to be protective of his passenger.

From the mosque, we drove around Old Delhi and saw the Red Fort (which is designed exactly like Agra Fort), the Mahatma Ghandi Gardens, the shops/stalls of Chandni Chowk, and I visited the Gurdwara Bangla Sahib Sikh temple.

The visit to the Sikh temple was most interesting – as many of the temple visits were. Like all temples and mosques, you’re expected to enter barefoot. This temple had running water over a marble entrance that you walked through before climbing the stairs into the temple. It’s interesting to me – as a PGRIT (protestant girl raised in the south) – that people are worshipping at temples and mosques in India all the time. There appears to be no “Sunday morning” schedule. Middle of the day on a Thursday… and you’ll find dozens of the devout.

After leaving Old Delhi, we proceeded to India Gate and the “Capitol Hill” area of New Delhi. New Delhi is the country’s capital city – and Parliament, the legislative buildings, and the Presidential Palace are all in the same area. The driver proudly informed me that India had just elected a female president. Below are pictures of the capitol building rotunda, the presidential palace and gates, and the view from the presidential residence down the mall to India Gate.

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After visiting the government district, we drove by the Laxmi Narayan Birla Hindu temple which was built in 1622 to honor Laxmi, the goddess of wealth. The temple is often called “Birla Temple” because of support from the Birla family. We also stopped for snaps at the Mahatma Ghandi memorial.

Last stop of the day before headed to the airport was absolutely a great way to end stay in Delhi. We stopped at Humayun’s Tomb. The tomb is the exact same style as the Taj Mahal – just made of red sandstone. The grounds around the tomb were filled with mosques and other structures from the days when a fort occupied the grounds.

Next stop: Mahatma Ghandi International Airport. 27hrs later, I’ll be home.