The Lazy Tourists

For the last few days we have settled in Udaipur, an absolutely stunning town in the state of Rajasthan. We rented a hotel room that features a balcony overlooking the central lake in the town, and the town's other main feature, the floating palace. Just as the tour book promised, it looks like a fairy tale, especially at night when torches are lit all around the palace and you can see the reflection of its white marble in the lake. Matt and I have taken to his town, and as a result we haven't really budged for several days. There were some side trips we thought about doing before we got here, but I think the magic of this place combined with sheer laziness has kept us anchored. Every night we watch the sunset over the floating palace, and then we have dinner at one of the gazillion rooftop restaurants in town. In the morning we laze around and in the afternoon we try to accomplish at least one tourist activity. So far, that has entailed visiting the other huge palace in town, the city palace. We went through the massive museum and lounged in the palace courtyard, and yesterday we took a boat ride from the city palace to yet another small palace in the middle of the lake. Today we plan to go to some gardens east of town, and Matt says he is already wondering where to have dinner tonight, our last night in Udaipur. Not too shabby, all in all!
Tomorrow we head out on an overnight train to Agra, the town where India's pinnacle is: The Taj Mahal. We will spend about four days there, and then on to Varanasi, where people come from all over to bathe in the Ganges River.
We just got word that our dear friend Jake is coming to travel with us through Nepal!!!! We hoped so much that both he and his wife could come, but it is a long and pricey journey, so we are darn lucky to have Jake join us. He arrives the day before we do in Nepal, and will be with us for two weeks! How exciting!!!!
So, that is life for now- the life of the lazy tourists. We are about to be much busier, with the Taj Mahal and all the other quintessential Indian sights to see, so I think we are both grateful for these slow days..... and anyway, we've got to store up energy for our friend Jake!