From Taj (Palace) to Taj (Exotica)

A lovely beach side dinner at Johncy's with all four of the Hartts and several of the groom's friends ended our second travel day on a very high note. We arrived at our final destination late in the afternoon, having flown the three hours between the Taj Palace Hotel in Delhi and the Taj Exotica Hotel here in Goa via a three hour layover in Mumbai.

Our Room at the Taj Palace Hotel in New Delhi

The grounds and villas of the Taj Exotica Hotel in Goa

The Taj Hotels, Resorts and Palaces are all part of Tata Family holdings. The Tata name is primarily associated here in India with truck and automobile manufacturing, but their various lodgings scattered around the world (one in Boston; another, in Dubai; the Pierre Hotel in NYC) are all five-star-rated places to stay and clearly deserve their vaunted reputation, if our experiences are anything to judge by.

(The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai, one might recall, was the one involved in the 2008 terrorist attacks. Completely refurbished, it just reopened this August and in early November will host President Obama and the First Lady.)

Both Heidi and Lee feel a bit like royalty ourselves. We have a lovely large garden villa with a covered veranda, so attractive that Heidi fell asleep there within minutes or our arrival! The beach is just steps away and the fifty-six acre grounds are beautifully planted and maintained.

The final forty minutes or so of our trip from Cleveland to Goa were by far the most exotic. Because the Portuguese controlled a large part of the coast here along the Arabian Ocean beginning in the early sixteenth century right up until 1961, the local architecture reflects a lot of European influence adapted to the local environmental setting. Thick concrete walls, arched windows, deep verandas and brightly painted exteriors mark this part of India apart from all the others. The palm trees and other tropical foliage also contribute to its exotic feel.

The winding road along the coast between the airport and the hotel provided a wonderful opportunity to observe all these local characteristics and to make us feel that the eighteen hours flying time to get here were well worth the effort!

A good night's sleep lies ahead (hopefully). Then we're off to explore the local sights before the formal wedding events begin tomorrow evening. It's been great already to see so many familiar faces, so far from home.

Given the time spent traveling today, we had the opportunity to thoroughly digest a local Sunday edition of an Indian English language newspaper, always a great way to get a feel for a culture. The news was dominated by calls for an investigation into corruption and other problems plaguing the just-completed Commonwealth Games. Commentators were also questioning whether the entire effort was worth it, especially given the huge cost overruns and the bad publicity surrounding the problems faced in the weeks and days leading up to the opening ceremonies. Delhi's citizens, however, reaped praise for their good behavior during the Games themselves: a forty-sever percent drop in crime and a similar drop in auto accidents topped the list but so, too, did staying within painted traffic lanes and making more extensive use of public transportation!

The several pages of matrimonial ads were also fascinating...