At the Amber Fort Palace I was able to ride an elephant. Of course it was a total tourist trap, but hey how often do you get to ride an elephant? The screen work at the palace was beautiful. From a small veranda you could see the old fort, Jaigarh Fort, up on the hill. I decided to take a few moments to sketch. An amazing thing happened; while I was sketching all the postcard and handcraft peddlers immediately stopped trying to get me to buy their stuff. Unfortunately for my father they were not so considerate. At many of the openings/archways to gathering areas I noticed small metal rings attached. I came to find out that large reed shades would be hung from those rings and covered with water, allowing for the natural breeze to pass through, cooling the interior space.
After the Amber Fort we visited Jantar Mantar. This outdoor observatory was filled with the most interesting devices for observing celestial bodies and telling time. Currently India runs by what is known as India Standard Time, but each city has its own local time. One instrument at Jantar Mantar used a triangular wall with a bisecting parabolic curve to tell the exact local time from the shadow that was created. The craftsmanship on the parabolic curves was incredible.
In the evening we decided to do some shopping; I only mention this because we went to some of the craziest places. Well maybe the places weren’t crazy but the journey to the places was. We would be walking through crowds of people and then all of a sudden make a turn into an alley just big enough to squeeze through and pop into some back alley shop filled with goods. The streets in the city are just filled with nooks and crannies every where. Without someone showing us the way we would never find such places. To say the least it was adventurous and very entertaining.
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