Fri, Oct 23: Chandigarth to Shimla

Today we stopped to pick up Tara at her cousin’s home where she had spent the night.  We talked some more about the orphanage and then hit the road for Shimla in the Himalayan foothills.  

However, we first did a detour to the Yadavindra Gardens.  These were the gardens of a Maharaja that are now owned and maintained by the government. 

There were many pools, fountains and waterfalls although many were dry as they were being worked on and cleaned up.  

They were setting part of the grounds up for a party with lovely, vibrant fabrics.

Some of the ceiling tile work was exquisite.

Then it was off for a long drive through the hills

where of course we saw monkeys.

We ended up at the hill station of Kasauli to have lunch with Tara’s friend Lila.  Kasauli houses a military base and a research center.  Lila’s husband is a doctor and he works in a research lab there working on vaccines.

Their home was originally a British Hill Station home from the 1800's and had lovely old details.

We had a great lunch with views overlooking the valley,

saw more monkeys

did lots of visiting and hit the road for a long, windy drive high into the hills.  We saw a great sunset over the mountains and arrived in Shimla after dark.