Bombay

Waiters at Rambagh Palace, bringing gifts 

Flying to Bombay

Our suite filled with Anniversary Balloons

Living Room overlooking the Arabian Sea

Anniversary Floral Arrangement

Drinks outside with Richard 

Pomfret

We had our final breakfast at the Rambagh. At the end of the breakfast the waiter asked us to shift to a different table. We didn’t exactly know why. It was very cute. The entire waitstaff came out and wanted to have a picture with us. They presented us with gifts of matching hats and a beautiful Bon Voyage Cake. The hotel doesn’t have much turnover of staff, over the years they get to know your preferences. For example the bartender, who has been there 32 years, knows how I like my Martini made. He also knows we preferred non-spicy cashews.

The front desk, as we were checking out also presented us with some gifts. We met Vijay for our final ride this year with him: to the airport. I had played some music for Vijay by Krishna Das and Nusrat Ali Khan, from my iPhone as were driving through Rajasthan.

As a final gift I tried to send him some Albums via iTunes. Turns out for some reason you can’t gift from an American iTunes account to an Indian iTunes Account. I was on the computer electronically chatting with Apple Support how to get the music to him. They finally said no way.

I came up with the alternative solution. I went to the bookshop in the Rambagh and asked the owner if he an iPhone. He did. I then asked him to buy and send 3 albums to Vijay. I paid him in rupees for the cost of the music. Vijay would get his music. However, receiving the music on Vijay’s iPhone was complicated. In desperate rush as we were driving to the airport I fiddled with his iPhone and was able to download the first album. Vijay downloaded the other two.

At the airport fondly said good bye to Vijay. He is like a brother to us. The flight to Bombay was uneventful. We were met by a Taj Representative at the airport who guided us to our waiting car for the ride into the city.

At the Taj we were given a beautiful suite. The Taj knows we spend our anniversary at their hotel every year, so they had filled the suite with heart shaped balloons and beautiful floral arrangements. We relaxed and then met Richard by the pool for drinks. He had flown down from Jaipur the previous day. Cathy and I had dinner at the exceptional Indian Restaurant at the Taj: Masala Kraft. We ordered a regional specialty as an appetizer: Tandoori prepared Pomfret. We can’t get that fish in California. It was delicious! The rest of the dinner was also excellent.

After dinner we retired to the Club room for our traditional Cognac and chocolate, before heading up to room. Welcome to Bombay!