I took a couple of days off this week to rest and relax. My job is stressful at times (as some of you know all too well) and it has been nice to turn off the "crackberry" and just hang out with the family. As we are in India for an ever-decreasing amount of time, there is a lot of pressure to go places and see things. Now any of you who have any children, not necessarily seven, know that travelling with kids is not always relaxing. Heck, sitting in the house with the kids can be stressful enough. Recognizing that this is true for them and for me, and mrs smith being ever so wise (she knows I hate to just sit around and am miserable - creating misery for others too - when I have nothing to do), we decided to go ahead and see some of the local sites. India is rich in culture and history, and Delhi itself is also full of those same things. So, being the brave adventurers we are, we decided to go to one of India's cultural symbols... The National Rail Museum!
It was so much fun. We got to ride the "Joy Train" which is a little train that runs around the museum grounds. I didn't get to sit with my family on this ride as I had met a young man named Saurav who had decided to stick to us like glue. I bought him a ticket on the Joy Train and he proceeded to guide me to a car in which we could sit. I had number one son and "Dennis the Menace" with me, but Dennis decided he trusted mom more than dad (smart kid) and bolted to her car with number one son in tow. So my new friend Saurav and I toured the grounds in the train.
The great thing about this place is that the kids could climb on the trains and explore freely. They ran everywhere and wore themselves out climbing on engines from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
We also toured inside the museum, where they had models of everything, maps of India's extensive rail system and even the skull of an elephant that had been killed in a rail accident. And yes, the train won...
All in all it was a great deal of fun for everyone. And for 48 rupees admission (just over a US dollar) you can't go wrong. Unfortunately, then we decided to go to Ruby Tuesday for lunch. That was substantially more expensive, which balanced out the rail museum nicely. Plus, I got to spend enough that I felt like we went somewhere, but without all the inconvenience of a road trip.
5 comments:
Looks like something we would have done! And Larry prefers taking the kids on field trips rather than having them drive him crazy at home, also...
Mr. Smith, you were great as a substitute. You two make a great team.
That looks like it was a lot of fun. I still can't get over how big that engine looks, the one with all the kids sitting on it. Can you imagine seeing that barrelling down at you?
Hey, Mrs. Smith, why are you putting all your good stuff on the NaBloPoMo site?! Good thing Toni sent me there...but I couldn't comment because I'm not signed up with that site. And I didn't realize it was you at first, and I was sitting there wondering why someone else was using the phrase "death glare" and wasn't that a coincidence? And I can't accuse you of stealing it from me, because I got it from Garrison Keillor.
Loved the piece, by the way. Really loved it...
Toni - Fill me in on the NaBloPoMo site. And what the heck is that anyway?
Correct on two counts: neither as entertaining, nor as good looking as Mrs. Smith. But a passable substitute in a pinch :-). I'm glad to hear my nieces and nephews are not suffering from cabin fever too much, and that they will have great stories to share with their children (and their senior uncle when he is in his dotage).
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