April 12 - After a short rest, we were taken by tuk-tuk to the Moon Gate entrance to the Old City for an Orientation walk. The ruler who built Jaipur was a mathematician, an architect, etc., and he designed it with wide streets and some semblance of order. The buildings on either side were used by traders, but also by the royal family at one time. When Prince Albert was visiting (Queen Victoria's husband), all the buildings were painted in terra cotta colours -- a welcoming colour. With the sun, the colour faded to pink, so Prince Albert dubbed Jaipur the Pink City. Jaipur is a major tourist destination in India forming a part of the Golden Triangle.

We saw many monkeys on the buildings. The babies are very cute. A bit strange to see animals so close to us with their resemblance to humans!

Perry took us to a small working temple. On the second level, there were three musicians at this temple area, the usual "squeeze box/harmonium," a drum beater, and a chanter performing their duty. Opposite the performers was the temple with the god/idols inside. In the morning, the things we do to begin the day, like brushing teeth, washing face, dressing, etc.,  are performed on the idols by the keeper of the temple. 

We climbed more stairs which took us to the roof top. It was a great view of the old city. We looked back along the street we had just traversed and further on -- at the main roundabout -- we saw a major construction for the new Metro station. 

Scattered about on the rooftop were seeds, corn, etc. for the pigeons and other birds. The monkeys also enjoyed this food.