January 5, 2024 - Friday - at leisure in Delhi

We slept until 8:00 and awoke rested. When we looked out our window, we could barely see the planes on the taxiway across the highway from our hotel. My online reading before the trip disclosed that January is known for morning fog. I was surprised at the density.

At 9:00 we made our way to the breakfast room. Holy Moly. It is huge with more food stations and offerings than we have ever seen. There are show kitchens where you can see and order things that will be made to order and brought to your table. These are egg dishes and meats. There are prepared dishes of many types and cuisines spread out around the restaurant. We are talking Indian, oriental, European, and American. What more could one hope for. I focused on Indian dishes with great success. Alice was more domestic and oriental in her choices. The number of people employed here is amazing. I counted 8 chef’s hats alone. Then there were waiters, busboys, and people who kept the food stations immaculate by immediately wiping up any spills.

We left very satisfied without gorging ourselves. We are looking to a repeat tomorrow.

Next, we walked around the hotel to orient ourselves. The decor is very attractive. The amenities are nice with inviting seating areas. We asked one of our guides (we have seen 4 different men) if there was shopping nearby. He directed us to a mall that was right next door. It was a short walk and we went through security before passing through the entrance gate. Because shops were just opening there was not much for us to do there. That was OK because we were just window shopping. There was also an abundance of eateries. These were preparing for lunch service when we exited at 11:30. The shops are on the lower level with lush greenery and many fountains around them. This all would have been far more attractive in the sunshine without the fog. Nazim explained to us last night this is the season for fog, It is not dense fog, just annoying for the way it impedes views.

We went to see if our room had been cleaned when we returned. It had not. Alice decided to work on her notes and I wanted to clean out my emails and start the blog narrative. We gathered what we would need and went down to sit in the lobby. This allowed us to people watch as we made progress documenting what we were experiencing. 

We no sooner got to work than we were joined by a gentleman and 2 ladies. We asked if they were going with Oceania. They were. They had just arrived and they were waiting for the guide to get them checked in. We chatted with them for over an hour before their passports were returned with room keys. They said goodbye and left for their rooms. 

We decided to go to ours. Our key had worked in the elevator to allow us to select our floor, but it would not open the door. The room attendant used his key to get us in. He tried to call the desk to get a new key but they were busy and did not answer his several attempts. I went down and got the key reprogrammed. So far so good.

Amid did a beautiful job of cleaning our room. He decorated our bed with a beautiful towel elephant on an Indian runner with rose petals in a design in front of it. This is a very pleasant addition to our stay.

We spent the afternoon quietly in our room. The highlight was the arrival of the envelope with our instructions for the next day and the days following.