The Shimla Hills
A beautiful day for a trip to the Viceroy Lodge

This is the road to the Viceroy Lodge through the windshield of Trisha Sharmas car. I thought the sticker of Sai Baba saying "Why Fear" was particularly apt for the Shimla roads.

The Viceroy Lodge, also known as the Viceregal Logde and Rashtrapati Niwas, was the magnificient residence of the British Viceroy Lord Dufferin. It was built in 1888 and was the only building in Shimla to have electric lights.

After independence, the Lodge remained the summer residence of the President of India, Dr. S. Radhakristhnan. In 1965, he and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to offer it as a scholars retreat for the best minds in India at which time the Indian Institute of Advanced Study moved into the building.

We toured the museum part of the building and enjoyed the grounds with its majectic views. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures inside the building, I would have liked a picture of the front hall with its magnificent stairways.

All roads in Shimla go up. This was on the way to the lodge. The silver streamers in the top of the picture (also in the car window picture above) festively marked the way to the wedding banquet hall and the local temple.

We parked below and walked up (is there any other way to walk in Shimla?) to the Viceroy's digs. This was the view into the valley. Breathtaking, even with the 1888 power lines.

The Lodge. Tickets were sold in a booth just off to the left. 10 rupees for Indians and 50 rupees for foreign visitors. Trisha counted and spoke to the man at the booth in Hindi.

I don't think the ticket guy was buying Amanda as an Indian.
Raj, Anita, Abhimanyu, Rashmi, Amanda & Anita.

Waiting for the next tour to start. Louise and the fabulous Trisha Sharma.
Trishaji, is my own personal savior in Shimla. Trisha drove me slowly and carefully and magically straightened out bends in the road that would have been a lot harder on my stomach. If it wasn't for her I would have had to walk home.
Thanks Trisha!

There were flowers everywhere and even though the day was overcaste their lucious blossems delighted the eye.

Its hard to see but there are wondeful wild flowers behind Trisha and Louise. They were all over the grounds. There was also a very diligent guard with the shrill whitle which he employed liberally if you steped on the grass. After chasing us off his lawn several times, it took us a while to get the idea, he sat down on the grass he had just chased us off of with a difinite air of possession.

The view on the way down was just as magical. The mist floating over the mountains was a sight I never tired of.

When we were in our taxi and ready to leave the Viceroy Lodge we had to wait for a cow. Don't you just love that sentence - we had to wait for a cow. A holy cow. Yes, Toto, we are in India.