1/25/2009
Sunday was the last day we had in its entirety to tour India. Despite the exhaustion that was building up on us, we were really enjoying ourselves. Our first stop was the Jantar Mantar Observatory, which was built by Jai Singh II between 1727 and 1734. The exact precision with which the instruments could calculate time was very impressive. Learning about these instruments and then seeing them firsthand was especially intriguing to me because of what I have learned in my astrophysics classes. After visiting the Jantar Mantar Observatory, we visited the Hawa Mahal, which literally means “wind palace”. The last event of the day was a stop at a textile shop that was very reasonably priced. I was even more inclined to buy because Raj called ahead of time and told the salesmen that they weren’t allowed to approach us unless we asked them a question. I bought a camel which symbolizes love. We learned that the peacock symbolizes beauty, and that the elephant symbolizes good luck. In the evening we went to dinner and had a great discussion about astronomy. We really enjoyed ourselves and each other’s company.
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