Calcutta
Sunday, December 23rd, 2007
Pete Writes: Having spent the last 14 weeks roughing it up, it was really nice to stay with Chloe’s cousins, eating lots of nice homemade food and drinking some good whisky, we have really been looked after. We also have seen a different side to India, as well as an interesting insight into Chloe’s family history.
Sol had a couple of horses running at the local racecourse, so we had our first trip to the races. It would of been more fun if we had of won some money, but the atmosphere was good all the same.
Elijah (a close friend of the family) was a perfect guide for the 3 days, taking us to all the sights and giving us a better understanding of how the city was 40 years ago. We took an interesting walk around the New market (that was older than it sounds). The stalls have been handed down through families for decades selling everything from flowers to fish. There were even turkeys running around waiting for one careful owner to look after them until the 25th 
Chloe Writes: As Calcutta is my Dad’s birth place, Elijah, a childhood friend of the family and our tour guide for 3 days showed us not only some of the tourist sites but where they went to school, where my Dad used to live and my grand father used to work and their old synagogues which unfortunately closed about 15 years ago due the shrinking, and now practically non-existent Jewish population in Calcutta.
Elijah took us to the botanicals to see the infamous banyan tree. A banyan tree’s roots grow out-side of the ground and incredibly this tree covers a kilometer in circumference. The marble palace is also well worth a visit, it is made from marble (surprisingly enough) as are many of the pieces inside. The most incredible thing about it is the dilapidated state the palace and all it’s pieces are in. The inside looks like a dusty old house clearance but with priceless artifacts and paintings. There is even a 12 foot wooden statue of queen Victoria that any museum in the world would probably love to own, just stuck in a badly lit, dusty old room where few people will ever see it. Lastly we visited the Victoria memorial with it’s architecture we thought very similar to the Taj.
Our visit to Calcutta has been really special. We stayed with my cousins Sol & Mena in their apartment which has been a real treat and we have been so well looked after. We have eaten some wonderful food, been taken out dancing and to the races. And Mena and I have enjoyed drinking some red wine together 
It’s time to leave India after 2 1/2 months here. It’s been an amazing experience, I don’t think there is any place quite like it. The next 4 months of our journey will take us through South East Asia.
First stop Thailand.
Page Gallery
This was the queue for the train from Chennai – Calcutta. It was crazy, this photo does not do it justice
The Victoria Memorial
The VM wasn’t the only attraction, I found a friend
A view of the Race Course from Sol’s box. You can see the Victoria Memorial in the background
One of Sol’s horses
One of the Beautiful Synagogue’s which are now closed.
Elijah looking at the last of the scriptures in the Synagogue, there were once 150.
The entrance to my Dad’s old school, my grandfather also went there.. it’s still a school today but with no Jewish attendants
Inside The Market
Fish Market
The great Banyan tree… yes it’s all one tree!
Calcutta is full of yellow taxi’s….
…..And blue busses
Christmas Turkey’s
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