We started this day with some kind of a routine while we headed directly after waking up to the cafe next door to eat, or devour, our breakfast. We had slept so much better in the new room we got after complaining about the non-windows fact that we had no problem not to be lazy and get a fresh start. In the cafe, there was a taxi rental agency which offered us to book a taxi for the entire day to visit the major sites of the city. It's obviously more expensive than if you go all by yourself but it spares you the stress of bargaining with a crowd of men who definitely think we are fools, while struggling with the noise and the heat. 

The first stop of our journey was the Red Fort, with the same idea of construction as in Agra or Fatehpur Sikri. We met a charming guide who accept to make us a visit for 45 minutes, and he must took his time very seriously because he left us in the last garden, quickly explaining some of the buildings before going somewhere else. He did still soften when he learned Chloe has been studying in MGD, but, even if he was good, it was definitely not the same great experience of Fatehpur Sikri. For the fort itself, we have to say that the one in Agra is more marvelous, but Delhi would have been very amazing when all the water plays were on. The all palace part is actually a maze of water strains that runs from place to place, crossing different buildings and falling down like waterfalls in huge basins. Where the water falls down, some spaces had been excavated to hold candles. It would surely have been fairy when the system was working, but in today's time, you only got the empty strains and our imagination to fill them up.

While going out, we made some shopping at the entrance, in a place built in the same time that the fort to allow the princesses and concubine who couldn't go out to shop. Actually, Joelle had forgotten her dupatta and needed a scarf for our next visit : the Jama Masjid. It's in the same quarter than the red fort but our driver couldn't drop us there because it's made a very little and buzzing streets, with lots of shops along the way. So, if you don't need jeans, or shirts, or sunglasses, or fruits with flies, you will have to say no more than a couple of time but we must confess that the sellers were not of the insistent type, which made the ballad quite good. The first hard time happened when we arrived at the mosque. We climbed the stairs then set to take off our shoes when a man stopped us because we were not Muslim, so we weren't allowed during prayer time. You could enter at 2 o'clock only, approximately after a one hour wait. It's particularly irritating because the only people pushed away were only the white or yellow ones. We're sure a great deal of Hindu did enter the mosque while we were sunbathing.

As we were seating on the stairs, a little girl of 10 years came for a little chat but her English was as vague as our Hindi so we just ended clicking pictures. We had a bad time trying to understand that she wanted the pictures printed then Chloe tried even harder to make her understand that we couldn't as we didn't have the proper cable and that it would be more easy to send them on facebook. Finally, lost in disappear, she just asked random people if they understand English and meet a very nice young man who translated the discussion and then offered us lunch. We declined his offer because we were still waiting for the entry but it had been a nice encounter. 

Eventually, the entrance guy came to say prayer time was over and, after waving the we-can-come-in sign to the other foreigners, we walked inside... to be stopped as shortly by the entrance guy who asked us 300 rps each as fees, a cost mentioned in and by no guide (the attraction is set as free), something that pissed us off. Well decided to make as much as she can of the unexpected fee, Joelle made a rapid tour of the mosque, where's no much is to be seen except the grandiloquence of the building itself, with information only in Hindi and in Arabic, none of languages we're soon to mastered. But the fuss was not off. When we fetched our shoes back, the guy asked 50 rps, something Joelle did not appreciate at all and, with an angry voice, did make the guy understand that we had been fooled enough, and that 20 rps was largely enough. After that, he did not bother us anymore. 

A bit disappointed by our last visit, we headed back to the red fort then to the car, to continue our discovery of the city. The next stop was the lotus temple, a huge building in the form of a lotus, which is hosted in a big garden. You need to walk a long way under the sun before arriving at the temple itself where you're welcomed by water pool you just want to jump in. The building itself is very calm and kind of fresh and you can seat in silence and enjoy the place as much as you want. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay long because it was already 3.30 PM and we still didn't have lunch so we were afraid that our hungry stomachs would break the peace of the place. 

After a break made of honey chilly potatoes and rolls chicken, we went to our last stops, where nothing were really to visit but made great pictures. In this list figures the Gate of India, the Parliament and the House of the President. Actually, for the two latter ones and for question of safety, no car can stop in the street too long so, by extension, can enter inside without proper excuse like I am a minister. Anyway, we made a fake dropping of Chloe and she clicked some pictures while waiting the car to make a u-turn. 

After this small trick, we drove back to the hostel to shower and rest, preparing for the tomorrow visits. We're definitely not in fit shape anymore and this day was a bit tiring (but not exhausting). Joelle can't wait to test the metro tomorrow so we try to make our day trip accordingly.