January 3

Both of us awoke very refreshed, having slept very well!! We were ready to check out Mumbai… maybe. It's metro area is 21 million people! That is daunting to say in the least!! There are many ways this city hits your senses – good and bad.

We readied and went to breakfast – to find out it is not included in our booking. So we regrouped in our room and went out for breakfast first. We decided on Burger King!! I know, but it was convenient, and you usually know what you are getting. We split a burger. We each had a hashbrown and a shake. Now, Burger King here does not use beef or pork, so we had a chicken burger with (too much) mayo and two small rings of red onion – not the greatest. The hashbrowns were flavored with small bits of veggies, but greasy. The shakes, well, these were the best ones we have had in quite awhile: thick and creamy (one mango and one mixed berry). Sometimes food is just fuel, this was mostly one of those times.

From here, we went to sightsee Mumbai. One of the top attractions is the main train station, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. We took the light rail (metro) here. (We did not arrive in Mumbai here, but we will leave Mumbai from here.) WOW!!  This train station is huge, and very grand! It used to be called the Victoria Terminus. It was built in 1888 and is now a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are 18 train lines that come into it. There's a museum but it is closed on the weekends (doesn't open till 11 on Monday – may not make it there). We wandered around a bit and got our “selfie” with some more Indian people. (Questions??) Anyway, this is a very special train station! 

Next we went through a park, just by chance. It had a replica of an Electric Train Car, with a plaque saying electric trains started in Mumbai in 1907 (plus way too much more information). The park was a nice, little green space in the urban sprawl that is Mumbai. It was slightly less noisy, well, not really. We moved on. We wandered by the Police Headquarters, I only mention this because they had a plaque in their fence of the Preamble of the Constitution of India. That was fascinating to me! But we are going to the Gateway of India!

We arrived! The Gateway of India Mumbai is a 26 meter tall (85 feet) triumphal stone arch, built on the waterfront in 1924. Mumbai is the port city of India. It handles one fifth of India's total exporting! Anyway, the gateway, has engraved on it, “Erected to commemorate the landing in India of their Imperial Majesties King George VI and Queen Mary on the second of December MCMXI” (1911). Anyway, at this place, we can buy tickets to catch an hour long ferry to go to Elephanta Island (Island of Gharapuri) in the Sea of Oman. 

This island is where the Elephanta Caves are (which is also an UNESCO site). Here there are a collection of five temple caves. First, you have to go up steps, lined with many shops and hawkers peddling their goods. Then you have to pay to go inside the complex that makes up the caves. Once inside these temple caves, there are so many great carvings!! (Felt like being in Hampi again). Unfortunately, some carvings were defaced and mutilated (in a way this added some mystique to guess the completed carving), but was sad nonetheless. My favorite was the Trimurti, which is an awesome carving of the Hindu god, Shiva. It has three faces that we can see. A fourth face is behind and implied; with a fifth face, “transcend(ing) the sight of mortals and is therefore never carved”, as the plaque says. Whatever, the three carved, huge faces we see are magnificent works of art. Thankfully, these were not defaced and still are here for us to witness. We finished and caught the 'toy' train back to the ferry (we did not take it going to the caves because of a huge line waiting). We boarded the ferry to get back. We did see sailboats going out, and also saw the Indian people feeding the seagull-type birds from the back of the boat (again, even though there are signs to not feed them. Questions??).

We made it back to mainland, Mumbai, and we were hungry, actually hangry!! We had a Mexican place in mind, the restaurant no longer is… so we settled, deciding to eat at Buns and Wraps. (This time, though, it was better than our Burger KIng settling.) I had a Mexican Salsa combo – Chicken burger with Nacho Cheese Dorito chips on it, french fries and a Coke. Jeff had a Maharaja Chicken combo – “medium spiced” Chicken burger, french fries and a Sprite. It hit our hangry levels, but we need to do better. 

Finished we caught an Ola ride back to our hotel. We had a bite of chocolate and some okay wine. Bed around ten. It was an okay day in Mumbai.