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We flew to Bombay (Mumbai) and met up with friends Jill, Michael, Lynn and Ron for a whirlwind 2-day tour of this amazing city. They stayed at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, pictured above.

The story goes like this: About a hundred years ago, an Industrialist Parsi tycoon, J.N.Tata, wanted to stay at the ritzy Watson Hotel. They wouldn't let him in because he was "colored". So he basically said "screw you" and built the Taj, which is now a landmark -- the Watson is long gone.

The arch on the right is called "Gateway to India" and was built to commemorate the visit of King George V and Queen Mary to India in 1911 - long before anyone was seriously thinking about independence. (By the way, the bar at the Taj serves quite a nice extra-dry martini.)