Mr. & Mrs. Vandebilt + kids

We finally made it to the Victoria Memorial on our last day. This is apparently Britian’s version of the Taj Mahal. We will see how it compares in a couple of days.

It definitely is a beautiful building. The space occupied over 60 acres including the gardens. While inside the walls of the building and the garden it’s difficult to remember that you are in India. The British certainly had some style.

Luckily for us the British developed more than buildings during their time here. We took our first overnight train journey out of Kolkata and were rather impressed. First of all we were able to book all of our tickets at once at the English speaking tourist bureau. The Indian train system reserves seats on popular trains as part of a tourist quota so that you don’t have to book months in advance like in China. The train station was a bit hectic with cows, beggars and rats but thankfully we didn’t have to wait long.

The trains were clean and the bedding fresh. It is handed out in date stamped envelopes so you know it was recently cleaned. There is no smoking on these trains and people have a lot more respect for them. People constantly roamed the aisles selling water, chai, snacks or meals. It was a welcome surprise.