Delhi

I've heard so many horror stories about India that I got off the plane in Delhi with a lot of apprehension mixed with a large dose of jet lag: It is somewhat of a surprise that I didn't just stay on the plane and head straight back to London... We're only a few days in , but so far I'm loving it... Check back in a week or so!
While in Delhi we decided to make our lives considerably easier (and somewhat more expensive) by hiring a driver for 2 weeks to take us around Rajasthan. The agency arranged our car, our hotels and our train to Arangabad and Goa as well as a camel safari and tiger safari... We probably overpaid but to be fair it's still ridiculously cheap compared with anything we would get in Europe, it has so far been hassle free and I'm currently sitting in the plushest hotel I've ever paid for so I'm not complaining.
I found that Delhi as a city was nothing to write home about but then again we were only there for 2 nights and suffering from exhaustion. First impressions pretty much matched up to expectations - an overload of the senses - colours, sounds, smells and crowds, some of it good, some of it not so good! Though the culture shock that I was expecting was thankfully not quite as violent as I had imagined! Yes, we get stared at and random strangers take photos of and with us but so far none of it has seemed malicious - just a general curiosity about the white folk. Of course you are seen as a walking piggy bank as well which is a little annoying but we're getting used to that now after 2 months of being tourists!
On our second day we visited The Red Fort, Ghandi's Memorial and Humayun's Tomb - we luckily happened to arrive on 'World Heritage Day' which meant all entrance fees were waived though they would have been well worth paying anyway.
I've been trying to read up on India's history to give some context to its sights and monuments but it is bloody confusing so I'm not even going to go there... This is as far as I got... The Red Fort was built as a royal residence in the 17th century when the Mughal Emperor, Shah Jahan decided to move his capital from Agra to Delhi. You can sadly tell that the past 4 centuries have not been kind to the fort which must have been unbelievably stunning in its prime. The site is still impressive, but hints at its former glory such as dried up moats, crumbling fountains, weedy flower beds and empty pavilions leave you wondering what the place must have looked like in its prime. Humayun's tomb however, which actually precedes the Red Fort, seems to have managed to retain its beauty thanks to extensive restoration. The tomb was commissioned by the wife and cousin of the Mughal Emperor Humayun (clue is in the name) and was designed by a Persian architect which explains its Arabic feel. The structure is stunning and acted as inspiration for the Taj Mahal which would later be built in the Mughal capital of Agra by the same man who commissioned the Red Fort.
Ghandi Smriti is a memorial built on the spot where Mahatma Ghandi was shot in 1948... Unfortunately heat and tiredness seemed to have got the better of me and I didn't appreciate my visit properly because according to my guidebook, as well as the central pavilion which I did see, there are concrete footprints marking his last steps and a museum in the house where he had been staying with his few possessions on display, which I did not see.