A Happy Christmas and Merry Boxing Day

[Boxing Day is not really celebrated in India, but it's known, and the term refers to the 26th, so I used this title.]
All is well thus far -- an easy train ride south, when the attendants keep coming through with snacks and hot food and bottled water! The train was only half-full departing from DehraDun, but families kept coming in at each stop, so it was packed by the time we got to Delhi, just after 11pm. We negotiated the crowds and the taxi stand, and got to the YWCA and crawled in bed.
This morning we talked to the main post office and sent a few letters and got some special cards, learned how to glue stamps on the envelope. Then we took the new delhi metro to Connaught Place -- beautiful subway, apparently built to last. The stop at Connaught Place is still under construction; but we found our way out, and to the famed Pallika Bazaar, a warren of shops with a park built on top. Bargains and bargaining galore: don't pay list price! A shawl for Barbara (it's colder in Delhi than we had thought) and a belt for Coleman, and some Playstation games for the boys...... Then the close quarters (and the incense in some shops) got us hankering for fresh air, and lunch. Coleman got his promised trip to Subway, for lunch! It is much like any Subway shop, but without beef, and with lots more veggie options -- and almost same as USdollar prices, which is high for India standards.

We then found a CyberCafe where we could check e-mail; then walked to the official tourist office for a very pleasant and informative conversation. The lady there convinced us to go to India Gate -- on the way, we found the official government Cottage Industries Emporium, a surprisingly large and nice state-run handicrafts store that absorbed us for an hour, with promises to return on our way back north through Delhi in January. Then we negotiated an auto-rickshaw ride to IndiaGate, the memorial arch on the grand wide mall in front of the president's house. Lucky for us, we got there just before sunset closing -- we noticed tremendous preparations for the Republic Day parade scheduled for 26 January!
More Walking and sitting and resting and snacking, then we negotiated another auto-rickshaw (technically, maximum 3 riders, so we negotiate) to take us back to Connaught Place for Barb's promised dinner at TGIFridays. Yes, it's another little space of Americana, very well copied--just like you are in New York (lots of foreign tourists!). Again, no beef; but Barb got her delicious imported pork ribs, and Jeff got a (lamb) cheeseburger, and chris got a chicken/bacon cheeseburger and cole got some fettucine alfredo; and Jeff got a draft beer. Outrageously expensive by local standards, (equal to our night's lodging at the YWCA) but still delicious.
Next we decided to go to the Bangla Sahib Gurudwara, the big Sikh temple in Delhi. We found a turbaned auto-rickshaw driver (a Sikh, he would be glad to have a fare going to his temple!), and negotiated the ride--he was happy to take us and wait for us, then take us back to the YWCA...I offered 50 rupees. The temple was easy, as I had been there in October with the high school group. More later, on the family's reactions to the temple.