Amy in India: Calcutta - First few days

A&N live in Calcutta, so we spent some time there visiting them. We were picked up by their driver Rocky at the airport. The new airport opened just a few months ago and it is gigantic for no reason. The ride from the airport was an easy 45 minutes to the US Consulate. Calcutta traffic was a million times better than the traffic we experienced in Delhi. Calcutta also seemed to have a lot more lakes/ponds and greenery.

A&N's apartment is on the consulate grounds. No pictures are allowed there, but it was pretty nice. There's a pool which we utilized several times, as well as a gym and lawn area. A&N's apartment is the smallest of the apartments, but it seemed really large even with all of us staying there.

Joel and I almost immediately headed to A's tailor. This guy is in his 80s and made us custom suits for about $100. The name of the tailor is Paris Tailor and he's near New Market if you're in the area and want a suit. We were treated to chai while we waited for each other to be measured.

Joel at the tailor.

We also went to visit the Victoria Memorial which is sort of a mix between the Taj and a government building. It has nice grounds and serves as a museum. The inside of it is somewhat dilapidated, but there's some nice artwork.

View from the second floor of the Victoria Memorial

Me on the side of the Victoria Memorial

The back of the Victoria Memorial

While we were waiting for A's driver to pick us up, a family excitedly wanted to take our picture. Some people in India treat white people like celebrities. Joel insisted they take a picture with his camera too, which they were really confused about.

Random family

After that, A's driver took us on a brief driving tour of the city. Since we were in a diplomat car, we got to use the special VIP lanes. We also stopped briefly to walk along the Hooghly River which is an offshoot of the Ganges. At the Hooghly River someone also very excitedly wanted to take a picture with us (no photo).