Today I was looking through some of my pictures from last year’s trip to India with my friends Nani and Sonia – I can’t believe it’s been ten months since we were there!  One of my favorite places in India was Hyderabad, which is towards the south.  While we were there, Nani’s cousin took us to shop for pearls and bangles (two of the things the city is famous for).  On our way we visited this mosque and wandered a little bit through the oldest part of Hyderabad.  I am a complete sucker for anything dramatic or mysterious-looking, so you can see why I could have stayed here for days!

The moon behind the mosque

Looking down the road

The Charminar – the most recognizable landmark in Hyderabad.

I loved these little windows lit up in red.

In the courtyard of the mosque.

Looking across a pool in front of the mosque

Another view.  I loved this.

The lights of the markets through one of the huge arches

The Charminar again

Hyderabad’s nightly chaos!

Bakeries, suit and sari shops, bangle stores…

This is the bangle market.

It was huge and crowded with every kind of bangle you can think of!

Nani’s cousin and her husband took us to a pearl seller they knew so we could get a good deal.  We felt very fancy trying them all on, from gigantic to miniscule in every color – ivory, pink, grey, black…

And here we are bangle shopping!  The bangles are kept behind the counter and when you want to try them on, you hold your hand out and they start filling your arm up with bracelets.  You take off the ones you like and put them aside and haggle over the price when you’ve got a boxful.

I ended up with so many.