It turned out to be a long break from blogging! All my breaks are unintentional though. Before I start on my fabulous experience of having a high tea at the Rambagh Palace, Jaipur I need to get two things out of the way, actually three. One I need to make peace with tennis travel as that is all I get to do these days. My daughter plays tennis and it is my job to take her from tournament to tournament. Two I did best when I blogged just to capture my experiences, without any pressure of achieving anything. I need to go back to that carefree feeling. Three, I have always declared when I have been invited on a blogging trip, but let me declare this time that we were paying customers at the Rambagh Palace!

Alka and I met at Dilli Haat as we sometimes do. When I saw her, I told her she needs a break and I am going to drag her out no matter what even if it is to Jaipur. I like going to Jaipur, it is an easy hop from Delhi/Gurgaon. I also have been there many times in the recent past as Chhavi played tournaments there. It was with Chhavi that I accidently dined at the Jai Mahal Palace.

When I went with Alka, I knew I wanted to go to the Rambagh Palace with her. I have been to the Rambagh Palace once on my own but it is more fun when I do things with my sister. I asked if she would like to try the high tea and she was game for it.

When I called the hotel to book a table, they said for the high tea we could just walk in and that is what we did. We went to the main lobby and asked for directions to the Verandah Cafe. A lady from the reception came out with us and showed the path. However instead of walking straight we stopped by the fabulous garden in front of us and them ambled away.

We reached the café easily and we were invited to our table by the lovely staff member Swati. She gave us the menu and Alka and I decided to have two different snacks. She went for the Royal High tea which had Indian snacks and I went for the Victorian one.

While we were waiting for the tea, we took a walk around the garden and admired the peacocks. The tired Alka that I saw at Dilli Haat was nowhere to be seen! Soon we were back to our table and our tea arrived.

The tea and snacks were wonderful. We stated snacks from each-others menus and enjoyed our wonderful tea. I asked Alka if she would order the Royal snacks again or would she switch? She said she would go for the Indian snacks again, whereas I too thought I would repeat my order!

As I was saying to Alka, apart from the food it was the whole experience of being in a palace that was priceless. Due to blogging I got an exposure to palaces and such. I clearly can’t stay at a palace hotel as a paying guest as it is way too expensive. But I surely can pop in for an occasional meal! Alka and I thoroughly enjoyed our experience of going to the Rambagh Palace for the High Tea. Alka added, “if you wish to burn money but collect wonderful memories go to the Rambagh Palace!”

We booked an Uber to go back to Ibis Jaipur where we were staying. When we got into the cab, the driver was laughing with us. He said when he saw the pick up address he wasn’t sure what was happening but he decided to check out anyway. And I am glad he came to pick us up.

PS. As I said above, Alka and I paid for our high tea, this was not a blogging experience. And we will go again to another restaurant within the palace whenever we can!

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