Agra's Breakfast Surprise

So, it's been awhile since I cared to update. I've very sorry to my limited, but dedicated, readers. If you wanted to hear about Nepal and northern India, I suppose now is the time.

Let me start. Northern India is beautiful. Nepal is beautiful. The Himalayas made me think I'd stepped into a dreamworld. From Darjeeling through Nepal, the Himalayas made up much of the background. They were incredible to see. We went to Calcutta's flower market, the Durga Temple, Mother Theresa's mission, tea farms, on a Nepali safari, canoed with at least 16 crocodiles, saw a mother/baby rhino pair, rode elephants, visited Buddhist monasteries, flew right past Mt Everest, climbed a mountain, went Himalayan paragliding, rowed down the Ganges, visited the Taj Mahal, toured the pink buildings in Jaipur, and finally looked at modern Indian master's paintings in Dehli. But you don't want to hear about all that.

What you probably wanted to hear about is how we mistakingly dropped $80 USD a piece on a meal one day. Scratch that, 80 on drinks. Drinks at breakfast. Impossible? I'd think so too. We were in Agra. 'We' consists of myself and the twins, Amelia and Bianca. For an early Christmas gift, their mother paid for them to stay at a very nice hotel. How nice? It's turned-down-sheets-shower-and-jacuzzi-everyroomhasabalconyviewoftheTajMahal nice. Naturally, they sneaked me in too, and we decided to celebrate our good fortune (after 18 plus hours on a bus and a long train ride) with mimosas for breakfast. Two a piece, in fact.

After a bit, the chef comes out. Was everything to our liking? Did we have any comments? Were we enjoying our complementary dosa?

Do they do this for every table? This place was really nice, so perhaps. But then, after our delicious meal, we looked at the bill. 12000Rs. That was the drink bill, food was separate. But surely they meant 12 hundred? No, 12 thousand. We called our waiter. Why were six drinks the equivalent of 240 USD?

Here was his answer: Last month, a french rockstar had been staying in the hotel. He only drank Dom Perignon, so now that was the only type of champagne they served. We were mortified. I'd never imagined I would get to even taste Dom Perignon in my lifetime, and here I was mixing it with orange juice for breakfast. (In my defense, they were delicious mimosas).

What choice did we have? We paid the bill, and ended the most expensive breakfast on the least expensive vacation I've ever been on.

Anyway.

Today's Meal: See above

Today's Deal: Being frugal throughout the trip pays off. Be ready for surprises.

Today's Reel: It had to happen.