After a fabulous breakfast of cornflakes, Toast and five different fruits we received our presents of puppets and had our picture taken on the steps before goodbyes.
With the car loaded we set off on our short journey to FATEHPUR SHEKHAWATI where there is an Haveli in the process of being restored as a part home, part hotel by a famous female French artist Nadine Le Prince, now in her 80's, she is lucky ( and rich enough) to have an artist that helped in the restoration of paintings in "Le Louvre".
For those not aware an Haveli is the house of a rich merchant built as far back as the 15th century when this part of Rajasthan was on the camel routes and the wealthiest traders lived in opulence. Nowadays the traders have moved on to the bigger cities with 20-30 shops around the globe and have left these wonderful properties to fall into disrepair.
We were met at the door of The Le Prince Haveli by a young student on a 6 month internship who for the princely ( excuse the pun) sum of 300 INR showed us around for over 45 minutes and we were even able to relax with a coffee and a beer in the gardens. As a bonus we were even able to speak to the restorer as he gave instructions to three artist working with him.
And so on to Bikaner.
