I was able to sleep most of the night, which is always a blessing with a 10 hour time difference. I really wanted to just keep sleeping, but knew I needed to haul my butt out of bed or my time zone difference was never going to improve. 

 I went up and enjoyed probably the best Concierge Lounge breakfast I have ever had. Since I am a "loyal" customer, I get access to the lounge for most of my hotel stays, where breakfast is very similar to what you get in the regular hotel restaurant. Except it is free. Normally it is the normal breakfast food, all of which I am not very excited about. So, I end up with oatmeal. Every day. Not a bad thing, just doesn't get one very excited. This lounge had all kinds of yummy food...or in Ken's description "weird breakfast food". It had the normal Euro meats and cheeses, but also had some Indian curries and vegis. Whewhooo!   Not an oatmeal in sight. 

After breakfast I caught up on some work, went to the gym and got my room settled for a 6 day stay. Our group was to meet at 2:00p in the lobby to go to the Taj Falaknuma Palace, where we were to go over the logistics for the week, take a tour of the palace and have dinner.  
Our team here in Hyderabad also purchased Kurtas/Kurtis which are traditional Indian clothing for us to wear. So, it was easy to pick out the Deloitte team members as we were a bunch of Americans dressed in Indian-style clothes. We loaded into the SUV's and wove our way through the crazy traffic to the amazing Palace. As we drove up, we all were looking out the window and doing the "ooohhhh, aahhhhh" type sounds. It was quite impressive. 

We did a two hour session on our activities for our 180 Human Capital trainee's over the next 5 days. For Monday/Tuesday they are all together in the Westin ballroom for training sessions (one of which I am leading) and then Wed-Friday there are project simulations which we are facilitating. Should be quite fun and a learning for all of us.  

After the overview, we took a tour of the Palace, which is still owned by some Indian Royals and leased to the Taj Hotel group. The opulence was amazing and we visited some of the most decorated rooms I have ever seen. For those that have been to Versailles, it was similar but a bit more understated. We weren't supposed to take pictures, but most of us were sneaking them when the guide/guards weren't looking. 

After the tour, it was time for dinner and we enjoyed a wonderful selection of Indian and Western cuisine. By the time it hit 9pm, those who had arrived in the early morning hours were starting to fade and it was time to take the crazy drive back to the hotel. There was no sleeping in the car as even though it was Sunday night, the traffic was still insane and we all made sure our seat belts were firmly attached. 

Tomorrow...game face and work.