Sleeping like a Maharaja in Varanasi

This city is NOTHING like this picture. It is the oldest inhabited city in the world, at least 4000 years. We are in a small boutique-type hotel that used to be the old Maharaja's palace, about 8 km from the Ganges. It's a nice escape from the scene by the river, where tonight we rowed out to see one of the areas where they cremate bodies. They run a 24x7 operation there passing 200 souls a day. Check that out in another post.