Unfortunately, it was a very foggy (or maybe smoggy?) day. You could barely see the Taj from the entrance gate. However, the sm/fog added a level of mystique to the building. After all, we figured, anyone can see the Taj Mahal on a crystal clear day. We saw something unique! Although it WAS unfortunate that we got up so darn early to see the sunrise reflected off the white marble. A good imagination can only get you but so far.
The Taj Mahal was built in the 1600's by the Mughal ruler Shah Jahan as a tomb for his wife, who died while bearing their 14th child. Nowhere was it mentioned whether the child lived! As we stood admiring the huge edifice, more fog (if you can believe it) began to roll in from the river, until Karla and I couldn't see each other from 50 feet away! It was a cool experience. Especially since the fog was moving so quickly.
Admiring the Taj one more time, we walked back to our hotel for breakfast. We were hoping beyond hope that we would be able to see it from the roof, but of course we couldn't. Oh well.
Next we hired a rickshaw for about 6 hours, and took off to the Agra fort. The fort seems to have been a city within a city, and as many different rulers built their palaces here, there were many different architectural styles. The most interesting tidbit of info that we picked up was that Shah Jahan (you might remember him from the Taj Mahal) was actually overthrown by his son, and was imprisoned in the Agra fort for 8 years before his death. He is rumored to have spent his time there in his beautiful white marble octoganal porch overlooking his creation and his wife's final resting place (and his future resting place). Unfortunately, due to the aforementioned fog, we were not able to do the same. Blast!
Next on our list was the Itimad-Ud-Daulah, affectionately nick-named the Baby Taj. En route, our driver pulled out his little book that he has signed by happy customers, and we stumbled across one that said 'nice guy! Be cognizant of circuitous preambulations!' We found this hilarious (and wondered if the writer had gone to Wes), until we realized that we ourselves had been taken the REALLY long way to see the Baby Taj. Luckily we had pre-arranged a price and weren't going by the meter! He must have thought we'd like getting that much more exhaust in our lungs and he of course knew by looking at us that sitting in traffic was just our thing. Through clenched teeth we kindly asked him to be more direct in the future.
The Baby Taj was also right along the river, and by this time it was starting to clear up a bit, so we had a view! We saw tons of cows lounging on an island in the center of the river, which we thought was odd as there didn't seem to be much to eat, but prefer it to them in the middle of the city streets, holding up traffic. We enjoyed walking around and through the Baby Taj which was even more ornate than the big guy, then found our driver.
At this point, he took us to his 'nephew's shop', and looked a bit ticked when we didn't purchase any extravagantly priced textiles, but we carried on to lunch despite his mood. He then agreed to give us 30 minutes to look around the market, then drove us back to the hotel.
We decided to wander around the Taj Ganj area where our hotel was for a while, before going back down to the river to see the back view of the Taj Mahal again. It was fairly clear by now which was pleasant, and we enjoyed watching the monkeys eat bananas, the cows eat trash, and the dogs play.
We walked back to the hotel for a cup of chai and to say goodbye to the Taj before grabbing our stuff and a rickshaw and heading to the train station. Even though the platform was unmarked, we found our way to the right car (somehow!) and settled in. We were under the impression that dinner was served on the train (especially after they told us it was coming), but were mistaken, and the very nice middle-aged Indian couple we were sitting and chatting with offered us some Indian sweets left over from the wedding they were coming from to tide us over before bed. They were scrumptious! They even wrote down their names to make sure we could buy them.
Although the night was less-than-comfortable (we obeyed the guide book which said to take the top berth and sleep with your things!), due to the amount of crap that we were sharing our already-small beds with, and the fact that the A/C was blasting into our faces (Karla was wearing a hat and her heavy coat and Alicia had her scarf around her face) and the fact that we didn't know exactly when to get off the train, our first sleeper in India was an ok(at first) to terrible(while sleeping) experience. It didn't help that Alicia wasn't feeling well and Karla's cold was at its worst. And now we know what to expect of the rest of our time here in terms of trains! We think a bus might be the answer.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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