Well, Agra is the land of the no-show. The taxi we arranged to show up at 1:30pm to take us to Fatepur Sikri yesterday didn't arrive (he must have received a better offer) and by the time we got another one it was too late in the afternoon to head an hour out of town so instead we went to see the Agra Fort, the Baby Taj, and then we had the driver take us to see the Taj Mahal on the other side of the river...these are good views of the sunset and it is free to view it there. We hired the driver, Satish, for 2 days...He also took us to the Taj Mahal this morning and will show up at 12noon(god willing) to drive us an hour out of town to fatphur Sikri this afternoon and to the train station tonight.
We were so exhausted last night we literally ordered banana splits for dinner and had them delivered to the room and ate them on the bed in our pajamas...I was asleep by 8pm! We woke up at 6am to go see the Taj Mahal this morning...it was as amazing and beautiful as you would expect! It was very foggy this morning and it seemed to float on a cloud...very ethereal and great to see but not so much for photography! The inlay work in the white marble is so intricate and hard to imagine how time consuming it would have been to construct.
Me and our Rickshaw driver "Baba" outside the Taj Mahal.
The Red Fort
The Taj Mahal seen through the arches of the gate.
At the Taj Mahal
Me and Sue at the Red Fort.
At the Taj Mahal
At lunch! Me and a poppadam!
Me at the Baby Taj.
Me at the Baby Taj.
Me and Sue at the Red Fort.
Tonight at 18:20 our train leaves for Jaiper...this one is a 4 hour train so no night trains for a little while! Then we spend 3 days in Jaipur.
I am off now to shower India off of me(a fruitless activity!) and then we have to check out by 12pm!
The CAD Guy | November 11, 2008 at 2:40 PM
Love the picures and stories Deb. We read them every morning. Sounds like you are having a good time.
Dad