Thursday 15th September

5am, up and shower and off to the Taj Mahal...  How does one describe such a beautiful monument. Words, photos, paintings just don't do it justice. We got there as they opened the gates and let us in. Women on the left and men on the right. For once the ladies beat the men in the line. I went over to Ric while he was still in the line and gave a quick tickle. 3 Americans were behind and one commented..."ah she's cute, give her some money." very funny, loved the quick wit so early in the morning. Perhaps this is a location/cultural joke, as there is alWays someone coming up with a hand out stretched for some money here in India.

We got our background history on the Taj Mahal before we were let loose to take all the usual photos,then we got very artistic with our untrained eyes but huge enthusiasm and appreciation. After a while, I just had to turn off the camera, put it into the bag and just walk around and take in the atmosphere. Despite the people around it was tranquil. What was so wonderful was the temperature. It was perfectly  cool, allowing us to just sit in various spots around the mosoleum and admire it's grandeur. It also turned out that we became an attraction ourselves, with people snapping pics of us.

We meandered back to the hotel, ate breakfast, napped and headed to the Red Fort that afternoon. The heat on entering was unbelievable, but a thundercloud moved in, thankfully dropping the temperature. We of course saw a blend of architecture depending on the various rulers at the time. We were shown where Shah Jihan was kept captive by his son Aurangazeb. In comparison to prisons, it was more like being under palace arrest really. He had a constant view of the Taj Mahal from all of his windows and from his terrace. He must have seen the most glorious sunrises from this vantage point with the Taj as the fore front.

I felt we spent too little time here in Agra, that being said we did get a full day of site seeing and never felt rushed.

Off to Jaipur on the 6pm train. We should arrive by 10.20. As it turned out the train was late, so we didn't arrive until 11pm. As soon as we got to the hotel we got settled to our rooms, returned to the foyer and drank some rum til the wee hours. We did this in lieu of the morning fort visit. I think we are forted out...
Ais