So, after arriving in Agra via Delhi (yeah, I know I took the long way from Jaipur via Delhi) and catching an auto-rickshaw (my favorite!), I quickly made it to the rooftop restaurant of my hotel in the Taj Ganj area of Agra. Rumor had it that my hotel had the best view of the Taj and boy where they right! I was amazed at how close I was and quickly wanted to rush down and enter the grounds.....one thing stopped me! That's right, the 750 rupees that I would have to pay to get into the grounds. For those of you not current on your Indian exchange rates, that equates to about $18.75. Wondering what Indian citizens pay to get in? Oh that's easy.........just divide by about 100%. But that's for another post!
Since the day was mostly done, I decided to make a quick trip to the Agra Fort. Little did I know, but the fort sat about 3kms away from my hotel. So, it was a fun hot, humid walk to the fort and back. But it tired me out early so that I could rest up and try and get an early start to catch sunrise at the Taj Mahal.
The next morning came awfully early and after a quick shower it was down to grab my ticket and get in the security line. The security line was pretty long for guys and it was interesting the things that they wouldn't let you take in: lighters, matches, cigarettes, and MP3 players?! What's the deal with the Mp3 players? Anyway, I hid mine and after the metal detector and the pat down, I was in and on my way to see one of the world's great architectural wonders.
What a wonder it was! I had already seen the sunset the previous night from the roof of my hotel, but seeing it in the early morning was definitely something else. The bright sun shining down the white marble was almost too much at times! I was fortunate to run into two other english speaking world travelers from England, Vickie and Helena, and they were able to hook me up with some good shots of me in front of the Taj.
We ended up spending most of the morning taking in the wonder and even got to meet "the Gardener" of the Taj. He must be one heck of a gardener because he's a lousy photographer. Of all the pictures he took of us, hardly any actually had the Taj in the background. Still, he was an interesting character.
More to come......
Love, peace, and soul.
Since the day was mostly done, I decided to make a quick trip to the Agra Fort. Little did I know, but the fort sat about 3kms away from my hotel. So, it was a fun hot, humid walk to the fort and back. But it tired me out early so that I could rest up and try and get an early start to catch sunrise at the Taj Mahal.
The next morning came awfully early and after a quick shower it was down to grab my ticket and get in the security line. The security line was pretty long for guys and it was interesting the things that they wouldn't let you take in: lighters, matches, cigarettes, and MP3 players?! What's the deal with the Mp3 players? Anyway, I hid mine and after the metal detector and the pat down, I was in and on my way to see one of the world's great architectural wonders.
What a wonder it was! I had already seen the sunset the previous night from the roof of my hotel, but seeing it in the early morning was definitely something else. The bright sun shining down the white marble was almost too much at times! I was fortunate to run into two other english speaking world travelers from England, Vickie and Helena, and they were able to hook me up with some good shots of me in front of the Taj.
We ended up spending most of the morning taking in the wonder and even got to meet "the Gardener" of the Taj. He must be one heck of a gardener because he's a lousy photographer. Of all the pictures he took of us, hardly any actually had the Taj in the background. Still, he was an interesting character.
More to come......
Love, peace, and soul.
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