The Taj Mahal

We saved the best for last!  We got up early to try to beat the crowds (and the heat), but there were still people everywhere.

Although most pictures make it seem like the Taj is an isolated building all by itself, it is actually surrounded by other beautiful structures.  Like the Baby Taj, it has a gatehouse of sorts, as well as mosques and other buildings surrounding it.

Gatehouse

The Arabic written around the entrance gets larger as it gets higher,

tricking the eye into thinking its all the same size.

Once you walk through the archway of the gatehouse, you get your first full view of the Taj.

It was about a 45 minute wait to go inside, and no pictures were allowed, but it was totally worth it!

It's an optical illusion: the columns actually only have four sides. 

The carvings and inlays were so amazing up close!

Afterwords, we went over to one of the neighboring mosques.

And we had to get a few more pictures before we left.

We loved it!

Agra

A short three-hour drive from Delhi and we were in Agra!  After a fabulous lunch, we checked into our hotel--a major step up from the one in Old Delhi and exactly the kind of hotel you'd imagine getting in India: rooms facing a garden courtyard, four-poster beds, henna, even a puppet show.

After getting settled, we went to Chini-ka-Rauza, a little mausoleum on the Yamuna River.  Our tour guide said he'd never had someone ask to go there before, which is just the kind of place we like to go.  It was small and beautiful and devoid of tourists.

Our next stop was the Baby Taj, made with white marble and inlays just like the its big brother.

Then we headed to the Agra Fort, which was equally as impressive as the Red Fort in Delhi, but definitely a more enjoyable experience because of our tour guide: not only did he tell us all about the fort, but he also kept the Indian tourists at bay.

For our last activity of the day, our tour guide took us to a shop to see how rugs were made by hand.  We knew it was just a long sell, but it was really cool to see how the rugs were made, they really were beautiful, the sales guy was just awesome, and . . . yeah, we bought one.  No regrets whatsoever.

Only one stop left and it is the main attraction: the Taj Mahal!

Delhi Part II

In reality, we left Delhi the next day to drive to Agra before going back to Delhi again.  But for simplicity's sake, I am going to talk about the rest of our Delhi experience now.  And--spoiler--we had a great time in Agra, so it made us optimistic that we were have a better experience in Delhi the second time around.  Which--spoiler again--we did!

We went to Humayun's Tomb and it was so cool!  So many awesome buildings to see that we could have spent an entire day there.

We also went to Qutb Minar to see its towering minaret, one of the only intact structures still left in the complex.

 

We wanted to go to one more place before heading to the airport, but our time was running out.  Luckily, there was a monument right next to the restaurant where we ate on the way to the airport.  The guard was kind enough to open the chain link fence wide enough to let us in.  Ten minutes of walking around was plenty for this little place, but it made us realize just how many cool things are hiding around this city.

Laundry day at some of the houses next door

We had a great time in Delhi!  Yes, it started rough, but it ended so great!  We can't wait to go back and see more.