Agra Waiting.

CLAIRE...

Ten points for those who can guess why we came to Agra!

He knew it wasn't muesli.

THE TAJ MAHAL.

But that was day two...

On day one we ambled through the Agra Fort, a massive sandstone fort/palace built and improved by a series of Mughal Emperors from 1556. Everyone from the Mughals, the Maharatsas and the British seem to have occupied the fort at one time or another, though none were able to actually retain power.

Agra used to be the capital of India under the Mughal (Muslim) Emperors. One Emperor in particular, Shah Jahn, will forever be infamous with Agra. It was he who had the Taj Mahal built in remembrance to his second wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died giving birth to their fourteenth child, though this was probably quite a relief for her. Apparently Shah was so distraught that his hair turned white overnight. The Taj took twenty years to build, employing artists and craftsmen from all over the world. Made entirely of white marble, the mausoleum now holds the tombs of the Shah and his wife.

Some years after the completion of the Taj Mahal, one of Shah Jahn's son's usurped him and imprisoned him in the fort for eight years until his death. In what may or may not have been a small sign of sentimentalism, he locked his father in a tower from which perfect views across the Yamuna River of the Taj Mahal could be seen.

Nothing else particularly eventful, except for this:

At breakfast I ordered muesli. What I got was bits of fruit, yoghurt and cabbage.

Me: This isn't muesli.

Man: Is fruit muesli.

Me: No, muesli is little bits of oats. This is fruit, curd and what appears to be cabbage.

Man: Is fruit muesli.

So I paid him the price of fruit and curd, which he accepted with a devient little giggle. He knew it wasn't muesli.