The Taj

Taj as the day breaks
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We woke up at 4:30 ish I think to go see sunrise at the Taj Mahal. Minutes after we turned our lights on there was a knock at the door. We opened it expecting to see Wayne or Jenny but instead it was one of the bellman. "Tea, coffee anything...?" and we said no thanks, that's alright. I hope he wouldn't have knocked if our light wasn't on because at 4:30am I might have killed him. We got ready to go and then Jenny knocked on the door. Wayne wasn't feeling well so he was going to sleep while us girls went out to paint the town red.

Taj at, oh say 10ish
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We started out walking and were shocked to find that despite the early hour there were still drivers out hustling. We walked to the Taj, several times we were lucky to have strangers say Taj this way. We got there and paid our admission. The sun was already starting to rise and I was worried we'd miss something and in my rush I forgot to get my change. There is security, again with the special screened off womens line, and we were frisked and our bags searched. We all got turned back for something, Jenny had a cell phone, Cook had bananas and I had my flashlight. So we ran to the lockers and stored our contrabanned and then ran back to security. Went into to the gate and there she was, the Taj Mahal. We started taking pictures and marvelling at her beauty. I was lining up for this great shot and the camera died. So I got out new batteries and same thing, six different batteries, all new, and none worked. I am at the Taj Mahal in India, for dawn, something that is once in a lifetime thing and my freaking camera won't work. Thankfully Jenny's camera worked so she took photos for us and Cook and I just tried to take mental photos.

Energizer does not keep going and going

Cook and at at, you guessed it, the TAJ
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The thing that none of us ever realized about the Taj is that there is so much inlay all over it. In the pictures it looks just amazingly white but when you stand in front of it it has all this inlay and you can see each individual block of marble and the viens in the marble too. After the sun rose we decided to go in. The sun doesn't rise behind the Taj like it does Ankor but the cool part of watching it is watching all the colors change. The Taj goes from blueish to rosy to pink and grey and white and so many shades in-between. You can't wear shoes in the Taj but there are signs everywhere saying don't remove shoes here. We figured that meant that you take your shoes off on the platform but up top we are turned back. For a fee you can buy booties but we didn't want them, spotted an open door and there it was, the shoe room. Walked back up and walked around the building admiring the inlay before we went inside. The inlay inside, all with semi-precious stones, is phenominal. It is filled with flower motifs and you can see all the different types of individual flowers. Their bodies are below the two, I am not sure of the term, coffins and then there is a huge marble carved screen that surounds it. The screen also has inlay. The acoustics in there are amazing, although I don't think that Shah Jahan and his wife intended for people to be doing their best Tarzan yells in there. We actually went inside several times because it was so amazing. Went to the mosque and the faux mosque that was built to mirror the real one for symetrey.

The Taj and some flowers and the all important reflection
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There is this great shot of the Taj through the arch of the faux mosque but Jenny's camera had broken too! Then we went to the little museum and it was cute. The celadon plates and such were amazing because according to the sign they crack or change color when they come into contact with poisen. We were able to trick our camera into taking a few more photos but then it died for good. We left the Taj and Jenny went to go to the hotel to check on Wayne. Cookie and I hopped an auto-rickshaw to the mini-Taj. The drive over there was so interesting, I'd have loved to have a camera. We went over a bridge and beneath was where they were drying all these textiles right on the sand banks just feet away from where people and water buffalos alike were bathing. The Mini Taj was cool, a woman built it for her father about 20 years before the Taj itself. These was more decoration on it, both inlay and painted plaster. I found it to have more symetery than the Taj itself. Then we got a car to Fatephur Sikhre.  I don't know if I spelled that right. The ride was insane, we passed 2 semi accidents and were lucky not to have multiple head ons, crazy driver. But the most memorable part of the trip was the 15 or so bears we passed. They are tied through the nose like the cattle and themen keep them so they can charge you to take pictures. It is soooo sad, I felt beyond awful for them. Fatephur Sikhre was really cool, the city part had these buildings, especially the womens homes, with the most amazing carvings on like every surface. Miriam's house, the Turkish Sultana's house, Miriams Mansion, and the audience hall (I think) were particurally amazing. I so badly wanted my camera to work, or rather wanted my energizer batteries to work. Useless.

The mini Taj
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The religous section was crazy, we were relentlessly hounded by all kinds of people, we left without going in anywhere. Went back to the hotel, saw Jenny and Wayne. Did some internet, our Aunt Tabby had passed away a few days before, it was peaceful and we were grateful that she wasn't in any pain. We called Gigi to see how she was and then went to eat since we hadn't since the night before. Same resturaunt, as we came down the stairs we heard Wayne and Jenny, they'd already eaten but stayed and chatted with us anyway. Then to the hotel for bed, another 4 am morning tommorrow.