So the internet at the hotel is super weird and crashes quite often. I finally managed to get all the photos posted.
So we arrive at the Taj and you would think that you would be able to see it from the street but the city of Agra has done a pretty good job on hiding this masterpiece. You can't drive right up to the Taj and get off at the gate because of the pollution from the cars (the people don't want the Taj to turn grey or black) another interesting fact is that there are no factories in the city of Agra for the same reason. So Asef takes us on a short walk to the gate.
We could have entered the Taj in style...via Camel but thought walking was a better idea!
There were also more monkeys on this walk!
Talk about having a monkey on your back!
Okay, we finally arrive at the main gate and buy our tickets. Foreigners are once again upcharged 750 rupees for a ticket! Indians pay about 50 rupees! This would never fly in America but what can you do. So we get our tickets head through security and arrive at the main gate. Here is a picture I took while standing in the women's security line. I am holding my camera at eye level...these women are like 5 feet tall!
Once we passed through security we got to the main gate and Asef gave us a little history lesson on the Taj.
I of course will provide you with the cliff notes, I did fact check everything Asef told us and he was correct (according to wikipedia though). The Taj Mahal was built by the third Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. She died at the age of 33 after being married to Shah Jahan for 19 years and providing him with 14 children! She died giving birth to their 14th child. Before she died she asked three things of Shah Jahan 1. Don't re-marry 2. Take care of our children 3. Build me a beautiful mausoleum.
Like a good husband he held up on 1 and 3 but ran into some trouble with taking care of the children (will discuss further down). Shah Jahan hired 20,000 workers from Iran and it took 22 years to finish the construction of the entire complex. The mausoleum itself took 17 years and the last 5 were spent on the gates and ground work. If you are ever in the neighborhood I would strongly suggest checking this place out.
Team photo in front of the gate!
So you have me, Anh, Brett, and Steven. Steven was not feeling the photo...he did have to ride shotgun with Dharmender so we let this one slide. The coolest thing about the Taj is everything is symmetrical. We are standing on the line of symmetry.
This shot is what you see when you go through the gate.
And here it is after you go through the gate
I think it is pretty cool. After we entered the main gate, Asef took every cheesy picture possible of the group. It was kind of awesome because we all got to be in the pictures and he knew all the spots and poses to do. I will have to refer you to facebook for all those pictures.
So what does it look like up close? Here ya go
Asef told us that the orange stones below are only found in Agra and glow in the lighting. There was no good picture of it glowing but take my word...it was awesome.
In summary, that is the Taj Mahal. It is absolutely amazing and a beautiful piece of architecture. The best time to see the Taj Mahal is during the full moon. Tickets sell out a month in advance and is limited to 250 people with half hour intervals. Asef said that the moonlight makes the Taj glow and it is breathtaking (not sure if he said breathtaking but that is what I imagine). One interesting thing about it that I didn't realize is that it isn't made 100% out of marble. It was first constructed with brick and then marble was put over the brick. Now it is Agra fort time.
Agra fort is where Shan Jahan and Aurangzeb lived. At the time it was considered on of the most important forts in India. Once Aurangzeb over threw his father he imprisoned him in Agra fort in a room that looked directly out at the Taj. In the words of Stephanie Tanner "How rude!"
The fort wasn't just used for imprisoning people. Other governmental affairs went on here. This is where important meetings happened.
I have no idea what this next photo is of but I just thought it was really cool.
For 10 rupees the monkey below will translate the sign to English
Just kidding! The monkey is just hanging out and I know animal shots have been requested. After all the sightseeing time to get back into the car with Dharmender for the drive home. He of course wouldn't drive to the other side of the street to pick us up and we had the fun adventure of crossing the street in front of the fort. Here is some video for your enjoyment (curtsy of Steven...I rarely take my iPhone out in public)
Overall, it was a pretty awesome birthday weekend. So here is some slightly bad news. Everyone knows that I have extremely bad luck with digital cameras. I somehow managed to lose the cord that connects my camera to my computer so there won't be many more photos from me posted. I've already ordered a new cord from amazon and I will be able to upload photos when I am back in Atlanta!!!
So we arrive at the Taj and you would think that you would be able to see it from the street but the city of Agra has done a pretty good job on hiding this masterpiece. You can't drive right up to the Taj and get off at the gate because of the pollution from the cars (the people don't want the Taj to turn grey or black) another interesting fact is that there are no factories in the city of Agra for the same reason. So Asef takes us on a short walk to the gate.
We could have entered the Taj in style...via Camel but thought walking was a better idea!
There were also more monkeys on this walk!
Okay, we finally arrive at the main gate and buy our tickets. Foreigners are once again upcharged 750 rupees for a ticket! Indians pay about 50 rupees! This would never fly in America but what can you do. So we get our tickets head through security and arrive at the main gate. Here is a picture I took while standing in the women's security line. I am holding my camera at eye level...these women are like 5 feet tall!
I of course will provide you with the cliff notes, I did fact check everything Asef told us and he was correct (according to wikipedia though). The Taj Mahal was built by the third Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan, for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. She died at the age of 33 after being married to Shah Jahan for 19 years and providing him with 14 children! She died giving birth to their 14th child. Before she died she asked three things of Shah Jahan 1. Don't re-marry 2. Take care of our children 3. Build me a beautiful mausoleum.
Like a good husband he held up on 1 and 3 but ran into some trouble with taking care of the children (will discuss further down). Shah Jahan hired 20,000 workers from Iran and it took 22 years to finish the construction of the entire complex. The mausoleum itself took 17 years and the last 5 were spent on the gates and ground work. If you are ever in the neighborhood I would strongly suggest checking this place out.
Team photo in front of the gate!
This shot is what you see when you go through the gate.
And here it is after you go through the gate
So what does it look like up close? Here ya go
What does the inside look like? This is a replica of the tomb. The actual tomb is below ground and not on display for the public.
Surprisingly there is not very good lighting.
Asef told us that the orange stones below are only found in Agra and glow in the lighting. There was no good picture of it glowing but take my word...it was awesome.
So Shah Jahan really liked what he built for his wife and thought to himself...I should have a mausoleum too (I don't blame him after seeing the Taj I kinda want a mausoleum). He planned to build a replica of the Taj across the river but instead of white marble it would be black. His son Aurangzeb was suppose to be in charge of building this masterpiece and this is what it looks like.
Don't squint your eyes or e-mail me to re-post the picture...you are looking at absolutely nothing. Yup nada. Aurangzeb, the ungrateful child overthrew his father and never built the mausoleum. I can't recall what exactly what went down for Aurangzeb to overthrow his father but happened at this point I had been listening to history for 2 hours and when I looked it up on wikipedia there wasn't much there.
In summary, that is the Taj Mahal. It is absolutely amazing and a beautiful piece of architecture. The best time to see the Taj Mahal is during the full moon. Tickets sell out a month in advance and is limited to 250 people with half hour intervals. Asef said that the moonlight makes the Taj glow and it is breathtaking (not sure if he said breathtaking but that is what I imagine). One interesting thing about it that I didn't realize is that it isn't made 100% out of marble. It was first constructed with brick and then marble was put over the brick. Now it is Agra fort time.
Agra fort is where Shan Jahan and Aurangzeb lived. At the time it was considered on of the most important forts in India. Once Aurangzeb over threw his father he imprisoned him in Agra fort in a room that looked directly out at the Taj. In the words of Stephanie Tanner "How rude!"
The fort itself was pretty cool. It is the largest fort in Asia, about 1.5 miles long/wide. Here is a shot of the entrance and the grounds.
The fort wasn't just used for imprisoning people. Other governmental affairs went on here. This is where important meetings happened.
For 10 rupees the monkey below will translate the sign to English
Just kidding! The monkey is just hanging out and I know animal shots have been requested. After all the sightseeing time to get back into the car with Dharmender for the drive home. He of course wouldn't drive to the other side of the street to pick us up and we had the fun adventure of crossing the street in front of the fort. Here is some video for your enjoyment (curtsy of Steven...I rarely take my iPhone out in public)
Overall, it was a pretty awesome birthday weekend. So here is some slightly bad news. Everyone knows that I have extremely bad luck with digital cameras. I somehow managed to lose the cord that connects my camera to my computer so there won't be many more photos from me posted. I've already ordered a new cord from amazon and I will be able to upload photos when I am back in Atlanta!!!
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